As marketing styles have innovated and evolved in recent years, B2B marketers are now focusing on specific strategies, such as operating private domain traffic, social media marketing, and so on. As we enter the second half of 2022, read for HubSpot’s summary of B2B marketing trends thus far this year. 

Question 1: What are the biggest challenges for B2B marketers in 2022?

According to HubSpot’s study, 30% of B2B marketers marked that “measuring the ROI of marketing activities” has been their top challenge so far, in 2022. 

Measuring ROI can be easier for some online activities compared to others. In China, for example, search engine advertising, led by Baidu and 360 Search, enables B2B marketers to track ROI through advertising costs and conversion data easily. 

( *track ROI through advertising costs and conversion data)

However, other activities can be more difficult to track. Analyzing the specific social or blog content that results in sales, for instance, can be more arduous and convoluted. After all, customers can encounter several touchpoints during the campaign. This difficulty makes it tougher to pinpoint exactly what influences customers to buy from your brand.

Question 2: Which social media marketing strategies do B2B marketers plan on increasing their investment in, for 2022? 

As a result of the pandemic, how consumers shop has changed dramatically, with most opting to shop online, especially by purchasing products directly on social media. So, more B2B marketers want to ensure their products or services are showing up on social channels with influencer partnerships. According to research in 2021, KOL marketing is projected to become a $13.8 billion industry, and shows no sign of slowing down.

This growth creates unlimited potential for B2B brands. According to HubSpot, 71% of B2B marketers are likely to invest more in KOL marketing channels during 2022, to reach their customers.  

Question 3: Which marketing formats are most important for B2B marketers in 2022? 

Roughly half of B2B marketers plan to create more case studies in 2022, surpassing interviews, eBooks, and images. Success stories of brands provoke great interest among consumers. As such, case studies are one of the most dominant forms of content marketing for B2B users. Besides, 18% of B2B marketers say they will stop leveraging marketing formats such as webinars and conferences, which have been popular in the past. 

For example, the famous B2B software brand Adobe has 262,300 followers and over 2 million likes on its TikTok account. When Adobe first joined TikTok, it published a short video titled "Who are the creative TikTok bloggers we should follow ", to introduce how users can create excellent videos using Adobe products. The video received more than 2 million views on TikTok, successfully engaging users.

Question 4: What are the main marketing objectives for B2B marketers in 2022?

Brand awareness is critical for nurturing customer trust, long-term loyalty, and brand equity. It makes sense, then, that so many B2B marketers feel it is critical for long-term success. According to HubSpot, roughly half of B2B marketers reported that increasing “brand awareness is their top marketing goal for 2022”. This surpasses other goals such as increasing engagement, advertising products, lead generation, and even closing deals.

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