2023 is almost here. You and your B2B marketing team are no doubt looking to build more effective and impactful marketing management beginning in Q1. Start strong by learning which B2B marketing trends are expected to continue, evaluate which digital marketing strategies worked well or fell flat for your specific business, and create a cohesive B2B marketing management plan for Q1 and beyond.

Current Industrial Digital Marketing Trends to Include in Your 2023 Strategy

Customers Want Personalized Experiences & Fast Responses

As more customers make their purchasing decisions entirely online, the need for fast but personalized service has risen dramatically in the past year. Prospects want to know that they are more than just a number while simultaneously receiving immediate responses. B2B marketing strategies met these requirements during 2022, but many are looking to improve their response times while providing increasingly individualized experiences. Solutions include:

• Incorporating chatboxes or other customer service automation into your website
• Cultivating a blog with relevant information and discussions
• Using email newsletters to communicate updates, branding, and initiatives
• Engaging with customers on social media

Video-Based B2B Marketing Strategies

Video continues to be one of the fastest rising industrial marketing trends. According to a recent HubSpot report, 49% of surveyed marketers stated that video was one of their most effective marketing strategies in the past year. By incorporating video to your site, you can:

• Use webinars or virtual events to drive engagement
• Conduct facility tours to welcome clients to your job site
• Demonstrate expertise through how-to instructional videos explaining your products
• Introduce your team and highlight company values

A Rise in AI & Automated Industrial Marketing Tools

2022 also saw an increase in marketing automation and AI tools to help streamline industrial marketing management. While not all automation is created equal, using it strategically as an aspect of your overall industrial marketing management can have many measurable impacts on your available resources. Benefits of well-planned and well-managed marketing automation include:

• Freeing your team’s time to address higher order concerns
• Stretching your available budget as far as possible
• Tracking results accurately and in real-time
• Generating and nurturing quality leads
• And much more!

4 Tips for Digital Marketing Management in Q1

1. Conduct a thorough evaluation of your current digital marketing strategies before Q4 ends

Q4 and the end of the year is a great time to take a step back, evaluate your current industrial marketing management plan, and identify areas for improvement, growth, or redirection. The digital world moves fast, and what was cutting edge in January may be obsolete come December. Ask yourself a few questions to appraise your current marketing strategy’s effectiveness:

• Are you attracting relevant traffic (webpage visitors) to your site? Are you using your SEO tools to your best advantage?
• Have you been hitting your conversion (a site visitor taking specific actions on a page) targets?
• Is your website performing well? Is it intuitive and simple to navigate? Does it load quickly and correctly?
• Are your sales and marketing goals aligned? Do your sales and marketing strategies complement one another?
• Is your content relevant and focused to your target customers? Is it up to date? Does it move visitors along the buyer’s journey?

These considerations—and others—can help you assess how your industrial marketing initiatives haver performed this past year so you can make necessary tweaks or changes to hit the ground running in 2023.

2. Create SMART goals for the coming quarter and determine where to best invest resources

After evaluating your current digital industrial marketing strategies, you may be tempted to jump in with both feet and try to address every problem. Doing so will most likely cause more harm than good. Instead, prioritize, focus, and set reasonable expectations by developing a few SMART goals:

• Specific. If your goals are too vague, you will not see meaningful results.
• Measurable. Articulate how you intend to measure your progress.
• Attainable. Keep targets realistic and build toward more ambitious goals.
• Relevant. Industrial marketing strategies and goals should be pertinent to your specific business. For example, going viral on social media is exciting, but will it translate to meaningful growth?
• Timely. Setting a deadline gives you scheduled time to assess your industrial marketing management, make any changes, and set a new timeline if your goal is not achieved.

Once your SMART goals are established, you can begin to allocate resources that will best help you achieve those goals. This could include developing a blog to grow website traffic, starting a paid search program to up conversions, or investigating analytics services to better understand how your industrial marketing management is functioning.

3. Prepare for GA4

Google’s newest version of their analytics service, GA4, most likely won’t be a problem in Q1, but it is on the horizon. GA4 will aim to prioritize user privacy, enhance multiplatform and customer journey tracking capabilities, and more. In short, while GA4 will make it easier for you to monitor your digital presence, it won’t negatively impact the performance metrics produced by your industrial marketing program.

Google Analytics 3, the current version, is anticipated to go dark in July 2023. As a result, it is best to be prepared and get to know GA4 now.

4. Partner with an experienced industrial digital marketing agency

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or aren’t sure where to start with improving your industrial marketing management for Q1, don’t worry—the team at Ecreative is here to help. We’ve been following B2B marketing trends and facilitating highly effective industrial digital marketing management since we opened our doors in 1999. Our clients include industrial B2B outfits, contract manufacturers, engineers, and many other businesses. No matter your goals, niche, or current digital marketing strategy, we have the tools and expertise to ensure you’re ahead of current industrial marketing trends and making the most of your online presence.

Ready to see how we can help set your industrial marketing plan up for success with a great website and digital marketing strategy in the coming quarter? Schedule your free consultation today!