When was the last time you had to wait for, well, anything? Need an answer to some random trivia question…Alexa! Want that cool gadget trending on whatever tech website…click. Missed the first 10 minutes of your favorite new show…rewind.
We now live in a world of instant gratification, demanding nearly immediate results, 24/7. In terms of expectations and cultural behavior, it’s been a tidal shift.
Thanks, technology.
And while this all but kicks open the door to opportunity, it crushes the old school, linear sales model, especially in the B2B world. That’s certainly not a terrible thing, but it does present a new set of challenges.
As a company, how do you best manage these new “standards” in availability, whether it be communications or resources? Especially when you’re not only looking to maintain your market share but to grow it significantly?
Well, the key to all of this is first identifying your best customer. Knowing who they are, how they interact with your brand and what motivates them to stay engaged is paramount. Like you, their attention is being pulled every which way, up to 10,000 brand messages a day, with offers of faster delivery, better service and more direct, immediate (there’s that word again) interaction. No matter the product or service.
Then there’s the clutter. The relentless clutter of social media, digital advertising and marketing mayhem in general. Trying to cut through the noise might feel equally as daunting, given all of the ways consumers take in information these days. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools at your disposal that can help you deliver a focused brand message through strategic lines of communication.
• Marketing Automation: This allows you to effectively deliver marketing content across multiple online channels like email, social media and websites. It also automates repetitive tasks that push relevant messaging to more people.
According to Emailmonday, “On average 51% of companies are currently using Marketing automation. More than half of B2B companies (58%) plan to adopt the technology.”
• CRM: Customer relationship management software lets you target customers who have already shown an interest in your products, folks who are more likely to stay engaged and help drive sales organically.
Salesforce states, “CRM applications can help increase sales by up to 29%, sales productivity by up to 34% and sales forecast accuracy by 42%.”
• Premium Content: Create digital content that is not only relevant to your industry but is exceptionally informative, often positioning you and your organization as a thought leader. Premium content can be accessed for a fee, but we recommend gathering as much data about your prospective customer (email, title, location, etc.) so you can be recognized as a thought leader and expert for your industry.
B2B companies must think and act like companies who sell to consumers because their customers are faced with same fast-paced media consumption experience.
The saving grace here is you don’t have to do everything. That would be exhausting. But you do have to participate in this brave new world…and be smart in how you do it. Understanding your customers and developing a dynamic plan of engagement will help you keep pace with the ever-evolving expectations of our current cult of immediacy.