Keeping up with trends – B2B digital trends 2016

(Posted on 09/05/16)


Keeping up with trends – B2B digital trends 2016

With digital now bigger than ever and marketing at the forefront of business drive, knowing what digital and offline marketing trends are shaping the industry should be high on any marketing professional’s ‘to do’ list. Continuing recent patterns we are seeing an ongoing evolution of previous trends, with some new concepts thrown in. Here are some of the changes we are seeing:

 

Digital marketing has been at the forefront of marketing trends for a few years.  However, it is now such an essential part of marketing you need to make sure that it is a fully integrated part of your marketing plan.  Your online marketing needs to reflect the same messages as any other aspect of your offline marketing plan.

 

Delivering a seamless and consistent customer experience regardless of channel or device, is key to business success. It is important you consider a customer’s journey when experiencing a purchase or service from your company.  This helps you to understand what personalised needs a customer has.  In recent times, the customer experience has become more important to people in both their personal and professional life, and understanding these needs will allow you meet their expectations.

 

Advocate marketing has increased in popularity within the business-to-business (B2B) sector recently, showing its true potential in 2016. With it already universally being used in consumer communications, B2B companies are seeing success by concentrating efforts on turning clients into advocates, who are willing to refer people to the business.

 

Apps have taken off massively over the past couple of years. They have even become a staple for many B2B businesses. Apps are more engaging than websites and can offer customers an interactive service or experience that is in-line with the brand and its values.  Whether it is an on-site app or a mobile app, both can add to the customers experience online, providing them with useful and engaging content that they can potentially reach wherever they are.

 

Many marketers understand the importance of producing good content including blogs, e-books and white papers. But how do you recapture viewers that went on your site, read your content but didn’t become a lead? This is where content re-marketing comes in. This is the process of tagging users who have shown interest in your content, and giving them different content on a similar subject that engages them. This then invites them to engage, when you know they are interested in what you have to offer.