2021 Marketing Trends for B2B Companies
Speak Agency • January 14, 2021
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"To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect."
—Oscar Wilde
If nothing else, 2020 has taught us to expect the unexpected, and then un-expect even more. As it turns out, 2021 is putting that mantra to good use already.
While it is human nature to want to quantify this year’s events and place them neatly into compartments for reflection and posterity catharsis may prove to be the only true remedy for what has become the year of which no-one shall speak.
After everything we have gone through, we are hopeful for a new year and a return to the normal we knew before the pandemic hit. Thankfully, with the help of our co-workers, family and friends, we have learned to cope and carry on together. With steadfast hearts and hopeful expectation, let’s kick off 2021 with the prognosticating you’ve come to expect this time of year: The five digital marketing trends of 2021.
This time around, we decided to throw out the crystal ball—obviously it's no help to us at this point. Instead, we've procured the tastiest bits from the digiverse to share what trends we'll see in the new year. You’re likely already using one or more of these strategies, but we believe the five activities listed below will continue to gain in popularity and be used at the forefront of B2B marketing efforts in 2021.
Video Advertising
Video has been at the top of our list since 2012, so it should be no surprise that it continues to evolve in unexpected ways that keep viewers coming back for more. In 2020, thanks to some high-profile shenanagins, TikTok spread like wildfire across the U.S. where now there are over 80 million active users
and growing. And we were late to the party, currently there are over one billion users worldwide.
B2C brands have already tapped into the vast user-base by creating viral video content that resonates with target audiences-B2B brands can take part in it as well. While TikTok is wildly popular, it isn't the only type of video advertising you can use. We are also predicting that informational videos, webinars, and customer testimonials will continue to capture your audience's attention through brand storytelling. What's more, this company's innovative technology
makes creating the perfect video to tell your story even easier. Every B2B company has their own narrative. We suggest showing off that unique story to express how your brand is different and why it matters. If you’re struggling to tell your story, or just need help pulling it all together, we can help.
Virtual Events
When the pandemic first hit back in March, all large and in-person events were canceled without a clear date to reschedule. We saw B2B companies frantically try to find alternatives to in-person gatherings. Zoom quickly became the go-to for video meetings, conferences and events. We learned (and are still learning) to toggle the mute button before we start talking. Others have fallen victim to the zoom freeze amusing teammates with perfectly timed awkwardness. In addition to Zoom, companies sought out virtual event platforms such as Cvent, Hubb, and BigMarker. Thousands of attendees can interact with their favorite brands and chat with other professionals from the comfort of their own homes. We highly recommend keeping the event engaging with meaningful interactive content as attendees face distractions within the home.
Account-Based Marketing
If you aren't aware of what ABM is yet-that's okay! We've mentioned how ABM is on the rise in our recent blog post-Modern Account-Based Marketing. Here's what you need to know. Take a peak at a little snippet from our blog below:
"Modern ABM employs simple and smart digital marketing platforms that enable your marketing team to align with sales to create highly personalized buying experiences for your ideal target accounts. This cross-team functionality removes any uncertainty and improves communications resulting in consistent strategies across the organization. With ABM, no matter where your team is at in the sales process, any member can immediately pick up where an account was left off.
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ABM is a great strategy for targeting those high-level professionals in sought-out companies. Be sure to provide your target audiences with highly customized and memorable experiences.
Emphasis on Mobile Advertising
Since many of us have been social distancing in our homes for months now, we have naturally increased our mobile device usage. We rely on our mobile devices to communicate with friends and family, search the internet for banana bread recipes and doom scroll through countless social media apps. Mobile devices are how we stay connected and B2B brands can take advantage of where consumers are. First things first though-you need to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. If your site isn't mobile-friendly, visitors will be quick to notice and will continue along the buyer's journey on a competing site. Once you've mastered mobile optimization, we suggest advertising where your audiences spend a good amount of time. That could be a 30 second video ad on YouTube, sponsored business pages on Facebook or display ads on LinkedIn. Plan to know where your audiences are and generate content that will encourage them to convert into customers.
Content Marketing
Content marketing continues to be a tried-and-true measure to convert leads into customers-as long as your content is informational and helpful. There are several types of content marketing, from blogs to infographics, webinars and user-generated content. We are talking endless possibilities! Be forewarned, if your content isn't exciting or beneficial to the reader, you may not see your hard work pay off. Keep your target audiences in mind while you're creating content. First consider what the visitor is searching for and be sure to provide them with a clear answer or solution before they exit out of your carefully crafted content.
Are you looking to optimize your mobile site or put together a plan for an ABM pilot program for 2021? We can help-we know how to help brands speak human. We look forward to connecting with you all in the new year!
Why Marketing is Often Too Slow to Support Sales Marketing and sales should operate as a dynamic duo, seamlessly collaborating to drive revenue and deliver a unified customer experience. However, in many B2B organizations, sales teams feel that marketing can't keep up with an ever-evolving market. This misalignment often leads to sales teams taking matters into their own hands—creating their own materials, crafting their own messaging, and improvising to close deals. The consequences? Inconsistent branding, inaccurate information, and a decidedly disjointed customer experience. Common Bottlenecks That Slow Marketing Down: Traditional Content Creation Workflows: Marketing teams often follow a rigid content approval process involving multiple stakeholders and revisions, causing delays. Marketing fears Bob Loblaw, sales mocks him. Siloed Data & Insights: Marketing doesn’t always have access to real-time sales insights, making it hard to create relevant materials quickly. Resource Constraints: Many marketing teams are stretched thin, juggling branding, demand generation, and internal communications while trying to support sales. Digital Asset Management (DAM) Inefficiencies: Sales reps struggle to find the latest materials buried somewhere in a clunky, archaic DAM solution that IT defends with relentless ferocity, ahem... Sharepoint. Lack of Prioritization for Sales Needs: Marketing teams often focus on long-term brand-building efforts, while sales teams need quick, tactical resources to close deals now. The result? Sales teams create their own decks, one-pagers, and outreach messages—often off-brand and filled with inaccurate or outdated information, leading to a fragmented prospect experience and eroding brand value. How AI-Powered Automation and Real-Time Insights Solve These Bottlenecks AI agents are reshaping the marketing-sales relationship by automating workflows, providing real-time insights, and eliminating the friction that slows down content creation. 1. AI-Driven Content Generation & Personalization AI-powered tools like Jasper, Writer, and Copy.ai can generate first drafts of sales enablement materials—pitch decks, product one-pagers, and competitor battle cards—significantly reducing turnaround times. Generative AI can customize content for different buyer personas, industries, and deal stages, ensuring sales teams have tailored, on-brand materials instantly. 2. AI-Powered Sales Insights AI tools like Gong and Chorus analyze sales calls and customer interactions to identify recurring objections, competitor mentions, and deal-blocking challenges. This data can be fed directly into marketi ng teams in real-time, allowing them to create the most relevant sales assets before reps even ask for them. 3. Intelligent Digital Asset Management (DAM) AI-powered DAM systems (e.g., Bynder, MediaValet) make it easier for sales teams to quickly find the right materials by using smart search, tagging, and recommendations. Instead of sifting through outdated files, AI s urfaces the most relevant, up-to-date content bas ed on deal stage, industry, or customer type. 4. AI-Powered Workflow Automation AI can automate marketing request workflows, prioritizing sales needs and reducing delays. Automated approval processes speed up content reviews, ensuring materials are quickly approved and deployed. Real-World Example: How Reachdesk & Gong Used AI to Align Sales & Marketing Reachdesk, a global direct mail and gifting platform, faced challenges aligning their sales and marketing teams, especially during a period of rapid international growth. To solve this, they implemented Gong’s AI-powered revenue intelligence platform , which provided real-time insights into both sales rep and customer behaviors. This allowed their global teams to stay aligned and work more efficiently. By integrating AI, Reachdesk achieved: Enhanced Team Alignment: AI provided insights that kept both sales and marketing on the same page, ensuring a unified approach to customer engagement. More Efficient Sales Processes: AI-driven analysis helped prioritize leads and optimize sales methodologies. Better Content & Messaging Consistency: Marketing could create materials that were immediately relevant to the challenges identified by sales. As a result, Reachdesk improved sales efficiency, marketing alignment, and overall customer experience , demonstrating how AI can bridge the gap between these traditionally siloed teams. AI is Powerful, But Leadership is Essential While AI plays a transformative role in bridging the sales-marketing gap, it is ultimately a tool , not a replacement for strategic leadership. The most successful implementations come from visionary leaders who understand how to integrate AI into their existing workflows and align it with their business goals. AI provides insights, automates processes, and accelerates execution, but t he human element remains critical. Marketing and sales leaders must set the vision, interpret AI-driven insights with strategic intent, and ensure that AI enhances—not replac es—customer relationships. A t Speak! Agency, we work with businesses to bring AI-powered efficiencies into their marketing and sales strategies, ensuring that these tools support the bigger picture —one driven by people, vision, and expertise. The Future: AI as the Gas For Marketing & Sales AI isn’t replacing marketing or sales—it’s making both teams more effective. By integrating AI-driven automation, insights, and asset management, companies can eliminate friction and ensure that sales reps have the tools they need before they even ask for them. With AI, marketing teams can work at the speed of sales, ensuring alignment, efficiency, and most importantly—a seamless customer experience. Next Up in This Series: Real-Time Content Creation: How AI Enables Speed & Relevance – Exploring how AI can generate high-quality sales enablement materials in record time. If your company has struggled with slow marketing response times, let us know— how are you solving it today?
Brand transformation is more than linguistic gymnastics — it's a multidimensional shift that requires both visual and verbal integration to be fully understood and executed. As branding professionals, we often find ourselves at the intersection of words and imagery, negotiating the complex relationship between what is said and what is seen. Beyond Words: The Dual Nature of Brand Understanding When we consider how brands evolve and transform, we must acknowledge that positioning and messaging alone cannot capture the full essence of a rebrand. That's because a brand also lives in the visual impact of its logo, the emotional response to its color palette, the tactile experience of its products, and the psychological associations formed through consistent imagery. These elements create meaning in ways that transcend verbal explanation. This integrated nature of brand understanding presents both challenges and opportunities for brand strategists and agencies. Those who rely solely on brand messaging frameworks often miss the deeper, more intuitive connections that visual elements forge with audiences. Conversely, those who neglect verbal precision may create beautiful but meaningless brand experiences. The Strategist's Dilemma This reality creates a fascinating paradox for brand strategists. On one hand, it's a blessing — those who master the integration of visual and verbal thinking possess a competitive advantage that purely analytical thinkers cannot match. They can navigate the subtleties of brand transformation with a more complete toolkit, sensing shifts in cultural meaning that might be invisible to others. On the other hand, it presents a curse — how do we communicate about something that partially exists beyond the realm of words? How do we justify decisions that are partly intuitive? How do we demonstrate value when some of the most important aspects of our work resist straightforward measurement or explanation? Embracing Integrated Thinking The most successful brand transformations occur when strategists embrace both modes of thinking: Understanding the rational and emotional components of brand perception Recognizing when to prioritize visual impact over verbal explanation (and vice versa) Developing frameworks that respect both analytical rigor and creative intuition Communicating in ways that engage both logical and visual processing Moving Forward As the branding landscape continues to evolve, the integration of visual and verbal thinking becomes not just advantageous but essential. The brands that resonate most deeply with audiences are those that achieve coherence across all dimensions of experience. By acknowledging the limitations of purely linguistic approaches and embracing the full spectrum of how meaning is created, brand strategists can navigate transformation more effectively—even if they sometimes struggle to put into words exactly why something works. The Speak! Approach: Integration in Action At Speak!, we've built our entire agency model around the principle that visual identity and messaging strategy must be conceived and developed in concert — never in isolation. This integrated approach isn't just a philosophical stance; it's the foundation of our process and the key to our success in transforming brands. Rather than having verbal and visual specialists only intersect when work is handed off, we are cross-disciplinary teams where messaging strategists and visual designers work side by side from day one. Our brand strategy function (that's me) leads stakeholder interviews and workshops but our art director is always on the call and not just as a passive listener. Engaged. Asking hard questions. Poking holes. This ensures that every strategic decision considers both dimensions simultaneously. The benefits of our integrated approach are evident in the results we deliver: Greater Coherence : When messaging and visuals grow from the same strategic foundation, they naturally reinforce each other, creating a brand experience that feels seamless and purposeful. Deeper Resonance : Brands that speak to both the rational mind (through clear messaging) and the intuitive mind (through visual impact) create more powerful and lasting impressions with audiences. Faster Alignment : Our clients spend less time reconciling conflicting approaches from different specialists and more time refining a unified strategic direction. Unexpected Solutions : The creative tension between verbal and visual thinking often leads to breakthrough ideas that neither approach would have discovered independently. Our clients often tell us that this integrated process not only delivers superior results but also provides them with a new lens through which to understand their own brands. By experiencing the power of visual-verbal synergy in action, they gain insights that transform not just their brand assets but their entire approach to brand management.
Marketing and sales are supposed to work in sync. Marketing creates the messaging, sales takes it to market, and customers get a consistent, compelling brand experience. But in reality? That almost never happens.
