I know how busy you are, particularly CMOs and company founders, so I used this blog to save you some time by summarizing the trends and patterns in B2B marketing that I've picked up over the last few months.
I hope you find my analysis of the current B2B marketing trends useful.
Top content platforms for Account-based marketing
Account-based Marketing
Account-based marketing has existed for as long as B2B companies have needed to attract, engage, and close complex sales with enterprise companies.
But over the last five years, Account-based marketing has become a significant trend, as prominent as 'AI'.
There's now an entire infrastructure around it, including numerous ABM platforms like 6sense, Demandbase, and Terminus, CRM and Marketing automation tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Marketo, Ad platforms like LinkedIn, or organic content platforms like Quora that are ideally suited to this deep, penetrating, targeted marketing approach.
The great content debate
What does a good 'content funnel' look like? Or can we just secure a new customer with one amazing ad? (This seems to be the obsession of quite a few founders and CFOs—could it be a question of money?)
And then the 64 billion dollar question (Yes, inflation has affected pricing on this problem, too!): What content is the 'best'—the most likely to quickly convert a key decision maker to a sale?
- 'webinar fatigue' is bogus. Webinars are still highly effective.
Virtual Roundtables
Virtual Roundtables were not even on my radar pre-pandemic. What happened? About four years ago, my CMO asked me to create one— around a CPQ solution on Salesforce for publishing executives (a tool to monetize their income). It was called 'Working smarter, not harder; surviving and thriving in the new age of first-party data'.
It was a great success: Eight attendees and three new sales opportunities. I continued to run them once every few months. But then, at my next company, they had a slick new name, 'pipeline acceleration events', which the sales team loved. At that company, I was running several each month.
Here's my entire campaign, including the roundtable:
'Working Smarter: Maximizing Productivity and Programmatic success in 2022 and beyond'
Since then, I've continued to run them alongside face-to-face events—particularly the 'breakfast event', which is basically a roundtable but not virtual. This has worked well for me, especially when my prospects are time-pressed and not that social (for example, CIOs or IT directors).
Which channels are the most effective?
I firmly believe in Paid Social media, Email, Google search, and retargeting campaigns for ABM. HubSpot is an inbound expert with extensive data on which channels produce the most significant ROI.
Ebooks, guides, and white papers are still popular in the 'C' suite. But recently, there's been a surge in interest in survey-backed reports; who doesn't like to see what their peers are interested in now and where they think opportunities will be over the next few years?
Peer-to-peer content has been a vast, rapidly growing trend in B2B over the last few years. In the past, I've managed paid G2 Crowd, Trustpilot, or other company account review sites. Getting good reviews is critical to building good SEO and even closing sales.
And here's a guide that it inspired me to produce - looking at the rising video game industry and its corollary in digital advertising: In-game advertising
We developed a lot of rapport with leaders in the industry, whilst we built and promoted the surveys.
It's also great for generating high-value, targeted leads who are truly serious about your solutions. We started to get about 100 a month from this report right from the start—from Ad agencies, advertisers, and video game companies.
Typically, those reading large 30-page or more survey-based industry reports are 'in-market', not 'just browsing'.
One issue I've had in the past is working with bland or uninsightful content. B2B content can be dull and repetitive. Content creators in this field often shy away from the vital risk-taking needed to innovate and excite audiences.
Also, many B2B content strategists and creators kowtow too much to senior management, who are often not content experts. It's easy to get steamrolled by someone much more senior to you into producing work you know is sub-par!
This is similar to the scenario where a rather dull senior or long-time employee constantly speaks at events when the audiences consistently report that this is their least favorite speaker.
What's the point of absolutely 'nailing' your ad campaigns, reaching your ideal buyer persona, at your ICP, and at the perfect time, but then they download your guide, and it's.......................a big letdown?
Your SDRs follow up, and the feedback is invariably:
'The prospect hasn't read the guide yet'
Or the prospects aren't responding to the SDRs at all.
Top Content Challenges 2024 (HubSpot)
You know that they were interested enough to sign up for your white paper on, for example, pick one (of my made-up titles):
1. Cybersecurity
"What's keeping CISOs awake at night: A Comprehensive Guide to Cybersecurity in 2024 and beyond"
2. Software Development and IT Services
"DevOps and Beyond: Essential Strategies for IT Leaders"
3. Digital Marketing and Marketing Technology (MarTech)
"The Digital Marketing Playbook: Insights for the Modern CMO"
4. Telecommunications and Networking
"Connected Leadership: Navigating Telecommunications and Networking"
You invested heavily in capturing these great leads, so why would you let down your entire marketing process by providing poor-quality guides or white papers?
That's why I first got involved in content strategy and creation as a demand generation leader.
Netline says that the C-Suite is 21% more likely to want to read a White Paper, than the rest of their B2B audience.
Remember that this is a blog post, so I will keep it succinct. However, I will add one last trend that everyone in B2B marketing is talking about: team development and team building. You need to attract and retain some of these top marketing skills in your team, to thrive in 2024 and beyond.
And even more importantly, as part of this trend, you need to be aware of, the exponential rise in freelancers and contractors
In 2023, 52% of Gen Z workers and 43% of Millennials were freelancers. The shift is catching on globally:
Gartner predicts that independent workers will make up 35% to 40% of the global workforce by 2025, and could be in the majority by 2030.
It's critical to get ahead of this trend to assert a competitive advantage over many companies that don't want to or don't understand how to incorporate freelancers into their marketing teams today.
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