Best of B2B Marketing: Get Inspired for 2021 with These Top 10 Content Marketing Posts

Content encompasses nearly everything we read, view, or listen to this pandemic year, and as our CEO Lee Odden said long ago, it's also part of the reason the need for search began in the first place. We're especially proud of the content marketing successes our team at TopRank Marketing have achieved during this topsy-turvy 2020, for a wide-range of major B2B clients. As 2021 draws close, we wanted to share our top content marketing articles of the year — each filled with best practices, research, examples, and the latest trends. We're fortunate to have a wealth of talented B2B marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank B2B Marketing blog — which celebrates its 17th year this month — including Lee Odden, Joshua Nite, Elizabeth Williams, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Debbie Friez, Birdie Zepeda, myself, and Alexis Hall, among others. Collectively this compendium of our top 10 content marketing posts of the year serves as a valuable resource, filled with practical examples and relevant topics for digital marketing professionals from CMOs to copywriters. We hope that you'll find these articles helpful well into 2021 and far beyond. Now, join us as we move on to the top 10! These most popular content marketing posts of the year are ordered by a combination of search visibility and social engagement:

Our Most Popular Content Marketing Posts of 2020:

1. 50 Top B2B Content Marketing Influencers To Follow in 2021 #CMWorld — Lane R. Ellis

In our top content marketing post of the year I share our annual list of the top 50 content marketing influencers to follow and learn from, released during this year's all-virtual Content Marketing World conference. You'll learn new lessons from these 50 content marketing influencers throughout 2021 and into a post-pandemic industry landscape. You can check out all of my posts here, and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“@TopRank has a long history with #CMWorld starting at the beginning, with 10 years of speaking and attending along with 7 years of partnering with @CMIContent to develop speaker and influencer content marketing campaigns.” @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

2. Where’s the Marketing in Content Marketing? 10 Essential Promotion Tactics That Drive Results — Lee Odden

Where’s the marketing in content marketing? In our second most popular content marketing post of the year, Lee shares how to overcome content creation imbalances with 10 proven content promotion tactics that have stood the test of time, to make your content promotion a priority. Check out all of Lee’s 2,600+ posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“An imbalance of content creation and promotion is not only frustrating potential marketing performance, but it’s wasting the investment made in creating great content. What good is that great content if no one sees it?” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

3. 5 Ways to Humanize B2B Content Marketing — Joshua Nite

What does it mean to "humanize" your B2B content marketing? In our third most popular content marketing article of the year, our senior content marketing manager Joshua Nite shares five ways to help your content make a more human connection with a professional audience by:

• Finding the Emotional Core
• Earning Trust
• Personalizing Efforts
• Embracing Humility
• Designing a Content Experience

You can check out all of Josh's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Find the emotional stories that your solution makes possible, and make them the star of your content.” — Joshua Nite @nitewrites" username="toprank"]

4. New Research: How B2B Content Marketers Are Impacted and Pivoting During the Pandemic — Nick Nelson

It’s undoubtedly been a year of much change and upheaval, and in our fourth most read article of the year, our content marketing manager Nick Nelson shows how B2B  content marketing practitioners are responding, and breaks down insightful research from Content Marketing Institute. You can check out all of Nick's posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“It’s a bit ironic that at a time where more B2B marketers than ever have gotten their strategy down on paper, we’re being forced to crumple it up and rewrite it.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]

5. 5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis — Anne Leuman

What is a key factor to successful marketing during a pandemic? "Being helpful," as our senior operations strategist Anne Leuman explores in our fifth most popular content marketing post of the year. In this insightful piece, Anne shows how B2B marketers can infuse more helpfulness in their efforts, including five examples of B2B brands doing content marketing right during the global heath crisis. You can check out all of Anne's posts here, and follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“The true key to success in B2B content marketing is to always come from a place of empathy. The more you’re able to understand and empathize with your target audience, the more likely you are to surface content opportunities.” @annieleuman" username="toprank"]

6. 5 Steps for a More Powerful B2B Content Marketing Strategy — Lee Odden

How can marketers overcome content attention deficit and stand out? In our sixth most popular content marketing article of the year, Lee shares five helpful steps for building a more powerful B2B content marketing strategy, using:

• Ideal Customer Profiles
• Topics of Influence, Search and Social
• Editorial Plan & Content Mapping
• Content Promotion
• Mining Search, Social & Influencer Analytics

This piece is filled with inspiration to begin intentionally and consistently incorporating influencers, social media and SEO in your B2B content marketing efforts, to reach more customers where they’re looking, with the kind of experiences that will inspire more effective engagement, revenue, and retention outcomes. [bctt tweet="“Creating useful content by itself is not an effective strategy in a world of brand distrust, content attention deficit and the distractions brought by a global pandemic.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

7. 7 B2B Content Marketing Tactics For Long Term Success — Anne Leuman

What types of content can B2B marketers utilize for driving long-term success? In the seventh most read content marketing piece of the year, Anne shares seven enduring and powerful B2B content marketing tactics for long-term success, featuring the use of content including:

• Blogs
• Social Media
• Influencers
• Podcasts
• Sponsored & Guest Works
• Digital Advertising
• eBooks, Infographics, and Larger Campaigns

[bctt tweet="“For content marketing to be successful, you need those flashy, attention-grabbing campaigns to meet immediate goals. But you also need reliable, consistent, thought-provoking content to compound results over time.” @annieleuman" username="toprank"]

8. Why Content Marketing is More Important Than Ever for B2B Brands — Nick Nelson

In our number eight top content content marketing post of the year, Nick explores why content marketing is more important than ever now for B2B brands, and shares three fine examples of B2B brands going beyond mere talk. By providing ongoing value and propping up your brand values, you’ll see plenty of value in return, as Nick examines in detail here. [bctt tweet="“The challenges our world now faces with the coronavirus pandemic and social justice movement create a unique opportunity for B2B content marketing to make an impact.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]

9. How Authentic Content Builds Brand Trust in Uncertain Times — Nick Nelson

Being there for your audience, and being real with them, presents a key opportunity to strengthen relationships during difficult times. In our ninth most popular content marketing post of the year, Nick shares how authentic content builds brand trust in uncertain times. "Content marketing is inherently a long game, focused on building relationships first and foremost. Right now, the best way to pursue this goal is through authenticity and altruism, in the context of your business and its audience," Nick observed. [bctt tweet="“There’s never been a better time to open up and share real, relatable stories. Everyone is going through something, and it can be comforting to learn how others are dealing with these unique circumstances.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]

10. In Search of Trust: How Authentic Content Drives Customer Experience — Lee Odden

In today’s uncertain digital world, how can B2B marketers double down on building trust with their customers? Rounding our our list of the top content marketing article of the years is Lee's insightful look at how authentic content drives customer experience. To help marketers better understand how brands are winning customer hearts, minds, and trust with authentic content experiences, Lee shares 5 important steps including:

• Accelerating Internal Credibility
• Doubling Down on Customer Activation
• Working with External Influencers to Grow Brand Credibility
• Creating a Content Collaboration Ecosystem
• Optimizing Measurement to Customer ROI

[bctt tweet="“If you want your content to be great, ask your customers to participate.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

Thanks TopRank Marketing Writers & Readers

Thanks to all of our top content marketing authors for contributing these top 10 content marketing posts of 2020 — congratulations on making the list! Additionally, we publish several marketing influencer lists every year, and we wanted to share them here as a helpful way to find and follow some of the leading digital marketing influencers:

• 25 Top B2B Marketing Influencers To Follow In 2021 #MPB2B
• 50 Top B2B Content Marketing Influencers To Follow in 2021 #CMWorld
• 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Pros to Follow from Top Brands
• 32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow

Another helpful resource for B2B marketers to learn about crafting a successful B2B influencer marketing program is our recently-launched Inside Influence series, featuring interviews with top industry experts such as the latest episode with Tim Williams of Onalytica. We published dozens of posts this year specifically about content marketing, and plan to bring you even more in 2021, so stay tuned for a new year of the latest helpful search industry research and insight. Please let us know which content marketing topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2021 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. Feel free to leave those thoughts in the comments section below. Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The post Best of B2B Marketing: Get Inspired for 2021 with These Top 10 Content Marketing Posts appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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50 Influential Women in B2B Marketing Who Rocked in 2020

The post 50 Influential Women in B2B Marketing Who Rocked in 2020 appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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How to Discover the Story of Your Brand

How to Discover the Story of Your Brand written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Park Howell

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Park Howell a 30+ year veteran of the advertising industry who has guided hundreds of purpose-driven brands and thousands of people who support them to substantial growth.

Park Howell is the founder of Business of Story and the author of Brand Bewitchery: How to Wield the Story Cycle System to Craft Spellbinding Stories for Your Brand. 

Questions I ask Park Howell:

• What does it mean to a small business marketer when you say story?
• How do I use the story idea to help my business?
• How do you help businesses define the actual problem that they solve?
• How do you work with businesses that don’t solve a problem that is emotion – how do they tell a story?
• How does this idea of story affect internal audiences?
• Does language ever get in the way?
• What is your Story Cycle System?
• How does this become more than a creative exercise?

More About Park Howell:

• For more about Business of Story
• For more about Park Howell
• For more about Brand Bewitchery

Love the Duct Tape Podcast? Give us a review!

 

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by WPBoost.

Your website is the hub of your business. If your website loads slowly visitors will not tolerate that and neither will Google. How fast your website loads has become increasingly important to your rank. If you want to find out if you have an issue with this or how to fix this check out wpboost.net.

WPBoost has a special offer for the Duct Tape Marketing audience the first 10 companies that fill out the contact form at the bottom of the home page and include #ducttape and their own website address in their message details will get a free speed audit.

 

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Inside Influence 13: Tim Williams from Onalytica on Optimizing B2B Influencer Experiences

In this final 13th episode of Inside Influence where I talk with B2B marketing insiders about what's working and what's not in the world of influencer marketing, our perspective has shifted from B2B brands to the influencers themselves. At TopRank Marketing, we conducted the first in-depth research into B2B influencer marketing which inspired this series and Onalytica recently conducted the first research study of B2B influencers to better understand influencer marketing from their perspective. Any B2B marketer that wants a complete picture for success with B2B influencer marketing going into 2021 and beyond will benefit greatly from both reports:

• The Current State & Future of B2B Influencer Marketing - Onalytica
• 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report - TopRank Marketing

To drill down into the insights around the Onalytica report, I talked with Tim Williams, CEO. We covered:

• About Onalytica as a B2B influencer marketing platform
• Tim's role as CEO at Onalytica
• The current state of B2B influencer marketing
• The impact of COVID-19 on B2B influencer marketing
• Why Always-On influencer marketing is good for both brands and influencers
• How to convince more B2B brands to focus on the experience they create for influencers as much as they do for customers
• Opportunities for B2B companies to leverage both external influencers and employee influencers for marketing
• B2B influencer engagement trends for 2021
• What B2B marketers can do to better showcase influencer expertise in content
• What B2B brands can expect if they hire an agency
• What to be optimistic about with influencer marketing post-pandemic

See the full video interview with Tim Williams in Episode 13 of Inside Influence here: Below is a highlight transcription of our discussion. Tell us about your role and what Onlaytica does Tim: Great. So I'm the CEO of Onalytica and I've always been in social media, sort of marketing communication circles and formally in public affairs. I've always helped build software that helps brands try and influence the influencers who obviously then in turn influence the target audience or the end consumer. That's been my passion. I've spent 20 plus years helping brands communicate their audience better. At Onalytica we have an influence marketing software. We tend to use this in influencer advocacy, employee advocacy, virtual events, account-based marketing, and social selling. Those are these use cases that we help brands with.

I see it as my role to be out there to publish content and to try and lead from the front...listen to what customers are saying and see how technology can really advance the industry.

Then in my role, I'd really just try and listen to the brand. It's a very immature marketplace. It's evolving. So I see it as my role to be out there to publish content and to try and lead from the front. But importantly, listen to what customers are saying and see how technology can really advance the industry. I'm not keen on us just taking a passive look at the industry and trying to sort of build more revenue with customers. I think that technology is often like a challenge and solution for the industry to mature. So I guess I see my role as just helping in whatever way I can to progress and really just help brands connect with influence communities to create inspiring content. You and your team at Onalytica recently conducted a comprehensive B2B influencer research study. At a high level, what is the current state of B2B influencer marketing?   Tim: Well, interestingly, it was off the back of the TopRank Marketing research report. Obviously TopRank are a great, leading agency in the field and producing lots of research and obviously you and I talk about research and have done quite a lot over the past few years. We've done some state of the industry stuff before with brands, but we really wanted to flip it to be able to give a 360 degree view on top of your research to people out there.

[Influencers] do make a big difference if brands are partnering with them in the right way.

I think what was really interesting is that it confirmed a lot of the beliefs in your report that the state of the industry is that influencers do give that third-party opinion. They do make a big difference if brands are partnering with them in the right way. It also showed up a lot of the gaps and a lot of the challenges for marketers on where the industry is going to head and what needs to happen for the influencers to feel like they've got a positive experience.

A lot of the people doing influence marketing now don't have influencer marketing in their job description. It's something that they're just inheriting and running through pilot programs.

I thought it was really interesting. I was very encouraged by the results, the gaps. Some of them do still surprise me with the way some marketers approach influence marketing, but I think that's just natural because a lot of the people doing influence marketing now don't have influencer marketing in their job description. It's something that they're just inheriting and running through pilot programs. I just think it's a natural outcome of people experimenting and I think the learning and the improving is really what we're seeing now. What do you think the impact of COVID has been in terms of the state of influencer marketing for B2B? Tim: In April to May this year I think a lot of influencers were extremely worried, especially the ones that were flying around the world and getting paid a lot of money. They were probably having very lucrative retainers or one-off, gigs with brands and I think that work obviously immediately dried up and they had to pivot their proposition into virtual events. I've seen some influencers do that very successfully now. I think it was a bit of a shock from April to May and I think in terms of the social media consumption and the influencer output on channels like LinkedIn and Twitter, we saw an increase in that social media activity and consumption. I think the biggest change was that we felt that the end consumers of the B2B to C, because everyone's obviously a person at the end of the day, increased.

The appetite for influencers increased in a few months like it would over a five-year period...influencer marketing in B2B has been better for it.

The appetite for influencers increased in a few months like it would over a five-year period. Even though the budgets weren't there from brands because everyone was pausing their budgets, I think the underlying factors have really advanced. So what we've seen is that from July onward, so in H2 of this year, influencer marketing in B2B has been better for it. I think it's almost helped the industry rather than just being too like "marquee event driven" where influencers are paid a lot of money to speak all around the world. The Onalytica research of B2B influencers found several similarities with TopRank's survey of B2B marketers. For example, Always-On campaigns were described as far more successful for both influencers and marketers. You and I understand the reason for that, but how do you explain it to marketers stuck on campaigns? Tim: I always see influencer relations as like there's two parallel strategies. I think there's the content or the events that you're trying to run in campaign mode. Then there's the longer term relationship building and building of great experiences for a campaign that you might run in three or four quarters time. I think that the brands that are starting off and just like activating with a one-off mindset, they just don't put as much effort into the long-term game. So the influencers by default then just invest less themselves because they don't know whether they're going to have anything in the future. So I think it's just natural.

I think that it doesn't matter whether you're just starting out with influencer relations, you can do a few things that make a big difference and build long-term relationships.

I think that it doesn't matter whether you're just starting out with influencer relations, you can do a few things that make a big difference and build long-term relationships. First impressions can last for, you know, 20 or 30 years. I think it's hard, especially when brands are in quarterly budget cycles. Both of us working in global tech a lot and the restructuring is a major challenge because people do move around in roles. So I think everyone gets it, but I think when you show the results of a longer term attitude are better than a short term, then I think that's when people can invest a bit more. We've both talked about the importance of the experience that brands create for influencers and the impact it can have on an influencer marketing program's success. Your research reinforces this in several areas from the need for quality outreach to who does the outreach to quality of the brief. How can we get more B2B brands to treat the influencer experience as important as the experience of the customers we're trying to influence? Tim: I think it's a key area that the industry has to improve on. I think it's about how much input you need to get the output that you're wanting as a marketer. So, if you're having to invest five hours to research an influencer that you don't really know, that you're not quite sure what output they're going to give you, I think there's a disproportionate amount of effort that marketers won't invest in. I think partly, agencies solve that problem, like yours. Obviously you know a lot of the influences and there's sort of the trust of working with them. At Onalytica we built relationships with thousands of influencers and we know the ones that you can trust and there's an element of credibility and time-saving there. I think there's also the ability to get to know someone within 10 or 15 minutes. This is really a technology solution where you can know what books they're going to publish, what motivations they have and what days they like to work. I recall speaking to one influencer at Social Media Marketing World and they told me, "on Monday I write my blog posts, on Tuesday I do my research, on Wednesday I look after my kids and on Thursday I do this," and I'm thinking, "how could a brand approach that influencer and really know what makes them work without hearing it directly from them?"

Influencers also have to make it as easy as possible for people to get to know them and what they want.

So, I think it's a technology solution, which we're trying to solve where if we showcase profiles that show what really drives the passion and motivations of influencers, then brands can quite quickly say, "Oh, there's a great connection with what we're trying to do here." Then they have the confidence to reach out and it doesn't feel like this kind of matchmaking dating where you don't have a clue what they they're actually interested in. It's agencies, technology and I think influencers also have to make it as easy as possible for people to get to know them and what they want. And I think if we all close the gap, then it's going to translate into a better experience for the influencers. Influencers are not limited to industry experts as you know - employee are influential too. What opportunities are there for B2B brands to be more effective at engaging both to achieve marketing goals? Tim: I think this is where the real magic happens for us when we're talking about integrated advocacy. When we talk about employee advocacy, we see them as four segments. We see them as the topics execs which need to show leadership. They need to be out there on social, creating content. There's intrinsic value in what they say in the marketplace. So the execs are part of the employee advocacy for us. The next level down is the subject matter expert. Say, in the tech industry or environment, it might be talking about AI or sustainability or supply chain procurement and any of the important topics that might be driving the thought leadership. So, you've got various different employees that are thought leaders, but maybe not driving as much impact externally for your brand. There's a wonderful opportunity out there. The third segment are sales. So, social selling or social enablement of salespeople as some people like to call it is really important. That's the third category. Then the fourth one is everybody else like your general employees. There's lots of employee advocacy tools to help develop the general employees. What we like to look at is the execs as subject matter experts and the salespeople. To give you an example of what we think works really well, it could be a LinkedIn live session with an external influencer. You might also bring in an industry expert into this who wouldn't call themselves an influencer, but just has really deep expertise in your particular area. And then you could invite one of your subject matter experts internally to be part of that discussion. Now, the subject matter experts might not feel initially comfortable with putting themselves forward, but then they start speaking on a peer to peer level with the external influencers and they realize that they get on, they have a lot in common, they love the subject matter that they talk about. Guess what? That relationship continues on LinkedIn, Twitter, offline, on WhatsApp, like whatever form of communication that they have.

It's really powerful when you can start transforming your content through the voice of your employees and external influencers.

If you think about that one example and you amplify that through all of your workforce, your employees are the biggest asset that any brand has. It's really powerful when you can start transforming your content through the voice of your employees and external influencers. That's what we describe as the kind of dream integrated advocacy model. In terms of actually making that happen, because some brands have 300,000 employees and across different business units, markets and languages, obviously it's a massive transformation change. But I think if you look at them as different segments, you can activate them in different ways, that's a really, really powerful operation. B2B brands engage with influencers in different ways from event activations to content collaborations to advisory councils. What engagement trends are you seeing going into 2021? Tim: I think you touched on something really interesting. The advisory role as an independent analyst is often a bit of a hidden fact within the marketplace. I know a lot of influencers that were asked to create some content, but then suddenly they've started writing strategy documents for really large brands about how they should tackle certain challenges or innovation within the marketplace. They're kind of ghost writing a lot of the strategy of companies.

The advisory role as an independent analyst is often a bit of a hidden fact within the marketplace.

I found that really interesting and shocking because I thought that it was the actual company that was writing their own strategy, but then it was an influencers actually shaping that. But I thought it was really cool because some of these influencers have so much experience that they're taking on different personas. I do think that's something that is changing. And I think that when we talk about influencers a lot of people think that we're talking about just the professional influencers that work on a paid basis and they're on a retainer sometimes. They're great at creating content and they've got big social networks. We see that this is a much larger community of people from industry experts that would never call themselves influencers: the independent analysts, advisors, consultants. Then you've got the events speakers, key opinion leaders in the industry. That's where things are evolving.

I don't think people are in love with the word "influencer".

I don't think people are in love with the word "influencer". I think it's got a really bad rap from the B2C industry.  I think that influential experts is more where we're trying to go, but there's, there's many different personas. So I think how brands are leveraging the different personas and who owns it as a brand is really the cause of key trends going forward. Content is most often the output from influencer collaboration but subject matter experts are not always expert content creators and many B2B brands are not really pushing the boundaries of effective content formats either. What can B2B marketers do to better showcase the expertise of the influencers who have collaborated? Tim: I think it's a really good question. Some of the influencers are content creators and they're specialists at that. So actually having an influencer interview some of the subject matter experts is one way in which brands haven't leveraged that enough, I don't think. It's interesting who should interview each other because you see both forms of that.

People are fed up of advertising...people are just not in the mood for product being pushed down their throats.

I think that the trend that we're seeing is that people are fed up of advertising. They're fed up with brand generic messages. There's just so much content even since the pandemic. The content has spiraled even more so. I think people are just not in the mood for product being pushed down their throats. I think the subject matter experts are the people that can personalize the content and I think that brands are investing in the platform to help develop the social profiles of the subject matter experts. I've seen a big increase in investment into that. I don't think there's any shortcuts. I think it's about enabling them to feel comfortable maybe in video, like sitting down in a more traditional way, but then translating that into social bite sized video content.

Subject matter experts have the expertise, they just don't know how to translate that into wonderful sort of social communication channels.

I know that you do a lot of interactive and visual content. I think the subject matter experts have the expertise, they just don't know how to translate that into wonderful sort of social communication channels. I think that's the job of marketers and communications professionals to be able to connect those two together. I don't see any magic wand. I don't know whether you've got any ideas or what you see from TopRank. Well, this is a problem we solve every day for companies. When a brand does make the effort to invest in high quality content from industry experts or industry influencers, they can take that content and make something the contributors will be proud of. Something so good it will inspire them to want to make it even more successful.   Tim: Yeah, I completely completely agree with that. And obviously the end customer is what we're all working to influence and impress. I think that the activation of subject matter experts comes down to behavioral psychology of whether they want to develop their profiles, what their fears are and how to motivate them. I think what has changed is that a lot of topics execs or subject matter experts traditionally speak to 20 people in a room or 200 people or 10,000 people in a marquee event. Now they're seeing that they can actually speak to 20,000 people every week through social.  I think that  takes a couple of examples to really get through. So they have that light bulb moment and I think marketers and communications professionals, if they can help them switch that light bulb on in their heads, then suddenly they will invest a bit more effort into the content that they put out on social. What are you most optimistic about when it comes to influencer marketing? Tim: I think one thing is personalized, relatable content. I have a massive passion to just break out of the boring B2B into the inspiring, personalized content. But to be able to do it in a way that doesn't feel hard. I am very passionate about bringing technology to solve problems. And I know that there is friction - it seems easy. Like we can just pick up the phone to five influencers, create some content and then a couple of weeks later, you should have some great content and it can be that easy. But in reality, some brands take three or four months and struggled to get to that outcome. So what I'm passionate about is the quality of content to improve. And from a technology standpoint, we want to try and reduce the friction so that people can create this content. And it seems not as easy as paid media and hitting a button, but it doesn't seem like it's too much effort for them to start off. To connect with Tim, you can find him on Twitter and LinkedIn. Be sure to check out our previous Inside Influence B2B Influencer Marketing show interviews:

• Episode 1: Rani Mani, Adobe - The Value of B2B Influencer Marketing
• Episode 2: Garnor Morantes, LinkedIn - The Power of Always-On Influence
• Episode 3: Ursula Ringham, SAP - Behind the Scenes with Influencer Marketing Operations
• Episode 4: Janine Wegner, Dell Technologies - Thought Leadership and B2B Influence
• Episode 5: Jen Hotlvluwer, Spirion - Award Winning B2B Influencer Marketing
• Episode 6: Amisha Gandhi, SAP - The Power of Mutual Value for Influencer Marketing
• Episode 7: Pierre-Loïc Assayag, Traackr - Maximizing Marketing ROI with Influencer Technology
• Episode 8: Srijana Angdembey, Oracle - How Influence Creates Better B2B Customer Experiences
• Episode 9: Brian Solis, Salesforce - How B2B Influence Adds Value to Business Customers
• Episode 10: Ryan Bares, IBM Systems - Growing Influence Inside B2B Brands with Employees
• Episode 11: Marshall Kirkpatrick, Sprinklr - Elevating B2B Content with Influencers
• Episode 12: Paul Dobson, Citrix - The Secret Sauce of Influence: Authenticity

To better understand what hundreds of the top B2B marketers are doing to succeed at influencer marketing, including case studies featuring SAP, LinkedIn, Monday.com and Cherwell Software, be sure to check out the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report:

The post Inside Influence 13: Tim Williams from Onalytica on Optimizing B2B Influencer Experiences appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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Happy Holidays from the Team at TopRank Marketing

2020 has been a uniquely challenging year for marketers the world over, yet the difficulties have served to bring us together in new ways, and as we enter the holiday season all of us at TopRank Marketing bring you special wishes for health and happiness. For all of us this has been one of the most challenging years in history, and as each of us works hard to meet the hurdles that 2020 has thrown in our path, we can take pride in what we’ve accomplished despite the difficulties that none of us could have envisioned a year ago. The trust our new and long-time clients have continued to place in us has allowed us to reach record levels of client retention, and for this we are very thankful. Our team has pulled together and we’ve added major new B2B technology industry, global telecommunications and IT firms as clients. We’ve also continued to expand and grow partnerships with existing clients such as LinkedIn, SAP, monday.com and many more. This unique year has reminded all of us just how important communities are — communities of clients, associates, influencers, executives, our fellow B2B marketers, as well as our local communities here in Minnesota — and we wish you all a joyous holiday season and a very happy new year ahead. We’re also continuing to grow and hiring in many roles. Take a look at our careers page for a full list. During this pandemic year TopRank Marketing has continued to take a stand both locally and as a part of our global community of marketers — efforts we will continue into 2021 and beyond, as our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden shares in a message for the new year.

As Lane has mentioned, despite incredible challenges and uncertainty in the business world during 2020, our team at TopRank Marketing has been able to achieve many of our most ambitious goals. I know that many companies, including B2B marketing agencies, have not been so fortunate. I am thankful for the trust, loyalty and advocacy of our clients, the attention and engagement of our community and the continued opportunity to do the kind of work that inspires people. As 2020 comes to a close, I believe there are tremendous opportunities in 2021 to create more certainty, trust and growth. To help marketers realize these opportunities in the new year, we will continue to publish content on this blog that aspires to provide the kinds of ideas, insights and inspiration to achieve marketing and business success that we've relied upon ourselves to serve some of the top B2B brands in the world. We'll also continue to focus both on the effectiveness of our work and the meaningfulness of it as we serve the kinds of B2B brands that can really make a difference in the world. I wish readers of TopRank's B2B Marketing Blog the happiest of holidays, hope and success in 2021!

TopRank Marketing Wishes You the Happiest of Holidays

We’re incredibly grateful for each other, our wonderful clients, subject matter experts, and friends we’ve worked and grown with this unique year. From our marketing family to yours, Happy Holidays!

The post Happy Holidays from the Team at TopRank Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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B2B Marketing News: Top B2B Investments For 2021, LinkedIn’s New Company Product Pages, Adobe’s CX Report, & Google’s 3D Search Content

B2B Businesses More Likely To Keep Third-Party Ad-Tracking Secrets From Customers 72 percent of B2B firms say they acknowledge ad tracking and don't inform customers, compared to some 58 percent of their B2C counterparts, according to recently-released survey data. The report also noted that B2B firms were twice as likely to rate third-party ad platforms as having done a good job of explaining how data is being used. MediaPost LinkedIn Adds New 'Products' Tab on Company Pages to Highlight Specific Products LinkedIn (client) has launched new product highlighting features to company pages on the platform, in the form of a products tab, allowing digital marketers to augment products with testimonials and customer endorsements, along with noting an additional forthcoming services marketplace feature, the Microsoft-owned firm recently announced. Social Media Today IAB 2021: Media Buyers Focus On Performance, View Data Privacy, Ad Tracking As Top Challenges Ad buyers have shifted focus to increased performance, while replacing the information formerly gathered by tracking cookies has become a top challenge, according to recently-released report data. Digital media will account for 71 percent of budget totals, according to the Interactive Advertising (IAB) report. MediaPost Reddit Announces New Partnership with Moat to Provide Third Party Verification on Ad Metrics Social news aggregator and discussion platform Reddit has announced integration with Oracle Data Cloud’s Moat service, a move that seeks to bolster Reddit’s campaign performance metrics as it courts a greater presence of B2B firms. Social Media Today Report: Americans Are Optimistic About 2021 59 percent of U.S. adults said they never want to hear the term “new normal” used again, according to recently-released survey data. The report also showed that consumers are seeking stability, and are ready to continue embracing the new technologies that have seen increased usage during the pandemic. MediaPost Top best practices for standout customer experiences in 2021 A continuing fine tuning of customer experience strategy will see brands playing greater roles in the lives of consumers, with particular success coming to brands that take a stance on corporate social justice, according to subject matter experts in a recently-released Adobe survey examining the evolving role of CX. CMO by Adobe Google releases Google Ads Editor v1.5 Google has offered new insight into a previously unannounced Google Ads Editor update, which has brought a more robust feature set to Google’s popular ad editing utility, the search giant recently announced. Search Engine Land As MarTech Spending Looks Set to Rise Again in 2021, Ease of Use Remains A Key Factor 2021 will see marketers increase spending on marketing technology, with ease of use, costs, customization, and the insights delivered among marketing and sales professionals’ top considerations, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts Google Search Streamed 3D Content Including Cars Google has offered a glimpse of streamed 3D content within search results for certain mobile users — an example of the type of new advertising format opportunities marketers may be increasingly optimizing for in 2021 and the coming years. SEO Roundtable Some B2B Firms Saw Revenue Increases Because Of COVID-19: Study Nearly one in five B2B firms said they will record revenue increases of at least 25 percent during 2020, with some 61 percent attributing the rise in revenue to conditions caused by the pandemic — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in new survey data. MediaPost ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “targeted holiday advertising” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist The 30 most Onion-worthy headlines of 2020 — AdAge TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lane R. Ellis — Starting a Business in 2021? Read These Expert Tips First — Small Business Trends
• Dell Technologies — How CIOs and CMOs will ‘co-create’ in 2021 — CMO by Adobe

Have you found your own top B2B marketing story from the past week of industry news? Please let us know in the comments below. Thanks for joining us for this special holiday edition of our B2B marketing news, and we hope that you will return again next Friday for more of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: Top B2B Investments For 2021, LinkedIn’s New Company Product Pages, Adobe’s CX Report, & Google’s 3D Search Content appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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Best Of B2B Search Marketing: Optimize Your 2021 With Our Top 10 SEO Posts

Search marketing has matured in many ways throughout this pandemic year of 2020. At each shift and change along the journey, we've done our best to not only cover each twist and turn thoroughly, but to also offer insight and research-based strategy to help savvy B2B marketers meet the challenges this year has placed in front of us. We're lucky to have a wealth of talented B2B marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog — which will celebrate its 18th year in 2021 — including our CEO Lee Odden, Joshua Nite, Elizabeth Williams, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Debbie Friez, Birdie Zepeda, the author of this post, and Alexis Hall, among others. To help our blog community grow its search marketing knowledge, we’re thrilled to offer this list of our most popular search marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) posts of 2020.

Our Most Popular Search Marketing Posts in 2020:

1. 5 Unheralded SEO Tools for Content Marketers — Lane R. Ellis

In our most popular search marketing post of 2020, I shared popular and little-known SEO tools to help B2B marketers refine and augment their search engine optimization efforts. From Google Lighthouse to WebPagetest and more, there SEO tools offer insight that will be just as relevant to marketers in 2021. Sorting through lists of the seemingly endless number of available SEO tools can be frustrating as well as a hit and miss proposition, however this collection lets skip the search and get right into SEO tools you can use today to help you create amazing content marketing stories. You can check out all of my posts here, and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“How can you be the best answer for your audience if you don’t understand what questions they’re asking or what problems they’re trying to solve?” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

2. SEO is Not Enough: Why B2B Marketers Need to Optimize for Trust with Influence — Lee Odden

What good is being found if your content isn't credible? In the second most popular search marketing post of the year, our CEO Lee Odden shows why SEO is not enough, and why optimizing for trust and credibility serve as a force multiplier for B2B marketers. "At a minimum, content marketers should leverage the keyword and topic research done for SEO as inspiration for the queries used to find relevant influencers on those topics," Lee observed, suggesting several ways marketers can think about influencers from an SEO perspective:

• Identify influencers that already create content on the topics of interest that already have great visibility on Google
• Pick influencers identified by Google as entities
• Evaluate influencer’s likelihood of attracting links when they publish or contribute content
• Provide influencers with SEO audits of their blogs so they can improve their search visibility

Check out all of Lee’s 2,600+ posts here, and follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“By integrating SEO and Influencer Marketing marketers can attract and engage buyers more effectively.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

3. 12 Top B2B SEO Trends & Predictions for 2021 — Lane R. Ellis

In the number three spot on our top search marketing posts of 2020 list, I asked 12 subject matter experts how SEO will change next, and what search marketing will look like in 2021. Learn from industry leaders as they share their top predictions for 2021, including Barry Schwartz, Lily Ray, Dixon Jones, Melissa Fach, Tim Mayer, Aleyda Solis, Jordan Koene, Roger Montii, Melanie Mitchell, Neil Marshall,  and our own Birdie Zepeda and Seth Epstein. "We need to incorporate intent into the keyword mapping exercise by matching keywords with the right intent to the right document," Tim Mayer noted in this, our third most popular SEO post of 2020. [bctt tweet="“2021 will see B2B marketers taking SEO and search marketing into not only a new year but perhaps a new boundary-pushing era, especially among B2B brands.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

4. Marketing During a Pandemic: Stop Pushing and Start Pulling with SEO — Lee Odden

How do you do marketing during a pandemic? One way is to stop pushing and start pulling, and in the fourth most popular search marketing post on our blog in 2020, Lee shows how SEO helps customers find information on their terms, without the alienation of tone deaf marketing. In infographic format, this post explores 10 top SEO tips from industry pros Barry Schwartz, Jono Alderson, Aleyda Solís, Jesse McDonald, Britney Muller, Ayat Shukairy, Dixon Jones, Hamlet Batista, Tiffani Allen and others. [bctt tweet="“Instead of being tone deaf or completely opportunistic about marketing, companies can double down on their SEO efforts to become the best answer for customers at the very moment they need a solution.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

5. Best SEO Tips for Marketing During the Pandemic Plus 9 Top SEO Platforms — Lane R. Ellis

SEO platforms can be a vital part of successful marketing efforts, and in the fifth most popular search marketing post of 2020 I asked nine top platforms for their best tips to help weather the pandemic. It's been a prime year for exploring the power of search optimization, and in this post we also share top SEO tips, from top industry firms including:

• WooRank
• Moz
• SpyFu
• Majestic
• Serpstat
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs
• inLinks
• Searchmetrics

With 51 percent of primarily B2B global marketing professionals seeing data insights and analysis as the single most important element when implementing a marketing technology stack, SEO platforms are poised to deliver the martech information businesses are eager to get, and we dig in and show how here. [bctt tweet="“Marketers have incredible power to spread some calm in a chaotic world right now. Use it wisely.” — BritneyMuller @BritneyMuller" username="toprank"]

6. SEO Strategy: 5 Reasons Why It’s More Important Than Ever For B2B Marketers — Lane R. Ellis

Why has SEO been more important than ever for B2B marketers during the global health crisis? In our sixth most popular search marketing post of 2020 I examined how SEO has showed its strength, stability and resiliency, including five of the top reasons to double down on B2B SEO:

• SEO is Performing Better During the Health Crisis
• SEO Helps as Pandemic Consumers Are Shopping Primarily Online
• SEO Platforms Help Maximize Remote Worker Efficiencies
• Doing SEO Now Will Strengthen Future Brand Efforts
• SEO’s Stability Is Important For B2B Brands

[bctt tweet="“With more people visiting B2B websites, it’s never been more important to have online content that’s properly indexed, easily findable, and that swiftly answers customer questions.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

7. How Influence and SEO Can Drive Customer Experience — Lee Odden

How can influence and SEO drive customer experience for B2B marketers? In our seventh most-read search marketing article of the year, Lee shares how genuine, authentic, and impactful influencer content collaborations combine to build CX success and best-answer search experiences. "For optimal SEO performance, best answer content experiences should be delivered with relevant, fast loading pages that are mobile friendly and deemed credible by other websites that link to them," Lee noted. "Even better is when that content is optimized for trust with relevant third-party experts," Lee added. [bctt tweet="“For brands, delivering a great user experience in search means understanding searcher intent and providing content that meets those expectations at the very moment of need.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

8. 8 Virtual SEO Conferences for B2B Marketers — Tiffani Allen

Attending virtual conferences is a great way to not only stay connected to the B2B marketing and SEO communities, but also to learn how SEO helps customers find your brand on their own terms. In our eighth most popular search marketing post of 2020, Tiffani Allen shared a collection of eight virtual SEO conferences to put on your agenda. Attending conferences – even in a virtual setting – is a great way to stay connected to the marketing and SEO community, and many of these digital events will also be held in virtual formats during the coming year. Check out all of Tiffani’s posts here, and follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“While many of our favorite search conferences are being postponed to later dates, there are still plenty of excellent virtual conferences to attend in the meantime.” @Tiffani_Allen" username="toprank"]

9. Why SEO & Influence are Critical to Pandemic Era Content Marketing — Lee Odden

How can your brand be the best answer? This year SEO and influencer marketing have played increasingly important roles as B2B brands look to become and stay the best answer for their customers, and in our ninth most popular search marketing article of 2020 Lee shares why and offers an array of helpful insight. "Understanding that B2B buyers already prefer to pull themselves through most of the sales experience with their own research and content, B2B marketers are increasingly emphasizing SEO for the current time when field marketing, events and experiential marketing are no longer an option," Lee noted in this insightful post. [bctt tweet="“Marketing is about optimizing for improved performance and the role that organic search plays in pulling customers to your brands solutions at the very moment of need is clear.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

10. 10 SEO Books for B2B Marketers in 2020 — Birdie Zepeda

B2B marketers understand SEO's importance, but do they understand its inner workings? Rounding out our top ten list of search marketing posts for the year is our SEO strategist Birdie Zepeda's insightful look at 10 SEO books that help demystify some of the practice's inner workings, and also provide plenty of practical advice. The SEO books on this list help B2B marketers to better understand the technical optimization intricacies of your company’s website and to further develop an SEO strategy that will best serve your audience and their needs. Check out all of Birdie's posts here, and follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn. [bctt tweet="“Some SEO questions are worth buying, borrowing, or downloading a book for a deep-dive into the subject.” — Birdie Zepeda @birdie_zepeda" username="toprank"]

Thanks TopRank Marketing Writers & Readers

Thanks to all of our top search marketing authors for contributing these top 10 SEO posts of 2020 — congratulations on making the list! Additionally, we publish several marketing influencer lists every year, and we wanted to share them here as a helpful way to find and follow some of the leading digital marketing influencers:

• 25 Top B2B Marketing Influencers To Follow In 2021 #MPB2B
• 50 Top B2B Content Marketing Influencers To Follow in 2021 #CMWorld
• 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Pros to Follow from Top Brands
• 32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow

Another helpful resource for B2B marketers to learn about crafting a successful B2B influencer marketing program is our recently-launched Inside Influence series, featuring interviews with top industry experts such as the latest episode with Paul Dobson of Citrix. We published dozens of posts this year specifically about search marketing, and plan to bring you even more in 2021, so stay tuned for a new year of the latest helpful search industry research and insight. Please let us know which search marketing topics and ideas you'd like to see us focus on for 2021 — we'd love to hear your suggestions. Feel free to leave those thoughts in the comments section below. Many thanks to each of you who read our blog regularly, and to all of you who comment on and share our posts on the TopRank Marketing social media channels at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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2021 Trends for Small Business Marketing Consultants

2021 Trends for Small Business Marketing Consultants written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch 

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I am expanding on the theme of the trend I started last week. In my work, I spend a good deal of time with those in the marketing field, marketing consultants, coaches, agencies, and the like. Now, these folks are small business owners in their own right but working with them gives me specific insight into this group.

Today I’m going to discuss 5 of the biggest trends that will affect marketing coaches in 2021.

Trends for 2021 for Small Business Marketing Consultants

• Coaching and consulting practices explode
• More firms crowdsource talent
• Social media engagement gets more specialized
• People crave faster consumption
• AI gets very practical

You can also read my 2021 Small Business Trends post here

Love the Duct Tape Podcast? Give us a review!

 

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Episode Transcript

Email Download New Tab

2021 Small Business Trends

[00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. This

is John Jantsch, and I'm going to do a solo show. I think it's been a little while I'm going to do

my annual wrap-up of the trends for 2021, I guess. It's not a wrap-up isn't it, it's a prediction.

That's a trends, for small business in 2021, but, you know, I love.

Testimonials reviews. I'd love to hear from you. Let me read one that just came in from a

tubblog. I know tubblog in the UK. Host John Jantsch is one of my go-to gurus for small

business marketing advice. And if you listen to his podcast, you'll appreciate why John not

only shares some amazing wisdom himself, but he expertly interviews a host of the brightest

minds from the marketing space.

If you own a small business or work in marketing, then you'll appreciate listening to this

show. Like I said, I love those who wouldn't love those. I'd love to hear from you, if you

[00:01:00] appreciate and love to listen to this show, jump over to iTunes and give me a

review. All right. So every year for, I don't know, the last 20 years or so, I've wrapped up the

year with my predictions for trends for the coming year.

And you know what I'm usually spot on. But that's really more, I think, a Testament to the

fact that trends, I mean, they tend to creep up on us rather than overwhelm us. and, I think

that there's also the fact that really was small business owners. You know, trends, have

usually kind of tipped, in the main, at least, I mean, we've been talking about it for a long

time before they honestly, you know, or something that small business owners really need

to.

Heed so, I mean, you think about like social media, mobile marketing, and even one that's

going to show up today, you know, AI, we talked about those for a long time before they are

really practical, I think for many small businesses, but you know, then 2020 happened in

pretty much everything that might have sort of.

Slowly [00:02:00] crept in on anybody, you know, kind of came in untethered and proud and

announced itself. So, you know, trends really accelerated and became the fact, I think more

than a trend, I mean like zoo, right? I mean fact, everybody just did it, but it's not a trend. I

think a new behavior that might've taken years to take hold is really now second nature.

I think for this year's predictions and you're going to, obviously a lot of people do these. I

think it's going to take, a new level of insight or a different level of insight to curate the

trends. I think the trick this year is that, you know, the ability to spot the behavior that

emerges from a change.

I mean, kind of the forest trends, if you will. So for example, like is business travel going to

take a long time to recover? You know, our large conferences on hold for awhile. I mean, will

people come to expect 15 minute virtual meetings? I mean, even if they're like in the same

office first together, so what did we make of some of this?

Now I know [00:03:00] that you can count on a lot of pundits out there that are going to

regurgitate the already worn line about marketers using this moment to become more

human. That businesses will be more about people and less about, I dunno, whatever it was

they were about before COVID, but I don't. I think that we should be fooled into thinking

that that, and I hope that you don't, that, that doing the same thing you were doing in a

different format is an innovation and that anything really in your industry, whatever industry

you're in will look precisely the same, maybe ever again.

I think this year, the friction around change. I mean, literally we went to zero, right? Because

there was no choice. So I think you can expect some people to really try to claw back, you

know, what, what they knew. and I think you're going to see a lot of other people. I mean,

completely reevaluate, restart everything.

I do think a lot of businesses are, are doing soul searching. [00:04:00] I know I have, I know

that's occurred. but let's not over simplify the result of it all. I think, forced to deal with the

change that we don't fully understand. Has let's really do some introspection of course, but

where law land is, frankly, anyone's guests.

And that leads me to my first trend trend. Number one, paying attention becomes a survival

mechanism, you know, in 2021. I mean, as in most years, businesses thrive and survive due

to many factors, but I think next year, Those who kind of discover the shift of the moment

that stay very, very nimble, I think will be more equipped to evolve with their customers.

Like 2020 showed us, frankly, how fast everything can change and, and simultaneously how

fast we can respond and then change [00:05:00] and then respond or re respond. I think this

is the commercial version of, of present. Moment, mindfulness, I suppose. I mean, don't take

anything for granted. Something that feels like momentum may just be abandoned for really

the feeling of the moment.

I mean, talk to your customers as much as you can. Not because they can tell you what they

want or need, because they can tell you how they're feeling. And I think. Going forward. I

think we can expect fear and I don't mean to be a cynic, but I think we can expect fear to be

a feeling, maybe the number one feeling for most of next year.

So tune your strategic strategic thinking to finding ways to, I don't know, be the light in the

darkness. It's a good way to say. All right. Number two, everything gets smaller. Now from a

practical standpoint, I mean, we've already seen this, right? I mean, conferences, meetings,

[00:06:00] gatherings of any sort, kind of contracted immediately.

And I think, I think to some extent, we're all going to need to relearn how to gather again. I

mean, no matter how much we think we crave it. I think you're going to expect to push for

less content, shorter videos, more intimate launches, mini courses, even, and, and the 142

page book instead of the classic 284 page book.

I think this trend will be driven by people's desire for something that feels more personal.

Certainly not by, you know, the markets. Designed to get smaller. But speaking of design, I

think design is a true graphic design is it is a true barometer of change sometimes. And I

think you can already see online at least, and it's already moved in that direction.

I mean, look at it. Look at the large headline fonts on websites, the muted color, almost a

watercolor splashes of retro illustrations and all the white space. On on webpages. I

[00:07:00] think that, that's a, an indicator or a barometers of where I think some people's

attitudes are going away or going as well, I should say.

and I don't think smaller always means, just smaller. It also means less complex. I think you

can expect that to play out really in a, in a large dollop of nostalgia. you know, you think

about the visions of families riding around their neighborhoods on their bikes during 2021 or

2020, I should say.

I think that sparked an emotional desire for simplicity. All right. Number three, AI gets

practical. Okay. Of course, almost every trend article. then I think you can, kind of this year

were probably the last two or three years has talked about AI in some fashion. And I

mentioned it here as a trend. I do.

I. I do so really for some practical things it brings rather than the futuristic promise of, you

know, some sort of technological change now without getting too technical about the

workings, the mid [00:08:00] somewhere in the middle of the year, this year 2020 to, rolled

out, open AI, rolled out something called generative pre-trained transformer three, or you

might see it referred to as GPT three.

and I think in a lot of ways, It was a big leap that made AI useful for many applications. I

mean, instead of just being confined to the service or help desk bots on websites, it's now

embedded in our basic typing. You, you might've actually even noticed this as you compose

an email out in Gmail, if you use Gmail or, or any of the Google suite of tools like Google

docs, I mean, the applications now, as you type

Suggest finishes to your sentences. And this isn't just a, a feature that was added by Google.

I mean, this is AI powering routine tasks and it gets smarter. I actually wrote, this, This fall.

my latest book called the ultimate marketing engine. Here's my plug for it. It'll be coming out

with [00:09:00] Harper, from Harper Collins leadership in September of 2021 and planned to

hear from me about it.

But anyway, I wrote this book. It's the first book I've written entirely in Google docs. how's

amazed at how the suggested AI. don't tell my editor this, but some cases, I think it helped

me right better, or at least, or at least it made it easier for me to write, sentences just from a

simple suggested start.

And I think you're going to see a lot of tools. I've already started to uncover tools and

services and websites really aimed it at making, writing. Easier. I mean, the couple of tools

like headline and market muse is another great one. I think they're going to change how

content is created. I think AI applications can write an article.

I mean, now based on just a handful of have fed in keywords now, is that going to be award-

winning pros? Well, maybe not at least right now, but you know, frankly, is that, is that blog

posts, you paid somebody $15 to write, you know, near as good [00:10:00] as AI, probably

not. But I think AI writers. I think those tools are righties to a place where they can get you

80% of the way there.

And then you, you know, the brilliant content strategists that you are, you can spend your

energy on making the, the content sparkle and, and, you know, getting it read by others that

becomes your job. I think this is going to shake up content creation, social posting agency,

and even though the entire freelance industry, pretty, pretty dramatically.

All right. Turn number four out of seven. Talent investment is back in style. So, you know,

most large businesses, I really have come to understand that there's a real competitive

nature in attracting and retaining some of the best people. So they've, you know, they've

long invested heavily in recruiting and employee branding initiatives, but you know, small

businesses rarely can afford the, you know, the, the perks, to attract talent.

But one trend that I think is going to grow in the world of small business. [00:11:00] Is what

might be referred to as talent development. I mean, even if revenue is down and budgets

are tight, I predict that small business owners are going to see the wisdom of creating

training and mentoring opportunities, really in an effort to level up and develop and let's

face it.

I mean, send a clear signal that their people aren't important. Piece of their success. And I

think this has always been a big topic, big, important topic, but I think we'll see a return to a

fundamental commitment to employee engagement around things like profit and skill

development. And I don't think it's going to be limited to big business only.

So if you're out there listening to this and you have a training. Program or some way to help

people develop skills or mindset or even personal development. I think small business is

going to be a great target, for, the, the, the purchase of those types of things. All right.

Number five video gets personal again.

So. If, if [00:12:00] you're a longtime reader or listener, and, and recall this, I said that last

year, so that's the again, part, but I think there's going to be another, evolution. I think it's

going to continue to grow as a content medium. but I think it's also going to, we're going to

be a bridge to a couple of the other trends that I mentioned, already today, motion, it'll be

the act of paying attention and getting smaller.

I think video, I don't know, think of it as asynchronous virtual content. It's going to take

another big leap and, and, and it's going to bounce from the zoom screens that so many

people have been in front of to more personal, what I call one-to-one, you know, custom.

Personalized, platform. So for things like sales and technical support, and I think even as a

form of collaboration and commenting, internally, so tools like loom and BombBomb, you

know, I think they're going to continue to grow and, I mean, face it, who wants to read four

paragraph email, you know, when you can just simply close your eyes, click [00:13:00] play

and get the message.

So I think you're going to see more and more of that number six UX user experience. And

SEO search engine optimization get attached at the hip. So for a lot of years, it was pretty

fashionable to talk about the marriage of content and SEO. And I don't know, now that

contents basically online air, I think it's sort passe to even talk about those two concepts is.

As to right. but I think there's going to be a newest HSA player in the SEO world making

waves, and that's UX or user experience now UX isn't, it's not a new concept. I mean,

navigation, good navigation, at least as it is, user experience, content structure, you know,

those are, those are user experience.

I mean, so site speed, you know, how fast your site loads, how secure it is. I mean, those are

all part of the user experience, but, you know, Google, particularly with it's, it's just.

Obsession with this idea of a mobile first world or [00:14:00] point of view. I think they're

going to raise the bar or at least the SEO bar, another notch next year.

So the three words that I think you're going to have to come to terms with in 2021, and

those three words are core web vitals. So this isn't. Meant to be a technical podcast. So I'm

going to have to leave it to you to, to research, what core web vitals is on your own, but

suffice it to say that slight sites, your website, any website that loads slowly or doesn't

provide what Google thinks is a great mobile user experience.

You're going to suffer in the SEO game. I mean, Google it's typically mom about, you know,

how they rank things, but they've, they've actually gone as far as publicly claiming that in

2021, they plan to combine core web vitals with their other ranking signals. if you want to

dig into this a little bit, And there'll be a link in the show notes.

my go-to source for education on anything to do with SEO, is, is my friend [00:15:00]

brianDean@backlinko.com. And you'll, you'll see that he's done some work on core web

vitals, a highly recommend that you visit the show notes for this episode and, find back

linko.com. You could certainly do a search on your own and you'll find it too, because after

all he's really good at SEO.

All right. So, Oh, and, and, and another thing right now, core web vitals. It may, maybe those

of you that are Google search console people, and you should be, that you, you could see, I

don't know, about six months ago. They started putting how your site ranks in these, in this

ranking factors that they call web, core web vitals, not how it ranks, but how they view it.

you know, good, bad or indifferent. All right. Number one or number seven, I guess the last

one, I think coaching. Ranks coaching as a profession, is, and, and as, as people actually

hiring coaches, been around for a long time, big industry on its own, I think the ranks of

coaching is, is really going to swell.

[00:16:00] You know, during 2020, a lot of people found corporate jobs. Weren't so stable.

Or it's so fun anymore. Maybe. I, you know, some people were laid off, and, and I think

started that coaching or consulting business. I, I, as many of you know, I have a network of

independent marketing consultants. So we saw a huge surge in interest from people jumping

out of corporate that just finally said, Hey, now's the time to, to start that, that practice that

I've wanted to, I just think a lot of people took.

sometime during 2020 to kind of reconsider their life path in general. So my final prediction

is that the number of people who both decide to start coaching businesses, and those who

decide that that right now is the time to get our hierarchy coach. I think I. I think you're

going to see that explode.

I think that coincides nicely also with the trend of, of businesses developing their people. I

think businesses are going to, to look for coaching and look for, opportunities to [00:17:00]

develop their people. And I just think that 2021 is going to be a year of recovery and

personal development. and you know, in some cases, one of changing priorities, so this

crystal ball stuff is fun, but more than anything.

my advice is this, stay curious this coming year, and you may indeed discover a new and

exciting chapter in business and in life because that's the only thing that I know. The only

thing that I know is for certain is that change. Is it going to keep coming? All right. Take care.

Be well. And, hopefully we'll see you one day back out there on the road.

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