What's the Future of Marketing?

With all the talk of web 3, the metaverse, privacy, blockchain, augmented reality, and virtual reality, it’s only natural to wonder: where marketing is headed in the coming years.

And from a more practical perspective, what’s the future of marketing that you need to care about today -- to help you grow your business?

So What Exactly is the Future of Marketing?

When I think about digital marketing trends, especially B2B-specific marketing, content will be the great marketing equalizer for B2B-focused companies with high-ticket, considered sales processes. 

Marketing teams need to get exceptionally good at creating and promoting thought leadership content that supports their company's most important buyer personas throughout the complete buyer's journey -- including post-purchase.

Content must do nearly all of the heavy-lifting work going forward when it comes to educating and building trust.

During the pandemic, many more prospects became comfortable with digital, consumer-like buyer's journeys; very few wanted to engage with sales teams early in their research and decision-making process.

While this can be a source of tremendous frustration for marketing and sales teams living in the past, helpful, differentiated, thought leadership content can be a game-changer for educating and building trust with your ideal prospects -- especially during the awareness and consideration stages of the buyer's journey.

Coupled with product-led growth (PLG) and the subscription economy, the future role of marketing in driving content creation that accelerates business growth is more important than ever.

Three Can’t Ignore B2B Marketing Trends 

Marketing teams should pay very close attention to what some of the tech industry's leading prognosticators are forecasting:

• "Thought leadership remains critical to customer engagement, but breaking through the noise is harder than ever." (Source LinkedIn-Edelman B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report)
• "83% of a typical B2B purchasing decision — researching solutions, ranking options and benchmarking pricing — happens before a buyer engages directly with a provider." (Source: Gartner)
• "More decisions are being made digitally...70% – 80% of B2B decision-makers prefer it that way." (Source: McKinsey)

So a few questions for you:

• What are you doing in your marketing strategy and campaigns to break through the noise with your thought leadership content? And how does that investment lead to better customer engagement and customer experience (CX)?
• How present is your company in that first 83% of a typical B2B purchasing decision? Or are nearly all of your investments playing “old-school” and living in the past in the final 17% of the buyer’s journey? 
• How do you engage with the majority (70%-80%) of B2B decision-makers that want to make decisions digitally? Or is your version of participating in the future of marketing: sponsoring another golf tournament or buying a bigger booth at next year’s industry conference?

Let me know in the comments section down below. 

And if you're serious about preparing your company's go-to-market playbook to thrive going forward, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.