Latest Columns

31. Are Your Marketing Tactics Supporting Your Business Strategy? If You're Not Sure, Try Task And Purpose

    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.

32. What Does A Helping B2B Relationship Look Like?

    If there was a Mount Rushmore for the world of sales, Zig Ziglar would hold an anchor position. Zig was a prolific author, captivating motivational speaker, salesman, and personal development trainer. He helped millions of people achieve goals that they believed were beyond their reach. He also redefined the relationship between seller and buyer, one characterized by helping!

33. To Gate Or Not To Gate, That Is The Question

    Think back to the last time your interest was piqued by an article or study with an interesting title. It may have had a compelling introduction that caused you to want to read more. So, you clicked on the “read more” button only to be met by a gate that required you to provide a half dozen pieces of personal contact information. Whether to gate or not gate content is a common question posed by B2B content marketers. It is a great question and worth some thought.

34. How One Small Marketing Operation Does Big Things By Asking “What If” Questions

    Like many of us, Janette Buechler, Director of Sales and Marketing Communication at Pharmatech Associates, a USP Company, was encouraged to use her imagination during her childhood, but perhaps with a little twist. Janette recalls playing a game with her grandmother called What If. They would propose what if questions to each other to stir their imaginations.

35. Differentiation, The Forgotten B2B Fundamental!

    B2B sellers tend to consider differentiation early when new products or services are being developed or at the end of the buyer’s journey when salespeople are overcoming objections or in a head-to-head battle for business with a competitor. It is not used enough when it can be most impactful, during the early and middle stages of the buyer’s journey. 

36. The Scientific Impact Of Using Stories In Your B2B Marketing Content

    According to Katarina Gajdacsova, Chief Marketing Officer at Kiz Digital, including a good story in our marketing content mix helps to connect your products or services with a prospect on an emotional level. After all, we’re human and try as we might to remain logical when making purchases, there is a significant emotional component to big B2B buying decisions. 

37. Are Your Customers Everywhere In Your Marketing Content?

    Chevy introduced their 2023 electric vehicle (EV) fleet in September, a traditional time when automakers unveil their new models. The timing of the campaign, done by ad agency Commonwealth//McCann, isn’t unusual, but it is a great ad that offers a lesson in customer-centric messaging. 

38. 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. 

39. Enlitic's Formula For Success – Enthusiastically Focusing On The Biggest Opportunity

    You might describe Enlitic as a modern healthcare technology company and you wouldn’t be wrong. But, while they use a blend of technologies paired with artificial intelligence (AI), they prefer to call themselves an intelligence company. The way they position themselves in the market and communicate their value is an excellent case study in effective B2B marketing communications.

40. Sell Like a Dog

    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?