3 trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing Kevin Gentle, digital strategy director - Labbrand
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B2B MARKETING AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE….
AND THAT’S AWESOME!
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3 key trends for today
1- B2B taking a page out of the B2C book
2- From selling to helping: where the future of B2B digital marketing lies
3- The decentralization of B2B content creation
Seeing things trough new lenses: B2B brands taking a page out of the B2C book
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Digital is leading to the natural convergence of B2B and B2C marketing
The great convergence
Before: 2 distinct universes
Diversity of channels content formats
Entertaining
Mass targeting
Hard to measure (dealing with aggregate figures)
Limited set of channels and content formats
Educating
Precise targeting
Easy to measure (dealing with individual leads and accounts)
B2C B2B
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Digital is leading to the natural convergence of B2B and B2C marketing
The great convergence
Now: the great convergence
Consumer brands now assume the role of editors and educators
Digital makes advances targeting and segment of one strategies possible
Digital opens up a new set of metrics that makes B2C marketers accountable
B2B brands explore new channels and content formats that were previously out of their reach
Digital gives B2B brands a cheap, mass-reach channel
B2B marketing can be fun and entertaining
B2C B2B
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3 great examples
Examples
Agilent Using puppets to sell advanced lab equipment.
Maersk Using photo content to build online exposure with industry specifiers.
General Electrics Setting an early example of how to use micro videos to reach end consumers.
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Agilent’s puppets promote advanced lab equipment
Agilent
B2B buyers are normal people. They want to have fun and a future transaction can also start with a good laugh. Agilent understood this when it launched this 2-minute video that breaks all industry codes by showing a bunch of lab coat wearing puppets discussing the benefits of different brands of lab equipment.
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From selfies to ships and oil rigs
Maersk
Instagram isn’t just good for selfies and food pictures. 2 years ago, shipping and drilling conglomerate Maersk realized that it was sitting on a gold mine of beautiful pictures of its ships and oil rigs in action. What started as a pilot project is now a cornerstone of Maersk’s outreach strategy towards job applicants and industry specifiers. The pictures serve as an everyday reminder of the strength and sophistication of Maersk’s operations. Today Maersk has over 28k Instagram followers and 2,1 million Facebook fans.
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Maersk
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Maersk
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Bite-sized science experiments for all
General Electrics
Back when Vine was still a curiosity, General Electrics decided to test the waters with an original creative concept: shooting entertaining and educational science experiments that fit into 6 seconds. The brand called out for fans to send their Vines with the hash tag #6secondscience and got thousands of entries that it compiled on a dedicated Tumblr.
Death of the salesman: from marketing to helping
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The new reality of B2B buying
The B2B journey
Before
After
Marketing Sales
Marketing Sales
Prospect contacts the brand early in the buyer journey. The brand controls the experience through its sales staff.
Prospect contacts the brand after as much as 80% of the buyer journey is completed. Marketing owns a much bigger piece of the lead-to-revenue cycle.
Print, banner ads, advertorials
Company material, interactions with sales staffs etc…
Search, social media, industry forums, 3rd party vertical sites Quote
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The old view of things
The B2B journey
Specification Search Shortlisting Comparison Experience
SELL NOT MY PROBLEM ANYMORE
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The new reality
The B2B journey
Specification Search Shortlisting Comparison Experience
HELP CLIENTS MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION HELP CLIENTS GET A BETTER EXPERIENCE
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In an age of complete transparency and instant search; products are commodities. Content and support services are the new differentiators.
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3 great examples
Examples
Caterpillar Making the community of users a key element of the value proposition.
Adobe Becoming the go-to source of content for thousands of top executives.
Philips Leading the way in lighting education
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Creating value during the product usage experience
Caterpillar
A good B2B digital strategy is as much about customer service as about communication. Catepillar shows this with its online community, a forum for Caterpillar users on which operators can
- Exchange practical information about product maintenance and repair
- Ask open questions to Caterpillar experts - Check latest industry news (oil and gas,
marine power systems, construction etc…)
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Turning a brand into a full fledged editing powerhouse
Adobe
How does a 30 year-old IT giant jump onto the digital marketing bandwagon and maintain its relevance in the era of social media, mobile and content marketing? Adobe answered this challenge through its “CMO Magazine” portal that is now one of the leading sources of content (curated and created) for digital marketing professionals all over the world.
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Becoming the go-to source of educational content for lighting specifiers
Philips
Philips’ vision is to change the way people view light from a commodity to a tool for life enhancement. To lead this change, Philips invested considerably in the creation of a “Philips university” Youtube channel featuring lectures from Philips specialists on topics ranging from “Lighting economics” to “Additive color mixing”
One for all and all for one: the decentralization of content creation
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What is a brand’s greatest currency today? Authenticity
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The old model of content strategy: centralization
Content strategy – Before
Mkt. team
Most B2B brands have a highly centralized content strategy with the marketing team or agency managing all of the brand’s touch points and content.
The focus is on ensuring consistency and keeping a tight control over the brand’s online voice.
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This model omits a key touch point The brand’s own employees
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Empowering employees to represent the brand in the online space
The next step
In most B2B industries, experts carry more weight than companies. The next step in B2B digital marketing is in empowering the brand’s own employees to become recognized online influencers.
Get this guy a Twitter account!
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Example: the ambassador program
Example
Labbrand is currently working with one of its clients to implement the “ambassador program” with the goal of turning key employees into recognized online experts with a following of their own.
- Identifying high potential employees
- Educating them about the importance of content de-centralization
- Empowering them with a “content toolkit”
- Assisting them with content editing and posting