We asked: how will B2B marketing change in 2015? And here’s what you had to say…
Nader Alaghband, CEO and founder, Apppli: “Mobile will be at the core of an increasing number of human interactions in 2015. From wearables to nearables to the internet of things, the growth in connectivity and the emergence of new ecosystems will create a plethora of new opportunities for marketers.
“In the B2B space, marketers need to remember that people expect the same quality of experience in their professional interactions as they enjoy in their private interactions. Predicting what people want before they’ve registered their first tap; connecting intention to action to satisfaction seamlessly; and creating more profound, emotive interactions between people, will be the hallmarks of best in class mobile experiences in 2015.”
Steve Grout, CEO, Tangent Snowball: “2014 was a big year for ecommerce. Many ‘hot topics’ turned from chatter into reality; yet as we hurtle into a more ‘digitally-led’ world, there is far more to come:
“Big data will continue to grow; but no longer will be recognised as ‘big’. Instead brands will use the quantity of data to build personalised and targeted experiences.
“2015 will also see checkout optimisation and delivery taken to a new level. Brands will research and use data more smartly to achieve better check out rates. In turn this will improve conversion rates, increase basket values and reduce drop outs.
“Furthermore delivery options will become an even greater part of the offering as brands offer more precise time of day deliveries and more options regarding where or how packages are delivered or picked up.”
Dean Harris, CMO, Forensiq: “The advertising industry will band together to help address the issue of online ad fraud. In the early part of 2014 the IAB used its Annual Summit to declare that getting ad fraud out of the digital ecosystem was major initiative of the organisation. Later in September 2014, the IAB, 4A’s and ANA announced a cross-industry organisation to fight ad fraud. I see even more ad industry cooperation on attacking the problem collectively in 2015.”
John Watton, director digital marketing, Adobe EMEA: “Our physical and digital worlds have collided and customers no longer differentiate between the two – they want a great experience regardless of when, where and how they interact with a brand. In 2015 brands will be focused on making sure all channels work seamlessly together, bringing together the best of online and offline to create the ultimate customer experience.
“In the retail sector, interactive shop windows, digital displays and iBeacons will bring relevant messages and promotions to the shop floor, while the concept of the ‘personal shopper’ will go digital through live chat with real in-store staff and intelligent algorithms which will drive recommendations and real time service. A by-product of this ‘one channel’ mentality is that customers will expect order pick-up and order return to work on any channel, inevitably leading to new challenges for the supply chain.”
Owen Sagness, the general manager, Microsoft Advertising: “Programmatic is undoubtedly changing the industry and excitement about its potential is justified. But that’s not to say it’s perfect, concerns have arisen about the quality of the service delivered – specific complaints focus on the use of bots and fraud, with impressions being allocated junk inventory or even failing to show up at all. 2015 will see the industry take the situation in hand, implementing initiatives to tackle the problem. The IAB, for example, is developing cross-industry accountability programmes to address fraud and transparency, and the ability of measurement tools to accurately assess inventory quality is improving all the time.”
Irfon Watkins, CEO, Coull: “Current advertising models don’t work. Advertising needs to be personalised and relevant, in order to foster greater ROI and better audience engagement. The rise of programmatic is facilitating this and allowing advertisers to achieve it at scale, but it must be held up by data that is rich enough to support precise segmentation.
“Technically, as an industry, we’re doing a really poor job at delivering relevant ads to consumers, hence the Skip Now generation on YouTube, and the rapid rise of plugins like Adblock. There’s an opportunity to take on the big video ad networks by coming at it from a different angle. By providing ads that are relevant to the content a user wishes to watch, they become useful, rather than a nuisance.”
