3 Ways B2B Content Marketing Elevates Lasting Customer Loyalty

If you’re reading this blog I’m probably telling you something you already know, but: everyone in B2B marketing is using content marketing. Well, specifically, 91% of all B2B marketers are. Then there are the other staggering statistics:

• Marketers spend over 25% of their budgets on content marketing
• 80% of marketers believe custom content should be central to marketing work
• 78% of CMOs see custom content as “the future of marketing”

So, what’s the deal with content? Why are all us nerds so chuffed to hammer out our little blogs and play podcaster? Well, I could cite a bunch more statistics...

• Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing
• Per dollar spent, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads as traditional marketing
• 70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles than an advertisement

…but all that counts for B2C content just as much as B2B. So what is it about B2B marketing, specifically, that makes content such a good fit? To unpack this question, I want to focus on just a few more stats (these are the last ones in the intro, I promise):

• 82% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content
• 70% of consumer feel closer to a company as a result of content marketing
• 78% of consumers perceive a relationship between themselves and a company using custom content

I think these relationships are really at the heart of what makes content so impactful for B2B. Great B2B content forms and strengthens lasting bonds between B2B providers and their clients far more effectively than any other form of marketing, leading to, well, the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and a lasting business relationship. But don’t just take my word for it — I’m one of the nerds who does it for a living. Instead, here’s a data-backed breakdown of a few major ways content marketing creates lasting customer loyalty in B2B customers, and how understanding them can make your content better. [bctt tweet="“Great B2B content forms and strengthens lasting bonds between B2B providers and their clients far more effectively than any other form of marketing.” — Harry Mackin @ShiitakeHarry" username="toprank"]

1. Your content makes you the first brand your clients think of

According to a survey of 1,208 B2B buyers, Bain & Co. found that 80 to 90% of B2B buyers have a full set of vendors in mind for any given purchase before they do any research. Even more startling, 90% of these buyers will ultimately choose a vendor from this initial list. The reason why this happens has to do with a concept called mental availability. The Ehrenberg-Bass B2B institute characterized mental availability as one of the major ways B2B brands grow in their large-scale study on “The Five Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing.” A brand’s mental availability is, in basic terms, how quickly it comes to mind for buyers in its category. Brands like Coca-cola have a lot of mental availability, for example. Mental availability operates according to a psychological phenomenon called “the availability heuristic.” The availability heuristic is a psychological bias toward information that is easily recalled. The thought process goes, “if I remember it, it must be important — or, at least, more important than whatever I can’t recall.” The way this translates in marketing, as the Ehrenberg-Bass institute puts it, is “given a choice between several options, people tend to prefer the one that comes to mind most easily.” Simply put: the more your B2B brand’s clients associate your brand with their buying category, the more likely they are to purchase from you. With high enough mental availability, you could become the “coke” of your category. And nothing says loyalty like “we don’t even think of anyone else.” [bctt tweet="“The more your B2B brand’s clients associate your brand with their buying category, the more likely they are to purchase from you.” — Harry Mackin @ShiitakeHarry" username="toprank"]

2. Your customers want to form an emotional connection with you, and your content makes that happen

Merkle’s 2021 Loyalty Barometer report found that 81% of consumers “want a relationship with a brand.” This seems intuitive to B2B marketing: after all, B2B clients tend to have more complex, technical needs than their B2C counterparts. More than eight out of ten (84%) of B2B buyers say they’re much more likely to choose vendors who prove they clearly understand the buyer’s needs and objectives. What is less intuitive, however, is that the relationship you should be building with your B2B clients isn’t “all business” after all. In fact, in many ways, emotions play an even greater role in B2B marketing than they do in B2C. And these relationships are precisely why. A landmark study of the role of emotion in B2B buying was conducted by Google, Gartner and Motista back in 2013. This survey found that B2B buyers are actually more emotionally connected to the brands they purchase from than B2C buyers, not less. Ultimately, though, even this isn’t so surprising: B2B customers tend to create long lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with their vendors. It only makes sense that they’d want to view their relationships with these vendors as something more akin to a partnership than a transaction. That’s exactly what great content can help B2B brands achieve. Every piece of content a B2B company generates is an opportunity to show its clients that they understand them, feel their pain, and know how to offer support. By providing relevant and heartfelt advice through content, brands show their clients they can empathize and help with challenges and opportunities their vendors confront like a true partner. Strengthening emotional bonds like this is by far the most effective way to cultivate customer loyalty that lasts. [bctt tweet="“Every piece of content a B2B company generates is an opportunity to show its clients that they understand them, feel their pain, and know how to offer support.” — Harry Mackin @ShiitakeHarry" username="toprank"]

3. Content provides your customers with educational experiences and opportunities they’re craving

For their article on “What Do Your B2B Customers Really Want?” the Harvard Business Review conducted a survey in which they asked 2,128 office workers several questions about what they prefer from their B2B service providers. One of the answers survey respondents provided, in particular, can tell us a lot about why content marketing works so well for B2B: Do you prefer a service provider who…  A: Solves a problem for you, or B: Teaches you how to solve the problem independently, without needing to contact the service provider Sixty-one percent of customers preferred being taught how to solve the problem independently, without needing to contact the service provider. In other words, service providers want to learn how to solve a problem, even more than they want to solve the problem that sent them looking in the first place. B2B content’s utility extends beyond the educational service, too: in their section on “putting these insights to use” following the survey, the Review recommends “focusing on ways to making your client better at their job, paving the way for the development of an authentic relationship,” and “instead of simply solving a client’s problem, look to share insights that fuel their experience of mastery.” Creating high-quality B2B content is one of the best ways you can do both of these things. Writing insightful, useful content about subject matter your audience is interested in provides that audience with a real value they can take back to their own jobs. They won’t just appreciate the insight itself, either; as the Review’s survey shows, they’ll also feel more connected to the brand that provided it to them. We here at TopRank Marketing have been beating this drum longer than most: content marketing is an absolutely essential way to raise your B2B brand’s profile and win customer loyalty. If you want to see how well content marketing can create customer loyalty for yourself, we’d love to help, so get in touch anytime.

The post 3 Ways B2B Content Marketing Elevates Lasting Customer Loyalty appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Elevate B2B Marketing News: LinkedIn Tops 930M Users & Lines Blur Between B2B & B2C

More pressure on B2B marketers to prove ROI 41 percent of U.S. and U.K. B2B marketers have said that they have faced increased pressure to prove return on investment (ROI), with some 86 percent also having said that intent data turns marketing qualified leads (MQL) into sales accepted leads (SAL) — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published survey data. MarTech Microsoft barrels ahead with AI plans, opens up Bing Chat preview to everyone Microsoft has done away with a waiting list previously in place for those wishing to use the firm's newest ChatGPT-generative-AI-powered incarnation of Bing, bringing its flagship AI search experience to its widest audience to date, Microsoft recently announced. Ars Technica Here’s How B2B Salespeople Define Buyer-Centrism 65 percent of B2B sales leaders have said that buyer-centric selling needs to include well-researched and carefully-prepared questions, while 58 percent said that they see industry expertise and experience as necessary when it comes to successful buyer-centric selling, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingCharts How B2B Firms Can Win With Younger Buyers [Podcast] 64 percent of 2023's B2B buyers were born after 1980, and members of this demographic take a different approach to buying processes than those used by other demographic groups, and Forrester recently took a look at the implications these differences have had on B2B marketing efforts. Forrester B2B Marketers Face Increasing Pressure to Prove Their Worth 62 percent of B2B marketers have said that content marketing efforts have produced leads with the highest ROI — a metric especially important in 2023 as demonstrating ROI and budgetary constraints were seen as the top marketing challenges, according to newly-published Association of National Advertisers survey data. ANA [bctt tweet="“The only thing that outright proves ROI are attributable sales. Revenue. Likes, shares, and followers are interesting but meaningless if they do not drive new business.” — Darryl Praill @ohpinion8ted" username="toprank"] LinkedIn’s Now Up to 930 Million Members, Continues to See Strong Engagement Microsoft-owned LinkedIn (client) had a 15 percent rise in user sessions during the most recent quarter, with member numbers of the professional social media platform having reached 930 million, with the largest member increases having taken place in India, the U.S., and Brazil, according to data from Microsoft's most recent financial earnings statement. Social Media Today Google AI pioneer says he quit to speak freely about technology's 'dangers' Artificial intelligence (AI) trailblazer Geoffrey Hinton recently parted ways with search giant Google, and has warned of a world where truth is elusive due to the unchecked proliferation of generative AI technologies such as those used in Google's Bard and forthcoming Magi project. Reuters Less and Less Daylight Between B2C Marketing and B2B Marketing? [Podcast] When it comes to the traditional chasm between the fundamentals of B2B and B2C marketing, the distance between the two has significantly closed in recent years, causing enterprise firms to overhaul marketing strategy, and the ANA recently took a look at how Prudential Financial has handled the blurring lines between B2B and B2C. ANA How Brands and Influencers Can Make the Most of the Relationship Influencers have benefited when they have taken a strategic approach to the brand partnerships they form — especially for those with smaller social media followings who often have more closely-knit ties to their connections, and the Harvard Business Review has examined data from a recently-released influencer brand partnership study. Harvard Business Review Google Launches Blue Checkmarks for Verified Brands in Gmail Search giant Google has begun rolling out an update to its popular Gmail service allowing brands that have implemented its Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) system to have blue verification check-marks within Gmail, Google recently announced. Social Media Today 5 Points About Digital Ad Spending in 2022 Search advertising was the leading digital ad format during 2022, accounting for 40.2 percent of overall revenue, while the most rapidly-growing formats were digital audio and video, with 20.9 percent year-over-year growth for audio and 19.3 percent for audio — three of numerous statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “Social Listening and Consumer Insights” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Ostrich-Inspired Robot Gives Its Neck a Stretch — IEEE Spectrum TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — Marketing Leaders Reflect on 20 Years of LinkedIn — LinkedIn (client)
• Lee Odden — Must-Read Marketing Books of the Past 20 Years — LinkedIn (client)

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW: Linda Grasso @LindaGrass0 Dr Sarah-Jayne Gratton @grattongirl Jessie Medina @jessiemedinaoff Tamara McCleary @TamaraMcCleary Charlene Li @charleneli Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry. Have you found an important B2B marketing news item we haven't yet covered? If so, please don't hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below. Thanks for joining us for this edition of the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope that you'll return again next Friday for another selection of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post Elevate B2B Marketing News: LinkedIn Tops 930M Users & Lines Blur Between B2B & B2C appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

50+ Top 2023 B2B Marketing Events To Learn From

What are some of this year's key events, conferences and trade shows — whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid — where B2B marketers can learn the latest from leading marketing industry speakers? There are plenty to choose from, and to help you sort out the many B2B marketing conference options available during the rest of 2023, we've compiled our latest list of more than 50 of the top B2B marketing events to elevate and inform your business strategy. Marketing conferences truly offer a wealth of benefits to marketers looking for the latest learning, new networking opportunities, and recent industry research and insight to help increase brand awareness — but sometimes finding events that match your business and B2B search marketing needs can be challenging. In just the last decade the number of marketing-related conferences has risen drastically, making it seem harder than ever to hone in on the ones that can best help build your business, expand your networking opportunities, and provide the most relevant new industry education from top speakers, especially in the specialized world of B2B marketing. For the remainder of 2023, we've gathered together a powerful slate of events, and are happy to present them here, in chronological order. Let's jump right in and explore our latest collection of 50-plus top B2B marketing and related conferences and events taking place as we head towards 2024.

MAY

Reuters Events' Strategic Marketing 2023 — #ReutersEvents When: May 8-9, 2023 Where: San Diego, CA. Theme: Marketing About: Reuters Events' Strategic Marketing 2023 event explores the move beyond marketing and the future of consumer-brand relationships, featuring an array of more than 50 top strategic marketing speakers including Kellyn Kenny of AT&T and Adrian Fung of eBay. AdExchanger PROGRAMMATIC I/O Las Vegas — #PROGIO When: May 15-17, 2023 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Programmatic Marketing About: For 2023 AdExchanger's PROGRAMMATIC I/O Las Vegas will be a global forum for programmatic marketing technology and more, focused on what to expect in programmatic this year, with featured speakers including Shamsa Jafri of Wells Fargo, Freddie Liversidge of HP, and many others. Demand Gen Summit — #DemandGenSummit When: May 17, 2023 Theme: Demand Generation About: Demand Gen Summit's spring virtual event will feature speakers including Ashley Faus of Atlassian and other from major firms. Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo — #GartnerSYM When: May 22-24, 2023 Where: Denver, CO. Theme: Marketing Strategies and Leadership About: Gartner's 2023 Marketing Symposium/Xpo will bring together marketing executives to explore navigating unprecedented changes, with a lineup of top speakers including Amborish Baruah of Prudential and Lina Paerez of ORBCOMM and many others. B2B Ignite USA 2023 — #B2BIgniteUSA When: May 23-24, 2023 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: B2B Marketing About: B2B Ignite USA in Chicago offers two jam-packed days of inspirational talks, interactive workshops and round-table discussions, all wrapped up in five unique content streams, plus the event’s Elevation Awards, along with top B2B marketing industry speakers including Steve Mudd of NetApp, Paul Roetzer of Marketing AI Institute, along with our own TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden presenting “The New Frontier of B2B Influence: Inside Out.” Be sure to also check our our additional pre-event coverage here:

• B2B Marketing Speaker Spotlight: Paul Roetzer on AI & Uniquely Human Content for Ignite USA
• B2B Marketing Speaker Spotlight: Melanie Deziel on Content as Evidence for Ignite USA
• Where to Find the New Frontiers of B2B Marketing at Ignite USA

Product Marketing World Las Vegas Summit — #PMMWorld When: May 24-25, 2023 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Product Marketing About: Product Marketing World's Las Vegas Summit will offer top industry speakers exploring the intersection of product, marketing, and sales.

JUNE

ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference — #ANAB2B When: June 5-7, 2023 Where: Orlando, FL. and virtual Theme: Marketing & Sales About: The Association of National Advertisers's 2023 ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference is all B2B, all the time, offering the latest B2B marketing insight by leading speakers including Linda Boff of GE, Toni Clayton-Hine of Ernst & Young LLP, and many others. B2B Summit North America — #ForrB2BSummit When: June 5-7, 2023 Where: Austin, TX. and virtual Theme: Marketing & Sales About: Formerly Sirius Decisions Summit, Forrester's B2B Summit North America live virtual experience for 2023 enables B2B sales, marketing and product leaders to learn how to defy uncertainty with consistent and scalable B2B growth, and features top industry speakers including Autodesk's Dara Treseder and other top voices. C3 Conference Central — #C3 When: June 13, 2023 Where: Chicago, IL. and virtual. Theme: Conductor customer conference. About: Conductor's C3 conference embodies professional marketers who connect, collaborate, and commit, and features top speakers from IBM, SAP and other major brands. SMX Advanced 2023 — #SMX When: June 13-14, 2023 Theme: Search & Social About: SMX Advanced will be produced virtually again in 2023, offering an in-depth look at the advanced tactical side of search and social media marketing, featuring an array of top industry speakers including Aleyda Solis of Orainti and others. Digital Summit Atlanta — #DSAT When: June 15-16, 2023 Where: Atlanta, GA. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Atlanta event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers including Alennah Curran of 3M, Ashley Sasnett of Equifax and others. Product Marketing World Seattle Summit — #PMMWorld When: June 15-16, 2023 Where: Seattle, WA. Theme: Product Marketing About: Product Marketing World's Seattle Summit will offer some 30 top industry speakers exploring the intersection of product, marketing, and sales, including Kirstyn Wood of Google among others. SearchLove Philadelphia — #SearchLove When: Summer, 2023 Where: Philadelphia, PA. Theme: Search Marketing About: SearchLove provides a multi-day event focusing on search marketing for in-house and agency search engine optimizers, business owners, marketing managers and more, featuring top speakers to be announced. Commerce Next Ecommerce Growth Show — #CommerceNext When: June 20-21, 2023 Theme: eCommerce About: The CommerceNext Ecommerce Growth Show presents more than 120 leading industry speakers in over 50 sessions, focusing on the latest strategies for ecommerce growth. ContentTECH Summit — #ContentTECH When: June 20-22, 2023 Where: New York, NY. Theme: MarTech About: Offering a focus on content, technology and strategy specifically for enterprise marketers, ContentTECH Summit's 2023 digital event features top presenters from major brands. Email Innovations Summit North America — #EISConf When: June 19-21, 2023 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Email Marketing About: As its name implies, the Email Innovations Summit focuses on the email aspects of marketing, discussing the cutting edge of email marketing trends and featuring top speakers including Corrina Cohen of NBCUniversal and others. BtoB Summit Paris 2023 — #BtoB When: June 22, 2023 Where: Paris. France Theme: B2B Marketing About: In 2023 the BtoB Summit Paris will return to offer B2B marketers in Europe and the world over top speakers including AI evangelist Ruben Hassid, Kris Rudeegraap of Sendoso, and our own CEO Lee Odden presenting a new session entitled "Human vs. Machine: B2B Content Marketing for the Future," along with round-table talks, masterclasses, and more, all surrounding the B2B marketing and sales community. Digital Summit Denver — #DSDenver When: June 27-27, 2023 Where: Denver, CO. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Denver event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers including Christina Clark of HubSpot, Diana Wolff of Reddit, and many others. B2B Ignite London 2023 — #B2BIgnite When: June 29-30, 2023 Where: London, UK. Theme: B2B Marketing About: B2B Ignite London offers two learning-packed days of inspirational talks, interactive workshops and round-table discussions, more than five content tracks, with more than 60 thought leaders scheduled to speak, including Antonia Wade of PwC, Scott Stockwell of IBM, and our own TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden presenting “The NEW Kingdom of Content in 2023 - and How to Wear the Crown.”

JULY

Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference — #MAICON23 When: July 26-28, 2023 Where: Cleveland, OH. Theme: Marketing Artificial Intelligence About: In-person for 2023, the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON) focuses on the successful use of AI in marketing, with programming created to understand AI and learn how to select, pilot, and scale the right use cases with the right AI-powered technologies. MAICON will feature next-generation workshops, keynotes, breakout sessions, and plenty of networking opportunities. Speakers include Brian D. Fanzo of iSocialFanz and others.

AUGUST

MozCon — #MozCon When: August 7-8, 2023 Where: Seattle, WA. and virtual Theme: SEO and Search Marketing About: MozCon will take place in Seattle over two days in August in 2023, exploring the latest search, SEO, conversion marketing, and local search marketing trends, featuring top speakers including Daniel Waisberg of Google, Lily Ray of Amsive Digital, among others. B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange — #B2BMX When: August 7-9, 2023 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: B2B Marketing About: B2B Marketing Exchange focuses on B2B sales and marketing tactics and technologies with sessions covering content marketing, demand generation, sales enablement and more, with leading industry speakers that have included our CEO Lee Odden, Microsoft’s Miri Rodriguez, Forrester’s Jay McBain and others from Cisco, SurveyMonkey, Oracle, BMC Software, Honeywell and other B2B brands. Engage Marketing Conference — #EngagePDX When: August 11, 2023 Where: Portland, OR. Theme: Digital Marketing About: For 2023 the Engage Marketing Conference explores digital marketing, social media, content, UX and design, creative, advertising, SEO, paid media, with an array of top industry speakers. Digital Summit Series Minneapolis — #DSMPLS When: August 16-17, 2023 Where: Minneapolis, MN. Theme: Digital Marketing About: The two-day 2023 edition of the Digital Summit Series Minneapolis conference is slated to feature top digital marketing speakers including Greg Weingaden of TikTok, Jonathan Michelin of Shopify, and others.

SEPTEMBER

INBOUND 2023 — #INBOUND2023 When: September 5-8, 2023 Where:Boston, MA. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: INBOUND 2023 will focus on offering the energy of an incubator and the intel of an accelerator, and will present some of the biggest names and brightest minds in sales and marketing and other industries, and offers major speakers from firms including Intuit, HubSpot, and more. Past sessions have focused on SEO strategies derived from product design methodology and more. SaaStr Annual 2023 — #SaaStr When: September 6-8, 2023 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Software as a Service (SaaS) About: SaaStr Annual 2023 offers a cloud-focused business event bringing together B2B founders, executives and investors for the largest non-vendor SaaS conference, including 250+ top speakers and more than 100 sessions. CRO Summit — #CROSummit When: September 7-8, 2023 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: B2B Sales Enablement About: The 2023 CRO Summit conference is a two-day event for B2B sales professionals featuring peer-to-peer revenue acceleration strategies incorporating AI-powered networking and speakers from top firms. Brandweek — #Brandweek When: September 11-14, 2023 Where: Miami, FL. Theme: Brand Marketing About: Adweek's 2023 edition of the Brandweek conference will be the sixth edition of the event, focusing on redoubling relevance, and will feature top brand marketing speakers including Emily Ketchen of Lenovo, Mike Katz of T-Mobile, and many others for four days of sessions, presentations, and more. Dreamforce — #Dreamforce When: September 12-14, 2023 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Salesforce Marketing About: For 2023, Salesforce' annual Dreamforce event will feature an array or top speakers from major brands to be announced in the lead-up to the event. C3 Conference East — #C3 When: September 14, 2023 Where: New York, NY. and virtual. Theme: Conductor customer conference. About: Conductor's C3 conference embodies professional marketers who connect, collaborate, and commit, and features top speakers from IBM, SAP and other major brands. Marketing Summit at Oracle CloudWorld — #OCW When: September 18-21, 2023 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Oracle B2B Marketing About: The second-annual Marketing Summit at Oracle CloudWorld takes a multi-faceted look at how global marketing professionals use Oracle products, with keynote speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the event. Digital Summit Detroit — #DSDetroit When: September 19-20, 2023 Where: Detroit, MI. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Detroit event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers including best-selling author Seth Godin, Purna Virji of Microsoft, and many others. Pubcon Pro Annual 2023 — #Pubcon When: September 19-21, 2023 Where: Austin, TX. Theme: Search & Social About: Now in its 23rd year, Pubcon Pro Annual 2023 explores all aspects of search and social marketing, featuring major keynote presentations from speakers at Google and Microsoft's Bing, an exposition hall, Pubcon Masters Group Workshops,  plus Pubcon’s famous industry networking opportunities. AI Summit Austin — #AISummit When: September 20-21, 2023 Where: Austin, TX. Theme: Artificial Intelligence (AI) About: The 2023 version of AI Summit Austin presents all things artificial intelligence for business marketers, featuring leading top speakers providing unique looks at modernizing the search stack using AI, quantum computing, and other topics. Product Marketing World San Francisco Summit — #PMMWorld When: September 21-22, 2023 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Product Marketing About: Product Marketing World's San Francisco Summit will offer some 100 top industry speakers exploring the intersection of product, marketing, and sales. Past speakers have included Rukma Sen of Google, Sudha Ranganathan of LinkedIn*, Misha Sokolnikov of Microsoft, and many others. Martech — #MarTechConf When: September 26-27, 2023 Theme: MarTech About: Martech's free 2023 online event focuses on actionable tactics in marketing technology to overcome critical marketing challenges, with speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the event. Content Marketing World — #CMWorld When: September 26-28, 2023 Where: Washington, DC. Theme: Content Marketing About: 2023's Content Marketing World will be the conference's 13th year, and is set to explore the best in content marketing to grow your business and inspire your audience, featuring top speakers including Ann Handley of MarketingProfs, Jessica Bergmann of Salesforce, Tequia Burt of LinkedIn, and many other top speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the event.

OCTOBER

C3 Conference West — #C3 When: October 4, 2023 Where: San Francisco, CA. and virtual. Theme: Conductor customer conference. About: Conductor's C3 conference embodies professional marketers who connect, collaborate, and commit, and features top speakers from IBM, SAP and other major brands. Digital Summit Chicago — #DSChicago When: October 4-5, 2023 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Chicago event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers including Gina Florence of Charles Schwab, Greg Gifford of SearchLab, and many others. MarketingProfs B2B Forum — #MPB2B When: October 4-6, 2023 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: B2B Marketing About: At MarketingProfs B2B Forum top leaders, innovators, and people who make things happen gather to share their secrets to success, with a stellar lineup of speakers including Ann Handley of MarketingProfs, tech marketing author Pam Didner, and our own CEO and co-founder Lee Odden, who will be presenting a session examining "How to Elevate B2B Marketing Results with the Influence Trifecta." ANA Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Conference— #ANAdiversity When: October 10-12, 2023 Where: Las Vegas, NV. and virtual Theme: Multicultural Marketing About: The Association of National Advertisers’s 2023 Multicultural Marketing and Diversity conference will celebrate its 25th year with an October event that focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), featuring professionals who produce multicultural marketing, with a powerhouse lineup of top speakers. Digital Summit Philadelphia — #DSPhiladelphia When: October 16-17, 2023 Where: Philadelphia, PA. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Philadelphia event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers including Rachel Hernandez of The HOTH, Steve Keller of SiriusXM, and many others. Advertising Week New York — #AWNewYork When: October 16-19, 2023 Where: New York City Theme: Marketing & Sales About: The 2023 Advertising Week New York event will be its 19th edition, and will serve as a worldwide gathering of marketing, advertising, technology and brand professionals, offering 600+ speakers and 400+ sessions in more than 20 presentation tracks. Growth Hackers 2023 — #GHConf23 When: October 17, 2023 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: Growth Hackers 2023 will explore the next generation of growth tactics and the leaders building those tactics, featuring 10+ keynote speakers including Christina Leigh Morgan of Adobe and and others. ANA Masters of Marketing Conference — #ANAMasters When: October 24-27, 2023 Where: Orlando, FL. and virtual Theme: Marketing & Sales About: The Association of National Advertisers’s 2023 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference is about learning, networking, and growth, offering the latest marketing insight by leading speakers to be announced. The Influencer Marketing Show — #IMSLONDON23 When: October 26, 2023 Where: London, UK. Theme: Influencer Marketing About: The Influencer Marketing Show offers brands, agencies, content creators and technology platforms a full day on influencer marketing education and strategy, with top speakers and exhibitors. DigiMarCon MidAtlantic — #DigiMarCon When: October 30-31, 2023 Where: Philadelphia, PA. and virtual Theme: Digital Marketing About: The in-person and online DigiMarCon MidAtlantic digital marketing conference offers a chance to reunite with industry peers, plus emerging strategies on paid search, search engine optimization (SEO), visual and voice search, plus the latest innovative technologies and best practices to move your business to the next level, featuring top speakers to be announced.

NOVEMBER

Digital Summit Dallas — #DSDallas When: December 12-13, 2023 Where: Dallas, TX. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Dallas event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the December event. State of Search Conference — #StateOfSearch2023 When: November 13-14, 2023 Where: Dallas, TX. and virtual Theme: Search Marketing About: The two-day State of Search Conference is set to explore search marketing, pay-per-click (PPC), and other search elements of digital marketing, featuring a variety of top industry speakers. Digital Summit Raleigh — #DSRaleigh When: November 13-14, 2023 Where: Raleigh, NC. Theme: Digital Marketing About: Digital Summit's two-day Raleigh event will feature more than insightful sessions along with top speakers including Kate Loffio of Crayola, Jen Capstraw of Women of Email, and many others. SMX Next— #SMX When: November 14-15, 2023 Theme: Search Engine Marketing About: SMX Next explores actionable tactics to overcome today's many search marketing obstacles, with session tracks dedicated to pay-per-click (PPC), SEO, link-building, and more, delivered by top speakers to be announced.

DECEMBER / TBD / On-Demand / 2024

AI Summit New York — #AISummit When: December 6-7, 2023 Where: Austin, TX. Theme: Artificial Intelligence (AI) About: The 2023 version of AI Summit New York presents all things applied AI for business marketers, featuring leading top speakers providing unique looks at modernizing the search stack using AI, quantum computing, and other topics. Content Marketing Conference — #CMC23 When: TBA, 2023 Theme: Content Marketing About: For 2023's event, Content Marketing Conference offers marketers actionable content marketing tools and tactics to humanize your brand, with top speakers and dates to be announced. Influencer Marketing World North America — #IMW2023 When: TBA, 2023 Theme: Influencer Marketing About: The Influencer Marketing World North America event will offer marketers a multi-day event featuring top speakers gathered to explore the future of digital and influencer marketing technologies, with dates and location to be announced in the lead-up to the event. CXL Live 2023 — #CXLAustin When: TBA, Fall, 2023 Where: Austin, TX. Theme: Data-Driven B2B Marketing About: The CXL Live 2023 event in Austin, Texas looks at conversion rate optimization (CRO) for B2B growth and experimentation, with two days of top speakers. Adobe Summit — #AdobeSummit When: Continuous Theme: Digital Experience About: Adobe Summit is a free virtual event with more than 200 sessions available on-demand, exploring the re-imagining of customer experiences with leaders in marketing automation, advertising, commerce and analytics, and feature top industry speakers. Social Media Marketing World — #SMMW24 When: February 18-20, 2024 Where: San Diego, CA. Theme: Social Media About: Social Media Marketing World will hold an in-person conference in February 2024 in San Diego, with a deep-dive into social media marketing focusing on new ideas and quality networking opportunities, including top presenters.

Pick Up B2B Marketing Events On Your Radar

via GIPHY No matter which of the wide array of marketing events we've shared here you plan to attend either in-person or virtually, we hope you've found at least a few new ones to put on your radar and attend this year, and that they'll help you elevate your own B2B marketing. To help you make the most of whichever B2B marketing events you attend, be sure to also check out our "In-Person, Virtual & Hybrid: How To Get The Most From B2B Marketing Events." Building award-winning B2B marketing takes considerable time and effort, which is why more firms than ever are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Talk with us about how we can help, as we’ve done for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others.

The post 50+ Top 2023 B2B Marketing Events To Learn From appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Why You Should Work with a B2B Influencer Marketing Agency in 2023

It’s ironic that B2B influencer marketing is getting more difficult as it gets more popular. In the ancient before times of 2017, it was as easy as dropping an email to a few well-known folks, asking for a quote or a quick interview, offering only goodwill and recognition in return.  Now that the B2B world at large recognizes the value of influencer marketing, it’s a much more sophisticated discipline. The game has changed for marketers and influencers alike. The days of informal requests and handshake deals are numbered, if not already over. Despite these growing pains, it’s clear influencer marketing is going gangbusters for B2B.  HubSpot reports that over 89% of marketers who currently engage in influencer marketing will increase or maintain their investment in 2023. In the TopRank Marketing 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report, 86% of our respondents said they had seen success with the practice. If you’re just starting to build your influencer program, or you’re looking to increase your level of sophistication — and your results — it makes sense to join with an agency that excels in B2B influencer marketing.  Here’s why.

4 Big Reasons to Partner with a B2B Influencer Marketing Agency

As the B2B influence landscape continues to evolve, it takes specialized knowledge to get the best results. An expert agency brings the knowhow, tools, tactics and established relationships that drive better results. 

#1: Finding the right B2B influencers is challenging

Our colleagues on the B2C side have a much easier time finding the right influencers. Get the most popular social media star you can afford, pay for an endorsement, and off you go! For B2B, however, follower count isn’t the only thing — or even the most important thing. In fact, research shows that micro influencers generate up to 60% more engagement than those with a huge audience. This is true because B2B influence is all about relevance and credibility. In our survey, “size of audience” wasn’t in the top three essential qualities for a B2B influencer. Instead, the most effective influencers were relevant, trustworthy and knowledgeable:

• 98% said relevance of audience
• 87% said trustworthiness to audience
• 78% said subject matter expertise

Finding the most relevant, truly influential people to your target audience takes deep industry knowledge. More than that, it takes influencer marketing experience and specialized tools like Onalytica, Traackr, BuzzSumo, et al. You could subscribe to these tools, train and upskill your team to use them, and devote substantial time and effort to the practice. Or, you could extend your team with an agency that already has a suite of influencer marketing tools and experience working with them.  [bctt tweet="“An expert B2B influencer marketing agency brings the knowhow, tools, tactics and established relationships that drive better results.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

#2: Influencer relationships matter more than ever

B2B influence used to be a buyer’s market — there was less demand for influencers than there were influencers available. Now the balance has shifted. B2B experts are in high demand, far outstripping supply. This is due in part to the rise of virtual events, which have increased the amount of available opportunities for influencers.  The biggest factor, however, is the emergence of B2B influencer marketing as a formal discipline. Influencers now know that their work is valuable to brands, that “B2B influencer” can be a lucrative career path, and they’re less likely to respond to a cold request for a quote or interview. It takes time and effort to establish and nurture relationships with influencers in order to co-create content together. An established B2B influencer agency has been cultivating these relationships for years — over a decade, in our case. We have an established network of dozens of influencers in B2B tech, supply chain, marketing, and many other industries. [bctt tweet="“It takes time and effort to establish and nurture relationships with influencers in order to co-create content together. An established B2B influencer agency has been cultivating these relationships for years.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

#3: Put the ‘marketing’ in influencer marketing

It’s not enough to find the right influencers, cultivate a relationship, and have them endorse your solution. B2B influencer marketing needs, well, marketing:

• Creative content
• Based on proven search intent
• Strategically promoted
• With a logical next step

Turning influencer contributions into high-quality content takes its own unique skill set. It starts with in-depth analysis of keywords and search intent, to identify the burning questions your audience needs answered. Then there’s drafting the right questions for influencers, creating brand content, and putting it all together in a beautifully-designed package. Then there’s paid and organic promotion, which is yet another area of specialization. Promotion needs to include tracked links for influencers, the right targeting for sponsored content, and drafting social messages that encourage influencers to share the content on their feeds. In short, the ‘marketing’ component of influencer marketing takes an entire team’s worth of differentiated skills—something an agency can provide ready-made. [bctt tweet="“The ‘marketing’ component of B2B influencer marketing takes an entire team’s worth of differentiated skills—something an agency can provide ready-made.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

#4: The most effective influencer strategy is always-on

Most marketers are still in the early stages of B2B influencer marketing maturity. Our research found that 35% were running periodic campaigns, while 15% reported more strategic, coordinated and ongoing campaigns. Just 21% had reached an advanced stage of maturity: An always-on, fully engaged community of influencers. What difference does always-on make? In our survey, 19% of those running periodic campaigns said they were ‘very successful,’ while 24% said they were ‘not successful.’ Of those with an always-on program, 31% reported they were ‘very successful,’ and 69% said they were ‘moderately successful.’ None of our always-on respondents said they were not successful. When you maintain a community of influencers, you can produce more content, and more in-depth content, with less ramp-up time. Over repeated engagements, these influencers bond with each other and with your team, ultimately becoming brand advocates as well as influencers. It’s a strategy that has worked incredibly well for giants of B2B like Adobe, SAP, and Dell. And it’s much easier to do with an agency that has experience developing and nurturing that ongoing community.  [bctt tweet="“When you maintain a community of influencers, you can produce more content, and more in-depth content, with less ramp-up time.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

Elevate your B2B influencer marketing

If you’re ready to level up your B2B influencer program — or take the first steps to develop one — we’re here to help. TopRank Marketing has been working in B2B influence since before it was cool (hipsters that we are), and we helped turn a sporadic practice into a hugely successful marketing discipline. Want more proof? Check out how Cherwell more than tripled their click-through rate with great B2B influencer content.

The post Why You Should Work with a B2B Influencer Marketing Agency in 2023 appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

B2B Marketing Speaker Spotlight: Paul Roetzer on AI & Uniquely Human Content for Ignite USA

Before we know it, B2B Ignite USA 2023 will be here. The anticipating for the event is building and are excited to share a sneak peek of the latest B2B marketing insights from Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO at Marketing AI Institute, who will be delivering a new presentation on the “Dawn of the Next-Gen B2B Marketer" in Chicago next month. Ignite USA features an impressive lineup of more than 40 top B2B marketing thought leaders, including our CEO Lee Odden who will present “The New Frontier of B2B Influence: Inside Out,” during two jam-packed days of inspirational talks, interactive workshops and round-table discussions, all wrapped up in five unique content streams, plus the event’s Elevation Awards. We previously shared some major event highlights and recently, our own director of agency marketing Katelyn Drake connected with Paul to hear his take on the vital B2B marketing topics that are quickly moving to the forefront this year.

Paul Roetzer On New Frontiers In B2B Marketing

Question: What's one of the new frontiers in B2B marketing that marketers should be focusing on in 2023? Paul: Generative AI is everywhere, and it’s going to become an integral part of every B2B marketer’s job. This touches everything related to generating text, images, video and audio. [bctt tweet="“Generative AI is everywhere, and it’s going to become an integral part of every B2B marketer’s job.” — Paul Roetzer @PaulRoetzer" username="toprank"] Question: What can we look forward to from your presentation at Ignite USA? Paul: We are going to give attendees a crash course in everything they need to know to get started with AI. What is it? How is it transforming B2B marketing? What are sample use cases and technologies? How can they apply it in their careers? Question: With the rise of AI in content creation, how can marketers prove authenticity and build trust with their buyers? Paul: More-human content will win. Authentic human content will take on far greater value for individuals and brands as AI-generated content floods the web. What do I mean by "authentic human content?" The stuff that can’t be (easily) faked. In person. Unscripted. Uniquely human. Think editorials and opinion pieces, podcasts, videos, and live events. [bctt tweet="“Authentic human content will take on far greater value for individuals and brands as AI-generated content floods the web.” — Paul Roetzer @PaulRoetzer" username="toprank"] Question: Which areas B2B should marketers be particularly concerned about when it comes to AI? Paul:  The responsible use of AI is critical to realize its full potential for our industry, and society. B2B marketers also have to understand the limitations of the technology, including the fact that the large language models (LLMs) which power AI writing tools constantly hallucinate, or make stuff up, and that there are serious copyright concerns related to AI-generated content. [bctt tweet="“The responsible use of AI is critical to realize its full potential for our industry, and society.” — Paul Roetzer @PaulRoetzer" username="toprank"] Question: Now that we are post-Covid times, what advice do you have for attendees to get the most from in-person conferences? Paul:  Embrace and appreciate the opportunity to be back together. I know personally that I have cherished the time I’ve been at in-person events recently. I missed real human connections and interaction so much! [bctt tweet="“Embrace and appreciate the opportunity to be back together. I know personally that I have cherished the time I’ve been at in-person events recently. I missed real human connections and interaction so much!” — Paul Roetzer @PaulRoetzer" username="toprank"] Question: There's lots of talk about uncertainty within the market, what advice do you have for marketers who are being asked to do more with less? Leverage AI to its full potential.. There is no better path to "do more with less," while still maintaining your balance and sanity.

Learn More From Paul Roetzer At B2B Ignite USA 2023

We extend many thanks to Paul for taking the time to share his latest insights on the key issues that B2B marketers are increasingly facing in 2023, along with a look at what is coming down the pike. You can learn about the B2B Ignite USA 2023 conference on May 23 through 24 in Chicago at the event website, and be sure to also check out Lee's look at some of the sessions we're most looking forward to at the event, in "Where to Find the New Frontiers of B2B Marketing at Ignite USA," plus our interview with event speaker Melanie Deziel, chief content officer at StoryFuel, in "B2B Marketing Speaker Spotlight: Melanie Deziel on Content as Evidence for Ignite USA." We hope to see you in-person for a stellar event including Paul’s must-see session. Look for additional coverage of B2B Ignite USA 2023 in the lead-up to the event and while it takes place, and be sure to follow the #B2BIgniteUSA hashtag for more information.

The post B2B Marketing Speaker Spotlight: Paul Roetzer on AI & Uniquely Human Content for Ignite USA appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Elevate B2B Marketing News: B2B Intent Data, LinkedIn’s New CTA Buttons, Marketing’s Rising Role, & Top Social Platform Study

Microsoft results top forecasts, shares jump 8% as AI juices sales Microsoft saw revenue that climbed by seven percent to $52.9 billion during the first quarter of 2023, with its productivity segment including LinkedIn (client) among those topping expectations, as LinkedIn revenue increased by eight percent, with Microsoft's overall advertising and search revenue rising by 3.4 percent to top the $3 billion mark, Microsoft recently announced. Reuters The Value of Intent Data for B2B Go-to-Market Teams 45 percent of B2B marketers have said that potential customer intent data is most useful for account expansion, with some 42 percent pinpointing its success for advertising, and 35 percent for lead generation — three of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published survey data. MarketingProfs [bctt tweet="“Commercial organizations will prioritize buyer intent data as a key input to enable reps to focus on the right opportunities, not all opportunities.” — Alyssa Merwin Henderson of @LinkedIn" username="toprank"] Social Media Marketers Dish on Top Platforms, Formats, and Content Types 90 percent of social media marketers have said that building an active online community is critical to 2023 success, and when it comes to return-on-investment (ROI), 25 percent of social media marketers consider Instagram the top platform, followed by 23 percent who said Facebook, 14 percent YouTube, 12 percent TikTok, and 11 percent LinkedIn, according to recently-released global HubSpot survey data. MarketingCharts Report: Marketers Continue To Lag Significantly On Sustainability Front A scant 43 percent of marketers have said they include sustainability metrics within their organization's dashboard key performance indicators (KPIs), while 94 percent of client-side marketers noted that marketers need to act with greater bravery and use experimentation to drive sustainability changes, according to newly-published report data. MediaPost More brands choose Boomer, Gen X influencers, as ‘older audiences can be just as impactful’ as young ones As authenticity has grown in importance among digital marketing efforts, more brands are turning to older influencers rather than creating separate campaigns for certain demographic groups, and DigiDay takes a look at some of the flexibility and advantages influencer marketing offers when it comes to brand storytelling. DigiDay Alphabet Growth Slows Again in Q1 as YouTube Ad Revenue Falls for 3rd Quarter in a Row During the first quarter of 2023 Google parent firm Alphabet recorded its third straight quarter with falling revenue from its YouTube property, which had a three percent revenue drop with revenue of $6.7 billion, as overall year-over-year Alphabet revenue climbed by three percent year-over-year, to $69.8 billion, Alphabet recently announced. The Wrap Marketing Has Taken on More Responsibilities Since the Pandemic 41.4 percent of chief marketing officers have said that they now see marketing as being responsible for revenue growth, a figure that was up from the 32.7 percent mark recorded in 2020, while 91.4 pinpointed brand, advertising, and digital marketing efforts as the primary responsibilities of marketing, according to newly-published survey data of interest to B2B marketers. MarketingCharts Content Producers Say AI Tools Will Replace Writers 39 percent of B2B content producers have said their primary 2023 focus was on demand and lead generation blog posts, 34 percent on photos, graphics and visuals, and 31 percent on short-form videos, while 58 percent of B2B and B2C content marketers said they believed that content built using generative AI tools will be penalized by search engines — some of the findings contained in recently-released content marketing survey data. MediaPost LinkedIn Adds New Custom CTA Buttons on LinkedIn Premium Member Profiles Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has begun rolling out a new call-to-action button to its premium members, offering six profile presets for linking directly to websites, portfolios, and other destinations, the professional social media platform recently announced. Social Media Today Advertisers using news brands see increase in ad effectiveness of 'up to 52%' Trust and quality have become more aligned with effectiveness and profit over the past 23 years, with newer brands often lagging behind established ones, while news brands have experienced greater overall trust — three of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published news brand report data. Campaign US ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “Focus Groups and the Oracles of Eden Prairie” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist The Tremendous VR and CG Systems—of the 1960s — IEEE Spectrum TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — 15 experts creating the simpler, smarter, better future of social media marketing — Sprinklr (client)
• TopRank Marketing — The growing importance of influencer marketing for B2B — Michaletz Zwief

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW: Jo Peterson @digitalcloudgal Kamales Lardi @KamLardi Maribel Lopez @MaribelLopez Kate O’Neill @kateo Christina Trampota @tektalk Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry. Have you crossed paths with a top B2B marketing news item we haven't yet covered? If so, please don't hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below. Thank you for taking the time to join us for the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope that you will return again next Friday for another array of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post Elevate B2B Marketing News: B2B Intent Data, LinkedIn’s New CTA Buttons, Marketing’s Rising Role, & Top Social Platform Study appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

A Home-Run for Humanizing B2B Content: Why Generative AI Can Only Get Your Business to First Base

With the Major League Baseball season now underway, one of the sport’s great ongoing debates has once again found traction: to stick with human umpires, or embrace the electronic strike zone? It’s just another example of how rapid advancements in technology are fundamentally impacting everything in our society, from the classic American pastime to the ancient art of writing. Those of us in the content marketing space are having our own debates about the true value of robots and automation, and how they fit going forward. The consensus at this moment? Artificial intelligence is going to be a game-changer in many ways, but its limitations will continue to make the human element essential when it comes to driving content marketing outcomes. Let’s explore some of the ways generative AI solutions can help get your business on base and set up opportunities, and why the human touch is critical to ultimately putting runs on the board. [bctt tweet="“AI is going to be a game-changer in many ways, but its limitations will continue to make the human element essential when it comes to driving content marketing outcomes.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]

Advantages of Generative AI Content for Marketing

While the urge is understandable, content creators who are actively avoiding generative AI tools out of apprehension are doing themselves a disservice. There are a lot of great benefits that can fundamentally enhance the way we work and the outputs we produce as marketers. Here are some of the most helpful advantages technologies like ChatGPT can bring to B2B content marketing. Expansive and comprehensive research, made efficient. This is one of the benefits I’m most excited about, and have been most impressed by. Researching, if you want to do it right, can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of content creation – there’s so much information out there to seek out and sift through. With the right prompts, content creators can leverage AI to answer questions and receive targeted info at lightning speed. I’m not going to be leaning on these tools as my sole source, because they are susceptible to inaccurate, outdated, and incomplete information, but I’ve already discovered plenty of shortcuts through the technology and look forward to exploring more. Streamlined content development and production. I would argue that (for various reasons we will soon cover) you generally don’t want to put AI in control of creating content. However, that’s not to say these tools can’t be immensely helpful in the process of content creation, especially the early stages of ideation and outlining. If you’re a writer, then you probably know that the hardest part of creating a new piece can be getting started: sourcing your talking points, organizing your thoughts, ensuring your content will thoroughly cover the topic it addresses. When provided with suitable direction, a generative AI tool can present ideas, information, and outlines in an instant. For example, you might prompt, “I want you to create a table of contents for a report about [X],” and boom, you’ve got your jumping off point to start building valuable content. By layering in more prompting specificity in terms of context and constraints, you can get more focused and useful outputs to guide your process. Scalable experimentation for faster innovation. The ability of generative AI to rapidly retrieve information, build concepts, and answer prompts paves the way for content marketers to constantly test different approaches, messaging styles, and techniques capable of improving their workflow efficiency as well as the quality of their final output. For an example of how this might take shape, I simply went ahead and… asked ChatGPT to share how it might help facilitate a content experiment. Here’s what it suggested: 

• ChatGPT could analyze a company's existing website content and identify areas that could be optimized for better performance. This could include improving headlines, adjusting tone or style, or adding more relevant keywords.

• ChatGPT could generate variations of the existing content based on the identified optimization opportunities. For example, it could provide alternative headlines, reword sentences, or suggest different calls-to-action.

• The company could run an A/B test to compare the performance of the original content versus the optimized versions generated by ChatGPT. This could involve randomly showing different versions of the content to visitors and measuring key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, or engagement.

• Based on the results of the A/B test, the company could choose to implement the optimized content that performed best or continue iterating and testing further variations.

Even if you don’t end up using the exact copy produced by ChatGPT, this highly-automated experiment can deliver key insights about content elements or CTA types that are connecting with your audience to inform your strategy. [bctt tweet="“AI experiments can deliver key insights about content elements or CTA types that are connecting with your audience to inform your strategy.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]

Key Limitations of AI for B2B Marketing Content

As powerful as it is, smart and strategic marketers can rest assured that generative AI is not equipped to replace them. There are several limiting factors that prevent this technology from making the human aspects of marketing irrelevant. In fact, as these tools become more widely adopted, the skill and experience of a talented marketing professional will arguably grow more vital and differentiating than ever. What are the shortcomings of generative AI for marketing content? Let’s start with the most straightforward: AI isn’t designed to be factual or accurate. And it’s often biased. This is one of the most fundamentally important things for anyone to understand about AI. Because the algorithms are so sophisticated, it’s easy to assume they have built-in mechanisms to ensure information they serve is correct. But, they really don’t. “They're simply generating text that sounds plausible based on the data they've seen,” explains Joe Amditis. “This means that they can ‘hallucinate’ information or even ‘lie’ in some cases, and their outputs should therefore always be checked by humans for accuracy.” This same dynamic makes AI-generated content ripe for biases. “ChatGPT is only as good as the data it is trained on, and if the training data is biased or inaccurate, it can lead to biased or inaccurate content generation.” Amditis recently published a guide called Beginner’s prompt handbook: ChatGPT for local news publishers, from which the above insights are drawn. Geared toward journalists who are interested in utilizing the technology while responsibly navigating its downsides, I found the guide incredibly insightful and valuable. One of the primary, highlighted takeaways from the handbook? “The key is to employ strict and redundant human oversight whenever and however you decide to use ChatGPT, but especially in high-stakes situations where the information it spits back to you is meant to be used in any public, professional, or non-trivial way.” [bctt tweet="“The key is to employ strict and redundant human oversight whenever and however you decide to use ChatGPT.” — Joe Amditis @JoeAmditis" username="toprank"] AI lacks originality and human resonance. Or Shani, who founded the digital advertising AI tool Albert, is quick to acknowledge where the technology falls short. “Where we see AI as having limitations are in the obvious areas: emotions, feelings, subjective thinking,” he told the Marketing AI Institute. “Humans are unique in their ability to feel in a very complex way and translate those feelings into emotional connections.” That’s a crucial consideration at a time where the B2B sector at large is recognizing and celebrating the essential value of breakthrough creative and emotional impact in their marketing. AI lacks judgment and expertise. Artificial intelligence is able to draw informed conclusions based on the data available to it. But that data is inherently limited and far less valuable than the personal experience of marketers, executives, and other talent involved with a business. Even small decisions pertaining to content strategy can have massive ripple effects on a company’s success, and this is where the intervention of skilled, experienced humans is most indispensable. As Shani added: “Limitations in artificial intelligence will also stem from the degree of precision with which technologists are able to replicate human ‘intelligence’ and decision-making.” Or, as Joe McKendrick and Andy Thurai wrote at Harvard Business Review: “Artificial intelligence is designed to assist with decision-making when the data, parameters, and variables involved are beyond human comprehension. For the most part, AI systems make the right decisions given the constraints. However, AI notoriously fails in capturing or responding to intangible human factors that go into real-life decision-making — the ethical, moral, and other human considerations that guide the course of business, life, and society at large.” In B2B marketing, those “intangible human factors” are hard earned through experience, collaboration, and professional growth. [bctt tweet="“In B2B marketing, “intangible human factors” are hard earned through experience, collaboration, and professional growth.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"] Circling back to our original scenario of robots replacing human umpires in baseball, that notion loses its practicality when you think about the broader responsibilities that the role entails, beyond calling balls and strikes. Human umpires are crucial to the game of baseball as they bring experience, intuition, tradition, and authority to the game. While technology can aid in making calls, human umpires are an essential part of the game's fabric, and their presence adds to the authenticity and atmosphere of the sport. Don’t take my word for it – the last paragraph was lifted verbatim from ChatGPT. In business, needless to say, the stakes tend to be a bit higher than a baseball game. Generative AI is a hit for B2B content strategies, but it’s not a home run. Want to learn more about creating content that breaks through and delivers brand impact in the age of AI? Check out our guide, Marketing with Intent: The Future of SEO and Qualified B2B Search Traffic.

The post A Home-Run for Humanizing B2B Content: Why Generative AI Can Only Get Your Business to First Base appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.