Q3 Wrap-Up: What’s Changed For B2B Marketers & What’s Ahead in 2020?

We've now reached the end of the third quarter of 2019, one filled with many significant B2B marketing changes and several surprising twists and turns that will combine to affect how the industry moves forward as we enter Q4 and push forward to 2020. Q3 saw numerous exciting shifts in new directions, and a few seemingly slight changes in course that are nonetheless poised to make big impacts in 2020. We're always working to bring you the most relevant B2B marketing news, including over 180 weekly industry news videos, hosted by Tiffani Allen, Joshua Nite and others here on our blog and on our TopRank Marketing YouTube channel. Each quarter we reflect on what's happened in digital marketing and look ahead with key trends. Let's examine both the challenges and opportunities the quarter's top B2B marketing news has brought our industry.

The Digital Marketing Sights and Sounds of Q3

When It Comes to Digital Marketing Spending …

Forecasts from the third quarter showed that global digital advertising spending is expected to continue to rise. In the U.S. alone digital ad spending grew to $28.4 billion for the first quarter of 2019, up 18 percent from the same quarter a year ago. (ClickZ) What Else?

• • Digital advertising spending was up nearly 20 percent in the second quarter of 2019, according to study data that also highlighted the comparatively greater number of small-to-medium size firms using digital versus traditional formats. (Broadcasting & Cable)
  • Digital advertising expenditures in the U.S. increased by 18 percent year-over-over from the first quarter of 2018, hitting $28.4 billion, with paid search comprising some 40%, according to IAB report data. (ClickZ)
  • By 2021 global digital advertising spending is predicted to increase by 47 percent from 2019, with ad expenditure growth up by 5.3 percent, according to Zenith. (MarketingProfs)
  • Amazon cut into Google’s advertising market share during the quarter, garnering ad revenue growth of 53 percent for sponsored brands and 102 percent for sponsored products, while Google spending growth slowed from the prior quarter. Microsoft’s Bing also saw desktop ad spending growth, its strongest since 2016. (MediaPost)
  • Revenues from advertising on social media and messaging platforms climbed 26.2 percent year-over-year during the first quarter of 2019, but at a slower rate than last year. (Mobile Marketing Magazine)
  • Forrester Research released a report looking at the strong growth of Amazon ads and how the company’s rise is affecting an array of rivals from Facebook to agencies and ad-tech firms. (Marketing Dive)
  • Mobile advertising within apps saw impressions increase by 26 percent in the second quarter of 2019 compared to last year, and in-app mobile video is increasingly driving ad spending. (MarTech Advisor)
  • 73 percent of B2B senior-level executives use more sources when researching and evaluating purchases than they did last year. (MarketingCharts)
  • By 2021 podcast advertising is expected to top $1 billion in annual revenue, IAB predicted. (The Verge)
  • Digital video advertising spending has seen continued growth according to IAB study data, with the average survey advertiser projected to spend $18 million in 2019, up from 2018’s $14.2 million. (Adweek)
  • 63% of B2B companies plan to moderately raise spending on email marketing, with top goals being increased engagement, conversion, and lead generation, some of the trends of interest to digital marketers among forecast data released during Q3 by GetResponse and Ascend. (MediaPost)
  • Some 65 percent of marketers see high-quality data as the most important element for campaign success, while also estimating that roughly 21 percent of marketing spending goes towards poor quality data. (MediaPost)

Read more on this topic:

• The Currency of Influence in Marketing — Buy, Sell, or Trade
• Zari Venhaus’s Framework for Gaining Executive Buy-In for Marketing Technology #CMWorld

When It Comes to Search Marketing …

Q3 saw the release of data showing that for the first time most Google searches don’t yield subsequent clicks, with 50.33 percent ending on the search giant’s result page, and 45.25 percent of searches resulting in organic clicks and 4.42 percent in paid advertisement clicks. (SparkToro) What Else?

• Google gave content creators the ability to incorporate multiple thumbnail images from the same video, which will all appear in search results linked to various spots within a video, using custom markup code. (TechCrunch)
• Audience targeting is the top search marketing technology affecting search engine marketing strategy. At 86 percent, audience targeting topped keywords, which came in at 83 percent, and re-marketing, which had 76 percent, Q3 survey data showed. (MarketingCharts)
• Google has made new image tracking data derived from recent changes to Google Image Search available in its Search Console feature, including an array of swipe-to-visit image analytics and other mobile AMP-centric features of interest to marketers. (Search Engine Journal)
• Jumping up a single position in Google search results can boost click-through-rates by over 30 percent, and online content containing questions within page titles saw 14.1 percent higher CTR rates — two insights from a Google search result analysis published during the quarter. (Backlinko)
• Google rolled out playable podcast episodes that appear directly in search results, presenting both new visibility opportunities along with attribution and analytics challenges for marketers and brands. (Engadget)
• Facebook began offering more advertisers options for inserting ads within search results on its platform, including new news feed campaign options for marketers. (Search Engine Journal)
• A Q3 Marin Software survey showed that paid search accounts for 40 percent of digital ad spending, with paid social just under 20 percent. (ClickZ)
• Digital marketers using Bing search advertisements got new insights from Microsoft Advertising, which added to the metrics data available including those relating to impressions and “prominence metrics.” (Search Engine Journal)

Read more on this topic:

• What the Future of Google Search Means for B2B Marketers
• What’s Missing In Your B2B Marketing Strategy? 5 Key Elements You Don’t Want to Overlook

When It Comes to Content Marketing …

During the third quarter report data showed that B2B marketers see in-person events, content marketing, traditional e-mail, and paid social as the most effective B2B marketing channels. (MarketingCharts) What Else?

• Facebook began testing the elimination of “like” counts in news-feed posts, a move echoing a similar shift from tests conducted with its Instagram property — aimed at placing greater focus on content and less on like counts. (TechCrunch)
• Among senior B2B marketers, a sizable 82 percent viewed content as important for achieving marketing goals, however only 48 percent believed their content was only somewhat effective — or even ineffective. (ClickZ)
• 80 percent of B2B buyers expect a B2C-like experience, while 47 percent read between three and five pieces of content before initiating sales contact communication. (Webbiquity)
• YouTube video content was the subject of a Q3 Pew Research study that examined popular channels with 250K or more subscribers. Among them, just 10 percent produced 70 percent of the content, the research showed. (Social Media Today)
• Facebook announced new features aimed at helping creators monetize content, including several new placement choices for video advertisements, brand collaboration enhancements, and Creator Studio additions. (Marketing Land)
• B2B marketers see their websites as an effective method for building awareness, however the sites often fail to offer compelling content and directly answer top questions, according to Q3 research from Forrester. The best sites engage using interactive visuals, useful tools, and experiences that demonstrate a keen audience understanding, the study revealed. (MediaPost)

Read more on this topic:

• 5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting
• Lee Odden Shares His Secret to Content Marketing Fitness #CMWorld

When It Comes to Social Media …

Q3 saw a number of reports detailing the health of social media and how marketers, brands, and consumers use various platforms, and the technology as a whole. Liking posts topped a Q3 list of how people interact with brands on social media platforms, at 51 percent, followed by 31 percent who leave reviews, while millennials are more likely to purchase due to social ads. (Social Media Today) What Else?

• Twitter is foremost a “look at this” social media destination, YouTube is primarily a learning target, while Instagram and Facebook fall into the “look at me” category. (Adweek)
• Consumer conversations about brands share very little crossover from social media listening and offline discussion, according to study data released during the quarter that looks at real-world and social media interaction differences and similarities. (Marketing Land)
• 60 percent of regular emoji users like brands using emojis that match their own personality, and 51 percent are more likely to comment on social media posts from brands that use emojis. (MarketingCharts)
• 56 percent of Gen X consumers find too much advertising on social platforms, and 42 percent don’t like brand social interaction. (eMarketer)

Read more on this topic:

• Margaret Shepard Shares How Mayo Clinic Built its Facebook Live Broadcast Strategy #DSMPLS
• 5 Top B2B Brands Delivering Exemplary Twitter Engagement

When It Comes to Influencer Marketing …

Implementation of B2B influencer marketing continued its growth during Q3. Influencer advertisements were also seen to have generated 277 percent more emotional intensity and 87 percent more memory encoding than traditional television ads, according to Q3 survey data that also examined the varying effectiveness of macro, micro, and celebrity influencers. (eMarketer) What Else?

• Global spending for influencer marketing will top $5 billion and could reach as high as $10 billion over the next two years, during which time 57 percent of marketers expect to add the practice to their marketing activities. (Social Media Today)
• Influencer marketing spending in the U.S. and Canada has seen 83 percent year-over-year growth, accompanied by second-quarter spending of $442 million. (The Drum)
• 70 percent of U.S. consumers who use social media platforms and follow at least one influencer say they trust the opinions of influencers at least as much as those of their own friends, with 78 percent trusting influencer opinions over those presented in traditional digital ads. (MediaPost)
• Pinterest and LinkedIn (client) are increasingly seeing social influencers utilizing the platforms, and finding new audiences and success with online video. (CNN)
• Micro and niche-influencers are forging stronger target audience connections and boosting long-term loyalty, while the use of traditional paid influencers among marketers has seen rising associated costs. (eMarketer)

Read more on this topic:

• 50 Content Marketing Influencers and Experts to Follow 2019 #CMWorld
• 11 Qualities You Should be Looking for to Find Your B2B Influencer Match

When It Comes to The TopRank Marketing Team …

The team at TopRank Marketing has had a busy, exciting, and productive Q3, and here are just a few of some of the team’s highlights in the press during the past quarter:

• Lee Odden: “B2B Doesn’t Have To Mean Boring To Boring” [Podcast] (B2B Marketing Exchange)
• Why Experience Matters [Video] (The New Economy)
• Eight Colors That Will Brightly Grow Your Personal Brand (Forbes)
• What Customer Experience Management Means For Today’s Business Ecosystem [Video] (Adobe Experience Cloud)
• How To Build A B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy For 2020 (Demand Gen Report)
• How to Build a B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy for 2020 [Infographic] (Social Media Today)
• The Stranger Things In B2B Marketing: 5 Ways to Avoid The Upside-Down of ABM (Engagio)
• Augmented And Virtual Reality: The Latest Engagement Drivers In B2B Marketing (Demand Gen Report)
• The Guide to B2B Influencer Marketing for CMOs [Infographic] (Social Media Today)
• A Shark’s Perspective – Episode 147 – Lee Odden [Podcast] (A Shark’s Perspective)
• 5 Crucial Ingredients for a Tremendous Content Marketing Strategy [Infographic] (Social Media Today)
• 5 Easy Ways Your Brand Can Use Twitter Video for More Engagement (Social Report)
• The Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020 [Infographic] (Social Media Today)

Goodbye, Q3. Hello and Welcome, Q4.

B2B marketers, we hope that your Q4 is filled with plenty of success and innovation, and hope that you'll join us each week and keep up with the latest industry news, trends, and opportunities in our Digital Marketing News Roundup, with highlights and video commentary from Tiffani Allen and Joshua Nite. *Disclosure: LinkedIn and Adobe are TopRank Marketing clients.

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