B2B Marketing Blog

Break Free B2B Marketing Season 3 Wrap Up: Developing New Horizons with 12 Industry Influencers

Lane Ellis on Aug 18th, 2021
B2B Marketing

What can we learn about breaking free from the same old thing from some of the top subject matter experts in B2B marketing?

A robust and exciting third season of TopRank Marketing’s Break Free B2B Marketing video and podcast series has now wrapped up, and as we look at the totality of the powerful episodes it’s clear that shaking things up can lead to newfound marketing successes.

Interviewing a strong group of 12 of the smartest B2B marketers in the industry, we’ve explored how they’re developing new horizons and reinventing the role and function of B2B marketing in 2021, and learned what they see ahead in 2022 and beyond.

Break Free B2B Marketing Season 3 Wrap Up: Developing New Horizons with 12 Industry Influencers

Where B2B Marketers See the Most Impact from Influencer Marketing

Lee Odden on Aug 16th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Sophisticated B2B marketers understand that the effectiveness of a given strategy or set of tactics is tied to goals.

When it comes to influence, there are applications across the customer lifecycle from increasing reach and attention from hard to connect with audiences to creating more credible and authentic content experiences to improving trust and inspiring decision making.

Of course, working with external influencers and improving the influence of internal experts is not a silver bullet across all marketing goals. However, in our research on influencer marketing for B2B brands, there are some outcomes where marketers are seeing greater impact.

Rather than simply provide a laundry list of the highest impact marketing outcomes, I’ve clustered similar goals together to provide more category level insight into where B2B marketers have seen the most success when working with influencers.

Where B2B Marketers See the Most Impact from Influencer Marketing

B2B Marketing News: B2B Digital Ad Spend Jumps, Zoom Buys Five9, B2B CMO Trends, Influencer Marketing Spending Up 33%, & Brands Join Discord

Lane Ellis on Aug 13th, 2021
Online Marketing News

B2B US Digital Ad Spend Forecast for 2021-2023
Digital advertising spending in the U.S. is expected to nearly triple from 2018 levels, to some $14.57 billion by 2023, with $5.09 billion expected to be spend on display adverting in 2021 — a 32.6 percent increase from 2020, according to newly-released forecast data. MarketingProfs

Zoom Initiates $14.7B Acquisition Of Five9
Zoom has agreed to purchase Five9, with the $14.7 billion addition of the contact center as a service (CCaaS) firm poised to augment Zoom’s enterprise offerings, the firms recently announced. Demand Gen Report

Spotify ties Nielsen demos to audience measurement on podcasts
Spotify has released a new podcast measurement tool utilizing Nielsen audience demographic data, in an expanded collaboration that is set to provide additional insights to podcast marketers through Spotify’s Megaphone advertising unit, the firm recently announced. Campaign US

B2B Marketing News: B2B Digital Ad Spend Jumps, Zoom Buys Five9, B2B CMO Trends, Influencer Marketing Spending Up 33%, & Brands Join Discord

Break Free B2B Marketing: Ramon Ray of Smart Hustle Media on Small Business Success & Thinking Big

Susan Misukanis on Aug 11th, 2021
B2B Marketing

How can small businesses work together with big clients and form powerful partnerships that make good things happen?

For our third season of Break Free B2B Marketing video interviews, we’re featuring conversations with leading B2B influencers, and examining the issues that each subject matter expert is influential about in their specialized industry.

2020 was a difficult year for business owners, and 2021 hasn’t quite been the return to normal many had envisioned. In 2020 profits were down, stress was up, and everyone was questioning how they were going to not only survive, but thrive, in the coming year.

These worries were more real for small business owners than anyone else. After all, when you own a small business, you’re not afforded the same protections or options that larger companies might have. You have to be smart, adaptable, and relentless in your pursuit of your goals.

Break Free B2B Marketing: Ramon Ray of Smart Hustle Media on Small Business Success & Thinking Big

Read It & Reap: 11 Top New Marketing Books To Savor On #NationalBookLoversDay

Lane Ellis on Aug 9th, 2021
B2B Marketing

Looking for inspiration and new insight to forge new B2B marketing success as we drive ahead to 2022?

Today is National Book Lovers Day, and to celebrate the occasion we’re taking a look at 11 forthcoming or recently-published books that offer an array of fascinating tactics, tips, case studies, and other insight from some of the industry’s top business marketers and subject matter experts.

Let’s turn the page and jump right in for #NationalBookLoversDay.

1 — RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes

Carla Johnson
Leap Advisor, Demand Spring

Carla’s new book, “RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes,” offers a wealth of insights that are certain to inspire B2B marketers.

Read It & Reap: 11 Top New Marketing Books To Savor On #NationalBookLoversDay

B2B Marketing News: LinkedIn Buys Jumprope, B2B Tech Buying Trends, YouTube SEO Study, Nielsen’s Cookie Alternative, & Google’s Record Ad Revenue

Lane Ellis on Aug 6th, 2021
Online Marketing News

LinkedIn Acquires Tutorial Video App Jumprope as it Looks to Expand its Creator Tools
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn (client) has acquired video tutorial creation app firm Jumprope, with the array of creator tools from the acquisition set to help enhance LinkedIn Learning and other areas of the professional social media platform, the company recently announced. Social Media Today

Google parent Alphabet reaches record quarterly revenue, profit in ad boom
Google and its parent firm Alphabet saw an especially strong 70 percent increase in advertising revenue during the second quarter of 2021, the company recently disclosed. That equates to some $560 million is advertising revenue per day during the quarter, and a year-over-year increase of 62 percent, rebounding from the firm’s only revenue decline a year ago due to the global health crisis. Reuters

B2B Marketing News: LinkedIn Buys Jumprope, B2B Tech Buying Trends, YouTube SEO Study, Nielsen’s Cookie Alternative, & Google’s Record Ad Revenue

What 5 Recent Search Marketing Changes Mean For B2B Marketers

Lane Ellis on Aug 4th, 2021
B2B Marketing, Google, Microsoft Bing, Search Marketing

How can B2B marketers adapt to the latest changes in search engine marketing?

Google, Bing, and other search engines have continued to refine their services, bringing changes that B2B marketers need to be aware of.

Holding the dual roles of the world’s most popular search engine and its biggest search advertising provider, Google and its parent company Alphabet saw an especially strong 70 percent increase in advertising revenue during the second quarter of 2021, the firms recently disclosed. That equates to some $560 million is advertising revenue per day during the quarter, and a year-over-year increase of 62 percent, rebounding from the firm’s only revenue decline a year ago due to the global health crisis.

What 5 Recent Search Marketing Changes Mean For B2B Marketers

5 Olympic Lessons for Marketing Project Managers

Anne Leuman on Aug 3rd, 2021
B2B Marketing

Shattered world records. Nail-biting competition. Limitless sportsmanship. The Olympic Games are a sight to behold.

via GIPHY

While we had to wait a little longer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they’re still captivating audiences with competition that pushes the limits of athletes and of humans.

As a long-time spectator of the games, however, I’ve found that some of the most memorable Olympic moments hold real-life lessons and even happen outside of the competition floor. Already at these Olympic Games, I’ve taken note of several moments that are unforgettable in life and in work. Especially as a marketing project manager, where we often have to coach our team members, I’ve learned several lessons from the first week of competition. To learn what those lessons are and how they can impact your marketing projects, read on.

5 Olympic Lessons for Marketing Project Managers

7 Questions B2B Marketers Need to Answer About Influencer Marketing

Lee Odden on Aug 2nd, 2021
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Diminishing organic social reach, distrust of brand marketing and information overload makes reaching and engaging today’s B2B buyer harder than ever. On top of that, the major changes brought by the pandemic have created new challenges and opportunities for B2B companies to better attract and engage customers in meaningful ways.

Out of the pandemic and the shift to digital first go-to-market approaches for B2B companies, Influencer Marketing has emerged as one of the most effective ways to connect with customers to create better experiences. Despite substantial growth in the discipline from best practices to software, many B2B brands are still experimenting or simply don’t know how to identify, engage and activate influencers.

7 Questions B2B Marketers Need to Answer About Influencer Marketing

B2B Marketing News: B2B Ad Spending Sizzles, Salesforce Slack Buy Complete, C-Suite Marketing Survey, & Clubhouse Opens To All

Lane Ellis on Jul 30th, 2021
Online Marketing News

US B2B ad spend set to pass $30b in 2023, nearly half the dollars will go to digital
In the U.S. alone B2B advertising spending is expected to top $30 billion by 2023, with almost half going to digital, while display advertising spending is expected to surpass that of search advertising by 2023 — two of several insights of interest to digital marketers in newly-released forecast data. The Drum

Salesforce completes $27.7B Slack acquisition
Salesforce has put finishing touches on its $27.7 billion acquisition of business communication platform Slack, with the now-official purchase set to combine Salesforce’s data platform Customer 360 with Slack, Salesforce recently announced. Venture Beat

B2B Marketing News: B2B Ad Spending Sizzles, Salesforce Slack Buy Complete, C-Suite Marketing Survey, & Clubhouse Opens To All

5 Ways the Pandemic Has Forever Changed the Voices & Visions of B2B Marketing

Lane Ellis on Jul 28th, 2021
B2B Marketing

How has B2B marketing changed forever during the pandemic?

The voices and visions of B2B marketing have been forced to shift over the past few years, as have many of the goals and methods we strive for and use to connect with our current and potential customers.

Some of these changes are subtle while others are decidedly not, yet each brings with it both new opportunities for embracing the future of B2B marketing along with risks for those who don’t heed the call when the winds of digital change shift.

Let’s take a look at five of the most substantial changes in B2B marketing that the pandemic has driven, and explore new insights that can inform and inspire your efforts in the push towards 2022 and beyond.

5 Ways the Pandemic Has Forever Changed the Voices & Visions of B2B Marketing

The Problem with Most B2B Social Media Marketing

1 — RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes