B2B Marketing, Digital Media and Marketing Strategy
Most B2B marketing organizations miss the biggest opportunities to impact their business because they have not identified the right goals.
Why isn’t business coming out of your ears?
Dig into that question, ask why of every answer or assumption you come up with, and you will eventually get to the root challenge and the basis for goals that can move your business forward.
It is easier said than done. [Read more…]
Data is the foundation for analytics. Analytics is the foundation for marketing driven by data and insights.
When you start with bad data, you get erroneous insights and your marketing goes in the wrong direction.
A recent research result from ITSMA and Vision Edge Marketing is eye opening. Even though the importance of starting with good data should be obvious, B2B marketers are analyzing and optimizing marketing from a broken foundation. [Read more…]
B2B marketing is complex. Sales cycles are long, measurement can be convoluted, and segmentation, lead scoring and sales and marketing alignment take traditional marketers into uncomfortable spaces.
Amid the details and uncomfortable spaces, the bigger marketing picture is often lost.
Take a step back and consider the three bigger picture items below. How can you improve each of these things? [Read more…]
B2B marketers often face internal obstacles to strategic planning. Common barriers I outlined in Removing the Barriers to Strategic Planning in B2B Marketing are not valuing strategic planning, not having sufficient time and resources, lacking alignment around a strategy and a lack of internal expertise.
Strategic planning has to begin by addressing these barriers. As long as these issues are not addressed, your company is not ready for strategic planning.
Breaking down the barriers will likely be a bigger challenge than planning. Below are three steps you can take to begin breaking down these barriers in your organization. [Read more…]
As B2B marketers enter the 2012 strategic planning season and begin shaping executional plans, it is important that we get it right. The goal is to create a strategy that survives the full year (and beyond) and gives you a framework for more tactical planning, execution and optimization.
Today, many companies have replaced strategic planning with a set of goals and tactics, without a formalized marketing strategy. [Read more…]