B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

Caitlin Burgess

Break Free B2B Season 1 Wrap Up: Top Insights from the Marketing Industry’s Best and Brightest

Break Free B2B Marketing Round Up

Three different hosts, 19 jam-packed episodes, 20 incredible guests—countless amazing insights gained.

TopRank Marketing’s inaugural season of Break Free B2B, a video podcast series featuring the expertise, experiences, and advice of diverse marketing minds, is officially wrapped. 

With the goal of delivering B2B marketers the encouragement and inspiration to break free of business-to-business norms to drive bigger, better, bolder results, we covered everything from change management to visual storytelling to what’s next in B2B influencer marketing. And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to reflect and share some of our favorite tidbits from each of our incredible guests.

Throughout the season, there were a few key topical areas we honed in on:


Break Free B2B Season 1 Wrap Up: Top Insights from the Marketing Industry’s Best and Brightest

Break Free B2B Series: Margaret Magnarelli on the Psychology of Trust for Better Content Marketing

Break Free B2B Interview with Margaret Magnarelli

Trust in marketing—how to build it and how to wield it for good—needs to be top of mind for every modern marketer. Why? Because nearly every decision people make, especially when it comes to purchasing decisions, has an element of trust built in. And content marketers have the opportunity to become trusty guides.

“No one knows everything about everything,” Margaret Magnarelli, Executive Director of Digital Product Evolution and Growth Marketing at Morgan Stanley, shared with us in a recent Break Free B2B interview. “So, we have to be able to give our customers as much information as we can… and take them as close to the line of purchase—to the experience of purchase—as we can.”


Break Free B2B Series: Margaret Magnarelli on the Psychology of Trust for Better Content Marketing

Break Free B2B Series: Zari Venhaus on How to Scoot Your Way to Martech Transformation Through Storytelling

Break Free B2B Marketing Interview with Zari Venhaus

When it comes to securing buy-in from key stakeholders for marketing technology investments, are you preparing to deliver a pitch or to woo your audience through story?

According to Zari Venhaus, Director of Corporate Marketing Communications at Eaton, the latter is essential if you want to create understanding and gain approval from stakeholders at all levels—something she knows from experience.

“If they’re not marketers, they don’t understand what we do every day and the impact it has,” Zari told TopRank Marketing’s Susan Misukanis in a recent Break Free B2B interview. “So, we had to learn how to storytell. We had to take our roles as marketers and turn it internally and really do that for our senior leaders.”


Break Free B2B Series: Zari Venhaus on How to Scoot Your Way to Martech Transformation Through Storytelling

From Ours to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
B2B Marketing

The snow is falling, fires are crackling, and the scents of pine and cinnamon fill the air. That’s right: It’s the most wonderful time of the year, marketers. It’s a time of celebration and reflection.

2019 was a magical year for the TopRank Marketing team. We had the honor of working with an incredible book of clients and industry influencers. We welcomed new team members. We experimented, innovated, and optimized the work we do. And 2020 looks just as bright.

To celebrate the year, the holiday season, and each other, the TopRank Marketing team enjoyed a few days of good old holiday fun. Get a glimpse of the fun below.


From Ours to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!

Break Free B2B Series: Tom Treanor on Perfecting B2B Marketing Personalization

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Marketing Interview with Tom Treanor

In any conversation about customer experience, the topic of personalization is bound to come up. After all, 91% of customers are more likely to shop with brands who recognize, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations. 

However, personalization isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. If poorly executed, personalized marketing campaigns can alienate potential buyers and customers. And, it’s not just a matter of making sure your email to Dapper Dan isn’t addressed to Fancy Nancy. 

As Tom Treanor, Global Head of Marketing at Arm Treasure Data*, affirms: Perfect personalization requires the right data to create the right content and deliver it at the right time. Be too familiar, too soon, and your customers are looking for every digital restraining order they can find. 


Break Free B2B Series: Tom Treanor on Perfecting B2B Marketing Personalization

Break Free B2B Series: CMI’s Stephanie Stahl on Data-Driven Event Planning and Promotion

Break Free B2B Interview with Stephanie Stahl

Planning events isn’t easy. Heck, scheduling a meeting with a small group of colleagues can be an exercise in strategy and patience. Now imagine if you were responsible for creating the preeminent educational experience for 4,000+ content marketers, featuring 225 inspiring speakers, and over 123 hours of amazing content? 

That’s what Stephanie Stahl, General Manager at Content Marketing Institute, and her event team does each year while planning the Content Marketing World Conference and Expo.

Joshua Nite, our Senior Content Marketing Manager, was able to snag a few minutes with Stephanie on the last day of Content Marketing World 2019 to learn how her team delivers an amazing experience year after year. Unsurprisingly, success requires a lot of work, data, and content.


Break Free B2B Series: CMI’s Stephanie Stahl on Data-Driven Event Planning and Promotion

Break Free B2B Series: Maliha Aqeel on How to Ace B2B Company Culture

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

Maliha Aqeel, Assistant Director of Brand, Marketing and Communications at Ernst & Young, is known for being a staunch advocate of the three C’s that drive brands: content, customer, and culture.

But when Maliha sat down with TopRank Marketing’s Joshua Nite for a Break Free B2B interview at Content Marketing World this past fall, she had one “C” at the top of her mind: culture, and its role as a driver for both employee and customer satisfaction. 

“Whether we’re working for someone, or we’re actively purchasing their products, or just engaging with their brand, it matters to us what others think,” she says.

While many employees still see corporate culture as solely a function of HR, Maliha says this is not the case. She believes that all employees have a responsibility to help propagate and model a company’s values, both inside and outside the organization.


Break Free B2B Series: Maliha Aqeel on How to Ace B2B Company Culture

Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

2020 B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions

Well, B2B marketers, it’s that time of year again. The holiday season is in full swing. The countdown to a new year and a new decade has begun. And of course, we’re all channeling our psychic powers, hoping to uncover what 2020 has in store so we can seize opportunities, prepare for challenges, and ultimately improve the effectiveness of our content marketing efforts. 

2019 was a bonding year for elevating experiences, with many B2B marketers making significant investments in interactive content, influencer content collaborations, and multi-faceted campaigns. 2020 will be the year where many brands will cement experience as a strategy.

So, what does this look like in 2020? Below we dive into our top 10 trends and predictions for 2020—each of which have overt or underlying ties to experience.


Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

Grateful and Glad: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For

What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For in 2019

For centuries, American families and friends have come together on Thanksgiving Day to feast and give thanks for all of life’s beautiful gifts.

But I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again—Thanksgiving isn’t limited to one day in the TopRank Marketing realm. Every day, I see attitudes of gratitude.

To date in 2019, our team has typed the words “thank you” in Slack communications a whopping 7,737 times, and “thanks” 4,113 times.

via GIPHY

As is TopRank Marketing tradition, I’ve asked team members to share what they’re most thankful for in work and in life. Here’s what many had to say.

What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful for in 2019

Lee Odden

CEO


Grateful and Glad: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful For

Trick or Treat: The Spellbinding Marketing Sweets the TopRank Team Can’t Resist

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing

Spellbinding Marketing Sweets the TopRank Team Can’t Resist

Admit it. On Halloween night, the fierce competitor within you sprinted from home to home to claim as much sugary bounty as your pillowcase could carry. But the loyalist and purist in you was on the hunt for a specific candy treat. A treat that put all the rest to shame; a treat that always hit the sweet spot.

via GIPHY

For me, that coveted treat was: the Almond Joy. Sweetened coconut. Crunchy almonds. Smooth milk chocolate. Devilishly delicious, but ghoulishly elusive amongst a sea of KitKat- and Snickers-purchasing households. (Here’s to you, organic reach on Facebook.)

As marketers, we all have our favorites. From tactical techniques that sweeten our marketing mix to the integration of marketing elements to tantalize our audience’s taste buds, the TopRank Marketing team weighs in on both fun- and king-size marketing treats they can’t resist.


Trick or Treat: The Spellbinding Marketing Sweets the TopRank Team Can’t Resist

Creating B2B Content With Impact: Pearls of Wisdom from Marketing Leaders

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Back in 2017, Dr. Rick Rigsby delivered an impassioned commencement speech at California State University Maritime Academy, sending the internet into a motivational frenzy. The minister, speaker, and former college professor regaled the audience with key learnings from the “wisest person” he’d ever met—a third-grade dropout, who also happened to be his father.

Despite his lack of formal education, Dr. Rigsby’s father rigorously pursued learning and growth, instilling a drive for excellence within his children and providing a light in the darkest of times. But perhaps the biggest takeaway from Dr. Rigsby’s speech would eventually become his motivational catchphrase:

“Make an impact, not just an impression.”

via GIPHY


Creating B2B Content With Impact: Pearls of Wisdom from Marketing Leaders