The Role of B2B Marketing
Emerging Trends:
- 61% of the respondents (500 total) cited Driving Revenue as the most important success metric as compared to Sales Accepted Opportunities (40%), Qualified Leads (39%) with website visits and click-through rates trailing way at the back at 12% each.
- In order to meet new revenue and ROI goals, marketers need to improve their strategic skills (50%) and sales skills (40%).
- 58% of respondents said their role, as marketers did not end even after they handed off qualified leads to sales. This one has a puzzling contradiction (see #3).
- It not just driving revenues for the company, 44% of marketers said their own compensation was tied to sales. (See contradiction #4)
Contradictions and Myth Busters:
- Only 17% of the marketers felt they were “sales driven.”
- Despite all the hype surrounding social media in B2B marketing, 50% of the marketers said they didn’t blog, 49% don’t use Twitter and 25% don’t use LinkedIn.
- Even though more than half of the marketers saw their roles expanded well into the sales process, 58 percent of those surveyed met with sales just once a month or less and 8% or nearly 1 out of 10, admitted to never meeting with their sales counterparts. Huh?
- One would think lead nurturing would be very important if marketing is to be held more responsible for revenues but that was not the case, it was seen as the least important role by 14 percent of the respondents − the highest level reported on the question. This is another one of those “scratching my head” contradictions.
How has your role changed?
9 Essential Social Media Resources
Whether you are just beginning to dip your toes into the “social media” waters or are a seasoned professional, there is something for everyone. These resources include everything from how to get started, tips for building a social media community and how to calculate key social media metrics – just to name a few. Read more
Tweet Chats: Organized Chaos or Untapped Marketing Opportunity
While tweet chats can appear to be organized chaos from an outsider’s perspective, they are a fantastic way to enhance your experiences on Twitter by connecting and sharing with other individuals interested in the same topics. For those that are unfamiliar with tweet chats, they can be defined as prearranged discussions that happen on Twitter through the use of a predefined hashtag. The chat hashtag is used to link the tweets together in a virtual conversation so that all participants can follow along. Formal Twitter tweet chats are arranged in advance and occur at a specific time. They also may include a formal agenda with a specific leader/speaker/moderator or they might involve a free flowing discussion between all participants. Read more
Life Is Short!
Tomorrow I am leaving for vacation so I thought I would take this opportunity to begin the process of reflection that is so important when we take time off. Reflection and time away from our typical schedule helps us to not just recharge but also to reset our direction. It allows us to consider what we have accomplished, to decide whether we have achieved our goals, and to determine what needs to change.
One concept I have always tried to keep as a guiding principle when it comes to my professional role and any career decisions I make: life is short.
What Is Marketing Acceleration?
What is marketing acceleration and why is it even worth discussing? In the larger context, acceleration refers to the increasing pace of change. In B2B Marketing, we are experiencing an unprecedented amount of upheaval in what defines our success. We not only need to be fast, we need to get faster. We need to be speed racers.
While we are being impacted by the rapid rise of social networks and the use of mobile technologies to connect business professionals, we are also being asked to produce more with less. More leads. More sales. Greater awareness. Less money. Less People. Fewer tools.
Marketing Leads: Quality Vs. Quantity
Last night I had the pleasure of dining with one of our media partners. We discussed the great lead quality vs. lead quantity debate. And the conversation went way later than the restaurant manager and our wonderful server wanted it to.
While we all want to be considered purveyors of nothing but the highest quality stuff, sometimes higher volume is the way to go. And when quality is required, you need to be able to deliver leads that convert.
Whatever Happened to Marketing Strategy?
The realities and pressures we all face in today’s economy are not easy. Too many times, the reaction of B2B Marketers is to pull out the fire house and start fighting the latest fire. I think one of the most important factors to success in B2B markets is simple: Strategic and Integrated Marketing Plans.
Oh and that means thinking ahead. (Disclosure: as a dedicated rant, this post is full of copious amounts of sarcasm).
Holy Cow! That Is A Lot Of Time Spent Online Using Social Media
Yes, that was my reaction to this online consumption study by the good folks at Nielsen. (Disclosure: I am a former employee of the Nielsen Company). To me this was the biggest news of the week. Bigger than Lindsay Lohan. Bigger than “The Bachelorette” finale. And bigger than the Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston breakup (I know, crazy right?).
Americans spend a ton of time on social networks and the growth is a bit startling. What we do online is changing. But what does this mean for the B2B Marketer?
Integrating Social Media and Search
Social media as a B2B Marketing technique is an evolution of the marketing tools that preceded it: organic search engine marketing and paid search advertising. But combining these techniques can provide tremendous uplift in results and ROI.
My sister blog B2C Marketing Insider recently ran this article called Where Search Meets Social: Integrating Social Media into Organic and Paid Search Can Generate Exponential ROI written by Kent Lewis, President and Founder of Social Media and Marketing agencies Anvil Media and Formic Media. The article has become one of the most popular we have ever done. And so with the author’s permission I am summarizing it here for our B2B audience.
Why Do You Tweet? Social Media And Your Personal Brand
I am an advocate for social media marketing and personal branding which I believe can help to benefit both your company and your career. And so I am often asked why I tweet, why I blog and why I participate in both online and offline social communities and events.
Despite the huge press coverage around social media, I am still surprised at how many marketers and other market-facing professionals resist the call to participate in social media and to be brand ambassadors. To me, social media is all about personal branding. Grow your personal brand, with respect and proper attribution to your company as an ambassador, and the company benefits through the greater exposure of a positive voice out to the market it serves.
