B2B Marketer’s Post

'Tis the time to look at B2B marketing spend for the new year! A fellow agency recently published an interesting survey report on the financial trends for 2024, and I'm sure you'll be delighted to read my thoughts on it: 🔩 I love seeing brand awareness at the top marketing objectives for this year. The B2B world is made of long, complex sales cycles that will only close with a genuine investment in brand experience, true differentiation and customer experience. It's probably why trade shows and in-person events is predicted to be the number one marketing spend. 🔩 Content marketing and trade shows support the brand awareness objective, but I am surprised to see that video marketing is at the bottom of the pile for forecasted marketing spend. Algorithms are prioritizing video on all platforms, so why wouldn't B2B marketers invest in it? It's also a great way to showcase the brand, demonstrate products, etc. 🔩 Same for market research; it's the most effective way for in-house B2B marketers to improve their performance and get buy-in from leadership. Root your decisions in knowledge and slay, I say! 🔩 I'm glad to see that only 7% of surveyed B2B marketers are spending zero to $2.5k/mo on 3rd-party services. Gotta spend money to make money... just do it wisely. Cue a good article we wrote about that: https://lnkd.in/eN2ARAXV Overall, I am pleased to see a trend toward more thoughtful allocation of marketing resources. After the bullish markets of recent years, we needed a right-sizing of priorities and budgets. Agree, or disagree? #b2bmarketing #b2bgrowth #b2bstrategy

The HubSpot Blog's 2023 Marketing Strategy & Trends Report: Data from 1,200+ Global Marketers Discover the trends and winning tactics brands should focus on in 2023, and what will change after 2022 with data from 1,200+ global B2B and B2C marketers. Source: https://shorturl.at/SUVZ0 #digitalmarketing #marketingstrategy #socialmarketing #marketingandadvertising #socialmediaadvertising #marketing #socialmediamarketingtrends #marketingdata #marketingtrends #marketingtrends2023

📸 When you want to understand the full picture in B2B marketing— it starts with great measurement. 📊 With longer sales cycles, larger buying committees, disparate data points across multiple challenges, reporting on ROI of B2B advertising poses quite a few challenges. Marketers need solutions that can look across channels and give a clearer picture of ROI. LinkedIn is ready to help! Learn more about updates to our reporting and ROI capabilities: https://lnkd.in/g6gwUYY5

Our featured platform partner, HubSpot, has released a 2023 Marketing Strategy & Trends Report. Learn more about the trends and winning tactics that brands should be focused on this year. The report data is compiled from the contributions of 1,200+ global B2B and B2C marketers. Free Report > https://lnkd.in/edxNjEdC #FeaturedPartneroftheMonth #FPOTM

What I especially liked in this article was the B2B buyer’s needs are broken down into rational and emotional. It helps you focus your message on the benefits (and not just the features) – which is very hard for a lot of businesses – B2B or B2C. #B2BMarketing

If your sales cycle is long - and in most B2B industries it is - then you should expect your marketing ROI cycle to also be long. According to LinkedIn research “only 4% of digital marketers measure ROI over a six-month period or longer, which is the duration we know to be more in line with the length of a typical B2B sales cycle.” https://bit.ly/477Awab #B2BMarketing

Having sifted through a ton of #marketingbenchmark reports recently I thought I would share a few of my favourite resources. Benchmarking for #b2bmarketing teams is one of the most important tools to start the process of understanding programme performance. Hope these are useful! - Dig into this! The ultimate list of B2B marketing benchmarks: https://lnkd.in/eeEfK_Rw - Start here! Sales and marketing funnel benchmarks: https://lnkd.in/ehzdtUtK - Get specific! Free to join benchmark groups to share and compare marketing benchmarks with your peers: https://lnkd.in/eJB6kJqY #digitalmarketing #benchmarking #marketing

Forbes highlights the benefits of data-driven marketing (DDM) for B2B companies, such as targeted messaging and improved engagement. Despite these advantages, many firms face challenges like data scarcity and inadequate infrastructure. NMC's lead search team excels in identifying and gathering high-quality data, ensuring you have the insights needed to drive effective marketing campaigns. Contact us to learn more: https://lnkd.in/gf6nD2MY #NewMediaConsulting #NMC #PerformanceMarketing #ProvenResults #BusinessGrowth #DigitalMarketing #B2BMarketing #MarketingInnovation #DigitalStrategy #MarketingTips #DataDriven

"What gets measured, gets done" Still very true, But for B2B marketers it is often a dangerous pitfall. ⎯ The quote is attributed to Peter Drucker - who never actually said it BTW. The pitfall for B2B marketers is that we often "Do what can be measured" If most (operational) dashboards show us ad spend, clicks, impressions, site , interaction, page visits, etc, we tend to let those metrics drive our day-to-day actions. We should not forget that the quote also means: "Measure what is important to do" In many B2B markets, 95% of buyers are not in-market, and yet most important preferences for providers and solutions are formed in this stage, Way before they first visit our website, and way before they give off their "intent" signals. So B2B marketers should spend a significant portion of their time and budget on building preference to those 95%. Marketers need better and new metrics for this. Leading indicators about the effectiveness of investments in branding. That can be measured this quarter, and that tell us (even if only as a proxy) how well we did in building preference among future customers - who probably won't buy or reach out until next year. ⎯⎯ Hi 👋 I am Wouter Helping marketing teams and CEOs in B2B software and services with strategic marketing to make the next leap in growth PS: Questions or want to get in touch? ↳ Reach out in the comments or send me a DM 👇

Are you navigating your B2B marketing channels with precision? Our new blog explores how integrating data across marketing platforms can enhance channel productivity, reduce waste, and improve conversion rates. Learn how BOL's approach can drive meaningful business impact. #B2BDigitalMarketingStrategy https://hubs.ly/Q02vWT2V0