Thanks to the advancement of technology, B2B is forever changing. It’s important for businesses to grow and adapt with these changes for fear of being left behind. It can sometimes be difficult to keep up with, and there are often trends that are just not worth pursuing. However, in 2018, there are a few trends that businesses would be silly to ignore. Here are some of the more practical ones.
Automated marketing
Marketing is a huge part of running a successful business, so anything that can make it easier or better should always be considered. Marketing is part and parcel of everyday living when it comes to business, but wouldn’t it be far more convenient if your marketing plan was automated, rather than taking up the valuable time of employees? It’s a fantastic option for the kind of marketing that is repetitive and only serves to keep current customers intrigued, rather than trying to bring in new custom.
Content marketing
Every business will be aware of how important content marketing is in this day and age. Businesses have a whole at their feet, thanks to the likes of social media and B2C ecommerce. The biggest failure that many businesses make is not have a content marketing plan in place. Without a strategy in place, it’s difficult to set goals for content marketing. It’s also virtually impossible to measure ROI if a business is just winging when to place content online. Update your content marketing strategy for a good measurement of success.
Content Personalisation
It’s certainly not a new discovery, but content personalisation has been proven to draw in higher purchasing and higher loyalty in customers. However, many B2B businesses are still not using this important trend. That’s often because they don’t have the technology or haven’t collected and stored enough data from customers. With data regulations changing, now is the time to jump on board this business-changing trend. Customers who greeted with personalised messages or emails are far more likely to take interest in the products and services being advertised. It doesn’t have to cost the earth either. There are now automated tools that make it easy and cost effective for smaller businesses with smaller budgets.
Use LinkedIn
Did you know that for the past two years, LinkedIn has outperformed every other social media platform when it came to B2B business? It’s easy to assume that popular platforms like Facebook and Instagram would be the highest ranking but you’d be wrong. Perhaps it’s something to do with the fact that LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, but there’s obviously more focus on building up small businesses right now. LinkedIn makes it easy to make data driven decisions and keep an eye on your team’s performance. If you’re not making the most of the services that LinkedIn provides, it’s about time you gave your business the boost it needs.
B2B trends will change in the blink of an eye, but there are some that stick around and are worth investing in.