Like many entrepreneurs, I used the final couple of months of 2021 to replicate on what occurred in the course of the yr and to plan for 2022. Due to the unprecedented occasions of 2020 and 2021, I spent extra time than common taking inventory of the state of B2B advertising and marketing and assessing what the main target of my content material must be in 2022 and past.

The COVID-19 pandemic turned 2020 right into a nine-month-long train in disaster administration for a lot of firms. Enterprise shutdowns and work-from-home insurance policies compelled many B2B entrepreneurs to pivot their go-to-market technique and to make fast and substantial adjustments to their advertising and marketing plans and ways.

2021 was a blended yr in a number of methods. The US economic system skilled a strong restoration, and COVID-related fears and issues eased considerably with the rollout of vaccines, the approval of vaccine boosters and the event of efficient antiviral therapeutics. 

Then, close to the top of final yr, the Omicron variant appeared, and the world confronted the prospect of one other main surge of COVID-19.  Within the US, that surge is now properly underway, however there may be proof the Omicron variant might produce proportionately fewer extreme instances of COVID-19, and there may be hope that this surge can be shorter than earlier ones. So 2021 demonstrated that COVID is not prone to disappear any time quickly.

There’s little doubt the pandemic modified the expectations and behaviors of shoppers and enterprise consumers, and it is also clear that a few of these adjustments will persist after COVID-related issues recede. The present problem for entrepreneurs is to find out which of these adjustments can be longer-lasting and the way their advertising and marketing methods might want to evolve to achieve success.

Over the previous a number of weeks, I have been pondering by whether or not or to what extent the occasions of the previous two years ought to have an effect on the content material I publish right here. My goal for this weblog has at all times been to offer content material that readers will discover informative, thought-provoking and helpful. I have been gratified by the engagement this weblog has acquired, and I consider it is largely reaching its major objective.

However there’s at all times room for enchancment, and subsequently, I will be making a couple of adjustments right here starting subsequent week. Throughout every calendar month, I plan to publish three new sorts of posts.

E book Critiques – Many necessary matters can solely be addressed adequately in a full-length ebook, so I will be writing a ebook evaluate publish on a month-to-month foundation. Most of those evaluations will talk about books which were lately revealed (often throughout the previous 1-2 years). Often, nonetheless, I could evaluate an older ebook that’s significantly related for entrepreneurs within the present enterprise setting.

Analysis Spherical-Ups – Common readers of this weblog will know that I incessantly talk about the findings of marketing-related analysis research. Over the previous a number of years, the amount of such research has elevated dramatically, as firms have realized they are often efficient for constructing thought management.

These Analysis Spherical-Up posts will briefly summarize the outcomes of lately revealed analysis research. Every publish will often cowl 2 – 4 research, though I could often deal with a single examine once I consider it is significantly helpful for entrepreneurs.

Deep Dives – Analysis signifies that enterprise professionals worth content material sources that present reliable and in-depth data and insights. Till lately, weblog posts weren’t usually seen as automobile for addressing a subject in an in-depth means, just because the standard view was that weblog posts must be comparatively quick.

That is altering, and I now incessantly see longer weblog posts which are extra like characteristic articles in a periodical. For instance, the Harvard Enterprise Overview web site and the Sloan Administration Overview web site usually publish longer on-line articles.

So this yr, I am planning to publish one publish every month that gives a extra in-depth therapy of an necessary matter. This may allow me to handle sure matters in a extra cohesive and complete method.

The remaining one or two posts every month can be just like these I have been writing since I launched this weblog greater than ten years in the past. I am hoping to incorporate a couple of posts primarily based on interviews with main advertising and marketing and enterprise thinkers, and I plan to publish a number of posts offering sensible, “how-to” steerage that readers can put to speedy use.

Let’s have an awesome 2022!

Picture courtesy of Amanda Slater by way of Flickr (CC).