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3 MIN. READ
It’s the beginning of a new year and time to anticipate the B2B sales and marketing trends that will shape 2022. While some of these trends have defined the B2B landscape for years, there are some significant shifts to plan for.
Earlier this year, Google announced that its Chrome browser will stop supporting third-party cookies. This marks a major change on the advertising horizon. With Chrome accounting for over 63% of desktop browser market shares, strategies like cross-site targeting will no longer be possible.
Marketers will have to focus on first-party user data and explore alternatives like Google’s new interest-based ad program, also known as Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC).
Marketers and salespeople need to rethink the way they generate and target leads, IndustrySelect remains a source of first-party B2B data. Learn more here developing a first-party data strategy here.
Many organizations saw their risk tolerance drop during COVID-19. As a result, sales cycles have been getting longer. A growing number of B2B buyers experience choice paralysis for fear of making the wrong decision.
A way of addressing this challenge is to invest in account-based marketing. With this approach, sales and marketing teams work closely together. The goal is to deliver a highly personalized experience that will result in a shorter sales cycle.
Setting goals and developing a unique campaign for each account will boost decision confidence. This factor can increase the likelihood of a high-quality purchase by 2.6 times. It can also unlock a higher ROI and strengthen your relationship with clients.
“Hard” and “very complex”' are words that 77% of B2B buyers use to describe their last purchase. B2B buyer journeys are becoming longer and more complicated with more decision-makers involved.
Offering a simpler experience could be a way of differentiating yourself in 2022:
• Go hybrid: By 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will take place in digital channels. Businesses need hybrid salespeople who can interact with prospects on multiple channels to offer a consistent omnichannel experience.
• Use technology: Leverage AI, machine learning, and better data to produce more accurate insights. These insights will help you anticipate and address pain points along the buyer journey.
• Automate where possible: Automation can deliver the right information at the right time to assist buyers during the self-directed phase of their research.
• Keep it personal: Personalization can also simplify the buyer journey. This trend resonates with the rise of account-based marketing.
One important lesson from the pandemic is that being able to deliver remote buying experiences can increase resilience.
During COVID-19, close to 90% of sales relied on tools like videoconferencing or web-based experiences. The rise of digital has been dominant among B2B sales and marketing trends over the past decade, but this trend is now growing exponentially.
Continuing to offer Zoom calls and similar experiences could be a differentiator going forward. We could also see more brands leverage VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). While there is a stronger potential for B2C sales, there are also some B2B applications. Consider, for instance, replacing trade shows with virtual showrooms.
Some organizations are rethinking the role of their product in the sales cycle. Instead of having sales and marketing teams drive revenues and growth, the product itself can play a part in this process.
SaaS providers were among the first to embrace this model, but product-led growth is spreading to other industries and could be a key trend for 2022.
With product-led growth, buyers get their hands on the product early in the sales cycle. The role of the sales and marketing teams is to help with adoption. Their support helps new users get the most out of the product. Ways of achieving product-led growth can range from developing a freemium product with different tiers to offering a free trial.
This model calls for involving sales and marketing experts in the design process to identify product features that will drive sales and retention.
The new year is upon us, so now is the perfect time to embrace change and growth by building a better B2B sales process. Given the B2B sales and marketing trends we have outlined here, we at IndustrySelect believe quality data will be more important than ever this year. See our infographic to learn what makes our data different.
Thanks to our database, we can help you access the kind of quality insights you need to focus on account-based marketing, identify prospects with more accuracy, and deliver a better experience. Sign up for a free demo and start browsing contact information and other data points for over half a million industrial businesses today.
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