Stepping into 2021, B2B marketers should watch out for marketing trends that will set the company at growth

Marketing has never been an easy job. Marketers were always bound to adopt emerging trends in the field to stay ahead in the race. Even though marketers did their best so far, 2020 made them walk on thin ice. However, marketers managed to survive the global economic and healthcare crisis. Stepping into 2021, let us look at some marketing trends that will leverage the opportunity for B2B marketers to set their company towards growth.

Marketing is all about engagement and gesture. The biggest blow that the Covid-19 pandemic gave was ending both the pivotal parts of marketing. No more face-to-face marketing, live sales pitches and handshakes to seal a deal jeopardized the usual flow of B2B marketing. Fortunately, this did not end the B2B marketers to restrain from their efforts. When all the physical sources were blocked, the B2B marketers turned towards digital solutions to outperform the crisis. Digital content marketing strategies, search engine optimisation and technology-driven strategies are stealing the stage for the past one year. As conventional outbound business marketing takes a backseat, rewarding B2B marketing trends became a necessity more than a choice. Continuing a pattern from the previous year, 2021 will see the ongoing evolution of B2B trends from recent years, and the increasing influence of marketing will make a big impact. Henceforth, Industry Wired brings you a list of top emerging B2B marketing trends that marketers should look out for in 2021.

Dominance of technology and digital marketing

Marketing is stuck in the storm of the global crisis and the industrial revolution. It is up to the marketers to make a fruit out of the provided opportunities. Artificial intelligence has cut a few inroads into the B2B marketing alley, automating strategies with engaging tools like chatbots. Digital disruption is bringing in new marketing ideas like video, virtual events, marketing automation, email marketing, customer data analysis, AI-generated content, expediting repetitive tasks, etc. Today, at least one in five organisations use AI-powered marketing to derive better insights, faster analysis and streamline routine tasks. Digital marketing will be under the limelight in 2021 and marketers who adapt the ongoing change will see development.

Enhancing customer engagement

According to Edelman’s 2020 Trust Barometer Survey, 70% of the respondents said that brand trust is more important today than in the past. People would like to spend more money on products that come from a trustworthy company, even when it is comparatively expensive. This has given a heads-up sign to B2B marketers who worked on bonding customers with their organisation. A Gartner’s Buyer Enablement Survey also suggests that more than three out of four people said the latest B2B purchase journey was very complicated. Solving that challenge doesn’t fall solely on sales, as the lines become increasingly blurry. B2B marketers who untangle the knot, and build customer’s trust and enhance consumer engagement will lead the company towards growth.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) at the core

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused approach to B2B marketing in which marketing and sales teams work together to target best-fit accounts and turn them into customers. In recent years, ABM has taken centre stage in transforming customer sales and success, and generating revenue. Unfortunately, ABM’s adoption was stagnated in 2020 with only 13% of organisations using the marketing strategy on large scale. In 2021, ABM will once again become the centre of attraction for B2B marketers. ABM will attract large amounts of leads to focus on generating revenue, drive customer retention, force marketing and sales to be integrated, not just aligned, etc.

Adopting nostalgia marketing

Nostalgia marketing is bringing a retro feel for both B2B marketers and customers. Nostalgia marketing aims to capture the audience’s attention by tapping into older and more familiar trends from the past, and remarkably, it works well. A research conducted by the University of Southampton has found that nostalgia can actually be good for consumers to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety. Henceforth, 2021 will be the year when marketing leaders participate in nostalgic marketing by being authentic, capitalising on cultural trends and reintroducing a product or service that was discontinued.