Hard to believe it’s January—and for many of us, time to compile a new marketing plan to guide activities and expenditures for the year ahead.
In our role as marketing counsel to our clients, and as an avid reader and follower of industry trends, we’re offering seven hot topics that have landed on our radar, and that B2B marketers should be aware of to help achieve their objectives in 2023 and beyond:
- Hyper-Personalization. Used to be that marketers considered personalization as simple as a name salutation—“Dear Mary”—at the top of an email. Today, data-driven techniques are in use to discover more about an audience, their interests, and buying histories to create highly relevant content and custom online experiences. (Our client Verticurl is one such company delivering hyper-personalization for CX, advertising, and more.)
- Influencer Marketing. Long a mainstay in B2C, influencer marketing is now spreading to B2B. In either case, this is the use of someone who can influence buying decisions, especially in our current times when people are seeking opinions from credible voices. Who are these B2B influencers and how do you utilize them? Learn more in this recent blog post.
- Public Relations. In the not-so-distant past, PR took a backseat to digital marketing and was even considered old-fashioned. Fast-forward through years of overhyped online claims, fake reviews, and endless email spam, and companies are again seeking ways to reclaim credibility among audiences. This is why PR is returning with a fervor to help break through the noise and re-establish trust—achieved through coverage in publications considered objective news sources and the dissemination of quality thought-leadership content that grows visibility and reputation.
- Purpose Marketing. Buyers want to purchase from companies that share their values, and that they trust and believe in. Purpose-driven campaigns can help companies connect with their audiences, creating an emotional tie that aligns with practical purchase decisions such as features and price. No longer within the purview of B2Cs alone, B2Bs will increasingly consider what their “purpose for being” is beyond just the sale.
- Social Selling. While social marketing is overt—think LinkedIn ads or Facebook boosted posts—social selling is more subtle and focused on engaging with prospects online to share valuable content and build familiarity and trust. Additionally, while LinkedIn remains the predominant B2B venue, we’re increasingly seeing B2Bs establish a presence and engage their networks on other platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
- Video Marketing. Speaking of such platforms brings us to the growing use of video to engage audiences—especially short-form videos which are anything up to two-and-a-half minutes in length. In fact, short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy. Bottom line, if your B2B isn’t planning to use video in some capacity this year, you’re missing out on prime engagement opportunities.
- Virtual Marketers. The pandemic and its WFH necessities enabled many companies to cast a wider talent net in that they were no longer bound by geography. While this initially applied to tech professionals, it is spreading to other roles as well, including virtual marketing directors and CMOs. Such resources enable companies to gain top talent in a tight market and scale up or down as needed without the commitment of hiring permanent staff. Our own agency has provided such resources to companies in need of interim expertise.
Here’s to successful planning for the year ahead! If you need assistance getting a solid plan together to meet your marketing objectives, let’s talk today. Our end-to-end services range from strategy development and planning all the way to highly successful program execution.