Whether you love how your B2B company ended 2018 or you couldn’t wait for your chance at a fresh start, 2019 is here. With it, comes the opportunity to reach higher heights than ever before.
However, this opportunity will only be realized by those who know which B2B content marketing strategy ideas hold the most promise this year.
Stick to the same methods you used in 2018 and, at best, you should expect the same results.
Of course, switch to the wrong one, and you might also see much worse returns.
3 B2B Content Marketing Strategy Ideas That May Have Their Day in 2019
There are countless posts out there about which B2B marketing ideas stand the best chance of producing the best results for companies in 2019.
So, in this post, I want to actually highlight two experts who I believe absolutely hit the nail on the head with their predictions – and one with whom I’d like to very respectfully disagree.
1. 2019 Will Be the Last Year Machine Learning Is an Option
We’ve been hearing about the rise of machine learning for quite a while now. Is this its year?
Chris Christoff, co-founder of MonsterInsights, predicts that, in 2019, “Machine learning will be increasingly necessary.”
I can’t agree more. While many popular B2B marketing ideas about what will work best in 2019 focus on granular strategies, this one speaks to the need for adopting brand-new channels to engage with customers.
Fortunately, it can be something as simple as a chatbot.
Whatever the case, though, more and more companies are leveraging machine learning. I don’t see that slowing down any time soon. Just the opposite: I think it’s getting to the point where, if you don’t adopt the technology in 2019, you’ll be late to the party come 2020.
2. Spending on Paid Ads Will Increase
This prediction shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given the popularity of paid ads, which was already trending upward.
Nonetheless, I’m putting it on the list because I still find it hard to believe that, in 2019, so many marketers are relying solely on organic traffic. Of course, much of this has to do with the fact that I’ve seen, firsthand, how powerful paid media can be for B2B companies.
As Joshua Nite at Top Rank Marketing points out, despite how much effort many of them are putting into content creation, “…a third of marketers are relying on organic reach and existing subscribes to get their content seen” and are not using paid media at all.
In 2019, countless B2B companies will vie for those limited spots on the first SERP (Search Engine Results Page) of Google. They’ll compete with each other and all those companies that already hold the most valuable SERP-real-estate.
I’m not saying attracting organic traffic should be one of the B2B marketing ideas that goes extinct in 2019, but I’ll definitely keep focusing most of my budget on the much more reliable outcomes delivered by paid media.
3. Omni-Channel Experiences Will Become Commonplace
As much as I love Forrester, I have to disagree with their prediction that “omni-channel” experiences will overtake campaign-based approaches any time soon, much less in 2019. While the popular market research firm has often been right about B2B marketing ideas, I have a hard time believing such a massive shift to customer data platforms (CDPs) could possibly occur between now and 2020.
In fact, according to the author of the Forrester report that made this claim, “70% of B2B marketers will buy a CDP in 2019.”
CDPs have proven somewhat popular among small retailers that want to offer customers omnichannel experiences, but that’s a long way away from more-than-half of B2B companies investing in the same. Again, most aren’t even utilizing paid ads yet.
Will we see more companies considering omnichannel in 2019?
Absolutely.
But I expect that this is one of those predictions (“X Will Completely Take Over in…”) we’ll continue to see for a few more years before omnichannel truly becomes any kind of standard.
See the Best Possible Returns from Your B2B Marketing Ideas in 2019
While I believe the two B2B content marketing strategy ideas I mentioned above deserve your attention this year, I’d also like to touch on how Hushly can help.
One thing that isn’t going away in 2019 is the need for solid, high-ranking content. Unfortunately, it’s still going to be challenging to turn your blog posts and landing pages into conversions.
Our platform was designed to immediately derive an ROI from the content you produce. If you’d like to see exactly how it does so, please contact us today for a free demo.
