The waxing and waning impact of COVID-19 has resulted in drastic changes. The workforce has transitioned (literally overnight) from in-office to remote, and now to a hybrid model (a combination of remote and in-office working options).
This change has not only affected the way we work, but it’s also impacted buyer behavior, the B2B buying process, the decision making process, marketing strategies, and how buyers and sellers interact and communicate. Keeping up with behavioral shifts among buyers is a challenge that many B2B tech marketers must address today.
Once it’s safe to return to offices, an expected 25% of the workforce will be remote (6% fully remote and 19% hybrid).
How the tech buyer behavior is evolving in a hybrid environment
Remote and hybrid working has resulted in new technology needs and the behavior and priorities of IT buyers has shifted accordingly. We observed in our research that 59% of tech buyers are placing more importance on finding technology solutions to support remote workers, and 27% of companies are relying more heavily on tech vendors to advise them on how to best support remote and hybrid working models.
With new hybrid models emerging, there’s a complex and limited window of opportunity for marketers to influence purchase decisions. Like the B2C marketing strategy of “bricks and clicks”, B2B marketers must adopt a multichannel approach that combines digital engagement with in-person interaction – an omnichannel approach that integrates online and offline strategies.
B2B marketing best practices adapted for a hybrid world
- Adopt a hybrid marketing model – As an evolving approach, hybrid marketing can also be referred to as omnichannel or multi-channel marketing. The essence of hybrid marketing is to favor buyer preferences and offer them ways to interact, whether it’s offline or through digital channels, or a combination of both.
What does it take to develop a hybrid marketing plan?
- Identify the buyer’s journey – Know where and how tech buyers spend their time, in-person and online. Find out the communication channels they prefer to use. For instance, we discovered through our research that more millennial IT professionals (43%) prefer virtual meetings over face-to-face meetings than their Boomer peers (27%). Map your buyer’s journey with the aim of converting prospects to customers.
- List out potential online and offline marketing touchpoints – Whether it’s traditional marketing approaches such as mailers or in-person events, or digital marketing channels such as social media, email marketing, or blogging, identify touchpoints that tech buyers engage with the most.
- Create different marketing plans for digital and traditional channels – Create a detailed plan on how to connect with buyers with content relevant to each channel.
- Make the buying journey easier – Information is the primary driver of purchase decisions today, the operative phrase being “buyer enablement”. Marketers who provide easy access to information in a way to help buyers make purchase decisions are more likely to convert prospects to customers. The goal must be to create a seamless buying experience across channels with relevant content through meaningful touchpoints.
- Adapt content to suit different platforms and channels – Curate and map content to suit your buyers’ journey across channels. For instance, videos or visual content could work well in social selling, whereas long-form, high-value content promoted via emails might work better. For events (which are virtual for now), direct mailing custom packages with brand-centric merchandise and content assets relevant to your audience can help buyers feel more connected to your brand. Personalization and customization of content is an important factor of engagement and outreach in a hybrid marketing model.
- Monitor changes in tech spending plans – To support the evolving working model from in-office, remote to hybrid, IT buyers have had to alter technology spending plans. B2B marketers must keep track of changes in technology spending. To get a sneak peek into the technologies that companies will invest in within the next two years, here are some interesting trends from our report:
- Utilize data collected from every touchpoint – Given that digital channels have become the primary touchpoint, B2B marketers must be closer to their data. As tech buyers spend more time online researching to inform purchase decisions, mapping buyer intent is a great way to guide your marketing strategies.
Leverage multiple data sources, including first-party and third-party buyer intent data to identify and guide prospects through the sales funnel, and prioritize outreach for those buyers most likely to buy.
First-party intent data is information of user behavior on your website, from recent web page visits, content views to engagement with sales representatives. Third-party intent data is user behavioral information captured by B2B publishers from online registrations, cookies, tags, to embedded tokens in a website’s code. When used together, these types of data can offer insights into which companies are in-market to buy.
Realign B2B marketing strategies to changing tech buyer behavior
Our research shows that IT pros think the biggest changes brought emerging from the pandemic include the acceleration of digital transformation and technology innovation (42%) and strengthening of communication and collaboration (34%) among the workforce. The significance of this, from a B2B tech marketers’ perspective, is that companies and tech buyers are going to invest heavily in technology that modernizes processes and drives productivity in a work-from-anywhere environment.
The reality is that the hybrid work model is going to be widely adopted, and B2B marketers must realign their strategies to fit this altered reality.
Read the complete report on The Future of Remote Work.