Elevate B2B Marketing News Weekly Roundup: Rising B2B SaaS Investments & The Top Types of AI Content

The B2B Stash: Most Firms Are Spending More On Marketing, Especially Social Media
70 percent of B2B marketers have said that they plan to increase marketing budgets during 2023, with 19 percent planning on significant increases and 51 percent expecting a moderate increase, while social, media, content marketing, and email topped the list for most effective revenue drivers — some of the findings contained in newly-published B2B survey data. MediaPost

B2B Buyers Report Evaluating More Brands During the Purchase Journey
Technology and manufacturing B2B buyers evaluate an average of 3.4 brands during purchasing — up from 3.3 during 2022, with buyers having higher expectations, while 51 percent said that they consulted social media mentions in the decision-making process during 2023, up from 46 percent last year, according to recently-released report findings. MarketingCharts

Are B2B Brands Out of Touch with Younger Buyers?
64 percent of B2B buyers are in the millennials and Gen Z demographic, with 47 percent of those in the combined groups noting that they use technology information websites to gather buying information, 42 percent consulting message boards and forums, and 38 percent tapping into industry websites — some of the findings included in newly-published survey data. ANA

“Gen Z does not respond to traditional push marketing. They are looking for engagement with brands as opposed to being sold to.” — Mark Beal @MarkBealPR Click To Tweet

LinkedIn Shares New Insights to Help SaaS Marketers Capitalize on Current Trends
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has released new data showing that investments in the software as a service (SaaS) sector are expected to reach $208 billion by the end of 2023, with some 72 percent of SaaS customers utilizing LinkedIn (client) ads to generate conversions, recently-released guide data shows. Social Media Today

Google opens access to Search Generative Experience today
Search giant Google has begun offering limited access to its AI-powered Search Generative Experience, rolling out early access to those who had previously signed up to test the new generative search tool, Google recently announced. Search Engine Land

The Top Types of AI-Generated Content in Marketing [New Data, Examples & Tips]
When it comes to business professionals who use AI, 58 percent have said they use the technology to create social media posts, while 50 percent tapped AI to make product descriptions, with 43 percent having used AI for composing email content — three of numerous statistics of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published study data. HubSpot

Study: Marketers Quickly Take To Generative AI
73 percent of B2B and B2C marketers have reported that they are using AI tools, with some 31 percent planning to do so within a year, and 46 percent expecting to use AI within they next two years, with top uses including brainstorming, content outlines, and draft material, according to recently-released survey data. MediaPost

YouTube’s Retiring YouTube Stories Next Month
Google’s YouTube recently announced that come June 26, users of the social video platform will no longer be able to create content in its story format, as YouTube will retire the feature that it introduced in 2018, while encouraging users to instead utilize its Community, Shorts, and Live content. Social Media Today

Microsoft Introduces Insights For Universal Event Tracking Tags
Microsoft will offer more precise ad targeting, as it will begin rolling out an array of updates to its Universal Event Tracking (UET) tags along with a new and more powerful website data dashboard beginning on July 3, the firm recently announced. Search Engine Journal

The Future of Social Media [Research]: What Marketers Need to Know
When it comes to how consumers search for brands online, 24 percent of those in the 18-54 age demographic have said that they use social media instead of traditional search engines, a figure that rises to 36 percent of Gen Z consumers — two of numerous findings of interest to online marketers contained in newly-published HubSpot survey data. HubSpot

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “Push Notification Fatigue” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Absolute mad lad renders Doom in teletext — The Register

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — Ep 97 – B2B Influencer Marketing, Thought Leadership, and Community w/ Lee Odden | The LinkedIn Ads Show [Podcast] — B2Linked
• Lee Odden — How To Think Differently About Influencer Marketing w/ Jason Falls — The Social Media Hat
• Lee Odden / TopRank Marketing — Lee Odden: B2B influencer marketing, client/agency side work, evolving your team | Madvertising #10 [Podcast Video] — AdQuick / YouTube

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

Jacquie Chakirelis @JacquieChak
Jennifer Jordan Robustelli @jenastelli
Shafqat Islam @shafqatislam
Laura Ramos @lauraramos
Carmen Hill @carmenhill

Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry.

Have you come across a top B2B marketing news item we haven’t yet covered? If so, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for this week’s edition of the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope that you will return next Friday for another array of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

About the author

Lane Ellis has over 39 years of experience in digital writing and content. He writes for and manages all of the posts on the award-winning TopRank B2B Marketing Blog. Before joining the team here, Lane spent more than a decade as Lead Editor for the prestigious conference firm Pubcon. When he’s not writing about B2B marketing trends, Lane enjoys distance running (he’s completed 11 marathons including two ultra-marathons so far), genealogical research, cross-country skate skiing, vegetarian cooking, and spending time with his wonderful wife Julie Ahasay and their cats Kukla, Twister, and Arlo in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota