B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

Case Study: How IBM Changed Perception & Increased Revenue by 20% YOY #MPB2B

IBM mainframe

“Why not let every client who sets foot in the door know that this agency has entered the future?” – Don Draper

If you ask most people what they think a mainframe is, most will likely get visions of black and white photos of antiquated computers housed in an IBM backroom. As the Vice President of Z Systems Marketing for IBM, it’s Deon Newman’s job to change that perception.

Believe it or not, all of us are connected to a mainframe multiple times each day. The stats might actually surprise you. For example:

  • 80% of all corporate data resides or originates on mainframes.
  • 55% of all enterprise applications need a mainframe to complete transactions.
  • 30 billion business transactions are processed on mainframes every day.

Case Study: How IBM Changed Perception & Increased Revenue by 20% YOY #MPB2B

Digital Marketing That Focuses on User Intent – Avinash Kaushik #MPB2B

Avinash-Kaushik

“It’s not the ink, it’s the think.”

This quote was the basis for Avinash Kaushik’s opening keynote at MarketingProf’s B2B Marketing Forum. For those of you that don’t know, Avinash is a Digital Marketing Evangelist at Google and best-selling author.

According to Avinash, the difference between companies that will be great and those that will die (either quickly or slowly) are the ones that understand how to obsess about the think. Thinking about how your company can connect with people and execute process and structure will make you masters of marketing. Below are some of the many highlights from his entertaining, informational and inspiring keynote.


Digital Marketing That Focuses on User Intent – Avinash Kaushik #MPB2B

Is There Really A Secret to MAKING B2B Marketing Magic? #MPB2B

marketingprofs-preview-post

Every industry experiences evolutions. For some it’s hundreds of years before innovations are made, whereas others change in the blink of an eye. Like a well timed magic trick, one minute you see something, and the next minute it’s completely transformed.

Digital marketing is one of those industries that is always on the cusp of something new and exciting. Personally, that is one of my favorite parts of working at an agency like TopRank Marketing. Each day is an adventure with exciting new things to learn.

Many digital marketers today seem to think that they’ve nailed making marketing magic, but have they really? There are some that in my opinion are constantly making magic (Michael Brenner, Ann Handley and Lee Odden to name a few), while the vast majority are just trying to keep up.


Is There Really A Secret to MAKING B2B Marketing Magic? #MPB2B

How Does Mark Schaefer MAKE Marketing Magic? #MPB2B

mark-schaeer-mprofs

If someone asked you what your mission is as a marketer, what would you say?

My response would go something like this: To create a meaningful connection with customers that engages them with my businesses and encourages them to take the next step in working with us. I’d venture to say that many of you out there would have a similar response. However, even with all of the tools at our disposal today, this mission is much easier said than done.

In fact, 60% of marketers are still struggling to produce engaging content, but 72% have it at the top of their list to focus on in the future.


How Does Mark Schaefer MAKE Marketing Magic? #MPB2B

140 B2B Content Marketing Statistics for 2016 Strategy Planning

B2B Content Marketing Report 2016

The best content marketing strategies are informed by data and one of the most consistent B2B marketing research reports chock full of data comes from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs.

Today the 6th edition of the B2B Content Marketing – 2016 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America report was published revealing a canyon of difference between successful content marketers and those that seem to be lost in the wilderness. This report is also a reality check for content marketers that drink too much of their own kool-aid, offering a mix of slightly downward trend data right along with numerous reasons for future content marketing optimism.

What do I mean by reality check? Fewer marketers have a documented content marketing strategy than last year 32% vs 35% and less marketers see their content marketing as effective 30% vs 38%.


140 B2B Content Marketing Statistics for 2016 Strategy Planning

How Does LinkedIn’s Jason Miller MAKE Marketing Magic? #MPB2B

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Effective content creation requires more than setting goals, implementing a strategy and creating your assets. For content to really be great, your audience needs to see it. One of the most effective content promotion mechanisms is the use of social media.

MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute recently found that LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform for B2B marketers to distribute and promote content marketing assets. Instead of searching through countless websites looking for best practices, we’re taking you straight to the source.

We have partnered with MarketingProfs to bring you insights from some of the top speakers that will be presenting at MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum (October 20 – 23).


How Does LinkedIn’s Jason Miller MAKE Marketing Magic? #MPB2B

Why It’s Time for More Participation in B2B Content Marketing

participation b2b marketing

B2B brands are answering the call to become publishers with a significant increase in content hubs exemplified by pioneers like American Express OPEN and Adobe’s CMO.com and others including:

  • Intel IQ
  • Think with Google
  • Dell’s Power More
  • GE’s World in Motion
  • SAP’s Digitalist Magazine

Content Hubs

While those are all great examples, there’s an important question: Can your business really afford to hire the kind of editorial team to create this quantity of quality content at the cadence of a business publication?

Many practical marketers will say no.

The trend towards brand publishing in combination with self directed buyers guiding their way through the sales process with content creates an interesting conflict between the need for an up level on quality content production with a corresponding increase in content creation resources.


Why It’s Time for More Participation in B2B Content Marketing

Study: Content Marketing Inefficiencies Cost BtoB Companies Nearly $1 Billion

Content Marketing InefficiencyHow Efficient is Your Content Marketing? That’s the question Sharon Goldman asks in the August issue of BMA Buzz that Robert Rose and I did our best to answer. The article was inspired by a new study that finds content marketing waste and redundancy cost business to business companies nearly a billion dollars a year.

Not only are companies challenged to create a variety of engaging content on a consistent basis with clear ROI, but the making of the content is wasteful as well.

Whether you’ve made progress towards increasing the effectiveness of your content for marketing or not, I think there are some important choices to be made when it comes to marketing organization, leadership and strategy. Here’s the full article:


Study: Content Marketing Inefficiencies Cost BtoB Companies Nearly $1 Billion

B2B Mobile Marketing for Demand Generation? Yes! Examples and Quick Tips

B2B Mobile MarketingWhen you think of mobile marketing, visions of searches for store hours, maps and getting tips from Facebook friends about good restaurants probably come to mind – all consumer focused. But what about B2B marketing and mobile?

Why mobile marketing for B2B demand generation:
In many countries, including the U.S., more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers. (Google). That means B2B demand gen content must be mobile friendly.  Also, 52% of B2B customers are using smartphones to research products for their businesses. (Forrester) so the demand is certainly there.

So which B2B companies using mobile marketing can we learn from?

Here are a few examples:

Fedex Access Mobile Magazine
ACCESS is a FedEx Corp publication available for mobile consumption through iPad, Kindle Fire and Android devices. The ACCESS mobile magazine app offers interactive features designed specifically for tablets and Android smartphones, including videos and dynamic slideshows.


B2B Mobile Marketing for Demand Generation? Yes! Examples and Quick Tips

4 Steps Marketers Can Take Towards Increasing Their Digital Marketing Budget

Marketing Budget

Raise your hand if you’ve ever encountered a situation like the one described below:

It’s time again for your annual marketing budget meeting. You’re confident that what you’ve put together is going to knock the leadership team’s socks off.

You begin rocking through your amazing slide deck, chock full of powerful data points such as the number of Facebook Likes and banner ad clicks. Everything seems to be going great, and you know that this is the year you’ve finally proven the value of digital marketing and will win more budget. This means more budget to create additional content, place more ads and maybe even hire a great agency to help augment internal marketing efforts.

“Sure.” your CEO says, “That all looks great, but what are we going to get out of it?”


4 Steps Marketers Can Take Towards Increasing Their Digital Marketing Budget

Content Marketing: 4 Tips for Creating B2B Content When You’re at a Loss for Words

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Content marketing has rapidly become an essential piece of the B2B marketing puzzle. Buyers are more connected and more self-directed than ever before, and informative, engaging content is key to making sure your organization becomes part of the buyer journey.

Creating a steady stream of quality content can be challenging for any marketer, but especially for those in B2B marketing, where buyers expect to be informed and entertained at the same time. So it’s no surprise that Content Marketing Institute’s latest report found that 54% of B2B Marketers rated producing engaging content as a top challenge, and 50% said producing content consistently is a challenge.


Content Marketing: 4 Tips for Creating B2B Content When You’re at a Loss for Words

5 Ways to Woo Your B2B Social Media Audience & 3 Brands That Are Doing it Well

 

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Have you ever been in a relationship where one partner wanted more, and the other was hesitant to take the next step?

Many B2B marketers are facing a similar roadblock. They’re ready to ask social media followers to “marry” them, but some of those followers are beginning to question why they liked the brand in the first place.

A recent study found that only 20% of CMOs are using social media for engagement. Two thirds of CMOs also report that they’re not ready to cope with social media.


5 Ways to Woo Your B2B Social Media Audience & 3 Brands That Are Doing it Well