Have you noticed how many 2013 B2B marketing predictions have been popping up across the web lately? We always see a lot of conjecture about what will happen next in our changing industry at this time of year, but the sheer volume of predictions we’ve come across lately feels a bit overwhelming. We’ve also noticed that many of the predictions we’ve seen lately seem too vague or too obvious to be useful. It’s enough to make us want to give up reading industry forecasts all together.
Instead, we’ve done something more proactive. We’ve waded through all the clutter and identified a list of just five B2B marketing predictions that we think actually deserve attention in the coming year. Here’s our short list:
We’ve been embracing the “COPE” mindset for a long time, so we’re excited that 2013 might bring new tools that simplify the process of content creation, publishing and repurposing. While new offerings might emerge, we also expect to see current big players, like HootSuite and and WordPress, get stronger in their cross-channel publishing capabilities.”
2. Taking The Brand Out Of The Story– “We have to provide value. We have to be interesting, human and trustworthy. We have to answer customer questions without the backhanded used-car salesmen pitch at the end. Customers are looking for what’s in it for them and they are highly skeptical of brands looking out only for themselves.” – B2B Marketing Insider
Smaller businesses have long been aware of the power of authenticity and are integrating personal stories into their marketing messages to great effect. Admittedly, getting personal is much harder for major global brands, and it will be interesting to see how they approach this challenge in 2013.
3. Distribution with social media has increased– “This year, 87 percent of marketers are using social media to distribute content, as compared to the rate of 74 percent that was reported last year. Unlike last year, however, LinkedIn is the channel that now has the highest adoption rate, beating out last year’s leader, Twitter.” – Content Marketing Institute
LinkedIn has made some really interesting changes that will allow brands to get more creative with the site just as they’re beginning to use it in larger numbers. We look forward to finding new ways to use the site ourselves and seeing how others do the same in 2013.
4. What? No mobile website?- “According to the IAB, a large percentage of businesses don’t have a mobile-friendly website. In 2013 there will suddenly be a big wake-up call for businesses who will launch smartphone and tablet versions of their website. This will also correspond with a move over to HTML5, which will see some harmonization between our internet properties.” –Another Way of Thinking
We expect mobile to be a big driver of our business in 2013 as more businesses recognize the importance of optimizing their content for the mobile web, and look forward to staying on the cutting edge of mobile technology throughout 2013 and beyond.
5. Tailored consumer content experience- “Social networks are expanding faster than anyone can really quantify, and mobile is illuminating the problems of content-hopping and short attention spans. Watch for an exponential increase in demand for content that engages in near real-time with relevant content to keep the audience interested.”- D Custom
Creating high quality content at a fast pace is tough, and keeping up with people’s short attention spans is even tougher. We hope new tools will be released in 2013 that will make real-time content development and deployment a reality for more brands.
What 2013 trends are you paying attention to?
Featured image via: All Exam Guru
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