What does the best B2B content look like today? In a landscape transformed by AI and shifting buyer expectations, the benchmarks are changing fast. In the July issue of Tendo’s B2B Content Experience newsletter we spotlight seven award-winning examples that reflect today’s content marketing evolution, including Cisco’s reimagined Marketing Velocity platform supported by Tendo. Get inspired by content that exemplifies: 🏆 What today's best B2B content is getting right 🚀 How top brands are pivoting from tired content formulas 🎯 Content strategies that drive greater engagement, affinity, and ROI …and more Looking to elevate your own brand content? Get in contact with Tendo for content creation services that bring creativity and purpose to your stories.
Tendo Communications
Marketing Services
San Francisco, California 5,876 followers
Content marketing + content strategy + content experience to help world-class B2B brands solve their toughest challenges
About us
We’re Tendo. We apply content and UX to elevate customer experiences. And we know how to get results. Content is in our DNA. Founded in 1999, we knew content was king before it was cool. Today, our team of strategists, editors, creatives, and analysts work with the world’s leading B2B brands to deliver content in every flavor. Our long-term client relationships speak to the power of our approach: relentlessly audience-focused and results-driven.
- Website
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http://www.tendocom.com
External link for Tendo Communications
- Industry
- Marketing Services
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California
- Type
- Privately Held
- Founded
- 1999
- Specialties
- content marketing, thought leadership content, web content, interactive content, social media strategy & management, content strategy, demand generation, sales enablement tools, research and reports, content hub creation, voice & tone guides, B2B content marketing, content experience, B2B marketing, Technology marketing, Content audits, content models, taxonomy, personalization, SEO services, Content marketing strategy and planning, Digital Marketing, and UX
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
535 Mission St
14th Floor
San Francisco, California 94105, US
Employees at Tendo Communications
Updates
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What does award-winning B2B content look like in 2025? Tendo’s Don Knapp, Director of Content Marketing, pulled together standout examples of best-in-class work that reflects how things are evolving in real time. From AI disruption to shifting expectations, it’s a thoughtful look at where content is headed (and how to stay ahead). Read the full blog post, linked below.
What does the very best B2B content look like right now? What’s the new benchmark for kicking ass? Once or twice a year I’ll peruse all the latest marketing award winners with these questions in mind. But it’s a more interesting research project in 2025, in the context of all the AI disruption and how quickly content marketing is now evolving. I picked out these award-winning content examples from enterprise B2B companies because they’re not just editorially or visually well-crafted; they capture some facet of the changes and challenges we’re seeing now and in the last few years—and how brands are navigating them successfully. What do you think of my "content evolution takeaways"? Big thanks to Content Marketing Institute, B2B Marketing, and the Association of Marketing & Communication Professionals for their great work to select these winners: PwC, ADP, Unisys, GitHub, Baker Tilly US, Cisco Partners, Cisco, and GE Aerospace. #ContentMarketing #ContentCreation #ContentStrategy #ThoughtLeadership #AIContent #B2BMarketing #Awards #AwardWinners
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🏆 Another win for Cisco! We’re incredibly proud to have supported the UI redesign as part of this project. With improved discoverability and a seamless “One Marketing Velocity” experience, this platform is reshaping how Cisco partners market and grow. Congrats to the amazing team at Cisco, and thank you for trusting us to help bring your vision to life!
Our Marketing Velocity Reimagined multi-year effort has earned the 2025 dotCOMM Platinum Winner in the Website category. 🥳 This award celebrates Cisco's commitment not only to innovation 🤖 and excellence 🏆 in digital marketing but also, our unwavering commitment to our valued #CiscoPartners! https://lnkd.in/dNpvVXs3
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We just came across this post, and it echoes a lot of what we’ve been exploring lately. Subtractive UX is the idea that the best experiences aren’t built by adding more, but by removing what gets in the way. It’s a mindset that applies far beyond interfaces — even to how we think about creativity and problem-solving. That’s why we love the “negative process” metaphor from photography. It’s such a smart parallel: waiting for the clutter to clear, composing with intention, and cutting what doesn’t serve the shot (or the user).
Do you use negative process in UX design? You should. Recently, I learned about a framework used in photography, especially street photography, called the negative process. It is related to composition and subtraction. By removing unnecessary elements from a photo by waiting for a specific moment, framing, or cropping in postproduction you make the final photo better. The same rule applies to UX design. When we design a new feature, we often have a long list of things that need to happen and steps the user needs to take to achieve the expected result. Everything is fine if the above-mentioned steps are the result of research, such as user flow mapping, pain points, etc. We can be sure the path the user needs to take is the correct one. Often, we get the steps directly from stakeholders though. "The user needs to do this, this, and this to get that. We need the design." In that scenario, we mustn't just start designing. We need to dig deeper to understand why the user needs to do all of those steps. Are all of them necessary? I have done it countless times in my career, and in 90% of cases, we reduced the number of steps needed to achieve the expected result. The UX design is also a subtraction game. It is always better to think about if the specific thing needs to even be there than just add it without consideration :) --- How do you deal with stakeholders presenting solutions instead of problems? P.P.S. Repost this ♻️ for others to learn.
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AI is transforming UX—not by adding more, but by taking the right things away. In his article Beyond UX: How AI Is Redefining Experience Design, Ricardo Saltz Gulko explores how leading companies like Siemens, SAP, and Adobe are using subtractive design to simplify complex B2B experiences. With tools like predictive journey orchestration and conversational AI, these companies are using AI to reduce: - Time-consuming onboarding - Cluttered, multi-layered interfaces - Friction in support, training, and personalization The result: faster adoption, clearer experiences, and better business outcomes. If you’re designing digital experiences with AI, this is a must-read. It shifts the conversation from what AI can do to what it can remove—and why that matters. 🔗 Full article is linked in the comments.
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We loved seeing this takeaway from our latest blog on subtractive UX design for AI by Simon Mathews! Sam T McCracken, you captured the core insight perfectly: great AI UX isn’t about adding—it’s about removing friction to let users do what they came to do. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/gBUHMqdB
Product Designer | UX/UI for B2B SaaS & AI | Simplifying Complex Systems with Scalable, User-Centered Design
I just came across this article (https://lnkd.in/edfHUEaa it nailed a UX truth I've been living: AI UX isn’t about adding more. It’s about taking away friction. When AI handles the repetitive stuff, we can do the heavy lifting: • Focusing on user outcomes • Keeping interfaces clean • Letting humans stay in control That’s the kind of UX I’m passionate about—where simplicity meets efficiency.
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Cognitive overload is the silent UX killer—and Mailchimp’s recent research explains why. Their powerful article on cognitive overload points out, “When users are asked to process too much information at once, their working memory becomes overwhelmed. They’re more likely to abandon a task, make mistakes, or rely on mental shortcuts—none of which help them succeed.” This is especially relevant in today’s AI-powered interfaces, where new features are constantly being added. But more features ≠ better experience. As Mailchimp highlights, the best UX doesn’t come from adding more. It comes from intentionally choosing what to leave out. This insight aligns with a growing shift in design philosophy: subtractive design. Instead of layering on features, subtractive design asks: - What can we remove to make the user’s experience simpler? - What can AI handle quietly in the background, so the user doesn’t have to? We explore this mindset further in our latest blog, linked in the comments below.
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Immersive content is a performance driver that marketers can’t afford to miss. According to a Ceros survey of over 1,000 marketing and design professionals, top-performing marketers are significantly more likely to use immersive content formats: - 200% more likely to use data visualizations - 300% more likely to develop interactive publications Why? Because immersive formats don’t just look good—they work. They hold attention longer, clarify complex information, and turn passive audiences into active participants. At Tendo, we’re seeing this play out across B2B: brands that invest in immersive experiences are standing out, supporting user journeys, and driving real ROI. Dive deeper into this topic in our blog, and explore examples from brands like Salesforce, SAP, and Cisco. If you’re still relying on PDFs and static pages, it’s time to rethink your content experience.
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AI is everywhere. But is it actually making the user experience better? For having the promise of speed, simplicity, and intelligence, many AI-powered tools today feel more complicated—not less. That’s because most AI design today is additive: one more feature, one more widget, one more choice. The result? Cluttered interfaces, overwhelmed users, and more friction. It’s time for a new approach: subtractive UX design. At Tendo, we believe the future of AI isn’t in piling on more functionality—it’s in leveraging AI to reduce effort. That means redesigning customer experiences to eliminate the steps, flows, and features that AI can now handle in the background. In our latest blog, we explore: 🧠 Why additive AI design is failing users ✂️ What subtractive design really means in practice 🔁 How to rethink “jobs to be done” in the AI era 📲 Real-world examples of how this could reshape digital experiences Read the full post, linked in the comments below.
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As AI tools multiply across apps and platforms, UX teams face a critical challenge: designing experiences that minimize user effort and cognitive load. The key isn’t piling on more features—it’s streamlining the path to action. Subtractive design focuses on reducing friction, decluttering interfaces, and letting AI handle complexity behind the scenes. This blog post from Tendo's Simon Mathews explores how subtractive design reframes UX strategy in the AI era, and how your team can start applying it today. Read the full post, linked in the comments below.
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