Digital Advertising Hits $189 Billion In 2021, Global Forecasts Predict 5% Yearly Growth Through 2027
U.S. digital advertising revenue of $189 billion in 2021 was the biggest increase since 2006, including audio advertising with a leading 57.9 percent growth rate, and newly-released report data predicts that the audio ad market will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.07 percent that will continue on through 2027. MediaPost

Google Helpful Content Update Is Now Rolling Out
The latest updates to Google’s always-in-motion search engine algorithm look to emphasize content written more for people and less for SEO, as the search giant began rolling out its “helpful content update” as part of efforts to surface more high-quality original content, Google recently announced. Search Engine Roundtable

B2B buyers aren’t always happy campers when purchasing online [Report]
94 percent of B2B buyers have said that they prefer working with suppliers that have continually-evolving digital capabilities, while some 97 percent report having experienced at least one pain point during the online purchase process — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released survey data. Digital Commerce 360

B2B Digital Marketers See Content as Vehicle to CX Improvement
Some 42 percent of B2B marketers have listed investment in new content and creative assets as the top priority for improving customer experience (CX) over the next year, with 40 percent pointing to strengthening customer retention strategies, and 36 percent pinpointing better alignment of teams and tactics — three of numerous statistics of interest to digital marketers included in recently-released CX survey data. MarketingCharts

Meta Launches New B2B Advertising Audiences to Help Marketers Reach Key Decision Makers
Facebook-parent company Meta has implemented an array of new advertising campaign enhancements, including targeting segments for technology and other business decision-makers, aimed specifically at B2B users on its platform, Meta recently announced, as the firm seeks to ramp up its B2B advertiser base. Social Media Today

B2B Purchasers Are Speeding Up Their Journeys: Study
Some 55 percent of B2B executives have said that the length of their purchase timeline had increased either somewhat or significantly on average in 2022 compared to 2021, while six percent said their B2B purchasing timeline had decreased, with 38 percent reporting no change from last year — several of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released buyer behavior survey data. MediaPost

LinkedIn Continues to See ‘Record Levels’ of Engagement and Sessions Growth
Microsoft’s latest performance report revealed that its LinkedIn professional social network had topped 850 million members, with the number of user sessions expanding by 26 percent, accompanied by revenue that grew by 26 percent during the most recent quarter year-over-year, increasing by $768 million, Microsoft recently announced. Social Media Today

Google, Microsoft Report Slowest Revenue Growth In Two Years
Google-parent Alphabet saw revenue that grew by 13 percent during the second quarter of 2022, reaching $69.7 billion, the search giant’s slowest growth since the same quarter in 2020, while revenue from the search portion of the firm’s business climbed by 14 percent year-over-year, while Microsoft reported revenue up 12 percent, also its slowest growth in two years, the firms recently reported. MediaPost

The Metaverse Is No Game for B2B Marketers
72 percent of global business executives have said that they expect the metaverse to eventually effect their organization in a positive way, with some 41 percent expecting it to have a breakthrough or transformational impact in the future, according to newly-release survey data of interest to B2B marketers. Association of National Advertisers (ANA)

The B2B Trade Show Market Looks Like It’ll Need At Least Another 5 Years to Reach Pre-Pandemic Levels
Even with a robust 54.7 percent B2B trade show market growth and accompanying value expected to hit $10.2 billion in 2022, a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels isn’t set to occur until after 2026, while the business information market segment is poised to expand beyond pre-pandemic levels in 2022, reaching over $66.1 billion, according to recently-released U.S. B2B forecast data. MarketingCharts

Brands Are Investing More Social Budget On Creator Partnerships
74 percent of marketers expect to invest a quarter or more of their social media budgets on partnerships with content creators over the next three to six months, with 53 percent looking to strengthen their social community and some 41 percent using creator partnerships to promote brand values — three of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released Sprout Social study data. MediaPost

LinkedIn Business Manager is now in public beta
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has begun public testing of its previously-announced LinkedIn Business Manager, aimed at making it easier for marketers to manage advertising for multiple accounts on the professional platform, with an array of new integrated dashboard and campaign-related features, LinkedIn (client) recently announced. Search Engine Land

Why B2B marketplaces are now a mainstream digital commerce sales channel [Report]
B2B marketplace sales climbed by 131 percent in 2021, reaching $56.5 billion, making them the swiftest-growing eCommerce channel, with sales expected to reach some $130 billion in 2022, as 57 percent of B2B buyers noted that they were buying more from digital marketplaces during the pandemic, according to recently-released report data. Digital Commerce 360

The Top Challenges B2B Sales Reps Face Early in the Sales Cycle
30 percent of B2B sales professionals have said that getting prospect data to begin conversations was their top challenge, while 38 percent noted that personalizing sales presentation messages to prospects was their leading pain point — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs

B2B customer journeys that begin at review sites are significantly shorter
B2B buying journeys average 192 days in length, dropping by 63 percent when a buyer’s first touch is with a review website, while the buying process is significantly longer than average when first-touch channels are social or paid media — three of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released report data. MarTech

Why personalization is more important than ever for brands [Report]
62 percent of consumers have said brands that don’t deliver personalized experiences will lose their loyalty, a figure that’s up seven percent from rates in 2021, while some 63 percent said they are fine with brand personalization efforts as long as they use voluntarily-shared first-part data, according to recently-released survey data. SmartBrief

Meta and Google’s hold on digital advertising loosens as TikTok and others gain share
Google and its YouTube business combined with Meta and its Facebook and Instagram platforms combined to account for 53.4 percent of all U.S. digital advertising spending, a figure that is expected to fall to 50.5 percent in 2022 and predicted to drop to 47.7 percent by 2024, according to newly-released forecast data. The data also showed that between 2020 and 2023 nine additional platforms will have become $1 billion advertising businesses. eMarketer

The Brand Lessons That Are Having An Impact This Year In B2B
B2B brands are seeing success using some of the techniques and styles typically reserved for B2C marketing efforts such as multichannel customer communication and an increased focus on environment, social and governance (ESG), and Forbes explores some of these shifts. Forbes

What’s Standing in the Way of B2B Companies Providing A Great Customer Experience?
When it comes to providing great customer service, 46 percent of U.S. B2B professionals have said that poor collaboration between teams was the leading challenge, followed by 42 percent who pointed to disparate team goals, and 33 percent who singled out the lack of a unified customer view — some of the statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released survey data. MarketingCharts

TrustRadius’ new B2B report – The age of the self-serve buyer is here [Annual Report]
Nearly all B2B buyers have said they want all or at least part of their buying journeys to be self-serve — a rate up 13 percent from 2021, while 41 percent of those in the Gen Z and Millennial demographic said that their first step in buying was checking review sites — two of several findings of interest to digital marketers featured in recently-released report data. B2B Marketing