The Top Benefits of a Data-Driven B2B Demand Gen Strategy
B2B marketers have said that better leads, customer experience, and return on investment (ROI) were among the top benefits of effective data-driven strategy, while 54 percent said that quality data enables them to make more effective spending decisions, according to newly-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingProfs

Prepare for the future with Google Analytics 4
Google will sunset its longstanding existing analytics incarnation in July 2023, and has laid out a plan encouraging users of the present version to switch to the new version, which adds greater privacy law compliance, while also removing access to analytics data from the current version, the search giant recently announced. Google

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

“Building brand awareness fills up the top of your funnel by making sure that relevant people know about your brand. One of the best ways to do so is by creating and distributing valuable thought leadership content.” — @AfiyaAddison Click To Tweet

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

How B2B Businesses Can Get Omnichannel Sales Right
B2B sellers now more often offer digital channels than in-person ones, and recent survey data shows that marketers also find digital channels more effective, and The Harvard Business Review recently examined the power of a more holistic and customer-centric approach to collaboration in B2B. Harvard Business Review

Google parent company Alphabet broke $200 billion in annual revenue for the first time
Google’s parent firm Alphabet topped the $200 billion revenue mark during 2021, a year-over-year rise of some 41 percent to $257 billion, with Google advertising revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 totaling over $61 billion, Alphabet recently announced. The Verge

Which Contact Data Acquisition Strategies Are Most Effective for B2B Marketers? [Survey]
79 percent of B2B marketers have said that their website registration forms are the most effective customer and prospect data-gathering tactic, followed by 54 percent who said content downloads from dedicated landing pages, and 47 percent who said in-person events, according to recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts

B2B sellers deal with challenges of online customer experience
Half of B2B sellers see budget and supply chain improvements as the largest challenges they’re likely to face in 2022, with 47 percent noting that data management will be among their top issues during the year ahead, according to newly-reased survey data of interest to digital marketers. Digital Commerce 360

B2B Pros Worry About Leads Getting To The Right Person, Study Finds
58 percent of B2B marketers have said that they are only somewhat or not confident in their organization’s process for taking inbound leads to proper sales team members — one of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in recently-released survey data. MediaPost

More executives are turning to social media during the pandemic. [Report]
Some 56 percent of business executives have said that they are increasing their usage of social media due to the pandemic, with 68.4 percent expressing positive reactions to colleagues or leaders sharing industry news and content on social media, according to newly-released report data. PRWeekUS

LinkedIn is launching interactive, Clubhouse-style audio events this month in beta; a video version will come this spring
Microsoft’s LinkedIn will launch a new live virtual events platform, beginning with audio-only functionality, followed in time by an array of video features for the flexible hosting and management of online events, adding to the platform’s creator features, LinkedIn (client) recently announced. TechCrunch

Social Media Forecast to Overtake TV in Ad Spend This Year
A robust 14.8 percent annual growth rate for social media advertising spending over the 2021 through 2024 period tops online video’s 14 percent and paid search’s 9.8 percent, according to newly-released global ad spending growth rate forecast data. MarketingCharts

Can You Relate? Empathy-based marketing requires brands get to know the people behind the data
52 percent of consumers have said being treated with respect is a key way brands can show empathy to customers, followed by being treated like a human being at 50 percent, according to survey data also showing that listening and curiosity are more key for brands in 2022 than at any point during the pandemic, and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) takes a look. ANA

Are Brands Investing in Social Media Communities in 2022? We Asked 1,000+ Marketers [HubSpot Survey]
51 percent of global marketers expect to build more social media communities in 2022, with some 64 percent planning to dedicate investment in social communities, while the top challenge has been managing community members — three of several findings of interests to digital marketers contained in recently-released survey data. HubSpot