As early as 2015, Think with Google found that millennials were making nearly half of all business-to-business (B2B) decisions. Obviously, that meant focusing more on e-commerce stores and social media. So what’s most noticeable about B2B now?
Payment methods, for one. Fax orders are still a thing with about 23% of B2B retailers pursuing an online sales process. The other, more popular options are website, email and phone.
Clearly, some B2B companies see the need for keeping all payment options open – most likely because the half that the millennials do not control must be accommodated on its own terms.
“Going Direct” seems to be the newest B2B trend. Case in point: Knobs.Co. This company has a B2C site targeting individuals rather than businesses. Knobs is still B2B, but this strategy takes business straight to the consumer, as well.
Content Marketing
HubSpot’s annual reports consistently show that Inbound is in and Direct Response Marketing is not quite as viable as it used to be only a few years back.
It isn’t that cold calls and ads don’t work, but if you are selling online, you should also be ranking organically or naturally drawing in visitors from social channels.
Why? Because:
- Publishers suffered a loss to the tune of $22 billion (2015) because of ad-blocking.
- As recent as February 2018, organic CTR on Google SERP has been 65%, while paid ads were clicked on for only 4% of the queries.
Are you curious about the remaining 31% of searches? Google answered internet users’ questions on the search results page, reducing the need for clicks.
If you are not into SEO and content marketing, you could be losing a big chunk of profit. Looks like going organic has a whole different meaning these days.
Medical Marijuana
After medical marijuana was legalized, many patients have benefited immensely from its medical applications. And in the B2B space, things have really been picking up.
ABcann Medicinals, for example, has a “Cannabis Oils Coming Soon!” announcement on its homepage along with a “Free Expedited Shipping” offer.
Medical Marijuana, Inc. has been a major player. It was the first company to make cannabis brands available across the 50 states as well as internationally in 2012. It was also the first to introduce medical cannabis products to Brazil (2014), Puerto Rico (2015), Mexico (2016), and Paraguay (2016).
Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR & AR)
CCS Insight predicts VR and AR devices will have a market worth of $1.8 Billion this year. Major applications are expected to be in gaming (59%), education (26%) and health care (26%).
The Western University J and K Virtual Reality Learning Center helps students learn anatomy in a virtual environment. This does away with the problem of obtaining actual cadavers and the cost of maintaining a hygienic environment a dissection room must have.
In health care alone, the VR and AR sector could reach $5.1 billion by 2025. The amount of funds raised by the leading companies in the recent past is a clear indication that the prediction is far from inaccurate.
These three B2B sectors are looking good in 2018. Make sure to come back and stay informed about the changing trends in the B2B space.
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