Dan Bieler says, “Business-to-business (B2B) ecosystems facilitate the continuous exchange of information and collaboration. B2B ecosystems will play a central role for all businesses because they form the basis for redefining approaches toward innovation, knowledge management, supply-chain optimization, product development, sales, and marketing. While the ultimate focus of these ecosystems is to create customer value, their more immediate effect is to drive operational agility in service of customers. Mobility will be a central enabler for these B2B digital ecosystems. Why? Mobility is... [...]

Dipanjan Chatterjee says, “Before I threw caution to the wind and launched myself with wild abandon into the world of branding, I had a normal life.  For a few years, I ran a retail business for a Berkshire Hathaway company (and since everyone asks, yes, I did meet and have dinner with Warren, although I suspect his recollection may not be as crisp as mine.) We manufactured and sold uniforms to government agencies: Police, fire, EMS, postal service, and others. As you’d expect, our customers were quite insistent that the fabric for the uniforms be made in the U.S. That is until... [...]

Samantha Anderson says, “When backed by a strong strategy, B2B online marketing can offer tremendous value to a company. To be effective, it’s important to choose the best approach based on your specific goals. Without a well-informed decision, you risk wasting valuable resources, money and brand equity. It’s essential to have a clear understanding of the impact each approach can have on your bottom line compared to its expense. Let’s take a look at some of the most effective B2B online marketing strategies and how they can affect your business. Inbound marketing Most... [...]

Danny Wong says, “Understanding the trends in sales is half the battle when it comes to designing a plan of action. Keeping up with the news also encourages everyone to stay flexible in a quickly changing world. You’re fighting to schedule yourself in customers’ already filled calendars, and the people that you need to reach are always the ones who have the least time to give. To truly understand where the opportunities and challenges are, it helps to identify the patterns the B2B industry is seeing across the board. Independence in business Hopefully, you’ve already noticed... [...]

Lori Wizdo says, “Forrester just published The Forrester Wave™: Lead-To-Revenue Management Platform Vendors, Q4 2016.  Our research uncovered a robust market in which Act-On, Adobe, IBM, Marketo, and Oracle lead the pack; bpm’online, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Salesfusion offer competitive options; and CallidusCloud and Right On Interactive are Contenders.  Forrester’s Wave ™ process is comprehensive (we evaluated the products across 36 different criteria); rigorous (the process comprises executive briefings, detailed product review and demo, all validated with customer references);... [...]

Arliss Coates says, “The latest B2B Digital Trends report is here! In association with Adobe, Econsultancy has surveyed more than 1,000 professionals working in digital B2B to craft an idea of what the future holds, and where the pack is going. The before and after Content marketing is, as ever, on the minds of B2B digital marketers. However, our research shows a slightly changed picture from the B2B world of last year (and the three before, since Econsultancy began producing B2B Digital Trends reports in 2012) – customer experience is taking on a greater, and substantial, role in... [...]

Derek Pando says, “A few years ago I started a new job where I was tasked with the sales enablement portion of a major product launch that was set to happen just a few months after my start date. Very quickly after starting my job I realized that the sales reps were in a state of panic. The reps did not know how the new product worked or how to sell it. The reps were reaching out to the support team, marketing and product team flooding them with questions. Each of these organization started having trouble working effectively because of the constant interruptions. Not only was this a drain... [...]

Dan Stelter says, “Just 30% of B2B marketers rated themselves as “effective” at content marketing in 2015. That’s down from 38% the previous year, according to Content Marketing Institute’s and MarketingProfs’ joint Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report. And the content output for brands increased 35% from its highest to lowest points in 2015, but engagement with that content fell, on average, 17%, TrackMaven found. So what gives? Why do you hear everyone trumpeting content as “king,” but just a few companies experience great results? It... [...]

AJ Wicox says, “All too often, I hear two complaints about LinkedIn Ads: It’s too expensive. It doesn’t work. Generally, when I hear this feedback, it’s from those who don’t have the right business to be advertising on LinkedIn. So I thought I’d share what types of businesses should be using LinkedIn, as well as those that should avoid the platform. Who should advertise on LinkedIn The three verticals that tend to work best are: high-value B2B products & services; recruiting efforts; and higher education. High-value B2B products & services Subscription services (like... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “Just like many other research groups at Forrester Research in the past weeks, our team has gotten together, discussed, and agreed on a series of predictions for 2017 that will affect business-to-business (B2B) marketing professionals’ work. Forrester’s clients can review these in full detail in the published report, but here are some of the highlights. We have grouped our predictions into three sections. Part 1: Account-Based Marketing Will Come Of Age In 2017 In 2016, vendors and consultants seriously hyped account-based marketing (ABM) — such that B2B marketing... [...]