A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the 2015 Business Marketing Association national conference in Chicago. Over the course of three days and 39 content sessions, I walked away with an energized view about where today’s innovative B2B marketing is trending. While the sheer amount of transformative ideas was, at times, overwhelming and daunting, I was able to capture seven of the most prominent trends from some of the brightest minds in today’s workforce:
- It’s time to refocus on the customer
Over the past few years, companies have been searching for the next “big thing” in marketing, and between strategy decks, editorial calendars and cross-platform advertising, it seems like the customer has lost its spot as the number one marketing driver. When starting a new campaign, don’t begin with data extraction and strategy planning, start by putting yourself in the customers’ shoes, or better yet, spending time with your customers to learn what keeps them up at night. While our metrics of success have traditionally focused on collecting followers and collateral views, we need to shift that frame of mind to collecting and engaging customers. And not just net new customers, but the attention of existing customers, too; 91% of new B2B business transactions are done by existing customers.
Author Jonah Berger, a speaker at BMA15, did the research about what “catches on” with customers.
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