Digital jolt caused by the corona pandemic

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In 2020, B2B marketing had to cope with far-reaching cuts. Companies need to rethink their approach in order not to miss the boat. But those who recognize the trends early and invest properly will be on the road to success in 2021.

The author is Janina Osman, bvik association officer for web development, studies and university marketing

As a result of the corona pandemic, German companies have experienced an enormous digital jolt that has a major impact on communication – both internally and externally. This is shown by the results of the study “Digitization push 2020 in B2B marketing “, which the bvik – the industry association for communication & marketing – carried out in autumn 2020 and in which almost 450 marketers from industrial companies, agencies and exhibition companies took part.

86% of those surveyed stated that internal communication was influenced by the digital changes caused by the Corona crisis. Especially in digital-savvy companies, in which digitization played a major role even before the crisis, it was promoted more strongly than in companies with less digital affinity.

Openness to change in communication

New technologies are conquering communication. Digital communication platforms, messenger and video conference services as well cloudbasierte services are indispensable. Many marketers got to know new communication channels as a result. Overall, over 95% of the study participants are open to new technologies.

The study shows that respondents are very willing to adopt these technologies such as live chats, employee apps or e-learning tools Takeover rate is an indication of the great openness of the employees towards digitization and a sign of a rethinking and change taking place in the company, ”explains Ramona Kaden, managing director of bvik.

Online marketing for lead generation

Trade fair failures and the digitization surge have the Customer communication and lead generation permanently changed. Marketing departments now have to implement creative ideas in order to compensate for the cuts and and to generate future-oriented leads.

Online marketing measures for digital Lead generation come into focus. According to the Digitization study des bvik, 78% of the marketers surveyed see the possibility of benefiting in the long term from online lead generation, 70% rely on long-term success through marketing automation.

In the future, it will be even more important to provide customers with high-quality and relevant content, tailored to the needs of the individual interested parties. In this process the meaning of Marketing Automation elementary and crucial for success.

According to Prof. Dr. Klaus Thaler, professor for Process optimization at the Hochschule der Medien, “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) has recently experienced a great boom in the research landscape of universities and institutes. Especially in the field of application research for the combination of AI with marketing and sales processes.

Social media is the key

If you want to reach your target group, you should intensify your social media activities. Social networks have proven to be Communication instrument Established almost across the board in B2B communication and anchored more and more in strategic management.

This is confirmed by both the results of the bvik study and the annual survey of the “1. Working Group Social Media in B2B Communication “. The second shows that the use of social media by German companies has risen sharply again in the past year.

Over 95 percent of the participants stated that they use social media for their communication. The companies see the reasons for the increase in social media presence primarily in the possibility of establishing contact with customers and the Generation of new customers. While XING is used to a large extent for recruiting, has LinkedIn developed for exchange and marketing channel. The Influence-The approach is now mainly via Instagram.

Establishment of virtual event formats

And what about the event area? Here, too, it is important to develop and implement new ideas and to use the potential of digital offers. Because marketers are very open to webinars, virtual trade fairs and digital product presentations.

In the bvik study, almost 75% of the industrial companies surveyed stated that they had already taken part in a virtual trade fair or a comparable virtual event. Over 90% of those surveyed are of the opinion that virtual trade fairs and events will complement classic trade fairs and events.

Because one thing is clear: the virtual space offers a profitable alternative to convey knowledge, to exchange ideas with colleagues and customers and to present products according to the preferences of the interested parties – and all of this independently of location and time and more cost-effectively than face-to-face events and trade fairs.

Creativity as a success factor

One thing is clear: communication via social media and virtual meetings in the form of online events will not replace face-to-face contact in B2B Customer communication but change permanently. If you want to swim on the wave of success in the future, you don’t just have to find new ways to become intelligent Lead generation find, but also be creative. Because falling budgets put an additional burden on the marketing departments.

While the bvik study “B2B Marketing Budgets 2020” recorded a sharp decline in budgets, in the bvik digitization study over 60% of industrial companies stated that they were suffering from the negative effects of the crisis on the marketing budget. You are now faced with the challenge of using more channels with less budget.

In order to achieve this, new ideas are required, for example in the secondary use of valuable content for various channels and target groups. “Marketers from industrial companies have to defend their budgets for 2021 hard and find new creative ways to use more channels with less budget and still generate a large return on investment. Service providers have to stand by their B2B customers as consultants and partners, ”says marketing expert Kaden.

Study “Digitization Boost 2020 in B2B Marketing”

The bvik – the industry association for communication & marketing – together with its member marconomy and the Stuttgart Media University, carried out the study “Digitization push 2020 in B2B Marketing “(field phase from mid-August to mid-September). This provides information about the current status of the digital transformation in German B2B marketing and the extent to which the crisis is the driver for a digitalization surge in B2B.

A total of almost 450 B2B marketers from industry, agencies and trade fairs took part in the survey. The study is a valuable benchmark tool, it provides a comprehensive overview of the digital transformation in the various industries and helps marketers to classify their own strategic considerations. (ag)

Further information on the study is available here.

The detailed results are available to bvik members free of charge. Non-members can download a management summary from the bvik website or order the detailed results from the bvik office at [email protected] for a nominal fee of 250 euros plus VAT

Contact the bvik

Bundesverband Industrie Kommunikation e. V. (bvik)
At the Middle Moos 48
86167 Augsburg
Tel: +49 821 6505 370
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.bvik.org

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