Marketing Interactions

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Most marketers treat content like a tactic, not a product offering. Content truly focused on what your buyers and customers need to know becomes integrated with your products—just represented by media that you create and publish. As your products evolve, your content must keep pace. The Job of Sales Content.

Effectiveness 122

Effectiveness Work Management Content Marketing Management 122

Marketing Interactions

JUNE 27, 2021

It could be—with buyer personas built to uncover true insights about attitudes, perspectives, change management, and thought processes of the people who buy and use your products and solutions. And yes, your buyers and customers are primary conversations, but it goes beyond them to your sales, product, and customer teams.

Buyer Personas 111

Buyer Personas B2B Ideal Customer Profiles Account Based Marketing 111

Marketing Interactions

OCTOBER 24, 2021

I’d wager a guess that it’s because you haven’t created personas or done the audience/customer research to really understand their roles and perspectives in relation to the problem your solution solves. Tied for Content Marketing Challenge #5: Differentiating our products/services from the competition (36%). Look at outcomes.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing Content Marketing Planning B2B 100

Marketing Interactions

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

For SaaS and subscription companies, winning a customer is only the first step of the journey to customer lifetime value (LTV). This is why it’s imperative for B2B tech marketers to shift their focus from buying journey funnels to full-on customer lifecycle management. Develop a Clear Customer Engagement Strategy.

Marketing Funnels 87

Marketing Funnels Top of Funnel B2B Marketing Work Management 87

Marketing Interactions

JUNE 20, 2021

All go-to-market and customer programs run on messaging. Marketing creates messaging to position the company in market, draw attention to the brand and create awareness and advancement for prospective buyers and across the customer continuum. Marketing redesigns the website in preparation for a big, new product update.

B2B 62

B2B Marketing Management Customer Satisfaction B2B Sales 62

Marketing Interactions

MARCH 7, 2022

I recently wrote about B2B nurturing for net new vs. existing customers. They have a recognized problem to solve that matches the solution your products or services provide. Customer Stories: Not your typical case studies, but stories about customers experiences overcoming the reasons and obstacles your buyers were/are facing.

Ideal Customer Profiles 88

Ideal Customer Profiles B2B B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer 88

Marketing Interactions

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

Most marketers still struggle to understand what’s relevant to their buyers and customers. In the customer interviews you conduct to build personas. From marketing to product to sales to customer success to UX designers, and more. Most importantly, talk to your customers. Will it work for our products?

B2B 75

B2B B2B Sales Webinar Metrics Buy 75

Marketing Interactions

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Sales says one thing, marketing messaging says another, and product marketing says something else. Silos are the fuel for leaps of faith because our customer-facing teams aren’t all on the same page so messaging becomes confusing for buyers. One persona is visiting your website, but your content is written to engage another.

B2B 149

B2B Marketing Qualified Leads Lead Ranking Content 149

Marketing Interactions

JANUARY 15, 2023

He also shared the experience of he and his team’s use of the tool while considering a buying decision for a productivity tool. But for some reason, we’re still wrapped around the axel in love with our products more so than showing buyers how to get the outcomes we promise. They need our help. At least that’s what our content reflects.

Marketing Management 80

Marketing Management B2B Vendors Buy 80

Marketing Interactions

APRIL 18, 2019

If your buyers were where you are, they’d be customers by now. We focus on how we think our products align to what our buyers need. Buyers don’t care about your products. Marketers love to tout the big ROI numbers our customers get. We say something like, “productivity increased by 40%.” We “get” it.

Buyer Personas 119

Buyer Personas Buying Cycle Case Studies Case Study 119

Marketing Interactions

JANUARY 25, 2022

A new product is launching. Ask the following questions based on the internal change you’re reacting to: Has something about your persona (buyers, customers) changed? Content marketing strategy is a continuous process that lives and breathes the brand story as a distinct value to buyers and customers. Quotas go up.

B2B Marketing 69

B2B Marketing B2B Budget Programs Marketing & Strategy 69

Marketing Interactions

MAY 23, 2018

Content has become almost as much of a product as the actual products and solutions your company provides to your customers. Products have road maps, development processes, releases, and a lot of other organization and structure around how they’re brought to market, as well as the management of each product’s lifecycle.

Top of Funnel 67

Top of Funnel Paid Search Agency Companies B2B 67

Marketing Interactions

MARCH 22, 2022

Authority: I talk to a ton of my client’s customers. Think about product-led growth (PLG). It’s also interesting to note if their focus is solely on product information vs. information about outcomes. There’s also value in the business case and being able to quantify whatever your product promises to help them achieve.

Work Management 62

Work Management Marketing Management Ideal Customer Profiles Sales Qualified Leads 62

Marketing Interactions

JUNE 23, 2017

An in-depth buyer persona will: Describe their perspective on your product based on what they want to achieve. Enable collaboration among marketing, product, sales, and customer service for a consistent experience. Select members related to the focus of the project from sales, product marketing, and line of business management.

Buyer Personas 74

Buyer Personas Enterprise Management B2B Marketing Marketing Strategy 74

Marketing Interactions

JULY 25, 2019

Once B2B buyers figured out they could access whatever information they needed to understand a new subject, answer a question, or evaluate a product they no longer needed to talk to a vendor until they decided to invite them to the conversation. 80% of buyers say the customer experience is as important as the product ( source ).

Relevance 73

Relevance Work Management Marketing Management B2B Sales 73

Marketing Interactions

MAY 23, 2018

In order to achieve that goal, marketers need to create better experiences, produce customer-centric content, improve engagement in channels that can attract leads, and give all of this a boost with better targeting and personalization efforts. Your prospects and customers won’t think, “Oh, that was Joe in Department X.

Advertising Benchmark 83

Advertising Benchmark Marketing & Strategy B2B Content 83

Marketing Interactions

AUGUST 24, 2021

Gartner defines buyer enablement as, “…the provision of information and/or tools to customers that support the completion of their buying jobs.”. All these tools can be helpful…if your potential customer has already completed the jobs to be done that allow them to choose to become a buyer. We need to. These are not simple questions.

B2B Thought Leadership 62

B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership B2B Gartner 62

Marketing Interactions

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

Mostly because the campaign is trying to place product before the buyer is ready to buy. Not one, but a series of content oriented to end stage interest, such as evaluation factors, questions to ask, reasons your customers bought from you, etc. But just because they’ve shown interest, doesn’t mean they’re intent on buying.

Intent Data 124

Intent Data Intent B2B Marketing B2B 124

Marketing Interactions

AUGUST 8, 2021

They must exhaust all their options, from workarounds with existing software to a custom build they can control before an agreement for change with consideration of an external solution can happen. It takes “the way you’ve always done it” and pushes it out until buyers are ready to receive product information and consider choosing a solution.

Buy 62

Buy Work Management Lead Ranking Marketing Management 62

Marketing Interactions

APRIL 11, 2019

Email marketing was a thing, but back then we were all pretty much broadcasting about our products and how great our companies were. There was no real story, the sends were mostly predicated on new product releases or updates and features or “me, me, look at me, I’m the leader” propaganda. But we have to.

Peer-to-peer 53

Peer-to-peer Content Enterprise Management Broadcasting 53

Marketing Interactions

SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

A good customer experience must be relevant. It’s beyond time for B2B marketers to buckle down and do the work needed to become and stay relevant with their prospects and customers. These two quadrants are based on an inside-out approach that puts the company and its products first. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Relevance 58

Relevance B2B Marketing B2B Broadcasting 58

Marketing Interactions

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

It’s the type and focus of the information that’s the issue–usually all about your product and functionality. There’s an entire change management process buyers must navigate before your potential customer is wearing their buyer hat. Your future customers need your help to navigate their buying process.

Ideal Customer Profiles 62

Ideal Customer Profiles Account Based Marketing B2B ABM 62

Marketing Interactions

JUNE 4, 2017

Pushing product: it’s what B2B companies have been doing for years. Even if we say we’re putting the customer front and center, usually we’re not really walking the talk. But in most of these conversations, the customer becomes the equivalent of a wanted poster. One of the best things about ABM is the first part: the “Account.”

Account Based Marketing 64

Account Based Marketing ABM Lead Scoring Lead Ranking 64

Marketing Interactions

JANUARY 30, 2017

Unfortunately, customer experiences are often defined by the experience we want our customers to have, rather than those they expect and need to have with us. We need to do the foundational work that sets up our B2B Marketing Strategies for the successful creation of experiences that meet our buyers’ and customers’ expectations.

B2B Marketing 73

B2B Marketing Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy Webinar Metrics 73

Marketing Interactions

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Buyers hate this because they know they’re going to marked as a lead and bombarded with email, phone calls, and other intrusive attempts by marketers and sales reps trying to place their products. This also results in increased attention and engagement with your target customers. They hate it because they’re not ready.

B2B 62

B2B Work Management Marketing Management B2B Thought Leadership 62

Marketing Interactions

JANUARY 19, 2020

After all, the reason to develop personas in the first place is to build an engaged audience of potential prospects who can and are likely to become customers. When you get this opportunity, you should also ask questions, such as: What does an ideal company profile look like for X product? Start by talking to your sales team.

Buyer Personas 121

Buyer Personas Enterprise Management Work Management B2B 121

Marketing Interactions

DECEMBER 26, 2016

Clarity is just as important to those interacting externally with your content as for your internal team productivity. The growth in content for most B2B organizations has resulted in a messy, chaotic, and often uninformed, haphazard production and publishing efforts. Control is also where metrics come in. And it can be.

Lead Scoring 72

Lead Scoring Lead Ranking B2B Marketing Planning 72

Marketing Interactions

JUNE 23, 2017

A Day in the Life” establishes a shared view of the customer across the organization. Improve productivity by creating a flexible work plan that reduces the number of FTEs needed. This level of detail highlights long-tail keywords for top of the funnel SEO, provided you’ve chosen phrases your customers also use.

Buyer Personas 64

Buyer Personas Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy B2B Marketing 64

Marketing Interactions

MAY 21, 2018

Consistency in tone, voice, and style is critical for meeting your customers’ expectations. And this discernment means more efficiency and effectiveness in content ideation, production, and execution. Certainly, content is the fuel needed to attract, engage, and convert B2B prospects. Content serves as the champion of your company.

Cost 69

Cost Content Marketing Automation Services Work Management 69

Marketing Interactions

DECEMBER 29, 2016

Focusing on the whole process brings the quality metrics, such as customer acquisition and revenues (read: the important stuff). As such they are only geared for short-term outcomes (read: activity at a moment in time) when most B2B complex buying processes are longer term requiring sustained, progressive engagement.

B2B Marketing 81

B2B Marketing Content Marketing B2B Content 81

Marketing Interactions

MARCH 8, 2017

This means consistently, continuously and across the entire buying process and customer lifecycle. Get to know the dynamics of the buying committees and find ways to help them work together more productively. The intent of content marketing is to get the right content to the right persona at the right time in the right channel.

Buyer Personas 48

Buyer Personas Budget Programs B2B Cross-Selling 48

Marketing Interactions

JUNE 13, 2021

He related an experience from early in his career where he created a story about his company’s product as “true SaaS” and competitors as “fake SaaS.” At the Gartner CSO conference, Brent Adamson said, “The single biggest driver of purchase likelihood in a B2B sale is the degree to which customers feel confident about their own decisions.”

B2B Marketing 174

B2B Marketing B2B Gartner Purchase Intent 174

Marketing Interactions

MAY 23, 2018

Feedback – learn from a voice-of-customer initiative how to improve your brand’s relevance. Sales – create urgency for buyers to take action to acquire your products. Loyalty – ensure your buyers return and buy more to build customer lifetime value (CLV). Product arrivals. Product updates. Special promotions.

SMS 58

SMS Campaigns Marketing Automation Services Urgency Marketing 58

Marketing Interactions

JULY 5, 2021

The goal is ongoing escalation of engagement that advances your audience’s thinking about solving the problem your product or solution helps them with. A collection of interconnected content experiences is what creates a continuum for the customer lifecycle – from status quo through buying, onboarding, renewal, and advocacy.

Relevance 140

Relevance Top of Funnel B2B Content 140

Marketing Interactions

MAY 23, 2018

As B2B marketers sprint forward, full of anticipation and excitement to help our companies grow and thrive based on the success of our customers, there are a few content marketing insights, 11 actually, that CMOs wish all marketers knew. Sales is not your customer. Your customers are your customers!

Planning 118

Planning Paid Search Agency Content Marketing Marketing & Strategy 118