Innovation and ingenuity are becoming increasingly vital for sales and marketing teams to succeed. The significant shifts in the market influence how B2B organizations handle marketing globally. After 24 months of chaos, innovation is moving rapidly. Marketers are starting to use buyer intent data, increase their social media spending, and implement cutting-edge technologies like chatbots and interactive emails.
Marketing as a profession is constantly changing, and what has worked in the past may not be effective today or tomorrow. The following trends are expected to characterize B2B marketing this year:Â Â Â
See more: 3 Trends That Will Accelerate B2B Marketing Transformation in 2022
1. Strong Emphasis on Brand Personalization
In comparison to B2C, B2B marketing is more difficult as more decision-makers are involved, and a certain level of professionalism needs to be maintained. However, your marketing efforts should attract attention, and your brand should be visible.Â
With the continued expansion of B2B businesses, having a unique brand voice is more important than ever. Brand personalization is one major B2B marketing trend for the year. It allows your company to stand out among competitors and have a distinctive brand positioning.Â
When customizing your brand, it’s essential to keep your target audience’s voice in mind. You have a better chance of capturing your target audience’s attention and connecting with them on a deeper level if you mirror their style and figure of speech.
Brand personalization is the primary driver of long-term growth and profitability, significantly outperforming short-term marketing.Â
It’s critical to understand the brand persona of your target market if you want to reach your audience easily. When building a brand voice, make sure you know how they speak and what they look for in a B2B partner. Consistency in brand voice across all marketing channels is critical for earning and keeping the confidence of new and present customers.
Without it, your company’s reputation may be jeopardized.
2. Alignment of Marketing and Sales
As Marketo and ReachForce researchOpens a new window point out, sales teams ignore 80% of marketing leads. A reportOpens a new window by HubSpot showed that sales and marketing misalignment costs businesses a staggering $1 trillion a year. Additionally, according to ON24Opens a new window , almost one-third of sales and marketing teams think that their teams do not have a great relationship, and there are some areas of tension. Only 2% of sales and marketing teams consider their working relationships excellent.Â
Therefore, the increased emphasis on integration comes as no surprise.
Strengthening the relationship of these two departments will drive marketing’s impact on the bottom line, increase productivity, and help hit better KPIs.Â
Increasingly, we also see software platforms incorporating these changes in their digital tools. In 2022, we will see more of these two silos communicate productively and collaboratively.
3. Use of Intent Data
In 2022, the economy’s digital revolution and the expansion of ecommerce are anticipated to ignite substantial upheaval. Marketing campaigns are no longer based on demographics and general preferences but instead use predictive and hyper-personalized B2B marketing strategies.Â
According to ForresterOpens a new window , today, 68% of B2B buyers prefer doing business online to the classic purchase via sales staff, leaving an enormous digital footprint. Based on activities such as looking for specific keywords, what content buyers are consuming, or visiting your or a competitor’s website, buyer intent data helps discover people online who are actively in the market for your solutions.Â
Understanding buyer intent and buyer experience supported by data-driven decision-making is a long-term B2B marketing trend. As ForresterOpens a new window predicts, 75% of efforts to create personalized engagement will not meet ROI goals because of inadequate buyer insight. However, this can be avoided by analyzing the triggers of buyers, which will provide valuable insights into prospects’ behaviors and make marketing efforts tailored to their interests.
4. The Popularity of Video Marketing
Video marketing activities are perfect for grabbing viewers’ attention as individual attention spans continue to shrink due to the abundance of fresh content available. According to Statista’s Digital Media ReportOpens a new window , Video-on-Demand services reached revenue of US$86 billion in 2021 worldwide, and the market is expected to grow to US$136 billion in 2026. According to WyzowlOpens a new window , 78% of marketers indicate that video content directly helped them increase sales.Â
Video content has surpassed blog articles and infographics as one of the most popular forms of content. Businesses can create a compelling story about what they do, showcase their expertise, and offer authentic client testimonials through engaging videos. Research shows that people remember 95%Opens a new window of a message when they’re watching a video compared to just 10% of the time when they’re just reading a text.
As visual content marketing trends evolve, your company must keep up with the latest practices to increase sales. This B2B marketing trend isn’t going away anytime soon.
5. Growth Marketing
Growth marketing uses several communication and marketing methods to test and design the best strategy for growth. Growth marketers assess different channels to see which content gets the most traffic and optimize each user segment.Â
In fact, A/B testing, omnichannel marketing, and multivariate testing to understand the audience’s preferences and apply them throughout the customer journey are the main growth marketing tools. Therefore, marketers enhance each funnel stage and build strategies based on this knowledge. This marketing segment will drive how growth and success are measured in 2022.
6. Omnichannel Marketing
More companies are taking an omnichannel approach to marketing and client service in response to digital acceleration and increased needs of the B2B buyer. Omnichannel marketing is a client-centric, cross-channel approach that provides a seamless client experience and improves connections across channels and touchpoints.Â
B2B clients are becoming more accustomed to B2C-style brands and client experiences. “Omnichannel is the standard, not the exception,†according to a McKinsey reportOpens a new window .Â
Further, according to a TechRepublic surveyOpens a new window , 75% of B2B customers would buy from their provider again if they had omnichannel capabilities. In fact, the data collected from Think with GoogleOpens a new window shows that omnichannel strategies drive an 80% higher rate of incremental store visits.
7. New Lead-generation Channels
B2B marketers’ top goals are still generating quality leads and driving conversions. Lead generation and conversion methods, on the other hand, are projected to alter dramatically in 2022. One thing to keep in mind is that marketing does not work with a one-size-fits-all approach.Â
For optimal impact, marketers must consider the customer’s preferences of different age groups and adapt to these changes. One studyOpens a new window found that most Baby Boomers (56%) prefer the tender process or RFP, drastically more than Millennials (39%) and Gen-X (31%). Â
Almost all (97%) younger customers are most likely to prefer marketplaces and use platforms like Amazon and Alibaba. In contrast, only 19% of Baby Boomers use these purchasing channels. Another pollOpens a new window showed that 80% of B2B buyers research and purchase their products on Amazon, making it the lead-generation channel of the year to come.
Optimizing for new types of searches, such as audio and visual, will be critical in 2022 to grab traffic. Additionally, marketing chatbots and AI can assist marketers in reaching out to more customers while reducing wait times.
See more: Most B2B Marketing Leaders Have Been Less Innovative Than They Believe: Report
8. Thought Leadership Content
B2B marketers now have access to online resource centers, blogs, content hubs, etc. Original research will almost certainly become even more vital for marketing efforts in 2022.Â
You’ve probably heard of the phrase, “Content is King.†Bill Gates said it in 1996, and it’s still true today. Research shows that 82% of marketers report actively using content marketingOpens a new window in 2021.
However, businesses these days fail to understand their customers’ needs and identify with them, which is why they can’t build a strong strategy. While there is a lot of content out there, not all of it is good, and businesses have to ensure that they get the right content to build a good base.
A common misconception is that B2B purchasing is rationally-led instead of B2C’s emotional purchasing. However, the rational approach works only for short-term sales activation. Long-term brand building is based around the emotional priming of customers, which evokes emotions, builds associations with a brand, and increases its salience.
Thought leadership content helps businesses elevate their brand perception, instill strong trust and improve their overall reputation. Writing to your targeted audience is always a sustainable B2B marketing trend that grabs and retains user attention, regardless of your digital marketing strategy.
Conclusion
Uncertainty and digital change will almost certainly significantly influence B2B marketing in the next year. New techniques and technologies might aid businesses in adapting to a market where purchasers are more interested in digital channels and customized content. In 2022, marketers must be agile and prepared to adapt to any changes to reach their target customers effectively.
What B2B marketing trends do you expect to see this year? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .