Lane Ellis

B2B Marketers’ Biggest Demand Generation Challenges
68 percent of B2B marketers say that email is their top channel choice for demand generation efforts, followed by organic social at 39 percent, paid social at 36 percent, and website or blog efforts also with 36 percent — one of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs

Study: Global Contextual Ad Market To Hit $335B By 2026
The global contextual advertising market is expected to reach nearly $200 billion in 2022, and $64.6 billion in the U.S., with increases forecast to top $335 billion by 2026, while activity-based advertising is expected to hit $195 billion by 2026, according to recently-released report data. MediaPost

Here’s What B2B Marketers Want Out of Their Content Efforts
91 percent of B2B marketers view creating brand awareness as the primary purpose of content marketing efforts, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. The study also showed that 85 percent viewed generating demand and leads as a top purpose of content marketing, while 81 percent pointed to building trust and brand credibility. MarketingCharts

Instagram Launches Updated Creator Tags to Provide More Credit for Content Contributors
Meta-owned Instagram has rolled out new tagging features that will allow digital marketers to better indicate the influencers and creators involved in the creation of content shared on the platform, offering new exposure opportunities for content that has been created by multiple professionals, Instagram recently announced. Social Media Today

Ad Spending Surges 19% In January, Expands For 11th Consecutive Month
The U.S. advertising market’s rate of spending grew by 19.2 percent in January compared to the same month in 2021, with digital categories continuing to see the best performance, driving ad market expansion that has now grown 11 consecutive months, according to newly-released report data. MediaPost

Brands Turn Up the Dial on Podcasting
Podcast advertising spending climbed by 60 percent in 2021, with accompanying growth rate forecasts seeing $2.2 billion in spending by 2023, both figures representing a healthy rebound from 2020 pandemic-driven deceleration, according to recently-released Association of National Advertisers (ANA) report data. ANA

The Purpose of Content Marketing for B2B vs. B2C Brands
88 percent of content marketers say that creating brand awareness is the primary purpose of content marketing, with 79 percent noting audience education, while some 78 percent said building increased trust and credibility — three of several statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs

New LinkedIn Data Shows the Top Digital Marketing Skills Currently in High Demand
Digital marketing specialists and account executives joined social media managers as the most in-demand marketing occupations, while digital marketing, advertising, and social media skills had the biggest mismatch when looking at job supply and demand, according to recently-released LinkedIn (client) survey data. Social Media Today

Traditional B2B Sales and Marketing Are Becoming Obsolete
Some 43 percent of B2B buyers have said that they would like a buying experience without a sales representative, with higher rates among Millennials, and The Harvard Business Review examines the rise of all-digital B2B buying and takes a look at some of today’s out-of-sync interaction preferences. Harvard Business Review

4 Ways the Pandemic Changed B2B Communication (From A Nationally-Representative Survey)
53 percent of Millennial professionals have said they prefer email communication over conversations, while 54 percent felt that email could cause miscommunication — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released B2B communication survey data. Sales Hacker