By Samuel Thimothy, VP at OneIMS.com, an inbound marketing agency, and co-founder of Clickx.io, the digital marketing intelligence platform.
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Looking to the future, I believe 2023 could be a pivotal year in business-to-business marketing. With emerging trends and technological advances driving new strategies, there are plenty of opportunities ahead for marketers. While it might be hard to predict the unpredictable, I've gathered some insights so you can stay ahead of the game.
Here's a look at the trends marketers should be watching out for in 2023 to make sure their strategies stay ahead of the curve.
There could be a drop in paid channels.
I'm finding that companies are getting savvier about the marketing channels they invest in and are starting to realize that traditional sources don't always deliver the results they used to. In 2023, I expect we'll see companies move away from spending on paid ad platforms.
Policy shifts and consumer behavior changes could make traditional methods like paid advertising less effective. In fact, Insider Intelligence actually updated its global ad spend forecast for 2022 with a lower forecasted spend increase than it originally predicted.
If paid advertising slows down, other marketing channels are likely to pick up. If you've already started to feel the impact of a pay-per-click slump in your organization, consider shifting focus to inbound tactics. Pay special attention to influencer marketing, as it’s finally becoming more widely accepted in B2B. According to TopRank Marketing (via PR Newswire), 86% of B2B marketers are working with influencers successfully.
The spotlight will be on B2B influencer marketing.
B2B influencer marketing is catching up to the consumer space. From my perspective, it seems likely that the experts and top players sharing their career experiences on LinkedIn, podcasts and other channels will nudge B2B marketers to invest heavily in influencer marketing. According to ResearchAndMarkets (via Business Wire), 38% of B2B companies are exploring influencer marketing as a new lead-generation strategy.
Subject matter experts and thought leaders are great sources of knowledge and advice for businesses to tap into. The goal of B2B companies looking to leverage influencer power should be to have these influencers make genuine recommendations about their product or service. This can be an effective way to get a credible boost from trusted voices within the industry.
Companies could focus more on revenue operations.
Unlocking maximum potential as a company is about more than just knowing how to write content or come up with great campaigns. It's also about understanding the key technologies that will help ensure those messages reach their target customers, and it can be difficult to do so without having connected resources in place.
As we look ahead, 2023 could be the year of marketing operations and revenue operations. I believe more and more B2B teams will likely take steps toward creating an interconnected ecosystem within their sales, service marketing and CMS systems.
However, to really capitalize on RevOps, marketing teams will need to go deeper and rethink organizational structure. This might mean reorganizing your organizational chart and establishing processes that leverage data-driven insights and increase the company’s efficiency.
As part of this process, you may need to make changes in roles, hire new employees or adjust your team in order to maintain the structure that supports your business goals. To make it easier for your team, foster a culture that encourages frequent, minor shifts. Smaller, regular adjustments are less disruptive than an overhaul of your entire organization every couple of years.
We could see more artificial intelligence.
Get ready for a serious push toward artificial intelligence-driven technology this year. More organizations are already making big investments in AI tools to increase their productivity and volume. I expect to see more platforms with AI-driven predictive analytics emerge.
AI is already making waves in the world of marketing with platforms and tools such as Metadata.io, 6Sense and ChatGPT. I believe more and more companies will jump on board and explore how AI can help them meet their sales and marketing goals.
Even though AI has immense potential, keep its limitations in mind. While it is capable of accomplishing specific tasks, it cannot manage a whole marketing function or process. You still need to have a human in the loop. Even so, its capabilities are rapidly advancing.
Don't be overwhelmed by the unknowns that 2023 holds for B2B marketers. Use them to your advantage. The emerging trends and exciting technological advancements coming down the pipeline could help us embrace our opportunities and deliver better results.
