16 B2B marketing trends on the rise in 2020

Although technology is ubiquitous in today's world, it's not yet fully sold. Business-to-business marketing professionals need to be constantly aware of the latest industry trends. However, trends change and change so rapidly that even the most up-to-date experts are sometimes unaware when new marketing strategies or approaches emerge.

As 2020 progresses, the need to stay on top of trends likely to be crucial to B2B marketers' success remains vital. To help, these 16 professionals from Forbes Communications Council Take a look at the B2B marketing trends we should be paying attention to in 2020.

1. Master the soft sell

Now is the time for compassion and understanding. As the world recovers from a global pandemic, we as marketers and communicators must lead with empathy. Don't push products or solutions. Instead, create educational materials or elements of thought leadership. Companies that dominate a short sale as long as they are compassionate will win 2020. - Liza Horowitz, Platform beacon

2. Click on Segmentation

We're seeing considerable growth in the number of brands over-targeting customers using click targeting in their e-mail marketing. By automatically segmenting mailing lists based on what web users click on, brands are seeing higher open and click-through rates, to reduce unsubscribe rates. Click segmentation will help brands take their digital communications strategy to the next level in 2020 and beyond. - John Orlando, Constant contact

3. Video to humanize business

I think the humanization of business is a current and future trend, so video is an effective way of conveying messages. People don't read. They're bombarded with too much content. Videos are customizable, and that's what customers expect from brands. Now, I'm going to create a thank-you video for my team. - Stacy Sherman, Customer experience expert

4. Live broadcasting for digital communication

Demand for live streaming is set to increase. More and more people will view content from the comfort of your home or office. As marketers, we should consider incorporating live streaming into our campaigns and events, both internal and external. We'll also be challenged to create entertaining, interactive content that breaks through the clutter and affects business results. - Parna Sarkar-Basu, Brand and Buzz Marketing, LLC.

5. Best tools for video content

According to a HubSpot report 92% of marketers say that video is an important part of their marketing strategy. As a result, the volume of video content produced is increasing to better attract customers and employees. With this influx, marketers need a cost-effective technology solution, such as a digital asset management platform, to store, manage and distribute content and secure their future strategy. - Helen Aboagye, Image

6. Signs of intent

We double down on intent signals, using search analytics to guide our digital advertising and prospecting spend. We fish where the fish are biting. No more standing on the dock waiting for the fish to pass (our website). Data-driven, targeted ads increase connections, meeting metrics and, hopefully, conversion down the line. - Andrew Kokes, HGS

7. Focus on data from Part 1

Many leading B2B technology companies are placing increasing emphasis on building direct marketing relationships with prospects, rather than buying prospects from third parties due to changing regulations (RGPD, CCPA, etc.). As a result, B2B technology companies are investing more in developing their own cross-channel technology stacks integrated with DMP and CDP. - Brian Lee, Free your identity

8. Growing importance of predictive analysis

The coronavirus pandemic has created a sudden and major disruption to the economy. Marketers are struggling to adapt their plans in such a dynamic environment. Predictive analytics can help marketers model scenarios based on economic principles and adapt their spending, channels and time to create a data-driven strategy that reduces risk and takes the "guesswork" out of the process. - Nanette Kirsch, Enthusiastic decision-making systems

9. Greater emphasis on data confidentiality

There's probably no bigger change in marketing (B2B and B2C) than the ever-changing landscape of data privacy. B2B marketers are used to leveraging vast amounts of customer and prospect data in their campaigns, but new regulations are forcing companies to carefully analyze the data they collect and store. Marketers need to pay particular attention to how this affects their capabilities. - Tom Wozniak, OPTIZMO Technologies, LLC

10. Podcasts are the new standard

Pick any B2B tech marketing trend (like augmented reality, account-based marketing or AI-led automation), talk to experts about it, record and podcast. This is the best way to reach busy tech marketers on the go who tend to multitask while listening to podcasts. Transcribe the podcast to create content that helps the same technology experts in their quest for more information on the trend. - Prashant Saxena, Isentia

11. The best tools for differentiating audiences

I hope an important trend is to have reliable online/social network monitoring tools that measure legitimate brand sentiment. This would also help differentiate between real audiences and the behavior of synthetic audiences (bots) that can confuse you. - Roohi Saeed, Procore

12. Highly personalized communications

Your customers and potential customers have unique characters, identities and preferences; treat them that way. Be sure to go beyond simple variables in your communications. One of the reasons our company continues to invest heavily in virtual assistance for our employee benefits is its ability to hyper-personalize communication on a massive scale. Design your communications for an audience of one. - Rick Ramos, HealthJoy

13. Complete virtual event strategies

Given the current global situation, look for more comprehensive virtual event strategies that use interactive platforms such as Zoom and Hangouts (as opposed to traditional webinar platforms). Events should involve multiple parties interacting, engaging the audience and adopting more of a roundtable or discussion format to engage people and bring in multiple viewpoints and questions. - Jennifer Kyriakakis, MATRIXX software

14. Rise of B2B influencers

Influencer marketing has interrupted B2C in an extremely open way: think of going to the store, clothing lines with influencer branding, etc. But B2B hasn't realized that influencers are coming into their space and will be just as damaging. These influencers may not hit the numbers, but they are incredibly influential as opinion leaders and will drive a growing number of B2B buying decisions. - Patrick Ward, Root strap

15. RCS messaging

RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging will open up a new form of communication for businesses. It will enable sellers to add photos, videos, locations, map routes, etc. to their messages. This is an excellent upgrade to standard SMS functionality and will help B2B marketers present their products and services in new ways. - Liam Quinn, Interactive range

16. Hyper-relevance

Hyper-relevance is everything now. Whatever technology you use (and there are some great ones out there with intent signals, web personalization, shipping platforms, marketing automation, etc.), marketers are now in a world where they have to keep their ear to the ground and Know exactly what your audiences are thinking and caring about, and craft the message. - Daniel Frohnen, Sendoso