FEATURED ARTICLES
The time I received an email from Howard Schultz while working in a coffee shop.
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![symbolizing gods help-GettyImages-1132528393]( "IT’S TOO LOUD IN HERE!")
IT’S TOO LOUD IN HERE!The internet is a noisy place. Imagine if each piece of content was a rock band playing simultaneously but not in synch, and not even the same song. Our online scrolling would deliver just a lot of loud noise. Well, that’s what it is! Not audible noise, but mental noise and some of us are contributing to it.
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![staff jumping-GettyImages-515688589]( "Celebrate All The Wins!")
Celebrate All The Wins!There is only one winner in a basketball game, but each game is packed with scoring and what seems like a continuous celebration of incremental wins. Teams celebrate baskets, 3-pointers, slam dunks, foul shots, blocked shots, steals, turn-overs, disrupted plays and more. The over 100 points scored per game offers a lot of opportunities to celebrate. It keeps the energy level high and provides the fuel needed to play hard the entire game. Do you do the same?
TRAILBLAZER INTERVIEWS
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![mq3]( "What Is Good Thought Leadership?")
What Is Good Thought Leadership?Annie Dunleavy, SVP & US Head of Content Strategy, Edleman Business Marketing talks about what makes good thought leadership content that engages target audiences.
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![Capture]( "Interview With Annie Dunleavy, Senior VP, US Head Of Content Strategy, Edelman Business Marketing")
Interview With Annie Dunleavy, Senior VP, US Head Of Content Strategy, Edelman Business MarketingAnnie Dunleavy, Senior Vice President and US Head of Content Strategy, Edelman Business Marketing, shares findings and insights from the 2024 Thought Leadership Impact Study done by Edelman in collaboration with LinkedIn.
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![podcast-thumbnail]( "Interview With Elliot Berger, Board Member At Orientation Marketing And Former CMO At Catalent")
Interview With Elliot Berger, Board Member At Orientation Marketing And Former CMO At CatalentElliot Berger, former CMO at Catalent, talks about Novo Holdings' purchase of Catalent, life sciences opportunities, media buying and more.
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![mq2]( "Elliott Berger, Former CMO At Catalent On Media Buying")
Elliott Berger, Former CMO At Catalent On Media BuyingMedia buying is one of Elliott Berger's favorite subjects. What he has to say may surprise you.
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![podcast-thumbnail]( "Interview With Nicholas Read, Author Of Selling To The C-Suite")
Interview With Nicholas Read, Author Of Selling To The C-SuiteNic Read joins Trailblazer Interviews to discuss the motivations and research behind his best-selling book on B2B sales and also his views on the state of the sales profession.
GUEST CONTRIBUTORS
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![Chart Meeting]( "How To Create And Use A Customer Persona To Get Results")
When creating your customer persona there are two main camps that organizations fall into. Those that have customers and those do not have customers or at least very few. If you fall into the group with customers that is great, but it still does not mean you are finished, in fact it could be the recipe for disaster.
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![GettyImages-1166191698]( "4 Ways B2B Sales Can Use AI and ChatGPT")
Business-to-business sales professionals are no strangers to innovation. The last decade has seen a shift to Zoom meetings, the rise of hyperscale data vendors, and modern RevOps. The days of smiling and dialing and wining and dining aren’t over, per se, but things are markedly different. Enter the next disruptor: artificial intelligence and ChatGPT in particular.
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![Content-GettyImages-1130879484]( "Content Marketing Is More Than Simply Creating Content")
Today it seems that every business is engaged in some sort of content marketing initiative, which means that in addition to pitching products or services via traditional marketing methods, companies also are producing content to help inform, educate and even entertain their audiences. But because there’s some confusion about what content marketing actually is, many businesses aren’t as effective as they could be in their content marketing efforts.
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![Customer centric-GettyImages-1053339616]( "Customer-Centered Content Marketing - Part 2")
Customer-Centered Content Marketing - Part 2It is important to understand that potential buyers are on a journey to solve problems, not necessarily buy something. If you want to be considered as a solution provider, you must be a helpful participant in their problem-solving journey, the entire journey.
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![Customer-centric-GettyImages-1001534666]( "Customer-Centered Content Marketing Part 1")
Customer-Centered Content Marketing Part 1Here is the problem that many of us have. We define the B2B buyer’s journey in three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. And we define awareness as when a buyer becomes aware of us and our solutions. We then develop content strategies focused on our own products and services which is what buyers seek in the late stages of their journey. We miss the opportunity to build trust with buyers when it is most critical. What we need is a content-marketing strategy that is aligned with the real buyer's journey.
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![High speed hi-tech-GettyImages-1414627330]( "The Real Buyer's Journey")
The Real Buyer's JourneyThe single force that has disrupted the way B2B solution providers market and sell is also the most critical to business success, buyers. As buyers discovered and embraced on-demand, digital content to help them solve problems, not make purchasing decisions, they pushed long-held B2B marketing traditions aside, rendering them obsolete.
FYB METHOD
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![FYB Image for LI NL Post]( "The Follow Your Buyer Philosophy Explained")
Life Science Connect, the parent company of Follow Your Buyer, has had a front row seat for the past several decades for the evolutionary transformation of the buyer's journey. Here is what we learned!
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![High speed hi-tech-GettyImages-1414627330]( "The Real Buyer's Journey")
The single force that has disrupted the way B2B solution providers market and sell is also the most critical to business success, buyers. As buyers discovered and embraced on-demand, digital content to help them solve problems, not make purchasing decisions, they pushed long-held B2B marketing traditions aside, rendering them obsolete.
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![Customer-centric-GettyImages-1001534666]( "Customer-Centered Content Marketing Part 1")
Here is the problem that many of us have. We define the B2B buyer’s journey in three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. And we define awareness as when a buyer becomes aware of us and our solutions. We then develop content strategies focused on our own products and services which is what buyers seek in the late stages of their journey. We miss the opportunity to build trust with buyers when it is most critical. What we need is a content-marketing strategy that is aligned with the real buyer's journey.
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![Customer centric-GettyImages-1053339616]( "Customer-Centered Content Marketing - Part 2")
It is important to understand that potential buyers are on a journey to solve problems, not necessarily buy something. If you want to be considered as a solution provider, you must be a helpful participant in their problem-solving journey, the entire journey.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
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![Spiritual well-being-GettyImages-1313456479]( "How Do You Describe Your Brand’s Soul?")
The time I received an email from Howard Schultz while working in a coffee shop.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS & REVIEWS
At the top of our list of valuable, must-read books for B2B leaders, marketers, and sales professionals is “Selling to the C-Suite” by Nicholas A.C. Read and Stephen J. Bistritz. Here’s why we recommend it.
Selling To The C-Suite, Not Your Typical Sales Formula Book
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
- 03.25.24 -- Thought for the Week – Nurture your inner malcontent!
- 03.18.24 -- Thought for the Week – You nailed it!
- 03.11.24 -- Thought for the Week – Does your reach exceed your grasp?
- 03.06.24 -- Insights from Elliott Berger, Former Chief Marketing Officer at Calatent
- 03.04.24 -- Thought for the Week – Avoiding rabbit holes!