Joshua Nite

How to Refocus on Your Audience for Better Content Marketing Results

Joshua Nite on Jul 16th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Online Marketing

Clearly focused eyeglasses on a blurry background image.

Is your content audience-centric?

“Of course it is!” Says the hypothetical person I just made up. “We do intensive research for all our content. We look at questions our audience is asking, we hit up SEMrush and BuzzSumo…our content is all about our audience!”

Marvel's Thor sarcastically asks "But is it, though?"

Here’s the big question:

Beyond learning about your brand, which will enrich their lives in many exciting ways, what is your consumer getting out of your content? 

Creating or deepening a brand relationship can’t be the only reason your content exists. Raising brand awareness can’t be the only reason your content exists. That’s not audience-centric content. People will quickly realize that and move on.

Most marketers want to offer a genuine value exchange to our consumers. We’re not shriveled-hearted gargoyles trying to trick people into paying attention to us. 


How to Refocus on Your Audience for Better Content Marketing Results
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Anne Leuman

Standing Out From the Crowd: Insights From 12 Marketing Industry Leaders

Anne Leuman on Jul 15th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Standing Out in the Crowd

It’s time for B2B content marketers to stand out. You know it. I know it. We all know it. 

But capturing attention in a crowded content room is hard to do, especially when content creation has seen the biggest uptick in spending among your fellow B2B content marketers. You can’t be subtle. You can’t be boring. But you also can’t be obnoxious; relevance and resonance are paramount. You have to accept and adapt to what your audience needs and wants at any given moment. It takes speed, flexibility, bold ideas, fearlessness, and more.

Where do you start? How about starting with a little inspiration and insight from industry leaders?

Below we have insights and advice from 12 marketing and customer experience leaders on how to stand out from the crowd and create content your audience can’t ignore. 


Standing Out From the Crowd: Insights From 12 Marketing Industry Leaders
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Facebook’s Creator Monetization Tools, Brands Embrace Instagram, Google Maps Place Topics & More

Lane Ellis on Jul 12th, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 July 12 SmallBizGenius Chart

Facebook brings back reach estimates for Custom Audiences
After a year-plus absence and with new security measures in place, marketers can once again use Facebook’s estimated reach data for Custom Audience campaigns, the social giant recently announced. Marketing Land

Google Maps Launches Place Topics
Google announced that its Google Maps now includes review-based data for a new Place Topics feature. The new local search information from this automated feature could potentially have the greatest impact on B2B firms. Search Engine Roundtable

Social ad spend reached almost $18bn in Q1 2019, but growth has halved in past year
Revenues from advertising on social media and messaging platforms climbed 26.2 percent year-over-year during the first quarter of 2019, but at a slower rate than last year, according to recently-released data from Warc Data. Some platforms are looking to diversify in light of social media usage times that have remained steady. Mobile Marketing Magazine


Digital Marketing News: Facebook’s Creator Monetization Tools, Brands Embrace Instagram, Google Maps Place Topics & More
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Ashley Zeckman

Your Interactive Guide to Creating Showstopping Content with Insights From Top #CMWorld Speakers

Ashley Zeckman on Jul 11th, 2019     Content Marketing, Content Marketing World, Online Marketing

Content marketing wears many (top)hats. Brands incorporate content marketing as an avenue to help them reach, engage and convert their audiences. It’s also a tool for attracting the RIGHT people to your brand. And in the end, great content can inform, persuade and connect with your target audience on a deeper level. 

In Content Marketing Institute’s 2019 B2B Content Marketing report, they found that 95% of the most successful B2B marketers agree that their audience views their organization as a credible and trusted resource. Ask yourself: Would your audience say the same about your brand? 


Your Interactive Guide to Creating Showstopping Content with Insights From Top #CMWorld Speakers
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Lane Ellis

5 Content Promotion Tactics To Make You (Almost) Famous

Lane Ellis on Jul 9th, 2019     Content Marketing

Woman embracing beautiful world from a dock overlooking water image.

Not all forms of content creation will make you famous, but some come with built-in amplification boosts that can put you well on your way to star-quality promotion.

Working with industry experts and influencers to co-create content is a proven tactic for adding more inherent promotion right from the start of your campaign.

Harnessing the power of industry events, keeping abreast of trend forecast data, and incorporating interactive elements are also tactics that can significantly up your content promotion game.

Let’s take a look at all of these methods and more, and see how to best utilize each, including examples showing how each tactic has driven star-quality success.

via GIPHY

Tactic #1 — Co-Creation With Industry Experts & Influencers

Women's rowing team image.


5 Content Promotion Tactics To Make You (Almost) Famous
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Anne Leuman

Making the Case for Video at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Anne Leuman on Jul 8th, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Video

Video Marketing Statistics for Each Stage of the Buyer's Journey

It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: Video across the digital landscape is what buyers and consumers alike crave.

The average U.S. adult spends 5 hours and 57 minutes a day watching video. Compare that number to the average amount of time someone reads each day (16.8 minutes), and you’ll find that people watch videos over 21-times longer than reading text. Video informs, engages, and entices audiences, which means video can and should have a place within your B2B content marketing strategy.

But when and how should you leverage video? It’s not just a top-of-funnel tactic reserved for B2C brands. And here are the *stats that showcase it’s potential.

15 Video Marketing Statistics for Every Stage of the Buyer Journey

Attract

  1. 84% of marketers credit video with increasing traffic to their website. (3)

Making the Case for Video at Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
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Lane Ellis

Digital Marketing News: Facebook’s Top Fan Ad Targeting, B2B Customer Retention & Awareness Research, $1B Podcast Ad Forecast & More

Lane Ellis on Jul 5th, 2019     Online Marketing News

2019 July 5 MarketingCharts Image

How Are Businesses Going About Retaining Their Customers?
A recent brand loyalty tactics survey highlighted the differences between B2B and B2C when it comes to customer retention. More than 300 B2B and B2C business leaders were surveyed, with 97 percent having made customer retention a top priority. Some 68 percent of B2B respondents were confident in their firms’ retention prioritization, with 29 percent noting that they could do better, and only 14 percent of B2B respondents noting that customer experience and support was a top priority. MarketingCharts

The podcast industry expected to create $1 billion in annual revenue by 2021
By 2021 podcast advertising is expected to top $1 billion in annual revenue, according to newly-released forecast data. Such a strong projection by IAB could drive even more marketers to explore podcasting options. The Verge


Digital Marketing News: Facebook’s Top Fan Ad Targeting, B2B Customer Retention & Awareness Research, $1B Podcast Ad Forecast & More
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Anne Leuman

When Sparks Fly: The TopRank Marketing Team’s Firework Marketing Moments

Anne Leuman on Jul 4th, 2019     Digital Marketing

Firework Marketing Moments

Marketers are a passionate breed. Whether we’re crafting content, unearthing optimization opportunities, or digging into performance metrics to understand where we went right or wrong, we’re wide-eyed and determined.

Our work is a labor of love, and we’re often driven by special moments that spark awe, imagination, and a sense of accomplishment. Those moments that make us go “Boom!” Those moments where we can sit back for a few minutes and watch in wonder. I’m talking about those firework marketing moments.

via GIPHY

What moments light up the marketing skies for some of our team members? See what makes them go oh, ah, and cheer for an encore.

Our Firework Marketing Moments 

Ashley Zeckman

Senior Director of Digital Strategy


When Sparks Fly: The TopRank Marketing Team’s Firework Marketing Moments
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Nick Nelson

How to Educate, Engage, & Persuade Buyers Over Lengthy Sales Cycles

Nick Nelson on Jul 3rd, 2019     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Content Planning Strategy for Long Sales Cycles

In the world of consumer goods, purchase decisions are often made instantaneously and on a whim. 

“This blouse is exactly my style! I’ve gotta have it!”

“I’ve been wanting a PlayStation 4 forever. Finally it’s mine!”

“This tent is just what we were looking for. I don’t even need to ask the wife, I’m buying it now.”

Even large, life-changing purchases can sometimes be triggered in a snap.

“This car is perfect for me. I was going to check out a few other dealerships but no need; I’ll take it!”

Of course, in B2B, this is rarely the case. Recently, we discussed the expanding nature of today’s buying committee, which is part of the reason business purchase journeys are only growing longer. 


How to Educate, Engage, & Persuade Buyers Over Lengthy Sales Cycles
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Ashley Zeckman

11 Qualities You Should be Looking for to Find Your B2B Influencer Match

Ashley Zeckman on Jul 2nd, 2019     Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

At one point or another, we’ve all kept a mental list of the qualities we’re looking for in our perfect match. And over the years, that list has likely changed. Qualities that were once deal breakers (Justin Timberlake lookalike circa 2001), have now become “nice to have” or even “what was I thinking?”.

And over the years, influencer marketing has also matured in its tastes. Instead of simply focusing on the number of people in an influencer’s network, savvy marketers have begun to take a critical look at the qualities that REALLY make for a great influencer match.

At the core, working with influencers is about building solid relationships that last over time, not just a summer fling. B2B brands looking to partner with influencers should focus more on the quality of those relationships, and find ways to create mutual value for the individual experts that they co-creating with.


11 Qualities You Should be Looking for to Find Your B2B Influencer Match
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Lane Ellis

Q2 Wrap-Up: Top Changes & What’s Ahead For Marketers

Lane Ellis on Jul 1st, 2019     B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing

Q2 Digital Marketing Recap Technical Image

We’ve made it through the second quarter of 2019, one filled with many important B2B marketing changes and several unexpected twists and turns that will all combine to affect how the industry moves forward as we enter Q3 and push ahead to 2020.

Q2 saw several exciting shifts in entirely new directions, and a few seemingly slight directional maneuvers and adjustments that are nonetheless set to make big impacts in the coming year.

We’re always working to bring you the most relevant B2B marketing news, including weekly industry news videos from Tiffani Allen and Joshua Nite here on our blog and on our TopRank Marketing YouTube channel, and each quarter we reflect on what’s happened and look ahead with key trends.


Q2 Wrap-Up: Top Changes & What’s Ahead For Marketers
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