10 thought leadership trends and predictions for the year ahead
Each year, we make our thought leadership trends and predictions to help brand, marketing and content teams decide where to place their bets for the coming year. As the new year begins, B2B marketers are under pressure. A darker economic outlook means that their investments will come under greater scrutiny, and will need to clear a higher bar for success. At the same time, their role is broadening to include responsibilities around sustainability and society — today’s marketers need to make an impact. Here, we hope to provide a bit more certainty. What do we think are the thought leadership trends and themes that will define 2023?
AUTHORS
Rob Mitchell
CEO, FT Longitude
Gareth Lofthouse
CRO, FT Longitude
Marketing will need to prove that it is not a discretionary spend
In 2023, budgets will be tightly managed, and all marketing investments will be scrutinised. Any programme that looks like a nice-to-have will be vulnerable to budget cuts.
This will not be an obstacle for marketers who can articulate a clear business case for their campaigns and present a rigorous strategy that optimises the commercial ROI from each investment.
The most effective marketers will also be able to demonstrate how thought leadership can be activated in ways that drive revenue growth in a tough market. This is likely to include showing how ideas and insight can build the sales pipeline and drive engagement right through the sales funnel.
The brands that take a ‘fair weather’ approach to content marketing will be unable to commit to it when the economic climate is tough.
This creates an opportunity for the brands that are committed to thought leadership for the long term.
For these companies, 2023 will be a chance to increase their impact and reach new audiences, building on the momentum they already have from their sustained thought leadership strategies.
There will be more opportunities to win share of voice
Audiences will have less tolerance for hype marketing
Business audiences are quick to spot self-serving brands that try to disguise calls to invest as thought leadership.
In 2023, they will have even less tolerance for content that does not work hard for their time and attention. Audience engagement vanishes as soon as marketing fluff is exposed for what it is.
Successful marketers will invest in real thought leadership that provides genuine insight based on robust evidence and compelling analysis.
As if the long-established B2B marketing role were not complex enough, marketers in 2023 must also communicate the company’s position on sustainability.
This means moving beyond the customer and thinking about a much wider range of stakeholders. They will also have to consider different metrics, because traditional KPIs tend to focus more on profit than on the planet or people.
Marketers will need to balance core marketing and sustainability communications
Brands will need more consistent campaigns
In many companies, thought leadership is still largely decentralised and can often take place in silos. As a result, from an audience’s perspective the output can feel disjointed and even contradictory.
For a greater impact, companies will need to take more of a portfolio view. This means choosing several core themes and sticking with them, and sustaining brand, visual and messaging consistency across every one of their campaigns throughout the year.
The role of marketers was traditionally to help with selling more, and at a higher price. But the increasing focus on sustainability will make the relationship with the customer more complex.
More than a decade ago, when Patagonia launched its ‘Don’t buy this jacket’ campaign, it was a radical stance. But by 2019 even airline KLM was telling us to take the train instead of flying short haul.
A new marketing purpose adds a new layer of complexity into the relationship between marketing and the customer — and into how marketing success is judged.
There will be a new customer relationship
It will be time to explore the metaverse
It’s fair to say that the metaverse and other immersive experiences are still in their infancy. Brands are experimenting, but few have had any success. But although there will be challenges, it will be important in 2023 for B2B brands to establish a strategy for the metaverse.
This doesn’t mean they have to invest — it’s not right for every brand — but they should at least explore whether there is a fit for their business as part of a wider marketing strategy.
User experience has always been crucial to good engagement, but for too long B2B companies have got away with underplaying it. Now, the expectations of audiences are increasing. They will no longer distinguish between B2C and B2B content and will expect the experience of consuming content to be the same for both.
For marketers, this means making it easier for audiences to access the right content at the right time and in the right place, and giving them flexibility and choice throughout. Poor user experiences, such as cumbersome lead-capture forms and fragmented content journeys, will turn audiences away and do more harm than good.
User experience will be the decider of thought leadership success
Measurement will matter more than ever
Given the wider economic context, marketers will need to work harder to demonstrate the value of thought leadership and its ability to influence both short-term and long-term metrics. They might be tempted to emphasise the shorter-term metrics, but that’s a mistake even in challenging times.
The real value from thought leadership comes from long-term brand-building, and the commercial gains that will come as the economy starts to recover.
The best thought leadership satisfies both marketing and commercial objectives. All too often, however, the two functions are not in sync. Marketers grow frustrated that sales teams don’t get behind their campaigns, while sales teams complain that materials produced by marketing don’t meet their needs for commercial conversations.
Overcoming this tension requires better alignment from the outset, and campaigns that are designed to combine both marketing assets and sales activation tools. Harmony will come from a deeper level of communication and understanding on both sides.
Thought leadership will bring together sales and marketing
So there you have it: our thought leadership trends for 2023.
Which ones stand out to you? Have we missed any? Let us know on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Ready to get started on your 2023 thought leadership planning? We think we do a pretty good job of recognising new and emerging thought leadership trends. We also know how to sort the game-changers from the gimmicks. If any of these thought leadership trends resonate with your business, speak to one of our team to find out how to apply them to your marketing in 2023.
For more insight, access our latest research and commentary
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