January.
To round up 2024 we, er, rounded up the highlights from our monthly newsletter. Regular readers will know that the NextGenB2B newsletter has a simple purpose: to share each month the things that everyone working in B2B marketing ought to know, but might have missed. So December’s ‘ICYMI” special focused on the key things we brought to your attention over the course of the year…
And for January 2025 we’re extending the theme by highlighting some of the things we flagged up in 24 that will really matter in 25…
The inspiration for this was an interview with Brandtech’s founder David Jones who kicked off the year declaring that AI will upend advertising and how he is going to help that happen… So the first of our critical things for B2B marketing and bus dev people in 2025 is, inevitably…AI.?
AI.
In 2024 we wrote about the potential for ‘digital twins’ to enable your people to be in several places at one, speaking any language they want to. But a simpler, less Uncanny Valley, application of AI is for knowledge-based businesses to develop a proprietary LLM / GPT to enable people inside the business - and potential clients - to find answers to the specific questions they need answering, when they want. An idea inspired by this…??
There was also lots of talk last year about the potential of “personalisation at scale” and this continues into the new year. BUT lots of what we see and read is essentially about how to use the tech to (marginally?) increase the potential relevance of things you push out to clients and prospects. In our view and experience, the real opportunity, as outlined above, is to flip the whole model on its head (before your customer does!) and empower them with the ability to interrogate your content and to create their own ‘customer journey.’ Less about using AI to change WHAT you do, and more WHEN and HOW it enables people to engage with your stuff.
Lots of (opposing) views out there about AI search heralding the end of traditional (Google) search and we are all already seeing a change in the nature of the results returned in response to traditional search queries. This is of course just the start with the nature and detail of search queries likely to evolve further towards natural language, and therefore how to optimise for AI search. A useful primer on how to future-proof your SEO from Hackernoon here.?
Is the focus on AI distracting from the real issues in B2B? For instance this feature on AI guardrails and governance to protect your brand is perhaps only a starting point but at best it’s a little lightweight and naive; “form an AI council…” it says… (What? With all our AI experts?). But there are bigger, common issues in many B2B businesses that we’ve seen up close that AI isn’t the obvious solution to. For example.
If any of these ring true for your business the question is are you going to address them first to fix the fundamentals before adding AI to your processes, workflows, tech stack etc. or does the assessment and adoption of AI act as a catalyst or accelerator of change? What’s likely to work best in your business?
Will you have AI colleagues or direct reports by the end of 2025?
And we hear A LOT about the need for ‘human-centred AI,’ some of which sounds like wishful thinking from people hoping they’re not about to be replaced any time soon…? There’s more opinion than evidence for now but McKinsey’s analysis offers a wide-ranging, informed (and cautiously optimistic) perspective.
Influencers / Creators.
Well established in B2C, 2024 saw an increase in the buzz around influencers/creators/experts in B2B.?
We’re very positive about the potential for brands collaborating with individuals of influence to reach, engage and convert new customers as an alternative or addition to traditional paid media, PR, content and lead generation, although to date, good examples in practice remain thin on the ground.?
We’d expect this to change though, for three fundamental reasons:
领英推荐
More 2025 predictions on influencers in B2B here.
And The Drum reports on how your future ‘influencers’ might be found close to home.
Watch this space (i.e. subscribe to this newsletter) for more coverage of influence in B2B in ‘25, including a forthcoming episode of our podcast The Problem with B2B… talking to Joel Harrison of B2B Marketing and Katy Howell of Immediate Future on The Problem with B2B Influencers…
Creativity.
And speaking of Joel, this is well worth a quick read as it cuts through the ongoing debate about the (often nebulous, abstract) role of ‘creativity’ in B2B marketing to focus on practical examples showing how creative that taps into emotion can outperform traditional, rational B2B comms.
Buying teams.
Both Gartner and Linkedin published analyses in 2024 highlighting the truths around buying teams or buying committees within B2B (in short, your customer is in reality customers ?- a group of people with different priorities and needs). Recognising this is one thing, engineering your sales and marketing to deal with it is another thing entirely…
A couple of things published recently give inspiration. The first, from Forrester, talks about Content as data - a way to deliver value for all the audiences that influence the decision to buy your product / service (or indeed someone else’s…)
And Nieman lab offers lessons from B2B media as the sector shifts away from offering their audiences ‘content’ to providing ‘solutions.’?
Community.
An ongoing, albeit slow burn, trend sees more and more businesses integrating the concept and practice of ‘community’ into their brand and comms strategies. Axios identifies the appeal of specialist, niche communities to Gen Z audiences.
And another perspective on a story we first covered in autumn ‘24 - Coca-Cola’s B2B Community strategy - highlights the benefits of more B2B brands augmenting their content strategy by investing in community building with, and for, their customers.
Roundup.