“You have to be creative, but also serious; tactical, but also strategic. Strategic, but also Brian in HR has a better idea of a product launch,” said Handley. “The list goes on, and it’s too contradictory and too hard. B2B marketers are often measured by a set of impossible standards, and we’ve always been at the forefront of change. With ridiculous algorithms, fractured audiences and disruptive AI, I’ve come to realize we’re entering a great B2B Renaissance.”

As marketing shifts away from their tried-and-true tactics, Handley continued by highlighting two startling statistics that outline two major influences behind the Renaissance:

• 95% of buyers aren’t even in-market, and those that are remain anonymous throughout almost the entire journey; and
• When they are ready to buy, 90% already know the vendor they’ll ultimately choose before they start reaching out.

Further outlining the changing dynamics of the B2B environment was Ruth Stevens, President of eMarketing Strategy, with her keynote, “What’s Working In B2B Marketing: New Developments, New Tools & New Techniques.” To kick off her session, Stevens outlined four major factors driving change in B2B today:

• The return of events post-Covid;
• The differing expectations between generational buying groups;
• The increasingly digital preferences of buyers; and
• The declining influence of sales and increasing influence of marketing.

“B2B E-commerce has taken the lead as the most effective sales channel,” said Stevens. “It’s rated No. 1 by 35% of buyers, ahead of in-person sales (26%), video conferences (12%), email (10%) and phone (8%).”

With digitalization and self-service journeys at the forefront of most #B2BMX sessions, the overarching theme across the three-day event revolved around optimizing content and strategies to engage with the chronically online buyer.

Focusing On Brand Experiences To Promote Familiarity

In the digital world, brands that create emotional connections will undoubtedly come out on top. Echoing Dan Gingiss’ day-two keynote, Handley explained that marketers’ traditional focus on highly measurable tactics has left much to be desired brand-wise.

{loadposition GIAA}“We’re over indexing on short-term pipeline and not thinking enough long-term about those emotional connections that we’re building,” she explained. “And when I say brand, I don’t mean just your logo or your look; it’s about your feel and how people are thinking about you. When I think about brand, I think about the Double D’s: Distinction and differentiation.”

Adding to the list of D’s was Dana Harder, Partner and Co-Founder at Unreal Digital Group, in a content panel discussion. She noted the importance of discoverability — particularly in the era of stealth, anonymous buyers.

“If you were to start searching for yourself and your brand on generative AI tools and start having conversations with your clients about it, you’ll be surprised to find out you’re not there,” explained Harder. “You’ll see other companies coming up that might not be in your industry at all, or your competition, and you’re still not here. From a content perspective, that’s going to mean creating more content — it pains me to say it, but you’re going to have bring some product and brand content back in the mix to come up where people are searching.”

Leveraging Real-World Customer Insights To Inform Content Creation

To create content that hits on the Triple D’s (and I’m not talking about Guy Fieri’s show), first- and zero-party data are essential. Sarah Sehgal, Director of Demand Generation for OpenSesame, noted that marketers likely have prospect information at their fingertips.

“Every marketer has excellent access to zero- and first-party data,” said Sehgal. “Zero-party data, specifically, comes from people raising their hands and intentionally sharing information, while first-party is coming from whatever platforms you have on your website that connect into our CRM or marketing automation tool. To generate more first-party insights, you need to go into those systems to segment and activate your audience by action to unlock that type of engagement.”

Sehgal also mentioned that marketers often tend to overcomplicate things, so she encouraged them to embrace simplicity. Taking it one step further was Handley, who added that the best company voices are simple, engaging and even a little weird. With that in mind, Handley noted that a company’s voice isn’t about grammar or punctuation — instead, it’s about their personality on the page.

“The weirder you are in B2B marketing, the more that you will be remembered and the more your content will connect with those around you,” said Handley. “Weird gets a bad rap and people make it seem like a bad thing, but it’s real. It tells the truth, it’s memorable and entertaining, and it stands out from the crowd.”

To learn more about the intricacies of crafting compelling buying experiences, make sure to head over to our recap of the event’s first two days and revisit the third-ever Campfire session.

Feeling some FOMO from missing out on the 2024 B2B Marketing Exchange? The #B2BMX team is already hard at work putting together their next event, B2B Marketing Exchange East, taking place from Oct. 1 to 3 in Alpharetta, Georgia. See you there!

The post #B2BMX Day 3 Recap: Unraveling The Marketer’s Paradox To Enter The B2B Content Renaissance appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

The announcement comes as Photoroom launched its first foundation model tailor-made for product photography, Photoroom Instant Diffusion (Photoroom ID), which is trained to master product photography to ensure that images from different sources look consistently styled.

“The foundation model is the next step in empowering businesses to create amazing product photos without the need to be an expert at prompt engineering or photography,” said Matthieu Rouif, Co-founder and CEO at Photoroom, in a statement. “Our model has been trained to excel at product photography and can quickly adapt to user needs and feedback. We are not only increasing the speed of our model, but also optimizing for quality, through higher resolution, more detailed images and a larger training dataset than ever before. As a user-centric AI company, we designed the architecture to make sense for our users.”

Additionally, the company is launching a suite of new AI photo-editing tools, which include:

• AI Backgrounds, formerly known as Instant Backgrounds, that generate AI backgrounds for product photography;
• AI Expand, to realistically expanding the scene around an existing image;
• AI Images, which allow customers to create custom images from scratch using text prompts;
• AI Fill, which customizes an item or area of an image;
• Auto-Rotate, which corrects the camera angle with AI for more professional images;
• AI Upscale, which enhancese resolution of images for higher quality photos; and
• An Image Editing API that helps businesses use Photoroom’s API to generate and edit hundreds of images in seconds.

The post Photoroom Secures $43M In Series B Funding; Releases Suite Of AI Tools appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

But before practitioners can start executing their 2024 strategies, they need to understand the data that’ll most benefit their business, as well the results they want to see from each dataset.

“There are so many different pieces of intent data — there’s first-party, there’s data from pools and there’s your own data,” said Sarah Sehgal, Director of Growth Marketing at business training platform OpenSesame. “Marketers first need to define what they want their data to look like, and then understand why they want their data to look that way. It’s easy to get distracted and overwhelmed, so you need to focus on your KPIs, what you’re trying to do with your business and pull in the data that will help drive that.”

This report will analyze the current trends in database and contact acquisition strategies, with a specific focus on the increasing role first-party data plays in the current climate. Leveraging new research, specific topics of discussion will include:

• The steps organizations are taking to get ahead of the third-party cookie “apocalypse;”
• How practitioners are bridging the gaps in their database strategies to ensure more accurate and actionable intel;
• The most popular places to store data and the departments that (should) have access to it;
• The top challenges marketers face with all aspects of data, with commentary on the factors impeding data strategies; and
• The specific areas where practitioners are investing to improve their database strategies and contact acquisition.

Preparing For The Upcoming Cookie Demise

With about five months until the privacy hourglass runs out of sand, just 17% of marketers no longer rely on third-party cookies — meaning that the 83% still leveraging that data source are in for a rude awakening. Despite the complexities associated with third-party alternatives, the shift toward opt-in collection processes will ultimately benefit both sides of the buying journey.

Manu Mathew, CEO and Co-founder of brand customer network and engagement platform Cohora, explained that third-party data often restricts brands from interacting with customers meaningfully, because that data is often given to marketers in segments instead of at the individual level.

{loadposition GIAA}“By and large, when a consumer allows third-party data gathering through cookies, they don’t know what they’re consenting to or how their data might be used,” said Mathew “Eighty-six percent of consumers care about data privacy, demanding transparency and control over how businesses use their data, and 47% of the respondents have switched companies due to poor data policies and practices. Because of this, brands are now pushed to find ways to access zero- and first-party data sources that foster a transparent relationship between brands and consumers.”

With that in mind, 61% of practitioners plan on slightly to greatly increasing their budget allotment toward database strategies to onboard more first- and zero-party sources. When asked their top reasons for investing in better data collection processes, survey respondents pointed to:

• Better insights to personalize content and messaging;
• Better data coverage of target accounts for ABM initiatives;
• Deeper intelligence to tie intent signals to specific contacts; and
• Better data to expand total addressable markets and identify new prospects.

Using Alternatives To Generate Better Data

In the current tumultuous work environment, data is at high risk of decaying or growing stale — specifically, 64% of respondents said their No. 1 data challenge in maintaining database quality is old or outdated data.

Other challenges included lack of time and resources to implement an effective process, no standard operating procedure for marketing/sales to keep data up-to-date and not enough data on current customers. To help remedy struggle No. 3, the most effective tactics for acquiring prospect and customer data included:

• Website-based registration forms;
• In-person events and trade shows;
• Content download/offer forms on dedicated landing pages; and
• Subscription databases.

With opt-in information becoming the new currency for marketers, zero- and first-party data will be the cashflow that supports practitioners’ initiatives. Although these data sources might be more difficult to collect — as they require more cooperation from the buyers themselves — it’s ultimately more valuable.

“Direct ownership of zero- and first-party data allows a company to have a much more personalized and intimate relationship with their customers, since they have insight into an individual customer’s interests and preferences,” said Mathew. “In turn, this enhances the overall customer experience by personalizing every step of the journey, not just the initial offer.”

Arguably, the most structurally sound method of ensuring data is easily accessible and useful is to create a single source of truth that both sales and marketing teams can access.

“You need to create a culture of open and honest communication,” said OpenSesame’s Sehgal. “When there are issues with data, you want everyone to feel comfortable to ask those questions and create the space where you can acknowledge, ‘Hey, it’s not all perfect — how do we work together to figure out the nuances and work this out?’”

Conclusion

By exploring these innovative approaches, organizations can harness the power of willingly shared information to build more personalized and ethical customer relationships. Establishing cohesive communication and collaboration among different departments ensures a unified approach to data management, maximizing the effectiveness of database strategies. The integration of alternative sources and internal alignment will remain foundational for success in leveraging databases for sustainable growth and enhanced customer experiences.

The post State Of Database Strategies In 2024: Practitioners Restructuring Data Collection To Prioritize ‘Opt-In’ Methods appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

But it would be a mistake to conflate email’s reliability with stodginess. As marketers encounter technological changes and evolving customer expectations, email marketing can adapt, becoming more personalized, timely and reflective of consumer desires.

Throughout 2023, no technological development has rocketed into prominence more than artificial intelligence (AI). As generative AI platforms for public use rolled out last year, marketers and customers alike have expressed interest in the technology’s capacity to improve buying experiences.

Buyers are particularly interested in AI’s ability to help them navigate purchase and return experiences, gain insight into products and take advantage of personalized recommendations and promotions. What better channel to showcase AI’s benefits while building on the consistency and accessibility email already provides?

AI’s Power To Optimize Messages

AI’s transformative power in email marketing is undeniable. In this digital age, capturing attention and fostering engagement demands resonant emails. That’s where AI steps in, revolutionizing how we connect with customers.

Today’s consumers crave personalization and richer experiences. In fact, more than 70% of global consumers believe AI can elevate their customer journey, with Millennials and Gen Z waxing even more enthusiastic (80% and 83%, respectively). Generative AI is the answer, empowering marketers to craft emails that hit the mark for every individual. And the results speak for themselves: Nearly all (95%) marketers who’ve embraced Gen AI find it “effective,” with more than half declaring it “very effective.”

{loadposition GIAA}The magic of AI lies in hyper-personalization and relevance. Imagine emails that whisper directly to each subscriber, speaking to their unique needs and interests. This laser focus translates to higher open and click-through rates.

Gen AI assists marketing teams by:

• Producing first drafts of headlines and email copy for marketers to edit and refine;
• Facilitating better engagement testing with rapidly generated subject line variants;
• Providing alternative copy in various tones to more closely match brand voice and campaign goals;
• Offering suggestions to improve a marketer’s copy for greater effectiveness with customers; and
• Translating copy into multiple languages for greater messaging inclusivity.

While free, accessible consumer-facing models have catapulted Gen AI into the spotlight, its potential to transform the email experience for marketers and consumers extends far beyond content generation. Predictive models will evolve beyond merely crunching marketing data to generate insights — they’ll actively suggest ways to elevate your email marketing strategy and tactics. AI’s near-future uses include:

• Customized email templates for specific audiences and campaigns, with the power to suggest images, layouts and calls-to-action for the best possible performance;
• Activity and attribute-based subscriber clusters, facilitating dynamic subscriber segmentation to improve the impact of email campaigns;
• Customer feedback analysis identifying pain points and surfacing subscriber sentiment to make messages more relevant; and
• Predictive insights based on past email performance and subscriber rates to help marketers pinpoint send times and frequency.

Other Emerging Technologies

While AI is undoubtedly making waves in improving marketing emails, it’s not the only player in the game. Email clients, for example, constantly evolve, often with little warning. These updates can wreak havoc on carefully crafted emails and templates, leading to a frustrating user experience.

Think about it: With email volume tripling in recent years, marketers are spending more and more time testing emails to identify issues and manage (often costly) fixes. Meanwhile, email remains a vital channel for delivering positive brand experiences, and customer expectations are higher than ever.

A whopping 85% of customers have said that just two negative experiences can make them ditch a brand, even one they love. The potential loss of subscribers (and missed revenue) resulting from broken emails or ineffective personalization is no small matter.

The right technology automatically monitors email to notify marketers about unforeseen changes. By reviewing frequently used templated and automated sends, marketers can mitigate problems and retest emails quickly and efficiently to maintain a high-quality user experience.

Brands must invigorate their approach to email marketing, acknowledging email as a leading omnichannel force to offer a unified brand experience bolstered by ever-improving personalization and interactivity. Brands that ignore these technological advancements — and the critical customer experience enhancements they provide — do so at their own peril.

Cynthia Price is the SVP of Marketing at email marketing platform Litmus. Her team grows and supports the Litmus and email community through content marketing, demand generation and events. She has been in the email marketing industry for more than 10 years, and was previously VP of Marketing at Emma, an email service provider. She’s passionate about creating authentic communications and harnessing the power of email — the heart of the marketing mix.

The post How Email Marketing Innovations Will Impact Brand Strategies appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

“Historically, brands have relied on third-party data like cookies to track website visitors, improve user experience and collect data for personalization techniques in their marketing efforts,” said Manu Mathew, CEO and Co-founder of brand customer network and engagement platform Cohora. “For better or worse, this is simply how it’s been done for years. Stringent legislation promoted by privacy concerns have left major browsers to phase out support, leaving publishers to face potential losses of more than $10 billion, as reported by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.”

As Chrome plans to extend those restrictions to 100% of users by Q3, only 8% of marketers feel fully prepared to adapt to the changes, while 22% indicated they are mostly prepared. For the 70% who haven’t prepped their alternate strategies, the clock is quickly ticking.

“Marketers may feel unprepared for the phase-out of third-party cookies for various reasons,” explained Carol Howley, CMO of email signature management platform Exclaimer. “The heavy reliance on these cookies for tracking user behavior, targeted ads and campaign measurement is a huge challenge. A lack of familiarity with alternatives adds to the sense of unpreparedness, as some marketers struggle to understand and implement new technologies or strategies.”

The Impact Of The Phase-Out On Marketers & Buyers

With about five months until the privacy hourglass runs out of sand, just 17% of marketers no longer rely on third-party cookies — meaning that the 83% still leveraging that data source are in for a rude awakening.

“The phase-out will have significant implications for marketers, especially those still heavily reliant on tracking user behavior for advertising and analytics purposes,” said Howley. “This will have potential impacts on advertising, analytics, personalization and privacy efforts. It will become more difficult for advertisers to track users across different websites, limiting the precision of targeted ads. Additionally, tracking and attributing conversions will become more complex.”

Despite the complexities associated with third-party alternatives, the shift toward opt-in collection processes will ultimately benefit both sides of the buying journey. Mathew explained that third-party data often restricts brands from interacting with customers meaningfully, because that data is often given to marketers in segments instead of at the individual level. On the flipside, prospects and customers benefit from more control and ownership over their purchasing process.

“By and large, when a consumer allows third-party data gathering through cookies, they don’t know what they’re consenting to or how their data might be used,” said Mathew. “Eighty-six percent of consumers care about data privacy, demanding transparency and control over how businesses use their data, and 47% of the respondents have switched companies due to poor data policies and practices. Because of this, brands are now pushed to find ways to access zero- and first-party data sources that foster a transparent relationship between brands and consumers.”

Analyzing The Alternative Data Sources

As first- and zero-party data bubble up to take the wheel, marketers need to increase the incentives and benefits of information sharing for prospects. Because of this move toward alternative data sources, marketers will be forced to become more creative and in-touch with their customers.

“Marketers need to look for alternatives and create a plan that will move the needle for their business,” said Howley. “This is an incredible opportunity to shake up marketing and do better by your customers and prospects.”

She continued that marketers can explore the possibilities around AI and machine-learning as effective third-party stand-ins. She continued that predictive analytics and customer behavior models built from on-site interactions can replicate the personalized experiences that once hinged on cookies. However, leveraging these tools requires tight internal alignment.

“Collaboration will become an indispensable tool for marketers,” explained Howley. “Strategic partnerships will create paths for shared benefits and strengthened brand identity while preserving user privacy. Marketers will see that the best way to foster trust will be 1:1 communication.”

How To Leverage Alternative Resources For Increased Personalization

With opt-in information becoming the new currency for marketers, zero- and first-party data will be the cashflow that supports practitioners’ initiatives. Although these data sources might be more difficult to collect — as they require more cooperation from the buyers themselves — it’s ultimately more valuable.

“Direct ownership of zero- and first-party data allows a company to have a much more personalized and intimate relationship with their customers, since they have insight into an individual customer’s interests and preferences,” said Mathew. “In turn, this enhances the overall customer experience by personalizing every step of the journey, not just the initial offer.”

Additionally, Howley explained that content-driven strategies will be marketers’ biggest support in their strategy for collecting first-party data. In fact, 62% of marketers plan to increase their database investments in the new year. When it comes to the top reasons for investing in data collection and enrichment practices, 73% of practitioners want to generate better insights to personalize content and messaging.

“We’re now in the era of focusing on creating a strong human-centric brand and the personalization of content at scale,” Howley. “We need to craft every message, every campaign with the individual in mind. The future belongs to brands who adapt and venture down new paths in data management and customer engagement. Marketers have an opportunity to not just adapt, but to thrive and redefine the marketing playbook in a post-third-party cookie era.”

The post Analyzing The Impact Of Google Chrome’s Third-Party Cookie Phase-Out appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

AUDIENCE is designed to leverage a combination of job roles, functions, firmographics and specialized technology intelligence, such as past purchases and installs, through BlueWhale’s partnership with HG Insights to create highly customized campaigns. To help users rely on their existing advertising infrastructure, BlueWhale also invested in third-party audience integration tools. 

“Our tradition of and commitment to delivering tangible ROI for our demand generation customers is constant, reliable and very well-known,” said James Oberhausen, President and General Manager of BlueWhale Research, in a statement. “With the launch of AUDIENCE, we are delighted to offer more opportunities for our clients and agency partners to enjoy the dedicated service and positive outcomes that are characteristic of BlueWhale’s offerings. Digital advertising teams are a new focus for us in our customer base and agency partnerships. Our attention to this important and complex function in marketing and broader go-to-market organizations promises to deliver tremendous value for everyone in 2024 and beyond.”

The post BlueWhale Research Launches Digital Programmatic Display & Social Audience Solution appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

Sendoso, a sending platform, and Alyce, a corporate gifting platform, entered an asset purchase agreement that will combine the personalization power, automation capabilities, smarts and global scale behind the two strategic gifting companies.

Kris Rudeegraap, CEO of Sendoso, explained in a blog post that the company will infuse its AI functionality into Alyce’s recipient-first personalization capabilities to:

• Automatically trigger personalized smart sends based on sending data and social signals;
• Customize the recipient experience; and
• Incorporate strategic gifting into campaigns on a global scale.

“We built this category and now, after learning from hundreds of thousands of users and tens of millions of gifts sent, we’re building the future of AI-enhanced, hyper-personalized gifting,” wrote Rudeegraap in the post. “From one-person startups to Fortune 100 enterprises, we have a solution for every team and company size. We’ve joined forces to create the largest and only gifting solution you will ever need, with the most robust gifting dataset and the security, privacy, governance, scale and service levels you require.”

The post Sendoso & Alyce Team Up To Create ‘Largest’ Gifting Solution appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

Specifically, the innovations include:

• Campaign Outcomes, which allows customers to pick their ideal campaign outcomes and then utilizes Demandbase’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) to optimize each impression and campaign strategy;
• Campaign Influence Metrics that reportedly make it easier to review B2B-specific influences, such as increases in website engagement, pipeline and revenue;
• Creative Library Enhancements that provide digital marketers with more control over their creative assets to create and launch native, video and connected TV campaigns within the campaign builder; and
• Job Level and Job Function Exclusions designed to prevent impressions from being served to people outside of the buying group, regardless of their intent level.

“While our expert teams will always be here to partner with customers on successful campaign strategy, we have also always had a significant AI component behind our DSP and are excited to offer more self-serve capabilities,” said Gareth Noonan, General Manager, Advertising at Demandbase, in a statement.

The post Demandbase Reveals AI-Powered Advertising Innovations appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

The General Data Protection Regulation ushered in a new era of consumer rules and regulations regarding the processing of personal data. Since its adoption in 2018, a dozen states have enacted privacy legislation — with some such as Montana and Oregon set to take effect later this year, while those in Tennessee and Delaware will be enforced beginning in 2025. Several other states across the nation have introduced — but not yet passed — similar bills.

In addition to navigating this complex patchwork of privacy legislation, marketers are now grappling with the “death of third-party cookies.” On Jan. 4, 2024, Google started to phase out third-party cookies and plans to roll out the restrictions to all its users in the second half of the year.

In response, many marketers are turning to first-party intent data as a primary method for gathering deeper intelligence on prospective customers. These insights can provide real-time updates into buyer engagements with the company website, content assets and other marketing materials. According to the “2024 State Of Database Strategies & Contact Acquisition Report,” companies plan to ensure data compliance by:

• Becoming more transparent regarding data privacy;
• Enforcing limitations and more protection around the information they collect from customers;
• Training employees regarding data privacy;
• Updating data protection programs as instructed; and
• Using state-of-the-art encryption methods.

To keep up with the modern B2B landscapes, marketers need to deliver highly personalized content that buyers can peruse at their own pace while also keeping abreast of ever-changing privacy rules and regulation.

The post Protecting Privacy: Understanding The Role Of Data Restrictions In B2B appeared first on Demand Gen Report.

Built on ON24’s first-party data, the ON24 Intelligent Engagement Platform seeks to combine the company’s webinar, virtual event and content marketing products with its new AI-powered Analytics and Content Engine to help provide an integrated go-to-market (GTM) solution. The capabilities will reportedly help practitioners:

• Build best-in-class, hyper-personalized branded experiences that reach their prospects and customers at scale;
• Interact with prospects and customers 24/7 through AI-generated content and always-on nurtures;
• Track audience engagement data across interactions and analyze engagement across key audience segments; and
• Enable data-driven actions across GTM teams.

“AI will fundamentally reshape sales and marketing and reimagine the customer experience,” said Sharat Sharan, Co-founder, President and CEO of ON24, in a statement. “This means that sales and marketing teams must embrace AI to innovate and adapt or risk being left behind. With the launch of the ON24 Intelligent Engagement Platform, we are excited to leverage our unique foundation of first-party data to give our industry-leading customers an AI advantage so that they can combine best-in-class experiences, personalization and content to capture and act on connected data and insights at scale to drive revenue growth. And we believe AI will continue to be a key differentiation for our own business and technology strategy moving forward, powering a new era of intelligent engagement.”

The post ON24 Unveils The Next Generation Of Its Intelligence Platform appeared first on Demand Gen Report.