Where to start? Well, social media has continued to engulf the world of B2C marketing over the course of 2011 and many are predicting a similar trend in the B2B sector in 2012. A survey of 300+ B2B marketers indicated 29% would increase marketing spend on Facebook next year, with 25% saying social media is a vital arena for customer relations. Social media sites are also doing all they can to encourage business investment: Google+ recently unveiled its first branded pages, Twitter now offers bespoke pages to businesses and, only last week, Facebook announced they plan to expand their subscribe feature.

Another area of growth in 2011 has been content marketing. Research from the Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) suggests B2B content marketing initiatives have increased by 25% and now account for a third of the industry. The B2B marketing industry is valued at £880 million and B2B content marketing initiatives add up to £290 million. Commenting on the rise of content marketing in the B2B sector, Julia Hutchison, COO at the APA, said, “The B2B sector has taken content marketing to its heart. No other form of marketing allows the opportunity to engage with prospects and customer for as long and as deeply, making it the ideal vehicle for the complex messaging that B2B companies often have.” Clearly content marketing is on the up: the APA study predicts a growth rate of 10% in 2012.

Finally, 2011 has witnessed the continued rise of the ‘second screen’, although research suggests it has yet to fully penetrate the B2B market. A survey of B2B marketers stated that 34% had no plans to increase investment in mobile programmes, with only 24% planning to build apps. Nevertheless, with more and more people consuming media on the move, I expect there is more to come from the mobile market and we will see it play a larger role in the B2B sector in 2012.

B2B marketing has certainly evolved. No longer can we approach digital media with one strategy – there are now a variety of platforms with which to engage our customers. As we enter the New Year, we must not sit back, blindly broadcasting on all channels, without consideration. Indeed, one thing that will remain the same is the challenge to intelligently analyse data in order to get the right messages to the right customers, at the right time. And that should be a New Year’s resolution for every business.

Richard Lloyd

There is no need to explain the significance of Christmas to consumer marketers – but are we missing a trick by not getting as involved as we could in the B2B sector? Albeit a traditionally quiet period for the B2B sector, Christmas does offer the chance for brands to benefit by associating themselves with the holiday. Christmas is seen as a time of goodwill after all, and by connecting your brand with the season it can give your company a much needed boost.

Firstly, and in the simplest terms, Christmas is an important period for networking. The festive season provides a great opportunity for getting your brand noticed, and for the right reasons. An act of charity, hosting a Christmas party advertised on LinkedIn, or even producing an inspired Christmas card that advertises your business’ expertise can boost perception and lead to increased sales.

B2B brands should also be proactive during the festive period; running seasonal offers can help boost sales at an otherwise sluggish time. These can be advertised alongside Christmas e-cards sent to clients, or as part of an online campaign celebrating the season of goodwill. Christmas inevitably drives more consumers to social media, and festive-themed marketing can be highly effective at establishing an emotional connection with consumers.

The festive season provides an opportunity not to be scoffed at by the B2B sector – with people winding down for the year and getting into the Christmas spirit, your good will is bound strike a chord.

Graham Sharp

However, whilst incentives are widely used to draw in customers in the consumer retail sector, are they underused in the B2B environment? Are they seen as a gimmick that can not translate to the more formal world of B2B marketing?

Well if this is the case, the Australians certainly aren’t listening. The Queensland Tourism Board has launched a new incentive-driven marketing campaign that encourages businesses around the world to compete for a five-star adventure holiday. The Million dollar memo challenges companies to produce a short video explaining why they deserve to be flown to the tropical paradise and why they think Queensland is the ultimate tourist destination. The video entries will be uploaded online for the public to view and vote for their favourite.

There is no doubt this will create buzz, with businesses around the world clamouring to win the free holiday. But the scheme will also give the Tourist Board a valuable insight into their customers’ desires and motivations.

This incentive scheme comes after the phenomenal success of The Best Job in the World campaign that Queensland Tourism ran in 2009, offering the enviable position of caretaker on a tropical island off the coast of Queensland. Over 34,000 people applied, massively increasing awareness of Queensland as a tourist destination.

However, not all incentive campaigns have to be so far-reaching. In a markedly more simple idea, Fiat Professional will be giving away free fuel and bacon rolls to all business customers who test drive the Doblò Cargo. Fiat explained, “We’re always hungry for more customers to get behind the wheel and try it for themselves” – and, with the offer of a free bacon sarnie, they surely won’t be short of visitors.

Incentives offer a reasonably low cost and effective method of connecting with your customers. The main investment is research; looking at your marketing data and understanding the desires and needs of your customer. In the case of Fiat Professional, fuel and a bacon roll seem a good fit for business customers who spend most of their time on the road, without the luxury of cafes and eateries on their doorstep.

So maybe there is a place for incentives in the B2B sector. What more could you ask for? Well, I do like brown sauce with my bacon. . .

Graham Sharp

We have witnessed an explosion in B2C taking advantage of mobiles to connect to their audiences, for example, opted-in users of O2 Media has increased to 6 million. But mobile remains a somewhat untapped resource for B2B marketing professionals and movement into this realm is essential over the coming years. Reports estimate that companies are to spend $56 billion on mobile web marketing by 2014 and that access to the internet from mobile devices will surpass stationary access by 2015.

So to stop B2B from being left behind it is imperative that we take advantage of this channel to target businesses – and there are numerous ways we can do so.

Mobiles are used daily by professionals in business to fulfil their business needs, so by using mobile marketing we can target these professionals and make accessing B2B services easier – helping professionals work smarter, faster and better. Take apps for example; they are an excellent tool to draw in your customers and improve the ease of use of your services. Here are some great examples of B2B campaigns which have successfully incorporated mobile apps:

Egencia
This app is aimed entirely at business traveller. Positioned as the ‘ultimate business travel companion’, flight and destination alerts, online check-in, maps and customer support are always a touch away to help you travel more smartly and safely.

Dealer portal mobile app by Auto Trader
All auto trader dealers are able to advertise new stock, view and update existing stock details (including uploading new images) and get pricing and profit margin info about a car. This enables businesses to work directly with one another from their mobiles.

Visual Sales pipeline
This productive app enables professionals to view, track and act on their pipeline deals whilst away from the office using their mobiles.

Mobile marketing allows you to target and reach key decision makers immediately and intimately, but whether you use SMS or apps, as with any form of marketing, its effectiveness and success relies upon it being relevant and targeted towards the recipient’s individual needs.

Lastly, remember to ensure that your website is compatible with mobile devices. Many potential clients will work from their mobiles on the go; as such, having a website which is optimised greatly improves the user experience and, more importantly, the perception of your brand.

Richard Lloyd

As more B2C marketers home in on Facebook as their main way of connecting with their consumers online, the question remains: can Facebook be as effective for B2B marketers?

According to Circle Research’s latest B2B Marketing Benchmark Report, based on a survey of 274 client-side B2B marketers, it’s still early days for B2B social media: 78% of companies might be using it, but only 25% of them appear to have a clear strategy in place. So what are the issues currently facing B2B Facebook users?

1. Private Experience: The main worry is that users consider the whole experience to be somewhat private – a personal, friend-based channel. As such, using it for B2B marketing would blur professional and personal lives.

2. Contacting audience: Unless the B2B company has a pre-existing communications channel, it is difficult to drive traffic towards the Facebook page and engage with consumers.

3. Negative Reputation: Making a Facebook page for the sake of it can be more detrimental to your business’ reputation than not having one at all. If walls are littered with consumers’ complaints, this could dissuade others from approaching your business.

However, there are also increasing opportunities for B2B to use Facebook:

Become an industry resource
Businesses can even become industry resources by updating their pages regularly with the latest news, which will drive traffic, raise awareness and increase business opportunities.

Create a platform to direct sales and support
Facebook has many apps that can be used as marketing tools. For example, adding tabs which direct consumers straight to buying your products or services can increase sales; additionally it can create buzz around items sold, displaying who bought them and which are popular. Or you can even use apps such as Get Satisfaction, which enables businesses to provide customer support via Facebook.

Add Personality
We often need to be formal in business, but Facebook provides a platform where you can be more light-hearted. Having personality on your page is essential and can be easy to do with use of photos, videos and interesting, quirky snippets about the company’s employees. Also, the personal, peer-to-peer marketing and creativity Facebook affords is almost impossible to duplicate on B2B site, LinkedIn.

Strengthens campaigns
Facebook can be used to enhance a business’ current marketing efforts – documenting the movement of campaigns can help organisations maintain consistency of their messages to their communities.

Overall, if used in the right way, Facebook can be a tool for driving lead generation, SEO, enhance community, public and media relations; recruit; improve customer relations; reinforce trust/credibility; and networking.

But it’s crucial to remember, as Philly Burbs puts it: “it’s ‘social’ media, not ‘marketing’ media”.

Graham Sharp