the hottest b2b marketing trends of 2017

THE HOTTEST B2B MARKETING TRENDS OF 2017THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH AT 1PM ET/10AM PT

LAUREN BLECHER SCHERBA

Director, Marketing

WE OPTIMIZE LEAD FLOW FROM

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Founded in 2004, we are digital veterans with a passion for demand generation.

We drive revenue growth for the best in B2B.

DemandWave is a trusted Google Partner, a two-time winner of the Inc. 500|5000 list, and a two-time member of the San Francisco Business Times’ 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies.

We’ve earned our stripes.

RENEWED FOCUS ON MOBILE.

Source: Think with Google, “The Changing Face of B2B Marketing.”

42% of researchers use a mobile device during the B2B purchasing process.

49% of B2B researchers who use mobile for product research do so while they’re in the office.

Mobile matters for B2B.

Google is testing mobile-first indexing, a system that will rank listings based on mobile content even for desktop searchers..

Source: Search Engine Land, “Google Begins Mobile-First Indexing, Using Mobile Content for All Search Rankings.”

Mobile-first indexing is here.

ü Responsive or dynamic serving sites should be all set.

Source: Search Engine Land, “Google Begins Mobile-First Indexing, Using Mobile Content for All Search Rankings.”

Mobile-first indexing is here.

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Use robots. txt to make sure Google can crawl the mobile version of your site.

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Verify both mobile and desktop sites in Google Search Console.

Mirror structured markup for both mobile and desktop.

§ Mobile-only sites may have a bit of work to do.

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Make sure your content is the same on both versions of the site.

Google is testing mobile-first indexing, a system that will rank listings based on mobile content even for desktop searchers..

For example, if your mobile site has a separate domain like m.demandwave.com make sure to double check for these factors!

Image Source: Google, “Mobile-Friendly Test.”

Revisit your mobile experience.Mobile-friendly sites rank better in search results.

Audit your website with our mobile-friendly checklist.

1

Check for errors with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

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Optimize load speed with Google Page Speed Insights.

Test that all navigation is accessible via touch.

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Make sure all CTAs are easily visible. Almost half of mobile users expect websites to load in two seconds or less.

Source: Search Engine Land “Optimizing for Mobile Search in 2016: A Continuous Process.”

Revisit your mobile experience.Test the waters with AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages).

While this is mostly used by media and publishers for now, keep tabs on whether or not AMP starts to rank for relevant keywords and give it a try!

SEO STRATEGY WILL EVOLVE WITH AI.OPTIMIZING FOR USER INTENT IS NOW MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.

ONE. AUDIT CURRENT SITE PERFORMANCE.

71% of business purchase decisions start with a search engine.

Source: Google/Millard Brown Digital, B2B Path to Purchase Study


RankBrain is the proprietary artificial intelligence used by Google to process and rank search queries.


User behavior is the next frontier of SEO.

Benchmark the four key user behavior metrics.Google is smart enough to track whether or not searchers like your website based on their behavior.

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Bounce rate2

Click-through rate (CTR)

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Frequency4

Pages per session

“Google has designed and patented a system in charge of collecting and processing of user behavior data.”Source: Dan Petrovic, Moz, “User Behavior Data as a Ranking Signal.”

Optimize for user intent.

Meta descriptions

Page titles

Boost organic CTR by optimizing page titles and meta descriptions to win more clicks.

Optimize for user intent.Decrease bounce rate and lift pages per sessions with engaging content.

Optimize for user intent.

Clear call-to actions drive engagement and conversions.

Decrease bounce rate and lift pages per session with engaging content.

Optimize for user intent.Create standout content on a regular schedule to encourage return visits (frequency).

Google knows which sites receive multiple visits and how often.

Google is prepping search for the Internet of ThingsBy the end of 2020, BI Intelligence expects 34 billion “things” to be connected to the Internet.

Source: Business Insider, “How the 'Internet of Things' will impact consumers, businesses, and governments in 2016 and beyond.”

IoT isn’t just for B2C. In fact, 40% of connected devices are in business or manufacturing. Use cases include supply chain analytics and robotic machinery.

Source: LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog, “B2B Beat: Why the Internet of Things is Crucial for B2B Marketers” by Sean Callahan.

Here’s an example with Google Home from Moz.

Source: Moz, “How to Boost Your SEO by Using Schema Markup.”

Featured snippets will be important for IoT and voice search.

SURGE IN SEM INVESTMENT.NEW ADWORDS FORMAT MAKES INTEGRATION OF PAID AND ORGANIC SEARCH STRATEGY CRITICAL.

Here’s the change in a nutshell.

Right rail paid search ads are history.

Source: WordStream, “3 Weeks After Google Killed Side Ads, Here are Five More Takeaways

Ad Position 1

Ad Position 2

Ad Position 3

Ad Position 4

Ad Position 5

Ad Position 6

Ad Position 7

Ad Position 8

Ad Position 9

Ad Position 10

Ad Position 11

Before Feb. 2016

10 organic search results

Here’s the change in a nutshell.

Source: WordStream, “3 Weeks After Google Killed Side Ads, Here are Five More Takeaways.”

Ad Position 1

Ad Position 2

Ad Position 3

10 organic search results

Ad Position 4And after!Ad Position 5

Ad Position 6

Ad Position 7


The update may actually impact organic search strategy the most.

The 4th paid search ad takes the spot of what was once the first organic position.


ABM WILL MATURE.B2B MARKETERS WILL DISCOVER THE RIGHT MIX OF ABM AND INBOUND.

ABM.SO HOT RIGHT NOW.

Source: Demandbase, “SiriusDecisions 2016 State of ABM Study Finds that ABM Adoptions Continues to Accelerate.”

“70% of B2B companies have staff that are fully or partially dedicated to driving ABM-specific programs.”

“58% have a pilot or test [ABM] program and 41% have a full program in place.”

“…58% of companies planning to invest in [ABM] services or technology in 2016.”

B2B marketers have moved swiftly to ABM.

Source: Demandwave, “2016 State of B2B Digital Marketing Report.”

Yet, ABM ROI is not entirely clear.

The explosion of ABM-specific technology and analytics has allowed marketers to take a more data-driven approach.Confidence in ABM measurement will be a game changer.

Source: Chief Marketing Technologist Blog, “The Buzz Around Account-Based Marketing at MarTech.”

ABM & Inbound are not mutually exclusive. Just like a good cup of coffee, you need to find the right blend of both.

Encourages complete alignment between Marketing and Sales.

ABM Pros

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Focuses on quality of leads over quantity.2

Increases deal-size and client retention.3

ABM does not capture leads based on behavior.

ABM Cons

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By definition, ABM is limited to a finite number of accounts.2

ABM & Inbound are not mutually exclusive. Just like a good cup of coffee, you need to find the right blend of both.

Captures leads based on behavior.

Inbound Pros

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Produces a steady funnel of leads.2

Let’s the buyer decide how and when they’d like to engage with your brand.

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Inevitably produces a portion of unqualified leads.

Inbound Cons

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Sales sells to accounts, not leads.

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Organize accounts by tier based on priority and team resources. Fine-tune ABM with a tiered strategy.

Source: Engagio, “Engagio’s Clear & Complete Guide to ABM.”

We highly recommend reading this eBook cover to cover!

This is an incredibly important point!

RAISING THE BAR ON CONTENT MARKETING.OUTSTANDING CONTENT IS NOW EXPECTED.

Content competition is steep.Over 27 Million pieces of content are shared each day.

Source: BrightEdge, “The Three Essential Elements of Content Performance Marketing.”

Know the formula for consistent, outstanding content.Supplement keyword research to discover topics that truly resonate with your target audience.

Solves a challenge.

Makes them laugh!

Highlights a risk.

Helps with career and/or personal growth.

Buyers like content that: Marketers can source this data from:

Customer surveys.

Interviews with the top performers in Sales.

Organic search queries.

Social shares.

Run a content gap analysis. Do you have enough content to cover each stage of the buyer’s journey?

Awareness

Consideration

Comparison

Conversion

Retention/Upsell

Website visitor

Form fill out (MQL)

Ready to talk to sales (SQL)

Closed-won deal

Customer considers investing more.

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%

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%

Start with the search data.

Check if your content topics align with Google’s interpretation of intent by simply searching.

“cloud security” “cloud security solutions”


Analyze search volume. Focus on long-tail, high-converting keyword themes first and work up to competitive, high-volume terms.

Sear

ch V

olum

e

Keyword Length

High competition; informational searches

Low competition; transactional searches

Low

High

Short Long-tail


Create content buyers actually like.Buzzsumo is a great tool to help quantify this with social share insights.

Be the best answer! This packs a double punch when optimizing for semantic search.

Create content buyers actually like.

40% of people will respond better(and faster) to visual information than with plain text.Source: LinkedIn, “The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to Content Marketing..”

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Prepare for mobile-first indexing now.

Focus SEO efforts on optimizing for user intent.

Have your best marketing year yet in 2017.

3 Integrate paid and organic search strategies.

4 Find the right mix of ABM and inbound for your team.

5 Master the formula for consistent, quality content creation.

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