Lane Ellis

New B2B Marketing Research, LinkedIn Sales Navigator & Ad Transparency Updates, Using AI Wisely, & US Digital Ads Top $100B

Lane Ellis on May 31st, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 May 31 IPA The Drum Chart

Digital Ads Are Raking In More Cash Than Ever
A new Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report shows that 2018 was the first year U.S. digital advertising earnings topped the $100 billion mark, hitting $107.5 billion, up from 2017’s $88.3 billion, led primarily by the strength of mobile and video. Users also spent 22 percent more time on social media properties in 2018 than during 2017, the report details. Adweek

eMarketer Reduces US Time Spent Estimates for Facebook and Snapchat
U.S. adults are using Instagram more than ever, at an average of 27 minutes daily and expected to increase through 2020, while Facebook and Snapchat have both seen a drop in the average number of minutes of use per day, according to new forecast data from consultancy eMarketer. eMarketer


New B2B Marketing Research, LinkedIn Sales Navigator & Ad Transparency Updates, Using AI Wisely, & US Digital Ads Top $100B
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Caitlin Burgess

Maintaining Your Focus: What B2B Marketers Can Learn From My Home Improvement Snafu

Caitlin Burgess on May 30th, 2019     B2B Marketing

B2B marketing lessons from home improvement (1)

The sweet smell of fresh cedar is wafting in the breeze around my homestead this week—along with hint of marketing inspiration. Let me explain …

Best-Laid Plans

To take advantage of a long holiday weekend and a string of dry-weather days, my darling husband and I embarked on a “small” home improvement project: Sanding and staining our recently built 16-by-16 deck—plus an intricate one-story staircase.

She was such a beauty following her construction last fall.

But as is tradition, a delightfully heinous Minnesota winter set in. When spring arrived, she looked weary and weathered.

For months, we prepared to offer ourselves up to the cause once warmer weather came. And with the help of how-to YouTube videos and a lot of strategic Googling, our confidence and can-do attitudes were on the rise.


Maintaining Your Focus: What B2B Marketers Can Learn From My Home Improvement Snafu
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Nick Nelson

B2B Content Not Making an Impact? Try These 7 Underutilized Promotion Channels

Nick Nelson on May 29th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Creating great content requires considerable investment, in terms of time, effort, and money. Knowing this, it’s crazy how often I see marketers and brands fail to follow through by promoting their content to the fullest and maximizing its targeted exposure.

It literally makes me sad. I’m tearing up as I write this. One moment… Talk amongst yourselves.

via GIPHY

Ahem. So the scourge of unseen quality content is one we must conquer. The path to doing so, I’m afraid, isn’t as simple as scheduling a bunch of links across the same old social feeds. This isn’t to say social media isn’t important, but this formulaic, reflexive approach is fast losing its luster.


B2B Content Not Making an Impact? Try These 7 Underutilized Promotion Channels
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Caitlin Burgess

Sowing the Seeds of Success: 3 Elements of Strong B2B Influencer Relationships

Caitlin Burgess on May 28th, 2019     Online Marketing

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Effective B2B influencer marketing is rooted in building lasting relationships.

The premise is simple: When brands invest time, effort, care, and money (when it makes sense) to cultivate partnerships rather than one-time or “on-my-terms” engagements, industry influencers and experts are far more apt to do the same. Oh, and the outcomes of influencer/brand engagements (i.e. reach, engagement, thought leadership, increased share of voice, etc.) are more fruitful for all parties, too.

But as we’ve also said before, building the right relationships is critical—and time consuming.

The right relationships aren’t sowed solely based on social network size nor are they grown without proving mutual value. In fact, there are several must-have characteristics of influencer/brand relationships. What are they? Let’s discuss three of them and hear what a few seasoned experts have to say on the subject.


Sowing the Seeds of Success: 3 Elements of Strong B2B Influencer Relationships
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Anne Leuman

Side-Stepping the Summer Slump: 5 Tips for B2B Content Marketers

Anne Leuman on May 27th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Marekting Tips for Avoiding the Summer Slump

Summer is coming.

For months we’ve been dreaming about barbecues, sun-filled vacations, long weekends at the lake, and the glorious start of summer office hours. It’s so close.

via GIPHY

But for B2B marketers, summertime often means distracted or out-of-office target audiences, prospects, and customers. We marketers may even sneak out of the office for a few days. And from dips in organic website traffic and social engagement to being short on internal resources while the sales team begs for more leads, the “summer slump” sets in.

The good news is that summer opportunities do exist for entertaining, nurturing, and strengthening connections with your audiences throughout the funnel, as well as help you test and refine your approach to finish out the year strong. Here are some tips worthy of consideration.


Side-Stepping the Summer Slump: 5 Tips for B2B Content Marketers
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: YouTube’s Longer Ads, Facebook’s Clear History Ad Impact, Google’s SEO Factors, & Landing Page Habit Study

Lane Ellis on May 24th, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 May 24 Social Media Examiner Chart

YouTube Ads Are Getting Longer
The ads marketers run on YouTube are getting longer, with the number of 30-second ads rising from 19 percent in January 2018 to 24 percent in January 2019, bucking the notion that shorter is always better with video, one of several video trends shown in a new MediaRadar report. MediaPost

Survey Report: Landing Page Habits of Marketers
30 percent of marketers expect average landing page conversion rates of 10 percent or less, and more than half expect a rate of 20 percent or less, according to new survey data on landing pages and their lead generation performance. SmartBrief


Digital Marketing News: YouTube’s Longer Ads, Facebook’s Clear History Ad Impact, Google’s SEO Factors, & Landing Page Habit Study
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Lane Ellis

80+ New Social Media Marketing Statistics for B2B Marketers

Lane Ellis on May 23rd, 2019     B2B Marketing, Social Media

80+ new SMM statistics to trick out your B2B marketing colorful maze image.

Social media marketing’s near-universal popularity and the break-neck speed at which it changes sometimes makes it difficult to keep up with — for B2B and B2C marketers alike. However, if we use the latest statistical data, it’s possible to gain many helpful new insights.

Here are 83 of the latest relevant social media marketing statistics to trick out and inform your marketing efforts, with a particular focus on certain fascinating new B2B-specific data.

We’ll look at statistics taken from five recent reports and several additional sources, starting with general social media marketing overview figures. Then we’ll look individually at Facebook, LinkedIn*, Twitter, Instagram, and a group of other social platforms.


80+ New Social Media Marketing Statistics for B2B Marketers
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Caitlin Burgess

How to Intertwine Online & Offline Tactics to Cultivate B2B Influencer Relationships

Caitlin Burgess on May 22nd, 2019     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Online Marketing

Effective B2B influencer marketing is rooted in brands developing and nurturing relationships—relationships with individuals who have the relevant topical expertise, reach, and resonance to align with the goals of the brand.

Of course, those relationships are often cultivated in the digital realm via social media, email, and audio or video conferencing. And that’s OK. We’ve all gone digital.

But there’s simply no replacement for face-to-face communication—and B2B marketers may have more chances than they know to proactively facilitate interactions or take advantage of in-person opportunities as they arise.

It’s time to bridge the digital divide. How? When? Where? Let’s dive in.


How to Intertwine Online & Offline Tactics to Cultivate B2B Influencer Relationships
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Nick Nelson

The Community Imperative: Engaging in Conversations Rather Than Disseminating Information

Nick Nelson on May 21st, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Building Online Communities in B2B

What does effective marketing engagement look like?

In the common model we see today, it’s something like this: Brands push out relevant messaging, hoping to compel a response or interaction that leads to a conversation (and maybe ultimately a conversion). This can be anything from a comment on a social media post to a chat window initiation.

Nothing wrong with that. These back-and-forths between brands and individuals are important ingredients toward building trust and loyalty. The problem is that, as a sole method for driving engagement, the cast-and-wait approach is too dependent on explicit triggers to spark these interactions.  

Devising and creating content that drives targeted engagement is hard work. It’s worthwhile, but hard, and sometimes even well conceived plans miss the mark. What if you were able to develop a self-driven engagement engine, which fostered strategic conversations built awareness among your most valuable customers and prospects?


The Community Imperative: Engaging in Conversations Rather Than Disseminating Information
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Lee Odden

7 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020

Lee Odden on May 20th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

B2B influencer marketing trends 2020

While there are some who think the expression “influencer” is an expired term, the role of influence on B2B buying decisions is irrefutable.

According to the World Federation of Advertisers, 65% of multinational brands will increase influencer marketing spending in the next 12 months and there’s good reason for increased confidence: The 2019 Content Preferences Survey from DGR reports 95% of respondents favor credible content from industry influencers as a top preference, a 30% increase compared year over  year.

Earlier this year in a post about The Business of Influence for 2019, I shared 5 influencer marketing trends including:

  • Micro AND Macro influencers
  • Centralizing Influencer Operations
  • Always On Influencer Engagement
  • Focus on Quality vs. Quantity Metrics
  • Influencer Marketing Software Investment

7 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Google Ad Auction Changes, Instagram’s Chronological Likes, & 3 New Marketing Studies

Lane Ellis on May 17th, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 May 17 Sprout Social Chart

Google shares details on how first price auctions in Google Ad Manager will work
Display and video ads sold with Google Ad Manager, Google’s ad server and publisher exchange, will get additional auction functionality aimed at removing Google’s “last look” outbidding advantage, while also bringing new minimum pricing strategies and rules, the search giant recently announced. Marketing Land

Instagram Separates New Likes on Posts, Adds Unfollower Stats for Creator Accounts
Instagram has tested showing most recent post likes first, along with adding unfollower statistics to Instagram Creator analytics data, features that could prove useful to digital marketers when eventually rolled out. Social Media Today


Digital Marketing News: Google Ad Auction Changes, Instagram’s Chronological Likes, & 3 New Marketing Studies
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Caitlin Burgess

Content Curation Inspiration: Types, Examples, & Use Cases for B2B Marketers

Caitlin Burgess on May 16th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Content Curation Inspiration for B2B Marketers

If you create and share content, curation is part of your B2B marketing strategy. From seasoning a blog post with key third-party statistics to sharing an interesting article from an industry publication or influencer across your social channels, you’re curating.

But content curation has a place beyond adding an insight or two to your content.

With large volumes of information available today and short attention spans, curation allows content marketers to create more convenient, valuable content experiences for their target audience, while growing thought leadership, bolstering their content calendar, and increasing production efficiency.

What types of curation exist? How are B2B brands doing curation? When does it make sense to do curation? Let’s dive in.


Content Curation Inspiration: Types, Examples, & Use Cases for B2B Marketers
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