10 Uncomfortable B2B Marketing Realities
The Point
JULY 26, 2022
How does marketing theory and thought leadership stack up with the B2B marketing realities most marketers face every day?
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The Point
JULY 26, 2022
How does marketing theory and thought leadership stack up with the B2B marketing realities most marketers face every day?
The Point
OCTOBER 11, 2022
A new report: “ What’s Working in Email Marketing: The Power of Aligning Strategies, Data & Content ” details the strategies, technologies, and best practices that today’s email marketers are adopting in an era of data privacy, remote work, and demanding, digitally-savvy buyers. Personalization is over-rated.
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The Point
FEBRUARY 25, 2022
Just as too much time on Instagram fawning after the photoshopped lives of internet influencers can create an unhealthy self-image, marketers too can fall victim to unrealistic standards and FOMO created by the marketing blogosphere and the breathy propaganda of martech vendors. Marketing attribution is a good example.
The Point
NOVEMBER 15, 2022
A client asks: “What’s the best way to market to purchased lists like ZoomInfo ? We have a debate between our marketing and sales teams on whether the best approach is marketing emails, sales outreach, or something else. How Should I Market to Purchased Lists? Re-market to those who click on ads but don’t complete a form.
The Point
APRIL 19, 2023
There’s an old truism in marketing that says the three most important success factors are (in order of priority): List, Offer, and Creative. Most marketers accept this axiom implicitly, and yet B2B companies routinely define their target audience with more attention to logos and aspiration than actual fit.
The Point
OCTOBER 8, 2020
An old boss once commented: “75% of marketing is just being in the right place at the right time.”. For more companies than not, marketing success is rarely about convincing a given individual, on a given day, to buy what it is you’re selling. Marketing Success & the Accident of Timing Click To Tweet.
The Point
JULY 26, 2022
Why B2B campaigns that attempt to short cut the buyer journey are destined to disappoint
The Point
JUNE 23, 2020
B2B marketing has seen a dramatic change in the last decade, driven by radical advances in marketing technology and the emergence of new channels. Content marketing is dead. * Content marketing is dead. * Change in marketing is an evolution, not a coup. Cold-calling is dead. The MQL is dead. . The MQL is dead.
The Point
APRIL 29, 2021
If your main domain isn’t used for marketing emails, it can help preserve that domain’s reputation and thus improve email deliverability. In addition, marketing automation users will need to use the new domain email address as their login to avoid accidentally sending emails from the old domain. Click To Tweet.
The Point
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
and other recent regulations (CAN-SPAM, CASL), CCPA is something that every B2B marketer needs to understand and prepare for. Any company that does business in California, markets to California residents, or has annual gross revenues in excess of $25 million, is subject to CCPA. CCPA: What B2B Marketers Need to Know Click To Tweet.
The Point
JUNE 30, 2021
When it comes to what is, and isn’t, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) , there are as many opinions out there as there are ABM experts. Well, it matters only because many B2B marketers who haven’t yet stepped foot in the ABM waters are under pressure, from management or sales or both, to do so. Is One-to-One Marketing the Only True ABM?
The Point
JUNE 25, 2019
[Thanks to Anne Angele, Spear’s esteemed Director of Marketing Technology, for this month’s guest post.]. Marketing attribution is a hot topic these days in B2B circles. Yet, for all the interest, precious few B2B companies achieve the holy grail of knowing exactly how – and where – their marketing investment impacts revenue.
The Point
MARCH 8, 2018
Technology marketers love analyst reports. Sure, they’re expensive to license, but they’re instant fodder for all sorts of content marketing, they bring credibility and name recognition to a campaign, and – bonus – they say nice things about your product. However, in my experience, most tech companies don’t know how to market them.
The Point
FEBRUARY 18, 2020
Almost 5 years ago, our agency conducted a survey to determine whether B2B companies were getting maximum value from their investment in marketing automation. You’d assume, therefore, that marketing automation maturity – the level of sophistication at which companies employ the technology – has improved.
The Point
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
While there’s little debate about the value of a well-planned, well-executed Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy, where many B2B companies struggle – and where ABM initiatives tend to stall – is in that phase between planning and execution, where strategy and account planning meet tactics, plays and content.
The Point
DECEMBER 12, 2017
Results from Deloitte’s 2017 CMO Survey are out, providing insights into key trends, plans, and opinions from more than 2,800 top marketers. No surprises here, as digital marketing continues to grow at a healthy pace. The post Deloitte CMO Survey: Analytics Holding Marketers Back? Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash.
The Point
SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
A few weeks ago I gave an informational interview to a local university student looking for advice on the best way to jump start his marketing career. Here are my 5 tips for new college grads or any aspiring young marketer: 1. News flash: marketing today is technology-driven. Career Advice for a Young Marketer via @spearmktg.
The Point
SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
Over at the Modern Marketing Blog , Steve Earl offers his theory as to why enterprise marketers choose to switch to a different marketing platform. In the broader market, however, our agency’s experience tells a different story. In the broader market, however, our agency’s experience tells a different story.
The Point
JUNE 5, 2018
Earlier this year, Forrester Research conducted a detailed survey of more than 150 B2B marketing decision-makers with the intent of benchmarking the maturity of B2B marketing best practices, focused on revenue marketing and marketing automation. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has also accelerated the trend.
The Point
MAY 9, 2017
I talked to Steve recently about the rise of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) , ABM content, and how and where branding and messaging play a role in ABM success. (HS) That’s because a decade ago, marketers were merely learning how to deliver automated nurture tracks to buyers at the segment level. McKesson versus United Healthcare).
The Point
OCTOBER 15, 2019
Account-Based Marketing (ABM). Conversational Marketing. As I wrote earlier in this space, the use of intelligent chatbots in demand generation is fast becoming a major trend , as marketers discover the technology’s potential for increasing the rate at which leads engage with sales. 2) lead nurturing. Better Lead Nurturing.
The Point
DECEMBER 28, 2017
Demand Generation Report just published their 2018 Outlook Guide: The State of Marketing Automation. DGR) What were the biggest changes/challenges for B2B marketers in 2017? (HS) HS) One of the biggest challenges for B2B marketers right now is simply keeping pace with the changes in marketing technology.
The Point
FEBRUARY 27, 2018
Following on the heels of CAN-SPAM (US) and CASL (Canada), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the latest in a series of government regulations that promises to have a major impact on the way B2B marketers conduct business. We recommend all marketers consult with legal counsel on how best to fully comply with GDPR.
The Point
OCTOBER 25, 2018
Here are my other key takeaways from the report, a recommended read for any demand generation marketer: More than two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents said that they’re measuring the success of their nurture programs based on email click-through rates. Report: One-Third of Marketers Say Lead Nurturing Has No Impact via @spearmktg.
The Point
NOVEMBER 13, 2018
If your marketing organization is 100 percent GDPR compliant (and if you are, you’re in the minority ) you may feel that your data compliance issues are behind you. Even though the law won’t go into effect until 2020, the implications for marketers could be enormous. GDPR was in many ways the beginning of a new era in marketing.
The Point
MARCH 15, 2016
The none-too-subtle implication, of course, was that Account-Based Marketing (ABM) isn’t new, and that B2B marketers have been developing, and executing, Account-Based Marketing strategies and programs for some time, if only in different forms and under a different name (e.g. Here’s how the marketing hype cycle works: 1.
The Point
OCTOBER 25, 2017
But then inbound marketing happened. And the pundits said: no, no, the buyer is in control, he or she will decide when to respond, and B2B marketing is about being in the right place at the right time. Cue the advent of search marketing and Google AdWords.). Who has time for inbound marketing, they say. Be aggressive!
The Point
JULY 21, 2016
It’s well documented that, of the companies who invest in marketing automation, many fail to achieve maximum return from that investment, or even utilize marketing automation technology to its full capacity. In our agency’s work with marketing automation users , we’ve identified 10 of the most common mistakes to avoid: 1.
The Point
JUNE 29, 2015
Are most B2B companies getting maximum value from their investment in marketing automation? A recent industry survey by Spear Marketing Group suggests: no. Or are companies rushing to implement marketing automation without a full understanding or strategy for how to put that technology to best use?
The Point
DECEMBER 16, 2015
Research company TrustRadius just published their new edition of the “Buyer’s Guide to Marketing Automation Software,” and it’s a doozy. Let’s face it, most martech “guides” are written by, well, marketers, and are either sponsored by or authored by the technology vendors themselves, so the content needs to be read with a critical eye.
The Point
MAY 11, 2015
At Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit last month in San Francisco, there was much talk about the shifting function of marketing towards a more strategic, data-driven role within the modern corporation. You see similar sentiments echoed throughout the marketing press. But is data all that’s needed to drive B2B marketing success?
The Point
MAY 3, 2016
Salesforce has released their “ 2016 State of Marketing Report ”, a massive 70-page tome and the result of surveying nearly 4,000 marketing executives worldwide. The report covers a wide range of trends and topics, but focuses on the best practices most common amongst “high-performing” marketing teams.
The Point
MARCH 3, 2015
It’s always been obvious that agencies were a sensible channel for marketing automation vendors to pursue, but I’m beginning to wonder whether agencies might turn out to be the primary channel for such systems, excepting only direct sales to large enterprises. Perhaps having agencies run them is the real solution instead.”.
The Point
MAY 30, 2014
Over at the IDC Technology Marketing Blog , analyst Sam Melnick posted an article recently with the intriguing title: “Are Ad Agencies Keeping Pace with the Marketing’s (sic) Massive Digital Uptake? Specifically: • IDC reports that digital marketing spend by technology companies will surpass non-digital spend by the end of 2016.
The Point
MARCH 7, 2014
Towards the end of our stay, the marketer in me started to contemplate the vast promotional opportunity that goes untapped at Disneyland due to a lack of any apparent mobile strategy. B2C Marketing Mobile Marketing B2C marketing churros Disney Disneyland mobile advertising mobile marketing' Sorry, not so much.
The Point
AUGUST 22, 2014
For those of us who work in and around the technology every day, it can seem like marketing automation is already pervasive. Analyst David Raab reports that for companies under $5 Million in revenue, marketing automation penetration is a miserly 5 percent. Which begs the question: is marketing automation right for every company?
The Point
APRIL 8, 2015
Spear Marketing Group has published an informative report detailing results of a survey designed to gauge the maturity of marketing automation deployments within the B2B community. In some notable areas, the average marketing automation user appears to be achieving real business value.
The Point
OCTOBER 25, 2016
We marketers may be many things, but few of us can be described as patient. And so when martech companies come along promising instant answers to all our marketing challenges, we’re all ears. Listen, marketing technology is great, and in the right circumstances can make a big difference. We want results, and we want them now.
The Point
NOVEMBER 20, 2015
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is certainly the hot topic in B2B circles these days, but like other trends, ABM can encompass a whole range of activity – from something as simple as an email drip campaign to a more comprehensive, sustained, integrated program that incorporates multiple channels.
The Point
JULY 18, 2014
Over at Forrester Research, Vice President Laura Ramos recently talked to Advertising Age (“ Marketers Still Struggling to Get Results from Content Marketing “) about what she perceives as a general lack of return from the investment so many companies are making in content marketing. 14% responded “very effectively”.
The Point
OCTOBER 20, 2014
Highlighted by the launch of Salesforce’s own analytics cloud , the current trend in marketing technology is clearly focused on helping marketers make smart decisions and build smarter campaigns. Ascend2’s research also reported that marketers view email as the least difficult lead gen tactic to execute.)
The Point
JUNE 18, 2013
DC) Today’s buyers are more educated on markets, products, and competitors than ever. KnowledgeTree answers that challenge by helping sales teams discover the right marketing content at the right time. HS) Content has become the fuel for so much of marketing these days. HS) What problem does KnowledgeTree solve? (DC)
The Point
JULY 15, 2009
Here’s a new site to head for when you’re looking for the latest insight, news, or tips on B2B Marketing. B2B Marketing Zone was launched earlier this month by a pair of Web entrepeneurs, Tony Karrer (BrowseMyStuff) and Tom Pick (WebMarketCentral). B2B Marketing Zone is designed to be a one-stop destination for B2B [.].
The Point
SEPTEMBER 30, 2013
A prospective client asks: “We’re just getting our demand generation programs ramped up, and I’m not sure I’m ready for marketing automation. My answer: “It depends how you define “ lead nurturing ,” but technically: no, you don’t need marketing automation in order to nurture leads. Do I need it in order to do lead nurturing?”.
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