Looking Back, Looking Forward - 2024 Edition

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The beginning of a new year is what behavioral scientists call a temporal landmark, a date that stands out as more meaningful than others. Temporal landmarks often prompt us to make significant changes in our lives or commit to pursuing new goals.

If you doubt the power of temporal landmarks, just consider how often we make "New Year's resolutions" to lose weight, or begin a regular exercise program, or learn a new skill.

Like many marketers, I used the final few weeks of 2023 to reflect on what happened during the year and plan for 2024. Because of the disruptive events of the past few years, I spent a good bit of time thinking about how this blog needs to change and what the focus of my content here should be in 2024.

What Won't Change In 2024

Last year, I began publishing two new types of posts each month - book reviews and "research round-ups." In 2023, I published eleven book review posts.

Today, marketers have easy access to a huge variety of content resources. They can read blogs, white papers, and ebooks, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and attend webinars.

All of these content formats can be useful and valuable, but some topics can't be adequately addressed by anything other than a full-length book. Therefore, books will always be an important knowledge resource for marketers.

My book review posts were very popular in 2023. In fact, three of my ten most popular posts last year were book reviews. So, book reviews will continue to be a regular monthly feature in 2024.

Last year, I published eleven monthly research round-up posts, and they were also popular with readers. Two of my ten most popular posts in 2023 were research round-up posts.

Most research round-up posts include brief descriptions of two to four recent research studies, although I have occasionally used a post to discuss one particularly important study in more detail. Given their popularity, research round-up posts will also continue to be a regular monthly feature this year.

What Will Change in 2024

My primary objective for this blog has always been to provide information and viewpoints that are timely, thought-provoking, and useful. To accomplish this goal, the content of this blog needs to evolve to reflect the ever-changing landscape of B2B marketing.

Without question, 2023 was the year of generative artificial intelligence in business and marketing. OpenAI's release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 ignited an arm's race among technology companies to develop and roll out new or enhanced applications featuring generative AI capabilities. Product announcements from both tech industry heavyweights and start-ups came at a rapid pace throughout 2023. 

The capabilities of generative AI language models also evolved at a breakneck pace last year, and it's now clear that generative AI will have a profound impact on all aspects of business, including marketing. I suspect that the pace of AI development will continue in 2024 and that generative AI will again be one of the hottest topics in marketing.

So, I'll be writing about generative AI this year, but my approach will be a little different than most. I've always believed that it's important to use this blog to make readers aware of concepts and research that they may not encounter in the popular B2B marketing literature.

Last year, generative AI became an important topic of scholarly research, and that will likely continue this year. Academic research papers can be an authoritative source of information about generative AI, but they can also be more challenging for marketers to access. Therefore, I'll be focused on finding and discussing these kinds of materials in 2024.

I'll also be actively looking for academic research papers on other topics that are relevant to B2B marketing, and I'll write about those when I find them.

2024 is poised to be another exciting year in B2B marketing. I look forward to expanding my knowledge and sharing what I learn with you.