B2B Marketing Tactics during COVID-19
B2B Marketing Tactics during COVID-19
It’s been raining misery for all of us since the COVID-19 outbreak. The Pandemic has certainly taken the whole world by a storm impacting Health, Business Sectors, Finance, and several communities. In the current crisis, routine Meetings at the workplace, events, is a BIG NO-NO! Thereby stopping leads and hampering Business growth. During this period, there certainly has been a spurt in virtual communications more than what it was before because visibility is the need of the hour. I Just read an article on how B2B marketers have taken the innovative path and how customer interactions have increased over time than earlier.
Traditional tactics of marketing goes off the picture
B2B Marketing is certainly going through a revolution by erasing the traditional methods like Direct mailing, Events, Public Relations etc. and adopting a more logical way, a method that’s needed right now. Direct Mailing, for instance, is more about approaching the customers Digitally and acquiring permission for receiving one-off mailings rather than saving the address for future campaigns. In short, it’s more about enhancing the audience experience through such trying times.
Digital Platforms on the rescue
Achieving targets during this period of time is going to be a lot more challenging. With the absence of employees at the workplace, Webinars, Live Video chats, and podcasts have taken prominence. The Chair & Co-founder of “ The Business Marketing Club '' Dave Stevens untangles the problem of lack of focus during Webinars and how to mend them by adding Questions, polls, and quick responses during the sessions thereby improving the quality of work. Concerns faced by Video Marketers has been yet another issue as most of the speakers or videographers are forced to work remotely. Scot Jackson, Managing Director ( Through The I ) speaks about introducing a number of techniques that can help improve the image and audio quality by setting up a home studio thereby giving Video Marketing a whole new meaning. Interactions with the existing customers have increased over time since the outbreak, and expert advice states that it’s very important to spread the word about the challenges we’re currently facing.
ABM on a Roll!
Account Based Marketing(ABM) has been on the greener side now as it’s being prevalent more and more these days. Relevant messaging and multi channel communication is what’s needed most importantly now during this period. Dave clearly states in the article of how ABM has risen over the occasion strengthening the relationship between sales and marketing, which gives a sense of togetherness. Organisations that adopt an ABM Strategy are said to bring in a good ROI.
A Shift from Demand Generation to Relationship Building
With demand generation crumbling down on one hand, there has been a surge in customer interactions on the other. According to the Business Marketing club, B2B Marketers are communicating more than what it was before. Now is the time for marketers to be more active and be there for the customers and spread the word about the kind of challenges businesses are being put through. According to Peter Field, this inclination towards relationship building should be a part of B2B Marketing strategies and that short term/Sales deals are not going to be beneficial until and unless there’s a boost in existing relationships. After witnessing a gradual shift from Demand generation to Relationship building, it’s become important to focus on Relationship building because now is not the time for aggressive marketing but about responding more thoughtfully, thereby making a real difference for businesses.
Action speaks louder than words!
Peter Field throws light on the fact of how brands that are capable of protecting and selling themselves saw a sensational growth when a recuperation begins in the industry. Likewise, it’s extremely important to keep the Marketing budgets abreast, which is a soaring concern now for the B2B Marketers as budgets collapse during this time. Right now the focus on traditional Marketing is less and the emphasis is more on building awareness and helping in uplifting other organisations through this trying time. For instance, now Microsoft has even come up with a 6 month offer for SMEs to have the option to use Teams free of charge, B2B Organisations are now making changes in production by making masks and selling them to the (NHS) National Health Service.
Keep an eye on your internal Marketing activity
The outbreak has now opened doors for B2B Marketers in terms of experimenting new avenues to spread the word.
At a time like this, it’s important for the marketers to test new waters by going digital, attending virtual events or adopting different tactics like content or paid search to grow. By adapting to this new normal it not only engages and educates the audience but also enhances the brand name. Dave Stevens the co-founder of “The Business Marketing Club” states that this could be one opportunity for marketers to build better strategic relationships while experimenting with different functions. Last but not the least, It's extremely important to ensure that a business does not deviate from it’s brand statement while working across different platforms.
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