What do B2B marketers need to know from Technology for Marketing 2023?
After attending the Technology for Marketing expo at ExCel London over the last couple of days, we walked away with so many great ideas on the present and future state of B2B marketing.
Here are our top 8 things that stood out to us from the day that we look forward to applying to our own work and our client projects. Some we are already working on with clients, some took our existing understanding to new levels, but we thought all these were worth sharing:
1. Surviving a “Cookie-less” future
And here we were thinking sunsets and cookies were good things…
With 3rd party data being phased out completely by Q3 of 2024, we have less than 100 days until Google starts to sunset 3rd party data. Sparking fear that we are moving back into the “wild west” of the internet, it is more important than ever to focus on 1st party data.
To help stop the data leak from the funnel, we must start testing solutions today. We should refer to Google Topics API, Google Protected Audiences API (formerly known as FLEDGE) and ID-Graphs to help try and fix the leak. The time is now to start these data experiments to help validate the best cookie alternatives.
2. Influencer marketing strategy for B2B businesses
Influencers only work in B2C, right? Wrong!
Influencer marketing remains relevant beyond the usual B2C use cases of lifestyle & food influencers. Niche B2B marketers continue to see huge ROIs by partnering with the right influencers in a variety of ways – for example, speaking at events, commenting on reports/white papers, featuring on podcasts or appearing as a guest at an executive roundtable dinner.
3. Getting the best out of AI with ‘Prompt Engineering’
If there’s one thing all marketers have in common at the moment, it’s that we’re all trying to figure out how to get the best out of AI.
Prompt Engineering refers to the practice of crafting detailed and on-point prompts to get Generative AI like ChatGPT do what you want it to. It requires training the AI with the commands that works for your business and controlling the output with the quality of your prompt writing. This seems like an increasingly important skill to have for the marketers of the future & present.
4. AI runs on vectors
Vector is the row of numbers through which a word or image is processed by the algorithms that power Google Search, Facebook ads & LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT. It was insightful to understand what goes on under the hood of the AI algorithms and how vectors are the building blocks of Generative AI – by analysing the context of the words. Generative AI is built upon the principle of ‘you shall know a word by the company it keeps’ which highlights how these algorithms work.
5. Decision drivers for B2B brands
The most impactful decision drivers for a customer to make a purchase from your B2B brand came from a study that spanned 2 years, interviewing 3,000+ people across 900 companies in all major regions. The study found that the key decision drivers include:
- supporting with expertise
- integrating smoothly with current process
- having a culture of diversity & inclusion
- being known as a good employer.
- committing to reduce environmental impact.
The performance gap between the winning and losing brands was just 5%, so remember, being good is good for B2B business!
6. Direct mail has turned programmatic
After discussions with some of the exhibitors at TFM23 – there has been a rise in digital programmatic direct mail solutions like Paperplanes & Stannp. Using these platforms, we can personalise the content of direct mails based on our audience’s demographics, firmographics, and even their browsing behaviour.
Some limitations remain in terms of formats that we can use. Most platforms support only A4/A5 letter format, which makes it difficult to send out innovative mails like a multi-pager brochure or printed reports.
7. Make sure your Rebrand has a purpose through CX and UX
Without purpose, there is no “Why” to your brand. We need to look at what the company is doing beyond simply making a profit.
Only by looking into the purpose of your brand can you foster loyalty and employee retention, while attracting purpose-driven customers. By linking this purpose to CX, we can unfold the brand story across all customer touchpoints through emotion-driven authenticity. When we add purpose driven UX to the equation, we can look at brand design with empathy and prioritising our user‘s’ needs.
8. How to convert in the online chaos
Conversions are getting harder to earn through the growing number of channels, content, and competition and reversely with less brand loyalty, trust, and patience. We have now entered the “Age of Distraction”.
We must ensure that our content is not getting lost in the sea of similar content by playing it safe with stagnant viewpoints. But, regardless of any marketing shifts, high-quality user experiences will always be in demand and quality content never goes out of style. Interactive content and tailored experiences will be key to getting and keeping their attention.
We certainly learnt a lot from our peers at the event and it was great to connect with like-minded professionals, discuss potential collaborations and gain insights from leading companies in the digital marketing space. We will be looking forward to applying these learnings into our workflow and help our clients.
Get in touch with us if you found these useful or if you have any questions.
