Hello Fellow B2B Marketers, Marketing Mondays is a weekly blog post highlighting our ongoing research focused on B2B revenue acceleration, as well as an exclusive look into what outputs you can expect in the coming weeks. Kick off your week here every Monday to get a burst of support for your professional success.

Today is fitting for our 2012 Year-In-Review edition of Marketing Monday. While we are researching the challenges that will seed the content you will see in the New Year, I thought it would be valuable to take a moment to recognize some of the very best content and ideas from the past year (that will still be relevant in 2013 and beyond). Without further ado, here are our greatest hits of 2012:

Peter O'Neill kicked off 2012 with one of the most-valued reports of the year. Forrester published Content Marketing Is A Key Differentiator For Tech Marketers on January 12th, 2012 and it was well-received both by you, generating online chatter and many inquiries for Peter, and peers at Forrester, who nominated him for a Research Award. In the report’s introduction, Peter explains that in the 21st century marketplace, customers are more empowered than ever and therefore B2B Marketers face a great challenge in developing content marketing strategies that are timely, relevant, and ultimately effective.  Peter deconstructs the situation and provides a clear approach for maximizing your content potential. The success of this report led to several follow-up reports, including Mobile Is A Mainstream Content Source For Tech Buyers, European Tech Buyers Continue To Consume Digital Content Socially, Assessing Your Content Management Processes And Organization, The Importance Of True International Marketing Content, and Content Management Process And Organization Capabilities Assessment.

Tim Harmon and Jonathan Silber just launched our second playbook, The Channel Partner Loyalty Playbook. As Tim described in his May 2012 report Earning Channel Loyalty In A Hypercompetitive Market, it is a “buyer’s market” for channel companies, and therefore loyalty is hard to score. If you want to keep the spoils of your loyal channel partners from your peers or if you’re looking to strengthen your relationships, you will need Tim and Jon’s guidance. Head over to the Executive Overview for a high-level summary of the playbook; then read on for the vision, business case, assessment, road map, organization, and performance management modules.

Jonathan Silber’s report Market Overview Managed Service Providers Part 1dissects the business of managed service providers (MSPs) to enable tech vendors to better understand the role MSPs play in the IT channel and predict (and benefit from) how that role will change in the future. Some of the biggest tech vendors out there are already revamping their partner programs to better-align with MSPs and Jon has the details on how your peers are changing and how you should be too. Jon is currently prepping Part 2 of this series for launch in January, so familiarize yourself with Part 1 and check back soon for the full strategy.

Graphic of the Week:

The Three Evolutionary Stages Of Managed Services

 

May 09, 2012 “Market Overview Managed Service Providers Part 1” Forrester report.

 

Kim Celestre launched our first playbook, The B2B Online Community Playbook, on November 28th, 2012 which quickly became the hub for B2B marketers looking to develop (or re launch) a thriving online community.  Check out the Executive Overview for a high-level summary of the Playbook, then read on for the vision, landscape, strategic plan, road map, organization, processes, and benchmarks documents. Congratulations to Kim for all her hard work and to Zachary Reiss-Davis and Peter O'Neill for their contributions.

Lori Wizdo takes on lead-to-revenue management (L2RM) and lays the brickwork for a another playbook in early 2013. Lori released the first report for the upcoming Lead-To-Revenue Management Playbook back in July. The State Of Lead-To-Revenue Management serves as a clear introduction to L2RM and underscores that demonstrating revenue return on marketing investment (ROMI) is the No. 1 issue facing tech marketing executives. The L2RM Playbook will be the definitive guide to establishing L2RM best practices and demonstrating ROMI. Until the playbook is live in early Q1, check out the Tools And Technology and Processes modules that are already available.

Zachary Reiss-Davis blogsand reportson the importance of engaging your company’s influencers in the social and community spheres. It is time for your company to recognize and engage the passionate people on the internet already evangelizing, praising, or, yes, even criticizing your products and services. Many of these influencers hold great sway over the broader public opinion of your company and capabilities and can be a powerful resource if you energize them to be more active on your behalf. Zack’s report will give you a high-level perspective on the power of influencers in today’s market, as well as an actionable strategy to harness this great potential. It is also a must-read for B2B marketers who are reading The B2B Online Community Playbook.

Check back next week for the first Marketing Monday of 2013, thanks for reading and have a happy New Year.

____________________________________________________________________________________

If you wish to learn more about a topic, schedule an inquiry by visiting the respective analyst’s homepage.  Also, explore the linked content on this First Look and look at our Planned Researchto keep track of all the content being published over the next few months.