Marketing trends for B2B companies in 2020

2020 has certainly got off to a distinctly shaky start for businesses in virtually every sector thanks to the risks being posed by coronavirus. With so much uncertainty in the air this also means that those same businesses are going to have to be 100% on the ball with their marketing strategies, especially those which operate in the B2B sector.

Fortunately, businesses arguably have more tools at their disposal than ever before and are more aware of the traps that they have fallen into in the past.

Getting personal

One of the greatest assets that will be working in their favour in 2020 is the hugely increased potential for personalization thanks to ever more effective data management and even AI. So, communications are set to become even more precisely targeted in every way. This starts with having 100% accurate information about prospects and a number of new services, for example, Lusha for LinkedIn enables businesses to create highly targeted lists, which they can manage and export themselves. They can upload them to their CRM or sharing them internally with their team – their comprehensive data service, and other businesses offering a similar package, is likely to be very much in demand in 2020.

This is then set to be further enhanced by the closely targeted nature of messages - so no more blanket emails that were the staple method of new business communications in the past. That’s not to say that emails are totally out as a method of marketing communication. They will still form a cornerstone of any marketing plan but will be executed in a far more single-minded and ROI-focussed way which will follow and reflect the buying journey closer than ever before.

Even more social media

With this will come the inevitable use of social media. Over the last few years this has become an integral and essential part of the marketing tool kit for every kind of business. And, whereas it was once largely confined to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, 2020 sees even more platforms being embraced, not least Instagram.

In terms of the sort of content that B2B companies are set to start posting, this is heading in two different directions. On the one hand, video content is becoming more and more common. Not only is it an excellent way to give product demonstrations and present sales pitches, it’s also easily digestible taking far less time than it would to read a similar volume of information.

But, on the other hand, there is an increasing demand for longer and more detailed pieces of content in the form of blogs or “white paper”-style documents. These allow topics to be gone into in far greater depth and allow the businesses who produce them to adopt the role of thought leaders and authorities in a particular field. There’s another added benefit to these pieces in that Google has started showing a preference for longer-form content so it can help SEO rankings considerably. The logic behind this is simple on Google’s part: the longer a piece is, the more likely that it has been well-researched and will be of real value to the reader.

The digital revolution continues

Of course, this is just one element of the digital world and this is an area that will also become increasingly important for all B2B companies who want to improve their strategy. In a recent survey, over half of the businesses questioned stated that their two biggest areas of marketing investment in 2020 was going to be on digital marketing and website enhancement. The former covers a huge number of elements from banner ads to sponsored posts and, with more opportunities appearing all the time, this seems like a very sensible approach to take. In terms of website development one key trend that is sure to develop is the increasing use of chatbots. This ties in with the previously mentioned drive for greater personalization and the use of AI is making these more “lifelike” than ever before.

Another trend that has also started to show itself on many B2B sites is the disappearance of gated content. Having to hand over personal contact details to receive information seems, in this day and age, a little heavy handed so we can probably expect it to disappear over the next year or so.

It’s still good to meet

But, for all this talk of digital engagement, for many B2B businesses still using some of the old ways will still be proving very effective. There is little to compete with a trade show in terms of developing personal relationships and keeping in touch with valued customers. So many companies will be setting aside quite a proportion of their marketing budgets for this purpose.

In terms of other general trends, out-sourcing specific services is also likely to be high on many marketing department agendas, for example by bringing consultants for specific projects.

So, in what promises to be an uncertain year for business, all these measures should help to drive sales and success – and countless marketing departments will be keeping their fingers cross that they will.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.