Three marketing trends we should leave behind in 2024
2024 was the year of the B2B marketing renaissance. Brand building is on the top of every marketer’s mind, as we move away from selling features and benefits to create emotionally compelling campaigns that wouldn’t look out of place in a Super Bowl Ad slot.
We’ve seen companies like Workday lead the charge with their Rockstars ad, and I expect more B2B brands to follow suit. The challenge will be whether they are willing to take the risk. To break out of the comfort zone of features and benefits and actually create something significantly compelling.
A risk is only as risky as the amount of planning and insights that’s gone in behind the choice.
What do I mean?
Well, if you take bets based on a hunch, the likelihood of that bet coming in is slim. But, if you do the prep work, understand your market and invest in proper segmentation, targeting and positioning, you are more likely to succeed.
Marketing tactics to start in 2025
What this means in 2025 is that we will see marketers shift some of their budget allocations to uncover insights to power their brand campaigns. However, what we need to avoid is deciding that our target market and personas are too broad, generic and vague.
Targeting means being focused. Being choiceful and intentional with your campaigns. If B2B marketers get this right, we might see better refinement of messaging on websites, ad campaigns and content.
Video will drive these emotional brand campaigns. Every year has been touted as the year for video, but with all the AI tools available and increased investment in brands, we should see more budget allocated to this tactic. Whether it be case studies, branded ad campaigns, or talking heads, I suspect we will see a lot of content created.
To this end, I expect we’ll see a lot of video hit LinkedIn, as the algorithm prioritises this content style, as it tries to match the content on consumer platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Lastly, it would be remiss of me not to mention AI. But maybe not in the way you think.
Yes – AI will help teams become more efficient, and we’ll see plenty of use in content generation and insights. But I believe we’ll also see leading brands start to create content that will be surfaced by the AI platforms.
We’re already seeing this at Babel, with new business opportunities created because someone used an AI tool to research the best B2B PR and marketing agencies. I suspect we’ll see more buyers use AI to find the right solutions for their problems, which will lead to more brands developing content that helps them get discovered.
Marketing trends to stop in 2025
Let’s round this out with three tactics I want to see left behind as we move into the new year.
- The MQL obsession – Leads, leads, leads….we need more leads, is a phrase I would love not to hear in 2025. This short-term obsession with hitting MQL metrics has led to the rise of some poor marketing tactics and a dearth of poor-quality leads filling up the pipe and CRM platforms. In 2025, we want to see a better balance between the long and short. Brand and generating demand should be front and centre. Research shows that this will grow your leads over the long term and, when combined with some short-term performance marketing tactics, can be a significant growth engine for business.
- Gated content – One of these poor marketing tactics is the rise of gated content. Yes, it gets an email address into your CRM platform but often the quality is poor and can waste valuable time for the sales team. Instead, un-gate it and build it as a webpage. Not only will this make it more discoverable for SEO but it will also allow more people to read it.
- Being boring – Yes, I am hammering this point home but for good reason. B2B websites, content, videos, and positioning are all very samey. It’s very product-focused. And it can be very generic. Everyone is an innovative software platform that delivers transformational experiences. It’s time we did away with the jargon and started talking about the real things we deliver for customers in a differentiated way that enables us to be emotive and distinctive.
So don’t be boring in 2025. Get creative. Take risks. Be bold and stand out from the crowd. Let’s get excited for the new wave of B2B marketing! If you want to learn more about how Babel can help you in this battle against boring, get in touch.
