2020 Vision: 5 B2B Marketing Trends To Watch

We recently welcomed another decade with open arms, high expectations, and new year’s resolutions. 2019 was full of advancement and innovation for the B2B marketing space — from the surge of business podcasts to the rise of AI in predictive analytics, B2B marketing has become more complex and competitive than ever. 

Here are five marketing trends that you should be looking into this year.

1. Content Marketing

Content is ubiquitous and at the core of every successful B2B marketing strategy. 91% of marketers use content to educate and engage their customers at every stage of the buyer’s journey. And this is only the beginning; content will become even more vital to marketers in the years to come. According to Databox, marketers will be investing the majority of their efforts and budget into content marketing in 2020.

What the buyers seek from content is interactivity. According to Cisco, 91% of buyers prefer interactive content over static. Thus, it comes as no surprise that video content is skyrocketing in popularity. Video marketing allows room for higher engagement, memorable interactions, and meaningful human connections. As more marketers turn to videos to educate and nurture their customers, video marketing will become more prominent in 2020.    

2. Customer Experience

In a world where most markets are saturated, and a substitute is available for almost all products and services offered, what makes customers come back to do business with your organization rather than your competition? The modern customers’ needs are ever-evolving and more demanding than before — they’ll readily replace you at the first sign of inconvenience. A constructive business culture, close-knit relationships with customers, and exceptional service are essential to keep your customers delighted and avoid high churn rates.

According to Marketing Insider Group, 73% of people claimed CX to be an essential factor in their purchase decisions. However, only 49% of U.S. consumers think the companies provide excellent customer experience. Want to be irreplaceable? Improve the quality of your CX.

3. Personalization

We’ve already determined CX as indispensable for customer retention in 2020, but what does an exceptional customer experience entail? One way is to ensure that the customers receive a personalized experience specific to their needs. Results of a survey conducted by Epsilon reveal that 72% of the consumers expect B2B companies to tailor communication to the needs of the recipient. As for email marketing, customization is nothing short of essential. If you want to hit the sweet spot with your customers, a little bit of research into identifying your target’s unique needs can go a long way.

4. Programmatic Ads 

2020 is where advertising meets artificial intelligence. According to eMarketer, by 2020, 86.2% of all display ads in the U.S. will be programmatic ads. Programmatic ads use AI power to automate ad buying, which results in your audience viewing advertisements that hyper-target their unique needs — based on their previous research activity. Programmatic ads make real-time bidding possible, which results in higher conversion and lower customer acquisition costs. If you are not familiar with real-time bidding, imagine a stock market where ad impressions are being bought and sold in real-time. The highest bidder gets the chance to display their digital ads instantly. If you haven’t adjusted your ad strategy to incorporate programmatic ads, 2020 is the year to do so. 

5. Intent Data

The use of intent data among B2B companies will reach an all-time high in 2020. Intent data provides insight into who is actively looking to buy products and services like yours, as signaled by their online activity and content consumption. According to Target Marketing Mag, while only 25% of B2B companies made use of intent data and monitoring tools in the past year, the number is expected to hit 35% by the end of 2020. Without intent, it isn’t easy to deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment. Aberdeen Intent, however, can help predict purchase intent with up to 91% accuracy. If you haven’t already adopted intent-data, get on the bandwagon now, so you don’t miss the train!