As a new year begins, we pause to take stock of our biggest learnings and most valuable tools in 2023, plus place bets on what 2024 has in store for the B2B marketing world. In this blog, our team aggregates key takeaways of the past year and provides insider tips to stay ahead of the pack. (Spoiler alert: when it comes to AI and automation, it’s best to go all in.)
We asked the Aamplify team for this past year's top B2B marketing trend. Unsurprisingly, AI emerged as the clear VIT (Very Important Trend). But what may surprise you is the sentiment surrounding artificial intelligence and how AI has transitioned from a threat into a valuable tool.
HubSpot research supports our trend assessment, with AI being the most heavily addressed topic in their 2023 State of Marketing Report. “Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere — and AI tools have officially joined the everyday marketing tech stack. In 2023, marketers are doing everything they can to reach their target audiences, with demand for innovative, dynamic content at an all-time high. Resources, however, are stretched. AI is helping to ease some of this pressure, with AI features to help with outline generation, video creation, and more. Content creators and marketers now have a new skill to learn — getting good at using AI.”
As marketing professionals, we’re taking this cue to prioritise our AI skill-building and stay up-to-date as these tools evolve. There are dozens of online learning resources (not to mention a TikTok rabbit hole that could go on for days) to level up your skills.
Some of our favourites include:
Coursera, AI for Everyone & Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT (free)
Udemy, The Complete Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT Course ($13.99 USD intro offer)
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com), multiple niche courses (free)
If getting engagement on your digital content has been a pain point this past year, you’re not alone. Across the board, low engagement has been the top concern for our new clients.
Lisa, one of our Marcomms Managers, says, “The biggest challenge pretty much everyone I work with has right now is how to be seen and get engagement. How to cut through all the noise to get the target audience’s attention and then what to put in front of them to get them to engage. Many traditional B2B tactics like gated content and paid media aren’t working well anymore, and everyone is looking for new ways to generate demand and leads.”
Being the solutions-based digital techsperts that we are here at Aamplify, we’ve got some key strategies for you to keep those clicks coming.
Leverage the capabilities of your tech stack (for us, that’s HubSpot) through workflow optimisation, feature utilisation and data integration and usage. These tools will enable you to develop a solid strategy, maintain a consistent campaign cadence and evaluate performance to identify areas for improvement.
Go back to those inbound marketing fundamentals and provide content of value to your audience. Resonate with your users, demonstrate your thought leadership and build that community.
A good customer journey relies on personalisation and good data for smart targeting. See tip #1; the right tech ecosystem will set you up for success across the board.
There’s no gatekeeping here; these tools are all tried, tested and totally free. ChatGPT is chalk by far this year, so we’ll skip ahead to some deserving underdogs.
Our Platform Specialist, Jasmin, recommends Notion, an all-in-one workspace with AI integrations. “It’s flexible for customisation, allowing a planner like me to organise information that suits my needs. There’s a free plan that’s totally functional and allows you to explore the tool's versatility. It does take some effort to get set up, but there are great templates out there, and now I couldn’t live without it.”
Paul, our Community Manager, comes through with an essential classic: communication. “Tools like Chat GPT and machine learning are tools our community is interested in, but communicating why and how it will change their businesses and processes was the most enlightening element to me.”
Lisa has discovered a handy Chat GPT extension that you’ll be running to download ASAP. “I’ve been using Glarity to summarise YouTube videos, which has been super helpful and saved time.”
The team's answers varied when asked to speculate on the top trends for the year ahead. Personalisation in email marketing, generative AI developments, collaborative campaign development and customer-focused experiences, to name a few. But the one thing all answers have in common is human connection and communication.
Interpreting and applying the nuances of human behaviour is where our value as marketers truly lies. It’s how we’re different from AI and how we can transform data points into pieces of communication that evoke action.
So with that, we wish you a year filled with productive collaboration, empathic content strategy implementation and genuine connection. We’ve got a feeling it’s going to be a good one.
