What has changed in the industrial marketing scenario in 2021? This presentation covers strategy that industrial marketers must adopt to keep pace with evolving times.

1. 5 THINGS
INDUSTRIAL
MARKETERS
MUST KNOW
ABOUT THEIR
CUSTOMERS

2. Industrial marketing – also referred to as B2B
marketing – is so different from selling apparel and
cosmetics – or even mobile phones and cars – to
consumers.
Purchase journeys are longer, with multiple stake-
holders, and is based more on information than
emotion.
INDUSTRIAL MARKETING

3. While, thanks to the internet, consumer buying is
undergoing the biggest change in last hundred years,
we stand at the dawn of a new era in B2B marketing
too.
Here is how your industrial customers have changed
while you were watching those insightful videos on
Linkedin.
INDUSTRIAL MARKETING

4. THEY ARE SPENDING
HOURS ONLINE
1

5. Of course, the whole world in online all day. That’s
where they are searching for new technologies and
new products.
That’s where your competitors are reaching out to
them, on email, on google and every website they
visit.
THEY ARE SPENDING
HOURS ONLINE

6. SO WHAT?
Your website is now more important than your
brochure or your product catalogue. You got to be
everywhere that s/he spends the day looking for
information. User experience on your website is of
paramount importance. Above all, you need a
comprehensive, well thought out digital strategy.

7. MOBILE IS NOW THEIR
PRIMARY DEVICE
2

8. They sit in front of their laptops all day and yet check
their mails on the mobile.
Even the Boomers and the Gen X are now more
comfortable with their mobile devices than on the
dear ol’ desktop.
MOBILE IS NOW
THEIR PRIMARY DEVICE

9. SO WHAT?
Your digital strategy has to be mobile-first. Your
website must give your customer a seamless
experience. The size that the designer of your digital
catalogue has to keep in mind is the mobile screen,
not the previous century A4. This 7-inch screen that
you are reading on, is the new window to your
customer.

10. THEY ARE ACTIVELY
CONSUMING SOCIAL MEDIA
3

11. Much like you are. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter,
Instagram, Linkedin. And of course, Whatsapp. Social
media is also an important source of information and
news. You discovered this article on social media,
didn’t you?
THEY ARE ACTIVELY
CONSUMING SOCIAL MEDIA

12. SO WHAT?
You need a social media strategy for your B2B
marketing. “Really?”, did you ask, “Social media cannot
be serious business!”
Wait till I tell you that IBM has an Instagram handle
and General Electric uses SnapChat. Move fast before
it’s too late.

13. THEY ARE WATCHING
VIDEOS ALL THE TIME
4

14. Your buyer organizations don’t print training manuals
anymore. They use videos. Your customers watch a
video for possibly everything that they used to read
up for in the past: from application of artificial
intelligence in their sector to employee motivation
tips. Corporate brochures are now corporate videos
and even a letter from a relative is now a video call.
THEY ARE WATCHING
VIDEOS ALL THE TIME

15. SO WHAT?
Make videos for them. Long, short, micro, nano.
Corporate video, product demonstration, user
manuals, maintenance tips, customer testimonials.
Video content is now a critical component of
industrial marketing.

16. THEY ARE GETTING MORE
IMPATIENT BY THE DAY
5

17. Amazon will deliver to the doorstep tomorrow,
anything that s/he orders today. That without having
to write any email or having to speak to the
“concerned person” who “will get back shortly”.
S/he is no more that person you knew; s/he is
completely spoilt and impatient now.
THEY ARE GETTING MORE
IMPATIENT BY THE DAY

18. SO WHAT?
Re-engineer your customer journey to cut short the
response time. Figure out just how much
personalisation s/he wants and how much speed, and
try to strike that balance.
Use the latest CRM tools that your competitors might
already be using for B2B marketing.

19. MercuryDigital.in