According to IBEF, ‘The Indian E-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to surpass the US to become the second-largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034. Indian e-commerce sector is poised to reach US$99 billion by 2024 from US$30 billion in 2019, expanding at 27% CAGR. The growth of the B2B e-commerce segment is 200% faster than B2C e-commerce’. In addition to this, the B2B marketing space in India has been rapidly evolving since the pandemic. As per report by Google, up to 45% B2B brands invested in digital marketing for the first time, in 2020.
This was mainly because the lockdowns forced brands to turn to digital platform as an alternative to trade events, festivals and other forms of in person meetings. Thus, as brands turned to the digital platforms for B2B lead generation and brand building, the need for offering clients an engaging digital experience in the B2B space, gained prominence.
Even as digital marketing and online lead generation have gained a new level of prominence, the need for an effective B2B marketing strategy is greater now than ever before. It is important to understand that B2B marketing has so far utilised conventional forms of engagement and has shied away from adopting the new age marketing tools, which the B2C sector had embraced almost a decade ago. However, with the pandemic, the B2B marketing channels are now turning to digital platforms and tools. At such nascent stage, it is easy to miss out on the finer nuances of B2B communication and get entrapped into the other insignificant insights which may not actually convert into real business.
Even as big data and emerging tech like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) make it into daily vocabulary of marketers and brands, crafting a mature B2B marketing strategy is needed to be able to effectively leverage the plethora of B2B customer data. Leveraging social media footprints and their interactions with business touch points, precious consumer behaviour insights can be gained, so that a strategy and campaign that is more acceptable and aligned with the consumer sentiment, can be drawn. Further, data and Artificial Intelligence can enhance the omni-channel experience, so that both brands and modern sales staffs can be better equipped to be more responsive to specific client needs and provide tailor-made solutions. Investing in new age digital tools that can help gather and harness the Data, is of paramount importance here.
Going forward, we foresee an exponential potential for growth in the B2B online marketing in the e-commerce arena, as well as in other verticals, like Warehousing, 3PL, Supply Chain, E-Fulfilment etc., all of which will play a pivotal role in the whole paradigm shift of B2B Ecommerce, growing their respective verticals exponentially as well. Similarly, other B2B players like the automobile OEM manufacturers, electrical goods manufacturers etc., will see a significant growth not only in terms of volume but in terms of market share as well.
Speaking of tools for B2B marketing and brand building, there are several options that one needs to be selective about. As a B2B Marketing consultant, some of my recommendations and scope of service include:
