Greetings from sunny Las Vegas. Despite the pull of the pool and the blackjack tables, I am currently sitting in the Grand Ballroom in the famous Bellagio hotel at the second annual Sales and Marketing Summit hosted by the Sales and Marketing Practice of the Corporate Executive Board. More than 400 members are here with us to learn more about how to get “Inside the Customer’s Purchase Decision” – this year’s theme. We have an agenda packed full with presentations based on the combined work by MLC and our sister program, the Sales Executive Council. No, that isn’t a typo – rats. Enter the rats. MORE >>

Marketing technology is not an easy job. Due to the complexity and risks associated with the adoption of new technology, customers take more time to analyze options, exercise due diligence using third-party sources, are risk averse and engage larger groups in buying decisions.  Much of the traditional marketing “playbook” does not effectively address these challenges. Tech marketing has become increasingly digital and more sophisticated in terms of engaging users, tracking customer data, predicting buying behavior and generating leads.  white paper suggests authoritative knowledge. MORE >>

This is a guest post by Aqualyn Laury of our sister program for medium-sized enterprises, the Marketing Leadership Roundtable. We asked and you delivered! We received and reviewed over 30 campaigns per category – Digital Innovation, Sales Enablement and Cool Factor – to determine which ones would be top contenders for the top award. So the good news for all of you is that no wooden spoons will be awarded on Tuesday at Summit. Rather, three  companies’ submissions will emerge as the best of the best across the three areas. Let’s find out! Who do you think they chose? Cool Factor. MORE >>

We recently heard from a couple of our members in the B2B manufacturing space about their saturation with product marketing, and increasing noise from competition in their industry domain. Many of them were chasing the ever-eluding differentiator against their competitors. Our advice to them has been to read our work on influencing the empowered customer that predicts a larger role for B2B marketing in the sales process. B2B marketing must tag-team with sales to diagnose and respond to customer needs drive urgency toward the purchase. The campaign got an average of 10,000 visitors a month. MORE >>

Wouldn’t you love to know how Microsoft, Cisco and National Instruments demonstrate the value of their social media efforts in a B2B environment? That’s just one of the questions an expert panel will address at next week’s Sales and Marketing conference , hosted by CEB in Las Vegas.  The panelists will include: Anne Plese, who works in line marketing with Cisco Systems and has extensive experience integrating social media into the marketing mix. Tom Vaughn, who heads up social media within Microsoft’s central marketing group.  Cutting Edge B2B Marketing Social Media Marketing MORE >>