With the technological advancements and the trends changing faster than we can grasp them, marketers are only getting overwhelmed. The very idea of keeping up with every new tech evolution so that you are not losing out on any of your prospects to your competitors is scary.
The B2B industry is characterized by its vastness, and success in this highly competitive landscape demands a proactive approach. To remain competitive, it is essential to lay the groundwork well in advance.
This blog lists the top 5 B2B marketing strategies for 2024 curated to help you outperform the competition.
Why Having a B2B Marketing Strategy is Important?
Simply put, a B2B marketing strategy will help you achieve your goals by understanding your customers and effectively communicating with them.
If you don’t have a marketing strategy in place, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Here are a few ways it can hurt your business:
- You won’t be able to justify your budget to the boss!
- Your team will be confused and frustrated by constantly changing goals.
- You’ll waste money on marketing activities that don’t work.
- You’ll miss out on important opportunities because you don’t have a plan.
- You’ll misunderstand your customers’ needs and expectations.
Your first marketing strategy won’t be perfect, but it’s still better than nothing. You can always optimize your B2B marketing strategy as you go.
Top 5 B2B Marketing Strategies for 2024
AI-Driven Personalization
Salesforce states that personalization in the B2B industry leads to increased customer retention and higher spending.
Marketers craved personalization, but it was limited to the data they had on hand. But this changed with the advent of ‘Artificial Intelligence.’
Businesses have shifted from experimenting with AI to leveraging it in their day-to-day tasks. AI empowers you to effortlessly access vast databases, enabling you to accurately pinpoint the pain points of your prospects. Armed with this valuable insight, you can tailor your B2B marketing strategies to perfectly meet their needs and achieve success.
The key is to note that personalization is not limited to conversations and chatbots but the complete user experience of your customers and, ultimately, building lasting relationships with them.
Account-Based Marketing
If increased efficiency, improved personalization, and stronger relationships are what you are looking for, then account-based marketing is a must-have for your B2B marketing strategy.
Account-based marketing helps you to identify your ideal customers and build meaningful relationships with them. With ABM, there is a lot of upfront work, but the ROI is incredible. When you focus on building relationships with high-value accounts, you’re more likely to close deals and generate revenue.
ABM is a popular B2B marketing strategy even in 2023, but experts believe it will become imperative in 2024.
Video Marketing
Maintaining your position in a marketspace saturated to the brim is challenging, but you can stay abreast of your competitors by including videos in your B2B marketing strategy. Video marketing is another trend that is here to stay and expected to grow profusely in the coming years. With our attention span reducing with each update of our favorite social media channels (aka Instagram), marketers need to achieve more with less. And, video marketing is one such tool that can help attain your B2B marketing goals.
Visuals have the power to capture the interests of your target customers even in the highly competitive B2B domain. The only requirement: your videos should be exceptional.
- 92% of consumers say they watch videos online at least once a week.
- 87% of consumers say they have made a purchase decision after watching a video.
- 78% of video marketers say videos have directly increased sales for their business.
These statistics by Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing Report 2023 highlight the importance of video marketing for your business. Missing out on a tool as important as this will only hamper your ROI.
Voice Search
Voice search is rapidly gaining popularity among B2B buyers. A recent study found that 50% of buyers now use voice assistants to conduct B2B searches, and 78% plan to use voice search to purchase in the next year.
Thanks to voice search, users can quickly and easily find information hands-free, while multitasking or on the go. Additionally, voice search queries are often more conversational than traditional keyword-based searches.
Here is an example of what a query would look like for a traditional Google search versus a voice search on Siri:
Google search: “What are the best ways to market a new product?”
Voice search on Siri: “Hey Siri, give me some tips for marketing a new product on Instagram.”
There is visible comfort and ease in the second one. And providing comfort is something that brands are running after. Marketers need to adapt their content creation strategies to accommodate the rise of voice search. The key is using natural language and conversational phrases and avoiding the use of jargon or technical terms that users may not be familiar with.
Influencer Marketing
How often have you picked up a product endorsed by your favorite celebrity? Pretty often, right?
Research by HubSpot shows that 72% of Gen Z consumers purchased products based on an influencer recommendation, compared to 65% of millennials. So, in this Gen-Z-ruled world, it is ideal to invest in influencers as part of your B2B marketing plan.
In today’s market, influencer marketing, especially micro-influencers, can help brands reach niche audiences and add a human touch. This, in turn, would help in building a brand advocate for your business.
B2B influencer marketing has become increasingly popular in recent years as businesses recognize the power of social influence. The best way to utilize influencer marketing in B2B is by inviting key experts and thought leaders from the industry to co-create content like blogs, podcasts, or even interviews.
Best Practices for B2B Marketing
Your B2B marketing strategy should prioritize the needs of your ideal customers to achieve success. By focusing on your audience, you can tailor your approach and deliver the value they are looking for.
Ensure these top 3 best practices while crafting your B2B marketing strategy:
- Set SMART Goals: SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for your marketing strategy. It’s vital to set realistic objectives based on your team’s capabilities and resources. Clear goals make it easier to measure progress and increase motivation.
- Implement a Data-Driven Strategy: Utilizing data to evaluate marketing progress, refine strategies, enhance customer experiences, and make informed decisions. Track diverse marketing efforts and analyze customer buying behavior to personalize strategies. By leveraging data efficiently, you can save time and resources, avoiding missed opportunities and lost customers.
- Leverage LinkedIn for B2B Marketing: Recognize the power of social media, especially LinkedIn, in B2B marketing. Utilize LinkedIn’s tools to build valuable connections, create brand awareness, and drive traffic to your website. With 95% of B2B marketers using social media, LinkedIn stands out as the most popular platform, contributing significantly to B2B lead generation and purchasing decisions (As reported by HubSpot).
Wrapping it up
As we approach 2024, the B2B marketing landscape is evolving rapidly. New technologies and trends are emerging all the time, and businesses need to be prepared to adapt in order to stay ahead of the competition. If there is a common theme from the key B2B marketing trends, it is to win the trust of our customers. Prioritizing human-to-human connection, above all else, is the way forward, especially with generative AI making drastic changes to how we work and how customers perceive us.
The key to success in B2B marketing in 2024 will be to focus on trends such as personalization, data, and consistency. Businesses leveraging these factors will be well-positioned to reach their target audience, generate leads, and close more deals.
