In today’s competitive landscape, companies often allocate a significant portion of their budget to marketing and sales. According to industry research, businesses typically spend about 37% of their revenue on digital, marketing, and sales operations. Yet, despite this hefty investment, many businesses aren’t seeing the returns they expect.
Understanding and adopting the latest digital trends will help you stay competitive in an ever-changing business landscape and improve profitability. So, what are the digital trends for 2022 that really matter? Which digital trends will help grow that bottom line? Which ones are trendy and which ones are must-haves? I've found 7 that support B2B revops and are my MUSTS for the year.
When I was introduced to Founder and CEO, Tara Kinney, and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Steph Hermanson, I was in the same place a lot of people find themselves today… working several different jobs and marketing side gigs while finishing up school, all with a pile of student loans, debts, and no real direction as to where I was going with my career.
A strong B2B go-to-market strategy must have messaging elements like target market and competitive differentiation, brand strategy, and supporting digital operations elements, such as websites. Integrating branding with effective, customer-friendly web design is a key step in making an impression and being memorable among website visitors and potential customers. Consistency and creativity are essential to creating an effective go-to-market strategy and a recognizable brand with a powerful digital footprint and do it well.
"It depends" is one of the most frustrating answers to a question. What does it cost? It depends. How long will it take? It depends. Are you available? It depends. It feels like a non-answer. A cop-out. A skirting of commitment. Avoidance. But other times, “it depends” is very real. It is a conditional answer. For example, a price can be quantity dependent or tiered for the level of support needed. Delivery times can also be dependent on when a service is needed (is it an emergency?), location, and backorders.
Most companies use staff members – administrative assistants, interns, executives, salespeople – to write their websites, blogs, and other digital marketing, as well as their collateral and printed sales pieces. Many business owners get involved and write it themselves. But is this good practice?
Digital Operations encompasses your entire digital footprint and the results from your digital marketing, sales, and customer advocacy efforts. Each element of your digital presence must not only have its own strategy but work in correlation with every other element. Your website is your primary piece of online real estate, but how does social media marketing feed into that?
What is your content strategy to drive qualified leads? How does marketing automation play into developing those leads to be sales-ready? Does your online presence encourage your community to advocate on your behalf? If you’re not sure, it may be time to rethink your digital operations approach.
For decades, a nationwide commercial real estate brokerage specializing in triple-net lease property investments was very successful without a lot of marketing. Up until the last few years, they had healthy inbound leads from repeat clientele and referrals and required very few lead-generating activities. However, as competition increased and the market evolved with online services, business began to stagnate. That’s when they decided to try digital marketing to increase revenue, and, after a year of allocating time and money to the effort, their attempt failed.
Gone are the days when basic information on a landing page will convert leads into sales. Your website – your number one salesperson – is often the first encounter a potential customer will have with your business. It must reflect YOU and solve your customers’ problems easily.
When initially discussing this post with my Atomic Revenue colleague Steph Nissen, I envisioned a flashy, trend-laden piece that would have readers licking their chops ready to launch into the new decade with the glitziest social media updates ever – #2020vision!
