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Lee Odden

Lee Odden

About Lee Odden

@LeeOdden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing and editor of TopRank's B2B Marketing Blog. Cited for his expertise by The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, he's the author of the book Optimize and presents internationally on B2B marketing topics including content, search, social media and influencer marketing. When not at conferences, consulting, or working with his talented team, he's likely running, traveling or cooking up something new.

5 Ways B2B Marketers Sabotage Influencer Marketing Success

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Mar 1st, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Sabotage B2B influencer marketing

It is the nature of marketers to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. The problem with this approach to marketing optimization is that it assumes effective execution of marketing strategies, which we all know, is often not the case. Poor execution is as often at fault for poor performance as much as the effectiveness or appropriateness of the tactic.

For nearly 10 years we’ve been engaged in influencer collaboration for B2B content marketing programs (like this one for Content Marketing Institute in 2012) and have worked with a wide range of B2B brands during that time. We’ve fielded multiple times that in inquiries and questions from B2B marketers about influencer marketing as well as conducting the first ever dedicated research study into B2B influencer marketing.  This depth of experience has provided unique and far reaching insight into how B2B brands understand and implement content marketing efforts in partnership with influencers – good, bad and otherwise.


5 Ways B2B Marketers Sabotage Influencer Marketing Success

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10 Marketing and Communications Leaders to Inspire You in 2021

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Feb 25th, 2021
Marketing & PR Industry

10 inspiring women in marketing 2021

Even the best of marketers can be challenged in times like those we’ve all experienced over the past 12 months. But it is those who rise above those challenges that fuel the inspiration we all need to succeed in our industry.

On this blog, we’ve made a point to highlight inspirational marketing voices with lists of top marketers by discipline (B2B marketing, social media marketing, content marketing) and our famous lists of Women Who Rock in Marketing since 2010. Over the past few years, we’ve tried (not hard enough) to be more inclusive in these lists to represent women and people of color.


10 Marketing and Communications Leaders to Inspire You in 2021

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How to Elevate B2B Marketing with Always-On Influence #B2BMX

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Feb 22nd, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Elevate B2B Marketing with Always-On Influence

While 96% of B2B marketers we surveyed in or State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report are confident about influencer marketing, the majority are still approaching influencer engagement on a periodic or campaign basis vs. Always-On. That short term approach is costly:

12X more B2B marketers are very successful by running Always-On influencer programs vs. those engaged in intermittent campaigns.

With all the challenges brought by the pandemic and uncertainty in the world, an increasing number of B2B marketers are working with influencers on an ongoing basis to create more trusted content with credible distribution and authentic engagement.

But it’s important to understand that there’s nothing wrong with running influencer campaigns. When a message, available experts and readiness of an audience all align with the right approach, you can see influencer content campaign outcomes like:


How to Elevate B2B Marketing with Always-On Influence #B2BMX

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How to Scale B2B Influencer Marketing: Operations, Process and Technology

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Feb 15th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

B2B Influencer Marketing Operations

As a relationship driven business, influencer marketing for B2B companies can be resource intensive and time consuming. To scale while maintaining quality, creating processes and using software are as essential for influencer identification as it is for managing ongoing communications and performance reporting.

In our research for the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, we found B2B marketers that document an influencer marketing strategy and engagement approach, define processes, use software and elevate their internal operational expertise are much better suited to scale a high quality and successful influencer marketing program.

This post will dig further into the findings from the State of B2B Influencer Marketing concerning influencer marketing operations on everything from top challenges to best practices and process to software.


How to Scale B2B Influencer Marketing: Operations, Process and Technology

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How Successful B2B Marketers Integrate Influence in the Marketing Mix

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Feb 8th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

B2B Influencer Marketing Integration

Influencer Marketing is a fast growing discipline for B2B marketers and while many brands view it as a stand alone tactic, mature marketers realize that influence can play a role across the customer lifecycle in virtually any business communication, content type or publishing channel.

There’s plenty of evidence to show that business customers do not limit their information discovery and consumption to single communication channels or content types. Neither should business marketers. That’s why savvy B2B marketers integrate influencer content across marketing disciplines from ABM to Public Relations to SEO to create the kinds of customer experiences that create credibility, reach and engagement.


How Successful B2B Marketers Integrate Influence in the Marketing Mix

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How to Accelerate 2021 B2B Marketing Success with Influencer Optimized Content

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Feb 1st, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Influencer Optimized Content for B2B Marketing

According to the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, 96% of B2B marketers that engage influencers consider their program to be successful and 90% expect their budget for influencer marketing to increase or stay the same over the next 12 months.

Why the confidence? 77% of marketers say their prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts with 84% engaging influencers to create brand awareness and 69% counting on influencers for lead generation.

Influence plays a role across the entire B2B customer lifecycle from awareness to advocacy and with B2B marketing going decidedly digital during the pandemic and research showing few signs of reverting back to the old ways, the importance of peer, expert and influencer recommendations through social and digital media are more important than ever.


How to Accelerate 2021 B2B Marketing Success with Influencer Optimized Content

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B2B Marketing News: Trust in 2021, Top Content Marketing Goals, Twitter Alternative, Cookieless Targeting

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jan 22nd, 2021
Marketing Industry News

Edelman 2021 Trust Barometer

2021 Edelman Trust Barometer: Plague of mistrust follows COVID-19
After a year of unprecedented disaster and turbulence – the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis, the global outcry over systemic racism and political instability – the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world. Edelman

What Are B2B Marketing Leaders Measuring: Five Key Takeaways from Forrester’s SiriusDecisions 2020 Metrics Study
Forrester’s study asked worldwide B2B leaders which metrics appear on their company’s top-level dashboards. Key insights include: Leadership attention is precious, High-growth companies focus more on the customer lifecycle and others. Forbes

New Study from SEMRush Shares Top Goals for Content Marketers in 2021
79% more quality leads, 74% more website traffic, 57% improve brand reputation, 47% improve customer engagement and loyalty. eMarketer


B2B Marketing News: Trust in 2021, Top Content Marketing Goals, Twitter Alternative, Cookieless Targeting

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Top B2B Marketing Trends for 2021

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jan 18th, 2021
B2B Marketing

Top B2B Marketing Trends 2021
Each year I’ve taken inventory of the major trends emerging within our B2B marketing agency practice and with the crazy year that was 2020, the new year requires even greater focus on what’s ahead. Some of the marketing predictions and trends I’ve shared in the past include:

Top 10 B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020

  • Personalization
  • Video content and live video
  • AI and Machine Learning
  • Voice engagement and Podcasts
  • B2B Influencer Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Chatbots and Conversational Selling
  • Customer Experience
  • Visual and Interactive Content
  • ABM

Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2019

  • Live, Interactive Video
  • Voice Search
  • AI/Machine Learning/Chatbots
  • Data/Privacy/Transparency
  • Influencer Marketing 2.0
  • Purpose Driven Brands and Gen Z

Top B2B Marketing Trends for 2021

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How the Most Successful B2B Marketers Approach Influencer Marketing in 2021

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jan 11th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Keys to Success B2B Influencer Marketing 2021

According to the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, 96% of B2B marketers that engage influencers consider their program to be successful and 90% expect their budget for influencer marketing to increase or stay the same over the next 12 months.

Why the confidence? 77% of marketers say their prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts with 84% engaging influencers to create brand awareness and 69% counting on influencers for lead generation.

Influence plays a role across the entire B2B customer lifecycle from awareness to advocacy and with B2B marketing going decidedly digital during the pandemic and uncertainty of 2020, the importance of peer, expert and influencer recommendations through social and digital media are more important than ever.


How the Most Successful B2B Marketers Approach Influencer Marketing in 2021

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45 B2B Influencer Marketing Statistics to Optimize Your 2021 Marketing

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jan 4th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

B2B influencer marketing statistics
We’ve finally turned the corner to 2021 and like many other marketers in the B2B world, I am ready to make this year better than ever. One source of inspiration I’ve found effective are the insights from industry research. That’s one of the main reasons we conducted the first research survey around B2B influencer marketing.

Having watched the growth of influence in marketing for B2B companies closely over the past 9 years, 2021 represents a significant opportunity for marketers to connect with the trusted voices in their industry to co-create content, inspire meaningful engagement and community, motivate authentic brand advocacy and boost influence of brand executives and subject matter experts as well as the brand itself.

The data for B2B influencer marketing are compelling:


45 B2B Influencer Marketing Statistics to Optimize Your 2021 Marketing

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50 Influential Women in B2B Marketing Who Rocked in 2020

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Dec 30th, 2020
B2B Marketing

2020 Influential Women in B2B Marketing

If there was a year in need of inspiration, 2020 was it. Luckily, we’re continuing our long tradition of highlighting inspirational marketers who are also influential.

Over the past 10 years we’ve honored hundreds of women in marketing doing great work, creating and sharing content, and making a difference in the industry including last year’s 50 Women CMOs Who Rock in Marketing.

In this, the 11th year of publishing the TopRank Blog List of Women Who Rock in Marketing, we’ve taking a more B2B approach. The vast majority of honorees in the 2020 edition of our list work for B2B brands or have a B2B marketing function within a B2C or B2B/B2C brand.


50 Influential Women in B2B Marketing Who Rocked in 2020

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Inside Influence 13: Tim Williams from Onalytica on Optimizing B2B Influencer Experiences

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Dec 28th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Tim Williams Onalytica

In this final 13th episode of Inside Influence where I talk with B2B marketing insiders about what’s working and what’s not in the world of influencer marketing, our perspective has shifted from B2B brands to the influencers themselves.

At TopRank Marketing, we conducted the first in-depth research into B2B influencer marketing which inspired this series and Onalytica recently conducted the first research study of B2B influencers to better understand influencer marketing from their perspective.

Any B2B marketer that wants a complete picture for success with B2B influencer marketing going into 2021 and beyond will benefit greatly from both reports:

  • The Current State & Future of B2B Influencer Marketing – Onalytica
  • 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report – TopRank Marketing

Inside Influence 13: Tim Williams from Onalytica on Optimizing B2B Influencer Experiences

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