It’s no secret that relevance is one of the toughest marketing challenges. When your message is on-target, it stands out and grabs your audience’s attention.
That’s the beauty of real-time marketing. Done right, it captures (and holds) the attention of your target audience. It can piggyback on hot trends – remember the Pokemon Go craze? What about Oreo’s social media team capturing the moment when the lights went out during the 2013 Super Bowl? Those were both successful attention-grabbers in real-time.
In this post, we’ll see how real-time marketing can be used effectively by B2B marketers, and how it can impact your business directly.
What is Real-Time Marketing?
Marketing Land defines Real-time marketing or ‘RTM’ as “moments that occur when brands and agency marketers react quickly to local, national or global events happening online or offline, in an effort to interject corporate marketing into consumer conversations via social media messaging or boost brand recognition utilizing marketing platforms.”
Starting in B2C and showing record-breaking results, real-time marketing has matured enough for B2B businesses to incorporate RTM into their marketing strategy.
How Can B2B Marketers Incorporate Real-Time Marketing?
There’s no shortage of examples showing how marketing consumer products with real time marketing can be highly effective. As a B2B marketer, you’re in an even more strategic position to benefit, because you can go deeper with your customers and be relevant in a way that impacts their business decisions.
For example, think about the trends and real time events in your industry like conferences, which you can build a real-time marketing campaign around.
Another avenue that offers insight into your customer’s minds is your data, and it can help you step into the conversation as it happens.
5 Real-Time Marketing Tactics for B2B Marketers
1. Always Be Listening (ABL)
To do real-time marketing right, you need to have your ear to the ground. Here are four ways to do that:
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- Set up Google alerts on trends within your industry
- Monitor all real-time events in your industry
- Follow influencers closely and develop relationships with them
- Follow industry publications and newsletters closely to remain current on trends, as well as common concerns and questions.
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2. Resources
Have the resources in place to act quickly. Oreo’s social media team succeeded because they were prepared, and you should be too.
In B2B, monitor industry events, and use creative resources to act on current trends. You’ll also want to use a tool that harnesses maximum ROI from social media to keep track of your brand mentions, curate the right type of content for your audience, and make data driven decisions.
3. Ambassador Network
Launching a successful real-time marketing opportunity relies on creative thinking and engagement. Tap your employee advocacy programs and social ambassadors to not only let them know about the initiative, but also ask them to share it with their networks to create maximum B2B marketing impact.
4. Know Where the Conversation Is
For B2C marketers, the conversation is everywhere. B2B is more focused so it makes sense to review industry publications, events, and your data, so you can speak directly to your prospects.
As we mentioned above, understanding your customer’s journey online helps your marketing team get clear on what drives your customer’s buying decisions. Given that, your marketing team can create the most relevant content and discover opportunities for effective real-time marketing.
5. Not One and Done
If your customers are active on LinkedIn and Twitter, be there. Answer questions, ask questions, be an active part of the conversation so that when they’re ready to buy, you’re the first in their mind.
Bonus: Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone
RTM is about having fun, so don’t be afraid to do just that. Businesses showing personality stand out and build loyalty. Not only that, but people are individuals, which means when you speak to them like a person instead of like a “corporation,” they appreciate it.
Conclusion
The goal of real-time marketing is to join the conversation going on in your customer’s head. When you incorporate current trends and pay attention to your customer’s “next best step,” you’re helping your prospects choose you.
