By Nick Hall
1. AI in B2B marketing
There’s a deafening buzz from Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the marketing world. Yes, its short-term impact may be overstated, but its long-term potential is underestimated.
Right here, right now, what we’re seeing is a torrent of mediocre, AI-generated content flooding the market.
Many startups are offering superficial AI-driven personalisation, leading to inauthentic experiences. Forrester predicts that thinly customised generative AI content will degrade the purchase experience for 70% of B2B buyers.
There is better news on the horizon. AI will start augmenting go-to-market strategies and platforms in ways that are helpful.
For example, conversational interfaces will automatically identify the right audience for campaigns. Or how about enhanced A/B testing and segmentation that streamline existing campaigns.
Looking further ahead, how about self-driving marketing capabilities predicting optimal interactions for each buyer.
Ultimately, we will see a shift in marketers' roles towards training more 'agentic' AI models and setting strategic goals. But the need to infuse greater creativity and empathy into marketing activities will be the key differentiators that thankfully remain exclusive to humans.
2. Email marketing
Email’s demise has been predicted for years but it remains a useful tool for B2B marketing. However, it's undergoing a significant evolution.
Yes, buyers complain about receiving too many irrelevant emails. But Adobe says that 56% of buyers prefer to receive B2B offers via email.
Email still offers capabilities like clickable links, URLs, easy replies, attachments or images, and other functions, not found in other messaging channels. However, LinkedIn is proving a highly effective option – with smart links, zero bounce rates, high open rates and no spam filters.
Both channels are effective and should be strategically employed in tandem.
It would be great to see a shift to sending fewer, more hyper-personalised, relevant and engaging emails. We’re talking about attaching more importance to signalling more authenticity and utility from real people.
But I wouldn’t bet the house on this happening anytime soon.
3. The demise of legacy demand gen
The traditional B2B demand generation playbook is losing effectiveness, necessitating a new approach.
Years of vanilla promotions, ill-timed nurturing, and spray and pray SDR outreach, have disengaged buyers. They’re staying anonymous for longer.
Ultimately, an over-emphasis on short-term pipeline creation has left many companies underinvested in brand and other revenue cycle aspects. And that’s a concern, as sharp marketers now recognise that effective long-term brand-building, equals longer term revenue.
There is a newly emerging B2B playbook in town. It’s all about investing in emotional brand-building before buyers are in-market and utilising intent data and AI to identify when they are in-market.
It’s also about aligning more deeply with sales throughout the buyer's journey, and evolving metrics beyond MQLs and marketing-sourced pipeline.
The key goal here is to build marketing’s credibility to advocate for longer-term, harder-to-measure brand-building initiatives.
4. Rise of research fuelled content
As AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, original research and data-driven insights will become increasingly valuable.
We’re talking about in-depth reports, industry surveys, and data-driven content becoming the gold standard for thought leadership.
Content based on company-owned or uniquely gathered data provides fresh insights. So, start mining those nuggets as buyers really appreciate this stuff.
5. Brand building through owned media
Content distribution is evolving beyond reliance on paid media and SEO. The smartest brands are shifting focus to building owned audiences and communities.
This involves offering accessible, high-quality content to showcase value and exclusive content and experiences to subscribers.
Picture better use of websites, blogs, email / LinkedIn newsletters, podcasts, videos, and live micro events. With direct distribution to audiences, also means it's a big cost saving play.
Build your content home on your own land. As Wired founder John Battelle's inspired saying goes; If you’re going to build something, don’t build on land someone else already owns.
Bonus trend: tracking qualified buying groups (QBGs)
Innovative marketers are shifting from marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to focus more on buying groups. Why?
Because buying groups better represent the collective nature of B2B purchasing decisions. QBGs acknowledge that B2B purchases are rarely made by individuals in isolation, AI will assist here by sifting through vast numbers of data points to automatically identify the right members.
Tracking QBGs may well become the new benchmark.
Final thoughts
The B2B marketing landscape is experiencing significant changes. AI is enhancing processes, content strategies are becoming more refined, and buyer behaviours continue to evolve.
In this dynamic environment, B2B marketers face both challenges and opportunities.
So, ask yourself these questions. How will I respond to these industry shifts? Will I proactively integrate emerging tools and strategies to drive growth, or maintain the status quo?
The future of B2B marketing is unfolding – and it offers exciting possibilities for those ready to embrace change.
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