What Recent Data Shows About The Rising Importance of Human Touch-Points in B2B Marketing

Are the human touch-points we use everyday as B2B marketers taking on greater importance in the face of record levels of digital content touched only by artificial intelligence (AI)? Facing increasing automation from ChatGPT and other AI-infused tools, B2B marketers are taking a closer look at our truly human touch-points to differentiate in the unique year that 2023 is shaping up to be. While savvy B2B marketers are sparingly using the power of AI to do more with less, some less sophisticated strategies have turned solely to AI-generated content, making differentiation between human and AI service more important than ever. Let's take a look at what recently-published data from industry reports and surveys can tell us about the rising importance of human touch-points in B2B marketing. [bctt tweet="“Facing increasing automation from ChatGPT and other AI-infused tools, B2B marketers are taking a closer look at our truly human touch-points to differentiate in the unique year that 2023 is shaping up to be.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

Touch-Point 1 — Growing B2B Influence

During 2022 some $27.51 billion was spent on online influencer activities, which was a 20.4 percent increase year-over-year, while influencer advertising represented an impressive 4.1 percent of total digital advertising spending during 2022 — a rise of 4.6 percent year-over-year — with 71 percent of brands having said that they expect influencers to play a bigger role in 2023, according to newly-released data from Meltwater’s annual Digital 2023 Global Overview Report. Increasing focus on influence was listed as one of the top four digital marketing trends in the new 465-page report, which forecast a sizable shift to brands using nano-influencer with smaller niche followings, along with a resurgence of utilizing the digital communities of these influencers to increase ambassadorship. To learn more about the growing power of B2B influence in the face of both economic headwinds and increased use of exclusively AI-created content, check out our comprehensive free 59-page B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, rich with survey insights, case studies from B2B brands, predictions from top B2B marketing experts, a list of 20 top influencer marketing practitioners from major B2B brands, and much more.

Touch-Point 2 — Standing Out From B2B Chatbots

According to Hootsuite's most recent annual Social Media Trends 2023 report, some 26 percent of organizations surveyed said that they used chatbots on social and messaging apps, with 53 percent of those who do having implemented the technology during the pandemic. Hootsuite's report points out that businesses focusing on digital customer service hold an advantage over those that don't, however in the B2B sector in particular — with longer buying cycles and generally more touch-points than in the B2C world — brands can also run the risk of relying too heavily on chatbots and other AI technology. Recent data enforces past findings showing that larger organizations are more likely to work with influencers, with Hootsuite's latest report showing that 42 percent of organizations with more than a thousand employees work with influencers, while 35 percent of organizations with between 100 and 999 people utilize influencers, with only 28 percent of businesses with under 100 employees work with influencers.

Touch-Point 3 — Putting The Human In B2B Humanization Strategy

Over the years it's been said countless times that B2B marketing is less about business and more about human-to-human relationships, and if there's one thing that the early portion of 2023 has shown us it's that there's never been a greater opportunity for brands to differentiate from AI-generated content — whether it's through shining a light on employee influencers or elevating thought leadership through executive influence, as we've explored in "Inside B2B Influence: Sarita Rao of AT&T on Growing B2B Executive Influence with Social Media." [bctt tweet="“Working with credible B2B influencers helps to build brand authority through real, human conversations and interactions.” — Sarita Rao @saritasayso" username="toprank"] A leading 91 percent of consumers have said that they trust co-workers, family, and friends for brand advice at purchase time, with some 47 percent noting significant trust, while an organization’s own employees were also seen as trusted sources of brand recommendations, along with those from subject matter experts, according to report data we covered in our Friday B2B marketing industry news and as we've explored in detail in "Inside Influence 10: Ryan Bares from IBM on Influence Inside B2B Brands with Employees." In that interview, our CEO Lee Odden took a look at the universal nature of influence and how that can benefit B2B organizations. "I have always believed that everyone is influential about something and that sentiment is certainly true within B2B companies," Lee explained. "In the B2B marketing world, we’ve all come to understand that buyers trust individual voices more than formal marketing and advertising messages, so finding ways to optimize influence internally is becoming a key area of focus," Lee added. [bctt tweet="“I have always believed that everyone is influential about something and that sentiment is certainly true within B2B companies.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

Elevate B2B With Human Touch-Points in 2023

via GIPHY In 2023 B2B marketers can benefit from AI technology, and it presents a prime opportunity to keep innovating as the technology matures, however the need for genuine human touch-points is rising, and those businesses that use them to stand out will be poised to elevate their efforts in the coming months and years. We hope that the various aspects of human touch-points  we’ve explored here will help as you navigate your own B2B marketing efforts. More than ever before, creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.

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Elevate B2B Marketing News: LinkedIn Tops 900M Members, Microsoft’s Growing OpenAI Investment, & New Global Digital Trends Report

LinkedIn Now Up to 900 Million Members, Continues to See ‘Record Levels’ of Engagement Microsoft’s latest quarterly performance report has revealed that its LinkedIn (client) professional social network has topped the 900 million member mark and seen record levels of engagement, with the number of user sessions expanding by 18 percent, accompanied by revenue that grew by 10 percent during the most recent quarter year-over-year, and a ten-fold increase in newsletter creation on the platform, Microsoft recently announced. Social Media Today 2023 Global Digital Report [Meltwater / We Are Social] During 2022 some $27.51 billion was spent on online influencer activities, which was a 20.4 percent increase year-over-year, while influencer advertising represented 4.1 percent of total digital advertising spending during 2022, a rise of 4.6 percent year-over-year, with 71 percent of brands having said that they expect influencers to play a bigger role in 2023, according to newly-released data from Meltwater's Digital 2023 Global Overview Report. Meltwater Here’s what B2B is borrowing from B2C commerce 73 percent of B2B buyers have come to expect a B2C-type purchasing experience, as sales on B2B commerce websites climbed to over $1.6 trillion during 2021, an increase of 17 percent — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in recently-published report data, and VentureBeat takes a look at the B2B-B2C crossover shifts taking place in 2023. VentureBeat B2B Brands Urged To Use Email Signatures, Messaging [Study] Email signatures saw click-through rates (CTR) from 0.5 percent to 0.8 percent, representing the top spot in newly-released study data, with LinkedIn ads also having recorded some of the top CTR performance, according to benchmark findings of interest to B2B marketers. MediaPost Microsoft & OpenAI Extend Deal To Make AI Accessible To Everyone The partnership that helped drive the popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot technology has been extended, with Microsoft leaning in to the partnership in the form of a multi-billion dollar investment over multiple years, OpenAI and Microsoft recently announced. Search Engine Journal Account-Based Marketing Is On the Rise [Report] 66 percent of B2B marketers have said that their organization uses account-based marketing (ABM), and some 82 percent of those who don’t noted that they plan to start doing so over the next year — two of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published report data. ANA The 99:1 rule: How to invest in a recession Economic headwinds are causing B2B firms to adjust the traditional notion of 95 percent of customers being out-of-market, and shift economic demand even more to future buyers, and Marketing Week takes a look at how B2B brands are investing in advertising that is focused on driving future success. Marketing Week [bctt tweet="“Even in good times, only 5% of customers are ready to buy right now. 95% of customers are future buyers, who won’t need to purchase anything for months, years, or decades.” — Peter Weinberg of @B2BInstitute" username="toprank"] Which Digital Platforms Are Marketers Prioritizing for Investment This Year? 46 percent of marketing executives have said that they plan to increase investment on the LinkedIn social media platform during 2023, with Twitch, Google, YouTube, and TikTok also seeing expected increases, according to nearly-published survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts LinkedIn’s New Feature Can Help You Find Must-Read Newsletters Greater LinkedIn newsletter visibility has begun rolling out with LinkedIn’s latest update, which highlights the newsletters that users subscribe to on the platform, as part of the firm's efforts to expanded the audience for its growing newsletter functionality, LinkedIn recently announced. Search Engine Journal Where is Technology Proving Most Valuable in Account-Based Marketing? 54 percent of U.S. B2B marketers at organizations with over $50 million in annual revenue have said that technology is very important in account-level advertising campaigns, especially when it comes to measurement and execution, with activation also a top area related to wielding tech in B2B ABM, according to newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “More with Less” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist What To Know About ChatGPT — The Onion TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Debbie Friez — This Week in Marketing: Revenue Is a Team Sport — LinkedIn (client)
• TopRank Marketing — Selecting the Right Digital Influencer in B2B Markets: Guidelines for Managers — European Business Review

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW: Ann Handley @MarketingProfs Michael J. Barber @michaeljbarber Melanie Deziel @mdeziel Andy Crestodina @crestodina Margaret Molloy @MargaretMolloy Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry. Have you found your own favorite B2B marketing news item for the week that we haven't yet mentioned? If so, please don't hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below. Thanks for joining us this week for the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope you'll return again next Friday for another run-down of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

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B2B Marketers on the Move: Elevating Top Marketing Talent in New Leadership Roles

As B2B marketers adjust to the changes that 2023 brings, the industry continues to offer growth opportunities as well as shifts that often seen to happen so fast that they are difficult to fully appreciate. For more than two decades now, TopRank Marketing has had the please of helping a wide variety of the world's top B2B marketers and major global brands elevate and go beyond merely being competitive, to standing out from the crowd with creative and award-winning successes. In 2023 we place increased focus on elevating through intelligence, relevance, and the type of humanization that allows efforts to stand out from the increasing reach of those touched more by artificial intelligence (AI) than by human hands. In this spirit, for more than a year now we have regularly made a point of taking the time to congratulate and honor B2B marketing leaders who have recently seen career advancement. When B2B marketers take on new leadership roles, it's only natural to look for trusted resources that will help professionals in new positions hit the ground running, and TopRank Marketing is honored to have been a go-to B2B content and influencer marketing agency for so many top marketers in new leadership roles. In 2023 we are also continuing to seek out B2B technology industry influencers advancing in their careers to partner with on compelling and unique content collaborations. We offer hearty congratulations to each of the B2B marketing leaders featured in this eighth edition of B2B Marketers on the Move, and extend our thanks for sharing their insightful B2B marketing career advice.

B2B Marketers on the Move: Elevating Top B2B Marketing Leaders

Michelle Robbins has been promoted to Manager, Decision Science at LinkedIn*.

Focus on growth opportunities, in organizations with strong leadership and access to mentors, and seek a challenge instead of a title. I’ve benefited greatly from being curious, expanding my own capabilities with continued learning, and pivoting to where that curiosity takes me.

Michelle was featured in our "25 Women Who Rock at Digital Marketing in 2017." Julie Brown has been promoted to Vice President, Industries and Customer Experience at Johnson Controls. Julie was featured in our "Break Free B2B Marketing: Julie Brown of Johnson Controls on Proving the EBIT of Your Marketing," and in our "2015 – 50 Influential Women in Digital Marketing." Vasudha Badri-Paul has taken a new position as Vice President, B2B Marketing and Developer Ecosystem at DigitalAPICraft. Vasudha has been featured in our "Spotlight on Talent: 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Experts to Follow in 2022 and Beyond" highlighting top insights from our comprehensive free 59-page 2022 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report. Guliz Sicotte has been promoted to Senior Director of User Experience at Adobe. Paul Herman has taken a new position as Senior Vice President, Global Digital Transformation Services at Sprinklr.

In the move towards creating 360-degree profiles of consumers, brands should always ask themselves: “would the customer be surprised that we know this about them?”. If the answer is yes, tread carefully. However, if brands do this well, there is a future where customers will only know that they have been on a journey if they look back and see where a brand has seamlessly served them through personal, premium experiences. So data has to evolve, become smarter, more available and actionable at the point of customer experience.

A.J. Ghergich has taken a new position as Vice President of Consulting Services at Botify.

Boundaries are shifting and, in some cases, disappearing altogether. The Covid-19 pandemic, of course, has been a great accelerant. This pivot to remote work reveals that real change can be pushed only so far by technological innovation. The other half of the change equation must be the pull of user adoption.

Randi Zuckerberg has taken a new position as CEO and Founder at HUG.

The emergence of a new internet requires a new language that's welcoming, friendly, and inclusive. I encourage you all on the front lines of building in the metaverse and web3 to adjust your vocabulary and change words and minds about having more empathy and connection in the tech world.

Randi has been featured in our "The Future of Marketing As Seen By Randi Zuckerberg #DSMPLS" and "10 New Media Trends Shaping the Lives of Modern Consumers – Keynote with Randi Zuckerberg #CZLNY." Andrew Jenkins has taken a new position as Demand Generation & Lifecycle Marketing Manager at NetSPI. Thomas J. Armitage has taken a new position as Senior Marketing Manager at Smith.ai.

WHERE you work, and WHAT you do for work, matters little. HOW you work, and the CHARACTER you build, is far more important. Be hardworking. Have pride in your work. And care.

Alex White has been promoted to Social Media & Influencer Marketing Coordinator at TopRank Marketing.

Don't get marketing tunnel vision. Keep an open mind and look to your peers and top thought leaders often for different routes to solving problems and overcoming challenges.

Treasa Dovander has taken a new position as Head of Internal Communications, Strategy Operations at Spotify.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw. Avoid thinking communication is a one way street — that is broadcasting. Today employees and customers expect authenticity and engagement - plan your activations and metrics around this and ensure you listen fully to respond wisely.

Treasa has been featured on our "Spotlight on Talent: 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Experts to Follow in 2022 and Beyond." Cassandra Clark has taken a new position as Senior Director, Demand Generation at CrunchTime! Lauren Margrave has taken a new position as Director, Executive Marketing, Americas at ServiceNow.

B2B Career Advice “I have three key philosophies to my career growth: One — Take risks and be bold. Your peers and your leaders notice individuals who step-up for the greater good; they also notice who does not. Be the one for the greater good. Two — Remember to set healthy boundaries – your career can flourish – be smart on where you invest your time. Three — Reach back to help those that follow you.”

Charlie Riley has taken a new position as Vice President of Marketing, North America at Send.

Marketers should always be curious. Asking “why?” and “how does that work?” with genuine intent to learn helps you understand your product and know how to sell it. That curiosity should spill over into helping others with an authentic interest in growing their careers.

Charlie has been featured in our "50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers, Experts and Speakers To Follow In 2022," and in our "50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers, Experts and Speakers in 2019." Tameka Kee has taken a new position as Deputy Managing Director at the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM).

As our lives increasingly shift toward being more digital and virtual, the currencies, business models and laws around content must continue to evolve.

Shane McLaughlin has been promoted to Senior Content Manager at Intuit. Ali Orlando Wert has taken a new position as Senior Director, Content Strategy at Appfire.

“A killer content marketing strategy must be preceded by strong positioning and messaging

Ben Harmanus has been promoted to International Product Marketing & Storytelling Lead at HubSpot.

Think of who you want to be and what you want to do in the future, and foster personal rebranding. Internal presentations, but also repositioning on LinkedIn help being considered for your preferred role.

Crystal Williams has taken a new position as Marketing Director at Madison Energy Investments.

There's this phrase I've always loved: Il pui nell uno. "Nothing is quite beautiful alone." There's something so beautiful about duality, multiplicity...being many things. That would be the title that would fit me.

Karen McDermott has taken a new position as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Vast Bank. Jacob Hill has taken a new position as Chief Marketing Officer at Engage AI.

Next time you're having coffee with one of your business buddies, ask them this: "What's the best business advice you've ever gotten?" You'll get a glimpse of their personal and professional values just from learning what words of wisdom have stuck with them.

Julia McCoy has taken a new position as Vice President of Marketing at Content at Scale.

An entrepreneur CAN become employed again! After 11 years of building my own businesses, I took a salaried, full-time VP of Marketing role at Content at Scale and I haven't had this much fun at work maybe ever – because, for the first time, I'm not responsible for everything. Just the area I truly love, which is content marketing and existing revenue growth. Please don't let society's pressure that you "can't go backwards because you've started your own thing, and now you're unemployable," stop you from a GOOD thing. That is a myth gravely hurting the ability to breathe, feel at peace, and ENJOY what you do! A "job" can actually be the vehicle and bridge you personally need to succeed at life and in your industry. For example, I could never have the kind of reach and impact I now have in the mix of thousands of use cases as Content at Scale's marketing VP.

Julia has been featured in our "50 Top B2B Content Marketing Influencers To Follow in 2021 #CMWorld," "50 Content Marketing Influencers and Experts to Follow 2019 #CMWorld," "Less Is More: Time to Cut Content Bloat & Create Content Connections," "LinkedIn’s List of 24 B2B Marketers You Need to Know," and "How Marketers Can Improve the Customer Experience (And Why They Should Want To)." Alexa Rotman has taken a new position as Enterprise Business Development Manager at Meltwater. Shashi Bellamkonda has taken a new position as Principal Research Director at SoftwareReviews.

Each new phase in life, particularly switching careers, presents a chance to transform yourself. Keep your possibilities limitless and pick a path that will assist you in staying a lifelong learner. Create positive energy by being of service to your connections without expecting anything in return, and it will ultimately benefit you in various ways, including enhancing your happiness.

Jessica Greene has taken a new position as Director of Demand Generation at TestBox. Travis Flak has taken a new position as Director of Marketing at Foundry.

You must use sincerity, empathy, and active listening skills. Care about your network's careers and interests. Like their posts and share their content. Comment with "congratulations" to a job promotion, or a career move to another company. These people are your friends and need to be treated as such. They will respond in kind when they hear from you, and one day you'll be in a position to pay it forward.

Travis is a TopRank Marketing alumni. Tony Ciolino has taken a new position as Senior Director, Global Growth and Success Strategy at Sprout Social.

Thanks To Each of These Inspiring Leaders For Helping Elevate the B2B Marketing Industry In 2023

We extend many thanks to each of the talented B2B marketing professionals we've featured here, who have all recently been promoted or taken on new industry positions. We're certain that you'll elevate with intelligence, relevance and a human touch, and reach new heights in your new roles in 2023. You can find our previous edition of B2B Marketers on the Move here. If you're looking for a new change of your own, feel free to take a moment to check out our own list of current job openings at TopRank Marketing on our careers page. *LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

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5 Steps For Aligning B2B Brands With Customers’ Changing Needs

When you were getting started in B2B marketing or selling, did you suspect you’d be selling your product more or less the same way for years at a time, or maybe for even longer? What a sweet dream that was. But a few years in B2B shook you awake. The truth is, the B2B consumer doesn’t just change as quickly as the B2C consumer; they actually change considerably faster. Your B2B customer’s needs are constantly morphing and evolving just as fast as their industry develops, their competition stiffens, and new technologies enter the fore. The B2B brand that keeps its existing customers and brings in new ones has to evolve even faster than its customers. As a B2B marketer or B2B salesperson, your job is to understand what your customer’s need just as quickly (or even faster than) they realize they need it and demonstrate that you can provide it. While there’s not exactly a foolproof, one-size-fits-all model for prognosticating your customer’s needs and speaking to them (wouldn’t that be nice), there is a generalized five step process savvy B2B marketers like you can follow to double and triple check that you understand your customer’s needs and that you’re speaking to them as directly and effectively as possible. Let’s follow the data and break down that process:

Step 1: Reassess & prioritize your Category Entry Points

Your Category Entry Points, or CEPs, are the main, recurring pain points and motivations your buyers experience that cause them to seek out a product or service like yours in the first place. CEPs create your buyer’s initial need to find your product. First, ask yourself if your primary CEPs are still relevant. Are customers still experiencing the pain points and motivations that cause them to seek out your category of products and services? Just as importantly, do they perceive those pain points and motivations in a way that’s still causing them to seek out products like yours, or has something shifted? If your CEPs have shifted, why is that? Is there a new product or technology that is solving your original CEP concerns in a different way? Have your customer’s businesses changed such that their motivations and pain points aren’t what they once were? Most importantly: what is motivating your customers to seek out new products now? Broaden your CEPs to include the new ways your customers are thinking about and approaching their pain points, then focus on addressing these newly broadened topics of concern across your marketing initiatives. As vice president of marketing at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions* Jim Habig recently shared when speaking about B2B marketing in 2023, “The key to making your promise valuable is in understanding your customer. Essentially you need to understand what they need to do, when they need to do it, why it will help them, and who needs to be on board to move forward.” [bctt tweet="“The key to making your promise valuable is in understanding your customer. Essentially you need to understand what they need to do, when they need to do it, why it will help them, and who needs to be on board to move forward.” — @JimHabig" username="toprank"]

Step 2: Contextualize CEPs according to customer pain points

Did you know that 76% of of B2B buyers now expect a personalized sales pitch that speaks directly to their specific goals and pain points? This remains true, despite the fact that the majority (57%) of B2B buyers also prefer to analyze their initial needs and identify possible solutions online before involving a sales professional. As this graph from Gartner’s report on “The B2B Buying Journey” illustrates, the typical B2B buyer actually spends 10% more time researching solutions online independently than they do meeting with potential suppliers and sales reps. Source: Gartner Perhaps most eye-opening of all: a staggering 83% of B2B buyers prefer ordering or paying through digital commerce. Taken together, these stats spell it out: that “personalized sales pitch” customers are asking for can’t just happen when they’re in front of a sales rep anymore. It has to start as soon as they interact with your brand’s content online. Source: McKinsey Figure out exactly how your customers are thinking about their pain points and create online marketing content laser-targeted toward addressing those concerns as early and often as possible. In her predictions for the state of B2B marketing in 2023, eMarketer’s analyst Kelsey Voss emphasized focusing on a B2B’s most urgent needs throughout the marketing funnel, rather than trying to entice them with secondary benefits. “Investments will focus on the tech that meets a business’s need rather than bells and whistles that deliver little value,” Voss said. “We know the martech landscape is enormous with an ever-increasing long tail of solutions. This has led many businesses to purchase unnecessary tech that they think will solve all known and unknown problems. But economic stressors will help put a kibosh on any unnecessary investments that don’t show a tangible impact on marketing goals while drawing on minimal resources.” “Tangible impact” is the key phrase here. Align your CEPs with your customer’s biggest worries and make the case for how you can solve those worries as explicitly as possible.

Step 3: Address CEPs across the entire buying cycle & for all buyer roles

Of course, in order to identify your customer’s biggest worries, you have to identify all of your customers. That’s getting harder, too. According to a Forrester Consulting and Outreach survey, 75% of B2B buyers say there are more people involved in their decision-making process than ever. Gartner’s report finds that a typical B2B purchase now involves six to 10 decision makers, each armed with four or five pieces of information they’ve gathered independently… and, as this chart demonstrates, each with their own role in the ultimate decision. Source: Gartner According to Insider Intelligence, 75% of B2B buyers say that the time an average buying cycle takes is also getting longer in general. The longer the B2B buying cycle takes and the more decision makers are involved in it, the less linear the purchase journey ultimately becomes, as this chart from Gartner demonstrates: Source: Gartner Frustrating though the complexity of the modern B2B buying journey may seem, however, it also represents an opportunity. Each of the members of your customer’s buying committee will be conducting their own research and contributing their findings to the group. The more you appear in their findings, the more mental availability you’ll build with the entire committee. As you develop your brand’s marketing content, keep every member of your customer’s buying committee in mind. Hit these members with targeted content along each and every step of their buyer’s journey, from problem identification to supplier selection, repeatedly. You objective is to show up with answers to their questions and concerns no matter where they are in the process and no matter how many times they return to that point in the process. Persistent messaging and patience are key here. Keep providing useful information, and your customer will find it eventually.

Step 4: Provide new information & contextualize existing information

B2B buyers are five times more likely to engage with a sales rep who provides new insights about their business over someone who tells them what they already know. This insight can be extended to brand marketing material, as well. Gartner research found that customers who perceived the information they received from suppliers to be helpful in advancing across their buying jobs were 2.8 times more likely to experience a high degree of purchase ease, and three times more likely to buy a bigger deal with less regret. Don’t underestimate today’s B2B buyer: the typical buying committee is highly-engaged with the latest studies, insights, and opinions circulating in their industry. They’ve read your content, your competitor’s content, and how their competitors feel about both. They have arrived at their own conclusions. Your job is to speak to those conclusions and make the case for your product on their terms. As you’re creating your marketing content, pay close attention to what you – and your competition – have already told the buying committee. Don’t just repeat yourself. Contextualize and respond to the information that your committee will already be processing. Bring up the studies that they’ve seen in your own content. Provide new insights and takeaways about the stats they’ve been arguing about. Demonstrate that your brand is every bit as up to speed and interested in the contemporary challenges of their industry as they are. Then, make the case for your product in this new context.

Step 5: Rinse & repeat

The final step in this process is the most important of all: you have to keep doing this constantly. The B2B buying committee is going to keep evolving just as quickly as their industries. The faster their industries grow and develop, the quicker your buyer’s needs and concerns will change. Return to this five step process and reevaluate your CEPs from the ground-up every couple of months to keep ahead of a curve that’s growing ever-steeper and keep speaking to your customer’s needs no matter how quickly they change. And remember, if you need help with any step in this process, from content ideation to creation to targeting, TopRank Marketing is ready to help. * LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

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Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2023/01/5-steps-for-aligning-b2b-brands-with.html

Elevate B2B Marketing News: Business Sector Tops Trust Barometer, Digital-First Changes CX, Top Brand Challenges, & Google’s AI Plans

2023 Edelman Trust Barometer: Business is only institution viewed as ethical, competent 62 percent of global respondents in Edelman's annual Trust Barometer have said that they place the most trust in businesses, topping the 59 percent achieved by second-place category non-governmental organizations (NGOs), achieving top marks for both competency and ethical factors, according to data from the newly-published survey. PRWeek Gartner Survey: 84% Of Leaders Cite Customer Data & Analytics As ‘Very Or Extremely Important’ For Achieving Goals 84 percent of both B2B and B2C leaders have noted that they consider customer analytics and data as very or extremely important in reaching 2023 organizational goals, while 80 percent have highlighted the importance of increasing digital channel effectiveness — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in recently-released report data. Demand Gen Report New Report Shows that Time Spent Using Social Apps Rose to New Highs in 2022 Consumers spent more than 2 trillion hours using social media mobile apps during 2022 on Android devices alone, with the most gains in new U.S. users during the year coming from the BeReal app, as TikTok took in the most in-app revenue — two of numerous statistics of interest to digital marketers shown in newly-published report data. Social Media Today More core industries go hard core for B2B digital commerce B2B buyers have pinpointed a smooth purchasing process as their most desired digital feature, while digital commerce as a whole has been growing in adoption in the B2B sector as digital-first initiatives continue to expand, according to recently-released B2B eCommerce survey data. Digital Commerce 360 What Challenges Are Brands Facing When Reaching Target Audiences? 54 percent of marketing decision-makers have said that understanding customer needs based on data is a top brand challenge, with 53 percent singling out the creation of personalized ad experiences, and 50 percent who said driving insights from customer data, according to newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts Marketers Finally Make Digital Ads More Relevant, Data Shows A mere six percent of overall U.S. consumers have said the digital ads they see are very relevant, while those in the Gen Z demographic noted greater ad relevance, with 56 percent of consumers noting they are either somewhat or very likely to click on a digital ad that is relevant to their interests — a number that was up from 43 percent in 2021, according to findings contained in a new digital advertising relevance survey. MediaPost Changing Customer Journeys Are Impacting CX Strategies 64 percent of primarily B2B marketers have noted that the shift to digital-first customer journeys has changed their customer experience (CX) strategy either very or extremely much, with 35 percent having said that they are very or extremely confident in their CX strategy for winning and retaining customers — two of several findings of interest to online marketers contained in recently-published survey data. MarketingCharts Google Research, 2022 & Beyond: Language, Vision and Generative Models Google has shared updated and new details about its artificial intelligence (AI) principles, responsibilities, and future plans that are expected to have an effect on a number of the search giant's products and services, coming as ChatGPT and other AI-infused tools have been either rolled out or announced by Microsoft and others, Google recently announced. Google [bctt tweet="“Google has some insane AI. They plan to use it and make it widely available. But they are trying to balance the need for responsibility, and wish others would do the same.” — Paul Roetzer @PaulRoetzer" username="toprank"] Cannes Lions Add Sustainability Reporting To Awards Submissions The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has for the first time included campaign sustainability reporting as an element for its forthcoming awards event, and will this year be non-compulsory and not among the campaign elements that are judged, Cannes Lions recently announced. MediaPost LinkedIn Shares New Data on Engagement and Ad Performance [Infographic] Brands that had digital advertisements viewed on Microsoft's LinkedIn (client) platform resulted in a 10 to 15 percent rise in short-term sales performance, with live event content on the professional social media site seeing a 176 percent rise in the number of scheduled LinkedIn Live events year-over-year — two of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published infographic findings from LinkedIn. Social Media Today ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at the “Definition of Marketing Insanity” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Metaverse Landlords Are Creating a New Class System — Wired TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — 6 Top Digital Marketing Trends To Follow in 2023 — Your Day News Coffee Time
• Lee Odden / TopRank Marketing — 100 Best Social Media Blogs and Websites — Feedspot
• Lee Odden / TopRank Marketing — 40+ Blogs Marketers Should Be Following — Ready North

Have you come across an important B2B marketing news item for the week that we haven't yet mentioned? If so, please don't hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below. Thank you for taking the time to join us this week for the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope you will be back next Friday for another array of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post Elevate B2B Marketing News: Business Sector Tops Trust Barometer, Digital-First Changes CX, Top Brand Challenges, & Google’s AI Plans appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2023/01/elevate-b2b-marketing-news-business.html

Standing Out From AI: Why Humanizing B2B Marketing Is Key In 2023

How can B2B marketers craft content that truly stands out from the growing volume of information that may be touched more by artificial intelligence (AI) than human hands? Faced with increasing automation from ChatGPT and other AI-infused tools, B2B marketers are seeing human touch-points taking on greater importance, as they become a key differentiator in 2023. When used as a tool that is only one part of a broad strategy, ChatGPT and other AI technology offer B2B marketers certain advantages — as we explored recently in “The Prompt Whisperer: ChatGPT’s Rising Reach In B2B Marketing & The AI Revolution,” however big questions and challenges arise when human elements are excluded. Through the lens of intelligence, relevance, and humanization, let’s take a look at some of the areas where B2B marketers can emphasize and differentiate with those human touch-points and human-to-human relationships that AI content alone can’t outdo.

1 — Humanize By Forging New B2B Relationships

The global market for AI is growing rapidly, and forecasts predict even greater adoption of the technology in coming years, with estimates from Technavio showing growth by $125.3 billion through 2027, with year-over-year growth in 2023 expected to rise by 20.48 percent. Faced with the growth of AI, savvy B2B marketers can create content that sets brands apart by focusing on people over pixels, and one great way to accentuate this is through forging new relationships. With distrust of brands and advertising at all time highs, human-to-human connections and networks of people are more important than ever for B2B marketers. Finding the time to network is also a challenge as expectations of marketers to do more with less persists, heightened by rising economic concerns. So just how can marketers create new professional connections that endure and strengthen their existing business relationships? With ostensibly more ways than ever to find new connections both online and off, the task can at times seem overwhelming. Luckily, by setting specific goals and putting a clear strategy in place to achieve them, marketers can start truly tapping into the power of building new connections and making them — along with existing ones — stand the test of time. We take a detailed journey of professional network expansion and look at how we can elevate both current and newfound business relationships in our “Enduring Engagement: 5 Easy Ways To Build New B2B Marketing Connections & Make Them Last.”

2 — Level Up By Strengthening Existing B2B Relationships

While building new relationships is a fundamental part of B2B marketing that AI can’t match, the power of strengthening and building on existing partnerships shouldn’t be overlooked. Some of the largest firms in the world are struggling to adapt to the warp-speed change that ChatGPT and other AI technologies have brought. Google recently shared new insight into its AI roadmap, in “Why we focus on AI (and to what end),” noting both the technology’s value and its challenges. “We believe that AI is a foundational and transformational technology that will provide compelling and helpful benefits to people and society through its capacity to assist, complement, empower, and inspire people in almost every field of human endeavor,” James Manyika, senior vice president of technology and society at Google and his team observed. “At the same time, we understand that AI, as a still-emerging technology, poses various and evolving complexities and risks. Our development and use of AI must address these risks. That’s why we as a company consider it an imperative to pursue AI responsibly,” Manyika added. Microsoft also recently announced expansion of its AI initiatives, in “General availability of Azure OpenAI Service expands access to large, advanced AI models with added enterprise benefits,” highlighting how the firm has seen its use of AI grow from initial efforts in 2016 to the onslaught seen in 2022 and into 2023. B2B marketers face obstacles when waiting too long to make necessary changes that drive confidence, collaboration, and trust, sometimes postponing decisions that create legitimate change, yet by focusing on nurturing existing relationships, B2B marketers can help jump-start an otherwise stalled process. [bctt tweet="“In an era of reduced demand, the best sales organizations will invest more of their time nurturing existing relationships and mapping out new strategic relationships they need to build.” — Alyssa Merwin Henderson of @LinkedIn" username="toprank"]

3 — Combining It All With B2B Influencer Marketing

One of the best methods for incorporating more human elements in 2023 is by taking advantage of B2B influencer marketing. Influencer marketing has continued to emerge as a key way that B2B brands can get the most marketing bang for their buck and help recession-proof marketing strategy. U.S. organizations are expected to spend $6.16 billion on influencer marketing during 2023, climbing from the $5 billion seen during 2022, as influencer marketing has been more resilient than other forms of marketing, with influencer marketing budgets staying strong, according to recently-published forecast data from Insider Intelligence. Recent analysis published in the Harvard Business Review has shown that average brand boost could reach 16.6 percent by properly utilizing influencer marketing, with influencer originality alone accounting for a 15.5 percent rise in return on investment (ROI). B2B marketers have indicated that influencer marketing will be among their three top priorities in the next three to five years, as 59 percent of marketing leaders noted that they considered B2B influencer marketing a priority today, and 64 percent pinpointing it as a top priority over the upcoming three to five years, according to recently-released survey data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). B2B influencer marketing helps build successful and lasting relationships, as our CEO Lee Odden explored in a fascinating podcast with Justin Levy, director of social and influencer marketing at Demandbase, in "The Impact of Building Long-Term Relationships with Influencers with Lee Odden." Another way that B2B influencer marketing can take full advantage of the power to humanize is by elevating internal and executive talent. B2B influencer marketing can have a direct impact on building thought-leadership and executive influence, and the time to redefine influencer marketing may have arrived, as our own senior content marketing manager Joshua Nite has explored in "How to Create More Authentic Influencer-Driven Content to Attract Qualified Prospects." "In our survey, over half of respondents said they included internal executives in their influencer content. Nearly half said they included their employees as well. This is a clear opportunity to create more valuable content and build your organization’s thought leadership at the same time," Joshua observed. "It’s time to redefine influence. Your most valuable prospects are looking to industry leaders, practitioners and peers for advice. Your team can deliver all of the above with the right mix of influencers," Joshua added. [bctt tweet="“It’s time to redefine influence. Your most valuable prospects are looking to industry leaders, practitioners and peers for advice. Your team can deliver all of the above with the right mix of influencers.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

Real Connections Increasingly Set Winning B2B Marketers Apart

By forging new relationships, strengthening existing ones, and implementing B2B influencer marketing, marketers can take advantage of key human-made differentiators that no amount of AI-generated content can output. Another great way to learn more about humanizing B2B marketing is by following top industry voices, such as those professionals featured in LinkedIn's* "Follow These 10 Rising Stars of the Marketing World in 2023," and our own recent "25 Women Who Rocked as B2B Industry Influencers in 2022," and be sure to check out our "B2B Influencer Marketing Program Checklist" to get started with or expand on your own B2B influencer marketing efforts. Crafting award-winning B2B marketing that elevates with intelligence and relevance and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others. *LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post Standing Out From AI: Why Humanizing B2B Marketing Is Key In 2023 appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2023/01/standing-out-from-ai-why-humanizing-b2b.html