FEATURED ARTICLES
Adapting to the new normal by replacing trade shows with a content marketing program helped close $6 million+ in new business.
- 2 Missing Pieces Of Your Marketing Attribution Puzzle
- 3 Keys To Ditching The Marketing Speak And Developing Relevant B2B Content
- The Best Content Marketing Can’t Outperform Bad Sales Follow-up
- Content Marketing Is...
- Give Your Lead Scoring A Soul
- Imagining An Ideal Application Of Behavioral Analytics In B2B Marketing
- Linking Action To Outcomes
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![Brand publishing 450x300]( "A New & Improved B2B Publishing Model")
A New & Improved B2B Publishing ModelAn effective publishing model today involves uncovering buyer intent using a reader-centric philosophy backed by data analytics. If that sounds complicated, it’s because it is.
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![continuous-improvement-gears]( "5 Ways To Improve Your Content Strategy")
5 Ways To Improve Your Content StrategyYour content and communication need to follow one basic principle -- the key to creating successful B2B relationships is by providing your audience with information that they find timely, helpful, and useful. With that as our guiding principle, use these five tips to improve your content strategy.
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![Map On Laptop]( "A Guide For Mapping Content To The B2B Buyer's Journey")
A Guide For Mapping Content To The B2B Buyer's JourneyCreating, classifying, and analyzing content according to the stages of the buyer's journey enables marketers to identify potential buying activity and share that valuable insight with their sales team.
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![iStock-988335668]( "Through The Looking Glass")
Through The Looking GlassEntering the final month of the year marks the beginning of reflecting season for many of us that culminates with a list of personal New Year's resolutions. But have you considered doing the same for you and your team at work?
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![Magnet]( "Creating Brand Awareness With B2B Content Marketing")
Creating Brand Awareness With B2B Content MarketingAn effective content marketing strategy can do more than generate demand; it can create brand awareness without breaking the bank like traditional marketing tactics.
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![Trade Show Floor]( "B2B Content Marketing Is The New And Improved Trade Show Floor")
B2B Content Marketing Is The New And Improved Trade Show FloorThe buyer’s journey has changed, and that’s exactly why B2B marketers need to invest more in content marketing and less in outdated brand awareness activities like trade shows.
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![Balanced scales]( "The New Normal In B2B Marketing Is Already Here")
The New Normal In B2B Marketing Is Already HereThis is a watershed moment for B2B marketers to reallocate marketing budgets to better align with the buyer's journey.
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![Data Analytics 450x300]( "Behavioral Analytics: An Overview For B2B Marketers")
Behavioral Analytics: An Overview For B2B MarketersA perfect B2B marketing world of identifying purchasing intent isn’t as far-fetched as it seems thanks to advancements in behavioral analytics.
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![iStock-1059441412-trade-show-marketing]( "Marketing Do's & Don'ts When B2B Trade Shows Return")
Marketing Do's & Don'ts When B2B Trade Shows ReturnA global pandemic meant B2B marketers couldn't spend money on in-person events for many months, but will they continue to think outside the box when the temptation returns?
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![Content Marketing]( "Content Marketing: Four Essential Elements")
Content Marketing: Four Essential ElementsThere are four things every B2B marketer needs to know and understand to become a successful content marketer. Learn and master these first.
GUEST CONTRIBUTORS
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![Content Marketing]( "Why You Can't Afford To Ignore Content Clusters")
A content cluster provides context as well as a logical path for readers.
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![The Pitfalls Of Too Much Self-Promotion]( "Why Your Content Creation Strategy Needs Buyer-Centric Research")
Choosing the content themes that will best drive buyer engagement used to be an educated guessing game, but now it can be an exact science thanks to primary research.
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![question marks]( "What Does Enough Thought Leadership Look Like In Content Marketing?")
There is a critical minimum volume of content that B2B marketers need to earn thought leadership status on a narrative.
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![Train tracks]( "The Trouble With Silos")
No one gets excited about adding another meeting to their schedule, but the right kind can offer immediate improvement if you suspect important information is getting trapped in your separate marketing and sales silos.
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![Confusion]( "Communicating Your Value In The Information Age")
Communicating your value in The Information Age means giving your prospect what they need rather than what you want.
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![Future Digital Transformation GettyImages-1297914649]( "Are You Transforming? Your Buyers Are!")
Are You Transforming? Your Buyers Are!Transformation has earned buzzword status in modern B2B marketing and sales vernacular. B2B organizations are undergoing digital transformation, sales transformation, business transformation, and perhaps a few others too. But what’s behind the buzz? Buyers!
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![GettyImages-1292238818]( "Taking Our Own Buyer’s Journey In Search Of Marketing Technology")
Taking Our Own Buyer’s Journey In Search Of Marketing TechnologyLast year, B2B companies allocated over 26% of their marketing budgets to technology and Forrester estimates that over $25billion will be spent globally on marketing automation technology alone in 2023.1 What that tells me is that many of us will be embarking on our own buyers’ journeys in the next year or two.
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![GettyImages-1173648810]( "Is Your B2B Social Media Program Like A Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone?")
Is Your B2B Social Media Program Like A Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone?For years when a B2B company expressed an interest in starting a social media program, I often cautioned them that it was like a self-licking ice cream cone. Were they prepared to continuously put fresh scoops of content on their page? However, my advice was wrong!
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![GettyImages-1222618776]( "Is It Time To Defrag Your MarTech Stack?")
Is It Time To Defrag Your MarTech Stack?At any point on a typical day, at least a dozen applications are open my computer. Adopting each one came only after careful consideration, but each was primarily evaluated on its own merits and its ability to integrate with other applications received less attention. Over time it became fragmented and my MarTech stack looked more like a Jenga tower on the verge of collapse. If your experience is similar, it might be time to defragment your suite of marketing technology tools.
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![Innovation and change iStock-1168611563]( "Getting Better Results With B2B Thought Leadership Content")
Getting Better Results With B2B Thought Leadership ContentB2B companies that have embraced content marketing using thought leadership inevitably wonder if it really makes a difference for their businesses. If you read our first article on this topic, you learned that thought leadership does influence buying decisions. This article examines how we can more effectively engage buyers with thought leadership and achieve better results.
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![Twisted-Corridor-iStock-925115248]( "Reframing The Relationship Between B2B Sales And Marketing")
Reframing The Relationship Between B2B Sales And MarketingExploring ways to improve the relationship between sales and marketing in B2B businesses is like venturing into the Sahara on foot without water. Rarely do business leaders intentionally set out to change marketing and sales operations, to include organizational structure and processes. We too easily retreat to the risk-free zone of “but that’s the way we’ve always done it.” However, the harsh truth is that this modus operandi is fraught with risk.
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![Choosing the correct pathway, difficult decision concept, confusion symbol-iStock-1173531479]( "Are Your Marketing Tactics Supporting Your Business Strategy? If You’re Not Sure, Try Task And Purpose")
Are Your Marketing Tactics Supporting Your Business Strategy? If You’re Not Sure, Try Task And PurposeI speak with a lot of B2B marketing professionals who describe their work as trying to manage chaos. Unrealistic deadlines, constantly changing priorities, emergency press releases that never get approved for distribution, and tradeshow collateral that must be created and overnighted are all in a typical day’s work. I’ve been in newsrooms less frenzied.
Marketing is intended to be the process organizations use to engage target audiences, nurture customer relationships, develop business, and, ultimately, generate revenue. But too many organizations are drowning in tactics that are not linked to their business strategy. To gain clarity, think task and purpose.
TWO MINUTE TIPS
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![TheWhiteAlbumImage]( "Simplifying The Complex")
B2B marketing messages ought to be as simple as the Beatles White Album.
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![ImageforBuyersJourneyHike]( "The Buyer's Journey Hike")
I happen to think the B2B buyer's journey is one that takes them along unclear paths, places obstacles unexpectedly in their way, and forces them to make critical decisions. It's more like a back country hike!
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![Follow Your Buyer]( "B2B Storytelling")
B2B content material comes in many forms and storytelling is one that we often get wrong. Its time to make it better!
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![iStock-988335668]( "Through The Looking Glass")
Entering the final month of the year marks the beginning of reflecting season for many of us that culminates with a list of personal New Year's resolutions. But have you considered doing the same for you and your team at work?
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![anxiety and negative emotion]( "Content Marketing, Determining What To Write About")
What do we write about? That is the most common question I hear from B2B marketing teams employing, or wanting to employ, a content marketing component to their strategy. It is a valuable question and deserves our best efforts!
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![Travel-iStock-871168786]( "Navigating To Better Results With Your Content Marketing Strategy")
A lot of B2B companies who have been executing content marketing strategies for a while tell me they feel a little lost and they’re not sure where to go.
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![Science technology iStock-1210883399]( "Know Your Buyer")
Research indicates buyers are investing more time in understanding sellers. How much time do you put into understanding your buyers?
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
ENGAGEMENT ENGINE
A framework to fueling sustained growth by linking marketing with market opportunity via long-term, strategic thinking. This deep-thinking exercise will guide and refine your content marketing plan. Download the Engagement Engine worksheets today and get started.