If you provide digital marketing services for B2B audiences or work in the marketing and sales department of a B2B company, you’ve likely noticed that your audience’s behaviour has been changing rapidly!
- Business leads take (much) longer to close, making forecasting feel like a real act of guesswork.
- There’s greater resistance when it comes to scheduling in-person or online sales meetings.
- Digital word-of-mouth, with public online reviews, demo videos, and product and service evaluations available on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, is increasingly influencing purchasing decisions.
- The potential buyer now comes much more informed about the market, the competition, and your product or service.
- In many cases, the buyer only contacts the sales team to discuss final prices and a few specific details.
Especially since Covid, B2B buyer behaviour has changed:
- Your potential client is increasingly interested in an omnichannel approach;
- The B2B buyer wants experiences similar to those of a B2C buyer;
- They demand greater segmentation and personalisation of products and services;
To ensure your marketing campaigns succeed, it’s essential to meet the new expectations of B2B buyers.
To help you, we’ve prepared a summary of the key strategies, trends, and developments in the sector for the coming times. Here are the highlights:
1. Mobile Optimisation
It’s crucial to ensure that B2B platforms are accessible and functional on mobile devices.
Mobile optimisation in the B2B context goes beyond making websites accessible on smartphones and tablets. All digital areas, including exclusive platforms for B2B clients, should be mobile-friendly.
This means:
Exclusive Customer Areas: Client portals, data dashboards, and ordering platforms must be mobile-optimised to allow clients to access essential information and complete transactions efficiently, anywhere.
Custom Mobile Apps: Develop mobile apps with specific features for B2B clients, such as product catalogues, ordering tools, and customer support.
Emails and Newsletters: Ensure that emails and newsletters sent to B2B clients are responsive and easy to read on mobile devices, as many professionals check their emails on their phones.
CRM and ERP Tools: Customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems should have mobile-friendly interfaces, enabling sales and support teams to access and update information in real time.
According to Google, 80% of B2B buyers use mobile devices at work, and nearly half conduct their entire purchasing process on mobile devices.
Optimising these areas for mobile ensures B2B customers enjoy a consistent and efficient experience, improving satisfaction and operational efficiency.
2. Social Commerce
Social shopping options are expanding, offering new ways to interact with customers.
Social commerce is a rapidly growing area of e-commerce that uses social media and digital channels to facilitate transactions between businesses and their customers.
Contrary to some beliefs, it can be an excellent way for B2B companies to connect directly with buyers.
Mailchimp explains: “Using social commerce platforms allows your company to leverage data to market to a target audience and make sales directly on social media. By doing so, you can expand your audience and engage more closely with customers.”
A recent Hootsuite study predicts that by 2025, around 80% of B2B sales will occur through social commerce.
It leverages user-generated content, peer recommendations, and real-time interactions, transforming the buying experience into a collaborative and community-driven activity, aligning with modern marketing strategies.
Social commerce can be a powerful tool to increase brand visibility, drive sales, and enhance engagement with business customers.
Brands can use these platforms to showcase their products, share success stories, and even interact directly with other businesses, creating a more interactive and engaging market dynamic.
3. Advanced Personalisation
Online shopping experiences are becoming increasingly personalised to meet the specific needs of B2B customers.
Advanced personalisation in B2B digital marketing involves creating highly tailored online shopping experiences to meet the specific needs and preferences of each business customer.
And it works! According to Econsultancy, 80% of companies report increased sales after implementing personalisation actions.
This can include:
Personalised Product Recommendations: Use customer behaviour and preferences data to recommend products or services that align with their specific needs.
Segmented Communication: Send communications, such as emails or notifications, that are relevant to the sector, company size, or specific client needs.
Customised Content: Create marketing content, such as blog articles, case studies, or videos, that address the challenges or interests of specific B2B customer segments.
User-Adaptive Interfaces: Develop websites or applications that adapt their presentation and functionality based on past user interactions, enhancing the browsing experience.
This approach not only improves the customer experience but also increases the effectiveness of marketing and sales campaigns by ensuring messages and offers are more relevant and appealing to each customer.
4. Omnichannel Sales
Consistency in shopping experiences across multiple channels is increasingly valued.
The shift to omnichannel sales reflects the need to provide a consistent and integrated shopping experience across multiple channels.
Harvard Business Review explains: “B2B buyers want it. Sellers need it. But how do you do B2B omnichannel right? How do you create a seamless experience for customers and drive profitable growth for suppliers? It’s not a trivial task, but it’s also not rocket science. The key is a comprehensive, multichannel view of the customer.”
This means a B2B company must interact with its customers through multiple touchpoints, including:
Websites and Online Stores: Offer a seamless browsing and shopping experience on the company’s website.
Social Media and Social Commerce: Use social media platforms to promote products, engage with customers, and facilitate transactions.
Email and Direct Marketing: Send personalised communications and targeted offers via email or other direct means (SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.).
Events and Trade Shows: Integrate offline experiences, such as events and trade shows, with the online strategy, ensuring continuity in the customer experience.
This omnichannel approach ensures that, regardless of how the B2B customer chooses to interact with the company, the experience is consistent, leading to a smoother and more efficient buying journey.
5. E-Commerce Automation Tools
These tools are being used to make sales processes more efficient.
Advancements in B2B digital marketing within the context of e-commerce automation involve using cutting-edge technologies to optimise and automate sales and marketing processes. This includes:
- Marketing Automation: Implement systems that automatically segment customers, send personalised communications, and generate leads based on user behaviour and preferences.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Use CRM platforms to efficiently manage customer interactions, providing valuable data for personalisation and follow-ups.
- System Integration: Connect different systems (such as ERP, CRM, and e-commerce platforms) for a holistic customer view and smoother operations.
- Chatbots and Virtual Assistance: Implement chatbots to provide quick responses and automated support to customers, improving the user experience.
Integrated systems like HubSpot CRM or Freshworks can automatically segment customers, send personalised communications, and generate leads at scale.
These tools not only improve operational efficiency but also allow B2B companies to offer more personalised and engaging experiences to their customers.
6. Self-Sufficient Client: There is a growing trend among B2B buyers to seek information independently, reducing interactions with sales representatives.
There is a growing trend among B2B buyers to seek information on their own, resulting in less reliance on direct interactions with sales representatives.
Business clients now prefer to explore websites, review educational content, and use digital tools to evaluate products and services.
This shift requires B2B companies to invest in informative and relevant content on their websites, provide comprehensive educational resources, and offer self-service tools such as detailed FAQs, knowledge bases, and product demos to meet this growing demand for autonomy.
7. Price Transparency: Making pricing information available online is becoming a common practice, influencing customers’ purchasing decisions.
We know that many B2B businesses need to keep their prices private (away from public view) due to negotiation reasons, competitiveness, or the inability to guarantee a specific price over an extended period.
Even so, B2B buyers want and seek transparency. Companies should therefore consider:
Online Price Publication: Providing price information in a clear and accessible way on the website.
Flexible Pricing Models: Offer various pricing options to accommodate different types of B2B customers.
Price Comparisons: Make it easier for customers to compare prices and plans.
Transparency in Conditions: Be clear about the conditions and terms associated with prices.
8. Trials and Demos without complications: Providing ways to try out products before purchase is gaining in importance.
In today’s B2B digital marketing environment, point 8, focused on trials and uncomplicated demos, is of paramount importance. B2B companies are increasingly adopting approaches that make it easier for customers to test products or services. This includes:
Free Trials: Offer trial versions of products or services so that customers can try them out without obligation.
Interactive Demos: Provide interactive online demonstrations that allow customers to explore the product’s functionalities.
Facilitated Access: Reduce the barriers to accessing these trials, such as lengthy registration processes, pre-payment requirements or the need to insert a credit card to access features to be tested.
In conclusion, these approaches allow B2B customers to gain a clearer and more practical understanding of products, facilitating more informed purchasing decisions.
9. Importance of B2B Reviews: Reviews are increasingly influencing B2B purchasing decisions.
In the context of B2B digital marketing, the importance of customer reviews has grown exponentially.
B2B companies should consider:
Collect Reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews after purchasing or using the service. Define an automated process that allows reviews to be collected at scale.
Respond to Reviews: Interacting with reviews, both positive and negative, shows involvement and concern for customer feedback.
Use Reviews in Marketing Strategies: Incorporate positive reviews into marketing materials and websites to reinforce credibility and trust in the brand.
In conclusion, reviews are a powerful tool for influencing purchasing decisions in the B2B environment, and should be actively integrated into marketing strategies.
10. Semantic SEO: Understanding the intentions and contexts of users’ searches is becoming a crucial aspect of attracting relevant traffic.
Semantic SEO focuses on understanding the intent and context of user searches. B2B companies should consider:
Keyword Research: Identify keywords that reflect the intentions and needs of B2B customers. For example: the keyword ‘pvc windows price’ reflects a higher purchase intention than the keyword ‘pvc windows’.
Relevant Content: Creating content that responds directly to users’ questions and needs. Users have less and less time to waste and want quick, concrete answers to what they are looking for.
Data structuring: Using schema markup to help search engines understand the content of pages. See schema markup.
Semantic SEO and optimising your website accordingly is fundamental to improving the visibility and relevance of B2B companies on search engines, in order to meet the specific needs of your customers.
In Conclusion
The trends in B2B digital marketing for 2023 reflect a remarkable evolution, shattering old myths and opening up new horizons.
Gone are the days when B2B marketing was seen as dull or overly formal.
The digital age has brought a dynamic approach, where personalisation, user experience and technological innovation are key.
This new landscape is a tapestry woven with artificial intelligence, omnichannel strategies, humanised content and a strong mobile presence.
These trends not only elevate the customer experience, but also challenge marketers to be more creative, adaptable and customer-centred.
The message is clear:
In the world of B2B marketing, adaptability and innovation are not just welcome, they are essential.
Companies that embrace these changes with enthusiasm and strategic vision will be ahead in the race for relevance and success in an increasingly competitive market.
Sources and References:
Growing Use of Artificial Intelligence and Account-Based Marketing (ABM): 47% of marketers plan to increase their use of artificial intelligence, and 46% of B2B organisations plan to invest in account-based marketing.
Importance of Video Marketing: 42% of marketers plan to increase their use of video marketing tools.
Greater Employee Involvement in the Purchasing Process: 81 per cent of non-executive employees in B2B companies have a voice in the company’s purchasing decisions.
Importance of Digital Marketing: 56% of B2B organisations are investing in digital marketing, and 44% of B2B companies’ marketing expenditure goes on digital marketing.
The Mobile Experience and B2B Buying Behaviour: 90% of B2B buyers who report a superior mobile experience are more likely to make another purchase with the supplier, and 80% of B2B buyers use mobile devices at work.
Focus on Social Marketing Tools: Social media gives customers immediate access to information about the offers of various suppliers and sometimes even the experiences of other buyers. Thus equipped, customers can make more informed choices, increasing their purchasing power.
Personalisation: 93% of B2B professionals believe that personalising content on their website increases their company’s revenue in March 2020.
These statistics indicate a significant evolution in B2B digital marketing, highlighting the importance of adapting to new technologies and consumer behaviour.
Artificial intelligence, account-based marketing, social marketing tools, personalisation, video marketing and an emphasis on the mobile experience are key elements for B2B digital marketing strategies in 2023.
Do you need help with B2B digital marketing strategies?
At Smartlinks we help B2B companies to be more competitive and relevant!
