TLDR:
Trends in B2B marketing that will develop in the near future as 2019 progresses are heavily mixed up with Account-Based Marketing.
Improvements in technology and the methodology by which to keep it in check have been in the spotlight this past year as it grew by leaps and bounds. For marketers and advertisers specifically, 2018 was getting ready to bring Account-Based Marketing from a specialized marketing function to the attention of the mainstream.
That said, nobody will know for certain what this budding new year will blossom into, but certain predications can be made from existing trends. One of these patterns that developed is personalization. And while personalization is not sensational by any stretch of the imagination, the way personalization is occurring is new.
More specifically, personalizing at the individual level, prompted by certain business development practices, such as ABM, support the new buyer’s journey. This is a journey made by a collection of individuals—each journey is user-specific—but the buying decision is made as a team. By serving personalized ads to each member of the buying team, a business stands a much better chance of success.
But not to mislead, ABM is not a new practice—it’s been around for a while now. The success of ABM is heavily dependent on getting access to the right data. This is especially true of programmatic ABM efforts. Due to the fact that programmatic ABM isn’t as resource-draining as 1:1 ABM because investment in programmatic ABM doesn’t require extraordinary amounts of resources to be successful— minimal investment for the best outcomes.
Speaking of providing the most for each thing a customer spends, they are beginning to expect to get something in return for their data. If a customer won’t get anything for giving out their data, why should they share it? For 2019, companies can expect to begin to clearly articulate exactly what they are giving to customers in exchange for their data.
Providing data will help businesses build a 360° view of customers. Companies that use ABM can’t be successful without a complete perspective of customers. Getting that Account-Based identity across all channels used can assist businesses looking to get the big picture of their customers.
Original article from MarTech Series on 21 February 2019.
