B2B Marketers Own the Customer Journey, Now What? [Survey]
90 percent of B2B marketers have said that their roles have become increasingly complex, while 62 percent of marketing leaders have indicated a change from sales-owned to marketing-owned customer relationships — two of numerous findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-published survey data. ANA

B2B Marketing Budget and Spend Trends for 2024 [Report]
48 percent of B2B marketers have said that they expect marketing budgets to increase during 2024, with the leading areas of marketing spending expected to be in-person events, direct marketing, and content marketing, while 25 percent noted being very optimistic when it comes to the outlook of AI in B2B marketing, according to recently-released report data. MarketingProfs

ABM Is Proving More Effective in Some Areas Than Others [Survey]
40 percent of B2B demand generation marketers have seen account based marketing (ABM) bring significant improvement to active account engagement, with 45 percent noting at least some improvement, while 30 percent said that they used three types of ABM at their organization, as some 25 percent noted using two types of ABM — several of many findings contained in newly-published ABM survey results. MarketingCharts

AI Action: Marketers Are Boosting Their Spend In 2024
45 percent of marketers have said that they saw lack of experience as the top challenge when it comes to AI implementation, followed by 34 percent who cited ethical and privacy issues, and 33 percent who pointed to budget constraints, according to recently-shared report data of interest to B2B marketers. MediaPost

2024 Influencer Trends You Should Care About [Ogilvy Report]
With the creator economy expected to hit $500 billion by 2027, the opportunity to use internal voices to make a powerful external impact will also grow, along with a rise in the power of social listening and the use of niche online communities, according to newly-published Ogilvy report data. Muse by Clio

“The future of influence is one where influencers are not just adjuncts to marketing campaigns, but an integral component of brand strategies.” — Chris Celletti Click To Tweet

LinkedIn Ad Prices Surge As Brands Reallocate Spending From X
Microsoft’s LinkedIn has seen advertising revenue climb as an increasing number of brands have either lowered spending or ceased advertising altogether on X, formerly known as Twitter, propelling LinkedIn to account for some 1.5 percent of overall digital ad spending in the U.S., and MediaPost recently took a look at the gains LinkedIn has made on the top ad market shares of Meta and Google. MediaPost

Threads Moves to Next Stage of Testing for Its API
Meta’s Threads is working on an application programming interface (API) that will allow full-featured third-party publishing to the social platform, and is expected to eventually also adopt the ActivityPub API, as the platform seeks to expand its online presence in the wake of users and brands leaving X. Social Media Today

Bing Tests Trending Labels In Visually Explore Box
Microsoft’s Bing search engine has begun testing designated trending-now content within its visual exploration search functionality, offering B2B marketers potential new avenues for content optimization, Microsoft recently announced. Search Engine Roundtable

Google Ads team facing major restructure amid automation boom
Rapidly-expanding AI and machine learning techniques have played increasing roles in driving Google to consider making changes to its popular Google Ads sales unit, as the search giant’s automated advertising tools have propelled ad sales on pace to reach more than $10 billion, and Search Engine Land recently took a look. Search Engine Land

Reddit Aims for 2024 IPO at $15B Valuation
Social aggregation and discussion platform Reddit has topped the 70 million daily active user mark, and is expected to go public during 2024 with a $15 billion initial public offering (IPO), reinforcing the continuing power of message forums in which real people share real-world experiences. Social Media Today

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at “Happy (Product) Returns” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Man Creates Account On GhostbusterBobbleheads.com For Faster Checkout Next Time — The Onion

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

Lee Odden / TopRank Marketing — 23 Influencers Digital Agencies Should Follow in 2024 — Duda
TopRank Marketing — 100 Best Digital Marketing Agency Blogs & Websites — Feedspot
TopRank Marketing — Trends Forecast for 2024 — TBW
Donna Robinson / TopRank Marketing — Using LinkedIn to Elevate B2B Influencer Marketing — LinkedIn (client)

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

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About the author

Lane R. Ellis has over 40 years’ experience working with and writing about the Internet. He writes for and manages all of the posts on the award-winning TopRank B2B Marketing Blog. Before joining the team here as Social Media and Content Marketing Manager, Lane spent more than a decade as Lead Editor for the prestigious conference firm Pubcon. When he's not writing about B2B marketing trends, Lane enjoys distance running (he's completed 11 marathons including two ultra-marathons so far), genealogical research, cross-country skate skiing, vegetarian cooking, and spending time with his wonderful wife Julie Ahasay and their cats Kukla, Twister, and Arlo in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota.