Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®

5 Things to Know About Building Trust in the Age of Social Media

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson on Jul 7th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Social Media

Man Looking at Tablet Amid Storm

Does your company advertise? If so, I have bad news: Your audience doesn’t trust your ads.

I don’t mean to call you out specifically, dear anonymous reader. But statistically speaking, it is a likely reality. A wide-reaching survey earlier this year “found advertising to be the least likely source people would use to garner information about a business, with just 14% saying they trust advertisers in this respect.”

That’s not to say advertising doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work on its own.

Customers are looking elsewhere to form perceptions about your business and what it stands for. Only once they’ve shaped these perceptions are your ads likely to break through and make an impact. Social media is becoming more vital than ever as a proving ground for brands in this respect.


5 Things to Know About Building Trust in the Age of Social Media

Always On Influence: Costs Less and Better ROI – Here’s Why

Always On Influence ROI

Virtually every marketing tactic is under evaluation right now as B2B marketing departments react to the domino effect of changes in consumer spending during the pandemic. Many B2C marketers are putting a pause on their influencer marketing investments as the world of travel, hospitality, retail, sports and entertainment have changed dramatically.

In the business to business world, things have changed as well but not anywhere near as significantly and not always at the expense of lowered marketing budgets. The trend in B2B is digital and self serve from virtual events and prospect engagement to buyers now conducting the majority of their research and interactions on their own before making purchase decisions.


Always On Influence: Costs Less and Better ROI – Here’s Why

B2B Marketing News: COVID19 Impact on B2B, Boost in Online B2B Purchasing, Google Combines Search Console & Analytics Data

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jul 3rd, 2020
Online Marketing News

Consumer Recommendations Study

Which Recommendation Types Do Consumers Find Most Compelling? “Based on your favorite” is the most impactful recommendation type, study data shows. MarketingCharts

Google Expands Access to its Business Messaging Tools from Search and Maps. Expanded brand reach to customers via maps and search listings are among features in a new tool rollout.  Social Media Today

COVID-19’s Impact on the B2B Industry. B2Bs are figuring out how to stay in business, operate and recover. This often requires a digital transformation of marketing and sales efforts. eMarketer

B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report

Google to pay some publishers for content; others dubious. Alphabet’s Google on Thursday took a step towards resolving its spat with publishers, saying it would pay some media groups in Australia, Brazil and Germany for high-quality content and expects to do more deals, but others were skeptical.. Reuters


B2B Marketing News: COVID19 Impact on B2B, Boost in Online B2B Purchasing, Google Combines Search Console & Analytics Data

5 Ways to Make Brand Social Media Profiles More Compelling

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jul 2nd, 2020
Social Media

Optimize Brand Social Media Profiles

As a concerned consumer, I have to admit that I’m ambivalent about social media. On the one hand, it keeps me connected with friends and family. And it provides a platform for those whose voices have been marginalized. On the other hand, it can be a 24-7 outrage machine where I can ruin my blood pressure arguing with strangers.

As a marketer, however, I wholeheartedly celebrate social media. Brands have never had such rich opportunities to interact with customers and potential customers. They’ve never been able to so easily display what the brand is about, what it stands for, and how it can bring value to people.

This is especially important now that virtually all B2B business is done digitally and customers are using digital channels more than ever to find information, learn about brands and solutions.


5 Ways to Make Brand Social Media Profiles More Compelling

Livestream Marketing: 5 B2B Brands Rocking LinkedIn Live

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Jul 1st, 2020
B2B Marketing, LinkedIn, Video

Excited smiling woman at laptop image.

How can B2B brands benefit from using LinkedIn Live, and what are some examples of businesses rocking their LinkedIn Live marketing?

LinkedIn* has seen its live-streaming LinkedIn Live feature being used by more major firms all the time, and we’ll take a look at five top B2B brands that are rocking their LinkedIn Live game.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to how B2B brands can use LinkedIn Live. Here are 12 to get you started:

  • Interviewing a Member of Your C-Suite
  • Answering Frequently-Asked Questions
  • Streaming a Keynote or Session
  • Highlighting Special Events
  • Streaming “Ask Me Anything” Episodes
  • Introducing Various Team Members
  • Deep-Dive Interviews
  • Showcasing Behind The Scenes Workplace Culture
  • Unveiling New Innovations
  • Launching Episodic Content

Livestream Marketing: 5 B2B Brands Rocking LinkedIn Live

Why Content Marketing is More Important Than Ever for B2B Brands

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson on Jun 30th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

B2B Marketing Content

In his recently published eBook, Corona Marketing, Joe Pulizzi recounts how he and his wife launched the website Content Marketing Institute in 2007 at the exact time as a devastating financial crisis was beginning to unfold in the United States. 

“At the time, we believed things couldn’t have been bleaker,” Pulizzi writes. “Looking back though, this was absolutely the best time for my wife and I to start a business.”

Why is that? Because their commitment to providing useful, helpful and relevant content – even at a time where it was difficult to drive direct revenue with that content – paid major dividends as the market recovered. 


Why Content Marketing is More Important Than Ever for B2B Brands

Three B2B Marketing Tactics That Will Outlast the COVID19 Pandemic

B2B Marketing Pandemic

Without question, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the B2B world with companies generally reducing marketing budgets. At the same time, many B2B companies are maintaining or increasing marketing spend as we’ve seen with most of our clients at TopRank Marketing.

While there has generally been a shift from explicit sales/push marketing content to brand messaging that is more aligned with the times and empathetic to customers, sales expectations still exist for B2B brands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The challenge many B2B marketers are facing is to understand how to navigate both the short term changes in what works for customers in the current environment as as well as in the long term, post-crisis.


Three B2B Marketing Tactics That Will Outlast the COVID19 Pandemic

B2B Marketing News: 3 New B2B Marketing Studies, Twitter’s Audio Tweets, Google’s Pinterest-like Keen Project, & Gen Z Digital Consumption Habits

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Jun 26th, 2020
Online Marketing News

2020 June 26 MarketingCharts Chart

The 10 Traits B2B Buyers and Managers Value Most in Salespeople
42 percent of B2B buyers value active listening when it comes to interacting with salespeople, according to recently-released survey data from LinkedIn (client), while 38 percent value problem solving, 38 percent confidence, and 34 percent who said that they value relationship building skills. MarketingProfs

Addressing the B2B void between product data and online sales [Survey]
52.8 percent of B2B professionals expect to add voice-controlled search technology to their customer experience (CX) program within the next 12 months, according to newly-released report data, while 44.8 percent plan to add live chat, and 39 percent expect to install new augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. Digital Commerce 360


B2B Marketing News: 3 New B2B Marketing Studies, Twitter’s Audio Tweets, Google’s Pinterest-like Keen Project, & Gen Z Digital Consumption Habits

Break Free Marketing Season 2 Wrap Up: Reinventing B2B Marketing

Tiffani Allen
Tiffani Allen on Jun 25th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Season 2 Wrap Up Image

Season two of TopRank Marketing’s video podcast series, “Break Free B2B,” has come to a close. We had the opportunity to interview some of the smartest B2B marketers in the industry, to find out how they’re breaking the mold and reinventing the role and function of the marketing department in B2B organizations.

The series covered three key themes:

  1. Reinvigorating Scalable, Global ABM
  2. Creating Online and Offline Experiences that Inspire
  3. Reinventing B2B Marketing and How Success is Measured

One consistent message among all ten interviews is that it’s time to shake things up. B2B marketing doesn’t need more of the same. These experts are well aware of that fact. Simply repeating tactics that have ‘always been done’ and are considered industry standards is no longer enough. It’s time to push the envelope, find a way to scale your ABM program, inspire your prospects with experiences, and continue to evolve how you approach marketing and measurement.


Break Free Marketing Season 2 Wrap Up: Reinventing B2B Marketing

Always-On Influence: Why B2B Needs Brand Research & 11 Must-Ask Questions For Marketers

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Jun 24th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Business people over calendar at desk image.

What is brand research and why is it an important step in building a successful always-on  B2B influencer marketing program? What are the key facts you need to learn about a brand that will lead to the creation of a strong ongoing influencer program?

Doing brand research right is crucial for always-on B2B influencer marketing success, but where do you start, especially with the increased importance of brand empathy and authenticity?

Don’t worry, as in the third part of our ongoing #AlwaysOnInfluence series — following on the heels of “Always On Influence: Short Term vs. Long Term for Success During a Crisis” — we’ll take the time to show why brand research is key to building a B2B influencer marketing program that features the most relevant influencers.


Always-On Influence: Why B2B Needs Brand Research & 11 Must-Ask Questions For Marketers

Manufacturing Runs: 9 Summer Content Marketing Tips Drawn from the Diamond

Nick Nelson
Nick Nelson on Jun 23rd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Baseball Stadium Under Lights Image

Baseball and content marketing are two of my greatest passions. When I think about it, there are some intrinsic similarities between the two that aren’t hard to see.

Much like content marketing, baseball is rhythmic and methodical by design. Sure, there are the flashy home runs (and it helps when your favorite team *ahem* set the all-time record a year ago), but at its core, baseball is about strategy, patience, and sequencing: Accept the inevitability of failure and learn from it. Take good at-bats, call the right plays, string together base runners, manufacture runs.

via GIPHY

Sadly there is no baseball season right now, but if there was, it’d be inching toward “the dog days of summer” – a term given to those stretches in July and August where the relentless heat and daily grind start to wear on ball players as they battle their way through a marathon 162-game schedule.


Manufacturing Runs: 9 Summer Content Marketing Tips Drawn from the Diamond

Trust in Marketing: How to Build Influence with the C-Suite and on the Street with Customers

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jun 22nd, 2020
B2B Marketing

Marketing Trust Influence

80% of CEOs don’t trust marketers.

And yet 91% of CEOs do trust CIOs and CFOs

Ouch!

In addition to the many challenges marketers are currently facing with the COVID-19 pandemic and overall social change, a study by Fournaise Group found that CEOs felt marketing was not meeting expectations, causing a lack of confidence. Whether it was due to too much emphasis on martech or marketing “hype”, the outcome is clear: the credibility of marketing is at risk.

The thing is, those credibility issues are not limited to the C-Suite. Customers have trust issues with marketing as well and for good reasons:

  • Brand vs. Customer Focus
  • Lack of Confidence & Trust
  • Not Delivering Value
  • Not Meeting Expectations
  • Lack of Authenticity

Trust in Marketing: How to Build Influence with the C-Suite and on the Street with Customers