At Eden Advertising, we’re continuing to follow along with the fast-paced shift in marketing trends over the past few months and sharing our knowledge with you. Earlier in September, we covered the rise of eCommerce and mCommerce in Canada and the United States, and today we’re taking a look at what’s happening in the world of B2B. One notable trend to pay attention to is the movement from B2B traditional marketing to B2B digital marketing. Here’s what happened and what it all means.

When B2B Events Shut Down, Marketers Sought Alternatives

As they say on the stage, the show must go on! So too must your business, even in these challenging times. Back in March, we experienced an event shut down first-hand as our annual go-to tradeshows, DX3, was brought to a halt. Later in May, eTail, an eCommerce trade show we were supposed to attend was also canceled due to the Pandemic.  For many, these types of events were a prime opportunity to connect with others in the industry, as well as potential clients. We still agree that trade shows are a fantastic way to learn new trends and network, but there are many other channels that have been largely untapped until now.

With live events at a halt and sudden room in the budget, smart B2B marketers quickly reallocated funds to areas like content creation. For many, this opened up a whole new world that was previously unexplored or underexplored. Digital ad spend, in particular, became a primary touchpoint for B2B buyers who were now spending more time in front of screens.

A Eureka Moment for Many B2B Marketers!

Let’s start with an anecdote here – on a recent meeting with a client, he mentioned that a partner of theirs was spending tens of thousands of dollars flying from Canada to the US for various marketing events throughout the year. With trade shows at a standstill and an absolute ban on international air travel, something had to change. A few Zoom webinars and virtual meetings later, he came out with a whole new perspective. While live events were great, he said, a lot of the same tasks could be achieved from home – while saving those thousands to reinvest in other areas of the business. 

We may have heard this story only once, but we’re certain that there are thousands of cases like this one, where marketers are quickly realizing that there are incredible alternatives to doing things traditionally. Everywhere you look, seminars are becoming webinars, in-person courses are being swapped out for online learning, and meeting rooms are traded in for living rooms.

In the US, eMarketer forecasts that “B2Bs will spend $8.14 billion on digital ads this year, up 22.6% from 2019 when spending was $6.64 billion. B2B digital ad spending growth in recent years has outstripped digital ad spending growth overall, with a CAGR from 2016 through 2019 of 24.7%, vs. 22.6% for all US digital advertising.” 

This proves it’s not just a COVID-19 thing, but a much larger underlying trend that got an unexpected push just a few short months ago. 

Looking to transition from traditional marketing to digital marketing? Eden Advertising is here to support you on your journey. Contact us today and we’ll show you how to make the most of your budget and increase leads, digitally!