Online Marketing Blog

A Day in the Life of a Content Marketer During the Pandemic: Challenges and Tips

Nick Nelson on Aug 13th, 2020
Content Marketing

I’ll never forget the night that everything really changed.

It was my wife’s birthday, March 11th. I took her out for dinner at a lovely restaurant in South Minneapolis, and for a couple of blissful hours, over exotic cocktails and delicious food, we unplugged from the loudening noise of a worrisome outside world.

After we walked out of that restaurant, there would be no more tuning out.

Stepping out from the darkly lit building, I looked down at my phone, and tried to process the sudden rush of stunning headlines:

WHO declares global pandemic. NBA suspends season. Trump addresses the nation. Tom Hanks has coronavirus. Tom Hanks!

A Day in the Life of a Content Marketer During the Pandemic: Challenges and Tips

How to Nurture B2B Influencer Relationships During the Pandemic

Joshua Nite on Aug 11th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

I’m so glad that I went to B2BMX this past February.

For one thing, we did some amazing interviews with some very smart marketers. The very idea of these interviews seems weird now — we were just sitting! Three feet apart! With no masks! At a giant marketing conference at a hotel!

The cancellation of in-person events means I’ll miss one or two conferences this year. But for folks who make a living as keynote speakers and thought leaders, it’s a massive adjustment. And that includes a sizable subset of B2B influencers — those who are primarily keynote speakers and in-person consultants.

As an agency, we’re true believers in B2B influencer marketing (see our latest report to learn why). But we have had to adjust our strategy as influencers’ needs change. Like everything else in 2020, influencer relationship-building takes a different approach than you might be used to.

How to Nurture B2B Influencer Relationships During the Pandemic

In Search of Trust: How Authentic Content Drives Customer Experience

Lee Odden on Aug 10th, 2020
Content Marketing

The experience customers have through marketing content can be one of the most important differentiators for brands today.

And yet 58% of B2B buyers don’t not believe claims made by the vendors they most recently bought from (TrustRadius).

It’s hard to create a great experience if customers don’t trust brand communications.

Trust is the gateway to influence perceptions, behaviors and actions and brands that want to succeed in the uncertain environment of today’s digital world need to double down on building trust with their customers. But how?

Today’s increasingly digital buyers have high expectations of the companies they do business with: buyers want personalized and relevant information, they want a consistent experience across channels, they want confidence in the brand as a company that cares about privacy, their customers and the community.

In Search of Trust: How Authentic Content Drives Customer Experience

B2B Marketing News: Top Channels for B2B Audiences, Podcasts Soaring, Smartphone Video Rules for Millennials

Lee Odden on Aug 7th, 2020
Online Marketing News

Short Form Video NRG

With the number of global video viewers projected to reach 2.72 billion in 2023 Snap Inc. commissioned a study from National Research Group surveying 1,000 smartphone owners and found that for Gen Z and millennials, smartphones top all other devices with 78% watching more video on their smartphones than they did last year. – AdWeek

Podcast listenership in the US has been soaring in recent years and US podcast ad spending is expected to surpass $1 Billion in 2021 – eMarketer

Coronavirus pandemic is reshaping our approach to social media: report. The average user now holds some 8.1 social media accounts and spends nearly 2 ½ hours using them daily, according to new GlobalWebIndex data. Mobile Marketing Magazine

Twitter May Soon Display Retweets and Quote Tweets in Separate Counts – Social Media Today

B2B Marketing News: Top Channels for B2B Audiences, Podcasts Soaring, Smartphone Video Rules for Millennials

For Successful B2B Marketers The Engine of Influence is Always On #B2BIMReport

Lee Odden on Aug 5th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

As the need for B2B brands to reach and connect authentically with customers rises, B2B influencer marketers are evolving from transactional and intermittent campaigns to more relationship driven, Always-On Influencer engagement programs as our research from the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing report found:

19% are piloting
25% run periodic campaigns
34% use an Always-On approach

Transactional campaign approaches are hard pressed to develop brand loyalty and advocacy. That’s why, with 84% of B2B marketers focused on building brand awareness with their influencer marketing efforts, that ongoing influencer engagement has become essential for creating vested relationships that inspire more qualitative activations and brand advocacy.

For Successful B2B Marketers The Engine of Influence is Always On #B2BIMReport

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era

Joshua Nite on Aug 4th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

I was supposed to go to an Alanis Morissette concert this July. When the pandemic hit hard in March, I wasn’t ready to cancel my ticket yet. Surely, surely we would have it sorted in time for an outdoor concert four months from now. I held out hope. Then, in June, she rescheduled for July, 2021. And now I’m wondering if that will be enough time.

Isn’t it ironic?

Don’t you think?

All of which to say: This pandemic has been around for longer than we thought it would, and is looking to linger far longer than we would like. What seemed like a brief, surreal interlude to be gotten through has now become a reality to live with, at least for the time being.

6 New Rules for B2B Marketing in the COVID-19 Era

20 B2B Influencer Marketing Pros to Follow from Top Brands

Lee Odden on Aug 3rd, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Recently we published the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing report after surveying hundreds of B2B marketers about their experiences, best practices, tools, budgets and plans for the future.

In an environment where B2B marketing is decidedly digital and marketers are hard pressed to squeeze more productivity out of fewer resources, credible information about marketing best practices, operations and trends for the future are in high demand. Judging by the response we’ve had to The State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report so far, we’re definitely meeting a need.

There is both optimism and an unrealized opportunity with influencer marketing for B2B companies. For evidence, check out these stats from the report:

78% of B2B marketers believe prospects rely on advice from influencers

20 B2B Influencer Marketing Pros to Follow from Top Brands

B2B Marketing News: How B2B Events Are Changing, Consumers Switch Brands During Pandemic, & New B2B Micro-Segmentation Data

Lane Ellis on Jul 31st, 2020
Online Marketing News

Study: Most Americans Permanently Changing Brands During Pandemic
45 percent of U.S. consumers have switched at least one brand preference during the global heath crisis, and some 62 percent believe that their brand change will become permanent — two of several items of interest to digital marketers in recently-released survey data. MediaPost

How microsegmenting boosts B2B conversion rates
Micro-segmentation helps both B2B sellers and customers, with better conversion rates and more relevant customer experiences, with some 68 percent of B2B buyers noting that it’s important for vendors to present relevant content throughout the buying cycle without having to rely on salespeople, according to recently-released Forrester report data. Digital Commerce 360

B2B Marketing News: How B2B Events Are Changing, Consumers Switch Brands During Pandemic, & New B2B Micro-Segmentation Data

Boosting and Deepening Engagement through Empathy in B2B Marketing

Nick Nelson on Jul 30th, 2020
B2B Marketing

Empathy is more than a buzzword. It’s not a box to be checked, or an added finishing touch for content. If B2B marketers want to successfully engage human audiences and break free from the deluge of irrelevant messages swirling around today’s customers, empathy needs to be at the center of all strategic initiatives from start to finish.

What Does Empathy Mean in B2B Marketing?

Empathy is defined simply as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. But I’m not sure that characterization fully does it justice in the context of modern marketing.

I rather like the way Zen Media CEO Shama Hyder described empathy in the better creative teamwork guide we helped our clients at monday.com put together:

Boosting and Deepening Engagement through Empathy in B2B Marketing

5 Unheralded SEO Tools for Content Marketers

Lane Ellis on Jul 29th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, SEO

Are you using the latest search engine optimization (SEO) tools to help with your content marketing efforts?

Don’t worry, as we’ve got you covered with a look at some of the most helpful SEO tools to help you refine and augment your content marketing plans.

Sorting through lists of the seemingly endless number of available SEO tools can be frustrating as well as a hit and miss proposition, however we’ve put this collection together so that you can skip the search and get right into SEO tools you can use today to help you create amazing content marketing stories.

Let’s jump in with our collection of fresh SEO tools to boost your content marketing experiences.

1 — Google Lighthouse

5 Unheralded SEO Tools for Content Marketers