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

MAY 15, 2012

We all know the increasing importance of ideas in B2B marketing. Every B2B company has subject matter experts (SMEs) who are working with customers to solve problems and have deep backgrounds in customers’ processes, industries, and functions. Besides creating idea networks, B2B companies also have to become publishers.

FAQ 100

FAQ Custom Publishing B2B Sales Work Management 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. I resisted treating it as a standalone in the survey. B2B marketing lays the path to a sales discussion and supports relationships with existing customers. What do you think?

Social Media 100

Social Media Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 20, 2010

I have an easy survey tool provided to me by the good folks at FUSE that specialize in automated online surveys like the one that you are (I hope) about to take (special thanks to Charles Martin at FUSE and Joe Saylor for giving me a chance to try it out). Take the survey here: [link]. Tweet This Post.

Customer Surveys 100

Customer Surveys Template Automation B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 16, 2010

We just completed our ITSMA survey on social media. In our survey, we asked, “In your company, is marketing the catalyst for social media being used by others in the company (product development, HR, etc.)?” But the real successes I’m hearing about in B2B use social media to support and extend more traditional tactics.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Social Marketing 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The same web analytics that have destroyed publishing are now getting marketers fired because nobody’s clicking on their white papers and surveys. Partly that’s a quality issue, but it’s also an issue of B2B marketers taking the publishing analogy too literally. For many B2B companies, idea marketing is a check box on a marketing list.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies 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. Most magazines do annual reader surveys to ask subscribers what they think of the magazine and what could be improved. Research the reader. Audit content. What have I left out?

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Planning Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

When I was at CIO, I was very frustrated with the findings from our State of the CIO survey because they were relentlessly identical from year to year. So one year when I ran the State of the CIO survey we decided to take a deeper look at this data. CIOs are not all the same. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

I helped host an ITSMA round table this week and a near universal complaint from our B2B technology clients was how difficult it is to launch new services in a fast, efficient way. Using the competitive and influencer research as a base, develop a survey that asks about the market need and a few different versions of the offering.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

survey, (all ITSMA clients can download this executive summary ), we found that “increased web traffic&# was the most frequently cited benefit of Web 2.0 Now that may be due in part to the fact that most B2B marketers have only recently begun using Web 2.0 Check out the B2B Marketing Zone. In our recent Web 2.0

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 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. Most magazines do annual reader surveys to ask subscribers what they think of the magazine and what could be improved. Research the reader. Audit content. What have I left out?

Planning 100

Planning B2B Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 22, 2010

We should care more about lead management automation in B2B marketing. ITSMA’s annual survey of IT buyers found that this year, for the first time, a majority of buyers in the US—and 75% when you include other countries—are using social media in the purchasing process—especially the younger ones. It just won’t scale.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Marketing Management Automation Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

When I was at CIO, I was very frustrated with the findings from our State of the CIO survey because they were relentlessly identical from year to year. So one year when I ran the State of the CIO survey we decided to take a deeper look at this data. CIOs are not all the same. We came up with some interesting insights. Tweet This Post.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

I helped host an ITSMA round table this week and a near universal complaint from our B2B technology clients was how difficult it is to launch new services in a fast, efficient way. Using the competitive and influencer research as a base, develop a survey that asks about the market need and a few different versions of the offering.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 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. According to a recent survey by ABI Research, 28% of respondents said that they access web sites from their phones at least once per day —up 75% in a year. B2B mobile marketing case studies. How do we compete?

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing Mobile Advertising Paid Search Agency Wiki 100

Chris Koch

JULY 24, 2009

I’ve been working on a report for ITSMA clients this week about analytics and it got me thinking about the proverbial bigger picture of B2B marketing. Only 50% of marketers in our survey said they had analytics programs, and of these, few were focused on predicting behavior; most were simply reporting past behavior.

Top of Funnel 100

Top of Funnel Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

JULY 24, 2009

I’ve been working on a report for ITSMA clients this week about analytics and it got me thinking about the proverbial bigger picture of B2B marketing. Only 50% of marketers in our survey said they had analytics programs, and of these, few were focused on predicting behavior; most were simply reporting past behavior.

Lead Qualification 100

Lead Qualification Marketing Automation Services Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 100

Chris Koch

MAY 6, 2011

Through surveys, both qualitative and quantitative, marketers ask their target audiences to tell them how they perceive the company. For example, many ITSMA members are companies that began by selling B2B products but are now trying to become known as full-service solution companies. The two most important components of influence.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing Work Management Media 100

Chris Koch

MAY 14, 2010

At least that’s the conclusion we reached at ITSMA recently when we did our social media survey (there’s a free summary if you’re interested). Shameless plug here: My favorite B2B blogger Paul Dunay is going to talk about how Avaya uses social media for customer support at ITSMA’s Marketing Leadership Forum on May 25-26.)

Organic Leads 100

Organic Leads Social Media Social Marketing Organization 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 16, 2009

Earlier this year I surveyed B2B marketers about their approaches to corporate blogging. Tags: Blogging Marketing Strategy B2B marketing blogs Marketing Processes social media strategy social media technology. Their strategies take two basic approaches. Marketers won’t be able to do much for their independent bloggers.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Blogger Thought Leadership Word of Mouth 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Recently, I was asked by a former ITSMA client to help put together a plan for a thought leadership program for a B2B technology company that sells both products and services. Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. What do you think?

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing B2B Sales 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch. Posted in Sales and Marketing Collaboration Tagged: B2B marketing, Marketing and Sales Collaboration, Marketing Automation, Marketing Processes. Bring in the experts.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 21, 2009

Recently, I was asked by a former ITSMA client to help put together a plan for a thought leadership program for a B2B technology company that sells both products and services. Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Network Marketing Paper 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 30, 2009

Most of ITSMA’s clients are B2B marketers from big technology companies that sell big, complex products, services, and solutions. We just wrapped up our ITSMA Annual Marketing Conference this week and the strongest current driving the river of conversation was social media. CEOs Use Social Media More than Other Buyers.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Enterprise Management Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

Right now, given that B2B buyers are just beginning to adopt social media, I think the viral model clearly gives us the most bang for the buck. Tags: Marketing Strategy Social Media Uncategorized B2B marketing social media strategy social media technology. ask a poll question, etc.). What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch. Tags: Sales and Marketing Collaboration B2B marketing Marketing and Sales Collaboration Marketing Automation Marketing Processes. Bring in the experts. Yammer is one great example of this. What have I left out?

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 15, 2010

After consolidating their power for years through internet search, B2B buyers are beginning to emerge from behind their firewalls and show up in places where marketers can find them. But developing and disseminating content that builds relationships—think publishers and subscribers—takes different skills. Buyers become approachable.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

Right now, given that B2B buyers are just beginning to adopt social media, I think the viral model clearly gives us the most bang for the buck. If you start to look at social media based on the relationship model, I think it becomes a little easier to make decisions about where to spend your limited marketing time. ask a poll question, etc.).

Social Media 100

Social Media Viral Marketing Tools Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

In ITSMA’s Thought Leadership Survey, marketers with formal thought leadership processes segment their ideas this way 95% of the time. We need to create a mix of these two types of thought leadership content to maintain strong relationships with their target audiences. Here’s why: Marketers who do this are more successful.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Loyalty Case Study 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

In ITSMA’s Thought Leadership Survey, marketers with formal thought leadership processes segment their ideas this way 95% of the time. We need to create a mix of these two types of thought leadership content to maintain strong relationships with their target audiences. Here’s why: Marketers who do this are more successful.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Loyalty Case Study 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 18, 2011

In fact, our most recent thought leadership survey found that few marketers are measuring much besides consumption of their marketing content. Alas, no such magic metric exists. We’re focusing on the wrong things.

Work Management 100

Work Management Thought Leadership Marketing Management Paper 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

I’ve been interviewing ITSMA members about their thought leadership programs as follow-on to our recent thought leadership survey and asking about what makes a good thought leader. Thought leaders themselves must be better-rounded than in the past, as comfortable online as on stage or in an interview.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Thought Leadership Social Media Storytelling 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 16, 2010

In the nearly three years I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve been relentlessly chronicling my pursuit of the developing story of social media for B2B marketers and absorbing your comments and real-world stories. How to use social media to create thought leadership. But it’s also more than the sum of its parts.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

In ITSMA’s social media survey, 68% said that marketing is the catalyst for social media. I humbly offer these guidelines in the spirit of the B2B marketing guild. In B2B, it’s likely to be diverse, at least in terms of ages and backgrounds. I’d love to hear your additions, comments, rants. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

Survey internal sales and marketing staff, customers, target markets, and influencers to determine what they are looking for. Tags: Thought Leadership Add new tag B2B marketing Gartner marketing Marketing Strategy. Doing research first allows you to set goals using reliable, objective data. myventurepad.com). Tweet This Post.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Gartner Planning 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

In ITSMA’s social media survey, 68% said that marketing is the catalyst for social media. I humbly offer these guidelines in the spirit of the B2B marketing guild. In B2B, it’s likely to be diverse, at least in terms of ages and backgrounds. I’d love to hear your additions, comments, rants. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

We’re all getting constant advice—hectoring, even—about how we need to make social media a key part of our B2B marketing strategies right now. While I believe that these two threads are accurate, I haven’t seen compelling data to back them up—at least as it relates to B2B. How strong do you think the arguments are? Customer factors.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Work Management 100