Welcome back to Demand Gen Report’s blog series: Buzzworthy B2B. We’ve spent the past month watching the latest news and hottest trends in the industry and curated the top research statistics, financial news, personnel changes and more to keep you in the loop! Check out all the latest happenings in the B2B space throughout April 2021 below!
Movers & Shakers
Whether they’re soon–to–be best sellers or simply new faces that drove brand storytelling, there was a clear pseudo-literacy theme occurring throughout April.
Roderick Jefferson Debuts New Book
Sales enablement expert Roderick Jefferson released his new book “Sales Enablement 3.0: The Blueprint To Sales Enablement Success,” which focuses on increasing sales productivity through a systematic, personalized approach. The book also explores different methodologies and tools marketers can use to encourage internal alignment and address challenges with sales enablement.
G2 Welcomes Amanda Malko As CMO
Peer-to-peer business and software review platform G2 recently hiredAmanda Malko as its new CMO, where she will be responsible for building strong customer relationships and driving business growth. She previously worked at Mailchimp, leading its partner program and building strong buyer partnershipswhile simultaneously driving brand growth.
Lisa Agona Joins TeamViewer
TeamViewer hired Lisa Agona as its new CMO and member of its management board. In this new role, Agona will be responsible for buildingTeamViewer’sB2B brand and improving its storytelling capabilities on a global scale.
Money Makers
While money isn’t everything, it’s sure helping the following companies refine their solutions, generate new campaigns and provide better support for their customers.
Casted Receives $7M In Series A Funding
Casted secured $7 million in Series A funding, which it will use to augmentits audio and video content as a tool for marketing and sales.More specifically, Casted will invest the funds into content sharing capabilities across multiple channels, SEO optimization and content impact analytics to help organizations improve their marketing impact.
Marketing Agency Sees 105% YOY Revenue Growth
Global B2B marketing agency BNZSA announced it experiences105% year-on-year (YOY) revenue growth in Q1 of 2021, which follows its 40% revenue growth at the end of 2020. BNZSA plans to use the additional revenue to continue global expansionin Canada, Russia, Mexico, the U.S. and more.
Series C Funding Round Secures $240M For ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign recently secured $240 million in a Series C funding round, which brings the company’s total funding to $360 million. The company also recently surpassed 145,000 customers globally in Q1, attracting new buyers by improving its users’ customer success programs in email marketing, CRMs, marketing automation solutions and more.
Alyce Generates $30M For Funding Total of $48M
Alyce raised $30 million in Series B funding earlier this month, bringing its total funding to $48 million. The company plans to invest the funds into its sales and customer support teams, using gifting capabilities to adopt a “recipient-first approach.”
Head’s Up
Marketing teams have been grappling with the digital era since the Covid-19 pandemic sped up its adaption. As marketing teams work to improve demand generation, ROI and their campaigns, here’s what the industry’s been focusing on.
With the digital age likely here to stay, marketing teams need to blend high-touch engagement strategies with digital initiatives. Demand Gen Report‘s May 2021 Campaign Optimization Series will provide marketers with a series of tools and tactics to refine their campaigns to reach target buyerswith a variety of webinars.
In an effort to provide a more unified buying process, marketing teams areunifying their martech and salestechstacks to overhaul internal processes and speed up the buyer’s journey.
Demand generation is constantly innovating and, throughout 2021, some of the biggest trends driving demand gen include capitalizing on virtual events, generating tailored advertisements and increasing reliance onintent data and buying signals.
Adobe recently held its annual Adobe Summit, where the company explored how digital experiences and personalization have impacted marketing and sales in 2021, and how organizations can adapt for the future. The company also unveiled many new solutions at the event, including the launch of its Experience Manager software and addition of Smartbug Media to its partner program.
With virtual events here to stay, ON24 updated its event platform’s capabilities by introducing “Breakouts” to enable seamless networking opportunities and deeper engagement between event speakers and attendees.
As web browsers continue to phase out their support for third-party cookies, the industry is adapting to the new regulations by turning to new data information. Terminus released a data set that tracks target accounts and identification data, while Rollworks teamed up with Kickfireto provide enhanced account identification and engagement measurement.
Stand-Out Stats
It’s no secret that contentis king and, as such, marketing teams are fine-tuning their focus to improve key areas of content creation and management.
- Throughout 2020, B2B marketers who conducted paid social media ads campaigns—specifically on LinkedIn and Facebook—saw 1.9 million clicks, $66 million generated in qualified pipeline and 102,000 qualified leads.
- The B2B industry‘s comfortability with virtual events grew throughout 2021, as the amount of event marketers with experience hosting and/or planning an event increased by 38%, with 20% considering themselves “experts” at planning events.
- 62% of marketersincreased their reliance on content throughout 2020, with many pointing to “practical” content, visualcontent and the source’s trustworthiness as their guide.
- Guided by short-term videos such as TikTok and interactive content,99% of marketers will continue using video content in the future, with 89% indicating they receive a good ROI.
