Caitlin Burgess

Break Free B2B Series: Margaret Magnarelli on the Psychology of Trust for Better Content Marketing

Caitlin Burgess on Jan 30th, 2020     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Interview with Margaret Magnarelli

Trust in marketing—how to build it and how to wield it for good—needs to be top of mind for every modern marketer. Why? Because nearly every decision people make, especially when it comes to purchasing decisions, has an element of trust built in. And content marketers have the opportunity to become trusty guides.

“No one knows everything about everything,” Margaret Magnarelli, Executive Director of Digital Product Evolution and Growth Marketing at Morgan Stanley, shared with us in a recent Break Free B2B interview. “So, we have to be able to give our customers as much information as we can… and take them as close to the line of purchase—to the experience of purchase—as we can.”


Break Free B2B Series: Margaret Magnarelli on the Psychology of Trust for Better Content Marketing
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Lane Ellis

The BIGLIST of 50 Top B2B Marketing Conferences in 2020

Lane Ellis on Jan 29th, 2020     B2B Marketing

B2B Marketing Conferences

Marketing conferences offer a wealth of benefits to marketers looking to learn, network, and increase brand awareness, but how do you go about finding events that match your business and B2B marketing needs?

Over the past decade the number of conferences has skyrocketed, making it harder than ever to hone in on the ones that can best help build your business, boost your networking opportunities, and offer the most relevant new industry education from top speakers, especially when it comes to B2B marketing.

For 2020 we’ve gathered together no fewer than 50 events that place an emphasis on B2B marketing in all its facets, and we’re thrilled to present the list here, in chronological order.


The BIGLIST of 50 Top B2B Marketing Conferences in 2020
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Joshua Nite

The Universal Translator: How Marketers Can Improve Communication with Internal Stakeholders

Joshua Nite on Jan 28th, 2020     B2B Marketing

How Marketers Can Communicate with Internal Stakeholders

Star Trek is one of my favorite franchises. It’s a beacon to guide humanity to a brighter future: One without wars and scarcity, dedicated to discovery and enlightenment. 

(Can you tell I really loved the Picard series premiere?)

Poster for the Star Trek series Picard

(He has a PIT BULL named NUMBER ONE.) Photo Credit: CBS

But the best tech in all of Star Trek isn’t the transporter, the replicator, or even the holodeck. It’s the universal translator, a gizmo that can process language in real-time and convey every nuance and idiom.

We have a similar technology right now, but… well, it could use some work.

“Shivers down my spine” turns into “chicken skin?” That kind of margin of error would cause some serious diplomatic crises in Starfleet.


The Universal Translator: How Marketers Can Improve Communication with Internal Stakeholders
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Nick Nelson

In a Fast-Paced Digital World, B2B Marketers Can Benefit from Slowing Down

Nick Nelson on Jan 27th, 2020     B2B Marketing

Why B2B Marketers Should Slow Their Marketing Roll

We are living in the age of speed: faster connections, faster answers, faster service. People expect many things to happen instantly, in real-time, and technological advancements are increasingly making it possible.

As such, it might seem counter-intuitive to suggest that we as B2B marketers are wise to slow our roll. Sometimes we tend to go through the motions too quickly, or in the wrong order, and it can hurt our results. In fact, it can prevent us from even accurately evaluating our results.

Sean Callahan recently wrote a post on the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions* blog arguing that a top priority in 2020 for B2B marketers should be to slow down when measuring ROI. The case is simple and convincing: Sales cycles have grown significantly longer but analytics haven’t responded in kind. Per the post, 77% of marketers are still measuring ROI in the first month of a campaign, even though the average B2B sales cycle is now about six months long.


In a Fast-Paced Digital World, B2B Marketers Can Benefit from Slowing Down
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Micro-Influencer Trends, LinkedIn Adds Interactive Tools, Strong Online Ad Spending, & Google’s Cookie Drop

Lane Ellis on Jan 24th, 2020     Online Marketing News

2020 January 17 MarketingCharts Chart

U.S. Advertising and Marketing Spend to Grow to Nearly $390 Billion in 2020
Marketing and advertising spending in the U.S. is set for strong growth during 2020, according to newly-released forecast data showing a high-point of nearly $390 billion, representing a 7.2 percent increase from 2019, while online ad spend is expected to grow even more, hitting 14.5 percent, the report from Winterberry Group notes. Adweek

Google: Webpages with Featured Snippets Won’t Appear Twice on Page 1
Brands worldwide with Google featured snippets in search results pages will no longer have a second similar entry in the SERPs, Google recently announced, with featured snippets henceforth counting as one of the 10 first-page results. Search Engine Journal


Digital Marketing News: Micro-Influencer Trends, LinkedIn Adds Interactive Tools, Strong Online Ad Spending, & Google’s Cookie Drop
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Nick Nelson

Break Free B2B Series: Carol-Lyn Jardine and Heather Hurst on Effectively Managing Change in B2B Marketing

Nick Nelson on Jan 23rd, 2020     B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This phrase is often uttered with a negative connotation, but incidentally, it also represents an aspirational ideal for B2B marketing managers and leaders. 

In an environment that is constantly shifting, brands and agencies are tasked with navigating uncertainty while remaining steadfast in their pursuit of the same ultimate goals: engaging prospects, building relationships, driving business results.

As such, change management becomes a key aspect of the job, particularly for those in leadership positions. Focusing on “how to help employees embrace, adopt and utilize a change in their day-to-day work” (as defined by Prosci), change management is oft-overlooked but clearly essential for a profession where one day can look drastically different from the last.


Break Free B2B Series: Carol-Lyn Jardine and Heather Hurst on Effectively Managing Change in B2B Marketing
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Lane Ellis

What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Experiential Content

Lane Ellis on Jan 22nd, 2020     B2B Marketing, Interactive Marketing

Colorful round gems image.

Experiential content will help drive 2020’s digital agenda, and savvy B2B marketers should take notice.

Experiential is a word with subtly differing meanings depending on which setting it’s used in, however at the core of each definition is the fact that it all boils down to experiences.

Experiential content makes us a central part of a story, and not just a passive subject receiving a one-way brand message.

Experiential B2B Word Cloud Image

Use of experiential content has grown over the past several years as online technologies have reached a level capable delivering vibrant and engaging motion and sounds alongside clickable, swipable, and all other manner of interactivity to put you front and center.

TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden recently mentioned experiential content in his annual list of the top ten B2B digital marketing trends for 2020.


What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Experiential Content
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Nick Nelson

Break Free B2B Series: Emily Thompson on the Power of Content Marketing in Health Care

Nick Nelson on Jan 21st, 2020     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Interview with Emily Thompson

Trust is the linchpin of modern marketing. It plays a crucial role in every vertical, industry, or niche. But nowhere is trust a more essential crux than in health care, where the personal stakes are immense.

“We’re in an industry where, you know, it’s serious,” says Emily Thompson in her interview for Break Free B2B. “This is about people’s health and well being, and a lot of times people get very nervous — they’re scared, they’re sick.”

As a Boston-based freelance writer and content strategist who primarily focuses on the health care sector, where she has worked with a wide variety of clients ranging from startups to enterprise, Emily acutely understands the impactful nuances of messaging. She says seeing things from the other side — as a first-time mother who frequently sought information online — helped her develop a more empathetic view.


Break Free B2B Series: Emily Thompson on the Power of Content Marketing in Health Care
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Lee Odden

Top 10 B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020

Lee Odden on Jan 20th, 2020     B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing

B2B marketing trends 2020

As a kid I was a big fan of Science Fiction with a rich imagination about the world in 2020 with flying cars, floating cities and the possibility of aliens among us that sparked numerous ideas about what’s possible.

Of course that’s not exactly how things turned out (not so sure about those aliens) but B2B marketing is definitely entering an age of possibility.

Without question, the future is bright for digital with Forrester predicting that digital marketing spending will reach $146 billion by 2023. In B2B, there are important shifts from more B2C inspired tactics to a more focused effort to engage Millennial age buyers: 45% of B2B technology buyers are now Millennials and more than 70% of millennials are included in B2B buying decisions.


Top 10 B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: LinkedIn’s Faster Than Expected Growth, Podcast Ads Booming, & Facebook Updates Audience Insights

Lane Ellis on Jan 17th, 2020     Online Marketing News

2020 January 17 MarketingCharts Chart

LinkedIn to Grow Faster than Expected
LinkedIn (client) is on pace to grow more rapidly than expected, with new forecast data predicting the professional social media platform will hit some 66.8 million active monthly users by 2022, and in 2020 it will see nearly $1.6 billion in advertising revenue, according to the forecast data. eMarketer

Ad-Supported Music Streaming is a Growing Opportunity for Advertisers
With some 77 percent of streaming music accounts being of the ad-supported free variety, and more than 500 billion on-demand music streams in the first half of 2019 alone, digital marketers are seeing the large audiences as a growing opportunity. MarketingCharts


Digital Marketing News: LinkedIn’s Faster Than Expected Growth, Podcast Ads Booming, & Facebook Updates Audience Insights
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Nick Nelson

Break Free B2B Series: Ben Wallace on the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ in B2B Marketing

Nick Nelson on Jan 16th, 2020     B2B Marketing, Video Interviews

Break Free B2B Interview with Ben Wallace

How does the air we breathe affect the work we produce?

It’s not a question I’d pondered very frequently, until I had the opportunity to chat with Ben Wallace for the latest episode of Break Free B2B. But it’s one of many considerations that came to light during his illuminating interview with TopRank Marketing President Susan Misukanis and myself.

As CEO of Link Positive, a clean-energy business development service, and co-founder of soon-to-launch energy optimization implementation startup Minify Energy, Ben consults companies about energy efficiencies, reducing environmental footprint, and creating a more comfortable workspace. As he explains, there are business and marketing implications that go well beyond what is apparent on the surface.


Break Free B2B Series: Ben Wallace on the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ in B2B Marketing
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Lane Ellis

5 Free Online Courses to Sharpen Your B2B Marketing Skills

Lane Ellis on Jan 15th, 2020     B2B Marketing

Sharp Pencis and Shavings Image

No matter how much you already know, in 2020’s always-on B2B marketing landscape there’s always more to learn.

That’s why savvy B2B marketers are continually seeking out new methods and research, and refining and honing their existing skills.

Whether it’s influencer marketing, conversion optimization, or search engine optimization (SEO), with more options available for learning new marketing skills today than ever before, choosing where to start can sometimes seem overwhelming.

Online courses have proven to be an excellent way to enhance your career through learning, and by offering a work-at-your-own-pace cadence, you can fit in as much or as little instruction as your time allows, whenever and wherever you want.

With more than 70 percent of companies recognizing online learning as essential to long-term strategy (Digital Marketing Institute), it’s little wonder that in 2020 online courses are flourishing.


5 Free Online Courses to Sharpen Your B2B Marketing Skills
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