It’s a story all too familiar for many B2B services companies and manufacturers. The vast majority, if not the entirety, of their marketing budget goes to sponsoring, attending, and/or exhibiting at a few major in-person events, but then the rest of the organization’s sales and marketing efforts are left up to the team to hopefully follow up with all of the new and existing contacts they met.
While some companies are effectively leveraging digital marketing to make the most out of their events, many are failing to leverage digital marketing to stay present in customer’s minds in between events.
Now that the “new normal” means no in-person events for a while, this is a huge problem for B2B organizations that are overly dependent on in-person meetings to make a sale. With so many global trade shows and conferences canceled, or moved to virtual, the need to find alternative ways to engage with customers is higher than ever.
According to a recent global survey from McKinsey, 96% of B2B companies have shifted their GTM model during COVID-19 to a digital approach and 80% are likely to keep their digitally native approach in place even after the health crisis subsides.
As COVID-19 continues to dramatically reshape the way we all do business, there’s arguably never been a more important time for global B2B companies to increase their investment in digital marketing. Whether that means allocating your event marketing budget to invest in multi-channel digital marketing campaigns to target aspirational customers, or simply building out your digital footprint so clients can better research and understand your services online – the time to act is now.
Many of our clients are choosing to see the silver lining in the mass cancelation of in-person events, site visits, and sales meetings. They know B2B business is all about relationships, but they understand that how those relationships are formed and maintained was rapidly changing even before the current global health crisis.
COVID-19 is yet another catalyst for digital transformation, and smart B2B organizations are adapting. Not adapting by simply trying to replicate in-person events on a digital platform, but creating tailored digital campaigns with high quality content that provides real value to customers and a self-serve research and buying experience online.
No matter how mature your organization’s digital strategy is, we urge all B2B marketers to start thinking digital first. Even when the exhibit halls do reopen, we guarantee you won’t be disappointed with your intuitive website with e-commerce and live chat capabilities, or account based marketing campaigns with engagement metrics to identify sales opportunities at key accounts.
