Influencer Marketing’s Growing Importance & Adobe’s New AI

Improved B2B Marketing and Sales Alignment Bodes Well for Growth
51 percent of B2B marketers have said that they are aligned with sales in 2023 — up from 44 percent during 2022, while 53 percent of B2B salespeople noted alignment with marketing — up from 42 percent in 2022, with the leading challenge faced by both sales and marketing departments being differing data and systems, according to newly-published survey data. MarketingCharts

Data: Buyer Expectations Continue to Put Pressure on B2B eCommerce [Report]
When it comes to the blurring lines between B2C and B2B e-commerce, 74 percent of B2B buyers have said that they use online purchasing platforms, with some 60 percent noting that their organization uses B2B marketplaces — two of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in recently-released report data . Modern Distribution Management

Adobe’s Firefly Generative AI is Now Available to Everyone
Adobe has rolled out the full slate of its latest Firefly generative AI features to its full family of users, following a period of testing that saw over two billion images being created using the AI technology in its product lineup such as Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Cloud, and its Firefly web app, Adobe recently announced. PetaPixel

“We’re committed to delivering the best creative tools, services and value to our members so you can keep pushing the bounds of creativity.” — Ashley Still @AshleymStill of @Adobe Click To Tweet

B2B Event Organizers Prioritizing Attendance and Engagement
When it comes to the top B2B event organizer priorities in 2023, 19 percent of B2B event organizers have said that raising attendee engagement was their top priority, with 18.9 percent pointing to increasing attendance, 15.8 percent noting a greater sales pipeline, and 11.1 percent pointing to boosting sponsor and exhibitor return on investment (ROI) levels, according to newly-released survey results. MarketingCharts

New Report Finds That Investment in Influencer Marketing Is Rising Faster Than Traditional Ads
Influencer marketing spending is expected to grow by 14 percent during 2023, while social media advertising spending will see a 4.1 percent expansion, as spending on influencer-sponsored social media content in the U.S. is expected to expand some 3.5 times faster than traditional social media advertising spending, according to recently-pubished forecast data. Social Media Today

Meet generative AI’s ‘super users’: 70% of Gen Z use GenAI [Report]
49 percent of adults have said that they’ve used generative AI, a number that rose to 65 percent among those in the millennial and Gen Z demographic groups, while 70 percent of Gen Z noted having used the AI technology, according to new survey data of interest to B2B marketers. ZDNET

New Research Reveals Influencer Marketing as Critical to Brands’ Social Strategies
8 out of ten social media marketers view influencer marketing as an essential strategy component, with 70 percent having received the most impact from macro-influencers who have between 100,000 and one million followers, while 52 percent of brands noted using a dedicated influencer marketing platform — three of numerous statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in recently-published influencer marketing report findings. Sprout Social

New Report Looks at the Key Challenges that Social Media Marketers Face in 2023
66 percent of social media managers have said that they have too many responsibilities, with almost half noting they don’t believe they are being fairly compensated, while 52 percent have studied journalism, communications, marketing, or media in school, while just 29 percent noting they have been able to advance into higher management roles — some of the many findings presented in new social media career report data from Hootsuite.. Social Media Today

OpenAI Plugs ChatGPT Into Canva to Sharpen Its Competitive Edge in AI
OpenAI — the AI research organization founded in part by Elon Musk, has rolled out an addition to its ChatGPT AI chatbot that allows integration with the popular online design platform Canva, OpenAI recently announced. Decrypt

Influencer Marketing Grows In Influence, Set To Top $34B Worldwide
Influencer marketing worldwide grew by 21.5 percent in 2022, totaling $29.14 billion, and is expected to expand by a further 16.9 percent in 2023 and reach $34.08 billion, according to newly-published forecast data. MediaPost

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “Personalization Gone Wrong” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Man Requests Spotter For Particularly Messy Sandwich — The Onion

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden / Donna Robinson — TopRank Marketing Ignites Next Phase of Growth, Appoints Marketing Leader Donna Robinson as CEO — Yahoo News
• Lane R. Ellis / TopRank Marketing — Hybrid Artificial Intelligence in Future B2B Marketing — LinkedIn Pulse

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

Rhea Wessel @rheawessel
AJ Wilcox @wilcoxaj
Steve Garfield @stevegarfield
Pierce Ujjainwalla @marketing_101
Dina Otero @dina3818

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

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Thanks for taking the time to join us for this week’s Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope you’ll return next Friday for another round-up 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.