What Real-Time Marketing Means for B2B

Real-time marketing is great for B2C companies, but what about B2B companies? Is real-time marketing just a pipe dream?

In its latest B2B real-time marketing report, econsultancy, in partnership with Monetate, reveals the current state of B2B real-time marketing, revealing insights that may challenge our preconceptions about its importance to B2B.

For example, 65% of B2B companies are implementing some form of real-time marketing, and 87% agree that real-time marketing as a combination of behavior, device, location and time is critical.

The full report can be found here, which highlights how business buyers are constantly clarifying their needs, as well as the benefits and challenges of real-time marketing.

How do B2B companies define real-time marketing? And why is it important? What is the company doing today, and how is it planning for tomorrow? Real-time marketing priorities and the must-have capabilities to achieve them.

The report is based on our previous survey, the 2014 Real-Time Marketing Survey, in which Econsultancy and Monetate surveyed nearly 900 B2C marketers. This report focuses only on B2B marketers.

We’ll take a brief look at what real-time marketing means for B2B companies.

What is real-time marketing?

As our lifestyles become increasingly “always on” due to multi-device usage, and as this ease of connectivity continues to improve, we increasingly demand fast, personalized responses from the companies we deal with.

This has led to a rise in agile marketing. Marketing has become less planned and more flexible.

What does real-time marketing mean for B2B ?

In contrast to B2C markets, the customer journey through B2B involves multiple decision makers with different agendas, remits, and goals.

This leads to the common idea that any flexibility or speed will be immediately hindered by the huge amount of processes it faces. Of course, even B2C real-time marketing requires a certain amount of upfront planning.

Thankfully, the perception that B2B marketing is a slow, multi-headed beast is becoming less relevant. As our report suggests, real-time interactions in thoughtful sales may provide just as much value as short-term customer marketing.

Real-time marketing means delivering the right content at the right time. The right marketing processes for B2B and B2C companies will be able to deliver content and engagement at the time that customers perceive as “now.”

Another important reason to remember is that virtually any B2B customer will have had experience with a B2C supplier and their expectations are likely to be the same, so it is imperative that you match those expectations as closely as possible.

Benefits of real-time marketing

We asked respondents, “What do you think is the biggest benefit of real-time marketing?”

Better customer experience is the clear winner here. Responding to customer-related messages as quickly as possible also has a knock-on effect of improving customer retention, improving conversions, and increasing brand awareness.

Real-time capabilities are not limited to customer experience and engagement, other aspects related to sales will also benefit.

When it comes to B2B, conversions are often further along the timeline, so secondary metrics like downloads or registrations are often measured. When asked about the impact of real-time marketing on conversion rates, 26% of B2B respondents said it increased, which is exactly the same percentage as B2C companies.