September has been an extraordinary month in terms of the volume of B2B-specific reports that seem to have been published… or at least landed in my inbox. So to ‘celebrate’ this bumper month for the content marketing industry, I thought I’d put together a compendium of this wealth of published material (plus some pithy comments) in the hope it might help bring further clarity to your B2B marketing planning and your market intelligence.
The Superpowers Index, by DentsuB2B
Buying inertia is a worsening problem, with average decision times increasing by 54 days since 2021, costing the global economy a staggering $1.9tn per day. Strong initial interactions, proving credentials, could shorten the sales cycle by up to four weeks. This is just a range of conclusions from this ambitious report, which comes out with the firm conclusion that brand investment is the answer to all of B2B marketing’s problems.
Thought makers, by Man Bites Dog
Thought leadership isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s fundamental! Or at least so claims this new research report by one of the few specialist agency in this category, which states that 77% of C-suite leaders actually expect their strategic suppliers to challenge them on emerging issues and trends. The report also seeks to define different categories of thought leadership excellence and define how good different B2B sectors are at producing it (spoiler alert: accountants rock; lawyers suck – only in thought leadership terms I mean).
Digital Trends – B2B High Tech in Focus by Adobe and Econsultancy
Real-time personalisation remains stubbornly slow to arrive: only 38% of B2B tech brands routinely personalise in real time, relying instead on broader segmentation based on historical data… although surely the determination of buyers to remain anonymous as long as possible isn’t exactly easing this process! Data is the focus on the report, and remains (it seems) remains B2B’s achilles heel.
The 2024-25 Blueprint for High-Impact Content, by Redpoint
Buyers don’t care if B2B content is AI generated! 58% say they like AI-generated content, and 63% say it doesn’t impact in their trust in the brand. The report also includes a lot of data points around the power of original brand research to convince buyers, which was certainly worthy, but I must confess didn’t seem exactly ground-breaking let alone surprising. Probably helpful if you’re building a business case for research investment.
The B2B Branding Landscape 2024, by Berkley Communications
If you’re looking for a single-minded treatise on the importance of brand to convince business buyers to make a purchase, then this report will be right up your street. It’s slickly designed with solid stats, but feels lacking in nuance or substance, let alone empathy, not really seeking to understand let alone define the challenges that marketers face in making the case for brand. Apparently 91% of decision makers believe brand has a big impact on decision making. Well, I’m glad we’ve cleared that one up.
The New B2B Growth Equation, by McKinsey
McKinsey has been banging the B2B ‘omnichannel+ecommerce’ drum for a number of years now, and this latest research seeks to further prove which way the wind is blowing (spoiler alert: it’s NOT toward more in-person sales driven conversions). The research claims that up to 20% of $1-10m transactions were either via ‘remote or self-service interactions’ – that’s certainly a big number… but there’s a big difference between a $multi-million purchase made entirely without direct human engagement, and one where there have been multiple remote engagements. So it’s not as if we’re rushing directly toward ecommerce. McKinsey also claims buyers use an average of 10.2 channels in their buyer journey – up from five in 2016. I had no idea Tiktok was so popular.
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