By Elvire Gosnold, Director, Blabbermouth Marketing: An increasing number of B2B clients are beginning to embrace online marketing and are coming around to the idea that social media and video etc are not solely for end user B2C target audiences.
There are several reasons for this. The obvious one being that society as a whole is more confident in engaging with the web and has used social media in personal lives for some time now. Websites are becoming easier for staff to update themselves and so web management is now a less daunting task for office staff.
More interestingly the overall priorities of a business are shifting. Companies in the channel are feeling more confident in their ability to increase their market share but understand that this may now have to be achieved through different means.
While customer relationships are still high on the agenda for business development, and while brand strengthening should always remain a priority, we are beginning to see other creative ideas being embraced. Thought leadership is a more innovative path to improving brand value and we have witnessed more and more telecoms companies approaching us for support.
It is not just a case of having your brand recognised, it is about your brand being meaningful. Thought leadership raises brand awareness in an extremely positive manner and adopting online marketing to achieve this means that positioning yourself as a knowledge base can be realised on a smaller budget.
With the fast pace of technology, B2B clients are looking increasingly to their providers to support them and guide them through the requirements of their business now and in the future.
If a company is successfully positioned as a thought leader in its field of expertise, confidence in its products and services will be excellent and therefore its market share will increase in a sustainable manner.