B2B marketing trends for 2024-2025

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

ABM is an important strategy in B2B marketing, focusing on personalised campaigns tailored to high-value accounts. Success in ABM relies on building a diverse team with a deep understanding of sales and marketing. These teams require strong communication and analytical skills and the ability to collaborate closely with sales and other departments to align on shared goals.

ABM marketers act as "Chief Marketing Officers" for specific accounts, understanding not only customer needs but also industry trends and sales processes. Their role is about creating meaningful engagements across every touchpoint by delivering consistent, relevant messaging. ABM thrives on a long-term strategy, where annual plans are built to nurture relationships and iterate on campaigns based on real-time insights.

Personalisation

Personalisation is key in B2B marketing. Delivering tailored content at each stage of the buyer’s journey aligns marketing efforts with sales stages, ensuring a seamless and more effective experience. This approach increases the likelihood of closing deals by meeting customers where they are in their decision-making process.

Aligning sales and marketing

The alignment of sales and marketing teams is essential for effective B2B strategies. However, only 8% of B2B companies report strong alignment between these departments, with common issues including poor communication, conflicting priorities, and unclear handoffs. To address this, streamlining objectives and key results (OKRs), and key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial, ensuring both departments work towards the same goals.

Creativity and memorability in B2B

In a crowded marketplace, creativity is critical to making B2B marketing campaigns memorable. Chris Wood, Head of B2B Marketing Strategy at HSBC, emphasised that B2B marketing often loses creativity in the pursuit of sales immediacy. However, creativity remains essential, as B2B marketing is still about engaging people. Innovative campaigns that break away from traditional approaches can help brands stand out. For instance, using modern, diverse imagery in business-related campaigns, instead of cliched depictions, can create a stronger impact. An example given was the representation of business travel being a man in a suit holding a briefcase. This should be challenged by considering using women in campaigns and people wearing more comfortable clothing, as who wants to wear a suit while travelling?

Storytelling

Storytelling is another powerful tool in B2B marketing. Kathryn Benjamin, Director of International Marketing at Riskonnect, highlighted how storytelling helps personalise B2B interactions, making engagements more impactful. Whether through case studies or digital content, compelling narratives allow brands to better connect with their audience and enhance customer engagement.

Customer obsession

Every B2B marketing initiative should start with understanding the customer’s pain points and objectives. Through close collaboration with sales and continuous market research, teams can refine their messaging and provide a seamless, customer-centric experience. Listening to customer feedback and using it to drive ABM strategies ensures a deep, meaningful engagement with key accounts.

Want to learn more about how you can incorporate ABM, personalisation, creativity, and customer centricity into your next marketing campaign? 

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