Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Google AMP’s ROI Rise, Digital Ad Spend Now Dominant, & New B2B Marketing Studies

Lane Ellis on Mar 1st, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 March 1 Slack Chart

Google touts ROI of AMP display ads, adding they perform best on AMP web pages
Google released data showing that advertisers who use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) display ads have higher return on investment (ROI) and click-through-rates (CTR) when used on dedicated AMP pages, including a 12 percent increase over 2018. Marketing Land

Do Marketers Think Their Strategies Are Successful? [Study]
Marketing strategy success rates for marketers in both B2B and B2C fields are the subject of new report data, showing that 62 percent view their strategies as only somewhat successful when it comes to achieving primary campaign objectives, one of several key revelations contained in the report. MarketingProfs


Digital Marketing News: Google AMP’s ROI Rise, Digital Ad Spend Now Dominant, & New B2B Marketing Studies
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Ashley Zeckman

The Future (& Present) of Marketing: Collaboration, Technology & Innovation

Ashley Zeckman on Feb 28th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing, Marketing & PR Industry

What do you get when you combine an enterprise CMO and a partner at one of the world’s largest professional services firms?

I can’t speak for all scenarios but at B2BMX in Scottsdale this week, it led to an entertaining and insightful conversation, from two different perspectives.

Jeanniey Mullen, former CMO of Mercer and Vince Walden, Partner at Ernst and Young led an engaging discussion on the importance of innovation within organizations (large and small) as well as opportunities for better operationalizing your marketing department. Below are three ideas for how to future and present-proof your marketing.   

3 Ideas for Future-Proofing Your Marketing

Encourage Cross-Functional Collaboration

Often when brands talk about collaborating with others, it’s in the context of their own departments. Marketing teams look for insights from other marketers, salespeople look to a top seller and so on.


The Future (& Present) of Marketing: Collaboration, Technology & Innovation
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Caitlin Burgess

Sales & Marketing Alignment: Shahid Javed Shares How to Go from Hate to Love in 60 Days

Caitlin Burgess on Feb 28th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Marketing & PR Industry

It’s a tale as old as time. The marketing team is hyper-focused on awareness campaigns, events, and driving more leads to fill the funnel. Meanwhile, the sales team is hyper-focused on meeting sales and revenue goals, and nurturing relationships to empty the funnel.

These two teams occupy two very different functional areas within a company. They’re moving at completely different speeds. They’re operating under their own rules. And as a result, there’s tension, misunderstanding, and even … hate.

But according to Shahid Javed, Director of Enterprise Marketing for Hughes Network Systems, B2B marketers can be change agents here. They can give and get love from their sales teams. And they can do it in as little as 60 days.


Sales & Marketing Alignment: Shahid Javed Shares How to Go from Hate to Love in 60 Days
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Caitlin Burgess

Bye-Bye Boring B2B: Lee Odden Shows B2BMX Attendees the Power of Interactive Influencer Content

Caitlin Burgess on Feb 27th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

Interactive Influencer Content Marketing

Quick question, B2B marketers: How many of you wake up feeling like this about your B2B content?

via GIPHY

Not so much? Hey, it’s OK. You’re a passionate and proud B2B marketer. But finding a way to create exciting, inspiring, infotaining content that connects with your audience is hard work. After all, B2B isn’t innately sexy—it’s booooooring. Oh, and between content overload, changing consumer preferences for personalization, and diminishing audience trust, it’s increasingly hard to capture and keep attention.

So, here’s another question: Are you ready to say bye-bye to boring content and hello to exciting, inspiring, and infotaining content experiences?

Yes so much? Good. Because, as TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden told a packed room at B2B Marketing Exchange this week, you can.


Bye-Bye Boring B2B: Lee Odden Shows B2BMX Attendees the Power of Interactive Influencer Content
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Ashley Zeckman

Carlos Abler of 3M Asks B2BMX Attendees: Can Marketing Save the World?

Ashley Zeckman on Feb 26th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

For many B2B marketers, it can be so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tactics of marketing to where we don’t take the time to pause and ask ourselves: Can marketing save the world?

To help us answer that question, Carlos Abler, Leader of Content Marketing & Strategy at 3M took the stage for a keynote at the B2B Marketing Exchange conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

In his keynote, Carlos shared a variety of ways that B2B marketers can approach marketing differently to increase their impact on customers, prospects and the world. Below are some of the key takeaways.

3 Ways Marketing Can Save the World

Marketers as Publishers

In the 21st century, it’s no surprise that the internet has become THE location for conducting business. We know that the majority of customer relations are done through content. Why? The internet allows consumers to self-serve.


Carlos Abler of 3M Asks B2BMX Attendees: Can Marketing Save the World?
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Caitlin Burgess

How B2B Marketers Can Make the Most of Interactive Content Tools

Caitlin Burgess on Feb 26th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing

How to Make the Most of Interactive Content Tools

Informative. Engaging. Entertaining. Inspiring. Interactive content is a rising B2B marketing star, allowing brands to break free of their “boring-to-boring” reputations to give their audiences bold, beautiful, badass experiences.

And to make it increasingly easy for B2B content marketers to deliver those interactive experiences, interactive content tools—from simple web-based tools to robust platforms—have proliferated.

But here’s the thing: From upping marketing efficiency to collecting unique audience data insights, the beauty and utility of many interactive content tools extends well beyond content creation and delivery.

So, if you truly want to make the most of your interactive content investments, you should take care in making the most of your tools of choice. How? Here are a few tips.


How B2B Marketers Can Make the Most of Interactive Content Tools
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Ashley Zeckman

Can’t-Miss Sessions at 2019’s B2B Marketing Exchange Conference #B2BMX

Ashley Zeckman on Feb 25th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

B2B marketers rejoice! This week marks the annual B2B Marketing Exchange (B2BMX) conference in Scottsdale, AZ. With the help of an amazing group of speakers, this event is designed to bring the latest and greatest B2B marketing trends to light in a way that enables teams to tackle any new marketing obstacles the year holds.

At B2BMX, TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden will help change the narrative as he tackles why B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring in his session: Break Free of Boring B2B With Interactive Influencer Content. In this session, Lee will share ideas for top interactive formats for B2B, best practices for influencer content engagement, and how to pull it all together with examples from successful B2B brands. If you’ll be attending, please join us on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 11:25 a.m. for Lee’s session!


Can’t-Miss Sessions at 2019’s B2B Marketing Exchange Conference #B2BMX
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: HubSpot’s Email Lead Capture Report, Adobe’s Content Survey, Facebook & Google Tops for Mobile Ads

Lane Ellis on Feb 22nd, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 February 22 Backlinko Report Chart

We Analyzed 912 Million Blog Posts. Here’s What We Learned About Content Marketing
The performance of key elements in blog posts was the subject of a recent study by Backlinko and BuzzSumo, pulling statistics from 912 million posts and sharing findings relevant to many digital marketers. Backlinko

Influencers and Instagram Stories: A Perfect Marriage?
Influencer marketers have increasingly turned to Instagram Stories, with 34 percent of content containing the #ad hashtag on the service being posted in the story format, one of several findings of interest to digital marketers in a new study. eMarketer

Aiming To Reward Your Best Customers? Amazon Wants To Get Involved. For B2B marketers
Amazon launched a B2B marketing service, Moments, a reward and loyalty-based program backed by the online marketplace giant looking to get an even larger share of the $27 billion annual fulfillment business. MediaPost


Digital Marketing News: HubSpot’s Email Lead Capture Report, Adobe’s Content Survey, Facebook & Google Tops for Mobile Ads
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Nick Nelson

How B2B Marketers Can Win at Search with Best Answer Content

Nick Nelson on Feb 21st, 2019     B2B Marketing, Search Marketing, SEO

Winning Search with Best Answer Content

Marketers are engaged in a continuous battle to gain an edge when it comes to SEO, seeking those crucial advantages provided by top visibility where customers are looking. Multiple disciplines from technical SEO to creative content can be leveraged to win the search marketing game. At TopRank Marketing, we believe the best answer to this quandary is… well, to be the Best Answer.

To simplify and clarify, it might be helpful to take a step back.

In October of 2000, Larry Page laid out his ambitious vision for Google, a company he’d founded along with Sergey Brin just two years earlier.

Page foresaw his creation as “the ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the Web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing.”


How B2B Marketers Can Win at Search with Best Answer Content
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Joshua Nite

B2B Brands Go Bold: 7 Great Examples of Interactive B2B Content

Joshua Nite on Feb 20th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Online Marketing

B2B Interactive Content Examples

If you’re not convinced that interactive content in the B2B space can work: Well, first check out these interactive content stats.

If you’re still on the fence, here’s an object lesson from a master of audience engagement:

Freddie plays that 100,000-person crowd like an instrument. You can feel the energy, even through a tiny YouTube window.

When you invite your audience to be part of the show, the results can be magical.

Now, odds are your brand can’t match the raw charisma of Freddie Mercury in tight jeans. But you can still get your audience cheering with interactive B2B content.

Here are a few great examples to light your creative fires and open your B2B minds to the possibilities of interactive.


B2B Brands Go Bold: 7 Great Examples of Interactive B2B Content
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Caitlin Burgess

Why Always-On Is Always Better for Driving B2B Influencer Marketing Success

Caitlin Burgess on Feb 19th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Show of hands: How many of us brush our teeth at least twice a day? All of us? Great.

Now, a follow up question: Why?

The reasons are numerous, right? We care about maintaining our hygiene on a daily basis. We want to keep our smiles bright. We need to defend against offensive bad breath. We want to ensure the long-term health of our teeth, gums, and mouths. And, mostly, we want to successfully avoid pricey and painful dental work now and in the future.

via GIPHY

The moral here? With consistency and commitment we reap both short- and long-term benefits—and avoid a whole lot of pain. And the same is true when it comes to B2B influencer marketing.


Why Always-On Is Always Better for Driving B2B Influencer Marketing Success
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