Megan Conley says, “Time for another brainstorm session … After scratching out a list of possibilities, you turn to your computer for inspiration. Consider your go-to sources: Do you immediately navigate to your competitor’s blog? Are your bookmarks filled with favorite content from companies in your industry? Constructive thinking doesn’t happen inside of a vacuum. Instead, our best ideas come when we take a step outside the scope of our work and seek inspiration from unlikely sources. For B2B marketers, this means that the creative spark you’re looking for... [...]

Gavin Finn says, “The senior VP of marketing at a successful global technology company recently held her fiscal year 2016 planning meeting at a rustic, isolated hotel in the mountains, keeping the focus on business, not pleasure, for her senior global marketing team. Her intention was to center all of their efforts on performance rather than activities, outcomes rather than deliverables. As the team settled in for the first session, her VP of US marketing asked: “What should we use as guidelines for making decisions about priorities?” After that question, the rest of the agenda... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “Wake up, B2B marketing and sales enablement automation vendors — especially those of you in North America. Many of you have not yet seriously set up shop in Europe because you consider firms there to be late adopters of marketing and sales automation. Well, they are perhaps late from your point of view, but they have now caught up. Forrester’s Global Business Technographics® Marketing Survey, 2015 reveals the proportion of B2B companies intending to buy or expand their automation projects for, among other things: content management; sales; online marketing;... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “The B2B marketing research team has just published its 2016 predictions report, outlining four shifts that B2B marketing professionals can expect by December 31 of next year. This report is aligned with and part of a series of Forrester predictions reports — each discussing the effects on specific roles in a company, but all part of the greater picture: The Age Of The Customer. Forrester clients can read the full report here, they can also attend this webinar on December 10th. B2B buying has changed: Buyers prefer to do research themselves rather than rely on... [...]

Jay Baer says, “Former-Intern-Turned-Media-Maven Caitlin Angeloff joins Jay and Adam this week to share her successful approach to social media marketing within her brand, DocuSign. Through a combination of thoughtful audience targeting andadvocate engagement, Caitlin gives her audience a peek into life at DocuSign while sharing the awesome convenience and widespread application of the product. With a blog that receives 30,000 unique visits each month and an initial snap that got 20,000 views overnight, she is working proof of the success potential within B2B social. In This Episode How... [...]

Dan newman says, “If you’re a small- to midsize-sized business (SMB) and in the business-to-business (B2B) space, you know how messy the digital revolution has been for marketing and sales. Not long ago, a sale needed some sort of human interaction — even with the web. Now, from fact-finding to brand-relationship building, your customers rely on the Internet to do it all. How can a small B2B-focused company get back into the discussion in this age of digital selling? Here’s a guide to help your SMB be found, seen and heard online. Being Found 1. The website: Your digital kingdom. Most... [...]

Laura Ramos says, “Earlier this year Forrester analyzed recent economic and survey data and reviewed the practices of over a dozen companies that have made customer-focused transformations. We found that customers are now more mobile, consume more reviews, and buy more online than ever before. So do B2B buyers. Business buying habits have followed closely in the footsteps of B2C counterparts because, outside of “9 to 5”, business buyers are consumers too. Together with Internet Retailer, we found 59% of B2B buyers and sellers prefer not to interact with a sales rep and 74% find... [...]

Eric Siu says, “When discussing content marketing, industry insiders tend to speak more to the experiences of B2C companies that are targeting consumers directly. They talk about things like how to get a branded entertainment video to go viral or how to reach consumers across different channels to increase the odds of a purchase decision — but these two considerations are not always relevant to people in B2B marketing. A company trying to reach decision-makers at another company requires a different mindset and strategy. Seeing Jean Claude Van Damme perform his epic split on... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “B2B content marketers are intent on pushing their products/services in content pieces, whereas their audience is looking for substantive ideas, according to a recent report from the Economist Group and peppercomm. The report was based on data from poll of 500 global business executives who were asked about what they look for in content, and 500 global marketers who were asked about how they’re building their content strategy. Some 75% of executives say their primary purpose for seeking out content is to find ideas, the survey found. However, 93% of marketers say the... [...]

Kayla Cobb says, “National Builder Supply, an ecommerce wholesaler of lighting, kitchen and bath fixtures, faced a problem many marketers have – large advertising spends and no way of tracking what was and wasn’t working. By creating an in-house revenue recognition model, rebuilding its online campaigns and finding a way to track its many call center sales, the B2B was able to determine which ad spends were actually worth the investment. Learn how this tracked marketing rebuild resulted in a 60% decrease in overall online spending without affecting sales”. B2B Marketing: Tracked advertising... [...]