Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

CIOs are in fact so different that marketing to them all with the same message means that you’ll be irrelevant at best, and offensive at worst to most of the people you’re trying to reach. The best have built up their business skills through direct experience. CIOs are not all the same. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

CIOs are in fact so different that marketing to them all with the same message means that you’ll be irrelevant at best, and offensive at worst to most of the people you’re trying to reach. The best have built up their business skills through direct experience. CIOs are not all the same. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2010

For example, in the three categories I’ve looked at so far (there are six categories altogether), we have one company using analytics to predict customer buying patterns (and this ain’t diapers or laundry detergent, ladies and gents—we’re talking six-figure jumbles of complex products and services here). One example stands out for me.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

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

Chris Koch

MARCH 12, 2010

They are focused on lifetime customer value and are willing to incur short-term costs in order to build long-term loyalty and satisfaction—Nordstrom and Amex are a couple of B2C examples. FedEx is an example, having invented the guaranteed overnight shipping model. Apple is the most obvious example here ( Sony used to be).

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Thought Leadership Work Management 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 10, 2009

When the consulting industry began soon thereafter, McKinsey took the academic journal model and applied it to its marketing, which resulted in the McKinsey Quarterly.The Quarterly is the first real example of thought leadership marketing. It looks and feels like an academic journal but does not accept submissions from outside of McKinsey.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Work Management 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 26, 2009

But his personal presence in social media is based on sharing best practices in B2B and social media generally—there’s nary a mention of his company or his day job. One of the best ways to start is with RSS. For example, I have a column that does a running search for “B2B.” Before you can begin talking, you have to listen.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Personalization 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

PR schedules interviews between the subject matter experts and the influencers and tries to influence the interaction to put the company and its offerings in the best light. Examples of how you do this are: Make them visible on social networks. Gatekeeper. Push them to get lots of peer and customer recommendations and connections.

PR 100

PR Peer-to-peer Press Public Relations 100

Chris Koch

MAY 1, 2009

For example, the trend towards creating a closed-loop lead generation and nurturing process between marketing and sales is a positive step, but it seems like a bridge across the chasm rather than a true route to collaboration. Right now, it seems that the gap between sales and marketing is mostly papered over with technology.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Cross-Selling B2B Sales Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

MAY 6, 2011

The best of these is still Technorati, because blogs are, in and of themselves, the most influential channel within social media. 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. These fall into two categories: The number generators.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing Work Management Media 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 16, 2011

The “voluntary policing” being done by the ad industry today online is at best an uneasy truce with an internet public not yet bothered enough, too lazy, or too uniformed to do anything about shutting off the cookie oven for good. We keep hearing that at some point web users may truly be able to stop you from learning anything about them.

B2B 100

B2B Privacy Click Rate Internet Marketing 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 16, 2011

The “voluntary policing” being done by the ad industry today online is at best an uneasy truce with an internet public not yet bothered enough, too lazy, or too uniformed to do anything about shutting off the cookie oven for good. We keep hearing that at some point web users may truly be able to stop you from learning anything about them.

B2B 100

B2B Privacy Click Rate Internet Marketing 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

In my experience, IT prospects tend to lie about their titles and their level of interest because they’re afraid that they won’t get the best content or treatment if they admit that they’re trapped on the help desk instead of wielding that big stick of decision-making. But is that lead totally useless? I don’t think so.

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Here are some examples: Most C-level executives are not in social media—they’re in search. 9 attributes of the best thought leadership content (christopherakoch.com). But when the panel was over, I realized something scary: Most of the success factors we wound up talking about had nothing to do with social media. What do you think?

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Here are some examples: Most C-level executives are not in social media—they’re in search. 9 attributes of the best thought leadership content (christopherakoch.com). But when the panel was over, I realized something scary: Most of the success factors we wound up talking about had nothing to do with social media. What do you think?

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 16, 2009

That runs counter to the spirit of the best blogs. For example, visitors may not feel that an executive from a computer networking company should be writing about tangential topics, even if he or she is qualified to do so. You can’t have a disclaimer on your corporate-hosted blogs. Content inflexibility. Technology inflexibility.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Blogger Thought Leadership Word of Mouth 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 26, 2010

Very few writers are able to get their best thoughts out on paper without some help. Journalists are trained to separate the compelling ideas from the chaff and develop them with supporting evidence and case examples. Have regular pitch meetings. Hire one to help your SMEs develop and disseminate their ideas. Buddy them up.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership RSS Enterprise Management Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The best example of this that I can think of is IBM’s Smarter Planet. Rather than just shoving readers’ muzzles in the bucket of surveys and white papers, we lead them there with some short, clear, visual themes that are focused on issues that matter to customers rather than on silly ad tag lines or collages of the logo.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 16, 2009

You can seek out the best thinkers in marketing—people that you’ve paid money to go see at conferences—and listen to what they have to say anytime, for free. For example, after shamelessly sucking content from the people I was following for a few days, I started to feel an obligation–and a challenge–to start contributing.

Twitter 100

Twitter Web 2.0 Social Media Communities 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 3, 2010

You need a second hand on your watch to track how long it takes to set up a Twitter account, for example. The best social media voices have a clear understanding of what it feels like to stand in their audiences’ shoes. The unwritten rule for blogs demands at least a post per week, for example. Empathetic.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 1, 2010

My feeling is that it is apt, because the best model we have for doing this is publishing—i.e., What social media vehicles are best for promoting B2B thought leadership? What are some examples of B2B companies who are successfully using social media and thought leadership? traditional media companies. Video, blogs, Twitter?

Thought Leadership 100

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

Chris Koch

JULY 29, 2011

A textbook example of pragmatic thought leadership. The article itself is one of the best examples of thought leadership I have ever read. Despite its prowess in thought leadership—McKinsey is simply the best—the firm is falling dangerously behind in social media. You’ve heard all that before.

Social Media 100

Social Media Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Companies 100