- Four Case Studies: How These (Very Different) B2B Organizations Are Succeeding With Social Media
by Christina "CK" KerleyEven though B2C companies get the lion's share of coverage about the benefits of social media, B2B organizations of vastly different sizes and industries are making striking gains in employing these technologies to increase their market share and solve revenue ...
- How Social Is Socially Acceptable in Email? by Stephanie Miller
Marketers face a bit of a quandary in deciding how social to be. There is a seemingly endless number of social networks, all with conversations that might be relevant to the business.
When it comes to email, the issue becomes trickier ...
- Put Crowdsourcing to Work for You: Five Tips for Getting Started
by Kimberly SmithSome companies are finding that their customers have a truer understanding of their own motivators and needs than even the most-qualified Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), and (what's more) that an outsider perspective may be just what their organizations need.
It's called ...
- Real Marketing Analytics for B2B Lead Generation by Lisa Cramer
Marketing analytics used to simply be about measuring the hits on your website and the number of opens and clicks on emails. But as marketers we know that the times are changing.
Today, marketers must find a way to manage leads ...
- Five Tips for Small B2B Companies That Depend on Big Channel Partners by Robbie Baxter
It's a challenge faced by hundreds of small companies: how to get the CXO of a Fortune 1000 company to consider its product.
One effective strategy that helped get companies such as Citrix and VMware off the ground is to align ...
- Marketing in a Recession: What Do the Studies Really Tell Us? by Christian Shea
Have you heard this one? "All the research shows that companies that spend on marketing during a recession come out ahead of the competition as the economy rebounds."
It's a catchy buzz phrase—and if people believe it, even better. But here's ...
- Managing Email Addresses in B2B: How to Increase Email Coverage of Your Customer Base by Ruth P. Stevens
Everyone's looking to do more with less these days. After comparing the cost of postal mail (about a dollar apiece) with the cost of email (about a penny apiece) any B2B marketer is going to prefer using email as the ...
- Bringing New Color to the Gray World of Whitepapers
by Jonathan KranzWhitepapers have been with us for a long time. But innovations in printing and distribution—and even in the way we conceive of whitepaper content—have dramatically changed the game. Let's take a look at the ways we can bring color to ...
- Get the Vote: Use Political Marketing Techniques to Power Your Campaigns by Jean Fleming
Love 'em or hate 'em, politicians are some of the most effective marketers out there. Let's break down how they achieve their ends, and how we marketers can cop their best moves to win the vote—for our products and services.
- The Power of Search Within a Complex Sales Cycle by Roxanne Lott
Now that we know that 85% of B2B customers use the Internet at some point during the buying process, why is it that so many business executives still contend that online marketing "doesn't work" for businesses with enterprise solutions or ...
- Six Reasons Word-of-Mouth Doesn't Work by Michael Antman
Is there any form of marketing communications more compelling than word-of-mouth, the enthusiastic and genuine recommendation of a person you like and trust? It's no wonder that virtually every business-to-business marketer prizes this organic, spontaneous, and—perhaps best of all—practically cost-free ...
- The Definitive Guide to Business-to-Business Marketing in a Recession by Jon Miller
Does an economic slowdown necessarily mean that business-to-business marketers have to find even more ways to do more with less? Or can a downturn create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive?
- Eight Ways to Integrate Webinars Into a B2B Marketing Plan by Laura Heinrich
B2B sales happen over a period of several months as trust builds between the prospect and the seller. Webinars may be used not just to bring new leads in the door but also to move existing leads through the pipeline ...
- Seven Infectious Diseases of B2B Marketing - and Their Cures
by Kathryn RoyThere are 7 problems so rampant in B2B companies that they seem infectious, passed along as marketing people switch companies or work with contagious agencies. Treatment, however, is available.
Here are the 7 diseases, their symptoms, probable causes, and suggested remedies.
- Five B2B Email Marketing Tips by Stephanie Miller
Email marketers are perpetually caught in the middle. On the one hand, we are celebrated for being the go-to resource for generating short-term revenue results. On the other hand, the applause dies down when the budget talk comes around and ...
- Three Factors to Consider Before You Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon by Lee Erickson
Should your company should start a blog, open a Facebook account, or be on YouTube? Start by taking a giant step backward and assessing the social media landscape as it relates to your market, your buyers, and your competitors. Here ...
- Going Viral With Your B2B Marketing: Q&A With David Meerman Scott by Mack Collier
Viral marketing has been all the rage in recent years: Companies are intoxicated with the idea of creating the next video that spreads across the Internet and becomes a viral sensation.
But for every successful viral effort there are countless attempts ...
- How to Get the Web Content You Want From the Employees You Have
by Jonathan KranzWith the growing significance of the Web as an integral part of the long B2B sales process, companies are more aware of the value of content: meaningful communications material that attracts and holds prospect attention.
But... where will that content come ...
- Podcast: Keynote Dan Ariely Reveals the Hidden Forces That Shape Irrational Behavior by Paul Dunay
We design our marketing campaigns for "rational" buyers. But do buyers ever act rationally? In a preview of his keynote at the MarketingProfs event next month, NY Times bestselling author and MIT Prof Dan Ariely talks about the irrational factors ...
- How to Create a Strategy Road Map for Marketing Operations
by Laura PattersonNot long ago, few B2B companies had a marketing operations function. Today, this function is becoming an important facet of the marketing organization, enabling it to operate more like a business, with formalized processes, infrastructure, and reporting. Here are three ...