Trends Worth Paying Attention to for B2B Marketers in 2017-18

Get Ahead of the Competition With Early Adoption of These 6 Trends

Having success in the B2B marketing field means taking advantage of the latest trends that have been designed to increase productivity, target accuracy, and the overall performance of your campaigns. Over the past year, a variety of new trends emerged that helped marketers accomplish their goals. These trends include such things as executive branding, visual content marketing, and influencer marketing, just to name a few, and they remain valuable tools.

So, with the fourth quarter of 2017 upon us, there’s no better time to start looking ahead and figuring out what the next year will hold for B2B marketers. Here are six trends that will make your marketing job easier in 2018.

#1: Automated Referral Rewards

Referral marketing has been around for some time because it is a time-proven means of increasing lead generation results. But, in 2018, you can expect to hear a lot more about “automated referral rewards.” This practice automates the referral process, which enables it to deliver stronger leads through your existing network because those in your network receive rewards for referrals that pan out. Then, as you convert new leads, those customers will turn into future referrers, and so on.

#2: Account-Based Marketing

Although gaining new customers is essential for a B2B marketer’s success, the real value is in keeping your current customers. Retaining your customers is simply an easier and more cost-effective way of increasing revenue, and this is where account-based marketing comes in.

With account-based marketing, you identify key accounts and refine the data associated with those accounts. Once this is completed, you will be able to engage those accounts in such a way that it improves your relationships with those customers and maintains their awareness about your company. It also allows you to track your interactions with your customers so if a customer hasn’t made a purchase in a few months, you can send an email to them offering them some new, valuable information.

#3: Compound Content

Posting evergreen content on your blogs is the best way to ensure your posts stay relevant long after they were originally posted. This has long been the practice, but in 2018, you can expect changes to happen to the rule of content.

One of the biggest changes is going to be the use of compound content in addition to SEO techniques. Compound content involves publishing more blog posts, incorporating forms in your posts, and increasing the number of interlinks between your articles.

#4: Individualizing the Customer Experience

Giving a customer a personalized experience is not a practice that is limited to B2C marketers. It is also important for B2B marketers, although not many focus on it. This will change in 2018 as more and more B2B marketers start making their marketing solutions more personalized.

There are a variety of tools available that can help marketers create personalized campaigns. In addition, valuable information can also be accrued through focus groups, customer surveys, or simply by taking a client out and having a conversation over a cup of coffee.

#5: Native Advertising

Native advertising is another practice that has been around for ages, although it hasn’t been used effectively for some time among B2B marketers due to the increase in social media marketing. But, in 2018 the practice is expected to enjoy a rebirth.

In fact, Business Insider predicts that by the year 2021, 74% of all ad revenue will be coming from native advertising. As native advertising gains ground, you can expect the prices to drop, thus making it more competitive with the traditionally less expensive social media marketing.

#6: Artificial Intelligence Will Continue to Grow

In 2017, the use of artificial intelligence in B2B marketing was a hot trend and it is expected to keep growing in importance through 2018. Artificial intelligence is valuable because it makes it easier to personalize your campaigns and it improves efficiency across the board. If you haven’t already, then it is time you made artificial intelligence a part of your strategy because it is expected to grow in use by more than 53% over the next two years.

Marketers in the B2B field are continually implementing new and improved ways of enhancing the quality of their results. And, every new year brings with it a number of valuable trends as well as some ineffective ideas. When combined with an in-house program to buy high quality leads for your business, the above six trends are among those you can expect to have a dramatic and positive impact on your marketing in 2018. Start implementing them today and get yourself out ahead of the competition before these trends become standard operating procedure.