Key marketing trends for 2012 (part two)

Part two of our guide to key B2B marketing trends that will be seen this year.

Now is the time that B2B marketers like you will be considering if and how they want to change their advertising strategies in 2012 in order to win new business.

Some key marketing trends for 2012 have been discussed and now it is time for part two of our guide on what will be lucrative for B2B firms this year.

Integrating email marketing with social media

While many of you may feel that email marketing is a dying advertising medium due to the popularity of social media, it can still be lucrative for you in 2012.

According to Elisabeth Sosnow, who was writing for Business to Community, this is the year for B2B firms to run integrated marketing services that incorporate emails and social marketing campaigns.

She states that 47 per cent of companies intend to increase their investment in email marketing to drive growth in social media channels in 2012.

Beware though as you need to do more than just adding a social share button to your email marketing messages in order to do justice to both platforms.

Julia Peavy, director of Response Consulting at Return Path, suggested adding social media calls-to-action in email marketing messages.

She wrote on the firm's blog: "Test out different wording to encourage sharing or engagement with your social media site.

"While including simple 'follow us' and 'like us' text is better than no guidance, test the social media calls to action to see if this encourages more clicks."

You can also include the option to add comments to a social media page in your email marketing messages to help encourage engagement with your brand.

Content marketing

Producing high-quality content is a proven marketing tool for B2B marketers and the type of material required to win new business is set to develop even further in 2012.

White papers will always be a great way for you to reveal the latest developments in your industry to prove you're an expert in the field but B2B buyers will want to read more engaging content too this year.

This can include corporate blogs, written by your chairman or an industry expert, webinars that B2B buyers can watch online, and even e-books, as e-readers are gaining popularity across the globe.

Social media

Social media was a popular marketing method in 2011, with the launch of new social network Google+, and new advertising tools on both Facebook and Twitter.

These sites are sure to have more opportunities for you to build lead generation in the pipeline, such as Facebook which will be introducing private messages between brands and customers.

As a result, firms will be able to deal with customer service issues directly and in private, rather than on their Facebook page.

What methods will you be employing this year? Take our Poll opposite and find out what your peers think.