The mobile world gets bigger and bigger every year and there is no surprise that the digital marketing budget allocated by small and large businesses alike will increase in 2017. In the US, the digital marketing spending is expected to hit approximately $77.4 billion in 2017. Moving from TV and offline marketing to digital marketing is probably the biggest marketing trend of the last decade and it won’t to go anywhere so all companies should be ready to create and implement strong digital marketing strategies in 2017. However, as always, there are some differences between B2B marketing trends and B2C marketing trends. B2B marketers tend to focus more on logic and less on emotions, they use professional jargon when they communicate on their blogs or through specific media outlets and they try to prove their expertise rather than offer deals and fun promotions. Even though these techniques work, more and more B2Bs marketing experts create strategies that incorporate some classic B2C strategies. This is probably the most interesting marketing trend that will be followed in the next couple of years.
But besides these general tendencies, there are other trend predictions for B2B marketing in 2017 that include trends that will continue to develop. From email and content marketing to marketing automation and specific focus on personalized customer experiences and loyalty programs, B2B marketing is changing fast and marketers have to adapt their strategies in order to create successful campaigns.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing is not going anywhere, email campaigns are here to stay, they just need a facelift from time to time. In 2015, 67% of people who use email for business or personal purposes read their emails from mobile devices and this consumer behavior continued in 2016 and will also continue to grow in 2017.
Marketers need to create mobile friendly email campaigns with quick loading time and to personalize their emails for their audience. Automation makes the entire process easier so marketers can focus on design and content writing for great results.
Content Marketing & Video Content
There is no secret that Google loves good content and hate spammers and black hat SEO. With the changes in its algorithms Google managed to create a pro-quality online world that encourages marketers to invest in content writing. Content marketing was an obvious trend in 2016 that will surely continue in 2017.
Also, creating interactive content with videos, infographics, podcasts, slideshows and similar types of content will become mandatory with all the apps and programs that allow marketers to produce interactive content at a low cost. Videos are great for Q&As but there can also be an amazing chance to create stories and tell them through video episodes. Story telling will never die, marketers just need to adapt it to the new marketing trends.
Live streaming and podcasts are other amazing opportunities marketers will have to take advantage of in 2017 in order to build strong relationships with their customers and target audience.
Marketing Automation
Marketing apps will become more popular in 2017 and more companies and marketing agencies will incorporate them into their marketing strategies in order to be able to provide faster services and to connect easily with their potential clients. With the help of web apps, marketers can add calculators and estimators to their websites or create interactive pages. Having these useful additions to their websites, B2B companies will convert more leads into sales. In the B2B world, apps will also be very useful tools for events, networking and trade shows.
Personalized Customer Experience & Loyalty Programs
B2B companies depend on client relationships so creating amazing experiences to increase the level of satisfaction is just a normal day in the life of a B2B business. However, in 2017, companies will focus more than ever on generating a unique, positive buying experience. Generating positive reactions from clients lead to referrals and, in the end, to new clients because another form of marketing that will never die is, of course, word of mouth. Existing clients can become the best promoters of a brand if their experience with a company is amazing so marketers will also have to focus on creating loyalty programs and to engage with their clients on a regular basis to build relationships that will make clients more than happy to spread the word their company.