The main Marketing technology trends for 2017 foresee organisations to begin transforming their delivery models, adopting and sometimes creating innovative technological solutions. Organisations are also likely to witness more evolution in the marketing technology space, with innovations in mainstay concepts and emergence of newer trends.
While some advancements are likely to unfold over a longer time frame, according to Sesha Rao, MD India operations at InsideView, in 2017 businesses are likely to leverage and invest significantly in these B2B Top 5 Marketing technology trends:
- Top 5 Marketing technology trends for 2017 #1: Real-time marketing: B2B customers find themselves more empowered to demand immediacy and convenience: they’re better
empowered to gain knowledge, compare and dismiss a product or service without allowing a single intervention from a sales representative thanks to rapidly evolving search and social media technologies. It is evident then that organisations will continue to invest in sharpening their ability to respond to events and engage customers in a time frame that it can drive a positive business impact. The ability to speedily respond to customers across their life-cycle will prove to be a critical differentiator in years to come. While at present its use is prevalent in B2C segments for promotional, customer experience and customer service activities, B2B players are likely to invest more in using real-time responsiveness in areas such as product enhancements, service deliverability and quicker resolutions to challenges customers are facing.
- Top 5 Marketing technology trends for 2017 #2: Predictive Analytics: Organisations are likely to explore marketing technology strategies that will help them develop responses to anticipated behaviour or customer need. The ability to understand the future outcomes will empower organisations make better decisions as well as anticipate demand for newer products and services. Investments in Predictive technology will enable organisations to be proactive rather than reactive towards customer requirements. It will help B2B organisations focus sales and marketing investments and initiatives on areas which are likely to draw a better response. Organisations will supplement traditional demand generation programs with predictive analytics to bolster lead generation and nurturing efforts.
- Top 5 Marketing technology trends for 2017 #3: Digital Marketing Hubs: Organisations will move beyond automation to drive better context in marketing initiatives and messaging. Digital marketing hubs with their ability to create templated audience profiles, follow and nurture active leads and curate relevant data points on prospects/customers and marketing activities will continue to drive marketing efficiency. Gartner, the world’s leading IT research and analysis firm, remarks:
“Digital marketing hubs will have an impact on the business on par with ERP, substantially contributing to a transformation in the practice of marketing and creating an adoption imperative in almost every large enterprise globally.”
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Top 5 Marketing technology trends for 2017 #4: Personalization: Modern B2B buyers expect B2C like personalization and it is expected that accessibility to solutions and services is made available on the terms and conditions of the customer. Marketers are taking strides to adapt their strategies and tactics accordingly. B2B organisations too are working to leverage technologies that create better access to real-time customer behavioural data to feed into predictive tools. This ensures contextual engagement with multiple buyer personas across different organisations.
Organisations are likely to leverage personalization to deepen customer engagement, drive revenue growth, improve loyalty and retention thereby bolstering customer lifetime value.
- Top 5 Marketing technology trends for 2017 #5: Virtual reality: Leading B2C brands are creating immersive and experiential marketing using Virtual Reality to keep consumers hooked. Virtual Reality could give B2B marketing teams the power to demonstrate the prowess of their product, especially when customers are in the consideration phase. Marketers can put prospective customers through interactive demos that simulate lifelike scenarios allowing customers to experience how the organisation’s product can interact with the prospect’s workflow. The technology comes in at a pivotal time when marketers struggle to stand out in an online environment saturated by content. Virtual reality will enable B2B marketers to unleash their creativity and capture their customer’s imagination in novel ways.
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