B2B Marketing

When was the last time you answered a phone call from a phone number you didn’t recognize or opened an email from an unfamiliar sender? Like, never? Same here. The sad truth about most modern marketing tactics is that they’re too cheap and too easy. When anyone can do it, everyone will — which also […]

In 2013, Doug Kessler and the crew at Velocity Partners published “Crap: the single biggest threat to B2B content marketing” — a work of thought leadership genius that I still tell marketers to read today. In just 50 PowerPoint slides, Velocity Partners explains why the current deluge of marketing “content” won’t serve buyers and what you […]

Personas and journey maps have become key tools for the modern marketer. As my colleague Lori Wizdo expertly explains: It is the job of marketing to guide the buyer through the buying journey. Becoming a journey marketer is essential in this digital age. (Lori can help you get there — check out her workshop at our upcoming […]

“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.” “No — no — I reckon it wouldn’t hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly’s awful particular about this fence . . . it’s got to be done very careful; I reckon there ain’t one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it’s got […]

  Influencer marketing is often characterized as a trendy tactic for B2C marketers to tap into the far-reaching audiences of the Insta-famous. As a result, the practice regularly receives negative coverage for short-term-oriented, poorly executed B2C campaigns where consumer brands pay vapid lifestyle influencers outrageous sums in exchange for questionable ROI. There’s no doubt that […]

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018. It’s been a few months, and the repercussions are yet to be fully realized, leaving practitioners anxious and wondering if they have fully prepared. So far, GDPR compliance efforts have largely targeted customer data management, digital marketing, and security. However, […]

Can we address the elephant in the room? Account-based marketing (ABM) is not just about marketing. It’s about accounts — and how to win, serve, and retain them better than your competition. In our new research on the state of ABM, we found that B2B marketers are enjoying more measurable, substantial results from their account-based efforts this […]

Can we address the elephant in the room? Account-based marketing (ABM) is not just about marketing. It’s about accounts — and how to win, serve, and retain them better than your competition. In our new research on the state of ABM, we found that B2B marketers are enjoying more measurable, substantial results from their account-based efforts this […]

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at a dinner event with 20-plus senior marketers and business partners that InsideView sponsored. We wanted to explore how well marketing and sales are facing up to new go-to-market (GTM) challenges associated with buyer behavior change in general, account-based marketing (ABM) specifically. To get the conversation going, […]

“To survive in a world of ‘killer competition,’ you can either distinguish yourself from your competitors or offer the lowest price.” That’s the opinion of Jack Trout, co-author of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, late president of Trout & Partners, father of the positioning concept. In this month’s conversation with Johannesburg-based author Mark Eardley, […]

I had the pleasure of collaborating with fellow Forrester analysts Jessie Liu and Ryan Skinner on the subject of marketing process — one of the lynchpin competencies in Forrester’s marketing innovation playbook. As Jessie Liu explained in her blog introducing the series, we wrote three reports, each targeted at a beginner, intermediate, or advanced maturity level. (A handy assessment […]

Marketing has come a long way, but it is not yet customer-obsessed. To address this gap, we’re pleased to announce the launch of Forrester’s new marketing innovation playbook. It’s time for companies to undergo a marketing makeover. This playbook guides brands through assessing four pillars: mindset, talent, process, and insights. “Marketing innovation” and “process,” you ask? […]

Marketing has come a long way, but it is not yet customer-obsessed. To address this gap, we’re pleased to announce the launch of Forrester’s new marketing innovation playbook. It’s time for companies to undergo a marketing makeover. This playbook guides brands through assessing four pillars: mindset, talent, process, and insights. “Marketing innovation” and “process,” you ask? […]

Marketers today are managing more channels, more content, and more data, while delivering vast quantities of personalized content quickly around the globe. As digital marketing complexity increases, more marketers are embracing automation tools to improve efficiency and speed to market. In our first Marketing Automation Technology Forecast, 2017 To 2023, we expect global spending on […]

Top B2B marketing leaders think carefully and thoroughly about which markets represent the best fit for their offerings. Account-based marketing (ABM) is the most recent embodiment of this practice – what is generally called go-to-market strategy. Old timers (like me!) hear the ABM hoopla and think “wasn’t this called major* account management 10 years ago?” […]

Account-based marketing (ABM), demand generation, social selling, channel marketing, go-to-market strategy, marketing mix, campaign execution and almost anything that today’s B2B marketer worries about hinges on having relevant content that engages your buyers. My colleague, Ryan Skinner, defines content marketing as: A marketing strategy where brands create interest, relevance, and relationships with customers by producing, […]

Brands know that video resonates with their buyers, but if you’re new to producing video, the format can be daunting. There’s a great opportunity for B2B marketers to use video to help distill and showcase their company’s big ideas. In our report A Blueprint For Successful B2B Video Marketing we outline 3 steps that marketers […]

Earlier this year, Forrester’s South African PR team approached me with an opportunity to share a bit of our B2B thought leadership worldwide.  Mark Eardley, Johannesburg-based author and a regular column contributor to Marklives.com, came across our team’s predictions for 2018.  He was delighted to find a kindred-spirit in heralding a revival and reawakening in B2B […]

Chatbots and virtual assistants (VAs) may be built on artificial intelligence and create customer experiences through digital personas, but the success you realize from them will depend in large part on your ability to account for the real and human aspects of their deployment, intra-organizational impact, and customer orientation. Start by treating your bots and […]