B2B marketing in the traditional manner is no longer a choice. Developments in technology have modified how buyers research and discover products and services. Now, there is an advanced group of buyers who are well known with the new digital landscape known as millennials.
Millennials favor a different approach. They are more willing to do their own research rather than being told the value of a product or service to make a purchase decision. It is mandatory for B2B marketers to implement a strategy focused on millennials.
It is critical that your business understands how to interact with this generation of buyers. Millennials have a deeper level of insight and engagement with a company they purchase from. Let’s have a look at some of the ways that influence a millennial decision maker’s purchase choice, and try to implement these within your marketing strategy.
Create Engaging Videos
While researching B2B vendor information 29% of millennial B2B buyers prefer video content that leads all other forms of content formats. It makes sense to provide an easy consumption of video content to effectively engage the millennials.
Show people how your products can be used with the help of videos. You can offer product demos and describe customer stories in order to gain the attention of millennial decision makers.
Simply show the value of your products, don’t be overly promotional. Keep in mind that millennials like authenticity and education over being marketed to.
Don’t forget to optimize your videos for mobile devices. Half of millennials only watch videos on their mobile devices, so this will automatically give better results.
Millennial buyers can watch a marketing video of your company at any time, while on lunch break or even while laying in bed. Make your videos easily accessible.
Prioritize Simple Interactions
Millennials prefers simplicity and education over being sold to with promises. If you glance into some of the most popular mobile apps among millennials you will see two common elements: simple design, and ease of use.
Millennials have a rich level for simplicity. Therefore, your marketing content must appeal to this expectation.
Develop and maintain a well designed website with personalized messages. Your brand logo plays an important part. It should be able to communicate your brand’s story with a simple image.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is your audience fleeing your web page in seconds due to intrusive pop-ups?
- Does your marketing material and ecommerce page resonate with this generation?
- If your site is optimized with a personalization engine?
- What’s working and what isn’t?
Target the millennial buyer by tailoring your content and optimizing every customer channel.
Be Visual
This is an age of highly visual customers, sharing an average 1.8 billion images on a daily basis. Visual content provides a powerful way to reach customers and get the point across swiftly.
Provide Free Demos
Millennials are hands-on learners. They want to do, not just read, hear or see. Integrate micro-applications such as ROI calculators and solution finders in your marketing mix.
Create a sandbox version of your technology. Provide free demos for this inquisitive group to test things out as they evaluate options. In your marketing efforts, ensure this group knows they can touch, use and learn first-hand, to spark early interest during the buyer’s journey.
Develop Online Communities
Purchasing decisions of millennials are greatly influenced by their community, family and friends. Being present on social media is not enough though. Your company must develop its own community in order to remain aware about the conversations your B2B customers are having about your business.
Millennial decision makers can engage with other customers in your online community to learn of others’ experiences with your organization.
Buying decisions of millennials are also influenced by design, accessibility, education, and engagement. Marketers need to utilize each of them effectively during their B2B marketing campaign to millennials.
