B2B Marketing, Digital Media and Marketing Strategy
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…]
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…]
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…]
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…]
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…]
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…]
What, it’s changing? Quick, call it dead! Write an article about how social media is killing advertising!
Advertising is Dead. SEO is Dead. Television is Dead. Magazines are Dead. Newspapers are Dead. Websites are Dead. Agencies are Dead. Media companies are Dead.
Did TV kill radio? After more than 50 years, radio is still here. Like everything else, it has changed. Like everything else in marketing, it lives on.
See the pattern here? Most marketers want everything around them to be dead. But the only thing dead in marketing are marketers. [Read more…]
Distraction is constant in our technology and communication-fueled lives. Email alerts, Facebook replies, tweets, Google’s red box, …
Everything around us is competing for our attention. We may not have ADD, but we definitely act like it.
How can B2B content marketers, who are often marketing complex products and need to share a meaningful level of detail, be effective in this environment? [Read more…]
In order to deliver something more memorable than most advertising, marketers are turning to content that tells a story, engages the audience and delivers value.
But how do marketers reach a large audience with their content? Major publishers continue to have audiences that dwarf those of nearly every marketer, relying on just their own audience isn’t enough.
In the past, marketers relied on advertising and PR to get to these audiences, but those approaches mean the marketer’s own content is still a step removed. Today, there is an emerging third option that allows marketers to distribute quality content at scale: native advertising. [Read more…]
Look around you. There is a coffee shop on nearly every corner. Supermarkets offer one-stop shopping for all your needs. Your favorite TV shows are recorded or are available on demand, conveniently available anytime you want. Google and Wikipedia have put information on nearly any subject just a keystroke or click away.
In our personal lives, convenience is all around us and we expect it at every turn.
The question is, are you delivering convenience for your audience at every stage of the the buying process?
[Read more…]