It’s a new year, and transformation is at the forefront. While we all know that change is constant, it can be daunting to sift through the noise to determine which key trends might affect your business so you know where to allocate your precious time and resources.
Good news: we’ve done the heavy lifting! Here are four hot marketing trends we think our B2B clients should take a closer look at as we move through 2024 and beyond.
1. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
If you have consumed any media lately, it will come as no surprise that AI is at the top of our list. Talk of artificial intelligence has dominated the news cycle, and its power and impact touches virtually every industry. Marketing is no exception, so to keep your business relevant in 2024 and beyond, exploring how to leverage AI in your business’s mix should be a high priority.
While we don’t have a crystal ball to predict all the ways AI may eventually automate and optimize our work, we can see this is not just a trend – it’s a transformative development in how to approach modern marketing. Many marketers have already dipped their toes into AI in terms of content creation, market research, administrative tasks, and more. This is the year to learn more about how to utilize AI to improve processes, increase efficiency, uplevel your users’ experience, and personalize your marketing efforts.
2. VIDEO
Content is still critical, but to rise above the noise in an overcrowded, text-heavy landscape, many B2B marketers are turning to video to communicate with customers and prospects. And with the average person watching 17 hours of online video per week in 2023, it seems like a smart place to invest. The key is ensuring the video you take time to create and share is tailored to your video-savvy audience.
Viewers often consume video on a mobile device on the go, so it’s essential your content is mobile-friendly, easily accessible, and shorter in form. Social media platforms continue to be popular spots, so integrating video into your social media strategy is important. Keeping your video between 15 seconds and two minutes is most likely to keep your audience engaged. And ensuring your content delivers value to its audience is essential.
3. (HUMAN) THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
As AI writing tools become part of more marketers’ processes, it provides a greater opportunity for high-quality, human-generated content to stand out. Smart, data-informed pieces that educate and engage your audience will be easy to distinguish from generic, low-value content that offers little in the way of insight. Only your company or industry experts can provide the authentic, personal, credible perspective that your prospects are looking for.
By using proven data to validate claims, sharing best practices based on personal experiences, or interviewing industry leaders to gain new insights, you can develop blog posts, whitepapers, videos, social media posts, articles, and more that position your business as a helpful expert and trusted potential partner.
4. SELF-SERVICE BUYERS
A whopping 75% of B2B buyers prefer to make a purchase online without interacting with a sales rep. This, combined with the pandemic-induced shift to online everything and the blurred line for traditional office hours in an interconnected world, means that if your business does not offer the right mix of hybrid selling options, you’re likely missing out.
Many buyers appreciate the opportunity to browse, research, and purchase at their own pace… and a number will even do so without ever traveling through the traditional sales funnel if given the chance. A good balance of personal interaction, remote contact, and e-commerce tools allows for more effective use of human resources and can add to efficiency, in addition to giving people the buying experience they want. This is also a place where AI can come into play, with chatbots answering questions or initiating contact instead of sales reps, freeing up human capital for higher-value activities.
Want to stay on-trend this year? We’re here to help. Contact us today, and let’s get started.
