Lane Ellis

B2B Marketing In 2019 — The Year In Review

Lane Ellis on Jan 1st, 2020     B2B Marketing

2019 The Year in Review Image

 

As we begin the new year of 2020 filled with fresh opportunity and promise, it’s a great time to rewind and learn from some of the biggest news items in B2B digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, and influencer marketing over the past year.

Let’s take a look back at what the year gone by has gifted us, from opportunities to challenges, and see what lessons it can teach us as we move ahead in 2020.

First Quarter 2019

During the first quarter of 2019 the digital marketing industry experienced a number of newsworthy shifts—from a big Google algorithm update in March to a host of new targeting and advertising features across several platforms.


B2B Marketing In 2019 — The Year In Review
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Caitlin Burgess

From Ours to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 25th, 2019     B2B Marketing

The snow is falling, fires are crackling, and the scents of pine and cinnamon fill the air. That’s right: It’s the most wonderful time of the year, marketers. It’s a time of celebration and reflection.

2019 was a magical year for the TopRank Marketing team. We had the honor of working with an incredible book of clients and industry influencers. We welcomed new team members. We experimented, innovated, and optimized the work we do. And 2020 looks just as bright.

To celebrate the year, the holiday season, and each other, the TopRank Marketing team enjoyed a few days of good old holiday fun. Get a glimpse of the fun below.


From Ours to Yours, Happy Holidays, Marketers!
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Ashley Zeckman

13 Top B2B Social Media Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

Ashley Zeckman on Dec 23rd, 2019     B2B Marketing, Social Media

There’s no denying that 2019 was a game-changer for social media platforms. Google+ bit the dust in April of this year, Tik Tok became an overnight sensation, Facebook was forced to create more transparency for consumers and just this month, Instagram opened up Collabs Manager to connect creators and brands. 

The nature of social media marketing platforms is that they evolve often and quickly, which means that the best practices that marketers need to follow to see success, also need to adapt. 

But, that begs the question: Are marketers actually adapting their social media marketing approach at the rate that they should to be successful?

Creating Meaningful Experiences That Inspire

Since inception, social media platforms have launched with a very clear objective in mind: connecting like-minded people together to share and communicate digitally, much like they would in the real world.


13 Top B2B Social Media Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020
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Caitlin Burgess

Break Free B2B Series: Tom Treanor on Perfecting B2B Marketing Personalization

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 19th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Marketing Interview with Tom Treanor

In any conversation about customer experience, the topic of personalization is bound to come up. After all, 91% of customers are more likely to shop with brands who recognize, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations. 

However, personalization isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. If poorly executed, personalized marketing campaigns can alienate potential buyers and customers. And, it’s not just a matter of making sure your email to Dapper Dan isn’t addressed to Fancy Nancy. 

As Tom Treanor, Global Head of Marketing at Arm Treasure Data*, affirms: Perfect personalization requires the right data to create the right content and deliver it at the right time. Be too familiar, too soon, and your customers are looking for every digital restraining order they can find. 


Break Free B2B Series: Tom Treanor on Perfecting B2B Marketing Personalization
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Nick Nelson

How to Build a Binge-Worthy and Rewarding B2B Content Strategy

Nick Nelson on Dec 18th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Building Binge-Worthy B2B Content Strategy

As marketers, we’re accustomed to appreciating the rewards for a job well done. Create a piece of great content that resonates, and you’ll likely be greeted with those reinforcing indicators of impact: clicks, views, dwell time, pipeline growth, perhaps even third-party recognition.

But what’s in it for the person consuming this content? 

Sure, there is the inherent value derived from enjoying the content to begin with – learning something new, solving problems, or merely being entertained. But if we want our readers to stick around and continuously come back for more, the next step for marketers may well be to further incentivize heavier consumption of our content, especially as serialized formats and experiential marketing continue to take hold.

Naturally, the world of entertainment is leading the charge on this frontier.


How to Build a Binge-Worthy and Rewarding B2B Content Strategy
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Caitlin Burgess

Break Free B2B Series: CMI’s Stephanie Stahl on Data-Driven Event Planning and Promotion

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 17th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing World, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Interview with Stephanie Stahl

Planning events isn’t easy. Heck, scheduling a meeting with a small group of colleagues can be an exercise in strategy and patience. Now imagine if you were responsible for creating the preeminent educational experience for 4,000+ content marketers, featuring 225 inspiring speakers, and over 123 hours of amazing content? 

That’s what Stephanie Stahl, General Manager at Content Marketing Institute, and her event team does each year while planning the Content Marketing World Conference and Expo.

Joshua Nite, our Senior Content Marketing Manager, was able to snag a few minutes with Stephanie on the last day of Content Marketing World 2019 to learn how her team delivers an amazing experience year after year. Unsurprisingly, success requires a lot of work, data, and content.


Break Free B2B Series: CMI’s Stephanie Stahl on Data-Driven Event Planning and Promotion
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Tiffani Allen

10 Top B2B SEO Trends & Predictions for 2020

Tiffani Allen on Dec 16th, 2019     B2B Marketing, SEO

SEO Trends and Predictions for 2020

It’s that time of year, B2B marketers. We’re tying up loose ends. We’re reflecting on a year’s worth of wins, opportunities, and change. And we’re working hard to finalize next year’s marketing plans and budgets so we can hit the ground running after the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Day.

2019 was a wild year for search, keeping SEOs and marketers on their toes. Multiple mobile-first indexing updates were implemented by Google. New best practices were released for structured data. Automated podcast transcription and playability within Google SERPs became a reality. And the list goes on.

As we say goodbye to another year and decade of massive changes, we asked our SEO-savvy friends to join us in sharing trends to watch and predictions for what 2020 will bring to the world of search. What topped the list?


10 Top B2B SEO Trends & Predictions for 2020
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Caitlin Burgess

Break Free B2B Series: Maliha Aqeel on How to Ace B2B Company Culture

Caitlin Burgess on Dec 12th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

Maliha Aqeel, Assistant Director of Brand, Marketing and Communications at Ernst & Young, is known for being a staunch advocate of the three C’s that drive brands: content, customer, and culture.

But when Maliha sat down with TopRank Marketing’s Joshua Nite for a Break Free B2B interview at Content Marketing World this past fall, she had one “C” at the top of her mind: culture, and its role as a driver for both employee and customer satisfaction. 

“Whether we’re working for someone, or we’re actively purchasing their products, or just engaging with their brand, it matters to us what others think,” she says.

While many employees still see corporate culture as solely a function of HR, Maliha says this is not the case. She believes that all employees have a responsibility to help propagate and model a company’s values, both inside and outside the organization.


Break Free B2B Series: Maliha Aqeel on How to Ace B2B Company Culture
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Joshua Nite

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

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
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Nick Nelson

Break Free B2B Series: Judy Tian on Humanizing B2B Through Influencer Marketing

Nick Nelson on Dec 10th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Video Interviews

As the world’s largest social network for professionals, LinkedIn* lies at the epicenter of people and business. 

Profiles on the platform put a real face on our professional brands, allowing visitors to learn about our interests, career experiences, and personalities. Emphasizing this human element, and creating a genuine sense of community among members, is paramount to LinkedIn’s brand mission according to Marketing Manager Judy Tian. 

“As a platform where so much of people’s job opportunities and personal and professional development takes place,” she says, “we really sought to humanize the brand and make it a more community-based platform, where real stories can be told and people would feel like they have relatable experiences there with others.”


Break Free B2B Series: Judy Tian on Humanizing B2B Through Influencer Marketing
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Ashley Zeckman

10 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions for 2020

Ashley Zeckman on Dec 9th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing Predictions for 2020

In late 2018, B2B influencer marketing was on the industry watch list as predictions for what this year would hold began popping up. And what we saw were some major advancements in what B2B marketers had planned for influencer marketing in 2019 including:

Some of these initiatives rose to the top for 2019, while others got lost in the day-to-day shuffle. However, 2019 was the year that B2B marketers really LEANED IN on influencer marketing in a way they hadn’t before. Many of the predictions from last year have become best practices for some of today’s top brands.


10 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions for 2020
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