B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

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.

How to Elevate Your B2B Marketing Career: Advice from Execs at Top B2B Brands

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jan 18th, 2022
B2B Marketing

Elevate B2B Marketing Career

As the talent that drives the B2B marketing world re-evaluates the meaningfulness, purpose and balance of their work and personal life, many B2B brands are also working hard to elevate how they do business. From creating better marketing experiences for customers to improving the employee experience, connecting the work to a purpose that is about more than profits and revenue is increasingly important.

But here’s the thing, it’s always been time for B2B brands to think and act on opportunities to improve opportunities for the people that power the company from front line workers in customer call centers to engineers and analysts to senior executives. While many B2B brands understand the importance of optimizing career opportunities for greater employee retention and attraction, not all have the benefit of insight about what up and coming or successful leaders really want.


How to Elevate Your B2B Marketing Career: Advice from Execs at Top B2B Brands

Three of the Biggest Opportunities to Elevate B2B Marketing in 2022

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Jan 10th, 2022
B2B Marketing

Three of the Biggest Opportunities to Elevate B2B Marketing in 2022

Even if 2020 and 2021 didn’t throw buckets of uncertainty, accelerated digital transformation and massively shifting buyer behaviors and expectations on marketers in the business to business world, B2B marketing is not without challenges.

From “boring to boring” to woefully behind B2C, there’s more than enough opportunity for us in the B2B marketing world to raise the bar.

For example, 90% of B2B companies feel their customers completely believe in and rely upon their commitments, but in the professional services industry only 67% believe that. It’s even lower in the financial services industry at 57%. Forrester

I think you’ll agree that what we have in 2022 is a distinct opportunity to elevate B2B marketing, especially by connecting with customers on a more human level authentically and inclusively.


Three of the Biggest Opportunities to Elevate B2B Marketing in 2022

25 Women of Color Who Rocked B2B Marketing in 2021

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Dec 27th, 2021
B2B Marketing

25 Women Rocked B2B Marketing 2021

On the heels of a tough year for marketers, businesses and society in general, 2021 came in and presented even more challenges to say the least

But through these challenges came opportunities to accelerate digital transformation, pivot to new go-to-market models focused on digital first customers, better experiences and more human B2B communications. Another key trend has been an increase (even if just slightly) by marketers, publications and companies in giving voice to those who are underrepresented. And that is where this post comes in: giving voice to talent.

If ever there were a time for the B2B marketing industry to raise the bar, level up and elevate – it is in 2022. For our small part, TopRank Marketing is focused on elevating B2B marketing in three key areas:


25 Women of Color Who Rocked B2B Marketing in 2021

Digital First B2B Marketing is Here to Stay and It’s All About Experiences

Lee Odden
Lee Odden on Dec 20th, 2021
B2B Marketing

Digital First B2B Marketing Experiences

The marketing journey B2B brands have been on since the start of pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and the transformation of marketing faster than any time in history.

During uncertain times the pivots companies make often settle back into the status quo but this time it’s different. According to research from McKinsey:

  • 96% of B2B companies shifted their go-to-market model during Covid-19
  • 65% say their new go-to-market models were equally or more effective in reaching customers
  • 80% will continue new go-to-market models for 12 months or more

And with Gartner reporting that 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels by 2025, the direction is clear: digital first is here to stay for B2B marketing.


Digital First B2B Marketing is Here to Stay and It’s All About Experiences

B2B Influencer Marketing Named Top Marketing Tactic for 2022: What You Need to Know

B2B influencer marketing 2022

In HubSpot’s 2022 Marketing Industry Trends Report featuring insights from over 1,000 global marketers, influencer marketing was named the top marketing trend.

What is even more promising is that content formats ideal for engaging influencers including short form video and virtual events were also in the top 5 marketing tactics from the coming year.

As we bring 2021 to a close, Marketers all over the world are making decisions about how to come out of the pandemic era with trust, confidence and improved marketing results. More than ever, digital experiences, authenticity and the ability to connect with customers in meaningful ways are essential for success in the new year.


B2B Influencer Marketing Named Top Marketing Tactic for 2022: What You Need to Know

How Influencers & Best Answer Content Help B2B Marketers Dominate in Search #CMWorld

Be the Best Answer with B2B Content

Great content isn’t so great if it’s not easy to find. And findable content isn’t so effective if it’s not trusted.

Content is the reason search engines began and yet many B2B content marketers are not taking full advantage of opportunities to attract customers that are actively looking. Instead, the content marketing function at many B2B companies is more about creating content and not so much about promoting it.

Where Has the Marketing in Content Marketing Gone?

The problem with content marketing that focuses mostly on content creation is that the marketing is missing. Sure, B2B brands can throw advertising at their new content to attract visitors – but do B2B buyers love clicking on ads?


How Influencers & Best Answer Content Help B2B Marketers Dominate in Search #CMWorld

Inside B2B Influence: Brian Solis of Salesforce on the Future of Influence in B2B Marketing

Brian Solis

If this is your first time, Inside B2B Influence is a podcast series that goes behind the scenes of B2B marketing and highlights insights with top business executives on influencer marketing for B2B companies. At TopRank Marketing we’re doing our best to connect readers and listeners with B2B marketing insiders on strategies, trends, tactics and the future to elevate the practice of growing influence within and outside of B2B brands.

In Episode 17 of Inside B2B Influence we have a returning guest who needs little introduction given his accomplishments and yet, we’d all be missing out if I did not mention that Brian Solis is Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce, an 8X best selling author, global keynote speaker, digital pioneer and has been a good friend for over 10 years.


Inside B2B Influence: Brian Solis of Salesforce on the Future of Influence in B2B Marketing

Inside B2B Influence: Sarita Rao of AT&T on Growing B2B Executive Influence with Social Media

Sarita Rao AT&T
Inside B2B Influence is a podcast and video series that goes behind the scenes of B2B marketing and highlights insights with top business executives on marketing for B2B companies. We’re doing our best here at TopRank Marketing Blog to elevate the practice of growing influence within and outside of B2B brands to drive thought leadership, create demand and grow revenue.

Episode 16 of Inside B2B Influence features a discussion with Sarita Rao (@saritasayso), who is President, Integrated and Partner Solutions at AT&T. Sarita contributed her expertise to the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report last year and I have been following her closely (and learning) on LinkedIn and Twitter ever since.


Inside B2B Influence: Sarita Rao of AT&T on Growing B2B Executive Influence with Social Media

B2B Marketing News: 95:5 Rule in B2B, Social Media Trends, TikTok Overtakes YouTube, CMOs Need to Focus on CX

Top Social Entertainment Apps

New Report Looks at Social Media Usage Trends Over the Past Decade, and Where Things are Now Headed
App Annie’s ‘Evolution of Social Apps’ report looks at how social media usage trends have evolved over the last decade, highlighting the rise of live-streaming, the increasing focus on social commerce, the growth of TikTok and Snapchat with the biggest highlight being the rise in consumer spending within social apps, with cumulative spend already at $3.2 billion in the first half of 2021 – up 50% year-over-year.
Social Media Today


B2B Marketing News: 95:5 Rule in B2B, Social Media Trends, TikTok Overtakes YouTube, CMOs Need to Focus on CX

B2B Marketing News: B2B Digital Ad Spend Soars, Digital Engagement Changes, LinkedIn Scraps Stories, Google Pays Apple $15Bn

Salesforce Digital Engagement Tactics

Marketers’ Use of Digital Engagement Tactics
A new report from Salesforce shows that 9 in 10 marketing leaders believe that their digital engagement strategy has completely (48%) or somewhat (42%) changed since before the pandemic. Which tactics are they using? Social media (91%), digital ads (91%), digital content (88%), website and apps (86%), email (76%) and mobile (69%). MarketingCharts

The Hybrid Future: How B2B Events Are Evolving
Most marketers say hybrid B2B events, which incorporate both online and in-person elements, will become more common in the coming years, according to recent research from ON24. 79% of B2B marketers say hybrid events provide more data than purely in-person events. MarketingProfs


B2B Marketing News: B2B Digital Ad Spend Soars, Digital Engagement Changes, LinkedIn Scraps Stories, Google Pays Apple $15Bn

How to Elevate Post Pandemic B2B Marketing with Always-On Influence

Always-On B2B Influencer Marketing

As we collect data for the new State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, it remains to be seen whether last year’s 96% of B2B marketers feeling confident about influencer marketing will come out, especially after the effects of the pandemic. With the shift in B2B go to market models towards digital first, influencer engagement has increased for many marketers as an alternative to spending on field marketing, real-world events and trade shows.

As B2B buyers increasingly rely on digital sources of information, stats like 74% of B2B marketers say influencer marketing impacts customer and prospect experience, become even more important. While that confidence before and since the pandemic has opened doors to many more B2B brands experimenting with, piloting and becoming more familiar with influencer engagement, that increase in activity has increased competition. So how can B2B brands raise the bar on their influencer marketing efforts?


How to Elevate Post Pandemic B2B Marketing with Always-On Influence

Three Use Cases That Connect the Dots Between Influence and B2B Marketing Results

Use Cases B2B Influencer Marketing

Last week I talked about where B2B Marketers are seeing the most impact from influencer marketing efforts based on the research done with hundreds of marketers for the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report. Three of those specific areas where influence can help B2B brands optimize for greater marketing impact include brand, growing the influence of key executives and driving leads / sales.

While just about everyone in B2B Marketing is aware of how working with influencers can add relevance, reach and engagement to content, not everyone makes the connection between their particular business problem and the influence solution. Here are three examples from many that can help you connect the dots.

Build Credible Awareness of Your Brand with Customers

Business Problem: The industry is not aware of your brand, solution or your category.


Three Use Cases That Connect the Dots Between Influence and B2B Marketing Results