B2B marketers may be slow to pick up on some trends, but these companies have finally embraced digital advertising in a big way. Efficient use of technology is helping them attract leads into the top of the sales funnel and leading them to boost 2021 digital marketing budgets. And after they make a sale, these businesses use marketing tools to provide the kind of customer services that keeps clients happy in the long term.

2021 Digital Marketing Budgets

Wpromote, in association with Ascend2, surveyed marketing professionals in over 250 B2B companies to understand their 2021 digital marketing budgets. The survey also asked professionals about the challenges they face and how they plan to address them.

A solid number, 68%, of B2B marketers have allocated bigger 2021 digital marketing budgets. But these decision-makers aren’t inclined to waste their spending. Many different parts of the sales funnel require additional resources. Overall, the top goals set by these marketers don’t differ from the B2C counterparts:

More customer engagement 50%
Better customer experience 47%
Boost brand awareness 46%

Digital Marketing Media Mix

B2B marketers face a dizzying array of choices when it comes to spending their digital dollars. With your expert help, they can decide where to effectively allocate spending. The Wpromote survey finds that these businesses will prioritize “new” social platforms (42%), virtual events (34%) and influencer marketing (30%).

LinkedIn has ruled as the go-to social site for B2B enterprises for many years. If your client wants to try something a little different, help them develop a campaign on TikTok. Businesses that want to reach younger decision-makers may realized a good return on their investment on TikTok.

Influencer marketing can boost your client’s presence with the right audiences as well. In this case, influencer marketing may come down to having a respected industry professional talk about the product line. Another approach would be to help your clients produce case studies with well-known companies that have used their product or service.

Retaining Customers With Digital Marketing

Your B2B clients should also know that their competitors, 47%, use digital marketing to keep the customers they have. In fact, 57% use social media for this purpose. And 47% use paid advertising to maintain their reputation and their brand.

Digital Marketing Attracts New Customers

Every business owner wants new leads. These leads turn into customers, drive revenue and generate growth. Leads don’t grow on trees. And these days, leads from in-person conferences and trade shows aren’t as plentiful as they used to be. Your clients rely on content to attract attention from prospects but generating “engaging” content remains a top challenge for 48% of B2B operators.

Your clients might also point out that their sales reps complain about the leads they get. Either they aren’t good quality (47%) or they don’t get enough leads (40%). If your clients are selling to small business owners, they’ll want to know about the media sources this audience pays attention to. You can share that data if you have a subscription to AdMall, branded by SalesFuel.

Email Marketing Challenges

Email has long served as the best way for marketers to effectively communicate with leads and customers. But just 17% of B2B companies in the Wpromote survey believe email marketing effectiveness is increasing significantly. Don’t let your clients de-emphasize email as part of their marketing outreach to prospects and clients. Email remains a key tool for collecting first-party data. In the era of identity cookie turmoil, your B2B clients must capture information about their contact in order to optimize communications going forward.

To show your clients where they stand when it comes to 2021 digital marketing budgets, run a Digital Audit on them at AdMall. The statistics in that report will help you open an important sales conversation.

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