This Week in Marketing: Inbound Innovation

As customers continually become more independent and self-guided in their purchase journeys, inbound marketing has never been more important! Ensuring that your brand is showing up early as a magnetic destination for relevant audiences, even before they explore solutions, holds the key to getting on their radar and earning consideration.

HubSpot’s annual INBOUND conference is a celebration of this philosophy, bringing together professionals from far and wide around a shared passion for innovative, customer-centric strategies. LinkedIn is excited to be taking part in the festivities this week at INBOUND 24, where our team will be hosting and participating in several sessions, including one on Thursday focused on using smart solutions from LinkedIn and HubSpot to maximize performance. (You can register to attend virtually here!) 

With inbound on our minds, let’s cover some of the past week’s top content for B2B marketers, with an eye on attracting more attention to your brand.

What to Read

Brand Has ‘Never Been More Important in B2B Marketing,’ Research Reveals (Marketing Week): Hannah Rashbass reviews new research from Dentsu into B2B buying decisions. Among the findings:

‘Raising brand awareness/top of funnel performance’ has jumped from the sixth most important factor influencing future strategy in 2021, to the most crucial in 2024.

Free Trial vs. Demo: What’s More Effective in B2B SaaS Ads? (Martech): Obility founder Mike Nierengarten recently set out to answer a question that echoes throughout B2B lead gen strategies. Mike Pastore spoke with him, sharing insights and the data from Nierengarten’s experiment analyzing more than 11,000 paid search ads.

How To Leverage AI To Orchestrate Human-Centric B2B Marketing (Demand Gen Report): In a recent episode of the B2B Marketing Exchange Podcast, Kelly Lindenau and Klaudia Tirico spoke with AI strategist Daniel Englebretson about using AI to make your marketing more human.

“You can’t just duplicate your existing workflows — you have to rethink them based on the level of effort AI provides. It’s not about replacing a human; it’s about creating a fundamentally different tool set that opens a new door.” - Daniel Englebretson 

Why You Need a Subscription Mindset for B2B Content (CustomerThink): “Subscriptions are a constant in our lives as consumers and professionals,” writes Ardath Albee. “Applying the aspects of the model to your content marketing strategy will help you stay on point and increase your relevance with B2B buyers.”

‘Are You Not Entertained?’ How Brands Are Kicking Off the NFL Season (Marketing Dive): Given the viewership levels and corresponding stakes, it’s always fascinating to keep an eye on what big-name brands are doing with their marketing and advertising for the football season. Sara Karlovitch rounds up notable examples from Nationwide, Applebee’s, PepsiCo and more.

SXO Explained: How to Adapt to the New Era of Search (Ahrefs): It’s critical for marketers to stay current on the evolution of search. Despina Gavoyannis gathers insights from a range of SEO experts on the rise of Search Experience Optimization and what it means going forward.

What to Watch

Counterintuitive Marketing: Why Marketers Should Do What They Think They Shouldn't

In this conversation, Neal Schaffer sits down with behavioral science expert Nancy Harhut to chat through counterintuitive marketing tactics backed by psychology. You can also check out our review of Harhut’s excellent book, Using Behavioral Science in Marketing: Drive Customer Action and Loyalty by Prompting Instinctive Responses.

What to Know

More than three-quarters (76%) of marketers in Europe report that implementing AI solutions has improved their customer experience, and 40% say they’re using AI to improve their ability to measure and demonstrate ROI. 

Learn more in the new free regional report from HubSpot and LinkedIn: The Intersection of Marketing, Data and AI: Challenges and opportunities for decision-makers across Europe.

Be sure to follow the LinkedIn for Marketing Blog for more insights.