B2B Marketing Is (Slowly) On The Rise- Click here http://bit.ly/n5YKnY for full article

B2B Marketing Is (Slowly) On The Rise- Click here http://bit.ly/n5YKnY for full article

The marketing efforts of business-to-business (B2B) companies are gradually picking up steam according to recent observations made by business analysts. B2B companies provide specialized products and services that enable other companies to carry on their business operations, something that makes them extremely vulnerable when the economy takes a turn for the worst.

At the height of the global financial crisis, many B2B companies struggled to stay afloat by taking drastic measures such as shutting down branch offices and reducing the ranks of their staff. The marketing budgets of B2B firms were also greatly reduced in order to weather the abrupt economic meltdown of the late 2000s. This negative trend, which has now carried on for a few years, is beginning to show signs of improvement.

Business activity is the lifeblood of the B2B industry. The current pace of the post-crisis business activity can be described as slow and measured, with occasional short-lived spurs of growth. This is what several economists and business analysts are calling the new normal. The sales and marketing departments of B2B enterprises must take this new tempo into consideration when designing their media and advertising campaigns.

The slow pace of economic recovery has revealed quite a few emerging trends in how business is being conducted. The potential clients of B2B firms (business owners and representatives) are spending a lot more of their time on the Internet. Most prospective clients are still looking for the right products and services to enable them to carry on their operations, that is still at the heart of B2B's nature. What has changed is how business owners are becoming informed about what is available to meet their demands.

Current B2B clients are reading online articles and white papers. They are watching videos. They are asking the members of their social network for opinions and advice. They prefer social media over traditional media. They are highly mobile and connected. These new attributes of B2B clients have brought about a paradigm change in marketing to them: from outbound to inbound.

The good news for B2B firms is that establishing a strong online social media presence does not cost a lot of money. It does require, however, a smart approach and careful use of existing resources. The idea is to take advantage of the current slow pace to invest more time in reaching out to your social network. Start a blog, study the business trends on Twitter, look at how your potential clients interact with their peers on Facebook, etc. There's no need to to overly ambitious: a short-term social media marketing plan is all it takes to get started.