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What Decision Makers Value in Thought-Leadership Content

What Decision Makers Value in Thought-Leadership Content

by | Mar 6, 2023 | artificial intelligence, Content Marketing, Marketing

Edelman and LinkedIn recently conducted a survey of almost 3,500 management-level global business executives, which found that decision-makers are more likely to value thought leadership over traditional product-oriented marketing during an economic downturn.

Thought Leadership Content

The survey revealed that 55% of decision-makers would cut products and services that they consider “nice-to-haves” rather than “must-haves” during budget cuts. However, non-critical providers can increase their chances of winning business by demonstrating that they can help a prospect increase their profit margins, minimize losses, retain customers, and win market share.

To achieve this, thought leadership can play a strong role. 61% of decision-makers believe that an organization’s thought leadership can be more effective than traditional product-oriented marketing during an economic downturn. Additionally, 55% of decision-makers believe that non-critical providers must produce high-quality thought leadership to win their business during an economic downturn.

What elements make thought leadership effective?
Decision-makers expect non-critical providers to identify new opportunities or industry trends stemming from the economic downturn, give them information and insights that will make them more effective/successful in their job, and explain how the organization can help their business do well despite the economic downturn.

To increase the value of thought leadership, decision-makers look for content that is quick and easy to consume and absorb, with 51% rating this attribute as a top-1 box score. Additionally, 49% believe that it is crucial for thought leadership to reference robust research and strong supporting data. B2B buyers have previously stated that content including research and data is crucial, and vendors can improve their content quality by incorporating more research and data.

B2B marketers need to focus on thought leadership content during an economic downturn to demonstrate their value to decision-makers. By providing quick, easy-to-consume content that references robust research and strong supporting data, marketers can increase their chances of winning business during tough economic times.

To learn more, download the study.

About the Data: The results are based on a survey of 3,449 global business executives, using the LinkedIn platform to survey LinkedIn members. Respondents hailed from the US, Canada, UK, Singapore, Australia and India, and the majority (60%) work at companies with more than 200 employees.

 

Need assistance with your marketing content? Schedule a call or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.

BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in marketing and sales automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.

 

 

How Marketers Use AI

How Marketers Use AI

by | Dec 12, 2022 | artificial intelligence, Marketing

According to the latest Salesforce State of Marketing Report, there’s sustained growth in the share of marketers around the world who have a fully defined artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, reaching 68% this year from 60% last year and 57% in 2020.

Marketers Usage of AI

Among the marketing organizations that use AI, the most widespread use is to automate customer interactions, as reported by 90%. Some 89% use AI to automate data integration, while 88% use these applications to personalize the customer journey across channels, and an equal 88% for process automation, such as reporting. The analysts note that three of the top four AI use cases are related to automation, highlighting the importance of scaling up speed and effectiveness with existing resources.

The biggest year-over-year decline in AI usage is for driving the best offers in real-time (77% this year, down from 89% last year).

By contrast, the biggest jump this year has been in the percentage of AI users who are leveraging the technology to bridge online and offline experiences: 87% report doing so this year, up from 71% last year. This is interesting given the above findings on automation: past research has found that while automation can improve efficiencies, adding artificial intelligence (AI) can help to further improve the customer experience.

The study notes that marketers are leveraging AI to improve customer experiences, which is helpful based on marketers’ customer-centric focus. Eight in 10 respondents to Salesforce’s survey agree that customer experience is the key competitive differentiator. Despite some debate about who owns CX, marketers in this survey think that it’s their responsibility: 8 in 10 agree that their marketing organization leads customer experience initiatives across the business.

Marketers may be under pressure to make good use of AI: 88% either strongly agree (44%) or agree (44%) that marketers must continually innovate to remain competitive, and 71% also agree to some extent that meeting customer expectations is harder than it was a year ago.

Download Salesforce’s study to learn more.

About the Data: The results are based on 6,000 responses from marketing managers, directors, VPs, and CMOs across 35 countries. Respondents were from companies of various sizes across B2C (50%), B2B (25%), and B2B2C (25%) business models.

 

Need assistance with your marketing strategy? Schedule a call or email Lori Berson at lberson@BersonDeanStevens.com.

BersonDeanStevens has been a recognized brand strategy and marketing leader for over 25 years, including over a decade in marketing and sales automation. We work in partnership with you to differentiate your brand and achieve your business goals. Client list.