Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®

Joshua Nite

Should B2B Marketers Embrace Ephemeral Content?

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Apr 23rd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Social Media

Burning Matches Emphemeral Content Image

One great thing about being a young Gen X’er: There was no social media during my junior high and high school years. 

Young millennials weren’t so lucky. They chronicled their adolescence in excruciating detail on Myspace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, every half-formed thought and laundry-detergent-eating stunt preserved forever.

So it’s no surprise that the youngest social media users leapt on Snapchat when it launched. Snapchat Stories provided the feeling of togetherness that social media’s good at, without the potential to embarrass your future self.

Other platforms were quick to buy into the idea of ephemeral content — content that expires and is deleted after a set period of time, usually 24 hours. Instagram’s creatively-named offering, Instagram Stories, boasts 500 million daily users. That’s more daily users for a single feature on Instagram than there are for the entirety of Twitter. 


Should B2B Marketers Embrace Ephemeral Content?

Break Free B2B Marketing: Sruthi Kumar on Creating Memorable Experiences

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Apr 21st, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Break Free B2B with Sruthi Kumar

Marketers are in the business of attracting attention. All of our tactics, our strategies, our goals boil down to: Did we get someone’s attention and inspire them to take action?

The key to modern marketing is that we have to earn that attention. There will always be someone on who is louder, funnier, more talented, or just less shameless than your brand is willing to be. The only way to truly capture and sustain someone’s focus is to earn the right to their time. 

How do you earn attention? By providing remarkable experiences. By showing you care about your audience, you know who they are, and that your brand is here to help and to entertain them. 


Break Free B2B Marketing: Sruthi Kumar on Creating Memorable Experiences

6 Unconventional Social Channels for B2B Marketing

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Apr 9th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Social Media

Hand Holding Phone At Urban Overlook

This just in: B2B doesn’t have to be boring! People who are on B2B buying committees like to be entertained just as much as everyone else. They use the same social media sites as B2C consumers do, too. 

Sorry to drop so many knowledge bombs in one paragraph. Take a minute to let it all sink in.

Okay, so maybe self-isolation is making me more snarky than usual. I’m glad that we don’t have to constantly explain why B2B marketing not only can be, but must be relatable and creative.

But there’s one mental obstacle most of us are still struggling with: The idea that social media marketing (outside of LinkedIn) is mostly for our B2C colleagues. We’ve accepted that we should have a Twitter account or a Facebook page, but that’s where a lot of organizations draw the line.


6 Unconventional Social Channels for B2B Marketing

5 Ways SEO Can Shine a Light on Your Unseen B2B Content

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Apr 2nd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, SEO

Hidden Content Image

“Look, marketers. Everywhere the light touches is content beloved by customers.”

“But what about that shadowy place over there?”

“That’s our unseen content. We worked hard to create it, but nobody ever visits it.”

“That’s really depressing.”

“That’s life.”

Okay, sorry to bring the room down. And I’m also sorry to say that it gets worse. A recent study found that 69% of all web content is not seen by consumers.

Hidden Content Image
The remaining 31% is our kingdom.

Fortunately, there are many ways to create content that beats the odds. For example, you can co-create with influencers, or experiment with interactive content that inspires social media sharing. But what about the content you have already created? The really good stuff that never caught on with an audience?


5 Ways SEO Can Shine a Light on Your Unseen B2B Content

The B2B Marketer’s Journey To Experiential Content at #B2BMX

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Feb 26th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing

Ryan Brown Ceros

What makes an experience an…

B2B Marketing Experience?

Full disclosure: I am not on the design team at TopRank Marketing.

But you know what I mean. You’ve eaten dinner at dozens, if not hundreds of restaurants in your lifetime. But there are likely one or two that stick out in your memory. What makes them memorable?

That question drove an intriguing presentation at B2B Marketing Exchange, led by four expert marketers:

B2BMX Speakers 2020

Short answer: What makes experiences different and memorable is if they’re really good… or really bad. Anything in the middle tends to blur together in our recollection. Only the extremes stand out.


The B2B Marketer’s Journey To Experiential Content at #B2BMX

5 Ways to Humanize B2B Content Marketing

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Feb 13th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Humanizing B2B Content Father and Son Cooking Together Image

“You’ve really got to put yourself out there. Don’t be too stiff.”

“Be honest and sincere!”

“Be vulnerable and relatable… and it doesn’t hurt if you can make ‘em laugh.”

Is this advice for a middle-aged man trying online dating for the first time? Or is it advice for B2B marketers?

Given the proximity to Valentine’s Day, can’t it be both?

The point is, as good as this advice may be for marketers, it’s as vague as it is omnipresent. We talk about “person-to-person” marketing and “humanizing the brand.” But what does it really mean to humanize a brand? 

Michelin Men Original Costumes

Yes, these were the original Michelin Tire mascots.

In some cases, apparently, it means high-octane nightmare fuel. So, maybe don’t try and make an adorable mascot for your software-as-a-service solution.


5 Ways to Humanize B2B Content Marketing

What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Feb 4th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Podcast Marketing, Podcasting

What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO

There are few things more satisfying than clicking “Publish” on a shiny new podcast. All the hours of planning and recording are done. You ran down your podcast launch checklist. Now it’s time for the world to enjoy the fruits of your labor. 

You can sit back and watch the downloads roll in, right?

Well… it depends on whether people can find your podcast. While the podcast market isn’t oversaturated yet, it’s still a crowded playing field. 

Post-launch, your podcast promotion plan will likely include a mix of paid promotion, influencer amplification, and social media marketing to help build your audience. But before you record a second of audio, your organic strategy can help ensure your podcast is found and treasured.


What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO

The Universal Translator: How Marketers Can Improve Communication with Internal Stakeholders

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jan 28th, 2020
B2B Marketing

How Marketers Can Communicate with Internal Stakeholders

Star Trek is one of my favorite franchises. It’s a beacon to guide humanity to a brighter future: One without wars and scarcity, dedicated to discovery and enlightenment. 

(Can you tell I really loved the Picard series premiere?)

Poster for the Star Trek series Picard

(He has a PIT BULL named NUMBER ONE.) Photo Credit: CBS

But the best tech in all of Star Trek isn’t the transporter, the replicator, or even the holodeck. It’s the universal translator, a gizmo that can process language in real-time and convey every nuance and idiom.

We have a similar technology right now, but… well, it could use some work.

“Shivers down my spine” turns into “chicken skin?” That kind of margin of error would cause some serious diplomatic crises in Starfleet.


The Universal Translator: How Marketers Can Improve Communication with Internal Stakeholders

B2B Content Marketing Lessons from 2019’s Nerdy Film & TV Franchise Finales

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jan 8th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

B2B Content Marketing Lessons from Film & TV Franchise Finales

2019 may be remembered as the year we reached peak nerd.

When I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, nerd culture was still underground, something for weird kids and weirder adults. Now our biggest entertainment franchises are what used to be nerd stuff: High fantasy, epic science fiction, comic book heroe,s and horror movies. 

But 2019 was the year that cracks started to show in even the most lucrative franchises. Several high-profile series came to an end — and only one of them really stuck the landing. Let us take solace in the words of Jedi Master Yoda himself:

Yoda Captioned The Greatest Teacher, Failure Is

Marketers can learn a lot from each of the year’s biggest nerdy swan songs. 


B2B Content Marketing Lessons from 2019’s Nerdy Film & TV Franchise Finales

What You Can Learn from Competitive Research to Improve B2B Content Marketing Performance

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Dec 11th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Competitive Research for Better Content Marketing

Pablo Picasso famously said: “Good artists borrow; great artists steal.” 

Except that he probably didn’t come up with that zinger on his own. It’s been attributed to everyone from Mark Twain to TS Eliot. 

Which proves the point: For memorable content, steal what you can and make it your own.

Your content is competing for your buyers’ attention. To make an impression, you have to be more informative, more entertaining, and more engaging than your competitors, both direct and indirect.

We’re not suggesting plagiarism here. We’re encouraging you to get a deep understanding of the landscape by conducting some competitive recon. Here’s how to use competitive research to bolster your B2B content marketing strategy and ultimately improve performance.


What You Can Learn from Competitive Research to Improve B2B Content Marketing Performance

For a More Effective B2B Content Strategy, T.H.I.N.K.

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Nov 25th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

What would you do with an unlimited content marketing budget?

Oh, the eBooks and infographics and blog posts you could make! Video and audio, whitepapers, research papers, guides galore… endless money means endless possibilities.

Okay. Deep breath. Snap back to reality.

James Franco Startled

We’re all working with limited resources to create a finite amount of content to fit into a crowded editorial calendar. 

So how can you make sure you’re making the most of what you have?

How can you know for sure that a proposed content project is worth your while — worth time spent researching, creating, amplifying and optimizing?

It’s simple: T.H.I.N.K.!

Let me explain. My wife is a middle school teacher (a moment of silence for her service). She has this poster on prominent display in her classroom:


For a More Effective B2B Content Strategy, T.H.I.N.K.