B2B Marketing Blog

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

Top 5 Benefits of Influencer Marketing for B2B Brands

Lee Odden on May 31st, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Despite that 96% of marketers engaging influencers for marketing deem their programs successful, there are still a very large number of B2B companies evaluating where influencer engagement fits in their marketing mix.

After spending the last 8 plus years working on developing influencer marketing strategies, creating pilot projects, implementing campaigns and running ongoing influencer programs for brands that range from 3M to Dell to LinkedIn, here are some of the top benefits B2B companies of all sizes are realizing through their influencer marketing efforts.

Before I get to the list, I think it’s important to mention that benefits realized are directly connected to goals imagined. That may seem obvious but the application of influence to marketing is viewed in many different ways and therefore, the outcomes can be just as different.

Top 5 Benefits of Influencer Marketing for B2B Brands

B2B Marketing News: B2B Video Completion Rates, US Ad Spend Soars, Google’s New Starline 3D Chat, & What Makes A Brand Meaningful

Lane Ellis on May 28th, 2021
Online Marketing News

Twitter Re-Opens Public Applications for Profile Verification
For the first time since November, 2017 Twitter has begun allowing users to apply for verified profile status. As the new option is rolled out, a verification application option will appear within a Twitter user’s account settings, allowing brands to seek a blue check-mark, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today

Google Ads Has New Smart Bidding Features
Google has launched new eligible search campaign recommendations, along with target impression share simulators — two of several new updates of interest to digital marketers that have been rolled out to the firm’s popular Google Ads offering, the search giant recently announced. SEO Roundtable

B2B Marketing News: B2B Video Completion Rates, US Ad Spend Soars, Google’s New Starline 3D Chat, & What Makes A Brand Meaningful

From Finesse To Zest: 25 Powerful Qualities That Elevate Your B2B Marketing

Lane Ellis on May 26th, 2021
B2B Marketing

Which qualities encompass the best that B2B marketing has to offer?

Are there overlapping elements that bring success to both our professional and personal lives?

How can you bring more of these qualities into your own marketing efforts?

From a seemingly endless compilation of possible traits held by successful marketers, some naturally work their way to the forefront over time, yet aren’t often explored.

To help answer these questions, let’s take a look at five powerful qualities that we can combine to drive not only the best B2B marketing experiences, but that we can also harness and learn from to make us better associates, business partners, and people.

From Finesse To Zest: 25 Powerful Qualities That Elevate Your B2B Marketing

What B2B Marketers Can Learn from Stand-Up Comedy

Joshua Nite on May 25th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Stand-up comedians need to make a connection with their audience. It starts with getting attention, then stoking interest, developing a rapport, and ultimately provoking a reaction.

To do it right, you need empathy, knowledge of your audience, creativity…oh, and a spark that makes you unique.

B2B marketers: Does any of the above sound familiar? I’ve been a professional marketer and an amateur comedian for over a decade, and it’s surprising how much the two inform each other.

Here are just a few lessons that B2B marketers can learn from standup.

Keep It Real

In the early 19th century, standup comedy depended on wordplay and absurdism. For example: “Take my wife…please!” or “The other night I shot an elephant in my pajamas… how he got into my pajamas, I’ll never know.”

What B2B Marketers Can Learn from Stand-Up Comedy