Regardless of organizational size, many would agree that deploying a successful content marketing program can be a challenging feat. In Content Marketing Institute’s latest research study, Enterprise Content Marketing 2019: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America, found that the larger the organization, the greater chance for business units to be siloed. In fact, one of the largest challenges, with nearly three quarters of respondents admitting so, was the ability to coordinate content marketing efforts among multiple departments and brands.  

In a broad and diverse list of B2B marketing predictions, number-one on the list is that B2B marketing will become more human. Because the field has long been focused on selling to entities — not necessarily directly to humans — it’s tended to only stick to the facts.  But the time is now to approach B2B in a more human way, speaking to business buyers and evoking responses such as confidence, optimism and accomplishment. While many may have caught on to this already, the approach will now become more mainstream.   The article notes, “…It’s time to be more human. To talk to the buyers as individuals, in a language that moves them.” Recent research by Forrester predicts that making our interactions more human will be a key element for CMOs to drive new strategies and innovation moving into the future. 

A new study by Brand Keys reveals the fears – and living nightmares – that CMOs live with day after day. From ROI and ROMI to Big Data, engagement, social media and analytics and automation, CMOs have a lot on their minds.

Video has become a high-performing marketing strategy within the B2B space. According to SocialMediaToday, LinkedIn has discovered that video generates some 20x more shares than other types of content on its platform. Understanding what types of videos and templates work best can boost your reach, client interaction and conversions.

In an updated design trends article for 2019, Webflow delivers a detailed article on the latest web design trends that follows everything from typography and illustration to color, grids and even updated cursor design. 

B2B marketing has long been deemed the poor cousin of B2C. But B2B brands can no longer afford to lag behind consumer brands when it comes to customer experience. Brands are measured by the same standard, whether it’s a business or personal purchase. 

Account-based marketing (ABM) has been proven as a model, and the results speak for themselves. According to the Information Technology Services Marketing Association, 87 percent of companies using ABM report it offers higher ROI than other types of marketing, and 69 percent see improved annual revenue per account. Many attribute the success of ABM to the Pareto Principle (or 80/20 rule), which says that 80 percent of a company’s revenue comes from 20 percent of its customers, underscoring why nurturing high-yield customers is so important for marketers. 

Customer experience should be a major consideration when creating your marketing plan this year. Clients have more access to resources than ever to use for comparing benefits, costs, and features. Here are some of the techniques that stood out to us as great methods to improve customer experience and set your business above the rest:

Visuals and subtle cues centered around content can help spark action, create quicker impact and even make a more convincing case. A recent article from Content Marketing Institute walks through seven proven types of visuals that can help B2B content-focused landing pages convert. Some suggestions include using a tangible object to showcase something intangible, such as a digital download. This can help visitors visualize what they’re about to receive and create more perceived value. Another is to strategically include certain illustrations and visuals to bolster storytelling, which is a great opportunity for B2B companies that want to incorporate more storytelling into their marketing messages.

The numbers are in, and they confirm that podcast ad popularity will continue to grow rapidly. In fact, podcast revenue is expected to grow 110 percent, and the number of podcast listeners are expected to increase to 83.8 million by 2020.