Internal communication as a success factor
Employer Branding in Focus
Data-driven marketing in the lead
As an independent trend scout in the B2B marketing industry, the Bundesverband Industrie Kommunikation e. V., bvik, asked its honorary board members about the top trends for the DACH region after the publication of its study “Trendbarometer Industriekommunikation 2023”. The six marketing experts Kai Halter (Director Marketing, ebm-papst Mulfingen GmbH & Co. KG), Silke Lang (Director Marketing Mobile Hydraulics, Bosch Rexroth AG), Dr. Andreas Bauer (CMO, XITASO), Alexander Biesalski (Managing Partner, BIESALSKI & COMPANY), Jens Fleischer (CEO, medienformer) and Rainer Pfeil (CEO, ARTA Projektbau) confirm the study results and thus the assessment of the B2B community of the bvik. Without a high degree of professionalization, companies risk their market presence.
Professional and honest internal communication binds specialists
95% of those surveyed in the bvik trend barometer judge them to be decisive in terms of competition.
Silke Lang (Bosch Rexroth):
“Especially in difficult times, when there is also a lot of talk about crises, transparency towards our employees is absolutely important. Decisions must be explained and communicated transparently, which creates trust, security and reliability. This culture of trust, which is created through targeted internal communication, is the basis for motivation and success, especially with the young talents who are so important.”
Alexander Biesalski (BIESALSKI & COMPANY):
“In times when people are confronted with complex challenges, we are experiencing a renaissance of the brand strength factor ‘trust’. People want to give trust and enjoy trust themselves. This is also decisive for communication, both external and internal. In our many brand analyzes in the B2B environment, we prove that trust creates loyalty. Customer and employee loyalty is therefore a key factor in successfully overcoming the crisis.”
Marketing & HR together strong for employer branding
For 82% of those surveyed, cross-departmental cooperation between HR and marketing in the area of ”employer branding” in B2B is becoming the standard.
Jens Fleischer (media shaper):
“Similar to how sales and marketing suddenly moved towards each other in Corona times, HR and those responsible for brands should also work together. Successful brands have understood that there is exactly one brand. And not a sales brand, an employer brand, a supplier brand and what else. Unfortunately, the good old silos stand in the way of success. Often still installed and promoted from the C-Level. In fact, I have also witnessed the break-up of silo thinking in recent years.”
Data-driven marketing & alternative data qualification high on the agenda
Around 80% of those surveyed see potential in these two areas that will be decisive in terms of competition.
Kai Halter (ebm-papst):
“Individual platforms offer the opportunity to collect data and optimize communication behavior. This can develop into a decisive competitive advantage. Because this easy measurability of online activities also gives us the opportunity to prove the effect of the marketing measures.”
Personalized marketing & ABM are becoming standard in B2B
Personalized marketing based on user data is becoming the norm, according to 71% of respondents. Account based marketing is also becoming more and more relevant for the industry.
Dr. Andreas Bauer (XITASO):
“Despite the not always easy implementation of data protection-compliant target group addressing, personalized and account-based marketing (ABM) continues to increase. In B2B marketing, direct customer contact and direct sales have always been the basis of most companies, but this trend is being driven forward by technologies. Because CRM systems that are more suitable for B2B campaigns are now becoming more widespread as the basis for personalized addressing and ABM, and there are service providers who enable targeted ABM through smartly controlled website ads or webinars and the like that can be called up at any time.
The trend has also been fueled by the improved affinity for digital media of the B2B target groups – recently also driven by the Covid pandemic. As a next step, not only personalized content has to be played out to the respective target groups, but also relevant content according to the status in the customer journey. B2B and the capital goods business in particular still offer a lot of potential here due to the deeper involvement of customers and users.”
Top challenge & trend in question: the Metaverse
Only 43% of respondents currently give the Metaverse a chance to significantly influence live B2B communication.
Rainer Pfeil (ARTA project construction):
“VR, AR, MR technologies create even more product experiences in virtual form in the metaverse. But in the end we remain human. The pandemic has taught us that face-to-face encounters are irreplaceable. The product is well known; In live communication, the focus is even more on brands and people.”
Overview of the top trends for 2023 according to the bvik trend barometer:
TOP trend 1 with 95% agreement: Professional and honest internal communication will lead to decisive competitive advantages.
TOP trend 2 with 82% approval: Cross-departmental cooperation between HR and marketing is becoming the standard in the area of ”employer branding”.
TOP trend 3 with 82% agreement: Alternative data qualification is becoming a decisive competitive advantage.
TOP trend 4 with 80% approval: Professional and credible sustainability communication is becoming a key differentiating factor.
TOP trend 5 with 78% agreement: Data-driven marketing is becoming a decisive success factor.
TOP trend 6 with 71% agreement: Personalized marketing based on user data is becoming the standard.
TOP trend 7 with 71% agreement: Account Based Marketing (ABM) is becoming an important part of B2B marketing.
TOP trend 8 with 62% approval: Video content for social platforms is becoming an essential part of B2B content marketing.
TOP trend 9 with 42% approval: Corporate influencers are an essential part of our MarKom strategy.
TOP trend 10 with 20% agreement: The metaverse will have a significant impact on B2B live communication.
Presse-Service:
Result report “Trendbarometer Industriekommunikation 2023” – Download
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