It's already mid-January, and many of us are still focusing on what we need to accomplish in the first quarter, much less figuring out our goals for the entire year. Like it or not, time moves fast and so do market needs and market trends. To keep up with the pace, today and tomorrow, Promotional Consultant Today shares these 2017 business-to-business marketing trends as identified by syndicated blogger and sought-after national speaker Tim Asimos.

1. Customer-centricity. Asimos points out that the concept of putting the customer first—or focusing on the customer experience—is just now becoming an increased area of focus in the B2B world, while the business-to-customer world has tackled this for years. Businesses want to know the buyer's experience, how they are making decisions and how they are using the company's products and services. Asimos says that according to Walker Information's Customers 2020: The Future of B-to-B Customer Experience, by the year 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. This will change how we sell our products and services, not leading with price but leading with the customer relationship.

2. Account-based Marketing. This is already a buzzword that has crept into sales meetings and boardrooms. This approach to selling is about taking a highly targeted approach to specific contacts at specific companies with which a firm wants to do business or is already engaged. Asimos says it's fishing with a spear, as opposed to fishing with a net. Instead of initiating the sales conversation from inbound demand, it drives the sales conversation from outbound targeting.

3. Content Marketing Maturity. Content marketing is no longer new, and many B2B companies have adopted content marketing strategies. The trend is that more companies have matured in this discipline over the past year. According to the annual survey by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 62 percent of organizations stated that they are more successful in their overall approach to content marketing for 2017 than last year. Asimos says that some of these trends include:

  • Prioritization of having a documented content marketing strategy

  • Less focus on quantity; more focus on quality, target-specific content

  • Integration of content marketing into ABM and other sales-driven activities

  • Diversification of content formats including video, podcasts, interactive content, etc.

  • More sophisticated technology infrastructure to support programs

  • Increasing reliance on paid amplification to boost distribution

4. Native advertising. There is an increase in the interest in paid amplification of content. This means paying to have your content shared on multiple channels. An example of this is paid posts on LinkedIn. However, many publications are getting into the game too. Forbes, Business Insider and Buzzfeed all have programs available where you can pay to have your content sponsored and shared.

Read tomorrow's issue of PCT for more B2B marketing trends in 2017.

Source: Tim Asimos is vice president and director of digital innovation for Circle Studio. He is also a syndicated blogger and sought-after national speaker, providing keen insights on modern marketing and an uncommon perspective gleaned from nearly 15 years of B2B and A/E/C experience.