B2B Marketing, Digital Media and Marketing Strategy
![The B2B Content Solution: [Easy Button]. Warning: Will effect quality and results](http://b2bdigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Easy-Content-Warning-Button-300x251.jpg)
There are easy ways to create good content, right?
No. Sorry.
Creating good content is hard. And it’s getting harder.
If you take the content shortcuts that are recommended by so many self-labeled content marketing experts, you will be sorely disappointed in the long run. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
![Your Leads Are Crap!! [Man yelling at cowering marketer]](http://b2bdigital.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Your-Leads-Are-Crap-300x240.jpg)
Congratulations, you are a B2B content marketer.
You have created a great industry blog and library of premium content. You promote your content through search, social, emails, newsletters, even banners.
You are seeing strong traffic, engagement with your blog content and a steady increase in registrations for your premium content.
There’s just one little problem: the leads are crap. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
Inbound marketing may be the hot topic for B2B marketers today, but today’s big B2B inbound marketers are all active outbound marketers as well.
So how do you pair your outbound marketing activity with your inbound marketing?
Here are six ways outbound marketing can support and scale your inbound marketing efforts and some of the channels that are appropriate for each one. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
It’s true. When people share too much, we tune them out. We only half-listen, or we just walk away.
In social media, we do the same thing. We skim over the update from the chatterboxes, not giving them the same attention as updates from others we see less frequently in our stream.
Here is the problem: As an individual building your own personal brand or as a marketer, you have taken the advice to share other people’s content to heart. In a bad way. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
Advertising is dead (again). The latest killers are the social media and content marketing stars.
Not so fast.
Marketing is a spectrum. At one end might be the experience someone has using your product or service as you intended. At the other might be a tiny mobile banner or a transit bench on a side street.
Advertising isn’t dead. Comparing different parts of the marketing spectrum is like comparing visible light to X-rays; “better” is entirely dependent on your purpose. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
B2B content marketers are hiding behind false excuses for their content marketing challenges.
According to Curata’s survey, now nearly a year old, B2B content marketers’ biggest challenges are limited budget (27%), limited staff (25%) and creating enough new content (21%). (source)
In the Content Marketing Institute’s 2013 benchmarks (released in October 2012, in addition to content they mastered time travel), the top challenges are producing enough content (64%), producing the kind of content that engages the audience (52%) and producing a variety of content (45%).
Only 39% report a lack of budget. At the very bottom of the list are lack of buy-in/vision (22%) and finding trained content marketers (14%). (source) Similarly, the Curata survey shows only 7% say senior level buy-in is their biggest challenge.
The content marketing community is misleading itself. The real root problems aren’t producing enough content, limited budgets or staff, particularly as only 14% have problems hiring! [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
Looking at most B2B marketing, the answer is clearly “no, you don’t.” You do not trust your content to tell your story, grow your audience or sell your solutions. Instead, you put your trust in your outbound marketing and sales process.
Don’t trumpet your content as your communication king, as the key way you connect with your audience, if the real way you connect with your audience comes after they fill out a registration form.
Your content is like the teen that still needs a chaperone, you aren’t willing to send it out on its own yet. And that is ok! [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
B2B marketing organizations in particular seem to be drawn to the newest shiny marketing object.
Pinterest? Native Advertising? The World Wide Web? Responsive Design? Inbound Marketing?
Before diving headfirst into an empty pool, yes, you need to take the time to determine if you should be diving in the first place. (No duh, you already knew that).
But the real million dollar question is this one:
Why is everyone throwing themselves at that shiny object in the center of the bandwagon like a bunch of teenage girls at a Justin Bieber contest in the first place? [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
In B2B marketing organizations, content marketing aims to help buyers buy. Right?
Content marketing provides the information buyers need to determine the type of solution they need, develop internal support for a change, create a short list of providers and address objections, all while positioning your company as a trusted resource.
Wow, that sounds amazing. But is your content really what stood between a prospect and a purchase?
I had the opportunity to speak with Sharon Drew Morgen a couple times recently. Each time I came away thinking we can do so much more. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
Inbound marketing has captured the attention of B2B marketers, and no wonder. According to Hubspot, leads from inbound marketing cost 62% less than leads from outbound marketing.
However, opinions and knowledge of inbound marketing vary widely among B2B marketers.
Dan Hanssel (@dannyhanssel) moderated a recent #b2bchat discussion on Twitter that tackled some of these issues. The result was not only some good advice for marketers, but also a window into the varying opinions marketers hold about inbound marketing, testing, budget allocations and more. [Read more...]
Like this post? Subscribe to be notified of future posts!
I am a digital and B2B marketer with a background in analytics and online media. Based in Portland, Oregon, I run the media group at Babcock & Jenkins.
Views expressed are my own.
