The beginning of 2020 was quite good for the manufacturing sector, with the fastest growth of the past year and great prospects. But by May, the world had changed completely. COVID-19 pandemic caused turmoil throughout the sector. April and May saw the biggest drop in production since 2009.
Businesses continue to be exposed to risks: the constant volatility of costs, politics, and the effects of the pandemic. But in the face of uncertainty, rather than stopping progress, the crisis has in many ways accelerated it.
We've already written about the possible changes in Manufacturing after the pandemic and the main reasons why B2B needs Digital Marketing.
This article is our general thoughts about the Digital Marketing trends for 2021 based on what was popular this year, what is only becoming popular, and, of course, statistics and research. These are not one-fits-all steps to make your Digital campaign successful in the coming year. These are the most important and profitable directions to pay attention to when planning your marketing strategy.
B2B to D2C focus shift
The movement toward digital commerce and self-service options in the B2B space is part of a broad industry shift to online and "on-demand" model that has gathered strength over the past couple of years.
Reorienting operations to be more digital provides relevance during a pandemic, but also provides a platform for companies to stay at the forefront of the buyer-supplier relationship.
And one of the most popular initiatives in the manufacturing space is the launch of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) offerings. The shift from the B2B model to the D2C model offers a number of attractive advantages.
Improved margins
D2C allows manufacturers to sell at a retail price rather than wholesale, increasing profits from each product. The important point is not to eliminate resellers. D2C is a support channel because resellers are still very helpful in discovering your products. If done well, D2C expands the audience through broader channels, increasing sales numbers rather than absorbing current B2B customers.
Faster time to market
Rather than struggling with the long traditional retail sales cycle, manufacturers can quickly prototype, test, and market products.
More accurate customer data
Selling directly to consumers allows manufacturers to collect customer data that can ultimately lead to better products, stronger relationships, and more sales. Everything can be measured and optimized since you own your e-commerce sales.
To effectively sell directly to consumers, you need to choose a platform for e-commerce operations. The ideal platform should provide order fulfillment and tracking, secure payments, customer service management, sales and marketing activity tracking, and a complete picture of all your B2B and D2C customer interactions.
Personalized Relationships with Customers
Brands are more likely to invest in more honest relationships with customers.
Companies have always been looking for new ways to exist in the eyes of their customers, not only as a product manufacturer but also as influencers.
They wanted to be experts in many fields, tried to get involved politically, but now it's time for them to just be friends with their customers.
The pandemic of distrust of mainstream information has left them little choice. The only way to gain customers’ trust is to get close to them.
Brands that survive and become successful are not always the best prepared with the most secure supply chains. They often survive because they are deemed necessary. They live because customers want them to live. They will think of buying your product as their responsibility.
Marketing message
Focus on emotions, not just raw data. Don't send them a message like, "Become cool like our team," but rather, "Let's become cool together."
It's like showing a heartwarming message in a chocolate ad instead of the chocolate itself. Or zero professional athletes in sportswear commercials.
Right now, all COVID-related marketing materials are starting to look the same and look disingenuous because of it.
Relationships take time and effort, but they will eventually pay off and help your company overcome whatever reality throws at you.
And thanks to widely available technology, it's more possible than ever to give your customers a personalized experience. With smart personalization engines embedded in marketing and sales activities, you can recognize customer intent, which can lead to a 15% increase in average profits.
And there’s the other side of it — personalization has gone from an added benefit to an expected feature for any experience. 33% of customers abandoned businesses last year because they lacked personalization. So today this is a necessity, not a nice-to-have feature.
Video content promotion
Video has become the dominant content. Research estimates that by 2022, online video will account for more than 82% of all consumer Internet traffic — 15 times more than in 2017.
A colossal 70% of B2B buyers and researchers watch videos all the way to purchase, and video content marketing will only continue to expand in 2021.
If you think about it from a buyer's perspective, it's more convenient for them to watch an informative video that explains everything they need to know in 2-3 minutes. It's definitely better than flipping through article after article to find the solution they're looking for.
Video blogs, team presentations, product or service demonstrations, explanations, tutorials, and customer success stories are just some of the smaller videos that B2B marketers should invest in.
Users generating content for you
Because we live in a world of content producers, everyone is a content producer. Every one of your customers is also a content producer of sorts. People like to create things and share them with others -- that's where user-generated content comes from. Just offer users an incentive to create something on their own.
Everyone knows about the guy on the skateboard with Ocean Spray juice and how it boosted the company's stock price. But that's just an example — you need to choose something that makes sense to you.
It could be your product reviews, testimonials, photos, hashtags, or how-to videos-if you give people an incentive, they'll be willing to create content for you. As with videos, webinars, and podcasts, this is a content marketing strategy that can certainly expand your bandwidth.
For you to decide
That's it, those are the major digital marketing trends to consider for the B2B sector in 2021. Of course, there are many other B2B marketing trends that are likely to gain traction, and a whole bunch more will come and go. But the most profitable ones, in many ways, are up there. And by far the most important aspect to keep in mind is the focus on personalization. If you don't offer the same level of personalization as your competitors, it can set you apart for all the wrong reasons.
If you think you're ready for 2021 and your digital marketing strategy is steady as a rock, we hope this article makes it even better. If you have questions about digital marketing, want to tweak your existing strategy, or even start one from scratch — drop us a line, we will help you out.
