In-person meetings are an integral part of the face-to-face sales process in many B2B environments, but they’re not really possible in these lockdown times. As a result, sales and marketing professionals have had to find ways to gain the attention of their prospects and customers from a distance. At Living Stone, we’ve put our focus on digital go2market strategies to help our clients stay close to their customers and target audiences.

Even before COVID, webinars were a key tool for marketers. And for good reason: according to a study conducted by GoToWebinar, 73% of B2B marketers and sales leaders believe that webinars are one of the best options available to generate high-quality leads.i Now, due to the pandemic, the use of webinars has skyrocketed, with organizations using them for everything from new product launches to professional education. At the same time, people are realizing that webinars offer a lot of benefits – mostly relating to time and cost savings – that will continue to resonate, even after the coronavirus abates.

We know that peer recommendations are vitally important in B2B. Customer testimonials, use cases and references are a key part of the sales process. But there are lots of ways to expand on the power of peer recommendations, and boost trust and relationships, with user-generated content for B2B.

Quality offer of products or services: check. Bullet-proof business plan: check. Solid market strategy: check. But how about your brand identity, is it by the book? Are all requirements met to persuade your potential customers that you’re the partner they’re looking for? Is your brand convincing and visually captivating?

You’re 100% behind your organization’s offer, which contains life-changing products, but you see the development of your brand identity as a side issue? Time to change that vision, and to pursue a brand identity that fully covers the added value your company and products have to offer.

Short-form video is one of the key marketing trends to watch in 2021, according to the experts at HubSpot1. Driven by the popularity of platforms like TikTok and Reels on Instagram, short-form video is taking over the online landscape. What’s considered short-form? Anything less than two and a half minutes, with the length varying by platform: 15 seconds is the length of videos on Instagram Reels, up to 60 seconds on TikTok, and up to two minutes and 20 seconds on Twitter. (YouTube is still the platform of choice for longer video; two minutes is a recommended length here, but educational or instructional videos that are longer than that are ok too2.

The pandemic is significantly changing the landscape for in-person conferences, congresses and trade shows. Most professional conference organizers are postponing their events to next year, with any paid registrants switched to the future event. In the meantime, we are all missing opportunities to meet with our customers and prospects.

In 2020, most B2B marketers had to switch gears and completely re-invent their marketing plans, shifting the focus to supporting their customers in a time of need and moving in-person initiatives to virtual. Now, almost a year into the pandemic, we’re realizing that a lot of the changes wrought by Covid may be more permanent, both from a marketing and a personal perspective. The experts at HubSpot have put together a report on the key trends that will shape marketing in 2021. It’s no surprise that most of them are driven by the pandemic, but the good news is that in 2021 marketing will be able to move on from the ‘panic pivot’ of last year to more thoughtful and strategic marketing approaches that reflect our changed world, and the altered needs of our audiences.

The concept of branding started with our ancestors "branding" cattle so they could easily pick their own animals from a larger herd. Today, a "brand" stands for much more than the mere identification of a product. With a good brand, you can create an emotional bond between your product and your customer.