What Strategies Will B2B Marketers Be Exploring in 2020?

November 15, 2019

As 2019 nears its end, it’s time for B2B marketers to look towards 2020 and determine their goals and the strategies they’ll use to achieve them. In a new report [download page] from Sagefrog Marketing Group, B2B marketing professionals have listed converting leads to customers and increasing sales leads as their top two marketing objectives in the coming year. But how do they plan to fulfill these objectives?

Nearly half (47%) of respondents say they will use personalization strategies in 2020, while another 42% will be exploring account-based Marketing (ABM). Although ABM is still a new approach for some, another report indicates that a majority of B2B marketers have been using this strategy, in some variation, for at least 6 months.

Video marketing is another strategy some two-fifths (41%) of the B2B marketing professionals surveyed say they will try next year. Video was tagged as one of the main B2B trends for this year, so it seems that those marketers yet to incorporate it into their arsenal will do so next year.

Marketers are also planning to use other strategies including AI and automation (36%), influencer marketing (27%) and programmatic advertising (19%). Others are exploring somewhat newer strategies such as conversational marketing (chatbots; 33%) and podcasts or live streaming (22%). And, although B2B advertising spend allocated for mobile has continued to fall short of that for desktop, 17% of respondents say they will try a mobile-first strategy.

LinkedIn Remains B2B Social Media Channel of Choice

Even though marketers are looking into new approaches to achieve their objectives, certain channels, like social media, remain part of their efforts. Indeed, nearly half (48%) of respondents say they use paid social media and have seen ROI from it.

When it comes to social media channels, LinkedIn tops the list, with 86% respondents saying they use the channel the most. Prior research has found that LinkedIn is one of the most preferred channels for content consumption for B2B buyers.

Meanwhile, Instagram is 5th on the list of most used social media channels for these B2B marketers, with only 3 in 10 respondents (31%) using the platform. That being said, Instagram is actually ranked first by respondents among social media channels when looking at engagement, beating out both Facebook and LinkedIn.

The full report can be downloaded here.

About the Data: Findings are based on a survey of 100 marketing professionals.

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