What Has Changed For B2B Marketers and Customers in 2020

This year has mostly been about adopting the new normal; both for marketers as well as for customers. B2B Marketers embraced the shift with more work from home, adopting digital trends, settling for virtual events, making customer care a priority more than ever before and also by creating strategies that are more customer centric.

The change was for everybody out there, whether you are a marketer or a purchaser. Pandemic has activated changes in b2b sales and marketing but most importantly it has changed the way marketers are interacting with the b2b customers.

The preferences of b2b customers have now changed, naturally customers preferring digital solutions; more demand for apps; technology intervention and much more; also changing the buyer behaviour and the buyer persona.

Here are some of the significant changes for the B2B marketer and buyer focus:

Predominant Digital trends:

Due to the social distancing norms, the lockdowns and work from home situation; one thing that came to everyone’s rescue was going Digital. There was an upsurge in Digital even before the Pandemic; in fact, several companies have been investing in digital businesses for long; however the Pandemic has changed the whole perspective of looking towards digital.

Online sales and marketing are now more in vogue and even if there are no face-to-face conversations; email marketing and virtual interactions have seen a significant rise in the trends this year.

Despite the Pandemic and absence of face-to-face sales opportunities; many companies have actually seen a significant rise in sales. And what do you think must be the reason for this victory even in the face of the pandemic- the reason could be the quick grasping and adapting to the changing behaviour patterns and personas of the B2B customers and reconfiguring the strategies accordingly.

Here are some observations of the changed b2b landscape:

• Customers now expect marketers to up their game when it comes to b2b sales; meaning, they expect companies to come up with more innovative practices and better services
• Companies are hoping to use more of email marketing practices to reach the right customers and quickly so
• B2B customers expect marketers to understand their predicament and create better and more alluring offers that will encourage them to reach a buying decision

Lead generation:

One of the most influencing factors for generating leads till some time ago was face-to- face events. With that changed and virtual and digitized conferences and webinars replacing these events; empathy and personal touch in messaging are playing an important role in generating leads.

In the absence of this one-on-one interaction; even the customers are now wanting or expecting connection with marketers and preferring marketing with a personal touch too before taking any buying decisions.

Conclusion:

A lot has changed for the B2B market and while most of the companies and customers have adapted well to this change; some positive trends have also emerged. And only time will tell if the new normal that we all experienced will forever change the way we sale and the way we buy.