Key Trends Determining the Future of 2020 B2B Marketing

December 6th, 2019

Key Trends Determining the Future of 2020 B2B Marketing

Like all industries, B2B digital marketing is constantly changing. Inbound marketing has become well established and won’t be going anywhere any time soon. But the way we create content, and the ways we aim to deliver better marketing are markedly different than they were even five years ago. Such is the nature of changing B2B marketing trends.

We’re currently in the midst of several important transformations, most of which are grounded in technological developments and changing SEO trends. In this blog, we discuss some of the most important B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020.

Video Content

78% of buyers watch online videos weekly and 55% view them daily, according to research from HubSpot. Video is the top medium for US marketers and it's still one of the most preferred platforms for influencer marketing.

Now many B2B advertisers are scrambling to figure out what platforms, networks, and messaging would fit best for business customers because of the growing demand and proliferation of video content.

As with all industries, B2B digital marketing is continually changing. Inbound marketing is well established by now and will no longer go anywhere. Yet there is a marked contrast in the way we produce content and the approaches we strive to achieve better marketing than five years prior. Such is the essence of B2B marketing trends that are evolving.

At the present, we are in the middle of many major shifts, most of which are focused on technical advances and changing SEO behaviors. Some of the most important B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020 are explored in this blog.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing, ranked as a top 4 strategy for B2B marketers in 2019, has continued to rise in the business world. In a recent Demand Gen Report, 95% of B2B buyers say they favor trustworthy content from industry influencers. Overwhelming options of knowledge and mistrust of brand marketing make it a perfect approach to partner with industry professionals who have the interest of audiences looking for answers.

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Research from Adobe shows that 41% of leading organizations use artificial intelligence as a B2B marketing 2020 strategy for everything, from recommending keywords and simplifying scheduling to flagging suspected fraud. The reasons for AI/ML adoption include freeing up of manpower for other more critical tasks, the availability of recommendations for personalization and real-time analysis of vast volumes of data and learning to improve output for each cycle.

Content Marketing

Content remains a growth field for marketers, according to data from the Content Marketing Institute, with 49% of B2B marketers expecting to raise their spending this year.

In comparison, 69% of the most effective marketing companies have a recorded plan for content marketing, while only 16% of the least successful do so. Where is the attention of these effective B2B advertisers on their content? Creating consumer satisfaction, nurturing leads, subscribers, and audiences, generating revenue/sales, and establishing a subscribed audience.

Visual Content

Images, videos, and immersive media are a huge part of the move to develop more compelling interactions that go beyond providing B2B customers with answers, but emotionally interacting with them as well. According to HubSpot, 54% of consumers expect to see more video advertising from a brand they support and it seems like advertisers are able to cooperate with it: over 50% of marketers expect to boost their video advertisement budgets.

A video must be worth millions if an image is worth a thousand words. And if Cisco is accurate in its estimate that by 2021, video will account for 80% of all Internet traffic, then the possibilities are in the billions.

B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020 and Beyond

These B2B marketing trends indicate that over the coming years, promising opportunities are ahead for B2B marketers. But the true promise of the future continues to arise only when the strengths of each evolving trend are incorporated into a greater inbound technique.