During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced the significance of marketing and communications, and we are cognizant that brands and enterprises who invest substantially here will emerge stronger on the other side. With a lack of face-to-face interaction, the traditional B2B model does not stand adequate and has compelled B2B buyers and sellers to go completely digital—thus bringing the need for a transformed marketing strategy at the front. Adding more relevance to the theme, Kanika Mittal, Business Head @ Twitter India and Hitu Chawla, CMO, Microsoft India explore how content marketing is here to stay and thrive for B2B brands.
While a lot many challenges of the pandemic will evaporate with time, a few are here to stay for long. Forrester forecasts that in a post-pandemic world, 80% or more of the sales cycle will continue to happen in a digital or a remote setting. True, sellers and marketers must overcome these hurdles they have never experienced before, but effective engagement with B2B buyers is still achievable. However, doing so necessitates a shift in mindset, as well as the adoption of methods that enable teams to provide the seamless experiences that B2B buyers have come to demand with time.
- Delivery of customised content to the buyer with the right media mix: For B2B buyers, content marketing is critical on the road to purchase. Marketers are increasingly under pressure to break through the content clutter in order to reach the right people with the right messages at the right places—the content and delivery methods must keep up with the pace and aim for innovation along the way.
Marketers must be prepared to provide personalised content that is linked to the sales team’s key ask. It is imperative to ensure that they have access and can customise all approved, branded content in a streamlined way from one location.
Medium is as important as the message—not only does the content need to be relevant, but also the medium of delivery needs to be innovative and engaging to make it appetising for buyers.
B2B marketing is about more than just reaching companies. It is about reaching the people at those companies, and social media is where the full ecosystem of business decision-makers – from the C-suite to the managers that influence the C-suite – form an influential community that B2B marketers can tap into. Identifying the target audience and the relevant content themes aligned with measurable business goals can help scale one’s chosen marketing objectives.
Hitu highlights, “AI and Data Security cover the entire spectrum of responsible innovation fostered by trust for @MicrosoftIndia—it was critical for them to engage and leverage voices of influence on the commercial space to drive a credible share of voice. Global trends like Artificial Intelligence and advancements in the field of cybersecurity have ensured that there are enough and more conversations around the topics and the sub-themes of automation and end-point security. The conversations are driven by decision-makers, industry experts and influencers, opinion-makers, journalists and bloggers, and the general public by large who are readily voicing their …….