Author: Gabriela Streza, Business Development Director, Valoria

If in the first part of the article about the key tactics in B2B marketing we talked about branding and brand initiatives, about how powerful video marketing is and how important content marketing is, we will continue with three other essential areas that it is good to focus on. focus all companies that want to achieve results effectively.

1. Experimentation with emerging technologies

No list of trends in B2B marketing tactics can be considered relevant without paying attention to emerging trends and technologies. These include technologies such as voice search, artificial intelligence (AI), automation of all kinds, chat-bots, virtual and augmented reality (VR&AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT), among many others.

For many B2B marketers, these emerging technologies are incredibly abstract and direct application is not always obvious. In the next period you will see many companies experimenting with how to use these emerging technologies.

Here are some ideas and potential directions for exploration:

• Optimize voice search for self-help devices
• Chat-bots for selling services (in addition to live chat)
• Using artificial intelligence to identify trends and provide additional information to the client
• Use of virtual and/or augmented reality in PR events to give participants a memorable experience
• Integration of emerging technologies into presentations of solutions offered to clients

2. Conversion, not just generation, to opportunities

As B2B marketing matures, it focuses more on not only generating but also converting opportunities.

After blogs generate traffic, some of it can be directed to content that can only be accessed after filling out a form, generating opportunities. But how valuable are the opportunities that are not part of the bottom of the sales funnel? Content can also help in this situation.

Using video materials that bring to the fore the customer references, but also case studies for each type of client or industry can give the arguments needed to make an opportunity to be effectively converted. A good conversion rate will help most marketing executives to justify their budgets received and to show their significant contribution to business development.

2. Personalizing email marketing

Email marketing is a highly relevant distribution channel for B2B marketing. About 60% of B2B marketing specialists say that email marketing is the most effective channel for generating revenue and is also a good way to collect information.

To further increase the impact of this channel, personalization is a real gold mine. Due to the large number of email marketing tools on the market, companies can better measure and predict the success of their email campaigns, and the well-segmented and personalized ones have been shown to increase conversion rates six times, a figure that cannot be reached.

While these are just a few examples of how emerging technologies can benefit from highly effective B2B marketing tactics, many more can be explored by each company that wants to remain relevant to decision-makers in the future.

There are certainly many other B2B marketing trends that are likely to raise customer demands by 2020. The above provides a look at those that need to be considered and applied systematically now, as well as in the coming year.

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About the author

Gabriela Streza has over 15 years of experience in marketing and business development teams of major multinational companies and family businesses in Romania, leaders in their fields of activity. Gabriela graduated from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and has solid expertise in marketing, communication, and business development during hundreds of successfully managed projects Gabriela also has a broad knowledge of public relations and high-quality professional communication in interpersonal communications, organizations and event management to generate awareness of the company's brand and business development. In recent years he has coordinated complex marketing and business development projects involving Romanian entrepreneurs, non-profit associations and multinational companies.

About Valoria

Valoria Business Solutions is a company providing training, consulting and executive coaching services. The company's mission is to transform the potential of teams and organizations into value. Competence, confidence, innovation, and passion are the values that sustain us in everything we do. We believe in people, in their aspiration for personal and professional fulfilment, and their willingness to accelerate their potential. Learn more about us at: www.valoria.ro