B2B Content Marketing Trends: What's Happening in 2024

B2B content marketing is evolving at a breakneck pace.

As we look ahead to 2024, it's clear that data-driven strategies, AI-powered creation, and social-first content will be the keys to success.

With 80% of business decision-makers preferring to get information from articles rather than ads, it's more important than ever for B2B brands to stay ahead of the curve.

To thrive in this new era of content marketing, B2B marketers must:

• Embrace data analytics to create highly targeted, relevant content
• Leverage AI tools to streamline production and ideation
• Prioritize social media optimization and influencer partnerships

So what exactly is B2B content marketing, and why does it matter so much for go-to-market success in 2024? Let's dive in.

What is B2B Content Marketing?

B2B content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

It's about providing helpful information that solves problems and answers questions for your target buyers, rather than simply promoting products or services.

The goal is to establish trust, credibility, and thought leadership with potential customers.

By consistently delivering high-quality content that resonates with your audience, you can nurture relationships and guide prospects through the buyer's journey towards a purchase decision.

Why is B2B Content Marketing Important?

In today's digital age, buyers are more empowered than ever.

This means it's critical for B2B brands to provide the right content at the right time to influence purchase decisions.

Effective B2B content marketing can help you:

• Increase brand awareness and visibility
• Generate and nurture leads
• Establish thought leadership and credibility
• Educate and engage target audiences
• Drive website traffic and SEO rankings
• Support sales enablement efforts
• Improve customer retention and loyalty

Without a content marketing strategy, you risk being invisible to potential customers during crucial stages of the buyer's journey.

How is B2B Content Marketing Related to Go-to-Market Strategies?

Your content marketing strategy should be closely aligned with your overall go-to-market (GTM) plan.

It plays a key role in supporting each stage of the customer lifecycle, from awareness to consideration to decision and beyond.

Here's how content fits into a typical B2B GTM strategy:

1. Awareness Stage: Create educational blog posts, social media content, and videos that address top-of-funnel topics and attract your target audience. The goal is to make prospects aware of your brand and the solutions you provide.
2. Consideration Stage: Develop more in-depth content like eBooks, webinars, and case studies that showcase your expertise and help buyers evaluate their options. This is where you demonstrate how your solution stands out from competitors.
3. Decision Stage: Offer bottom-of-funnel content like product demos, free trials, and ROI calculators to help buyers justify a purchase decision. Your content should make it easy for them to understand the value and take action.
4. Post-Purchase: Continue providing valuable content to customers in the form of user guides, best practice tips, and thought leadership to drive retention and loyalty.

It's also important to use content to enable your sales team. Arm reps with helpful assets like one-pagers, battle cards, and email templates to improve their productivity and effectiveness in GTM AI.

Finally, don't forget to leverage content data and analytics to optimize your GTM strategy over time.

Track engagement metrics to understand what resonates with your audience and informs your ongoing content and GTM Workflows.

By integrating content into your broader GTM efforts, you can create a cohesive customer experience that drives real business results. The GTM AI Platform allows you to streamline content planning and execution across the entire customer lifecycle.

While content marketing requires an upfront investment, it can actually reduce GTM Bloat and increase efficiency by attracting better-fit leads and enabling sales.

Top 10 B2B Content Marketing Trends to Watch in 2024

As we look ahead to 2024, the B2B content marketing landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace. To stay competitive and drive results, marketers must adapt their strategies to incorporate the latest trends and technologies.

Here are the top 10 B2B content marketing trends to watch in the coming year:

1. AI-Powered Content Creation

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the way B2B marketers create content.

AI content creation tools can help generate ideas, optimize copy for search engines, and even draft entire articles.

By 2024, Gartner predicts that 30% of all B2B content will be created using AI. Marketers who embrace this technology can scale their content production while maintaining quality and relevance.

2. Hyper-Personalization Across Channels

B2B buyers expect personalized content experiences tailored to their unique needs and preferences. AI for marketing makes it possible to deliver individualized content recommendations across multiple touchpoints.

By leveraging data and machine learning, marketers can serve up the right content to the right person at the right time, driving engagement and conversions.

3. Video Content for Every Stage of the Funnel

Video has become an essential part of the B2B content mix, and its importance will only continue to grow in 2024. From top-of-funnel educational videos to bottom-of-funnel product demos, video content can engage audiences at every stage of the buyer's journey.

To succeed with video, focus on creating high-quality, informative content that addresses your audience's pain points and questions.

4. Employee-Generated & User-Generated Content

Authentic, credible content is more important than ever in the B2B space. That's why many brands are turning to their own employees and customers to create content.

Employee-generated content showcases your internal experts and thought leaders, while user-generated content provides social proof and builds trust. AI for competitive intelligence can help you identify opportunities to feature this type of content in your strategy.

5. Thought Leadership Through Owned Media

Establishing your brand as a trusted authority in your industry is crucial for attracting and retaining B2B customers.

In 2024, more companies will invest in owned media channels like blogs, podcasts, and newsletters to showcase their thought leadership.

By consistently publishing high-quality, original content, you can build a loyal audience and position your brand as a go-to resource in your space.

6. Personalized Interactive Content

Interactive content like quizzes, calculators, and assessments can engage B2B audiences while gathering valuable data for personalization.

AI for enterprises can help you create and optimize these interactive experiences at scale.

By providing value and entertainment through interactive content, you can capture attention, drive engagement, and move prospects further down the funnel.

7. Multichannel Content Experiences

B2B buyers engage with content across multiple channels and devices throughout their journey. To provide a seamless experience, marketers must plan cohesive content journeys that span touchpoints like email, social media, and websites.

AI for email marketing can help you personalize and optimize content for each channel, ensuring a consistent brand message and user experience.

8. Strategic Influencer Partnerships

Influencer marketing isn't just for B2C brands. In 2024, more B2B companies will partner with industry influencers to co-create content and reach new audiences.

The key is to build authentic, long-term relationships with influencers who align with your brand values and expertise.

By collaborating on content like webinars, interviews, and guest posts, you can tap into the influencer's credibility and audience to drive results.

9. Data-Driven Content Optimization

To maximize the impact of your B2B content marketing, you need to continuously measure and optimize performance.

Generative AI best practices for SEO can help you create content that ranks well in search engines and resonates with your target audience.

By tracking key metrics and running A/B tests, you can identify what content elements drive the best results and make data-driven decisions to improve your strategy over time.

10. Agile, Iterative Content Planning

In the fast-paced world of B2B marketing, agility is essential. Many teams are adopting agile marketing practices to plan and execute their content strategies more efficiently.

With an agile approach, you can create content in short sprints, quickly adapt to changes in the market or feedback from your audience, and continuously improve your results.

By staying flexible and iterative, you can stay ahead of the competition and drive real business impact with your content marketing.

As you plan your B2B content marketing strategy for 2024, keep these top trends in mind. By embracing AI, personalization, video, and other key tactics, you can create a winning content program that engages your audience and drives results.

What the Internet Says about Content Marketing Trends

Top 3 Subreddits on B2B Content Marketing Trends:

1. r/content_marketing - Focused on content marketing strategy and tactics
2. r/B2BMarketing - Covers business-to-business marketing topics
3. r/marketing - For general marketing discussions and articles

Recent Podcasts from Copy.ai Leadership

Paul Yacoubian - Co-Founder and CEO

Date: 2024-01-28

Watch the interview

Key Points:

• Early adoption of GPT-3 and recognizing its potential
• Rapid MVP development and launch
• Strong user growth and product-market fit
• Using AI to automate SEO and content production
• Vision for AI transforming business processes and workflows

Embrace the Future of B2B Content Marketing

As we've explored, the B2B content marketing landscape is undergoing a significant transformation.

From AI-powered content creation to hyper-personalization across channels, the trends shaping the industry in 2024 and beyond are both exciting and challenging.

To stay ahead of the curve, B2B marketers must be willing to embrace new technologies and tactics.

AI tools like Copy.ai can help streamline content production and optimization, allowing teams to scale their efforts without sacrificing quality.

But technology is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly succeed with B2B content marketing, brands must also focus on creating authentic, valuable experiences for their audiences.

This means investing in thought leadership, employee-generated content, and strategic influencer partnerships that showcase your unique expertise and perspective.

It also means taking a data-driven approach to content planning and optimization.

Ultimately, the future of B2B content marketing belongs to those who can balance innovation with empathy.

So as you plan your content strategy for 2024 and beyond, don't be afraid to experiment with new trends and technologies.

But always keep your customer at the center of everything you do. By combining cutting-edge tactics with a human touch, you can position your brand for long-term success in the ever-changing world of B2B marketing.

The GTM AI Platform from Copy.ai provides a comprehensive suite of tools to help you plan, execute, and optimize your B2B content marketing efforts. From AI-powered copywriting to competitor analysis and content strategy templates, this all-in-one platform streamlines your workflows and drives better results.

To learn more about how AI is transforming B2B content marketing, check out our latest resources:

• AI Content Creation: The Future of Content Marketing
• Generative AI Best Practices for SEO
• AI for Marketing: 10 Ways to Boost Results

By staying informed and embracing the power of AI, you can take your B2B content marketing to new heights in 2024 and beyond.