Generic, one-size-fits all marketing strategies don’t cut it in today’s B2B landscape. Executives and managers have too much vying for their attention, and businesses need to connect with them on a more intimate level. That means personalisation – reaching audiences with relevant messaging that speaks directly to their priorities and challenges. The answer to getting it right? Making effective use of AI and marketing automation tools.
Why personalisation in B2B marketing matters
In the B2B space, niches are everything. Industry professionals have precise needs and exact preferences, and, increasingly, B2B audiences expect marketers to understand those needs. It entails making effective use of data to facilitate the delivery of tailored advertising and content as well as unique offers.
The means to enable personalisation exist at different levels of the marketing technology stack, but it starts with defining buyer personas for your ideal customers and doing the necessary research. What size organisation are you aiming to reach? Who has buying power within such a business? What is foremost on their minds when making a purchase? It’s important to answer these questions carefully and avoid guesswork, then create and segment your content accordingly.
Only once a thoroughly informed strategy is in place can technology help you unlock the full value of personalisation in B2B. And the payoff for getting it right is huge. A report by McKinsey found that businesses which excel at personalisation saw revenue growth at a pace that outstripped their peers, and the more personalised their messaging the better the return. And a survey by Ascend2 found that 60% of marketers agreed that personalisation was key for improving lead quality.
More relevant messaging immediately improves the customer experience and increases engagement. It also strengthens customer loyalty, retention and customer lifetime value. Personalisation also helps to build trust since it helps a business to come across as relevant and responsive, understanding of a client’s needs and ready to guide them toward a smart purchase decision.
The role of AI and automation in personalisation
Personalised experiences can only be delivered at scale with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and marketing automation technologies. This includes the algorithms required to analyse vast amounts of customer data to segment prospects, extract meaningful insights, find customer behaviour patterns, identify preferences, and predict future actions.
The right CRM software is crucial to execute personalised marketing campaigns and journeys with precision and consistency. Marketers can use it to set up trigger-based actions and nurture leads with personalised content, such as email workflows. Such triggers can include specific actions like downloading a brochure, reaching different lifecycle stages, or displaying specific interests.
CRM tools can be complemented by something like an AI-powered chatbot tool that can engage website visitors in real-time with personalised responses to answer questions, troubleshoot problems and provide resources.
The challenges of personalisation
The above technologies depend on data, and personalisation quickly goes wrong if data is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. Businesses need to find ways to collect, collate and manage their customer data while remaining compliant and respecting user privacy.
Mastering personalisation in the B2B space is a challenge that will test an organisation’s technological capabilities, particularly with regard to its ability to leverage data effectively. Without the necessary tools and skills, a business can find itself at a distinct disadvantage.
But that’s why the agency model exists – it offers even small businesses a means to compete with industry leaders by allowing them to cost-effectively plug the gaps in their infrastructure, resources and know-how. From devising a strategy and getting set-up to acquiring support for lead nurturing and executing campaigns at scale, a B2B specialist digital marketing agency offers solutions for any of the challenges business may face. Come and learn about the advantages your business could gain with our solutions.
