Latest Columns

1. Getting Better Results With B2B Thought Leadership Content 11/16/2021

   B2B 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.

2. Reframing The Relationship Between B2B Sales And Marketing 10/8/2021

   Exploring 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.  

3. Are Your Marketing Tactics Supporting Your Business Strategy? If You’re Not Sure, Try Task And Purpose 10/1/2021

   I 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.

4. Sell Like a Dog 9/22/2021

   Whoever coined the term “work like a dog” must not have owned a dog, at least not one of our modern-era pets who have earned family-member status. As our love for our four-legged companions has grown, so too has our desire to understand them through formal training, books, and podcasts. Despite all this expert advice, I believe our pets’ ability to understand us far outpaces our ability to understand them. How do they do it and what can we learn from them about sales?

5. Plan Like There Are No Rules 9/15/2021

   When asked, most organizations will describe their planning process like this--establish objectives, define supporting tasks, identify resources, set a timeline, determine how results will be measured, communicate the plan, and execute. When followed this process will lead to reasonably good outcomes, however, most of us don’t really plan this way. What our planning processes lack is effective planning guidance that offers purpose, direction , and motivation.

6. Marketing Do's & Don'ts When B2B Trade Shows Return 7/27/2021

   A 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?

7. A Guide For Mapping Content To The B2B Buyer's Journey 4/20/2021

   Creating, 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.

8. Creating Content Is Half The Battle (But It Doesn’t Win The Buyer Attention War) 4/12/2021

   B2B marketers are often too enamored with driving traffic to their website instead of distributing content where your buyers are more likely to engage with it.

9. The Data Problem Marketers Don’t Know They Have 2/16/2021

   B2B marketing and sales teams have robotic data-related issues that are silently wreaking havoc on their ability to understand buyer’s journeys and engage their prospects.

10. How A Small B2B Marketing Team Secured Over $28M In Quotes In Less Than A Year 1/26/2021

    Adapting to the new normal by replacing trade shows with a content marketing program helped close $6 million+ in new business.