Three trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing

3 trends that will shape the future of B2B
digital marketing
Kevin Gentle, digital strategy director - Labbrand

B2B MARKETING
AIN’T WHAT IT
USED TO BE….
AND THAT’S
AWESOME!
2014 Labbrand No diffusion or reproduction without authorization. Labbrand.com 2

3 key trends for today
1- B2B taking a page out of the B2C book
2- From selling to helping: where the future of B2B digital
marketing lies
3- The decentralization of B2B content creation

Seeing things trough new lenses: B2B
brands taking a page out of the B2C book

The great convergence
Digital is leading to the natural convergence of B2B and B2C marketing
Before: 2 distinct universes
B2C B2B
Diversity of channels content formats
Entertaining
Mass targeting
Hard to measure (dealing with aggregate
figures)
Limited set of channels and content formats
Educating
Precise targeting
Easy to measure (dealing with individual
leads and accounts)

The great convergence
Digital is leading to the natural convergence of B2B and B2C marketing
Now: the great convergence
B2C B2B
Consumer brands now assume the role of
editors and educators
Digital makes advances targeting and
segment of one strategies possible
Digital opens up a new set of metrics that
makes B2C marketers accountable
B2B brands explore new channels and
content formats that were previously out of
their reach
Digital gives B2B brands a cheap, mass-reach
channel
B2B marketing can be fun and entertaining

Examples
3 great examples
Agilent
Using puppets to sell advanced lab equipment.
Maersk
Using photo content to build online exposure with
industry specifiers.
General Electrics
Setting an early example of how to use micro videos to
reach end consumers.

Agilent
Agilent’s puppets promote advanced lab equipment
B2B buyers are normal people. They want
to have fun and a future transaction can
also start with a good laugh.
Agilent understood this when it launched
this 2-minute video that breaks all industry
codes by showing a bunch of lab coat
wearing puppets discussing the benefits of
different brands of lab equipment.

Maersk
From selfies to ships and oil rigs
Instagram isn’t just good for selfies and
food pictures. 2 years ago, shipping and
drilling conglomerate Maersk realized that
it was sitting on a gold mine of beautiful
pictures of its ships and oil rigs in action.
What started as a pilot project is now a
cornerstone of Maersk’s outreach strategy
towards job applicants and industry
specifiers. The pictures serve as an
everyday reminder of the strength and
sophistication of Maersk’s operations.
Today Maersk has over 28k Instagram
followers and 2,1 million Facebook fans.

Maersk

General Electrics
Bite-sized science experiments for all
Back when Vine was still a curiosity,
General Electrics decided to test the waters
with an original creative concept: shooting
entertaining and educational science
experiments that fit into 6 seconds.
The brand called out for fans to send their
Vines with the hash tag #6secondscience
and got thousands of entries that it
compiled on a dedicated Tumblr.

Death of the salesman: from marketing to
helping

The B2B journey
The new reality of B2B buying
Before
Marketing Sales
Print, banner ads,
advertorials
Company material, interactions with sales staffs etc…
Prospect contacts the brand early in the buyer journey. The brand controls the experience through
its sales staff.
After
Marketing Sales
Search, social media, industry forums, 3rd party vertical sites Quote
Prospect contacts the brand after as much as 80% of the buyer journey is completed. Marketing
owns a much bigger piece of the lead-to-revenue cycle.

The B2B journey
The old view of things
Specification Search Shortlisting Comparison Experience
SELL NOT MY PROBLEM
ANYMORE

The B2B journey
The new reality
Specification Search Shortlisting Comparison Experience
HELP CLIENTS MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION HELP CLIENTS GET A
BETTER EXPERIENCE

In an age of complete transparency
and instant search; products are
commodities. Content and support
services are the new differentiators.

Examples
3 great examples
Caterpillar
Making the community of users a key element of the
value proposition.
Adobe
Becoming the go-to source of content for thousands
of top executives.
Philips
Leading the way in lighting education

Caterpillar
Creating value during the product usage experience
A good B2B digital strategy is as much
about customer service as about
communication. Catepillar shows this with
its online community, a forum for
Caterpillar users on which operators can
- Exchange practical information about
product maintenance and repair
- Ask open questions to Caterpillar experts
- Check latest industry news (oil and gas,
marine power systems, construction etc…)

Adobe
Turning a brand into a full fledged editing powerhouse
How does a 30 year-old IT giant jump
onto the digital marketing bandwagon
and maintain its relevance in the era of
social media, mobile and content
marketing? Adobe answered this
challenge through its “CMO Magazine”
portal that is now one of the leading
sources of content (curated and created)
for digital marketing professionals all over
the world.

Philips
Becoming the go-to source of educational content for lighting specifiers
Philips’ vision is to change the way people
view light from a commodity to a tool for
life enhancement. To lead this change,
Philips invested considerably in the
creation of a “Philips university” Youtube
channel featuring lectures from Philips
specialists on topics ranging from
“Lighting economics” to “Additive color
mixing”

One for all and all for one: the
decentralization of content creation

What is a brand’s greatest
currency today?
Authenticity

Content strategy – Before
The old model of content strategy: centralization
Mkt. team
Most B2B brands have a highly
centralized content strategy with the
marketing team or agency managing all
of the brand’s touch points and content.
The focus is on ensuring consistency and
keeping a tight control over the brand’s
online voice.

This model omits a key touch
point
The brand’s own employees

The next step
Empowering employees to represent the brand in the online space
In most B2B industries, experts carry
more weight than companies. The next
step in B2B digital marketing is in
empowering the brand’s own employees
to become recognized online influencers.
Get this guy a Twitter account!

Example
Example: the ambassador program
Labbrand is currently working with one
of its clients to implement the
“ambassador program” with the goal of
turning key employees into recognized
online experts with a following of their
own.
- Identifying high potential employees
- Educating them about the importance of
content de-centralization
- Empowering them with a “content toolkit”
- Assisting them with content editing and
posting

Three trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing

Three trends that will shape the future of B2B digital marketing

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