Chris Koch

DECEMBER 29, 2009

Honestly, why do we think that sophisticated B2B buyers are going to follow our brands on Twitter or become our fans on Facebook? That would seem enough to end the debate about B2B social media participation right there. Actually, B2B buyers would probably love that but we’d lose millions and get fired.). The answer is we don’t.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Marketing Management 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 2, 2010

This may be the ultimate question in B2B, especially as we struggle to integrate social media into the overall marketing mix. Let’s face it, even if it was possible to curl up in front of the fire with a glass of wine and our B2B products and services, no one would do it. It’s the same in B2B. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Despite all the breathless hype about social media these days, what I hear most from B2B marketers is frustration. This is why every B2B marketing leader needs a social media participation strategy even if he or she does not intend to actively market through social media. I think we need to parse that decision more. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Allocation Media Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Despite all the breathless hype about social media these days, what I hear most from B2B marketers is frustration. This is why every B2B marketing leader needs a social media participation strategy even if he or she does not intend to actively market through social media. I think we need to parse that decision more. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Allocation Media Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 16, 2010

Salespeople and businesspeople could see the talent and creativity in the ads and brochures, relationships being made at the events, and the business cards in the fishbowl. But the real successes I’m hearing about in B2B use social media to support and extend more traditional tactics. And to business people, that all represented value.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Social Marketing 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2010

From marketing event to marketing retreat. It’s an attempt to take a typical high-level executive event and transform it into something resembling a retreat. Through our events, white papers, videos, whatever, we must prepare our audience to experience that waking dream. One example stands out for me. How to create the dream.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Wikipedia 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

This week I was asked to speak on a panel about social media to a group of B2B marketers in financial services. Social doesn’t happen in B2B without a culture change. When we surveyed B2B marketers last year, 50% said they do not have a social media policy. But you can’t tweet a 50%-off coupon in B2B.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Peer-to-peer 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

This week I was asked to speak on a panel about social media to a group of B2B marketers in financial services. Social doesn’t happen in B2B without a culture change. When we surveyed B2B marketers last year, 50% said they do not have a social media policy. But you can’t tweet a 50%-off coupon in B2B.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Peer-to-peer 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 30, 2010

I’m going to be moderating a panel on this question (among others) at next week’s MarketingProfs’ B2B Forum in Boston. I’m sure that there will be opportunities and reasons for B2B to advertise on these things eventually, but that’s the easy part. I think that’s how we have to view mobile apps for B2B marketing.

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing Mobile Advertising Paid Search Agency Wiki 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 8, 2011

I was thrilled to run a social media workshop this week with a large B2B technology and services provider (and ITSMA member). What is the next level of social media in B2B and how do you know when you’ve gotten there? Most B2B companies I work with are much farther ahead with internal social media efforts than with external.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Paid Search Agency PR 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

I’ve been working with my colleagues at ITSMA on another survey on social media for B2B marketers that I hope you’ll take by going here. B2B marketing lays the path to a sales discussion and supports relationships with existing customers. As we put together the questions, we struggled with the issue of social media strategy.

Social Media 100

Social Media Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

The price is the forms we make people fill out to download white papers or sign up for events. This price is one that high-level executives have been calculating for years as providers woo them with memberships in customer councils and invitations to private events. Trouble is, we take a one-price-for all approach to our content.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

The price is the forms we make people fill out to download white papers or sign up for events. This price is one that high-level executives have been calculating for years as providers woo them with memberships in customer councils and invitations to private events. Trouble is, we take a one-price-for all approach to our content.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 15, 2011

Not gonna happen in B2B. We’ll make the events more targeted to the C-level. “Another marketing channel on top of my existing workload, with no extra budget or headcount? This can’t be happening—not to me.” The marketer passes through a period in which social media is thought of purely as a B2C thing. That’s the way it’s always worked.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Wikipedia 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 15, 2010

At ITSMA, we’ve seen investments in the things that we used to identify as the key contributions of marketing—like advertising, brochures, events, and trade shows—shrink consistently. We couldn’t measure the effectiveness of events and trade shows, but sales people saw the crowds at the booth and the bar and so it didn’t matter.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 8, 2010

There is only one objective in social media and it is common across all companies—even across the infamous divide between B2B and B2C: Create learning networks. And learning is integral to buying—especially in B2B. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t assume, as we do by default, that ours are much different from anyone else’s.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Media 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

I’ve spent the last two days as a guest at Marketing Sherpa’s B2B conference in Boston and the many excellent speakers used publishing metaphors constantly. salespeople screaming for a brochure today or an event tomorrow). Posted in Thought Leadership Tagged: B2B marketing, Marketing Automation, Marketing Processes, Thought Leadership.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Planning Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

I’ve spent the last two days as a guest at Marketing Sherpa’s B2B conference in Boston and the many excellent speakers used publishing metaphors constantly. salespeople screaming for a brochure today or an event tomorrow). Tags: Thought Leadership B2B marketing Marketing Automation Marketing Processes. What have I left out?

Planning 100

Planning B2B Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 30, 2009

the other is the river of conversation that flows through the event at breaks, meals and receptions. Most of ITSMA’s clients are B2B marketers from big technology companies that sell big, complex products, services, and solutions. There are two rivers of content at conferences.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Enterprise Management Media 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 12, 2010

We know that in B2B, customers and prospects respond best to ideas, news, research, and how-to—not sales pitches. Social media that connects one live event with the next one lets us continue to build the relationship. I think so because social media is starting to give us a way to scale intimacy. We can do it with content.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Thought Leadership Work Management 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 12, 2009

In tracking B2B marketing through Twitter, I find a ton of great content being shared through blogs whose creators have already swamped the output of trade magazines. You realize that you don’t know everything, but you can walk away knowing that the day’s events haven’t totally escaped you.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Paid Search Agency Viral Marketing 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 28, 2010

For expensive, complex B2B products and services, social media can improve relationships with customers and increase awareness. All year, marketers have been telling me that they are having a harder and harder time getting noticed in traditional channels like white papers, email newsletters, and events. Social media has ROI.

Planning 100

Planning Work Management Paid Search Agency B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 1, 2010

It’s a warm-up for the great dialogues we’ll be having at MarketingProfs’ SocialTech conference later this month in San Jose, where I’ll be speaking about social media and the B2B buying process. If you’re in B2B marketing, you gotta go to this thing. All the top social media pros will be there and the focus will be all B2B.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer 100