Top 10 B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020

As a kid I was a big fan of Science Fiction with a rich imagination about the world in 2020 with flying cars, floating cities and the possibility of aliens among us that sparked numerous ideas about what’s possible.

Of course that’s not exactly how things turned out (not so sure about those aliens) but B2B marketing is definitely entering an age of possibility.

Without question, the future is bright for digital with Forrester predicting that digital marketing spending will reach $146 billion by 2023. In B2B, there are important shifts from more B2C inspired tactics to a more focused effort to engage Millennial age buyers: 45% of B2B technology buyers are now Millennials and more than 70% of millennials are included in B2B buying decisions.

But what more does a future with high investment confidence mean for B2B marketers making decisions today?

Thinking about the future, trends and what’s next is a responsibility of everyone that leads a marketing organization. As we enter 2020, I have continued our tradition of highlighting some of the top marketing trends worth your time and consideration.

To start, let’s look at last year’s digital marketing trends:

Live, Interactive Video

Voice Search

AI/Machine Learning/Chatbots

Data/Privacy/Transparency

Influencer Marketing 2.0

Purpose Driven Brands and Gen Z

Nearly all of these 2019 trends are still in effect and growing in 2020! This is especially true with video, the role of AI in marketing and influencer marketing. I guess we’re on the right track.

10 B2B Marketing Trends For 2020 and Beyond

1. Personalization – While 72% of buyers expect B2B companies to personalize communications and 69% of buyers willing to pay more for a more personalization experience, marketers are “still missing the mark” when it comes to personalization.

Further research shows that even though digital engagement creates thousands of preference signals of data per day, marketers just aren’t sophisticated enough (yet) to turn those insights into effective, personalized experiences. Look no further than your inbox for evidence of the “just barely better than generic” efforts at communications that represents personalization today.

With the huge gap between where we are now with best practices and the upside of increased revenue, reduced costs and improved customer retention opportunities, Personalization is a huge opportunity in 2020 and beyond.

2. Video Content and Live Video – According to research from HubSpot, 78% of buyers watch online videos weekly and 55% view them daily. Video is the top format for US advertisers and it’s also one of the most preferred formats for influencer marketing.

The rising demand and proliferation of video content has many B2B marketers scrambling to figure out what formats, channels and messaging will work best for business buyers.

Posting recorded video on the B2B 工作职能邮件数据库 social platform of choice LinkedIn along with the introduction of live streaming video for both individuals and brands on LinkedIn combines with the popularity of YouTube, stories and live streaming on virtually all major social networks creates numerous opportunities for B2B brands to capitalize on video.

3. AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) – Research from Adobe finds that 41% of leading businesses are using artificial intelligence in 2020 for everything from suggesting keywords and simplifying scheduling to flagging potential fraud. The arguments for implementing AI/ML include freeing up human resources for other more important tasks, providing personalization recommendations and processing large amounts of data in real-time and learning to optimize performance with each cycle. But AI is not about replacing people as much as it is about augmenting the intelligence of people to provide better customer experiences more quickly and effectively while managing resources efficiently.

Adobe’s research found some of the top B2B applications of AI include: analysis of data, optimization and testing, on-site personalization, email marketing, automated campaigns, image recognition, programmatic advertising, digital asset management, automated offers, video recognition, content creation, creative and design work. In 2020, it’s really not a matter of if, but when and how AI will become a more active part of your martech stack.

4. Voice and Podcasts – Voice has become as normal and natural a way to interact with devices as text. Maybe even more so. Natural Language Processing and AI have made asking Alexa, Siri or Google to do things a normal part of life: personal and professional. Marketers from SEO to content are paying more attention to creation and optimization of voice formats because that’s how buyers are discovering and engaging with content. According to ComScore, 50% plus of searches in 2020 will be from voice search, so it’s in every B2B marketer’s best interests to understand how voice and even mobile optimization can make their content the best answer when custo