3 Ideas for B2B Marketers: June 2022

We’re halfway through 2022 and things in the B2B marketing world are evolving every day. This month’s featured content highlights relevant findings from Gartner’s 2022 B2B CMO Spend survey, the continued importance of accessibility compliance, and the inclusion of influencer campaigns in B2B marketing. Follow along as we dig deeper into these features:

Gartner Research: 5 Key B2B Digital Marketing Trends

Gartner deduced 5 emerging trends for B2B technology brands based on their recent survey of B2B CMOs. While we can’t predict what the rest of 2022 will hold, these reported trends could help your company to refocus your marketing efforts: 

• Budget Shifts: Despite a decrease in total marketing budgets, B2B CMOs have shifted more than 70 percent of their budgets towards purely digital channels. 
• CMO Priorities: B2B CMOs say they are more focused than ever on  creating unique experiences to increase customer retention. 
• Channel Adoption: B2B CMOs are trying to maximize their presence across many channels, but they are most focused on LinkedIn, YouTube, and review sites that are able to get them in front of the right buyers. 
• Advanced Content Marketing: While 30% of the B2B marketing budget is typically spent on content, less than 40% of brands surveyed had a defined content strategy. 
• Shifting Metrics and Analysis: B2B brands are shifting from their laser focus on traditional metrics like ROI to  measuring attribution and customer retention. 

Application

Evaluate whether your marketing reporting dashboards and tools are meeting the  expectations of your leadership team, and whether you need to invest additional resources to understand how to attribute revenue to different marketing channels. A good reporting system can help ensure that you make sound recommendations and decisions about where to allocate your future marketing dollars.

Major Streaming & Ad Players Increase Focus on Accessibility 

Google and Netflix recently announced enhancements to their accessibility features & insights tools. Netflix plans to offer subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) and audio descriptions (AD) in more languages, citing that 40% of its global user base regularly uses subtitles. While Netflix doesn’t immediately come to mind as a B2B platform, it holds a lot of influence over how people expect to be able to consume content. Regardless of Netflix’s sway in the B2B world, the move towards inclusivity through accessibility is one to be admired. Google has made a push for better accessibility with its All In inclusive marketing focus, and recently announced the addition of insights to help companies practice disability-inclusive marketing. 

Application

Use Google’s All In disability insights tool to educate yourself and your team on all the facets of disability-inclusive marketing and to inform your website and platform strategies. 

How Influencers Can Be Successfully Deployed for B2B Marketing

While influencer marketing has been heavily adopted by B2C brands, many B2B companies are realizing the potential in executing an influencer strategy to incorporate industry thought leaders as well as celebrities who align with brand values. 

A recent article explored 7 case examples of how brands deployed influencers for greater impact. This study includes well known global brands such as SAP, AMEX, and PwC as well as niche B2B companies such as TopRank and Video Fruit.

Application

Explore how influencer marketing or coordinating with key industry thought leaders can enhance the success of current marketing initiatives. Remember that influencers don't have to be A-list celebrities. Many companies use micro influencers that connect directly and organically with their key audiences. 

Looking to leverage these trends throughout your marketing strategy in the second half of 2022? Get in touch with us.