Three trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing

3 trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing Kevin Gentle, digital strategy director - Labbrand

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B2B MARKETING AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE….

AND THAT’S AWESOME!


3 key trends for today

1- B2B taking a page out of the B2C book

2- From selling to helping: where the future of B2B digital marketing lies

3- The decentralization of B2B content creation

Seeing things trough new lenses: B2B brands taking a page out of the B2C book


Digital is leading to the natural convergence of B2B and B2C marketing

The great convergence

Before: 2 distinct universes

Diversity of channels content formats

Entertaining

Mass targeting

Hard to measure (dealing with aggregate figures)

Limited set of channels and content formats

Educating

Precise targeting

Easy to measure (dealing with individual leads and accounts)

B2C B2B


Digital is leading to the natural convergence of B2B and B2C marketing

The great convergence

Now: the great convergence

Consumer brands now assume the role of editors and educators

Digital makes advances targeting and segment of one strategies possible

Digital opens up a new set of metrics that makes B2C marketers accountable

B2B brands explore new channels and content formats that were previously out of their reach

Digital gives B2B brands a cheap, mass-reach channel

B2B marketing can be fun and entertaining

B2C B2B


3 great examples

Examples

Agilent Using puppets to sell advanced lab equipment.

Maersk Using photo content to build online exposure with industry specifiers.

General Electrics Setting an early example of how to use micro videos to reach end consumers.


Agilent’s puppets promote advanced lab equipment

Agilent

B2B buyers are normal people. They want to have fun and a future transaction can also start with a good laugh. Agilent understood this when it launched this 2-minute video that breaks all industry codes by showing a bunch of lab coat wearing puppets discussing the benefits of different brands of lab equipment.


From selfies to ships and oil rigs

Maersk

Instagram isn’t just good for selfies and food pictures. 2 years ago, shipping and drilling conglomerate Maersk realized that it was sitting on a gold mine of beautiful pictures of its ships and oil rigs in action. What started as a pilot project is now a cornerstone of Maersk’s outreach strategy towards job applicants and industry specifiers. The pictures serve as an everyday reminder of the strength and sophistication of Maersk’s operations. Today Maersk has over 28k Instagram followers and 2,1 million Facebook fans.


Maersk


Maersk


Bite-sized science experiments for all

General Electrics

Back when Vine was still a curiosity, General Electrics decided to test the waters with an original creative concept: shooting entertaining and educational science experiments that fit into 6 seconds. The brand called out for fans to send their Vines with the hash tag #6secondscience and got thousands of entries that it compiled on a dedicated Tumblr.

Death of the salesman: from marketing to helping


The new reality of B2B buying

The B2B journey

Before

After

Marketing Sales

Marketing Sales

Prospect contacts the brand early in the buyer journey. The brand controls the experience through its sales staff.

Prospect contacts the brand after as much as 80% of the buyer journey is completed. Marketing owns a much bigger piece of the lead-to-revenue cycle.

Print, banner ads, advertorials

Company material, interactions with sales staffs etc…

Search, social media, industry forums, 3rd party vertical sites Quote


The old view of things

The B2B journey

Specification Search Shortlisting Comparison Experience

SELL NOT MY PROBLEM ANYMORE


The new reality

The B2B journey

Specification Search Shortlisting Comparison Experience

HELP CLIENTS MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION HELP CLIENTS GET A BETTER EXPERIENCE


In an age of complete transparency and instant search; products are commodities. Content and support services are the new differentiators.


3 great examples

Examples

Caterpillar Making the community of users a key element of the value proposition.

Adobe Becoming the go-to source of content for thousands of top executives.

Philips Leading the way in lighting education


Creating value during the product usage experience

Caterpillar

A good B2B digital strategy is as much about customer service as about communication. Catepillar shows this with its online community, a forum for Caterpillar users on which operators can

-  Exchange practical information about product maintenance and repair

-  Ask open questions to Caterpillar experts -  Check latest industry news (oil and gas,

marine power systems, construction etc…)


Turning a brand into a full fledged editing powerhouse

Adobe

How does a 30 year-old IT giant jump onto the digital marketing bandwagon and maintain its relevance in the era of social media, mobile and content marketing? Adobe answered this challenge through its “CMO Magazine” portal that is now one of the leading sources of content (curated and created) for digital marketing professionals all over the world.


Becoming the go-to source of educational content for lighting specifiers

Philips

Philips’ vision is to change the way people view light from a commodity to a tool for life enhancement. To lead this change, Philips invested considerably in the creation of a “Philips university” Youtube channel featuring lectures from Philips specialists on topics ranging from “Lighting economics” to “Additive color mixing”

One for all and all for one: the decentralization of content creation


What is a brand’s greatest currency today? Authenticity


The old model of content strategy: centralization

Content strategy – Before

Mkt. team

Most B2B brands have a highly centralized content strategy with the marketing team or agency managing all of the brand’s touch points and content.

The focus is on ensuring consistency and keeping a tight control over the brand’s online voice.


This model omits a key touch point The brand’s own employees


Empowering employees to represent the brand in the online space

The next step

In most B2B industries, experts carry more weight than companies. The next step in B2B digital marketing is in empowering the brand’s own employees to become recognized online influencers.

Get this guy a Twitter account!


Example: the ambassador program

Example

Labbrand is currently working with one of its clients to implement the “ambassador program” with the goal of turning key employees into recognized online experts with a following of their own.

-  Identifying high potential employees

-  Educating them about the importance of content de-centralization

-  Empowering them with a “content toolkit”

-  Assisting them with content editing and posting

Business

Three trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing