B2B Marketing Trends from TikTok to AI

in Blog, Content marketing, Fractional CMO, SEO, Social Media, Strategy, Website/by Michael Miller

So much is happening in the realm of B2B marketing. It can be difficult to keep up and even more difficult to know which new trends make sense for your business and which are just noise.

In this post we’re going to breakdown 10 B2B marketing trends that we believe have the potential to make a huge impact on the effectiveness of today’s B2B marketing programs.

AI-Driven Personalization: The New Standard in B2B Marketing

Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved beyond being a buzzword—it’s now a fundamental component of modern B2B marketing strategy. AI-driven personalization allows businesses to deliver tailored experiences that resonate deeply with each customer segment. By analyzing vast amounts of data in real-time, AI can determine the exact needs of potential clients, making interactions more relevant and increasing the likelihood of conversion.

According to McKinsey, businesses that leverage AI in their B2B marketing campaigns can see a revenue increase of up to 15%. For B2B service companies, this could translate into significant growth, particularly when competing in markets where personalization is expected. AI doesn’t just optimize campaigns; it transforms them by ensuring that every touchpoint is meaningful, ultimately enhancing customer loyalty and lifetime value.

Video Marketing: Engaging B2B Audiences Like Never Before

Video content continues to rise as one of the most effective tools in B2B digital marketing. Video is not just about storytelling; it’s about engaging B2B audiences with concise, impactful messages that drive action. Whether through explainer videos, product demos, or customer testimonials, video content has proven to increase engagement rates significantly.

Wistia reports that 92% of marketers who use video say it’s an essential part of their strategy, with many crediting it for increased dwell time and lead generation. For C-suite executives, incorporating video into a broader B2B marketing strategy is crucial. Not only does it enhance brand visibility, but it also improves SEO rankings and drives organic traffic. In a time-starved world, video provides the quickest path to connect with decision-makers who need information fast.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Precision Targeting for Maximum ROI

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) remains a cornerstone of effective B2B marketing strategy, particularly for companies targeting high-value accounts. ABM focuses on creating highly personalized campaigns for individual accounts, ensuring that marketing efforts are directly aligned with the needs of key decision-makers. This level of precision not only increases the efficiency of marketing spend but also significantly boosts ROI.

Research by ITSMA shows that 87% of B2B marketers say ABM delivers higher ROI than any other type of marketing. By tailoring content and outreach to the specific pain points and goals of targeted accounts, ABM transforms marketing from a broad-based effort into a targeted strategic initiative that drives results. For B2B services companies, adopting or refining an ABM approach will be crucial for retaining existing clients and attracting new high-value customers.

Conversational Content: Building Authentic Connections

The tone and style of B2B content marketing are shifting dramatically. Gone are the days of overly formal, jargon-heavy language. Today’s B2B buyers—many of whom are digital natives—prefer a conversational tone that feels more like a dialogue than a sales pitch. This trend reflects a broader shift towards authenticity in B2B marketing.

Research indicates that B2B buyers are 2.8 times more likely to consider a brand if they feel a personal connection to it. By adopting a conversational style, businesses can break down barriers, making their content more accessible and engaging. This approach doesn’t just apply to blog posts or emails; it’s also effective in video scripts, chatbots, and social media interactions. For executives, embracing conversational content is a strategic move to humanize the brand and foster stronger customer relationships.

SEO Adaptation to AI and Voice Search: Navigating the New Search Landscape

As AI continues to integrate into search engines, and voice search becomes more prevalent, the landscape of SEO is rapidly changing. Optimizing content for voice search and AI-driven algorithms is not optional—it’s essential. Traditional SEO strategies are evolving, with a greater emphasis on long-tail keywords and natural language processing to capture voice search queries.

According to research, 40% of adults use voice search daily. For B2B companies, this means adapting SEO strategies to ensure that content is discoverable through these new modalities. This includes optimizing for conversational keywords, structuring content to answer direct questions, and ensuring that websites are technically equipped to handle voice queries. Staying ahead in SEO will require continuous adaptation and a keen understanding of emerging technologies.

Paid Media and PPC Evolution: More Competition, Higher Stakes

With the increased competition in digital advertising, B2B companies are finding that they need to invest more in paid media to maintain visibility. The cost of PPC campaigns is expected to rise as more companies bid aggressively on high-intent keywords. This trend is driven by the saturation of search engine results pages (SERPs), where only the most optimized and well-funded campaigns will thrive.

Google’s introduction of AI-enhanced features in SERPs is changing the dynamics of paid search. Companies must now be more strategic in their bidding and campaign management to ensure that their ads reach the right audience at the right time. For B2B executives, this means re-evaluating PPC strategies, focusing on maximizing ROI through smarter bidding tactics, and exploring alternative platforms where competition might be less intense but equally effective.

Community Building: The Power of B2B Networks

In the increasingly digital world of B2B marketing, community building is emerging as a powerful tool for engagement and loyalty. Creating and nurturing online communities allows companies to foster deeper relationships with customers and prospects, turning them into advocates for the brand. These communities provide a space for valuable exchanges of ideas, peer support, and user-generated content, all of which contribute to a stronger brand presence.

According to Gartner, 70% of B2B buyers now expect companies to have a community-based approach. For C-suite executives, investing in community-building initiatives can provide long-term benefits, including enhanced customer retention and valuable insights into customer needs and behaviors. These communities also serve as a rich source of first-party data, which is becoming increasingly important as privacy regulations tighten.

Inclusivity and Diversity: Marketing for a Global Audience

Inclusivity and diversity are not just social imperatives—they are strategic business decisions that resonate with today’s global audience. B2B companies that embrace inclusivity in their marketing efforts are better positioned to connect with a diverse customer base and outperform competitors. This includes creating content that is accessible to all, regardless of abilities, cultural backgrounds, or gender.

A report by McKinsey shows that companies with diverse teams are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry median. For B2B service companies, incorporating diversity into marketing strategies not only broadens their appeal but also reflects positively on the brand’s values and corporate responsibility. This trend extends to everything from website design to the language used in marketing materials, ensuring that all potential clients feel valued and included.

TikTok as a B2B Channel: Engaging the Next Generation of Decision-Makers

TikTok is no longer just a platform for entertainment—it’s rapidly becoming a viable channel for B2B marketing, especially as younger generations enter leadership roles. With its short-form video content, TikTok offers a unique way to engage with audiences, providing educational content in a format that resonates with today’s decision-makers.

Research by MarketingCharts shows that 50% of TikTok’s audience is over the age of 30, making it an increasingly relevant platform for B2B companies. For executives, exploring TikTok as part of a broader B2B marketing strategy can open new avenues for reaching prospects who might not be as active on traditional platforms like LinkedIn. The key is to create content that is both informative and engaging, leveraging the platform’s algorithm to reach the right audience.

Generative AI and Content Creation: Revolutionizing B2B Marketing

AI is so all-encompassing we’ve got it on this list twice, bookending our list of B2B marketing trends. Generative AI is transforming the way content is created and distributed in B2B marketing. These advanced AI tools can generate personalized content at scale, tailoring messages to individual customer segments with a level of precision that was previously unimaginable. This trend is set to revolutionize content marketing by making it more efficient and effective.

According to a study by Accenture, companies that use generative AI for content creation can reduce their content production costs by up to 50% while improving the relevance and engagement of their content.

While AI content takes a lot of flak for poor writing, these tools are getting more and more sophisticated and we’re getting better and better at engineering prompts to get better output. To ignore this opportunity would be a risk.

For B2B service leaders, incorporating generative AI into their content strategy can provide a competitive edge, enabling them to deliver high-quality content that meets the specific needs of their audience. This not only enhances customer engagement but also drives higher conversion rates. That said, you still need humans driving the strategy and making sure the content you are creating is useful and that you’re not just churning out volume to fill a channel.

Navigating the Future of B2B Marketing

The B2B marketing landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, driven by advancements in technology, changing consumer behaviors, and the need for greater personalization. For C-suite executives at B2B service companies, staying ahead of these trends is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge. By embracing AI-driven personalization, leveraging video marketing, refining ABM strategies, and exploring new platforms like TikTok, leaders can ensure their marketing efforts are not only effective but also future-proof.

If you’d like to talk about how some of these trends could be used to reduce customer churn and scale your business, let’s chat. Book a call, or email me at michael@goodideasmarketing.com

Stop Talking About Yourself

in Blog, Fractional CMO, Strategy, Website/by Michael Miller

Your website would be a lot better – as in bring you more new business – if it talked less about you. In fact, pretty much everything you put out into the universe (from a business perspective) would be more effective if you dialled back the “me”.

Most B2B businesses I see could be attracting so many more ideal clients if they just talked less about themselves. Nobody cares. I’m sorry, they just don’t.

What they do want to know is how will you help them solve their problem – and that starts with showing them that you understand the problem in the first place.

When someone has identified that they have a problem, the first thing they do is go out and try to find out who can help them solve that problem. This is their research phase. In this phase, they’re looking for providers who clearly understand what that problem is and who can show they have solved it for others like them.

This is early stage. They may not know how much value all of your many credentials, experience, etc., etc. provides. You can explain that later, but first you need to let them know you understand where they are coming from – and what life could be like once they solve that problem.

There is research that shows that B2B buyers are 70% of the way through their buying process before they contact a vendor. That comes from a study by 6sense. That same study found that buyers make the initial contact 83% of the time (after they’ve narrowed things down to a small number of potential vendors).

When you add to that 62% of B2B buyers start their research with a web search (Half Past Nine) it’s starts to become pretty clear that your website needs to be focusing on the client’s problem right up front to even make it into the consideration set.

So, how do you know exactly what you need to be saying to engage your potential buyers and get your name on their shortlist? My recommendation is to talk to them. Pick up the phone and call them. Ask them why they chose you. What the problem was that they were trying to solve. And listen to language they use to describe it.

Use that to inform your core messaging and get it above the fold on your website.

Now, calling customers takes some effort. To make the most of these interviews, focus your outreach on your ideal customers. The ones you want more of. Typically your most profitable clients that are the best to work with. If they refer you business, even better.

Here are some resources to help you.

This article explains how to map your customer journey so you can use it to figure out what questions you need to answer
Read this to understand the broader strategic process to build this out

All of this is about starting with strategy to build a plan that attracts and converts more of your ideal clients by focusing more on them and less on you.

If you’d like learn how I’ve used this approach to help businesses like yours achieve predictable growth (and how this can work for you) book a free strategy session and let’s talk.

8 ways to market a small business

in Blog, SEO, Social Media, Strategy, Website/by Michael Miller

When it comes to marketing a small business there are a lot of options, but how do you know which is right for your business What are the best ways to market a small business? Where do you begin?

To find the most effective way to market your small business, you really have to begin with understanding your ideal customer and the best way to find and engage with them, but I explore that concept in detail in this post.

Today’s post is about providing you with a handful of ways you can try with your business that work, to some degree, in just about any business.

The 8 Ways to Market A Small Business

1) Create lead generating website

Many small businesses out there have a website. If you’re amongst those that don’t, it’s time to get one built. Your website is the hub of your online marketing efforts and if you don’t have one everything else is a lot harder.

If you do have a website, or are about to build one, you want it to work hard for you to capture leads, and drive sales. To do that, you need to ensure it has these 11 essential elements of a small business website.

There are loads of options out there for building one. You can DIY it on platforms like SquareSpace, Wix, or Duda, or you can hire someone like me to build one in WordPress or even custom code it.

The important thing in that process is to start with strategy and understand how you will use your website to attract and engage your ideal customer.

2) Social media marketing

Social media marketing for small businesses can be a powerful tool for reaching potential customers and building a community around your business.

Again, here it’s important to understand which platforms your ideal customers are on and target those. If you’re just getting started, or looking to restart your efforts, my advice is to pick one or two platforms tops and focus on those.

Many small businesses try to do too much and be on every platform and it’s just too much work. They get overwhelmed and stop doing everything.

The other thing to remember about social media marketing is where it fits the customer journey.

For most businesses, social media is not going to be about lead generation and that’s because the algorithms that control who sees what are making it harder and harder to get non-paid content found. For example, Facebook engagement hovers around 5.20%. That means roughly one in every 19 fans sees the page’s non-promoted content.

Basically, if you want to be discovered you have to run ads. But that doesn’t mean social media has no value.

Where social media helps small businesses is by showing their personality. People will turn to a business’s social media after they become aware of a business to get a sense of them before they make a purchasing decision. That’s why it’s critically important to post more than your latest special or motivational quotes. Show prospects your personality, let them get to know you.

I explore these concepts a little deeper in this post about mapping the customer journey, and this one about building the ultimate marketing strategy.

3. Develop a content marketing strategy

Creating and sharing high-quality, informative content, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics, can help attract customers and establish your business as a thought leader in your field.

To be most effective in your content marketing, you need to work from a calendar.

Start with quarterly themes; then break those down into monthly topics; and finally into weekly or bi-weekly sub-topics. Map that out over six or 12 months and you will have a calendar you can work from to keep you on track and not scrambling to create something each month (and more often just not getting it done).

And focus your content on being useful to your ideal client. Think about the questions they have during different stages of their customer journey and try to answer those.

4. Invest in search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO can help improve your website’s ranking on search engines like Google, making it more visible to potential customers.

To break it down, SEO is really about three things: how your website functions; what content is on your website; and what other sites are pointing to you. To manage this is a big job and can get pretty technical, you’re probably best off hiring a pro to help you here.

For local businesses (if your customers come from your area) there are some specific tasks and I talk about those more here.

5. Use email marketing

Email is one of, if not the, most cost-effective ways to market your business. And it can be used in a variety of ways.

Email marketing can be an effective way to stay in touch with customers and promote special offers or new products.

You can use email to nurture prospects who aren’t ready to buy, but have shown an interest in your products or services.

Email can be part of your sale funnels and lead funnels and you can learn more about those here.

To do any of this you need to capture those email addresses first. That goes back to your website and making sure you have something there that someone will want to give you an email address in order to access, like a checklist, or ebook.

6. Network and build partnerships

Networking and building partnerships with other businesses and organizations is a powerful way to market a small business. It can help expose your business to new customers and increase your visibility.

I call these strategic partnerships. Businesses that serve the same ideal customer, but in non-competitive ways. You build a network of strategic partners who all refer to each other.

If you’re a landscaper, this may be a roofer or contractor. For a business coach, it could be an accountant or a printer.

There are also organizations like BNI that are built to do exactly this in a more structured way.

7. Offer promotions and discounts

Offering promotions and discounts can help attract new customers and encourage existing customers to continue doing business with you.

Of all the ideas to market a small business, this one is probably the one that will drive the most immediate sales, but be careful not to use this too liberally, or you will train your customers to wait until you have a sale.

And remember, it’s always easier to do more business with existing customers than it is to go out and find new ones, so give some thought to what you can do to encourage them to do more business with you. This, of course, starts with delivering a great experience with their initial purchase.

8. Get involved in your community

Participating in local events, sponsoring community organizations, and supporting local causes can help build goodwill and attract customers who share your values.

Communities can also be digital. Are there Facebook groups that cater to your target market? For businesses serving other businesses, Alignable can be a great platform to connect.

It’s important here, though, to participate in a way that adds value to the others in the group. Be helpful. Don’t just sell.

These are just a handful of the many ways to market a small business. Try some of them and see if they help, and remember to track your results. Know what your goal is and have a way to measure the impact.

To really know which of the ways to market a small business will be most effective for you, you need to really understand your ideal customer and have a core message that speaks to their needs and wants. That means starting with strategy.

If you’d like to learn more about how to do that, download the 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success or book a free consultation and let’s talk about how to grow your business.

5 Proven Tips to Improve Your B2B Lead Generation Funnel

in Blog, CRO, SEO, Strategy, Website/by Michael Miller

If you’re just looking into lead generation/sales funnels, you may want to start with my post on what a sales funnel is and how they help grow your business. Or if you’re just starting to build your first funnel, this post will walk you through that process.

If you’ve already got a funnel up and running, but it’s underperforming, then keep reading. Think of this process as coaching sessions with your salesperson. There are two phases to your B2B lead generation funnel optimization process:

Look at the numbers to see where you’re not performing well
Test small changes in one area at a time and watch to see if it improves

When we talk about optimizing your funnel, what we’re really talking about is something called Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO.

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

CRO isn’t about throwing money at more traffic—it’s about maximizing the value of the traffic you’re already getting. Instead of letting potential leads slip through the cracks, CRO helps you guide visitors through their journey. It does that through a combination of analyzing data, hypothesizing what will make things better, and testing those hypothesis.

We’re going to look at CRO with respect to optimizing a lead generation funnel.

Optimizing Your B2B Lead Generation Funnel: 5 Areas of Focus

Traffic source
Landing Page/Initial Conversion Point
Thank You/Upsell Page
Follow up Email Sequence
Final Conversion Point

I recommend you start at the bottom of the funnel and work your way back. Why? Because the bottom of your B2B lead generation funnel is your final conversion point and even a small improvement there can have a big impact on revenue. The exception would be if you aren’t getting any conversions on your initial landing page. Then you have to attack that first.

At each stage you’re going to look at what’s happening based on your metrics (see this post) for the analytics codes you should have set up in your funnel). Things like ad clicks, opt-ins, form completions, email opens and clicks. You’re looking for areas that could be improved and the metric you’ll watch to see if your optimization is working.

Final Conversion Point Optimization

This is the final step in the B2B lead generation funnel that your email sequence has been driving people to. It could be a landing page, or an opt-in right in the email, maybe even a shopping cart. If your conversion rate is low here, look at maybe adding a guarantee, more testimonials, altering the wording, even tweaking the form.

Follow-up Email Sequence Optimization

If your email sequence is not driving any traffic to your final conversion point, or you have a lot of unsubscribes here are some things you can check

Is the language really speaking to the ideal client profile and their problem?
Are your emails aligned with the message that brought them into the funnel?
Test headline variations
What’s the frequency? Try increasing it or decreasing it

Thank You/Upsell Page Optimization

So, they’ve opted in on your landing page, but nobody is biting at the upsell you have on your Thank You page.

Try adding testimonials or social proof
Is the upsell offer aligned with the lead magnet they opted into?
If your page is long, try a short version. If it’s short, try a longer version with more explanation of the benefits of taking that next step and the value a prospect will receive
Test some technical/design elements like the colour of a button or how much information you are asking for in the form

Landing Page/Initial Conversion Optimization

A common problem with initial landing pages is that there is a disconnect between what drives them here (the traffic source) and what they see on this page. Check that first. Test anything and everything you can on this page (but not all at once). You want to remove all friction and hesitancy to opt-in.

Headlines
Level of information on the page
The form (design and how much information you ask for)
Images, try different types
Even background colours

Traffic source/Ad Optimization

If your ads are not driving traffic to your landing page here’s where you look to make adjustments:

Double-check messaging aligns with ideal client profile
Test headline and body copy variations
Check your targeting. Maybe you’re serving ads to the wrong people
What about your imagery? Have you tried video?
If you are driving traffic to your landing page with search, then read this post from Brian Dean at Backlinko for a definitive look at how to improve your SEO.

Once you make progress with the element you begin with, move onto the next. When you get through the entire process, go back and start again. Optimization is a never-ending process. Even a well-performing B2B lead generation funnel will slip from time to time, and results can always be better.