15 B2B content marketing trends for 2024

With a new year comes a fresh batch of content marketing trends, tools, and talking points that are shaking up strategies and driving results. But which ones are best for B2B marketers? How can they help cut through all the noise to connect with B2B buyers?
We’ve sifted through popular predictions and are excited to present the content marketing trends we expect to make an impact in 2024.

15 trends to transform your content marketing in 2024

1. Adopting generative AI (GenAI) into your workflows

GenAI is steering both B2B and B2C marketers into a new era of efficiency, productivity and creativity. It’s fast becoming the support tool that time-stretched marketers have been in desperate need of – particularly during a time of ongoing budget constraints, increased content demands, and limited resources.
A 2023 survey by Sitecore asked US marketers what excited them most about GenAI. Here’s what the top answers were:

• Speed up market research on prospects and customers: 70%
• Create and scale content faster: 65%
• Use as a springboard for future creative campaigns and ideas: 63%
• Get close to customers and delight them: 54%
• Create custom images faster: 51%
• Transform back-end processes: 50%

The need for GenAI support won’t change in 2024. What will change is how its use evolves into workflows across teams.

2. Establishing clear GenAI guidelines and policies

We’ll likely see an increasing number of businesses wising up to the Wild West-like environment of GenAI use, and starting to establish clear guidelines and policies for its use. Its role will be more clearly defined, as well as what customer data will and will not be included in GenAI-driven initiatives. Privacy and other regulatory issues need to be addressed as part of these guidelines and policies to protect both the business’s integrity and its customer data.
Clarifying in-house use of GenAI across departments will also help avoid common pitfalls, such as providing sub-par customer experiences or producing generic content.

3. Understanding that GenAI won’t replace marketers

GenAI will further distinguish itself as a tool to support (not replace) marketers. In fact, AI is predicted to usher in the creation of new specialized roles that require working alongside and understanding AI e.g. prompt engineers.
2024 could even start to see an emergence of specialized teams that are responsible for curating, enhancing, and overseeing the output of AI-generated content. These teams could play a pivotal role in fine-tuning creative elements, ensuring a seamless blend of AI and human-driven marketing efforts, and maintaining overall brand consistency.

4. Preserving the human side of your brand

While AI excels at data-driven content marketing, it can struggle to convey genuine emotions, creativity, or a uniquely human perspective, leading it to lack “heart and soul”.
B2B transactions involve businesses interacting with other businesses, but there are humans behind these businesses! The decision-making process is still (for now!) made by humans and influenced by human factors. Education, support, and trust are key parts of the B2B decision-making process – and this won’t change in 2024. That’s why a B2B data-driven marketing strategy that shows what type of content will truly connect is crucial.
If brands want to get attention, generate quality leads, and tell their story, AI can assist with the job, but human-written content will be essential for impact, connection, and conversion.

Trust will always trump tech.

5. Crunching the data

While this is less of a ‘trend’ and more of a timeless classic, it still needs a spot on our list for 2024 due to its ability to completely transform how your B2B content marketing performs.
By understanding audience behavior, marketers can make informed decisions, refine strategies, and create content that features data-driven personalization. Continuous data analysis ensures the creation of relevant content that reels in high-intent leads. Relevance resonates – which drives action.

6. Harnessing automated, hyper-personalized content

Some of the biggest challenges for B2B marketers are complex buyer journeys, niche audiences, and longer sales cycles. Deeply personalized content helps tackle these challenges by understanding individuals and creating tailored content that resonates with their interests, concerns, and frustrations.
For example, it’s common for businesses to have internal buying committees, made up of various stakeholders in the business. Each decision-maker has a different role and a distinct responsibility in the procurement process. As a result, there are many agendas on the table to identify and cater to during the sales process.
AI, marketing automation, content publishing, a solid customer feedback strategy, and data insight tools all help marketers better understand audience behavior and preferences while helping to create and deliver hyper-relevant content at the right time for optimum response.

We also see scalable automation of hyper-personalized content emerging further in 2024, driving more demand for this type of creation and consumption model.
Turtl’s Personalization Engine makes deeply personalized content at scale a reality. Whether it’s digital brochures, sales proposals, newsletters, or anything in between, our Personalization Engine uses automation to take the heavy lifting out of personalized content creation.

In minutes, you can create thousands of tailored content offerings that go far beyond tweaking just names and job titles. Curious to see how it works? Check out the video below.

7. Prioritizing interactive content that provides intent data

Interactive content increases engagement and provides marketers with intent data. This data is gold dust, as it indicates a prospect’s interest or readiness for specific products or services. It’s like being given a map of their likes and dislikes, helping marketers navigate their way to a sale through personalized content.
During 2024, intent data will continue to be crucial in identifying hot leads sales teams will love. Marketers can plan and segment more effectively by knowing exactly what’s resonating in real time.

8. Continuing to champion an account-based marketing (ABM) approach

More and more marketers are seeing the value in lead quality over quality – which is exactly the focus of an account-based marketing strategy. In ABM, B2B marketers target specific high-value accounts by tailoring content and communications specifically to them. This takes the need for personalization to the next level, to charm a VIP list as it were!

9. Becoming more creative and strategic than ever before

GenAI can supply hyper-personalized campaigns, optimize content on a large scale, and generally alleviate marketers from repetitive and menial tasks. This will pave the way in 2024 for increased productivity and the streamlining of operations to free up marketers’ time to be more innovative and strategic. Creativity may just be 2024’s most in-demand commodity.

10. Committing to original research

If you want to offer your prospects insightful, educational content that can’t be found anywhere else (especially through AI!), conduct original research around industry hot topics and present it in an interactive and engaging format.
Not only will it enhance your credibility, but it’ll serve as a powerful lead generation tool (particularly if you go for gated content). Our omnichannel marketing guide, ‘6 key marketing channels to generate and capture demand’ contributes to a buzzing industry conversation – and gets attention and insights.

Click to read 6 key marketing channels to generate and capture demand

11. Valuing micro-influencers

HubSpot’s recent marketing trends report states that 1 in 4 marketers are leveraging influencer marketing, as it offers the 2nd highest ROI of any trend.
Known for their smaller but highly engaged social followings, micro-influencers often boast higher response rates than macro-influencers and celebrities. They also tend to be more cost-effective! 2024 will see more brands collaborating with micro-influencers to foster genuine connections with their target audience.

12. Prioritizing video-centric SEO

Content marketers should consider using 2024 to prepare for a seismic shift towards video-centric SEO. It’s all about mastering visual storytelling (particularly through short-form video content) and metadata optimization to ensure discoverability within search engine algorithms.

13. Getting to grips with user-generated content (UGC)

In 2023, UGC emerged as a prominent trend and it’s set to continue into 2024. Statistics reveal that over 85% of consumers perceive UGC as more relevant and valuable than brand-created content.
UGC plays a pivotal role not just in content strategy but also in branding and sales. Due to its objective nature, it serves as social proof, driving traffic, brand promotion, and lead generation.

14. Using augmented reality (AR) & virtual reality (VR) to create new content experiences

Seeing is believing. 2024 will see more and more digital marketers craft immersive experiences to enhance product exploration and brand perception. This transformative technology elevates engagement levels, creating memorable and impactful brand interactions.

15. Standing for values that matter

As we step into 2024, prioritizing sustainability, equality, and ethics in content marketing is crucial. More than ever, consumers seek authentic brands aligning with their values. For example, they want businesses to share eco-friendly narratives, be more transparent on D&I policies, etc.
Companies that embrace transparency and foster important conversations will stand out. Ultimately, don’t be afraid to use your content to contribute to a better world.

How to hop on the right bandwagon

As you’ve likely seen before, trends come and go. Other trends stick. What’s important is ensuring your content strategy remains agile and data-fed.

If the numbers (and your gut!) are telling you a trend might resonate well with your target audience, explore it. But ensure you set aside time to explore it properly. For example, some software tools offer free trial periods (usually 7 or 14 days) but don’t sign up until you can properly put it through its paces. Allow time to see its impact – don’t be impatient. Make sure to partner with software providers that genuinely care about helping you achieve both your content marketing and wider business goals (like Team Turtl!).

And finally, test and refine! This is the only way you’ll establish a content marketing strategy that works to your advantage. And don’t rest on your laurels. What works now, might not down the line. Google’s latest algorithm update, global events, buyer priorities… Always be prepared to adapt.

In fact, as well as tracking trends, it would be worth predicting them, too! Check out data and analytics dashboards – what do they tell you about buyer behavior? Sales trends? And everything in between? Trends are useful to be aware of and explore, but keep future-proofing and agility in mind to stay ahead of the game.

Data. Personalization. Interactivity.
Try out Turtl and get on top of the rising trends here to stay!