Online Marketing Blog

B2B Content Marketing Lessons from 2019’s Nerdy Film & TV Franchise Finales

Joshua Nite on Jan 8th, 2020 B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

2019 may be remembered as the year we reached peak nerd.

When I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, nerd culture was still underground, something for weird kids and weirder adults. Now our biggest entertainment franchises are what used to be nerd stuff: High fantasy, epic science fiction, comic book heroe,s and horror movies.

But 2019 was the year that cracks started to show in even the most lucrative franchises. Several high-profile series came to an end — and only one of them really stuck the landing. Let us take solace in the words of Jedi Master Yoda himself:

Marketers can learn a lot from each of the year’s biggest nerdy swan songs.

B2B Content Marketing Lessons from 2019’s Nerdy Film & TV Franchise Finales

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Break Free B2B Series: Zari Venhaus on How to Scoot Your Way to Martech Transformation Through Storytelling

Caitlin Burgess on Jan 7th, 2020 B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Video Interviews

When it comes to securing buy-in from key stakeholders for marketing technology investments, are you preparing to deliver a pitch or to woo your audience through story?

According to Zari Venhaus, Director of Corporate Marketing Communications at Eaton, the latter is essential if you want to create understanding and gain approval from stakeholders at all levels—something she knows from experience.

“If they’re not marketers, they don’t understand what we do every day and the impact it has,” Zari told TopRank Marketing’s Susan Misukanis in a recent Break Free B2B interview. “So, we had to learn how to storytell. We had to take our roles as marketers and turn it internally and really do that for our senior leaders.”

Break Free B2B Series: Zari Venhaus on How to Scoot Your Way to Martech Transformation Through Storytelling

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SEO is Not Enough: Why B2B Marketers Need to Optimize for Trust with Influence

Lee Odden on Jan 6th, 2020 B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing, SEO

SEO Influencer Marketing

Studies over the years have shown that the vast majority of B2B buyers start their journey with a Google search. But what good is being found if the content doesn’t create immediate feelings of trust for the searcher?

According to the 2019 Content Preferences Survey Report, 95% of B2B buyers prefer credible content from industry influencers. At the same time, few B2B influencer marketing programs integrate SEO. Most business influencer marketing programs rely almost exclusively on the social media reach of the brand and influencers for content promotion and buyer discovery.

This findability and credibility disconnect is an opportunity for marketers to optimize for a much better customer experience. By integrating SEO and Influencer Marketing marketers can attract and engage buyers more effectively.

SEO is Not Enough: Why B2B Marketers Need to Optimize for Trust with Influence

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Digital Marketing News: B2B Marketplaces Study, Instagram’s New Branded Content Rules, Influencer Honesty, & Google’s New Browse By Photo

Lane Ellis on Jan 3rd, 2020 Online Marketing News

2020 January 3 MarketingCharts Chart

B2B Sellers: Marketplaces Are Here — Are You Ready?
B2B buying and selling has changed alongside similar shifts that are being seen in consumer areas, and research firm Forrester takes a look at the new center of commerce that B2B marketplaces represent. Forrester

Facebook quietly acquired a startup to build a live-shopping feature
Facebook recently confirmed that it has acquired live-shopping startup Packagd, which will augment the social media giant’s Marketplace selling feature, and eventually offer new options for digital marketers. AdAge

Pinterest CMO on Marrying Aggressive Growth with the Company’s Brand Image
eMarketer takes a look at how Pinterest’s first chief marketing officer is tackling the unique challenges faced by the image-centric social platform, as it attempts to woo greater numbers of digital marketers as well as users. eMarketer

Digital Marketing News: B2B Marketplaces Study, Instagram’s New Branded Content Rules, Influencer Honesty, & Google’s New Browse By Photo

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B2B Marketing In 2019 — The Year In Review

Lane Ellis on Jan 1st, 2020 B2B Marketing

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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Our Top 10 Search Marketing Posts of 2019

Lane Ellis on Dec 31st, 2019 Search Marketing

Search marketing has matured in many ways throughout 2019. At each twist and turn along the journey, we’ve done our best to not only cover each change thoroughly, but to also offer insight and research-based strategy to help savvy digital marketers along the way.

We’re fortunate to have a stellar group of digital marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing Blog, with our CEO Lee Odden, Associate Director of Search & Analytics Tiffani Allen, Vice President of Client Accounts Alexis Hall, Content Strategist Anne Leuman, and others, each contributing valuable and actionable search marketing insights, tips, and tactics this past year.

To help our blog community grow its search marketing knowledge, we’re thrilled to offer this list of our most popular search marketing posts of 2019.

Our Top 10 Search Marketing Posts of 2019

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10 Years of Women Who Rock in Marketing – CMO Edition 2019

Lee Odden on Dec 30th, 2019 Digital Marketing

In recent years headlines like ‘Men twice as likely to be CMOs than women’ were pretty common.

If you’ve worked in marketing for any length of time, you know that the role of CMO is already associated with high demands and turnover.

Some might argue that women in CMO roles face an even greater challenge given their underrepresentation in marketing leadership despite the marketing industry being overwhelmingly female.

While women are underrepresented as CMOs, there’s research that shows women in CMO roles are paid better (on average) than their male peers. Even more promising is that “Nearly half the marketing leadership hires in the first six months of 2019 were women“.

10 Years of Women Who Rock in Marketing – CMO Edition 2019

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Digital Marketing News: Influencer Brand Marketing Study, Facebook’s OS Plans, Instagram’s Multiple Images, & SEO Effectiveness Survey

Lane Ellis on Dec 27th, 2019 Online Marketing News

2019 December 27 MarketingCharts Chart

Marketers Tout SEO’s Effectiveness As They Look to Drive Leads, Customer Acquisition
SEO has continued to be an effective tactic when it comes to driving leads and customer acquisitions, with the majority of digital marketers finding the practice more effective than traditional media, one of several statistics from newly-released survey data. MarketingCharts

New Report Looks at Which Tools and Creation Apps are Most Popular Among Instagram Influencers
The software, tools, and online image creation apps most-used by Instagram influencers have been outlined in a new survey of more than 1,200 influencers on the platform, with results showing that just 10 percent use Photoshop, nearly 30 percent use Lightroom, and some 4.8 percent work with Canva, according to the study. Social Media Today

Digital Marketing News: Influencer Brand Marketing Study, Facebook’s OS Plans, Instagram’s Multiple Images, & SEO Effectiveness Survey

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Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019

Lane Ellis on Dec 26th, 2019 Influencer Marketing

2019 saw the continued rise in influencer marketing’s power and scope in both B2C and B2B industries. This continued the explosion of interest in the practice over the past two years, and with more practitioners than ever going all-in, influencer marketing has been a primary focus of what we have explored on our blog throughout the year.

We’re lucky to have some of the strongest B2B influencer marketing professionals contributing to the TopRank Marketing blog, including our CEO Lee Odden, Ashley Zeckman, Joshua Nite, Caitlin Burgess, Anne Leuman, Nick Nelson, Tiffani Allen, Debbie Friez, the author of this post, and Alexis Hall, among others.

Lessons From Our Top 10 Influencer Marketing Posts of 2019

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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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Learn From Our Top 10 Content Marketing Posts of 2019

Lane Ellis on Dec 24th, 2019 Content Marketing

Content — it encompasses nearly everything we read, view, or listen to online, and as our CEO Lee Odden said years ago, it’s also the primary reason search began in the first place.

We’re especially proud of the content marketing successes our team at TopRank Marketing have achieved in 2019, for a wide-range of B2B clients. As 2020 draws close we wanted to share our top content marketing articles of the year — each filled with best practices, research, examples, and the latest trends.

The excellent content marketers who make our award-winning blog one of the most popular in the industry include Anne Leuman, Joshua Nite, Nick Nelson, and Lee Odden.

Learn From Our Top 10 Content Marketing Posts of 2019

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