Online Marketing Blog

6 Tips to Keep B2B Marketing Teams in Rhythm While Working Remotely

Nick Nelson on Mar 31st, 2020
B2B Marketing

In these unconventional times, many work teams are grappling with an unconventional dynamic: fully distributed personnel and remote collaboration. This setup presents a number of challenges, but thankfully we live in a time where technology makes it easier than ever to stay connected and tightly aligned on our work.

For B2B agencies like TopRank Marketing, this has always been a point of emphasis. In servicing clients from around the globe, we’re accustomed to communicating across distances, borders, and time zones. We occasionally have our own team members work from home, and in fact, we have a few who do so full-time.

While having everyone in the organization work remotely is uncharted territory for us, our built-in comfort with digital collaboration gives us a head-start, and has allowed us to hit the ground running with minimal disruption to our programs and workflows.

6 Tips to Keep B2B Marketing Teams in Rhythm While Working Remotely

Four Opportunities for Focus to Improve B2B Marketing

Lee Odden on Mar 30th, 2020
B2B Marketing

While uncertainty can be distraction, now is a time for focus in the B2B marketing world. Beyond figuring out the new logistics and operations of remote work, paused marketing efforts and the urgent need to keep employees, customers and community safe and healthy, there’s still a need for marketing. In fact, the areas of focus below are relevant in any time but are worth considering over the coming weeks and months.

Align content strategy with the entire marketing funnel.
Successful business marketers are doing more than ever to understand the customer journey and realize that in today’s environment, buyers are pulling themselves through 60-80% of the funnel with information they find on their own before ever contacting a vendor. Without real-world events and interactions, the current focus on digital engagement pushes that percentage even higher.

Four Opportunities for Focus to Improve B2B Marketing

Digital Marketing News: Coronavirus’ Impact on Marketing Budgets & Social Media Usage, LinkedIn’s New Conversation Ads, & Instagram Story Changes

Lane Ellis on Mar 27th, 2020
Online Marketing News

LinkedIn rolls out Conversation Ads, aimed at improving personalization in messaging
LinkedIn has begun launching its new Conversation Ads, with real-time engagement ad options that include multiple calls-to-action. Conversation Ads are rolling out to all LinkedIn (client) advertisers over the next several weeks, the firm recently announced. Marketing Land

Social Media Consumption Grows Amid Coronavirus
Social media usage has sharply increased in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Certain Instagram #ad campaign post likes have seen an increase of up to 76 percent during the past two weeks, as the majority of workers have shifted to temporary remote work. AList

CX in B2B Marketing: Top-of-Mind Strategy in 2020
54 percent of B2B marketers say their organizations are focusing most on customer experience and loyalty in their marketing efforts, according to newly-released report data examining global B2B customer experience priorities. MarketingProfs

Digital Marketing News: Coronavirus’ Impact on Marketing Budgets & Social Media Usage, LinkedIn’s New Conversation Ads, & Instagram Story Changes

A Well-Oiled Machine: Why Every B2B Marketing Team Needs Marketing Operations

Anne Leuman on Mar 26th, 2020
B2B Marketing

What makes a B2B marketing campaign great?

Is it a creative theme that catches your attention? Is it the insightful expertise featured within? Is it the number of leads it produced?

Answer: it’s all of those things and more. Great B2B marketing campaigns have great ideas and great execution.

But great execution is hard to achieve. It demands excellent resourcing, swift approvals, streamlined processes, and more. And as you may have noticed, these aren’t marketing functions. They’re operational functions.

For your B2B marketing campaigns to truly be successful, you need someone leading the operational side of things. You need marketing operations.

What Is Marketing Operations?

According to MarketingProfs, marketing operations is “an emerging discipline that increases efficiency and drives consistent results in marketing-focused organizations. It builds a foundation for excellence by reinforcing marketing strategy with metrics, infrastructure, business processes, best practices, budgeting and reporting.”

A Well-Oiled Machine: Why Every B2B Marketing Team Needs Marketing Operations

50+ Top B2B Marketing Insights You Need To Know Today

Lane Ellis on Mar 25th, 2020
B2B Marketing

Even though the “Roaring Twenties” moniker of a century ago today takes on a more menacing new tone in light of today’s COVID-19 pandemic, smart B2B marketers are still hard at work and looking ahead.

The B2B marketing world of tomorrow will be shaped by the emerging marketing trends we have seen during the beginning of 2020, and we already have a wealth of insight to learn from new research data that has come out in recent marketing reports.

We’ll take a look at:

Impressive Results in a Growing Influencer Marketing Industry
Social Media Changes & The Rising Importance of Trust
The Global Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The Role of Emerging Digital Interfaces in B2B Marketing

50+ Top B2B Marketing Insights You Need To Know Today

8 Virtual SEO Conferences for B2B Marketers

Tiffani Allen on Mar 24th, 2020
SEO, SEO Training

It’s the beginning of our second week of social distancing here in Minnesota. I’ve already cleaned my house no fewer than 10 times, cleaned and organized closets, and gone on approximately 100 walks. I’m about 24 hours away from dressing my cats in costumes and putting on a (very sharp, bitey) show. But if that’s what it takes to keep spirits up and minds occupied at home, that’s what we will do.

Among the uncertainty and boredom we all face in these unprecedented times, we tend to take solace in the familiar. Keeping ourselves busy with ideas, concepts and work that nourish our minds is one thing we can do to stay sane and focus on the things we can impact.

8 Virtual SEO Conferences for B2B Marketers

Marketing During a Pandemnic: Stop Pushing and Start Pulling with SEO

Lee Odden on Mar 23rd, 2020
SEO

Customer empathy is at the forefront of the best marketing and tone deaf promotions as if things were normal during the COVID-19 pandemic are probably some of the worst.

When it comes to understanding the customer state of mind right now, I think Dean Shaw from SAS summed it up well on Twitter:

Pro Tip to Companies on what your customers are thinking about right now:
– their health
– their family’s health
– their job
– their savings
– paying their bills
– how to transition to working from home
– their toilet paper supply
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– your product pitch

— deanshaw (@deanshaw) March 21, 2020

Marketing During a Pandemnic: Stop Pushing and Start Pulling with SEO

Digital Marketing News: B2B Brand Personalization & Revenue Alignment Studies, Coronavirus Ad Spend Impact, & Facebook’s New Horizon VR

Lane Ellis on Mar 20th, 2020
Online Marketing News

Some B2B Brands Are Falling Short On Personalization: Study
Some 42 percent of B2B marketers see their marketing efforts as not being fully personalized, despite 77 percent seeing personalized marketing as delivering better customer relationships — two of several insights relevant to digital marketers contained in recently-released study data. MediaPost

YouTube to automate more video reviews in light of staffing challenges caused by coronavirus
Caronavirus concerns have led YouTube and other social media platforms to turn partially to artificial intelligence (AI) for flagging troublesome content, as temporary in-house human staff shortages have arisen. The temporary measures include possible delays in appeals processes, and increased instances of falsely-flagged content, YouTube and other social networking firms have announced this week. Marketing Land

Digital Marketing News: B2B Brand Personalization & Revenue Alignment Studies, Coronavirus Ad Spend Impact, & Facebook’s New Horizon VR

How Authentic Content Builds Brand Trust in Uncertain Times

Nick Nelson on Mar 19th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

These are strange times indeed.

As I write this, I’m sitting in my home office, because my employer – like so many others across the country and world – is doing what it can to help stop the spread of COVID-19. This is the type of event that casts new light on just about everything, including the topic I’d planned to tackle today.

No business wants to act or appear opportunistic right now. That goes without saying. But the truth is that marketers, brands, and creators of all kinds can make a positive difference. Being legitimately and authentically helpful in a moment like this can have a lasting impact.

How Authentic Content Builds Brand Trust in Uncertain Times

Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers

Lane Ellis on Mar 18th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy

The challenges brought about by COVID-19 are multi-faceted and permeate the lives of B2B marketers on many levels, yet they also thankfully present new opportunities.

Remote work and online business communications are two of the major benefits modern B2B marketers can take advantage of now thanks to the technological advances the Internet and its 50-plus year history has made possible.

As a remote worker for the past 13 of my 36 years working in online communications, I’ll offer up a selection of tips to keep in mind as we all adjust to the numerous business changes brought about by COVID-19.

We’ll also look at how the present situation affects the issues of brand purpose and trust, resources and tools for newly-minted remote workers, social media best-practices during challenging times, and how we can learn from the challenges.

Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers

Smooth Sailing: Our Guide to Effective Project Management for B2B Marketers

Anne Leuman on Mar 17th, 2020
B2B Marketing

What does the word “work” mean to you?

A dictionary would tell you that work is, “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result,” or maybe, “a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do.”

But how do we know which tasks to tackle first? Or what specifically needs to happen in order to achieve our purpose?

That’s where project management comes in.

And for B2B marketing agencies or teams, there are a lot of nuances when it comes to project management. Launching several campaigns at once. Racing to meet tight deadlines. Ensuring important milestones are met and in the right order. These are not your typical projects. And the typical approach to project management just won’t cut it.

Smooth Sailing: Our Guide to Effective Project Management for B2B Marketers

Should COVID-19 Stop B2B Marketers From Marketing?

Lee Odden on Mar 16th, 2020
B2B Marketing

You’ve read the news, seen the reports, remarkable real-time graphs and updates from the CDC. Virtually all industry conferences are cancelled or postponed, major sporting events are postponed, most schools and many stores are closed and just about any venue for large crowds from malls to theatres are as empty as the toilet paper aisle at Target.

COVID-19 is serious business and is undoubtedly having an impact on business. Should it stop companies from marketing to other businesses?

We all have an obligation to make the changes necessary to minimize COVID-19 transmission through closures, postponements and having employees work from home like we just implemented at TopRank Marketing this week along with many other companies.

Should COVID-19 Stop B2B Marketers From Marketing?