Nick Nelson

Pitfall! Steering Clear of 5 Common B2B Content Marketing Missteps

Nick Nelson on Jan 5th, 2021
Content Marketing

It’s been almost 40 years since Pitfall!, the classic side-scrolling platformer for the original Atari, was first released. David Crane’s creation went on to become one of the first console video game hits, selling more than 4 million copies, and is now remembered as an influential breakthrough for the medium.

Why did Pitfall! gain such rampant popularity? Because it was realistic and relatable!

I’m not talking about the pixelated 2D graphics or exotic jungle setting. I’m talking about the basic premise of problem-solving. The game is full of traps, hazards, and challenges, but there’s always a way around them. “Oh hey, a giant pit full of alligators. How will I get to the other side? Perhaps by grabbing hold of that swinging vine…”

Pitfall! Steering Clear of 5 Common B2B Content Marketing Missteps

Why Digital Customer Experience Will Be A Top Focus For B2B Marketers In 2021

Nick Nelson on Dec 8th, 2020
B2B Marketing

Catching a movie in a packed theater. Crowding into a stadium with tens of thousands of fans for a sporting event or concert. Attending a bustling business expo in a convention center brimming with industry peers.

All of the above are previous mainstays that went noticeably amiss this year, lost to the ruthlessness of 2020 along with so many other in-person experiences. And while such large-scale gatherings will surely return to our lives at some point, the undeniable reality is that we don’t know when. We do know it won’t magically happen once the calendar flips forward. Analysts believe physical events may not return until 2022.

Why Digital Customer Experience Will Be A Top Focus For B2B Marketers In 2021

Incredible Content Marketing: 6 Tips for Infusing Credibility into B2B Content

Nick Nelson on Nov 10th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

One of my favorite moments from The Simpsons is when the hilariously incompetent physician Dr. Nick burns down a building by mishandling a clearly marked chemical tank, and then exclaims, “Inflammable means flammable?! What a country!”

via GIPHY

“Incredible” is a word that can spark similar cognitive dissonance for marketers. Sure, it might technically be defined as “impossible to believe,” but if your content isn’t credible, would anyone describe it as incredible?

Quite the opposite. In this business, incredible means credible. So let’s explore the cornerstones of creating credible, and thus truly incredible, content marketing.

Incredible Content Marketing: 6 Tips for Infusing Credibility into B2B Content

How To Move From A Pilot B2B Influencer Marketing Program to Always-On Success

Nick Nelson on Oct 20th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

It sure is a good thing that the internet turns off at 10:00 PM every night, and doesn’t flip back on until 8:00 in the morning. And thankfully, business buyers completely tune out after they finish work, which is always at 5 o’clock sharp in this world of reliable and universally consistent routine.

Marketers and brands would really have their hands full if these things weren’t true.

Wait, what’s that? None of them are remotely true?

Welcome to the World of Always-On

There is no off-switch. The internet is open for business 24 hours a day. Buyers and decision makers are engaging with content in unpredictable patterns, thrown further askew by the pandemic-driven disruption of workday archetypes. An increasingly lengthy and complex buyer’s journey challenges B2B marketing strategies to be more versatile, agile, and perpetually present than ever before.

How To Move From A Pilot B2B Influencer Marketing Program to Always-On Success

New Research: How B2B Content Marketers Are Impacted and Pivoting During the Pandemic

Nick Nelson on Oct 6th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Each year, Content Marketing Institute releases a new version of its B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report, providing a timely contextual snapshot of the discipline at large and its ever-shifting landscape.

Needless to say, this year’s edition hits differently. While there is always change and evolution afoot in the annual study’s findings, 2020 has been a year of unprecedented upheaval for our profession, along with most every other.

The impact of COVID-19 on B2B content marketing is a direct and prevalent focus in CMI’s latest report, which helps leaders and practitioners in the field understand how their peers are reacting and adapting to a disruptive global event.

New Research: How B2B Content Marketers Are Impacted and Pivoting During the Pandemic

5 Ways B2B Marketers Can Boost Productivity and Focus

Nick Nelson on Sep 21st, 2020
B2B Marketing

Across every industry, profession, and discipline, work productivity is in peril.

How could it not be? Outside distractions have mounted over the course of the year, from a global pandemic to rampant social unrest to a headline-hijacking presidential election, all in the midst of economic turmoil. Through it all, many of us have been acclimating to a remote work setting that upends our established workflows and routines.

Frankly, we all deserve a pat on the back for being able to stay focused on work at all. So go ahead and give yourself one. But with plenty left to accomplish here in 2020, there’s little time to sit back and take a beat.

5 Ways B2B Marketers Can Boost Productivity and Focus

B2B Marketing Technology in 2021: 5 Key Focuses

Nick Nelson on Sep 14th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing

If the 1982 movie Blade Runner and its dystopian depiction of what the world would look like in 2019 were accurate, this is what we’d have been living through last year:

via GIPHY

Needless to say, our predictions of society’s future state, and technology’s long-term evolution, are not always on the money. While certain aspects of Blade Runner’s vision might’ve been frighteningly accurate, Los Angeles is not yet inhabited by flying cars or giant video advertisements projected onto the entirety of skyscrapers.

With that said, today’s marketers can much more easily look ahead to 2021 — suddenly only a few short months away — and make educated guesses about what the year will hold. Many of the marketing technologies that will transform business and drive strategies are already on the rise, if not gaining mainstream traction.

B2B Marketing Technology in 2021: 5 Key Focuses

Your Guide to Effective Storytelling in B2B Content Marketing

Nick Nelson on Sep 3rd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a guy who understands content. He was the featured keynote speaker at Content Marketing World three years ago, and his company HitRecord empowers creators to collaborate and produce awesome stuff together.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt also understands storytelling. He is an actor, director, producer, and writer who has appeared in numerous beloved movies and TV shows. His work as an author includes a series of works called The Book of Tiny Stories.

“The universe is not made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories,” the tagline asserts.

Given his experience and expertise at the intersection of content and storytelling, it’s worth listening any time Gordon-Levitt speaks on these subjects. So I definitely took notice when the film icon suggested recently that the future of storytelling lies not in movies, but video games.

Your Guide to Effective Storytelling in B2B Content Marketing

A Day in the Life of a Content Marketer During the Pandemic: Challenges and Tips

Nick Nelson on Aug 13th, 2020
Content Marketing

I’ll never forget the night that everything really changed.

It was my wife’s birthday, March 11th. I took her out for dinner at a lovely restaurant in South Minneapolis, and for a couple of blissful hours, over exotic cocktails and delicious food, we unplugged from the loudening noise of a worrisome outside world.

After we walked out of that restaurant, there would be no more tuning out.

Stepping out from the darkly lit building, I looked down at my phone, and tried to process the sudden rush of stunning headlines:

WHO declares global pandemic. NBA suspends season. Trump addresses the nation. Tom Hanks has coronavirus. Tom Hanks!

A Day in the Life of a Content Marketer During the Pandemic: Challenges and Tips

Boosting and Deepening Engagement through Empathy in B2B Marketing

Nick Nelson on Jul 30th, 2020
B2B Marketing

Empathy is more than a buzzword. It’s not a box to be checked, or an added finishing touch for content. If B2B marketers want to successfully engage human audiences and break free from the deluge of irrelevant messages swirling around today’s customers, empathy needs to be at the center of all strategic initiatives from start to finish.

What Does Empathy Mean in B2B Marketing?

Empathy is defined simply as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. But I’m not sure that characterization fully does it justice in the context of modern marketing.

I rather like the way Zen Media CEO Shama Hyder described empathy in the better creative teamwork guide we helped our clients at monday.com put together:

Boosting and Deepening Engagement through Empathy in B2B Marketing