Top B2B Marketing Trends to Look Out For in 2022

Now that we’ve ushered in the 2022 New Year, businesses are looking at new ways to revamp their marketing with fresh ideas. Top marketing trends for 2022 provide a great source of inspiration. From sophisticated technology used to deliver an entirely different user experience to updated, enhanced versions of more traditional content formats, marketing strategies in 2022 look to drive promising results. 

Companies should be ready to adjust their marketing strategies so they aren’t left behind in the new landscape 2022 brings. Learn about top 6 trends below and consider adopting something you haven’t tried in your company’s marketing to realize first-hand the impact of some of the most interesting and successful marketing trends today.

1. Artificial Intelligence

AI contributes significant value to revenue teams (sales and marketing) by making it easier and faster to deliver your message to the right audiences. It saves you a significant amount of time through its ability to sift through large amounts of data with the utmost precision, which allows you to expand your reach towards better-qualified prospects.

Businesses lose over 20 hours a week trying to gather quality data for their marketing. Instead of manually researching online, you can save countless hours of time by investing in AI-driven intelligence software that automatically gathers data about your competitors, giving you valuable insight into their product updates, pricing changes, and more. 

2. Short-Form Video Marketing

Video marketing continues to rank at the top of the list when it comes to what kind of content your customers want to consume. This year, short-form video will be king on YouTube, Facebook, and other forms of social media. Thanks to social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, it has become one of the most successful ways to deliver branded content, boasting an impressive 30% RoI. 

Video marketing’s versatility makes it a great tool at any stage of the buyer’s journey. Get on top of this trend by creating short-form videos for your company’s marketing. For best results, ensure your videos are no more than 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length, professional-quality production, and relevant to your customers and followers.

3. Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) allows customers to virtually test products before buying them. Sometimes referred to as 360-degree marketing, it’s a good fit for clients who are later along the sales journey because of the nature of its hands-on, closeup presentation. 2022 will see an uptick in marketers relying on AR to help drive home important features of their products to clients who are in the consideration stages of the sales journey.

An AR product demo is a simple way to try out this marketing strategy. B2B customers can get a full 360-degree view of your product and have a better idea of its specifications. Hire an AR developer on sites like Upwork to find out more about how you can integrate an AR demo into your marketing this year.

4. Omnichannel Experiences

In marketing, an omnichannel experience uses more than one channel for sharing content — for example, email, LinkedIn, and SMS are all different ways to reach out to customers. This improves the client experience and relationship because customers have options and aren’t limited to one single channel. While omnichannel experiences have typically been more common in B2C, this year we will see more and more B2B buyers expect the same options, particularly now that the prevalence of digital self-serve has increased post-pandemic. Omnichannel marketing is more important than ever, and tailors content delivery around the preferences of your B2B audiences. 

You can implement omnichannel marketing into your business by adding another platform for outreach communication such as LinkedIn. One feature called LinkedIn Messaging allows businesses to connect with qualified leads by messaging them with relevant marketing content via the LinkedIn chat, giving clients the option to engage with brands through the platform. 

5. Retention Marketing

Although not a new concept, retention marketing has also taken a part of 2022’s emerging trends spotlight, and with good reason: more than 65% of a company’s business comes from existing clients. When you focus on retaining your existing customers through value-driven content, you create touch-points that remind them about what your brand has to offer. Lead generation is important too, but retaining old ones is much easier — and it’s something that too many brands skip over.

Customer retention revolves around relevant, quality content, ongoing support, and different customer appreciation tactics. This strategy adds to the enhanced customer experience your clients have come to expect, a top factor in marketing strategies post-pandemic. Engage your current audiences with exciting email campaigns offering existing-customer only discounts or generous referral bonuses to show them your appreciation. 

6. Customer-Focused, High-Quality Content

Well-written, valuable content will continue to be key throughout 2022. For B2B businesses, that’s sometimes a piece of the puzzle that’s overlooked. Quality and customer-focused content helps drive successful results for companies from different angles.

For example, SEO optimization, a crucial component of any company’s digital marketing strategy, has deviated from the keyword-stuffing norm that was prevalent over a decade ago. Now, informative, useful, and engaging content is favored by search engines; your website is more likely to rank higher with high-quality content rather than with low-quality content. 

Customer-focused, quality content can be crafted for use end-to-end and helps you avoid getting stuck at the top of the funnel, like many content marketers do. Enhance your clients’ experience using well-written, valuable content delivered through a personalized list-segmented campaign strategy that B2B audiences have come to expect. You’ll be able to provide an upgraded, personalized customer experience this way. 

Capitalize on B2B Marketing Trends in 2022

Content marketing continues to be the main driving force behind B2B strategy. End-to-end content — such as case studies, blog posts, and infographics — continues to be an integral part of any B2B marketing strategy. However, with the success of newer mediums like video and AR, there is a need to consider diversifying your marketing efforts. 

Not sure where to start? OneAffiniti delivers world-class, high-quality content for partners. We offer fully-integrated digital campaigns with professionally-written, high-quality content each month. The best part? Campaigns are subsidized by your favorite brands in exchange for your loyalty — meaning the content comes at zero cost to you. To learn more about how OneAffiniti can help you incorporate new marketing tactics into your campaigns, reach out to our team via our IT partners or brokers program page.