B2B Resiliency, & LinkedIn’s New Direct Messaging For Brands

The B2B Marketing Benchmark [Report]
42 percent of chief marketing officers believe that eagerness to adopt new technology is among the top skills for their teams to possess, with the value of AI technology expected to see a twenty-fold increase by 2030, reaching $2 trillion by 2023, while B2B marketing has shown resiliency and found new ways to drive influence — four of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published LinkedIn (client) report data. LinkedIn

“Human interpretation, perspective, and refinement complemented by the speed and scale that technological advances will provide is what will differentiate marketing mediocrity from marketing excellence.” — Allyson Hugley @HugleyA Click To Tweet

B2B Marketers Are Facing These Challenges with Second- and Third-Party Data
44 percent of B2B marketing decision-makers have said that the quality and completeness of data is the top obstacle they face when it comes to second and third party data, followed by 31 percent who pointed to finding trusted sources, and 28 percent to noted budget limitations, according to recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts

The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow [Report]
B2B firms that deliver top omni-channel experiences have improved their market shares by a minimum of 10 percent annually, while B2B e-commerce has become the most effective sales channel, ahead of in-person sales and video conference channels — two of several statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published report data. McKinsey

Instagram Tests New AI Chatbot Experience in DMs
Meta-owned Instagram has been testing a generative AI chat option within its direct messaging system, as the social platform continues building out new AI personas and multi-modal experiences, providing brands new ways to utilize Instagram. Social Media Today

2022 Video Ad Spend & 2023 Outlook: Defining the Next Generation [Report]
When it comes to digital video, ad spending climbed by 21 percent year-over-year in 2022 and is expected to grow by some 17 percent during 2023, reaching $55.2 billion in the U.S. alone, according to recently-released Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report data. IAB

Publicis Groupe joins human vs. AI content verification initiative C2PA
The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) and its framework to distinguish human-made assets from AI has gained Publicis Groupe as its latest addition, joining the organization’s existing steering committee members Adobe, Microsoft, and Intel, among others, C2PA recently announced. MarTech

LinkedIn Experiments with New AI Assistant for InMails
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn (client) has been testing a new generative AI-powered inbox assistant, which aims to streamline private correspondence on the professional social platform, which would join an array of other recent AI-based updates that have been released by LinkedIn. Social Media Today

Twitter US ad sales plunged 59%, and internal forecasts are grim, NYT reports
During the time since Twitter ownership changed hands, the social platform has seen falling advertising sales, including a decreased of some 59 percent in the U.S. during one recent five-week span, and Ars Technica takes a look at some of the challenges Twitter has faced. Ars Technica

A Long List of Concerns Worry CMOs and Brand Managers
Top-of-mind among chief marketing officers and brand managers are return-on-investment (ROI) and return-on-marketing-investment (ROMI), with inflation and recession concerns coming in a close second, followed by increasing pressure to boost shareholder value and profits — three of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts

LinkedIn Launches DMs for Company Pages
For the first time, LinkedIn users will be able to privately conduct one-on-one conversations with brand pages — a feature that has previously only been available between users on the professional social platform, in a feature update that brings new interaction options to brands, LinkedIn recently announced. Social Media Today

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “AI and Productivity” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Fans React To Apple’s New VR Headset — The Onion

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — This Week in Marketing: Timeless Trends — LinkedIn (client)
• Lee Odden — The Proof is Out There: Experts Discuss the Reality and Future of Buyer-level Intent Data — NetLine
• Lee Odden / TopRank Marketing — Lee Odden: B2B influencer marketing, client/agency side work, evolving your team | Madvertising #10 [Podcast Video] — AdQuick / YouTube

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

Debbie Friez @dfriez
Luxy Thuraisingam @Luxythu
Dr. Scott Cowley @scottcowley
Andy Crestodina @crestodina
Brian Solis @briansolis

Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry.

Have you found your own top B2B marketing news item we haven’t yet covered? If so, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s edition of the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope you’ll return again next Friday for another selection of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

About the author

Lane R. Ellis has over 39 years’ experience working with and writing about the Internet. He writes for and manages all of the posts on the award-winning TopRank B2B Marketing Blog. Before joining the team here as Social Media and Content Marketing Manager, Lane spent more than a decade as Lead Editor for the prestigious conference firm Pubcon. When he’s not writing about B2B marketing trends, Lane enjoys distance running (he’s completed 11 marathons including two ultra-marathons so far), genealogical research, cross-country skate skiing, vegetarian cooking, and spending time with his wonderful wife Julie Ahasay and their cats Kukla, Twister, and Arlo in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota.