Big Ed’s Top 10 2009 B2B Marketing Trends

Well I’m glad the last half of 2008 is over. It was a wakeup call to everyone and I’m sure we have all dusted off our “Recession Marketing” Playbooks. If you’re like me you are facing the stark reality of doing more with less in 2009. In that context I thought I would share my forecast for the Top 10 2009 B2B Marketing Trends:

1.      Database Marketing Takes Center Stage: While we should all be focused on enhancing and enriching our databases the need for more targeted segmentation and messaging will put a renewed emphasis on this old tactical area that can be ignored or even forgotten. I predict a renewed zeal on enriching our customer bases to enable more targeted messaging and segmentation. In addition we will need to draw upon our in-house prospecting database more than ever before, and we will need to have the proper tools in place to enable more effective segmentation.

 

 

 

 

2.      The Tipping Point for Virtual Events: We have all been experimenting with virtual events, and most of us have made the ever ready webinar a standard part of our marketing repertoire. What I’m talking about is going one step further and really committing to virtual events where you actually represent a virtual event environment that will integrate a variety of rich media formats. I recently read where physical event attendance will be down by 60-70% this year and just look at the number of companies already canceling user conferences. I would bet companies like Unisfair do very well in 2009. The technology, bandwidth, and conditioning of the prospect experience have all come to a point where virtual events could be the preferred format going forward.

 

3.      Social Media Takes Hold in B2B Marketing: The use of social media will become a more prevalent part of most B2B marketing strategies. It has to be. The value of creating a two way communication channel between you and your customers is too great to ignore any longer. You want an ROI for social media? Here’s one. It’s free, it syndicates your content, it makes you more searchable, it helps you to learn more about your customer, it helps your prospects learn more about you and so on. If I read one more twitter post about how you’re trying to figure out a strategy and an ROI on social media I’m going to shoot myself. Just Do It.

 

 

 

4.      Content Marketing is the Differentiating Factor: At the end of the day when I get asked, "what’s really changed about marketing" , the one thing I say is that in the 21^st century marketing is really about content publishing. We must create content that our prospects perceive as valuable across each stage of their buying cycle. We need to syndicate that content to support thought leadership, brand awareness, and inquiry generation; we must always update the content to keep our SEO high etc. At the end of the day it’s about content. Notice how your meetings become more about topics that you can publish on versus events, and advertising. If you’re not producing relevant value added content for your ecosystem that is searchable and syndicated across social networks you might as well close up shop today.

 

5.      Marketing Automation Continues to Make Inroads: As the pressure to drive operational efficiencies grows for marketers we will be required to look more and more at marketing automation technologies above and beyond just core CRM. I’m referring to those systems (i.e. Marketo & Eloqua) that can define and automate nurturing workflows, implicitly and explicitly score leads, and integrate marketing analytics for a better view of our ROI and conversion rates. The reality is that most companies today that use these systems are really just using the email automation capabilities of these advanced platforms. Most are not utilizing the powerful segmentation platforms that these systems provide. In addition most B2B marketing departments will quickly find that their current level of skill sets will have a hard time leveraging these systems as it’s more about workflow versus pretty graphics. The hard reality will be that you really need a segmentation stragey that is relevant and supported by your data to really extract value from these systems. However I expect these systems to gain momentum in 2009 and by the end of 2010 they will be fairly common and required to be competitive. I will say that more affordable and flexible licensing models will need to be explored by the automation vendors.

 

6.      No Inquiry Left Behind: In 2009 the marketing mantra becomes “No inquiry left behind”. We must all do a better job at managing inquires/leads and scoring them before passing to sales. This process becomes ever more important in a recessionary environment where conversion rates, inquiries, and leads accepted by sales all have to optimized continuously to get the performance we need especially with reduced budgets.

 

7.      The Death of Print Advertising: I’m tired of all the media produced research saying that you really need to optimize both print and online for effective brand awareness. In 2009 with ever less B2B print mediums to go around we will all realize that it’s really about optimizing our content across the buying cycle and driving people back to our website where we will embody our brand experience to build relationships and demand conversion. In short I see most of our awareness mix shifting entirely to online media channels, social media, and context based SEO. Besides how many more books are going to stop publishing and become blogs anyway?

 

8.      Sales Optimization: The best marketing in the world doesn’t matter if your sales force can’t convert. I would expect that more focus is applied to looking at the sales cycle side by side with the buying cycle and asking the question: What is my standardized sales content offering? Sales will need marketing more than ever in 2009 in order to provide relevant selling content and to optimize the sales cycle.

 

9.      Focus on Installed Base Marketing: A tough economy will put increased emphasis on marketing into the installed base customer set and driving cross-sell up sell. In fact if times get really tough the companies that best leverage their installed base for business will survive and thrive. In tough times people buy from whom they know and trust and businesses aren’t any different. If you’re selling tech you’re in for a long haul in growing new business in 2009. Leverage your installed base well and your new business will be whip cream and cherries on top of your demand Sunday.

 

 

 

10.  Green Is In: You may say that this was a trend back in 2008 but I really see it continuing with gusto as marketers realize that there are hard value propositions with going green. Every product management team should investigate if they can do things within their existing technology set that can drive better power consumption, or reduced waste. This can be a big winner in a tough economy, and besides everybody feels good about it.

Comments

[Dennis Shiao]

Totally agree with you about 2009 being the tipping point for virtual events.

In fact, I blogged about that here:

http://allvirtual.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/2009-the-year-we-go-virtual/

[ed]

Thanks Dennis. We're having our first virtual event this year.

ED

[Scott Mersy]

Ed, I found your blog from the DG Specialists LinkedIn Group. Good stuff!

You hit the nail on the head with these trends. Interestingly, #'s 1, 6, 8, and 9 are all within reach with an integrated sales & marketing system. While most marketing automation venfore (#5) do a good job with the marketing side of the equation, they haven't nailed the sales side of the equation (#'s 6 and 9). At Genius.com, we have solutions that include the best of the marketing systems and drive real-time behavioral data in a rich format directly to the sales people who need it. Check out our blog from earlier this year about the dollars lost from sales and marketing misalignment.

http://www.genius.com/marketinggeniusblog/52/wake-up-call.html

Watch for much more from us in 2009 as our solutions align nicely with the trends you've outlined here.

[John Johansen]

Ed,
This is one of the smartest posts I've seen about 2009 predictions. You're right on with both the opportunities and challenges that will face marketers looking at the new landscape.

I've just followed you on Twitter and subscribed to your feed. I'm interested to start reading more of your thoughts.

[Steven Woods]

Ed,
Great post and very good thoughts on 2009. I would agree with your general theme on content, segmentation, nurturing, scoring, and social media being increasingly important. As the buyer becomes ever more educated, aware, and knowledgeable thanks to social media, the marketers that win are the marketers who can provide great content throughout the buying process, and nurture early interest until it becomes true buying interest. As you point out, this is a very different approach to marketing than the creative-oriented approach of yesterday.

[Jeff Bradbury]

Ed, great thoughts for all of us as we head into 2009. I'm 90% with you, only pausing on #3. My question is where do you see social media being effectively used in B2B marketing? I'm completely with you on blogs being a great 2-way communication device, and allowing for cross-posts etc. a great way to boost SEO results. Also, when done in an authentic way build great trust (see http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html for a discussion of this.) And I agree that internal website conversations are a great way to attract and nurture customers (see http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_2way.html for examples.) But broad social media efforts in 2nd Life, MySpace, and others have been terrible failures when used for marketing. In fact, there has been a negative backlash from people feeling their 'personal' space has been invaded by marketers in these social media areas. So where are you seeing this trend take root and which social media tools outside of blogs do you see coming to bear.

[David Reske, Nowspeed]

Great ideas for 2009. The only I'd add it to get more from you web site. We see so many sites that drive traffic, but don't have a call to action. A few simple design changes can easily double the lead flow from a web site. And since these leads are free, there is a VERY high ROI.

[Chris]

Right on point - very well thought out.

Lot's of chatter pertaining to B2C, but good, smart 'reminders' and tips for the B2B set are hard to come by.

Thanks.

Me = Subscribing

[Affiliate Marketing Network]

The use of social media will become a more prevalent part of most B2B marketing strategies. It has to be.

[Online pharmacy]

Great post and very good thoughts on 2009.

[Midlife Crisis]

Only 18% ? I can believe it. this means that a T.V campaign is not a worthy option.

[Asbestos]

I enjoyed reading your blog, is very interesting, thanks!

[Round and Brown]

brands may need to engage hundreds of influencers at a time to have quantitative results that show the impact of their efforts.

[marketing automation solution]

I think B2B companies still struggle with adoption of marketing automation solutions, your point #5. I think we're seeing a trend where more and more companies are using lead nurturing; however, even that adoption is limited. Most lead nurturing techniques today are used for immediate, and personalized, follow up - that's it. Marketing automation vendors will have to focus on adoption plans moving forward.

[Ed]

Good point and thanks for your comment.

[Jake]

I think by adding seals to your website can help durastically!