Commiserating over a cup of coffee recently, one of our customers remarked on the changes she's seen since COVID. She noted how digital transformation has become indispensable, with online ordering and virtual meetings replacing traditional methods. Despite the challenges, she appreciated the increased efficiency and the new opportunities these changes have brought.

Buyers & sellers not only intend to continue engaging remotely, two-thirds choose it over in-person interactions at many purchasing stages.

While the move toward a more digital model of B2B marketing & selling was already on the rise pre-pandemic, it’s exploded since then. “Buyers & sellers not only intend to continue engaging remotely—two-thirds choose it over in-person interactions at many purchasing stages,” according to McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm.

Similarly, B2B buyers are increasingly turning to digital & online channels for their purchasing needs. In fact, they use up to & sometimes more than 10 channels—both online & digital—as part of any purchase, McKinsey & Company reported. That’s double the number of channels & up by seven channels from just a few years ago.

Overall, many buyers prefer these channels. When asked what they wanted most from their sales reps, one executive stated, “Please stop asking to meet with me in person. I’m busy enough as it is.” Other executives like the fast, easy access to their suppliers’ product and subject matter experts via remote engagement. As another executive observed, “I no longer need to wait three months for a date when everyone can travel to the same spot at the same time. I can speak with experts more often and on shorter notice.” Sales teams are also growing more comfortable with a remote-first model, McKinsey & Company continued. Thanks to enhanced connectivity, they realize that digital engagement works just as well.

For B2B marketing, LinkedIn recommends several key digital strategies & formats.

Blogs: Regularly updated blogs provide organic visibility while driving inbound traffic to sites; at the same time, they can accommodate different content types & formats.

Search: SEO best practices change as often as Google’s algorithm (i.e., a lot)—making this a challenging space to navigate. Still, any B2B marketing strategy needs to account for it. Lately, the focus has been shifting away from keywords & metadata and more toward searcher intent signals.

Social Media: Both organic & paid versions should be in the mix. Since social networks allow for reaching & engaging prospects where they’re active, B2B buyers increasingly use them to research potential vendors.

Whitepapers, eBooks & Infographics: Standalone assets containing valuable information, these downloadable documents can either be gated (requiring users to provide contact information for access) or ungated. They often serve as a B2B lead generation tool.

eMail: Despite spam filters & inbox overload, emails aren’t going anywhere.

Video: A driving force behind many successful B2B strategies, it applies to several categories (including blogs, social media & emails).

Podcasts: Embraced by business owners & founders, podcasts are increasingly gaining favor in B2B marketing. Got a podcast geared toward a professional audience? Grow your listening audience by marketing your podcast accordingly.

Ultimately, artificial intelligence will continue as a key resource for all kinds of B2B digital marketing. “Once seen as an incredibly complicated technology for enhancing projects, AI is now embedded in a plethora of marketing tools. It should form a part of how businesses balance engagement, scalability & automation,” noted Forbes. “As AI technology becomes more accessible, it will help with everything from target audience research to content creation & lead generation.”

For more information on how Vista Partners can help your company’s B2B marketing efforts remotely, explore their services here: https://VistaPartners.biz