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B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

Joshua Nite

From Mechanical to Meaningful: How to Optimize B2B Case Studies

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jul 9th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing

Optimized half-human half-android woman figure image.

When was the last time a B2B case study made you feel something? 

I mean, something besides mild interest or boredom. 

I ask because, in theory at least, B2B case studies should be exciting stories. There are millions of dollars at stake, people’s livelihoods and professional reputations hanging in the balance. Each one is a three-act story arc of overcoming adversity and solving a problem. 

That sounds like a riveting read, right?

Or at the very least, they should be useful stories. They should help someone with a similar problem be able to find a solution. Yes, even a solution above and beyond “buy our product.”

Here are a few ways that B2B marketers can make their case studies more human, more compelling, and ultimately more effective.


From Mechanical to Meaningful: How to Optimize B2B Case Studies

5 Ways to Make Brand Social Media Profiles More Compelling

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jul 2nd, 2020
Social Media

Optimize Brand Social Media Profiles

As a concerned consumer, I have to admit that I’m ambivalent about social media. On the one hand, it keeps me connected with friends and family. And it provides a platform for those whose voices have been marginalized. On the other hand, it can be a 24-7 outrage machine where I can ruin my blood pressure arguing with strangers.

As a marketer, however, I wholeheartedly celebrate social media. Brands have never had such rich opportunities to interact with customers and potential customers. They’ve never been able to so easily display what the brand is about, what it stands for, and how it can bring value to people.

This is especially important now that virtually all B2B business is done digitally and customers are using digital channels more than ever to find information, learn about brands and solutions.


5 Ways to Make Brand Social Media Profiles More Compelling

How To Level Up Marketing Content From B2B Influencers

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jun 18th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Cameraman filming image.

Why do you even need a content person for influencer marketing?

After all, the influencers are providing the content. You just have to collect their pearls of wisdom, make them look pretty in a PDF, and you’re good to go, right?

I’ll confess, on my first influencer marketing project, I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing there. Over the last few years, however, I’ve come to understand the role that content marketers can play in shaping influencer content.

It’s the content lead’s job to shape the conversation with the influencer. We have to ask the right questions, and provide a structure and framework to elicit thoughtful, detailed responses.


How To Level Up Marketing Content From B2B Influencers

Break Free B2B Marketing: Sofia O’Malley of Dell Outlet on Creating a Global B2B & B2C Marketing Team

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jun 9th, 2020
B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing

Break Free B2B - Sofia O'Malley

Okay, marketers, here’s your content marketing challenge for the day. Your target audience includes the following:

  • Small business owners
  • Gamers
  • Teachers
  • Lifestyle bloggers
  • Young professionals/Entrepreneurs

All you have to do is come up with messaging that will resonate with each of these groups, while repurposing as much content as possible for maximum efficiency. Some of these segments are B2B, some are B2C, and some ride the line between the two, so plan accordingly. 

Oh, and while you’re at it, we need versions of your content for multiple regions around the world. So make sure your Super Bowl metaphors are converted into World Cup references.


Break Free B2B Marketing: Sofia O’Malley of Dell Outlet on Creating a Global B2B & B2C Marketing Team

Break Free B2B Marketing: Julie Brown of Johnson Controls on Proving the EBIT of Your Marketing

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Jun 2nd, 2020
B2B Marketing

Break Free B2B - Julie Brown Image

For decades, marketers have measured success differently than the rest of the organization. We raise awareness, increase share of voice, generate impressions, deliver MQLs to sales. 

Meanwhile, the success of the business itself is measured in….well, money. Revenue. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). 

But this disparity is changing as marketers are becoming more data-driven — and being increasingly accountable for their direct contribution to revenue. It’s not enough to show a return on investment; it’s not enough for marketing to not be a cost center. The marketing department needs to be a powerful engine for generating revenue.


Break Free B2B Marketing: Julie Brown of Johnson Controls on Proving the EBIT of Your Marketing

20 Marketing Jokes for Marketers Working from Home

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on May 28th, 2020
B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, Content Marketing

Laughing Man at Laptop Image

I’m not here to lie to you: Sheltering in place is getting pretty old. 

I do count my blessings, of course. My family and I are healthy. My wife and I both can work from home; our kids are pretty great; we actually enjoy each others’ company. 

Still. There are only so many loaves of bread you can bake, puzzles you can solve, board games you can play before the ennui sets in. 

If you’re like me, you could use a laugh right now. And I need to exercise my comedy muscles before they atrophy.

And in a world where people are still writing articles called, “Should You Include Humor in Your B2B Content,” we need constant reminders that people like jokes. People like to laugh. Laughter brings you closer to your audience and creates a connection.


20 Marketing Jokes for Marketers Working from Home

Break Free B2B Marketing: Latane Conant of 6sense on Reinventing the CMO Role

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on May 19th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing

Latane Conant

What’s in a job title? In my tenure as a marketer, I’ve met gurus who don’t live on mountaintops, ninjas who don’t know martial arts, and evangelists who don’t preach on Sunday. 

At worst, these creative job titles are pure puffery. But at best, they serve as a statement of purpose. I’m thinking of titles like Shep Hyken’s Chief Amazement Officer, or Ann Handley as Chief Content Officer: They tell us something about what the person — and their organization — values.

Latane Conant from 6sense has a subtly unusual job title: Chief Market Officer. She dropped the ‘ing’ from ‘Marketing,’ and that tiny change signals a major shift in the way she approaches her job. Instead of focusing on the verb of marketing — what tactics to deploy to reach an audience —  her job is to deeply understand the market, the people her brand is trying to reach.


Break Free B2B Marketing: Latane Conant of 6sense on Reinventing the CMO Role

Break Free B2B Marketing: Lisa Sharapata of 6sense on the End of the MQL

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on May 5th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing

Lisa Sharapata from 6sense

What do we mean when we talk about a transformation in marketing?

Let me put it this way. The switch from horses to cars was a transformation. It was a fundamental rethinking of the way that humans move. We went from, “Find an animal that can go further and faster than you can and ride on it,” to “Burn fuel and use the energy to turn a motor that transfers the power to wheels.”

Every improvement since then — from V8 engines to power steering — has just been an iteration on the theme. A little faster, a little more efficient, a little safer, but iteration, not transformation.


Break Free B2B Marketing: Lisa Sharapata of 6sense on the End of the MQL

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

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