For a lot of B2B brands, 2024 felt like a bit of an uphill battle. Decisions took longer, competition was fierce and everyone was looking for the magic formula for new biz acquisition.
As we traverse the start of 2025, “AI is knocking at the door”, “Competition is just as fierce” and “Customer expectations are evolving at warp speed”.
This is straight from our Voices of Business Survey, where we asked B2B brands what’s really going on in their industries right now. The results? A bloody interesting look at the B2B trends shaping this year.
AI seems to be “the” word. Almost every business we surveyed mentioned AI in some form, whether as an opportunity or a threat. Some are excited about AI’s potential to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences and automate tedious processes. Others worry about its impact on jobs, pricing models and even entire industries.
“AI tools are giving us new efficiencies, but the fear is they’ll also replace parts of what we do.”
AI isn’t going anywhere. The businesses that embrace AI strategically rather than fear it will likely see huge benefit. That said, there’s understandable caution - especially in creative businesses.
Here’s how B2B businesses currently view AI’s role in their industry:
As a web design and development agency, we are obviously mindful of the risks posed by AI in our industry. That said, we’d be mad not to embrace the overwhelming benefits of many of the tools out there.
FWIW - If you’re still early on in your AI journey, consider attending some AI talks, or signing up for a few webinars. There’s no shortage of people keen to share their progress in this area, and a whole host of free tools to play with. It was great to see a demo of Launch Lemonade at a recent Agency Hackers event “The Robots are Coming”. Launch Lemonade makes it easy to start with AI so that you can build co-pilots, social media assistants, content writers and more using a whole host of popular LLM’s (Large Language Models) like Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude and more.
B2B brands are feeling the squeeze. Many industries are crowded with competitors, making it harder than ever to stand out. Businesses are finding that “great service alone isn’t enough anymore”. Customers seemingly want more for less, which can lead to quality being impacted.
“There’s too much supply and not enough demand. Agencies like ours are fighting for the same clients and there’s a risk of it being a bit of a race to the bottom”.
So how are B2B businesses responding to increased competition?
Doubling down on branding and positioning – standing out is no longer optional, so brands are focussing on tightening up what they do, who they do it for, the problems they solve and the outcomes. Outcomes driven value propositions make it very clear that you understand your clients challenges and how you solve their problems.
Investing in SEO and digital – organic visibility matters more than ever, so brands are focussing on increasing their digital footprint. Gaining ‘real estate’ on popular search engines, and considering AI search within SEO strategies, is a key area of focus according to respondents.
Refining their service offerings – doing fewer things, but doing them better. Brands seem less keen to be known as “jack of all trades”, instead doubling down on what they do well, helping to keep their messaging clear and their value proposition concise.
Getting Active - undertaking SWAT analysis, figuring out what’s driving competitor success, innovating and importantly, MARKETING! In order to stand out, people are taking action, that includes increasing their online and offline marketing efforts, from networking, to LinkedIn and everything in between.
Many B2B brands have big growth ambitions, but the reality of scaling is hitting hard.
“We want to grow, but finding the right talent and resources to scale is a constant challenge.”
“Cash flow vs. R&D - we want to invest in product development but don’t want to put ourselves in a tricky situation”
“We’re hitting a ceiling - there’s only so much our current team can handle before we need to expand, but expansion is a risk in itself.”
Biggest Growth Challenges Identified:
Do these resonate with you?
Many brands that we speak to who seem to have “broken through the brick wall”, have a dedicated finance function (either internal or external) and a clear and structured budget that factors in their costs (people, overheads, marketing), their team's utilisation rates, their recoverability rates, the profitability potential and many other factors, so that when the time comes to scale (hire, invest etc), they can quickly see whether it’s feasible.
Most B2B businesses agree - a website is no longer just a static asset - it’s a living, breathing part of their business. It needs to work harder for them. But keeping up with digital developments is another challenge altogether. From SEO and accessibility to high converting landing pages and credibility enhancing content, there’s never a dull moment.
“We update our website monthly, sometimes weekly, to keep up with customer expectations.”
“Our website is more of a presence than a true business tool. We need to make it work harder.”
How Often Are B2B Businesses Updating Their Websites?
Static websites lead to static results. The most competitive brands are treating their website as an active sales and engagement tool, not just an online brochure.
Many brands find their new business acquisition comfort zone, and then stay in their lane. Others recognise the risk here, and seem to want to do something about it. If your website isn’t bringing in business, there’s a bunch of untapped potential that could make a huge difference to your numbers, giving you the confidence to invest in people, process or purpose.
B2B customers are becoming more like B2C consumers. They want to feel special, they are time poor and want convenience and they are price sensitive and want value. This is no longer a simple transaction.
“Our clients want more self-service options - they don’t want to go through sales for everything anymore.”
“We’re seeing a shift - clients expect us to educate them, not just sell to them.”
How Are Businesses Responding?
This demonstrates that B2B brands are mindful of consumer behavioural shifts, and are turning to tech to help them save time, but also to build relationships, loyalty and advocacy.
We're all for it!
The key trends shaping B2B right now:
AI is here to stay - embrace it, use it, but fear it a little bit 🙂
Competition is fierce - can you clearly articulate your point of difference?
Scaling can be risky, but robust finance processes open up opportunities.
A website isn’t a ‘set and forget’ asset - it can open up growth
Customer expectations are shifting - B2B brands must lean on modern technology
Stay tuned for more insights as we continue unpacking the data from the Voices of Business Survey.
If you want to showcase your offering, convert more leads, provide resources, or all of the above, we can build a website that separates you from the competition.
