Confidence in traditional advertising is at an all-time low. It is increasingly hard to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack in a crowded marketplace. Consumer attention spans seem more fleeting than ever. How, then, do companies build and maintain relationships with customers when there are so many competing messages and extraneous factors that can undermine your outreach and marketing efforts?
Content Matters More than Ever
For the B2B, delivering timely, useful, and high-quality content is the differentiator. The phrase “ Content is King” has been around for a long time, but it has never been truer. Put simply, content is foundational to today’s businesses because it gives customers the context for the products and services they purchase.
Of course, a lot of B2B products and services are complex. They often include medical devices, machinery, or consulting services. If you are a B2B, how do you get your message to the right customers, at the right time, and on the right device?
The Benefits of Cutting Edge CMS
CMS, of course, is a way of leveraging ecommerce tools to harness the benefits of content. CMS is more important than ever because:
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Since there are so many players in the market, businesses need ways of targeting the appropriate audiences at the right time.
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Today’s customer expects information, not advertising.
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Analytics are imperative because you can’t fix or adjust campaigns unless you can measure them.
Harnessing the Power of Predictive Analytics 
Predictive analytics gives you a competitive advantage because it helps you anticipate and respond to the needs of customers faster than your competition. In particular, data-mining techniques are what allow businesses to shift through the haystack of raw information and find the proverbial golden needle--actionable insight into the customer. Predictive analytics helps businesses:
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Connect with customers and audiences best-suited to their products and services.
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Reach consumers in real-time.
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Adopt to trends in social channels and the marketplace quickly.
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Discern the kind of information and content your customers are looking for.
Predictive analysis will only increase in importance as online commerce gets more mobile. To reach fast-moving customers--and provide them the content they are searching for--B2Bs will need digital tools that allow them to make informed decisions based on incomplete information, which is exactly what predictive analysis helps your business accomplish.
Nowadays, meeting customer expectations is key. Consumers want great content and a fantastic experience. As it happens, providing the right content not only informs customer purchasing decisions, but it also helps create the great User Experience (UX) that drives digital word-of-mouth, which is so critical these days.
Is Your Current CMS Up-to-Speed?
CMS solutions are constantly being improved. Utilizing outdated CMS platforms can expose your business to numerous downside risks such as:
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Increased vulnerability to security flaws.
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Tech-support and fixes for bugs and glitches may longer be available.
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Outmoded platforms perform slower, are less flexible, and less extensible.
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Less compatible with newly emerging technologies.
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Companies are at a competitive disadvantage as competitors adopt cutting-edge CMS platforms.
Many businesses are tempted to stick with existing CMS platforms rather than upgrade or migrate to new ones. However, in the long run, it’s usually far more costly and inefficient to try and make an outdated system work by resorting to patches and ad hoc fixes.
In particular, the latest CMS systems feature better code. As a result, they run faster and are far more responsive than older ones. Also, because they have been developed in tandem with other newly emerging technologies—the latest browsers, for instance—they will function optimally in the newly emerging digital ecosystem.
How can your voice be heard in a noisy crowded room? That’s the dilemma today’s businesses face. State-of-the-art CMS platforms provide the tools that allow companies to streamline and optimize virtually every aspect of the content delivery process.
Takeaway
Trying to make do with an outdated CMS platform is a little bit like trying to drive a horse and buggy on the information superhighway while your competitors zip by in Ferraris. Not every company aspires to be an industry leader, but if you want to stay in the race, then it’s virtually essential to have the swiftest and most efficient CMS platform.
Contact Guidance for our expert help in the B2B ecommerce space.
