Top 7 PR and marketing trends for B2B business in 2023

PR and Marketing trends are constantly changing due to technological and business changes. This impacts how companies target and convert customers. Therefore, marketers need to keep up with the latest novelties if they wish to remain competitive.

2022 is ended, and it is time to start looking ahead to 2023’s B2B marketing trends. Our guide will cover many aspects like from branding to digital market trends. So let’s get started with these PR and marketing trends for 2023.

PR and marketing trends for 2023

1. B2B marketers are increasingly targeting Gen Z and Millennials

Millennials and Gen Z are our first count of the PR and marketing trends of 2023 as they are both digital natives. Because they are comfortable with technology and have been around it for a long time, this generation has likely shaped digital behavior and consumer behavior more than any other.

Millennials prefer an omnichannel B2B approach to marketing because they can be found across multiple marketing channels. As a result, your marketing strategies should feel more personal to them, as they don’t care about meaningless advertising tactics.

They want tailored solutions that meet their specific needs. The millennial generation is also more open to communicating in real time. This makes it easier to convert.

Because we live in a customer-centric society, millennials want their marketing experience to feel more like a B2C than a business experience. In addition, 73% of working millennials have already assumed the role of decision-makers.

On the other hand, Gen Z are more likely than Millennials to start a business, so it is even more important to appeal to them. This generation will have a huge purchasing power by 2026.

Many Gen Z traits are similar to Millennials. For example, they value meaningful interactions and will do business with companies that offer them the right opportunity.

Gen Z also love corporate, environmental and social responsibility. They’ll remember companies that sponsor events or give to charity. Interesting to note is that 57% of Gen Z had donated to two or more causes.

2.  Post-Conversion Engagement Is Still Vital

Customers who return often are a key factor in your company’s success. Customer retention is, therefore, crucial.

Your business’s most valuable resource is your existing customers, especially in B2B environments where competition is fierce.

It is difficult to find new customers in today’s economic environment. Therefore, it makes sense for your B2B marketing efforts to focus on those who have already converted.

This will allow you to keep them as customers. In addition, this means that you can continue to interact with customers even after they have sold your product.

Customer engagements after sales will help grow your existing customers by creating advocates and referring to your business.

3. Purpose is almost mandatory

In 2023, purpose-driven branding will be the hottest trend in branding. Unfortunately, businesses and stakeholders are often confused by the idea of a purpose-driven branding brand.

Top purpose-driven brands agree the core values of a purpose-driven brand are about improving the lives of your customers and team members. This makes it more attractive to consumers, who will be more inclined to purchase from the brand.

Your brand will be more trustworthy and grow if you are able to convey authenticity when providing services and products that satisfy clients’ needs. So, be consistent and passionate about who and what you stand for in your B2B Marketing campaigns.

Defining your brand’s purpose, value and mission will help you make important business decisions. In addition, this will help you to understand the pain points of your customers and offer a solution.

Partner with non-profits and other organizations that are focused on solving real problems. Today, corporate responsibility is more important than ever.

4. Digital lead generation: when it pays off

One advantage of performance marketing is transparency. All activities can be tracked, optimized, and evaluated with regard to the achievement of goals. Anyone who can consistently show that customer orders are generated economically using digital lead generation should not have to worry about the size of their budget. On the contrary: if there is restraint in the competitive environment, companies can gain market shares with increased advertising pressure in these times. The same applies to analogue advertising.

5. Communicate sustainability credibly

We’ve already mentioned Corporate responsibility twice so far. Now we will elaborate on that point since it is essential.

In addition to the current geopolitical challenges, the climate crisis is also making its customers and employees aware. B2B companies that do not provide answers on the topics of climate protection and sustainability suffer competitive disadvantages. In the case of millennials, who are now moving into decision-making positions, such aspects are becoming key differentiators when choosing an employer and awarding contracts. Communication and marketing play an important role in building a credible reputation in this field. One example of such companies is that of Nike’s and Coats’.

Image Credit: Coats.com

You can see in the image above how these two firms are trying to contribute to a sustainable economy and planet.

Although Nike may not have had an impeccable record in corporate sustainability, they have made significant changes that are bringing about a lot more good. In 2015 of the most sustainable footwear and clothing brands, Nike topped Morgan Stanley’s list. The company’s open disclosure of its supply chain and production processes is key to its success. With the app that allows you to compare the environmental footprints of different fabrics, designers can also make more green decisions.

Image Credit: harvard.edu

It also uses post-consumer reclaimed materials in some of its products, such as its 2011 World Cup jerseys. It has also changed the packaging of its products to reduce their packaging and invested more energy efficiency in its factories. Nike also partners with NASA and other government agencies to encourage chemistry innovation, greening raw materials processing into products.

6. Podcasts for Reach and Trust

In 2023, podcasts are about to make a big breakthrough as a medium for charging the customer journey in the B2B sector. However, before deciding to produce podcasts, marketers should familiarize themselves with the effort required and the content requirements that arise on a regular basis. This also includes deciding what purpose your podcast productions should serve: building reach and/or reputation and trust. Anyone who relies on reach should have a relevant media budget available from the outset and extend their podcasts in the direction of lead generation.

7. AI would then be ready

AL is our last count of these PR and marketing trends for 2023. In the field of technological developments, the topic of AI will gain importance for B2B marketing in 2023 – especially against the background of growing cost pressure. When it comes to text created with the help of AI, a level has now been reached where measurable work savings and efficiency gains can be reported. In particular, for social media as well as for content marketing and SEO, intelligent applications can deliver drafts of a quality that requires little human fine-tuning – and at reasonable prices.

While it is a skill that AI cannot master, we can anticipate AI to be able to competently optimize this content for major search engines over the next year.

Most marketing strategies take a lot of manual effort and time. This includes identifying keywords to SEO, creating backlinks and summarising keywords. There is also tagging keywords, analyzing trends in the market, and generating insights from competitors.

AI can enhance these processes and interpret data patterns better than human search strategists. This allows for high-quality information without disruptions.

Thus, the evolution of AI will make tedious and time-consuming SEO tasks more efficient and effective – while still generating marketing content.

AI’s ability to simplify complex tasks into simpler tasks makes them more efficient in managing tasks and helps marketers manage their time.

It will allow marketers to focus on the user experience and increase engagement rates by using speed monitoring and automated alerts.

B2B marketers will soon be able to create specific content for each customer based on existing information from different sources. This will allow them to provide exceptional online services.

We hope that knowing these 2023 trends in Marketing would benefit your B2B firm. When it comes to the SEO aspect of it, Outreach Bee is your best bet. Our bees will look all over the world for the best guest posting opportunities and take care of placing your link naturally.

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