Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

I’m wondering if it’s time to take sales enablement away from marketing. Marketers helped salespeople put words to the insanely complex products and services they were trying to sell. Salespeople remained dependent on marketers for information. should responsibility for all this stuff remain with marketing? If so, why?

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Wiki Marketing Management Internet Marketing 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 18, 2009

The biggest difference between social media marketing and other forms of marketing is control. Most marketing channels are focused on broadcasting tightly controlled messages to audiences that have little opportunity to talk back. Giving up control of what is being said about your company is difficult for most marketers.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Social Marketing B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 4, 2011

This cartoon making the rounds online captures the frustration journalists have with their online plight--and reveals the opportunity B2B marketers have to fill the content gap. Marketers always struggle with what to do next. But if you step back and think about where the real opportunity is for B2B marketers, it is idea marketing.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies B2B Marketing Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

JULY 22, 2011

I realized that I really have become one of you marketing types. A marketing geek. (I All of which is a lead-in to this week’s entry, which is what we as B2B marketers can learn from health-care marketing. Healthcare marketing is awful, practically non-existent. Market your strengths. I’m a goner.

Work Management 100

Work Management Marketing Management Social Media B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

It’s great because the software acts as a battering ram for alignment between marketing and sales. If we now have a system measuring how long it takes marketing to nurture a lead until it is sales ready, we will now also have a measure of whether the nurturing period increases or decreases over time. Create an editorial calendar.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Planning Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

It’s great because the software acts as a battering ram for alignment between marketing and sales. If we now have a system measuring how long it takes marketing to nurture a lead until it is sales ready, we will now also have a measure of whether the nurturing period increases or decreases over time. Create an editorial calendar.

Planning 100

Planning B2B Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

And that has big implications for marketers. To market to these people effectively, you’re going to have to get to know them as being part of multiple, unique segments. Others are successful CIOs who take on complementary business roles in addition to IT such as supply chain, for example. CIOs are not all the same.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

And that has big implications for marketers. To market to these people effectively, you’re going to have to get to know them as being part of multiple, unique segments. Others are successful CIOs who take on complementary business roles in addition to IT such as supply chain, for example. CIOs are not all the same.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

MAY 14, 2010

Social media creates the need for marketing to lead within the organization. We mean that within the organization the leadership of social media is falling to marketing. We think that’s because social media is seen primarily as a tool for marketing. We think that’s because social media is seen primarily as a tool for marketing.

Organic Leads 100

Organic Leads Social Media Social Marketing Organization 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 26, 2009

When I despair at ever mastering all the social media tools that exist out there, I remind myself (as I hope you will) that at its core social media is all about communication and that marketers are all expert communicators. My job is to learn about how to become a better B2B marketer and to share what I learn with others.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Personalization 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

As social media becomes more prevalent in marketing, we’re going to have to rethink how we gather information from prospects. 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 efforts so far (by 67% of respondents).

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 11, 2009

And that is important for marketers. For B2B marketers, this means that video and interactivity are something we need to be thinking about and doing now. For example, a Forbes survey found that C-suite executives are more likely to make the time for a video than other executives. Mobile also drives a craving for immediacy.

Mobile Marketing 100

Mobile Marketing B2B Marketing B2B Storytelling 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is the one that’s actually within marketers’ control. Executives live under constant fear of myopia—that by focusing so much of their time on internal operations, they are missing something important out there in the market. Marketing automation and CRM vendors are beginning to offer ways to capture that kind of information.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This is the one that’s actually within marketers’ control. Executives live under constant fear of myopia—that by focusing so much of their time on internal operations, they are missing something important out there in the market. Marketing automation and CRM vendors are beginning to offer ways to capture that kind of information.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

The best documents don’t just tell employees what not to do; they also tell them what they should be doing to further the marketing goals of the company. Here are some recommendations based on a cross-section of social media policies from B2B companies, including social media policy examples from some leading B2B companies.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Guidelines B2B 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

The example I’m about to give focuses on the fact that if you think of sports fans as business customers, they are the most loyal in the world. The first is rising costs: The steady increase of player salaries (average Major League Baseball salaries, for example, rose 5.4% But every once in awhile, sports analogies work.

Loyalty 100

Loyalty Eye-Tracking Mobile Marketing Stats 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 10, 2014

It’s marketing. That is marketing. Even if you do the heavy lifting, idea marketing kind of kind of stuff like the big services companies do, for example, where they interview people and do surveys, it isn’t journalism. Brand, Reputation, and Positioning Idea Marketing Latest Post' It’s just an analogy!”

Branding 100

Branding Brand Identity Intent Positioning 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

Here’s why: Marketers who do this are more successful. In ITSMA’s Thought Leadership Survey, marketers with formal thought leadership processes segment their ideas this way 95% of the time. For example, IBM creates specific versions of its thought leadership materials for salespeople to use during their discussions with customers.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Loyalty Case Study 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

Here’s why: Marketers who do this are more successful. In ITSMA’s Thought Leadership Survey, marketers with formal thought leadership processes segment their ideas this way 95% of the time. For example, IBM creates specific versions of its thought leadership materials for salespeople to use during their discussions with customers.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Loyalty Case Study 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 19, 2010

I think it’s important to try to do this if we’re going to get social media integrated with the rest of marketing. The next step is to categorize how we use social media in these different areas and how our actions hook back into the rest of marketing. This helps you decide which blogs you’d like to do outreach with, for example.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

MARCH 12, 2010

Though it has become a generic term, customer intimacy was first coined by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema who worked at CSC/Index back in the 90s when I was a thought leadership marketer there. 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

JULY 28, 2010

And the brand or the issue that the brand wants to promote (say cloud computing, for example) remains the focal point of the blog rather than a particular personality. The multi-author approach is more loyal to the traditional marketing approach that says that the brand comes before the individual. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Blogger 100

Blogger Wikipedia Work Management Social Media 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

Okay, so it’s difficult to actually pull money out of buyers for your marketing content (though there are rare exceptions: McKinsey has been doing it for years with the McKinsey Quarterly). Make no mistake; buyers understand the prices behind marketing content. For example, 99.9% Image via Wikipedia. Culture and location.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

Okay, so it’s difficult to actually pull money out of buyers for your marketing content (though there are rare exceptions: McKinsey has been doing it for years with the McKinsey Quarterly). Make no mistake; buyers understand the prices behind marketing content. For example, 99.9% Image via Wikipedia. Culture and location.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

MAY 20, 2011

Many marketers involved in social media management tell me that they struggle to get their subject matter experts engaged in social media. Marketers need to facilitate a process for internal development of ideas and for external feedback. Here are some examples of how this can work: Internal. Knowledge share sessions.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

Lately, I’ve been talking to B2B marketers about the content delivered by these thought leaders and asking, What defines good thought leadership content? Being first to interpret the impact of a new regulatory requirement, for example, reduces the chances of being perceived as “me too” thinking. Here’s what I have so far.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Best Practices Case Study 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

Lately, I’ve been talking to B2B marketers about the content delivered by these thought leaders and asking, What defines good thought leadership content? Being first to interpret the impact of a new regulatory requirement, for example, reduces the chances of being perceived as “me too” thinking. Here’s what I have so far.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Best Practices Case Study 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

They don’t want duplicative or conflicting messages coming from different parts of the marketing organization. For example, instead of measuring how quickly a call center agent answers a customer’s question, measure how infrequently customers call back. How Do We Stop the Infighting? Develop plans collaboratively.

De-duplication 100

De-duplication Paid Search Agency Companies Wikipedia 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 22, 2011

This shift in innovation has big implications for marketing. ITSMA’s social media research (free excerpt available) shows that marketing is responsible for monitoring social media and for training, governing, and supporting the organization in using social media. Marketing is in a similar position today to where IT was in the 90s.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Management Social Media 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2010

I’ve been reading through applications for ITSMA’s Marketing Excellence Awards this week and I have been blown away by the quality of innovation and creativity that’s going on out there among our members (and other B2B companies)—I mean, I’m talking about a quantum leap over what I’ve seen in the three years that I’ve been mingling with these folks.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

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

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Goldberg has found three examples of how companies can do this: Intergenerational learning. Idea Marketing Latest Post Africa American Express Cobol employee engagement engagement IBM meaning purpose SAP SAP AG Starbucks' I can’t imagine anything worse than mentoring people who don’t feel they need or want it (even if they do).

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Work Management Marketing Management Loyalty 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 10, 2009

The questions display a healthy distrust for accepted wisdom, which I like, and provide a good test of the thinking behind thought leadership marketing. Thought leadership marketing is based on the academic research publishing model, in which academics created journals built around a peer review process.

Thought Leadership 100

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

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 6, 2009

Like most marketers, I spend most of my time desperately seeking to understand my target audience (B2B marketers) and delivering content that they find relevant and engaging. That’s when I get to sit back and watch the submissions for our Marketing Excellence Awards (MEA) roll in. It’s a struggle. It’s a beautiful thing.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Budget Programs Business 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 25, 2011

I confirmed something I’ve been hearing in my research on idea marketing over the past month: idea marketing requires a deep commitment not just from marketing but from the entire organization. For example, one company required that its council members hold at least one patent before they’d be invited. Make it visible.

Social Media 100

Social Media Organization Peer-to-peer SME 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 5, 2009

For example, when certain models of Ford’s Explorer experienced tire blowouts, Ford delayed taking action with customers, blaming the tire supplier for the problems. Customers become highly sensitive to a company’s marketing and advertising messages in the aftermath of a crisis. Speed of response. Make choices about a brand’s future.

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Companies Work Management Ethics 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 23, 2009

For example, what if your brand or offering uses a generic term like “Service Oriented Architecture”? Since many of the monitoring tools are new, most are available as Software as a Service (SaaS) over the internet, which makes it easy for marketers to try them out. But things can quickly get complicated from there. Track propagation.

Social Media 100

Social Media Tools Media RSS 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 9, 2010

A former colleague that I really admire managed to mention his 30 year experience in marketing into the first minute of conversation with anyone new. If they are focused on developing new offerings, for example, this is a natural voice for them. Show your age. The voice of experience is powerful. Have the data. Iconoclast.

SME 100

SME Aggregators Blogger Social Media 100