Written by: Vickie Sullivan | March 17, 2022
How Technology Is Changing Buyers’ Expectations
I’m hearing a lot about technology advancements in advertising. But I wonder, “What do they have to do with small B2B businesses and their high-touch services?”
One word: expectations. A recent MarketingProfs article about advertising trends reveals new technology, what the big dawgs are doing, what buyers will experience, and how that affects buyers’ expectations.
2 Important Technology Trends
Two big technology changes small B2B businesses must prepare for:
• More personalization. AI will enable “more individualized and targeted campaigns, higher conversion rates, and sought-after ROI, along with lower customer acquisition cost,” the article says. Prediction: Buyers will get used to marketing based on what they’re interested in, and they will reject ill-timed fishing expeditions. That means smaller shops must focus on generating interest for their services. In addition, they must prepare to have killer follow-up with buyers who are in research mode but aren’t yet ready to decide.
Listen: How to Deal with New Buyer Expectations
• Voice technology. Voice search is becoming extremely popular. As a result, “voice search and conversational AI are making a serious impact on SEO and drawing more attention to video search engine optimization (VSEO),” the article says. This is going to change the game and have an interesting ripple effect. Longer search queries and the need to be top ranked in voice and video search results will bleed over into B2B. At some point, small businesses will have to feed this beast with SEO efforts.
Behind every expectation is a new unmet need. But if you address buyers’ needs, trends like these won’t put you in a weak position. Be aware, and be prepared to change your approach to lead generation.
Now Read This:
- How to Get Buyers to Want What You’re Selling
- Competitive Branding for B2B Professional Service Firms