5 B2B sales & marketing trends to watch out for

B2B sales and marketing is undergoing a major face-lift in 2016. We are now living in a ‘post-digital world’, where the integration of digital activities has seamlessly and fully become a part of B2B companies.

In this new era, B2B companies are constantly faced with questions like: how can they stand out in a world of endless search results and ever-changing technology? How can companies take advantage of new tools and strategies to make them relevant to themselves and connect with customers? How do they measure the ROI of these digital activities?

There are five key trends shaping B2B sales and marketing.

1. Data & Analytics

This year, data and analytics continue to be key buzzwords among B2B companies. With so many predictive analytics tools, the digital landscape of B2B has changed immensely. Personalised sales and marketing techniques are becoming increasingly important with the growing amount of competition, and companies are turning to data to find out what can give them an edge.

2. Content Marketing

While we’ve seen some great examples of content marketing in the B2C scope, it’s now an equally big focus for B2B marketing as well. Brands are leveraging on techniques like storytelling to overcome the issue of ad-blockers. It’s no longer just about advertising what your product or service can offer, but also about being able to educate, entertain and inform simultaneously on your platform. B2B content marketing is now about creating ‘earned media’ and building a bridge to better customer relationships.

3. Social Media Marketing

Everyone is on some form of social media today – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn; it’s how we stay connected to each other in our personal or professional lives. With the instant nature of social media, it’s becoming more important for brands to keep current with real-time social content. A common reaction from B2B brands is: social marketing – that’s B2C stuff right? Wrong. Companies such as Fedex and Intel have excelled in this area on platforms like Instagram and Facebook and others are leveraging LinkedIn heavily for sales.

4. Mobile Marketing

Consumers now carry a mini computer in their pockets. We turn to our smartphones for information, entertainment and communication more than ever now. It has taken convenience to a whole new level, and B2B companies that fail to acknowledge the power of the mobile screen will lose out on an important group of potential leads.

5. Sales & Marketing Alignment

With all this talk about digitalisation of marketing efforts, it’s important to remember that the goals of both the sales and marketing teams need to be aligned. Some of the ways to overcome this include using methods such as attribution modelling, developing buyer personas and other data and analytic tools. With an aligned focus, both teams can better understand what needs to be done at every step of the lead nurturing process and improve the customer experience.

All this and much more will be discussed at B2B Asia 2016, the go-to forum for B2B professionals in Asia. The conference takes place on 2 September 2016 at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore.

B2B Asia is the region’s premier event on the most current trends in B2B sales and marketing today. It is a meeting point for the industry’s best minds and leading brands to exchange ideas and strategies in a continuously-evolving world in order to adapt and grow. B2B Asia 2016 is the ideal platform for industry leaders to gain insights into strategies and how to stay at the forefront of technological changes.

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