Six B2B Marketing Trends You Should Embrace in 2023

Thriving in the saturated B2B space can be quite challenging. However, it is possible to accelerate your growth momentum in 2023 by embracing the latest B2B marketing trends.

The question is, which trends are here to stay, and which ones will be yesterday’s news by year’s end? Exploring the best B2B marketing trends 2023 offers can help you find out.

Account-Based Marketing Still Dominates the B2B Ecosystem

Trends in B2B marketing are known for being short-lived. New B2B marketing tendencies emerge year after year, only to fade into obscurity a few months later.

One notable exception is account-based marketing (ABM). ABM is the epitome of a trend with staying power. According to a 2022 HubSpot marketing report, 92% of B2B marketers have an account-based marketing program. Of these, 68% of them manage their program with automation tools.

Account-based marketing strategies use a hyper-focused approach to B2B account acquisition. Instead of casting a wide net in hopes of attracting new clients, this approach involves creating a hierarchy of accounts based on their propensity to drive value for the business.

From there, marketers will target high-priority accounts with tailored content in order to increase brand awareness, create leads, and convert.

Artificial Intelligence Is Continuing to Gain Traction

Another one of the recurring trends in B2B marketing is the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Each year, AI technology continues to become both more accessible and affordable. This has led B2B marketers to explore new ways to incorporate AI into their strategies.

A few years ago, chatbots were all the rage in the B2B space. Chatbots remain a valuable tool and deserve a place in your marketing strategy. But another application for AI tech is garnering the majority of B2B marketers’ attention in 2023.

More recently, Open AI’s ChatGPT tool has made unprecedented strides in IT and digital marketing. People have come to taste the power of AI, and it is slowly but surely becoming a hit among various groups in tech.

According to a recent Forrester report, 48% of ABM marketers are now using AI to streamline content personalization and brand management. These applications can increase the efficiency of ABM campaigns and enable marketers to expand the reach of their lead-generation efforts.

Visionary B2B Businesses Are Embracing Partnership Marketing

Partnership marketing has long been a staple of the business-to-consumer space. However, it is also amongst the newest — and most promising — trends in B2B marketing.

The premise of partnership marketing is simple enough. Two or more businesses that operate in related but non-competing fields agree to work together to help one another reach their business objectives.

Consider a simple example of partnership marketing in action. Suppose that you operate a business that supplies commercial cleaning products, such as chemical cleansers and soaps.

You could partner with a B2B brand that provides cleaning equipment, like floor scrubbers, commercial mop buckets, and the like. The two of you could link to one another’s pages and drive traffic to the other’s site. This would expand the reach of each brand’s campaigns without upping your ad spend.

Brands Are Focusing on Experiences, Not Just Service

Typically, B2B brands have two opportunities to showcase their customer service prowess: during the sale and when resolving an issue with a product.

In years past, providing exemplary customer service during these critical points in the buyer’s journey was enough to foster brand loyalty and retain clients. However, that is no longer the case.

B2B buyers of today expect to be wowed with an immersive experience from the moment they come into contact with a brand’s content. What does this look like exactly?

An optimized customer experience will leverage self-service tools, multiple marketing channels, and tailored content. B2B brands must empower prospective clients to explore products and services at their own pace.

This means providing them with access to engaging videos, allowing them to sign up for demos, and driving them to an easy-to-navigate website.

Investing in a distributed marketing management solution can help your business do the same while also promoting collaboration amongst team members.

Content Marketing Has Become a Must-Use Tool

According to a Content Marketing Institute survey, 71% of B2B marketers believe that content marketing is more important to their brands’ success than last year. Researchers also found that 73% of B2B marketers already have a content marketing strategy, and 20% plan to implement one in 2023.

In total, 93% of B2B marketers either are already using content marketing or will be by year’s end. Unless you want to be left behind, your business needs to embrace this powerful marketing tool.

Chances are that you already use this tactic in at least a limited capacity. Generally, content marketing is creating and sharing non-promotional digital marketing materials like social media posts, blogs, or videos.

Lately, however, we have seen the rise of media brands as companions to B2B brands in their strategy to drive content marketing.

The content should spark interest in a brand by educating audiences on the need for the company’s products or services.

Many B2B Marketers Are Leaving Google Ads Behind

Google’s cost-per-click (CPC) rates have been steadily rising in both the B2C and B2B industries. This trend has made advertising on Google Ads far less affordable than it once was.

Additionally, many B2B marketers are fearful that click fraud will eat away at their already tight marketing budgets without producing any meaningful results for their brand.

In response, some B2B marketers are making the switch to social media platforms like LinkedIn and even consumer-centric options like Facebook. To be clear, B2B marketers are still investing in organic search on Google. However, they are also scaling back their Google Ads budget and reallocating the funds to these other platforms.

Video Content Remains an Essential Resource

In 2023, video content will remain an essential marketing resource that every B2B advertiser should leverage.

According to a HubSpot survey, 94% of marketers believe that videos helped increase user understanding of their products. 81% of respondents reported increased sales using video content in their marketing strategies.

Quality video content can keep an audience’s attention, help you convey your message interestingly and efficiently, and demonstrate the usefulness of your products or services.

The video format is a dominant media form that stands firm to other competing forms like virtual and augmented reality.

Navigating the Marketing Landscape in 2023

Trends are often critical to a successful marketing strategy. If you are already incorporating these top 2023 trends in B2B marketing into your company’s marketing strategy, you will be well prepared to make 2023 your most productive year yet. If you aren’t, consider implementing a few of these B2B marketing trends to sharpen your competitive edge.