State of B2B Commerce: Spending Up, Technology Rules

B2B sellers have a new focus for 2015: a digital customer experience. Following similar moves in other aspects of business interactions, sellers are putting the customer at the center of their marketing strategy. The challenges remain the same – developing new and better clients – but new research from Salesforce shows customer satisfaction and retention now trumps return on investment when it comes to defining success, and reveals new patterns in where B2B sellers are putting their money to reach business buyers.

To achieve a high-quality customer experience, B2B businesses are spending more. Eighty-four percent of those surveyed plan to increase or maintain their marketing spend this year. Businesses are feeling the pressure to stay up to date on the latest trends and current technologies. More than one-third plan to transition dollars away from traditional advertising methods to digital channels over the next 12 months. Canada and Brazil lead the increase in spending with 95 percent of respondents planning to increase spending. The U.S. fell below average with just 79 percent planning to spend more this year.

What are sellers spending their marketing funds on? According to the 2015 State of B2B Marketing report, top areas for spending include content marketing, marketing automation, social media and all things mobile.

The Year of Mobile

Not too long ago, Forbes magazine declared 2014 the “third annual year of mobile.” Despite the hype, mobile tools are changing the way B2B buyers and sellers interact. Smartphones will soon be the No. 1 way potential shoppers access the Web. The power of mobile won’t be fading anytime soon and savvy businesses are approaching the future with a mobile-first mentality.

The report found 60 percent of B2B sellers consider mobile a crucial pipeline connecting buyers to their goods and services. For an additional 21 percent of businesses, mobile is the primary revenue driver. The majority of respondents (97 percent) plan to increase or maintain the amount they spend on mobile marketing this year. Those that have invested in mobile marketing are seeing returns, with more than one-third categorizing them as solid or significant.

Holiday and event-focused campaigns are the most popular uses of mobile, but welcome programs, exclusive promotions and win-back campaigns were all rated as highly effective by companies currently using them. In fact, of the nine types of mobile activities surveyed, all were rated “very effective” by 80 percent or more of users.

Let’s Get Social

Social media placed a close second behind mobile as critical to raising awareness of seller’s goods and services. More than half those surveyed called social media “core” to their business. The next year will also see bigger budgets, 64 percent of the more than 2,000 persons surveyed plan to spend more on social campaigns over the next 12 months.

Facebook still rules as the most popular social channel used by B2B sellers. Interestingly, it was not chosen as the most effective. Although used by fewer companies, lesser-known sites including Line, KakaoTalk, and Mobage received the highest effectiveness ratings. Of the most used platforms, LinkedIn was rated the most effective. Blogging also received a high effectiveness score.

Defining success in the social space is slightly more difficult. Unlike mobile with its quantitative metrics of traffic, leads generated and conversion rate, social metrics are more qualitative including brand awareness and audience. Businesses are still confident their efforts in the social space are paying off. Fifty-five percent of respondents believe they are seeing positive ROI.

New technologies including mobile apps, location-based tracking and social media all help businesses to craft the one-to-one, personalized experience buyers have come to expect in both their professional and private lives. The key to long-term success will be a holistic, integrated approach.