B2B Marketing Blog

Inside B2B Influence 14: Ann Handley of MarketingProfs on Content Marketing and Influence

Inside B2B Influence is a show that goes behind the scenes of B2B marketing and showcases conversations with insiders from the world of influencer marketing. We connect with influential practitioners at B2B brands of all kinds and sizes to answer the rising number of questions about working with influencers in a business context.

In this first episode of the second season of Inside B2B Influence, I was able to catch up with the incredibly popular, talented and beloved Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, Ann Handley. I’ve known Ann for well over 10 years and she’s been a great friend, client and source of inspiration to me about more meaningful content marketing.

Inside B2B Influence 14: Ann Handley of MarketingProfs on Content Marketing and Influence

B2B Marketing News: B2B Content Consumption Data, Digital Ad Revenue Sizzles, In-Person Events & Advertisers, & YouTube’s New Time-Savers

Lane Ellis on Jun 18th, 2021
Online Marketing News

Almost 90% of B2B Content Consumption Said to Take Place Outside the C-Suite
Nearly 90 percent of B2B content consumption involves those outside corporate executive-level management, with some 21 percent being consumer by individual contributors, according to recently-released B2B buyer breakdown by job titles survey data. MarketingCharts

Podcasts start coming to Facebook next week
Facebook will begin rolling out a new podcast feature on June 22, offering podcast creators a new distribution channel, with features such as one minute promotional clips — to appear in a forthcoming podcasts tab — the social media giant recently announced. The Verge

TikTok Owner ByteDance’s Annual Revenue Jumps to $34.3 Billion
TikTok parent ByteDance saw a 93 percent jump in gross profit during 2020, with revenue more than doubling to $30 billion, the popular short-form social video platform that has seen increasing business interest recently announced in annual employee financial performance data. Wall Street Journal

B2B Marketing News: B2B Content Consumption Data, Digital Ad Revenue Sizzles, In-Person Events & Advertisers, & YouTube’s New Time-Savers

5 Common Barriers to Marketing Project Management & How to Overcome Them

Anne Leuman on Jun 15th, 2021
B2B Marketing

As a marketer, you know how important projects are.

They’re your course to success. Your path to excellence. A plan of action.

You also know just how out of sorts projects can get. Without successful marketing project management, timelines may slide, quality may slip, standards may be missed, and the work experience may suffer.

So what causes marketing projects to stray off course?

Having managed many marketing projects for TopRank Marketing, I’ve come across my fair share of barriers and challenges and learned from my experience with them. Below, I’m sharing the most common barriers to marketing project management success and how to overcome them so you can, too. And to help illustrate my points, I tapped the help of Schitt’s Creek — a show I only just started and can’t get enough of. I hope you’ll excuse how late to the party I am on that show, it’s a gem.

5 Common Barriers to Marketing Project Management & How to Overcome Them

Is ABX the Next Evolution of B2B Marketing?

Lee Odden on Jun 14th, 2021
B2B Marketing

What is the next evolution of Account Based Marketing?

ABM has gained much traction in the past few years and marketers have developed the kinds of best practices around ABM to make it one of the fastest growing innovations in the B2B mix. But what’s next?

The business world has changed since the pandemic and B2B marketing has had to pivot, transform and evolve with a digital first focus. As Jon Miller, CMO at Demandbase (client) has said, “It’s time for the next evolution in B2B go to market strategies. We can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results.”

Customer expectations and preferences have changed as well – not just during the buying journey, but across the entire customer lifecycle. It is with those changes that we can see new opportunities in B2B marketing. So, what do those new opportunities look like?

Is ABX the Next Evolution of B2B Marketing?

B2B Marketing News: Most Critical B2B Challenges, Marketers Are In Demand, YouTube’s New Analytics, & Social Video Reach Grows

Lane Ellis on Jun 11th, 2021
Online Marketing News

B2B Better: Customers Vote For The Most Trusted Brands
Apple, Amazon, Adobe, LinkedIn and Google garnered the top five spots among B2B professionals as the most trusted B2B brands, followed by Microsoft, FedEx, HubSpot, UPS, and American Express, according to recently-release survey data of interest to digital marketers. MediaPost

How to Influence B2B Buyers’ Purchasing Decisions [Survey]
71 percent of B2B buyers said that the top influence on their decision to purchase was when a salesperson leads a thorough discovery of their concerns, wants, and needs, followed by 68 percent who said showing what’s possible or how to solve a problem had an significant influence on buying decisions, with the same percentage noting that a salesperson who listens to them affects their purchasing decision, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs

B2B Marketing News: Most Critical B2B Challenges, Marketers Are In Demand, YouTube’s New Analytics, & Social Video Reach Grows

5 Examples of B2B Brands Rocking With Influence in 2021

Lane Ellis on Jun 9th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

How does influence help B2B brands achieve success?

Influence may be multifaceted almost to a fault, however a key essence is its role in providing smart answers to the questions your audiences have.

Reaching target audiences through digital channels was recently found to be a top-three critical challenge for B2B marketers.

A new LinkedIn* report of the most in-demand marketing skills has shown that digital marketing represented the biggest mismatch of skills in supply and demand. Influence is a vital element of successful digital marketing, and presents B2B marketers with a powerful tool to overcome this challenge, and the five brands we’ll examine here have each used influence in a variety of ways to achieve digital marketing success.

5 Examples of B2B Brands Rocking With Influence in 2021

Optimize for B2B Customers with Digital First Content Marketing

Lee Odden on Jun 7th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

The evolution of B2B marketing has required companies to extend the transformations and pivots made during the pandemic to more permanent changes in marketing driven by evolving consumer preferences for information discovery, consumption and interaction. B2B marketing is evolved as a digital first practice and there’s no going back.

While most marketers understand it is simply not enough to rely on push marketing tactics and advertising, they still rely on these familiar and comfortable tactics.

Today’s business customers have more content choices in text, images, audio, video and interactive formats on more devices than ever. They expect more than just useful information from the brands they buy from.

Optimize for B2B Customers with Digital First Content Marketing

B2B Marketing News: Key Remote Team Motivators, Google’s New Marketing Features, & Twitter’s New Blue Subscription Service

Lane Ellis on Jun 4th, 2021
Online Marketing News

Ad Exec Vaccinations Reach 87%, Plans For Business Travel Improve Dramatically
In May 77 percent of U.S. advertising industry executives said they were willing to travel domestically for business, a sharp increase from the 23 percent figure in February, while 87 percent said that they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to newly-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MediaPost

Key Takeways From the Google Marketing Livestream
Google’s Marketing Livestream event saw the search giant reveal an array of new features and product upgrades, including wider availability of its Google Ads custom audience functionality, new conversion tracking for Google Tag Manager, and updated Google Analytics insights, along with other changes, Google recently announced. Search Engine Journal

B2B Marketing News: Key Remote Team Motivators, Google’s New Marketing Features, & Twitter’s New Blue Subscription Service

Break Free B2B Marketing: Keith Townsend of The CTO Advisor on Bringing Value Through Friction

Susan Misukanis on Jun 3rd, 2021
B2B Marketing

Keith Townsend

In B2B influencer marketing, it’s only natural to wonder just what an industry influencer actually looks like?

Our third season of Break Free B2B Marketing video interviews features conversations with top B2B influencers, looking closely at the issues that each expert is influential about in their specialized industry.

For more than a decade our team at TopRank Marketing has fostered a strong community of leading influencers, developing close relationships with subject matter experts in many industries, and we’re thrilled to share a new episode of Break Free B2B Marketing.

Break Free B2B Marketing: Keith Townsend of The CTO Advisor on Bringing Value Through Friction

On-Target: What’s New With Twitter For B2B Marketers In 2021

Lane Ellis on Jun 2nd, 2021
B2B Marketing, Twitter

What’s new with Twitter for B2B marketers in 2021?

With more than 199 million active daily users and available in over 40 languages, Twitter has continued its growth as a platform for both B2B and direct-to-consumer brands looking to creatively showcase products and services.

It’s also increasingly used to tell brand stories and as a customer communication tool.

When it comes to new feature launches, Twitter has ramped up its pace, helping it make significant gains as a social media platform not just for consumers, but also for a greater number of professional business users than ever.

Let’s take a look at seven of Twitter’s most recent feature roll-outs, changes, and announcements of forthcoming offerings, with an eye towards how B2B marketers can use Twitter in new ways .

On-Target: What’s New With Twitter For B2B Marketers In 2021

6 B2B Content Marketing Summertime Sizzlers To Increase Audience Engagement

Joshua Nite on Jun 1st, 2021
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

I’m going to knock on wood as I type this, but: It looks like we might have a (mostly) normal summer this year in the U.S. After the lockdowns, isolation, anxiety and fear of 2020, it finally feels like things are opening up.

This is all great for everything except getting people to read your marketing content. In 2020 we had a captive audience starved for entertainment. Now we’ll be competing with everything from music festivals to movies to walking in the park.

The way to break through and have a “hot brand summer?” First, don’t use phrases like “hot brand summer,” because you’ll just make people hate you. Second, it’s all about customer engagement. That means connecting with people on a personal level, offering something novel and fascinating, and using that contact to build a meaningful relationship.

6 B2B Content Marketing Summertime Sizzlers To Increase Audience Engagement