Category: B2B Marketing

  • Marketers Get Better At Strategic Content Management

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    Marketers have made noteworthy progress in managing content strategically, but still have work to do to match content with the right audience segments and customer expectations, and to fully leverage content management technologies.That is the major theme of the third annual content management survey published recently by the Content Marketing Institute. The objective of this…

  • Why B2B Buying Cycles Are So Long

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    (The following is a post I published about two years ago. Since then, the number of people in the average B2B buying group has increased, and buying cycles are getting longer. New research by the Aberdeen Group explains why long buying cycles are still a fact of life for B2B marketing and sales professionals.)The Original…

  • Two Ways to Make Personalization Welcomed

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    In my last post, I discussed the inconsistent and often contradictory attitudes of consumers and business buyers regarding personalized marketing. On one hand, numerous research studies have confirmed that most consumers and business buyers want personalized offers, messages, and experiences, and are willing to provide personal information in order to receive such offers, messages, and…

  • The Growing Personalization Conundrum for Marketers

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    For more than two decades, the value of personalization has been largely unquestioned in marketing circles. Most marketing leaders now view personalization as essential to marketing success, and providing personalized marketing messages and customer experiences has become a top priority in many companies. Several recent research studies have confirmed that marketers strongly believe personalization drives…

  • Marketing Myopia Revisited

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    (The following is a post I published more than six years ago. Given the recent focus on marketing’s responsibility for managing customer experiences and driving growth, the topic is as relevant and timely today as it was in the fall of 2012.)The Original PostIn 1960, Theodore Levitt wrote a landmark article for the Harvard Business…

  • Three Ways to Make Your Case Studies More Persuasive

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    Customer case studies have been a staple of the B2B marketing content mix for decades. According to 2018 research by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 73% of B2B marketers are using case studies for content marketing purposes. Recent research on the effectiveness of customer case studies has produced mixed results. For example, in the…

  • B2B Buyers Remain Skeptical About Vendor Content

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    Last month, TrustRadius published the findings of its third annual B2B buying disconnect research. The 2019 B2B Buying Disconnect report is based on a survey of 712 individuals who were involved in a significant purchase of business technology during the preceding year, and on a survey of 229 individuals who worked for technology vendors in…

  • The Key Characteristics of Business Technology Buying

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    TrustRadius recently published The 2019 B2B Buying Disconnect report, which provides several important insights regarding the sale and purchase of B2B technology solutions. The report is based on a survey of 712 individuals who played a key role in a significant business technology purchase during the preceding year, and on a survey of 229 individuals…