Focus on What Matters: 8 B2B Content Marketing Trends

A paradox of choice.

That's essentially the daily experience many B2B marketers are having as they are confronted with increased content demands: quantity, quality, variety, and of course, ROI. Choices for technology and prioritization of content marketing tactics, channels, media types and promotions all combine in a dynamic soup that can blur marketers from what's most important. 

Now, more than ever, focusing on what matters is essential.

(I have to say thanks to Koka Sexton, head of social media at LinkedIn for my tour of the new LinkedIn building in San Francisco which revealed this clever hallway in the photo above.)

As the first quarter of the year comes to an end, here are a few key trends in the B2B marketing space that I think are worth paying attention to for the rest of this year and into 2017.

1. Content Hubs. Blogs are increasingly being augmented or replaced by information resources and content hubs. From early adopter social content hubs like Intel IQ and Dell's PowerMore (client) to more recent content focused entries from the likes of NewsCred Insights and Salesforce's Quotable, B2B companies are definitely investing more in content hubs as a way to attract, engage and passively convert new customers.
2. Content Fatigue. Even though B2B content investment is on the rise (51% increased content spending in 2016), many B2B companies are wondering how they will ever be able to maintain the creation demand of all their content investments. 57% of B2B marketers say producing content consistently is their top challenge. Additionally, 57% of marketers are challenged to demonstrate content marketing ROI. 
3. Data Informed Content. Driven by the need for efficiency and effectiveness, there is an increased sophistication emerging amongst B2B content marketers when it comes to using data to inform content.
   
   Advanced content platforms like NewsCred offer insights into content performance that help with performance optimization. There are also big data solutions like predictive marketing offerings from companies like Everstring (client) or data insights from persona management solutions like Cintell. 
4. Social Ad Reality. With the loss of substantial organic visibility combined with social ad platform effectiveness, there continues to be a significant increase in using advertising on social networks and mobile devices across the buyer journey. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and now even Instagram all sort content feeds algorithmically and the only way to ensure audience engagement with your content is through advertising.
   
   Luckily, Google, LinkedIn (client), Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all offer robust advertising options. And yes, B2B marketing on Facebook and Instagram is a legitimate thing. 
5. Content Experiences. Creating useful content across more platforms from desktop to mobile to IoT has become the price of entry for many companies in the B2B marketing world. Everyone is creating a quantity of better quality content. Customers are becoming numb to the volume of brand content and expectations for more visual and interactive content is on the rise. As big proponents of interactive content for B2B, ion interactive provides a robust interactive content marketing platform.
   
   To learn more about creating content as an experience for your customers, I highly recommend books from Robert Rose & Carla Johnson (Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing) and Brian Solis (X: The Experience When Business Meets Design). 
6. Participative Content. UGC is beginning to grow up for B2B in the form of participation marketing. The democratization of content creation beyond the copywriting staff in your marketing department may challenge the status quo, but people are more empowered than ever to publish. Why not tap into those B2B passions and collaborate for a common goal? That is the promise of participation in marketing - tapping your employees, customers and community for the content collaboration that could increase a quantity of quality content that buyers will care about. 
   
   While the topic may seem new, we've been talking about increasing outside participation in marketing for a few years on TopRank's Online Marketing Blog and in presentations at industry conferences. There's actually a conference and a separate book about participation marketing coming out this year. 
7. Influential Content. Ad blocking grew 41% in the past 12 months and the deluge of brand content has numbed B2B buyers to many traditional sources. Personal recommendations, word of mouth and expert content are all on the upswing and co-creation with industry influencers is a prime opportunity for B2B marketers to activate their content. Working with influencers can short cut exposure to hard to reach buyers in a meaningful way.
   
   Beyond simply working with influencers, companies that implement a "Best Answer" content marketing strategy integrate content, SEO, social, PR and influencers to create a perfect storm of credible, useful and easy to find content that inspires action. 
8. MarTechShock. Look no further than Scott Brinker's supergraphic for 2016, citing 3,874 different marketing technology solutions to see the continued explosion of options for marketers. In the spirit of Mark Schaefer's phrase, "Content Shock", I think "MarTechShock" is an effective moniker for the current marketing software state of affairs.
   
   There are simply too many options to avoid a big POP in the B2B marketing technology industry and consolidation is inevitable. Specialty solutions are tough to manage and all in one solutions don't typically don't provide deep capabilities. I think core platforms that integrate with specialty solutions are most attractive for mid-market B2B companies and hopefully there will be more options for those capabilities available soon. 

These are exciting times for B2B marketers and it's just not feasible to make goal simply by following the competition or by being an early / late majority adopter. Marketers need to be smart with data, creative with solutions and continue their focus on results as a feedback mechanism for performance optimization. Luckily, that smart, creative and results focused marketing is exactly what we do at TopRank Marketing. 

What trends would you add to this list? VR? IoT? ABM? 

Update: Content Marketing Conference in Denmark!

Next week at the Clever Content Conference in Copenhagen (Scandinavia's biggest content marketing conference) I will be discussing many of these key trends on content marketing as well as a few case studies and a BA Strategy (think of it as "bad ass") for winning at the content marketing game. 

I will be joined by fellow American content marketers Michael Brenner and Chad Pollitt as well as marketing execs from BBDO, Vayner Media, Brand Movers, Contently and Google Nordics. It's going to be a great event and if you live in Denmark, it's a must-attend. Get more info here.

If we're not connected, be sure to follow my LinkedIn posts here or catch up with me at @leeodden. Also check out the smarts from my team at Online Marketing Blog.