What are the current trends in B2B communication? If you know the answers to this question, you can communicate more successfully and better achieve your PR and marketing goals. The challenge: The customer journey is becoming less and less linear. Communication is becoming more multi-layered and complex. Well-informed target groups react sensitively if the brand presence is not consistent or authentic. This gives content marketing and owned media a new relevance, as well as marketing automation and artificial intelligence.
- Content first: With integrated content marketing from content to channel. This often means more audio and video.
- How influencer marketing is conquering B2B companies.
- Only those who know the information needs of their target group can appear as experts and with authenticity.
- Brand values and corporate purpose are becoming increasingly important.
1. Trend: Integrated Communication – Corporate Communications, PR and Marketing become one
“First the content, then the channels” – this principle home owner database is now undisputed. In order to implement this basic content marketing maxim, an integrated approach is needed. This is simply due to the fact that there are more and more ways to get in touch with your own target group and to stand out in the flood of information. Against this background, data PR is an important trend in B2B communication.
Either way: customers and prospective customers must be accompanied with consistent messages throughout the entire customer journey. The example of influencer marketing shows that it is often no longer possible to assign a measure to the area of corporate communications, PR or marketing. What is needed is a rethink and reorganization of communication.
In this context, agencies that either specialize managing tool integration in existing workflows in classic public relations or offer marketing services will have a difficult time in the future. As the current study “The Future of PR” by aclipp shows, 71 percent of agencies already classify themselves as communications agencies with a holistic offering. The same applies to companies: More and more are relying on a central organization of external communication.
2. Trend: Online media is overtaking traditional media
In the future, it will continue to be extremely important to include digital channels in the communications mix. According to the current study “B2B Communication Online Marketing Trends 2022” by eMinded , more than two thirds of respondents (77 percent) are already using online channels such as their own website, social media platforms or apps to arouse the interest of potential customers and generate leads.
The situation is even clearer among the ba leads PR professionals surveyed: online media is outpacing traditional print media in terms of importance. At the same time, social networks are fueling the increasing popularity of audio and video formats. For example, corporate podcasts are more popular than ever before: more and more companies are setting up their own corporate podcasts or using audio and video contributions to position themselves as experts.