B2B Marketing Trends 2022

Five focus areas to help you drive trusted long-term relationships

As we end one year and start another, I find there are lots of blogs and comments on what’s hot and what’s not in marketing, with a look at key trends we should all focus on for the year ahead. Whilst not wanting to add even more to the debate, I do think it’s helpful to pull out five trends, that I hope will (continue to or start to) be a key focus for me and my clients as we embrace 2022.

There are of course many more topics and trends, in fact in B2B Marketing’s B2B Marketing Trend Tracker 2022 they assess 19, some of which feature in my list below, with others including hybrid events, rev ops and sales enablement. All of which are still important, and just because I’m only focusing on a few here does not mean they’re not key trends for other B2B marketers. And it will certainly be interesting to read more about the 2022 trend tracker result when they’re out.

One final point to mention before we get to my five trends, is that I’m seeing a lot of focus now on the end game, those future-focused strategic business goals which are becoming very obviously based on building long-term trusted relationships with both clients and prospective clients.

So, with that in mind, here are five trends I think are worth focusing on this year …

Trend # 1 – It all starts with brand authenticity

There’s lots of talk around brand authenticity at the moment, and for many it’s the foundation for building trusted, long-term relationships in B2B marketing.

According to Twogether’s report ‘The future of tech marketing and revenue performance’, it’s become a top boardroom priority. Why? Because it’s often the only real differentiator when technology offerings and price are on a par. Brand authenticity can even mean the difference between surviving a changing marketplace or not, according to Sprout Social.

“An authentic brand is one that decides to be transparent and consistent in its messaging and branding initiatives. It has business values it remains true to, and most essentially, it is honest.”

[Source: Forbes]

As I continue to work with a mix of B2B tech clients, this is a very clear trend. There is now a very obvious focus on businesses wanting to understand the impact that their brand has on their business, and how people connect with what the business stands for, promises and delivers and is the foundation for every they do across lead generation, content and customer experience.

Trend # 2 – Smarter demand generation

Creating demand, or generating leads, is always going to be top of any marketers agenda, so this seems an obvious one to include here. However, we’re talking about smarter demand generation.

It can take 8 to 15 touch points to engage a prospect (according to Outreach), so we all have to get smarter about how we engage with prospects, using personalised, relevant content (that’s based on a deep understanding of needs – more on this below), multiple channels and smarter technology, such as tools to help find buyers with real intent to buy, like Cognism, Zoominfo and Bombora. With this comes investment in sales enablement to make sure sales have the best chance possible of nurturing the leads marketing passes over.

However, what we also mean by ‘smarter’ is not just focusing on NNN (net new names) but remembering existing customers to help make demand gen more efficient: doing everything you can to build trust, credibility, and those crucial long-term relationships.

“Acquiring a customer is anywhere between five and 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one.”

[Source: HBR]

Trend # 3 – CX and customer success

According to B2B Marketing, “customer-centricity will serve as a lead value driver” as we move into another year of marketing planning, with some very clear links between investment in CX and increased revenue potential.

Whether you choose to introduce personalised web experiences with tools like Webeo, action customer feedback surveys, invest in client listening or do something as simple as diarising monthly account check-ins or responding to customer queries quicker, improving customer experience can significantly improve brand loyalty and retention

“According to the Harvard Business Review a 5% uplift in customer retention rates increases profits by 25% and 95%.”

[Source: HBR]

Another crucial trends in helping to drive long-term, trusted relationships.

Trend # 4 – ABM (or ABX?)

ABM is definitely becoming more mainstream. With the drive to build long-term relationships, coupled with the challenges facing traditional customer acquisition tactics, comes an increasing demand for ABM – with ABM lite (or one-to-few ABM) being the most popular, currently used by 58% of ABM-ers [Source: ITSMA and ABM Leadership Alliance, 2020 ABM Benchmark Study]

“ABM will also become the responsibility of both sales and marketing, with 53% of a recent DemandBase survey saying customer success will also be involved. No longer is ABM a marketing initiative, but “a business change initiative to drive growth” across new and existing accounts.”

Finally, we’ll see more and more chatter about ABX – account-based experiences – which according to Marketo is “a coordinated and ongoing customer experience that focuses on the lifetime value of a specific account and adds up to a larger, holistic, and long-term customer relationship.”

As we strive to build credible relationships, taking a more personalised and relevant approach over the long term via ABM or ABX is the way forward, and an approach that isn’t just for marketing teams with mega budgets, it just needs a mindset shift across sales, marketing and customer experience teams to work together.

Trend # 5 – Content is still King (and Queen!)

And last, but by no means least, is content. Whether you’re focusing on building brand authenticity, driving smarter demand generation, investing in CX or starting out with ABM, it’s fair to say that content has a pretty crucial role to play across all of them. But importantly it has to be relevant, original content that spans the entire buyer journey and content that is grounded in SEO and the latest key word research.

Research based content will be an important effort this year as we strive to create more original content, and content that builds credibility and trust in a brand. Fresh original content can also be more easily and effectively repurposed into other content like blogs, webinars and infographics, providing additional opportunities to drive engagement and enquiries.

“Simply writing posts to generate traffic and leads will no longer be enough. Information needs to be top-quality to encourage buyers to investigate the brand further or get in touch with the business’s sales team.”

[Source: Global Trade]

In Conclusion,

Maybe this has been useful, maybe you’ve heard it all before, maybe there are other trends you’re focusing on. For me the most important trend I’m seeing is towards long-term thinking and long-term trusted relationships based on credible, honest and transparent brands that truly understand customer needs.

I’d love to know what trends you’re seeing and weaving into your 2022 marketing plans. Good luck which ever your focus!

If you found this interesting and need an independent perspective on your marketing strategy, get in touch.

You may also be interested in the B2B Marketing’s 2022 Trend Tracker Survey & Personalised Report which is well worth participating in.

If you found this interesting and need an independent perspective on your marketing strategy, get in touch.

You may also be interested in the B2B Marketing’s 2022 Trend Tracker Survey & Personalised Report which is well worth participating in.