2023 B2B Marketing Trends: Content Marketing Edition

B2B marketing is no easy feat. In some ways, it seems like it has a different rulebook than “normal” marketing (aka B2C). But with all of the nuances comes a lot of opportunities for distinguishing your brand from the rest.

And many of these opportunities are packaged in a targeted content strategy. These top 2023 B2B marketing trends in content are strategies that the savviest marketers in your space adopted to remain competitive and help their companies grow.?

So take a peek, jot down some notes, and get ready to blast through 2023 at the top of your game.

At a glance:?

1. Long-form content
2. B2B company-hosted podcasts
3. Automating + outsourcing content
4. Visual content
5. Interactive content
6. Hyper-focused marketing channels

1. Long-form content rules over short-form content

With the rise of popular short-form platforms like Instagram and Tiktok over the past several years, it seems like you ~need~ to be on those platforms as a brand. And while this is a lucrative endeavor for influencers and B2C brands, results typically don’t translate over in the B2B world.?

As a B2B company, your efforts and budget will be much better spent on creating long-form content instead.?

Content Hacker recently did a study to put this theory to the test. Their findings highlighted a clear conclusion: long-form content generates more leads, more traffic, more revenue, and more loyalty. I’d recommend giving the study a full skim because there’s some interesting stuff in there. But in short: short-form content generated 1 new customer who eventually requested a refund, and long-form content generated 62 customers leading to $200k+ in revenue.

The long-form content channels that the most successful B2B marketers are focusing their efforts on going into 2023 are SEO-optimized blogs, YouTube videos (not shorts) and funnel-specific gated content.?

B2B long-form content examples:

• The Hubspot blog
• Cisco's YouTube channel

2. B2B company-hosted podcasts are thriving

Podcasts aren’t just for “girl boss” content or true crime stories. And that’s why podcasts have creeped their way into the top 2023 B2B marketing trends.?

According to LinkedIn, about 44% of executives, VPs and department heads listen to podcasts. So if you’re not hosting a podcast on topics that you have in-house subject matter experts on, you’re leaving a great opportunity to get in the ears of your ultimate target audience on the table.

If you need any more convincing, take a look at these stats from a recent report by the BBC?on the results that branded podcasts yield:

• 89% higher awareness
• 14% higher purchase intent
• 12% higher memorability than other forms of content
• 57% higher brand consideration

Podcasts give B2B companies a unique opportunity to provide educational content to their dream customers. This builds trust and awareness and primes your audience to be receptive of your (subtle or not) pitches for your product or service.

Some highly successful B2B company-hosted podcasts:

• Making It by Squarespace
• Voices of CX by Worthix (Shout out to my OG B2B marketing mentor Mary Drumond who hosts this podcast!)
• Marketing Against the Grain by Hubspot

3. Automating and outsourcing content to save time?

At the same time that B2B marketers are acknowledging the impact that a great content marketing strategy has, they are also realizing how resource-intensive it is to remain competitive.?

61% of B2B marketers are publishing content multiple times a week. And it takes 65% more time to create content like blog posts than it did in 2014, according to SmartInsights.

Clearly, marketing teams, whether they’re small or mid-size, are going to have to hustle to reach their content goals. 65% of B2B companies?report “significant content waste issues.”?

As a result, content automation has become a popular strategy to scale initiatives and make the most of your team’s time.?

The following are examples of automation tools that savvy B2B marketers have adopted:

• AI writing tools to give you a leg up on drafting content (like Articoolo).??
• SEO technology to automatically suggest keywords and content topics (like SEMrush).?
• Proofreading software to cut down the time your editors spend on little things like grammar and spelling (like Grammarly).
• Content lifecycle management tools to streamline updates, design and project management (like Quark).

Sometimes, teams need an actual, live person to take over a task, but their current bandwidth can’t support it. And they don’t have the budget to make another hire.?

This is where hiring freelancers from places like Fiverr, Upwork or your team’s network can really come in handy. These pros can bring their expertise to you on an ad-hoc basis, saving your full-time team time and stress while also avoiding recurring costs.?

Popularly outsourced roles for small teams are designers, writers and SEO experts.?

Looking to outsource content strategy and creation? Let’s chat

4. Visual content is important for B2B, too

B2B content marketing - and B2B marketing in general - gets a bad rap. People think that just because it’s businesses talking to other businesses, it has to be boring and stale.?

But no more! That’s why compelling visual content is included on this round up of the top 2023 B2B marketing trends.?

Visual content is proven to increase topic retention by 42%. So don’t bury highly relevant, helpful content in a boring word doc.?

In 2023, we’ll begin to see more and more captivating graphics from the brightest B2B marketing teams. Things like videos, infographics/micrographics and easy-to-follow charts will dominate company websites and social media feeds. And branding may even get a makeover, prioritizing interesting typography and illustrated graphics.?

5. Static content is out, interactive content is in

When your dream customers interact with your content, instead of just watching or reading it, it leaves a much more potent impression. 88% of marketers claim that interactive content helps their brand differentiate itself.?

So in 2023, B2B content marketing will be interactive and customized, and as a result, more effective.?

This kind of content can vary, but most typically looks like polls or quizzes, innovative eBooks that feel more like a journey than a book, webinars that encouraging participation from both sides of the screen, and calculators.?

Even though this content is often digital, the interactive nature makes it feel tangible. And that’s where you see some real results and memorability.?

This will be especially helpful for marketers trying to target the awareness stage; interactive content is a terrific lead generator.

Interactive content examples:

• Symantec ROI calculator
• Create Types Quiz by Adobe Create
• Rock Content Interactive eBook

6. A hyper-focus on the channels that matter to your audience

This is not a new trend by any means. But it’s something that continually needs to be reinforced due to the seemingly countless new marketing channels that pop up or surge every single year. That’s why I included it as one of the steps in your beginning-of-the-year content strategy checklist.

Tiktok, Instagram, Pinterest, Clubhouse, Landing, LinkedIn, Reddit. It’s impossible to be active with a solid presence on all of them. For B2C companies, it may be more important to have some visibility on these platforms for brand recognition’s and reputation’s sake.?

However, if you’re marking to a business audience, this isn’t worth your effort. Since your audience will not be considering your product or service for personal needs, they need to be in the right frame of mind when they come across your content for your efforts to be worth it.?

Brand recognition alone is not the best place to focus efforts if you have to sacrifice building up a strategy on platforms that actually generate leads.?

Choosing the right marketing channels for your B2B brand is not an easy process, and one that needs to be continually re-evaluated. But this will remain at the forefront of B2B marketers’ priorities into 2023.??

Originally posted on the HML Content Blog