Don’t let yourself catch the FOMO epidemic as you take your business into 2018.
“Fear of missing out” is real in the fast-paced world of digital marketing.
But fear not, we’re here to tell you the 7 hot B2B marketing trends that will grow your business in the coming year.
1. Harness the power of influence marketing.
Using any third-party to promote your brand to boost its credibility is called influence marketing. Content from influencers can come in many forms like reviews, testimonials, commercials, advice columns, blogs, tv appearances, online videos, and more.
Influencers come in many forms. They can be experts in your field, other popular brands, and even celebrities. They can also come in the form of ordinary online users.
Customers who become fans of your brand can form an army of ambassadors who can spread great news about your business through online comments and with people they know.
Whether the influencer is an average Joe or a celebrity, if your audience trusts them, they’ll be more inclined to try your business or product. A partnership with influencers can help your business:
- Gain more credibility.
- Stimulate interesting dialogues with your customer base (especially on social media).
- Expand your reach.
Bonus: Learn about how to pitch influencers here.
2. Use website testing & conversion optimization platforms.
Without the right data, you can’t form the right online marketing strategy.
Thankfully, you can find invaluable insights through web testing and conversion optimization platforms. These tools allow you to spot problems, create growth opportunities, and see what your customers like.
Web testing and conversion optimization platforms can give you the inside scoop on the how people navigate and interact with your website. These platforms can run various optimization tests on your website like A/B, MVT, heat maps, click maps, split URL testing, and more.
With these solutions, you’ll get answers to key questions like:
- When are customers leaving your page?
- Where are they clicking and scrolling?
- How are they navigating the pages?
- Why are they abandoning your forms?
- What do your customers really want?
The ultimate goal is to help you optimize your website through the behavioral data provided. You can then alter your content or website layout to better connect with your online visitors.
3. Make your content more personalized.
Personalized content is tailored to your customer personas based on two key criteria:
- What the customer needs
- Where the customer is in the buyer’s journey
According to Hubspot, personalized content (like calls to action) work 42% better than generic content. Customers typically need multiple impressions before making a buying decision, so the more targeted interactions they get with your brand, the better.
Since your customers need content to get information to solve a problem, you could offer personalized incentives like an eBook in exchange for contact info, drawing them deeper into the buyer’s journey. When these contacts are put into a lead nurturing campaign, you can send personalized emails, texts, and targeted ads where you can meet needs in a more effective manner.
4. Use more video content
Video has become a running favorite for users across the web. While images capture more attention than text alone, video holds an audience’s attention even better than still images.
Why?
- They’re shareable. Videos are easy to pass on to friends on social media.
- They’re easy to engage with. There’s no reading or work required to enjoy them.
According to Tubular Insights, Video is projected to represent over 80% of web traffic by 2019. More businesses are getting on board with video marketing, with Wyzowl reporting over 63% of businesses already using it. But before you post an hour-long documentary and think you’re going to gain leads, here are the characteristics successful online videos.
- They’re short and sweet: Video content is more successful when it hits an ideal duration, which depends on where you post it.
- Instagram: 26 seconds
- Twitter: 45 seconds
- Facebook: 1 minute
- YouTube: 2 minutes
- They need text: Since videos are often viewed on silent, subtitles hold a user’s attention because they can be understood without volume.
5. Get on board with social media marketing
Social media has become a powerhouse in presenting content. Customers often use social media to look up local businesses for reviews and engage with their favorite brands. For 2018, your business needs to get on board some popular platforms and start delivering brand-consistent content to your target audience.
Platforms like Facebook offer options to boost and target your ads to your desired customer personas, making it easy to get in the game. The best thing about social media is that regular users can share your content if they like it (psst… video gets 1200% more shares than any other kind of content), which gives you some “free” extra exposure.
6. Have a mobile-optimized website
Google, which processes over 40,000 search queries per SECOND, is switching its algorithm to prefer mobile-optimized websites in 2018. On top of this, more and more internet browsing is being done on mobile devices. If you want your website to be easy to navigate on phones and to also rank better in Google searches, now’s the time to get your website mobile-optimized.
7. Use micro-moments
Users are falling more in love with micro-moments, where only a few seconds of searching produces vital information. According to think with Google, 96% of users look on their smartphones for answers to immediate-need questions. Brands that have prepared these answers have a better chance at showing up first. What kind of questions are the typical users asking?
- Wanting to learn something.
- Looking for things to do.
- Searching for products or services.
What are the best micro-moments? Think first page results. Think Google’s quick answers. Think anything that’s fast and easy to access, scannable, and easy to consume while users are the go.
The answers can motivate buyers to purchase or go deeper into the buyer’s journey. When your business anticipates these questions and answers, you can snag the micro-moment.
Now good luck, and if you need any help with your marketing in 2018, feel free to contact your B2B marketing specialists.
The post Say No to FOMO: 7 B2B Marketing Trends You Need to Know to Grow Your Biz in 2018 appeared first on Sensei Marketing.