We’re B2B adults here and you won’t find me trash-talking sponsored research. Ah, a July heat wave and the livin’ is easy, unless you write about technology, in which case it’s that boring old period between the second quarter results and the fun new toys for Christmas. What to do? Say, let’s do some Ritual Shaming and dress it up with a few hysterical headlines. That’ll make things interesting! We don’t need to get too hung up about the source of the “research”. But there really oughta be a law about hysterical headlines. This week’s Ritual Shaming victim is our old friend, the CEO. MORE >>

Random Rants Social Media B2B marketing bizmarketer Elizabeth Williams Facebookification linkedin LinkedIn endorsementsOh, goody. My LinkedIn connection, Diana, just endorsed my skills in marketing strategy. Yesterday Sylvie gave me a thumbs-up on my team-building expertise, and last week Martin endorsed me as the corporate communications guru I imagine myself to be.  Self-esteem is running high, which means self-doubt can’t be far away. An interesting side-note is that Martin invariably endorses me a day or so after we disagree about something in a board meeting. Let me help you. MORE >>

Awesome Ideas CRM Direct Marketing Websites B2B marketing bizmarketer customer service direct marketing Elizabeth Williams linkedin sales squirrelsDo you remember when email was invented? don’t have any specific memory of the day it turned up, like magic, on my computer at work, but I am fairly certain it was a matter of minutes before I joined every other marketer on the planet getting very excited about the possibilities of the medium. But is it quite time to pasture this old plough horse? don’t think so. And sometimes it’s not about the holiday party or the fantasy football league. MORE >>

Lots of content is essential for B2B marketing efforts (we kind of all knew that even before it was cool to know that, didn’t we?). And in the B2B space, you need to think before you post images on your website, blog, Facebook page, Pinterest boards and Google+ spots. Content Marketing Random Rants Social Media Stupid Ideas Websites B2B marketing bizmarketer content marketing linkedin value propositionAll together now: “Content is goooooood.Visual content is gooooooder.” Great got it. But guess what? All pictures are not good. Some pictures are really, really not good. MORE >>

Random Rants Social Media Stupid Ideas B2B marketing bizmarketer blognocrats branding Elizabeth Williams GAP linkedin logos social media value propositionWho owns your brand? Hint: The same person who owns your dog. Stop looking around. It’s you. If you don’t have a dog, just play along. If your dog eats the neighbour’s lawn furniture, it’s your problem. If that neighbour blogs, tweets or otherwise moans publicly about it, then it’s still your problem but more people know about it. So it’s arguably a bigger problem. If As evidence, he cites the backlash against Sony’s botched PS3 launch. MORE >>