This Week in Marketing: The Value of Your Two Cents

For whatever reason, common expressions have always established a very low monetary value for our personal sentiments.

“A penny for your thoughts,” or “Sharing your two cents.”

As it turns out, research shows that your thoughts – when delivered with insight and impact for a distinct audience – can be extremely valuable from a business perspective. Maybe even essential. Much more valuable than a couple of pennies.

This is especially true right now, as B2B buyers are grappling with budget issues stemming from the current economic turmoil. Unique thought leadership is what can set your brand and its message apart – from other companies, and from increasingly sophisticated AI language models.

There are key themes in our latest round-up of trending content for B2B marketers, sourced from the LinkedIn Collective and beyond.

What to Read

In Tough Times, B2B Thought Leadership Is Your Key Advantage (LinkedIn Collective): Unpacking data from the latest Thought Leadership Impact report from LinkedIn and Edelman, Tusar Barik makes a strong case for the indispensable value of thought leadership in a wavering economy. Within, you’ll find a blueprint for developing high-quality content that aligns with what decision makers want to see. Tusar will also be participating in an upcoming March live-stream even on this subject, which you can register for now!

The New Playbook for Building B2B Brand Trust in a Digital World (LinkedIn Collective): Building brand trust without coming across like you’re trying too hard is an eternal struggle of B2B marketers everywhere. To strike the right balance, you have to consciously work toward building trust. Our own Alexandra Rynne shares the time-tested techniques to help you establish trust.

How a Children’s Story Can Ease Your Mind About ChatGPT (Content Marketing Institute): The great Robert Rose addresses a key point of concern for writers and marketers everywhere by making a simple point: AI tools can create (very faithful) reflections of your brand – but they can’t be your brand.

Does ChatGPT Mean the End of ‘Thought Leaders’? (Fast Company): This deep-dive from Ludmila Praslova offers a decidedly less rosy (Rose-y?) outlook, reckoning candidly with the implications of such remarkable tech advancements. But in the end, Praslova concludes that “Ironically, generative AI appears to have created an urgent need for human thought leadership, thorough research, and critical thinking.”

Building Brand Trust And Loyalty Through Thought Leadership (Forbes): Glewee CEO Dylan Duke walks you through the ‘how and why’ of thought leadership on social media in this entry-level primer.

The Evolution of B2B Marketing in 5 Charts (Insider Intelligence): “Both the average buying cycle and the purchase timeline are getting longer, so marketers need to keep buyers engaged for extended periods of time.” That’s just one of the critical takeaways in this breakdown from Arriele Feger. ?

What to Watch

For those in the advertising industry, analyzing the Super Bowl commercials can be even more compelling than the actual game action. As usual, this year brought a bevy of clever and creative ads from big brands. I especially enjoyed this throwback to Breaking Bad from PopCorners, featuring some familiar faces:

What to Know

According to eMarketer, 2023 will mark the first year that more than 50% of B2B ads are placed on mobile. You can read more about this sea change and what it means for your strategy in our coverage at the LinkedIn Ads Blog.?

Make sure to follow the LinkedIn Collective for more insights.