With the new year comes the opportunity to look at fresh approaches for B2B Success in the ever-evolving B2B market. These strategies will give insight into the latest customer trends and define ways to be successful in 2020.
Rethink Your Target Audience.
Typically, the purchasing group within an organization is made up of six people. Focus your efforts on the sometimes hidden influencers and business decision makers. Although the C-suite still plays a role in purchase decisions, we’ve watched this team relinquish their dominating voice for the past few years. So, you cannot rely on the C-suite alone to make the sale. Today, more than half of purchasing team are millennials. This shift happened in 2014 and the trend keeps evolving. Prepare to talk to them in their language and by their choice of communication platform. For more information, see Ways to Sell to Millennial B2B Buyers.
Focus on Mobile
The latest statistics show that in the U.S., mobile owns 61% of social media time; a trend that is expected to grow. Mobile has changed our everyday lives, B2B is no exception. According to Google, roughly half of all B2B purchase research takes place on mobile devices at all levels of the buying process. For this reason, your mobile consumer journey must be seamless.
Content: More Than Written Word
Even with all the marketing and technology changes, relevant content is still king. In the B2B world, content creates a meaningful connection with your customers. It provides necessary information, instructions, and instills confidence. Content isn’t just the written word. With the advances in mobile devices, video and spoken word are becoming as important as the written word. Videos conquered B2C and is becoming a game-changer in the B2B space. Providing product and service videos help the customer understand what you offer, how you’re better, and why they need your product.
It’s All About Voice
From your phone to home/office devices, voice search keeps growing and gaining importance. It is vital to understand which role it plays for your business. How can your call center be integrated into the user journey through voice search? As people rely more on voice assistants in their daily lives, they will expect to be able to have conversations more easily with B2Bs.
Although voice search started as a small concept, it is now one of the most important topics in the search industry. The ease to search with voice is second to none, and people cannot get enough of it.
Innovation is Key
Disruptive innovation and understanding how technologies are changing business models is the key to future successes. Evaluate your business model for relevancy to clients’ needs and against competitors to keep track of your business-model health. Look beyond your category. In an age of disruption, threats are more often coming from rapidly changing business environments—instead of from direct competitors. You must innovate in ways that help customers and drive sales.
Use Data for a Competitive Edge
Data is proven to lead successful business decisions, identify essential KPIs, and quantitate business success.
Data collection and analytics is necessary to determine which KPIs consistently deliver on a regular basis. Identify how advanced your current analytics are—from descriptive analytics to predictive, perspective or automated—and evolve if needed. As much as data analytics is necessary, adhering to the big-picture strategy must remain a priority, even if sometimes the data may speak to the contrary.
To ensure B2B success in today’s world, data needs to flow and be available in real time. Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible and acts as a powerful foundation for impending competitive advantage. If you are not yet using AI Data Management, learn more about it.
If you are ready to scale up your B2B data management using artificial intelligence, but lack the cash flow to make it happen, Allied Financial Corporation is here to help you meet your obligations with an accounts receivable loan while investing in the future of your business.
Summary
With these core strategies, get on top of the ever-evolving market and position your company for B2B Success.