If you’re a B2B marketer and it feels like your job has been getting more difficult, you’re right. A new study from the London-based B2B consultancy The Frameworks found that 73% of marketers said capturing the attention of B2B audiences is harder than it was a year ago.  

The researchers surveyed 150 B2B marketers at organizations of more than 500 employees to explore the value of great design in the B2B sector and the barriers that prevent B2B marketers from making braver creative decisions. 

The problems to solve include:

Lack of budget. 76% of B2B marketers say a lack of investment impacts their effectiveness as a marketer.  

The need to play it safe: When it comes to design, 90% of larger organizations said they are more likely to take the safe route than try something different.  

Heightened competition: 73% of marketers state that they struggle to capture the attention and engage B2B audiences in comparison to a year ago.  

“It’s encouraging to see such an appetite for creativity among B2B marketers,” said Ben Bush, Partner and Head of Strategy at The Frameworks. “And as capturing attention and engaging audiences becomes harder, it’s more important than ever that they address anything that’s stopping them embracing bolder creative decisions. Great design connects at the most human level, and that applies just as much in a B2B environment as it does in any other walk of life.” 

Full report: https://www.theframeworks.com/be-bold

When companies hire the best and the brightest the benefit…if the company listens to their employees and responds to what they hear.

Too often that scenario does not happen. The reason? Lack of psychological safety in the workplace.

Psychological safety refers to the comfortable and secure ability of employees to critique corporate structures, failure proof ideas and identify problems so that they can be solved.  According to a new study, creating psychological safety in the office leads to more effective communication, better employee retention and increased team performance. The data comes from a study conducted by the Ecsell Institute of 36,000 employee ratings of their psychological safety in the workplace. The ratings are one of the largest datasets on psych safety in the world.

 Psychological safety correlates directly with managerial effectiveness. The study found that when managers’ skills are rated a 9 or a 10, they have an average psych safety score of 84%. Those whose overall skills are rated a 6 or lower conversely have an average psych safety rating of only 36%. 

Managers who make their offices fun places to work also have higher psych safety scores averaging 88%. 

 “A psychologically unsafe environment can be created, but sometimes it exists simply because it’s allowed to exist,” said Sarah Wirth, Ecsell Institute President. “It’s born from the subtle things we do or say: passive aggressive comments, micromanaging work, constantly bringing up minor mistakes or ostracizing employees who think differently than others. Once managers understand the impact of psych safety, we are able to teach them specific techniques to improve it.”

More information: https://www.ecsellinstitute.com/

With everyone worried about how long-identified supply chain issues will be impacted by the anti-vax truckers’ convoy hauling to Ottawa, researchers are turning their work toward a role for robotics in farm work to protect food supplies.

IDTechEx has recently released Agricultural Robotics Market 2022-2032. The market research report explores the technical and market factors that are shaping agricultural robotics.  Key technologies like AI, sensors, GPS, imaging systems and applications for weeding, harvesting, and monitoring are examined. The report predicts that robotics and technology developments will change the business of agriculture, by enabling ultra-precision farming and maintaining sustainable developments.

Full report: https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-report/agricultural-robotics-market-2022-2032/837

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Kate Baggott is a former Managing Editor of B2BNN. Her technology and business journalism has appeared in the Technology Review, the Globe and Mail, Canada Computes, the Vancouver Sun and the Bay Street Bull. She is the author of the short story collections Love from Planet Wine Cooler and Dry Stories. Find links to recent articles by following her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-baggott-9a0306/

• B2B News for Thursday, January 27, 2022: Studies Find B2B Marketers & Managers Need to be Bolder, Create Psychological Safety – January 27, 2022
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