#B2Bchat — B2B Digital Marketing

Why B2B Marketers Are Slow To Invest In Data

November 13, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 1 Comment

Good data is essential for B2B marketing organizations to excel. Sirius Decisions research indicates that good data can increase revenue driven through marketing by 70%. It isn’t hard to believe, just ask any B2B marketer that has tried marketing to a bad prospect list.

Despite the positive impact data can have, B2B marketing organizations have been slow to embrace new sources and types of data.

In a recent #B2Bchat about new data available for B2B marketers, participants shared a number of concerns or barriers to using new data. [Read more…]

Balancing Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing

November 1, 2012 By Eric Wittlake Leave a Comment

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…]

Buyer Personas in B2B Marketing

September 20, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 15 Comments

Buyer personas are a hot topic of discussion in the B2B marketing world, but how do you create the personas that you need and ensure you are getting the value you need out of them? Do you even need to create B2B buyer personas at all?

B2B buyer personas were the topic of discussion recently on #B2Bchat and the group shared their perspective on these and a number of other questions.

Here are three of the takeaways I came away from the conversation with: [Read more…]

Measuring Success in B2B Marketing

July 23, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 4 Comments

In B2B marketing, collecting numbers is easy. Picking the right measurements and consistently using them to improve your marketing is the real challenge. Here are just a few of the questions you will need to address:

Should you be focused on revenue that is directly attributed to your marketing activities?
Is the data you have reliable?
How do you measure and manage newer segments of marketing, including social media?
How do you judge the impact your content is having?

[Read more…]

4 B2B Marketing Scenarios: One Size Does Not Fit All

May 29, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 3 Comments

B2B marketing discussions on Twitter and blogs have a tendency to focus on singular topics, such as Twitter, marketing automation, or lead generation, as if they are right for everyone and we just need to do them well.

However, the people B2B marketers want to reach are ultimately trying to solve a challenge or embrace an opportunity based on their unique business.

Shouldn’t B2B marketing solutions be just as unique? [Read more…]

B2B Sales and Marketing Integration

April 22, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 1 Comment

Last week Danny Hanssel (@dannyhanssel) us as the guest moderator and leader for #B2Bchat. Danny lined up a great set of provocative questions for the group on aligning B2B sales and marketing.

As always, the #B2Bchat participants shared a range of perspectives from both sales and marketing experiences. The variety of responses and the disagreements among participants on reporting structures, aligning goals and the best approach to training is its own additional insight into each of the questions. Clearly, sales and marketing have a long way to go in order to be fully aligned if marketers can’t even agree on the best approach! [Read more…]

B2B Marketing Meets Video: Insights from 21 Marketers

April 9, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 4 Comments

Just over half (52%) of B2B marketers are now using video, a 27% increase over the year before. However, that means nearly half of B2B marketers are not using video yet.

Last week for #B2Bchat I moderated a discussion on video in B2B marketing, including why B2B marketers should care, how to get started, production quality and tools and resources. A summary transcript from the discussion is below and is worth reviewing, there were a number of insights as well as individuals in the discussion worth connecting with.

Here are a few of my key takeaways from the discussion: [Read more…]

Inbound Marketing for B2B: Discussion Recap

March 19, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 7 Comments

Inbound marketing is a clear trend in B2B marketing. In fact, Sirius Decisions, a research firm focused on B2B markets, predicts more than 75% of leads will be sourced through inbound channels by 2015.

What are the key challenges to B2B inbound marketing, how does inbound marketing change the type of content B2B marketers need to create and what tools are critical to inbound marketing?

These are some of the questions discussed during #B2Bchat on March 15, and I had the privilege of moderating. Here are my key takeaways from the discussion. [Read more…]

Corporate Websites for Demand Generation: B2B Discussion Highlights

February 14, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 2 Comments

The latest #B2Bchat discussion focused on the relationship (or lack thereof) between corporate websites and demand generation.

Can corporate websites support demand generation and lead capture? Or do marketers need to build microsites to support demand generation effectively?

These are some of the questions we tackled on B2Bchat on February 8, 2012, and I had the privledge of moderating the discussion on Twitter.

As always, there were some great insights shared during the chat. Here are my key takeaways from the discussion. [Read more…]

B2B Social Media Opportunities [#B2Bchat Recap]

January 16, 2012 By Eric Wittlake 6 Comments

In our most recent #B2Bchat discussion, we looked at a number of social networks and how B2B marketers can take advantage of them, and once again I was pleased to have the opportunity to moderate the lively discussion.

Rather than a deep dive into a single network or objective, the discussion quickly touched on a number of social networks or platforms.

Participants identified a number of specific opportunities, however what was most apparent throughout the discussion is that social media is moving quickly. B2B marketers need to stay on top of the market if they are to identify and take advantage of new opportunities. [Read more…]