Online Marketing

Online marketing encompasses a broad range of strategies and tactics, but the overall goal remains the same, attracting new business, engaging with customers and converting more leads to sales. With nearly three billion Internet users, online marketing is the key to attracting new eyes, spreading brand awareness and growing your business online.

Named a top Marketing Blog by Advertising Age, the experts at TopRank Marketing are here to teach you how to become an online marketing master!

Browse our online marketing news and articles to find, tips, guidelines, and current best practices.

Does B2B Influencer Marketing REALLY Work?

Does B2B influencer marketing really work image

B2B marketers are always being told to borrow tactics from B2C. But imagine if B2B companies practiced influencer marketing the way B2C brands do. You pick a star with a huge following on social media, pay them to promote your product, and get a ton of reach…

Spoof ad with Taylor Swift promoting cloud storage solutions

…and I’ll write your name.

It’s easy to see why this tactic wouldn’t work. No offense to Ms. Swift, but only a sliver of her followers are likely to be in the market for a new SaaS solution. More to the point, Taylor’s audience doesn’t come to her for business suggestions. She has the reach, but not the relevance.

So, can influencer marketing work for B2B?

Does B2B Influencer Marketing REALLY Work?

4 Ways B2B Marketers Can Spring Forward And Grow Content Marketing Success

Nick Nelson on Mar 16th, 2021
Online Marketing

We’re more than a year into the pandemic, and things are looking up. Vaccines are rapidly rolling out, states are dialing back restrictions, and a massive government stimulus is about to be distributed across the country. There is a hope, if not an expectation, that the economy will get on a roll this summer.

Nothing can be taken for granted, but the outlook is bright. Numerous industries may experience rises in demand during the months ahead. This is a good time for companies serving those industries to be positioning themselves with smart growth strategies and ambitious marketing plans.

With that in mind, here are some ideas and recommendations to springboard your B2B marketing into the summer months:

Spring Ahead: 4 Tips to Drive Fast Marketing Growth

#1. Let your raving fans guide you forward

4 Ways B2B Marketers Can Spring Forward And Grow Content Marketing Success

5 B2C Content Marketing Techniques that B2B Marketers Should Steal (And 5 They Shouldn’t Touch)

Joshua Nite on Mar 2nd, 2021
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

B2B marketers, are we over the B2C envy yet?

We used to have a legitimate reason to be envious. B2C marketers got to be more creative, personal, emotional, and interactive. We were stuck with dry, logical appeals with no-frills presentation.

These days, though, B2B marketers can be just as dynamic and creative as our B2C counterparts. And we not only can, we should.

Yet we still hear that drumbeat: “B2B marketing needs to be more like B2C.”

Does it really?

I would argue yes, but only to a certain point. B2B is its own discipline with its own best practices. There are a few recent developments in B2C that we should borrow, but there are just as many strategies and tactics that don’t translate as well.

5 B2C Content Marketing Techniques that B2B Marketers Should Steal (And 5 They Shouldn’t Touch)

How B2B Marketers Can Get Closer to Their Customers

Joshua Nite on Jan 7th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Last year I finished up my fifth full year as a B2B marketer. A lot has changed in that half decade.

When I started, there was a growing movement: “B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring.”

Now we’ve finally moved on to, “B2B marketing can’t afford to be boring.” We’ve finally acknowledged that B2B buyers are people — they want useful information, they want to be entertained, and they’re just as bored by corporate-speak-laden white papers as everyone else.

To our credit, I think marketers already knew this. We just had to convince the rest of the organization.

For the most part, we marketers have more leeway to choose the best way to reach our audience. And, of course, with that freedom comes responsibility.

How B2B Marketers Can Get Closer to Their Customers

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

From Mechanical to Meaningful: How to Optimize B2B Case Studies

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

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

Day 4,777: Remote Work Tips From 13+ Years As A Distance Marketer

Lane Ellis on May 20th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy

Today is day 4,777.

Not days quarantined, but days working remotely.

On Monday, March 23, 2007 I started working remotely, and 4,777 days later I still do.

A staple aspect of my daily work life that had been the exception for most marketers is now — at least temporarily — the rule, with most people working from home due to the global health crisis.

Having been a remote worker for a long time, I wanted to share the helpful practices that I wish I’d known when first starting out, and expand on my previous article “Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers.”

Many have been working remotely much longer than me, and each one will have their own stories of remote work successes and snafus.

Day 4,777: Remote Work Tips From 13+ Years As A Distance Marketer

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

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

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 on May 5th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing

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

Break Free B2B Marketing: Sruthi Kumar on Creating Memorable Experiences

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

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

Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers

Lane Ellis on Mar 18th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Online Marketing Strategy

The challenges brought about by COVID-19 are multi-faceted and permeate the lives of B2B marketers on many levels, yet they also thankfully present new opportunities.

Remote work and online business communications are two of the major benefits modern B2B marketers can take advantage of now thanks to the technological advances the Internet and its 50-plus year history has made possible.

As a remote worker for the past 13 of my 36 years working in online communications, I’ll offer up a selection of tips to keep in mind as we all adjust to the numerous business changes brought about by COVID-19.

We’ll also look at how the present situation affects the issues of brand purpose and trust, resources and tools for newly-minted remote workers, social media best-practices during challenging times, and how we can learn from the challenges.

Remote Communication Opportunities For B2B Marketers

Online Marketing

Spring Ahead: 4 Tips to Drive Fast Marketing Growth

Decade 1 — The 1960s