Anne Leuman

A Well-Oiled Machine: Why Every B2B Marketing Team Needs Marketing Operations

Anne Leuman on Mar 26th, 2020
B2B Marketing

What makes a B2B marketing campaign great?

Is it a creative theme that catches your attention? Is it the insightful expertise featured within? Is it the number of leads it produced?

Answer: it’s all of those things and more. Great B2B marketing campaigns have great ideas and great execution.

But great execution is hard to achieve. It demands excellent resourcing, swift approvals, streamlined processes, and more. And as you may have noticed, these aren’t marketing functions. They’re operational functions.

For your B2B marketing campaigns to truly be successful, you need someone leading the operational side of things. You need marketing operations.

What Is Marketing Operations?

According to MarketingProfs, marketing operations is “an emerging discipline that increases efficiency and drives consistent results in marketing-focused organizations. It builds a foundation for excellence by reinforcing marketing strategy with metrics, infrastructure, business processes, best practices, budgeting and reporting.”

A Well-Oiled Machine: Why Every B2B Marketing Team Needs Marketing Operations

Smooth Sailing: Our Guide to Effective Project Management for B2B Marketers

Anne Leuman on Mar 17th, 2020
B2B Marketing

What does the word “work” mean to you?

A dictionary would tell you that work is, “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result,” or maybe, “a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do.”

But how do we know which tasks to tackle first? Or what specifically needs to happen in order to achieve our purpose?

That’s where project management comes in.

And for B2B marketing agencies or teams, there are a lot of nuances when it comes to project management. Launching several campaigns at once. Racing to meet tight deadlines. Ensuring important milestones are met and in the right order. These are not your typical projects. And the typical approach to project management just won’t cut it.

Smooth Sailing: Our Guide to Effective Project Management for B2B Marketers

What Is B2B Influencer Marketing in 2020? Change Is Coming

Anne Leuman on Mar 10th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

You already know what B2B influencer marketing is. It is “the practice of a B2B brand engaging internal and industry experts with active networks to help achieve measurable business goals.”

But how is that changing in 2020 with social media distrust, the spread of misinformation, advertising regulations, and more?

B2B influencer marketing in 2020 has seen new challenges arise, requiring a shift in approach. From trust to transparency to accessibility, 2020 is set to be a transformative year for influencer marketing programs.

What is B2B influencer marketing in 2020 and how is it changing? We share the answers with you below.

In 2020, B2B influencer marketing is… niche and targeted.

That big-name influencer you’ve been working so hard to grab? You might want to pivot to a smaller, more niche expert.

What Is B2B Influencer Marketing in 2020? Change Is Coming

4 Questions to Drive More Productive Marketing Meetings

Anne Leuman on Feb 20th, 2020
B2B Marketing

Allow me to paint a picture.

SCENE

INTERIOR – OFFICE

The CAMERA pans to a worker, furiously typing on their computer. Headphones on. The keys CLACK with productivity until–

— A LOUD CHIME rings out.

The CAMERA zooms slowly to the computer screen. A meeting alert flashes across the monitor.

— The worker’s head hits the desk with a soft THUD.

We CUT back to the worker. Head hung in exasperation, the worker stops their typing, rises, and departs to attend their call.

END SCENE

It’s happened to all of us. Stop work. Attend meeting. Rinse and repeat.

4 Questions to Drive More Productive Marketing Meetings

Digital Marketing News: More Facebook Stories Updates, CCPA Shakes Up the Ad Industry, GDPR Compliance in the U.S. & More

Anne Leuman on Oct 11th, 2019
Online Marketing News

Image Credit: Marketing Land

Facebook Unveils New CTA for Brand Stories
Facebook has been hot on the Stories train and shows no signs of stopping with their latest update. With their recent update to Stories, users can now send messages to brands and businesses directly from Stories ads. This change allows brands to drive more engagement with their target audience with an easier, softer CTA on the platform. Marketing Land

87% of Consumers Would Opt Out of Ad Targeting Thanks to the CCPA
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is set to give consumers more control over their personal data starting Jan. 2020. To measure the potential impact the CCPA may have on the media and advertising industries, several studies are being conducted. The most recent studies from BritePool and Annenberg Research show that 87% of consumers would opt out of ad targeting when given the option through the CCPA, making it even harder for organizations to reach their target audience. Adweek

Digital Marketing News: More Facebook Stories Updates, CCPA Shakes Up the Ad Industry, GDPR Compliance in the U.S. & More

Get Your Priorities Straight: How to Prioritize to Optimize Your Marketing Workflow

Anne Leuman on Oct 2nd, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Here’s what marketers look like when everything is a priority:

via GIPHY

And here’s what marketers look like when everything gets prioritized:

via GIPHY

I think you can all guess which scenario is more efficient, effective, and less stressful.

Throughout my marketing career, I’ve taken on roles that have challenged me to be a jack of all trades as well as a specialist—yet every role has required the ability to identify, assess, and tackle the tasks at hand in a way that makes sense for my clients, organization, team, and myself. Simply put, every marketing practitioner and leader needs to be able to prioritize and deprioritize work to be lean, mean marketing machine that drives results.

Get Your Priorities Straight: How to Prioritize to Optimize Your Marketing Workflow

4 Marketing Productivity Tips from Workfront’s Mike Riding #DSMPLS

Anne Leuman on Aug 15th, 2019
Digital Marketing, Digital Summit, Marketing & PR Industry

Does work follow you home? When was the last time you had a work week that was actually 40 hours?

Marketers often feel pressed for time and overworked. In fact, according to recent Workfront research:

64% say they’re being asked to come up with new ways of working
58% are so swamped, they don’t have time to think beyond their daily tasks
56% they’re completely overwhelmed.

Mike Riding, Workfront’s Director of Digital Marketing, came to Digital Summit Minneapolis with the sole goal of helping marketers get more work done. While organizations typically turn to technology to solve the productivity problem, Mike offered four actionable, process-driven ways marketers can modernize their work and become more productive.

4 Marketing Productivity Tips from Workfront’s Mike Riding #DSMPLS

The Future of Marketing As Seen By Randi Zuckerberg #DSMPLS

Anne Leuman on Aug 15th, 2019
Digital Marketing, Digital Summit, Marketing PR Conferences

“Technology is changing the way we do business.”

Said everyone, ever.

Marketers know technology is changing how we interact with our audience. But knowing it’s happening and doing something about it are two very different things.

Randi Zuckerberg is no stranger to technology and its effects on business, daily life, and social structures. As the founder and CEO of her own media company, Zuckerberg Media, and a former marketing leader at Facebook, Randi has a unique vision for the future of marketing and how today’s marketers can adapt.

Explore that future with her insights below from the floor of Digital Summit Minneapolis.

We’re Afraid to Fail

We’ve been talking about the evolving state of marketing for years. But maybe we as marketers haven’t changed all that much. Why?

The Future of Marketing As Seen By Randi Zuckerberg #DSMPLS

Cooked to Strategic Perfection: The Layers of a Deliciously Integrated Content Marketing Lasagna

Anne Leuman on Jul 29th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Few things in this world are as delicious as a corner piece of lasagna. For starters, the top layer of cheese is both gooey and crispy. The tomato sauce is sweet yet peppery. The meat? It’s flavorful and hearty. And don’t get me started on the ricotta and mozzarella layers—my favorite by far.

via GIPHY

Lasagna is the perfect dish. And its perfection is not just defined by quality ingredients, but how each ingredient is artfully layered together to bring satisfaction with each and every bite. That’s where the magic happens.

Cooking a delectable lasagna to perfection is not unlike crafting an integrated approach to content marketing. On their own, your tactics may whet your audience’s appetite, but don’t pack the tasty punch of working together to make a lasting impact or drive savory results. Paid, SEO, content, social, influencer, design—all need to work in tandem to ensure your marketing objectives are met.

Cooked to Strategic Perfection: The Layers of a Deliciously Integrated Content Marketing Lasagna

Standing Out From the Crowd: Insights From 12 Marketing Industry Leaders

Anne Leuman on Jul 15th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

It’s time for B2B content marketers to stand out. You know it. I know it. We all know it.

But capturing attention in a crowded content room is hard to do, especially when content creation has seen the biggest uptick in spending among your fellow B2B content marketers. You can’t be subtle. You can’t be boring. But you also can’t be obnoxious; relevance and resonance are paramount. You have to accept and adapt to what your audience needs and wants at any given moment. It takes speed, flexibility, bold ideas, fearlessness, and more.

Where do you start? How about starting with a little inspiration and insight from industry leaders?

Below we have insights and advice from 12 marketing and customer experience leaders on how to stand out from the crowd and create content your audience can’t ignore.

Standing Out From the Crowd: Insights From 12 Marketing Industry Leaders

Making the Case for Video at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Anne Leuman on Jul 8th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Video

It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: Video across the digital landscape is what buyers and consumers alike crave.

The average U.S. adult spends 5 hours and 57 minutes a day watching video. Compare that number to the average amount of time someone reads each day (16.8 minutes), and you’ll find that people watch videos over 21-times longer than reading text. Video informs, engages, and entices audiences, which means video can and should have a place within your B2B content marketing strategy.

But when and how should you leverage video? It’s not just a top-of-funnel tactic reserved for B2C brands. And here are the *stats that showcase it’s potential.

15 Video Marketing Statistics for Every Stage of the Buyer Journey

Attract

84% of marketers credit video with increasing traffic to their website. (3)

Making the Case for Video at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

When Sparks Fly: The TopRank Marketing Team’s Firework Marketing Moments

Anne Leuman on Jul 4th, 2019
Digital Marketing

Marketers are a passionate breed. Whether we’re crafting content, unearthing optimization opportunities, or digging into performance metrics to understand where we went right or wrong, we’re wide-eyed and determined.

Our work is a labor of love, and we’re often driven by special moments that spark awe, imagination, and a sense of accomplishment. Those moments that make us go “Boom!” Those moments where we can sit back for a few minutes and watch in wonder. I’m talking about those firework marketing moments.