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Over the last few years, the entire sales and marketing process for B2B and enterprise organizations has shifted. These companies are no longer armed with information that is hidden from the public and sales teams are no longer in the driver seat. Leads and prospects now hold the power as information is more readily available and the increase in competition has resulted in a plentiful supply of choice. Beyond that, technology has completed disrupted the once linear buying process and behaviour of B2B customers and has forced marketers to become more strategic and efficient in their approach. Here are a few trends that I believe are going to redefine marketing in the B2B space over the next few years.
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The Future Of B2B Marketing / By @TheCoolestCool
1. A LOOK AT WHAT
THE FUTURE HOLDS:
THE FUTURE OF B2B
MARKETING
ROSS SIMMONDS | WWW.ROSSSIMMONDS.COM
2. Spoiler Alert!
You’ll never succeed in
marketing if you continue to
embrace the past without
looking forward to the future.
3. Essentially, you need to be
constantly thinking about
where the puck is going,
instead of sitting back and
hoping it will come to you.
4. Here’s a little good news:
Keeping up with the trends and
the future of marketing is
becoming easier and easier.
5. Sure, trends are happening
more rapidly, but the
CONNECTIVITY OF MINDS
from around the world is making it
easier to stay ahead of the curve.
6. OVER THE YEARS, THE ENTIRE
SALES AND MARKETING PROCESS
FOR B2B AND ENTERPRISE
ORGANIZATIONS HAS
7. These companies are no
longer armed with
information that is hidden
from the public and sales
teams are no longer in the
driver seat.
i i
i
i i
8. With information more readily
available, leads and prospects
now hold the power and the
increase in competition has
resulted in a plentiful supply
of choice.
9. B2B
Beyond that, technology has completely
disrupted the once linear buying process
and behaviour of B2B customers.
10. This change has forced marketers to
become more strategic and efficient
in their approach.
11. Here’s a few trends
that I believe are
going to redefine
B2B marketing over
the next few years:
12. A LOOK AT WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS:
THE FUTURE OF B2B MARKETING
1Social Data
2Personalized
Starts To Drive
Tracking Hits
Conversion the Real World
Driving Meaningful
Intellegence 4Growth Hacking
3Big Data Starts
Goes from B2C
to B2B
14. SOCIAL DATA STARTS TO DRIVE
CONVERSION
Every minute, the amount of data being distributed
and created on social media channels is growing.
Relationship data companies like Introhive and RelateIQ
have already started to unlock the power of this data for
sales teams. It’s time for relationship data to arm the
marketing departments with insights that drive results.
15. SOCIAL DATA STARTS TO DRIVE
CONVERSION
The professional social network, LinkedIn, is a
powerful B2B marketing tool.
Business Insider shared a leaked report in which
LinkedIn highlighted plans to build a $1 billion B2B
marketing business by 2017. The plan highlights the
predicted role that social data will play in the future of
B2B marketing and is one that every B2B marketer
should read.
16. SOCIAL DATA STARTS TO DRIVE
CONVERSION
Imagine for a second that your connections list on
LinkedIn becomes a CRM system.
Imagine having the ability to tag someone on LinkedIn as a potential
prospect and then automate outreach and conversations with these
individuals over the course of 3-6 months.
For example, you could create your own system that automatically
sends out personalized “Congrats On The New Job” when a user
changes their position on LinkedIn and would be able to test the
different automated messages to see which works best.
17. SOCIAL DATA STARTS TO DRIVE
CONVERSION
Imagine the data you’d be able to compile as the
administrator of your company page.
You could pull insights that include trends in which
companies are adding your employees to LinkedIn and
how many of your employees are actually leveraging
LinkedIn to communicate potential prospects.
18. SOCIAL DATA STARTS TO DRIVE
CONVERSION
On top of that, the insights could share broad, yet
actionable data surrounding the types of prospects
that have looked at your company page in the last
365 days.
All of this data ultimately arms managers and
executives with the ability to better understand their
workforce and develop strategies that will drive
conversion.
19. SOCIAL DATA STARTS TO DRIVE
CONVERSION
Furthermore, insights into what types of
organizations are viewing your profile would give
you the ability to be more strategic in advertising.
Layer in the ability to automate messages to these users
when they visit your company page and you’re instantly
presented with a quality opportunity to turn strangers
into customers.
21. PERSONALIZED TRACKING HITS
THE REAL WORLD
Imagine you’re walking down the street and you see
a digital billboard for the pair of shoes you’ve been
looking at online.
Imagine that the website you were visiting has the
ability to track you in the real world because you
happened to visit it using your mobile phone which is
now traceable.
22. PERSONALIZED TRACKING HITS
THE REAL WORLD
Now let’s imagine that you’re walking into a
conference and upon your arrival, you see a
welcome sign from one of the brands competing for
your business.
And yes, it doesn’t just say Welcome To The Conference,
it says your name at the end of the sentence.
WELCOME,
JIM!
23. PERSONALIZED TRACKING HITS
THE REAL WORLD
This is what the future of personalized tracking
could look like. As a consumer, you might be
thinking this is going to be invasive and creepy.
As a brand or marketer, you need to think of the
possibilities that this could open up for new touch
points and new areas of conversion.
WELCOME,
JIM!
24. PERSONALIZED TRACKING HITS
THE REAL WORLD
In the future, the way we browse the web will be
similar to the way in which we browse the world.
The personalized experience we have online when we
leave one website to the next will be replicated in the
real world and shift from solely being a B2C opportunity
to being an important driver of B2B success.
WELCOME,
JIM!
25. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
BIG DATA
+
=
26. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
Today, one of the biggest challenges associated
with big data is the marketing teams’ ability to
assess and determine what information is
worthwhile.
27. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
A study from eMarketer.com found that 71% of
marketers were interested in adding predictive
analytics around the lifetime value of customers to
their customer data profile – figuring out who would
be their best customers moving forward and
possibly even how to attract more of these
customers.
28. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
The most innovative and forward thinking
companies are already using big data to learn about
their customers and use this information to drive
results.
The majority of these organizations consists of SaaS
products, social networks, mobile apps and other forms
of software.
29. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
The fact that these organizations are built on
innovative technology makes it an easier sell and a
more logical decision to capitalize on big data.
That said, all B2B organizations can benefit from the
power of Big Data when their plan is implemented
correctly.
30. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
For example, a HR firm could quickly leverage
insights around their existing clients and the
strength and weaknesses in their recruitment tactics.
Big Data can uncover insights like identifying which
channels the best recruits come from, what types of
emails tend to perform better during the first contact or
what type of clients tend to be the better fit for this firm.
31. BIG DATA STARTS DRIVING
MEANINGFUL INTELLIGENCE
All of these insights will be captured by
implementing the right technologies and help
companies ranging from Human Resources to
Industrial Relations unlock insights about their
organizations that they’d never seen before.
33. GROWTH HACKING GOES FROM
B2C TO B2B
Many B2B marketing teams are still thinking about
B2B marketing as a linear process between
inspiration and acquisition.
In reality, the process for converting a B2B lead into
a customer is becoming more and more challenging
as time goes on.
34. GROWTH HACKING GOES FROM
B2C TO B2B
The emergence of companies like DropBox and
Yammer has resulted in blurred lines between
products that solely serve B2B and those that serve
the B2C market.
As a result, organizations of all shapes and sizes must
be aware of the challenges and opportunities that exist
in a world where brands are more connected and
consumers are more empowered.
35. GROWTH HACKING GOES FROM
B2C TO B2B
Enter the world of Growth Hacking. Coined by Sean
Ellis of GrowthHackers.com, a Growth Hacker is a
person whose true north is growth.
Sure, traditional marketers and marketing teams have always
considered growth as one of their pillars of attention, but a
Growth Hacker has one singular goal. The true power of a growth
hacker is found in their obsessive focus on growth. Presenting the
opportunity to ignore almost everything else, these individuals
can achieve the one task that matters most.
36. GROWTH HACKING GOES FROM
B2C TO B2B
Hubspot, one of the leaders in Marketing
Automation generates a staggering 1 million visitors
and over 60,000 leads through their website every
single month.
The team at Hubspot has been able to attract this massive growth
through a combination of free tools and content marketing.
Growth hackers are individuals who look for opportunities like
tool development and content marketing and use them to help
organizations succeed.
37. GROWTH HACKING GOES FROM
B2C TO B2B
In the future, growth hackers will be an integral part
of the B2B landscape as they also play a role in
helping organization create an optimized sales
funnel.
For example, when a customer signs up for your
product, how do you ensure word of mouth?
$$$
38. GROWTH HACKING GOES FROM
B2C TO B2B
If you’re like most B2B professionals, you simply ask
your new customer to keep you in mind and then
get down on your knees and pray that they actually
send leads your way.
A growth hacker understands that referrals are the most
important and most effective driver of new business,
but also has the skillset to craft more effective and
efficient referral programs for your organization and
company.
39. IT’S DEFINITELY NO EASY TASK TO
IDENTIFY
WHAT TRENDS WILL SHAPE THE
FUTURE OF BUSINESS BUT IT’S
DEFINITELY A LOT OF FUN.