Developments in marketing technology are largely customer driven. Consumer behaviour has been rapidly changing with the rise of eCommerce, and this includes B2B consumerism. Automation platforms, software, apps and social media interactions have led to innovations that use automation technology to streamline operations.
Marketers are relying on more than one automation technology to support their strategy. CMS software has made inventory management, dispatch, logistics, email response, customer service and other core business functions more efficient. Let’s take a closer look at some of the marketing trends that have been amplified by automation in B2B marketing.
Hyper-personalisation
Personalised marketing automation has allowed marketers to take advantage of customer data to do more than send an email with the buyer’s name included in the greeting. Instead, messages with details about specific products or services, offers or opportunities and other customer-directed content are created using data to curate personalised messages.
The next stage of hyper-personalised messaging services includes real-time web traffic analytics that provides you with insights into the recent activity of a visitor, enabling you to send a behaviour-based message or email that starts a conversation about your services. And this is the type of online experience consumers are seeking. Personalised and targeted ads that mean something to the audience that is receiving the information mean more high-qualified leads for you and more satisfied customers.
ML and AI
A recent survey shows that only 17% of marketing teams are known to use machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in personalised marketing strategies. However, the tools can give you a competitive edge in B2B marketing, which is often slow to adapt to new methods. The power of machine learning and marketing automation is predicted to improve, with marketers able to better target audiences with relevant content that secures leads and drives sales.
ML and AI can optimise marketing automation in B2B marketing processes by:
- Improving your lead nurturing process
- Predicting customer behaviour
- Providing information about the performance of products and services
- Forecasting the outcomes of marketing campaigns
The technology can analyse your data and determine simple things, such as the best time to send an email, the optimal time for SM posts and which CTAs are most effective on your website. Leveraging your data to optimise marketing is made easier with ML and AI. B2B merchants can increase customer satisfaction and retention rates, shorten the sales lifecycle, improve conversion rates and generate a higher ROI.
Conversational marketing and chatbots
Conversational marketing has accelerated in conjunction with the presence of B2Bs on social media. And the widespread adoption of chatbots is driving marketing automation in B2B with positive results. Conversational marketing is one of the most effective strategies for B2B sales.
Conversational communication shows customers that the business care, that they are listening and willing to develop solutions that suit customer needs.
Natural Language Processing technologies that are featured in chatbot development will see chatbots improve in their ability to respond to customer enquiries in a more natural way, and directs the conversation towards actual results. The improvements in ML and AI mean that chatbots are increasingly natural in response, giving users greater confidence that they are being heard and responded to in ways that matter to them. Chatbots are a great way for B2Bs to answer FAQs, gather customer details and even direct more complex enquiries to the right channels for a response.
Mobile-first automation
B2B operations are dependent on their ability to connect with busy clients 24/7. People want access to the services they need on their mobile so they can work anywhere, anytime.
- 80% of Alexa’s top-ranked websites are mobile-friendly.
- More than 80% of people use mobile devices to surf the web and up to 70% of web traffic comes from mobile devices.
- By the end of 2021, 68% of companies had already included mobile-first strategies in their marketing plans.
- 95.1% of active Facebook traffic and 57% of LinkedIn traffic come from mobile devices.
A mobile-first strategy is increasingly important for online businesses.
What this means for marketers is that they need to adapt their efforts with a mobile user emphasis—with features like in-app ads, push notifications, and SMS targeting—to increase consumer engagement, retention, and experience.
In addition, a website with a responsive layout that is appealing on all screen sizes and resolutions enables you to keep in touch with your on-the-go clients and improve the accessibility of your services.
The convergence of content marketing and automation
The automation of optimised content is a successful marketing strategy for businesses. Automated services can help marketers to better understand their target market and respond with solutions that improve brand awareness and solidify leads.
Marketing automation and content marketing together are a powerful combination. Using the advantages of the latest in automation, AI and ML and other technologies, B2B marketers can optimise their ROI, with accurate data gathering, recording and response.
Responding to customers with solutions and having conversations that improve research and development are all improved with automation services that can adapt to your website, improve the quality of your platform and bolster your app.
