These are your best customers, folks! Michael Shrage’s recent Harvard Business Review post, Great Customers Inspire Great Innovations , got me thinking: Why, amid so much evidence of the power of customer-centric business, are so many companies still mired in inside-out operations? Why do we hear so much talk but see so little action? Shrage’s post reminds us that behind most great innovations lie customers and clients that made those innovations possible. That led directly to Intel’s breakthrough creation of the microprocessor." It is happening to some extent, of course. MORE >>

Client Collaboration: The best ABM programs are not only transparent to the client (i.e., Over the last 10 years, more and more B2B firms have invested in account-based marketing: treating individual accounts as "markets" and devising focused campaigns just for them. Back when my partners and I were developing some of the early methodology for account-based marketing in the early 2000s at ITSMA , it was a tough sell. We had seen strong results from ABM pioneers, such as Accenture, IBM, Xerox , and HP, but the costs of doing ABM were clearer to many marketers than the benefits. MORE >>

Syndicating your best content is the fourth element of an integrated approach. But content remains an essential component, and it continues to bedevil even the best B2B marketers. Consistently creating engaging content is one of those programmatic challenges that strikes fear in the hearts of many B2B marketers looking to take more advantage of social media. Indeed, there are four levels of content sharing that B2B marketers should include in their social media mix. Four Levels of Content Sharing. Effective curation is not simple. anxious to share the content wealth. Do you agree? MORE >>

Sharing best practices and lessons learned from peers and experts they trust. The focus here is on sharing of best practices and success stories within a highly accomplished peer group of technology leaders. If CIOs want to share best practices and success stories, ensure a private and safe environment to enable them to do this with relevant and credible peers. Everyone selling high value solutions wants to engage C-level executives.  They're the ultimate decision makers. They They can provide deep insight into both their own companies and emerging issues in your markets. They MORE >>

The leaders in social media have moved far beyond a few staff and programs in the last few years and invested heavily in social media training, centers of excellence to document and share guidelines and best practice, and active support for integrated action and culture change. . Jon Hampson, Environment Director, for Capgemini UK , gave a great presentation last week on the top lessons for building sustainability programs at large corporations. Focus on what matters. Social media is similar. These have their place, and what matters most will certainly vary across companies. MORE >>