Marsha Hunt says, “All B2B marketers and business owners are on a constant search for ways to grow their company. One of the keys to success for any small company or startup is growth hacking. Growth hacking allows you to find the most effective marketing channels and take advantage of them to connect with your audience and scale your business. Growth hacking tools can measure the performance of your marketing campaigns across different platforms. You can then use the information you gather to find the best ways to engage your audience. Why focus on growth hacking? It’s critical for B2B... [...]

Barry Levine says, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is more than a stylish trend. It goes beyond rules, providing the ability to understand content or language, find patterns that can be applied to the future, digest all kinds of information and make reasoned decisions. One by one, B2B vendors are rolling out their AI chops — targeting platform Demandbase, CRM and marketing platform Salesforce, account engagement platform YesPath, conversational platform Conversica, and B2B predictive marketer CaliberMind, among a growing list of others. To get some insight into what this means for businesses... [...]

Maz Nadjm says, “We may not give it a lot of thought, but artificial intelligence is already part of our daily lives in a number of ways. When it works well, it makes our life slightly easier – from trying to anticipate our needs (e.g. Amazon’s suggested products or Netflix’s recommended shows) to preventing us from being victims of fraud (e.g. our bank’s fraud detection systems). As a result, our experiences as consumers and humans becomes more seamless and pleasant. It doesn’t take long to get used to this, to the point that some of us are now starting to expect a certain level... [...]

Lisa Murton Beets says, “Too many B2B enterprise marketers are focusing on their brand rather than their audience while creating content. That’s one of the key findings in our new research report, B2B Enterprise Content Marketing 2017: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America sponsored by KnowledgeVision. Let’s take a look at the actual stat: 53% of B2B enterprise marketers who responded to our annual content marketing survey say they agree that their organization is focused on creating content for their audience versus their brand. That’s a lot lower than the 69% of all B2B... [...]

Janet Comenos says, “Early-stage companies often cast too wide a net when defining their target customer base. They believe the more prospects, the better — but pursuing the wrong types of prospects wastes precious time, cash, and sales resources. There’s a high opportunity cost to chasing someone who won’t buy (or buys and quickly churns). All the while, your competitors are entering the market and getting to large and enterprise clients more quickly than you. I’ve now helped three early-stage tech companies go from zero revenue to cash-flow positive. Honing in on the most valuable... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “At the B2B Marketing 2016 forum last October, we had several sessions when we reflected on some external forces that affect our work as marketers. Trends included the movement toward as-a-service business models (our CEO once famously predicted that every business will eventually become a software business), the increasing use of video content in marketing, and the leverage of social channels. These sessions had great attendance, and the feedback was very positive. We had made attendees aware of possibilities that they may not have yet discussed in their own companies. Similarly,... [...]

Caroline Robertson says, “My former neighbor bought the house next door primarily due to its 9-acre potential. Over the years, I got to see his garden develop from a razed backyard to a well-orchestrated, nearly year-round landscape of seasonal beauty. He’d continually prune out the anemic and plant new varietals that he deemed would more likely thrive in our climate. I was amazed at the ongoing evolution of his garden — and how much of it ended up on his burn pile. But he focused on the success of his garden overall and didn’t overly invest in any one plant, bush, or tree. Despite... [...]

Amanda Zantal-Wiener says, “When you’re trying to get somewhere — by foot, train, bus, or car — how do you pass the time? I’m one of those people who always has to be listening to something. Whether it’s a new Spotify playlist or the latest episode of a podcast, I use pretty much every opportunity to consume audible content. I’m hardly the only one who’s partial to audio in this way. According to the 2016 Edison Research Infinite Dial report, despite our content consumption becoming increasingly digital, we still love sound and sound alone. Online radio listenership,... [...]

Laura Ramos says, “It’s no secret, company websites are a key implement in the B2B marketer’s toolbox. B2B marketers rate websites as the second most effective demand management tactic for building awareness (behind events) in our 2016 Business Technographics marketing survey.. B2B companies also expect more than half of their customers to buy online within three years.[i] These trends show just how important it is for marketers to get the website experience right – and producing Web content that builds empathy to engage buyers is critical to making that happen. So, is anyone doing... [...]

Scott Samson says, “When it comes to video marketing, your goal is not to inform, entertain, or create awareness. Your goal is to make someone involved in a buying decision want to learn more. Your call to action should lead to more detailed content, a software download, a live demo — anything that helps educate the buyer. You’ll find it a lot easier to shape a user-friendly and engaging video if you keep these tips in mind. 1. Understand how the viewer arrived at your video To get to your video, the viewer clicked on a link to your website, video channel, Facebook page — somewhere... [...]