Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

The number of B2B buyers who are ready to buy as soon as they engage with our marketing is small—and social media will make it even smaller. This is where social media comes in. But they may be open to building a relationship that could someday lead to a sale. The era of the sales process beginning with a lead is over.

Social Media 100

Social Media Lead Generation B2B Thought Leadership Generation 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 23, 2011

Others say that G+ will rule because of its integration with Google’s other tools like Android, Gmail, Docs, and its media properties like YouTube and Google Music —in other words, the colossus effect that we’ve been waiting (for so long) to take effect. There are only two types of relationships in social networking. to explain it.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Social Networks B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 23, 2011

Others say that G+ will rule because of its integration with Google’s other tools like Android, Gmail, Docs, and its media properties like YouTube and Google Music —in other words, the colossus effect that we’ve been waiting (for so long) to take effect. There are only two types of relationships in social networking. to explain it.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Social Networks B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 18, 2009

In a recent post, I offered some hard research data to support the growing importance of social media to B2B. But this time I want to address the legitimate concerns that ITSMA clients give us when we talk about the wonders of social media. What’s really different with social media? Social media is different.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 12, 2009

We’ve all heard a lot of debate lately about whether social media is an evolution or a revolution. Look at it this way and social media inevitably becomes evolution, as social media researcher Josh Chasin convincingly argues here. But I think we lose sight of the revolution by looking at social media in isolation.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Paid Search Agency Viral Marketing 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

I’ve been working with my colleagues at ITSMA on another survey on social media for B2B marketers that I hope you’ll take by going here. As we put together the questions, we struggled with the issue of social media strategy. B2B marketing lays the path to a sales discussion and supports relationships with existing customers.

Social Media 100

Social Media Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 15, 2010

He swung his expanded briefcase up onto the table, pulled out a media kit bulging with press releases about speeds and feeds and plunked it down on the table in front of me. Pledging to do more with social media isn’t the answer. Getting into social media really means getting into publishing. Content creates relationships.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 13, 2010

But we’re in the era of social media now, so there are breadcrumbs in the forest that lead us to a fuller explanation of who Slater is and why he did what he did. Social media fills in the background to the blowup. You can do that on a social media site called Glassdoor. And until Hurd was fired, his picture went next to that 2.4

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B SME 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 25, 2010

expresses shock that he turned out to be an extrovert on the Myers-Briggs personality test and wonders if you need to be an extrovert to be in social media. Reading these got me thinking that we probably need to rethink the concepts of introversion and extroversion in social media marketing. and, of course, came up with a theory.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Media Wikipedia 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 19, 2010

I’d like to create a guide for how to use social media in B2B that does not involve talking about the specific tools—as least not in the top line. I think it’s important to try to do this if we’re going to get social media integrated with the rest of marketing. Find and track the relevant conversations in social media and online.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

APRIL 16, 2010

We just completed our ITSMA survey on social media. Marketing owns social media management. In our survey, we asked, “In your company, is marketing the catalyst for social media being used by others in the company (product development, HR, etc.)?” That’s where social media comes in. But one finding sticks out.

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Social Marketing 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 8, 2011

I was thrilled to run a social media workshop this week with a large B2B technology and services provider (and ITSMA member). The great thing about the experience was that this company is already doing social media. This company has established a highly visible presence in social media—indeed, it has won an award for it.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Paid Search Agency PR 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Despite all the breathless hype about social media these days, what I hear most from B2B marketers is frustration. For these marketers, the pool of customers and prospects is small and many of them do not want to engage publicly in social media or are simply ignoring it altogether. I think that’s the right decision—up to a point.

Social Media 100

Social Media Allocation Media Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Despite all the breathless hype about social media these days, what I hear most from B2B marketers is frustration. For these marketers, the pool of customers and prospects is small and many of them do not want to engage publicly in social media or are simply ignoring it altogether. I think that’s the right decision—up to a point.

Social Media 100

Social Media Allocation Media Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 26, 2009

In my last post, I hope I convinced you why you should establish a personal presence in social media even if your company hasn’t done so yet. That was the why of social media. I’m going to attempt to explain it by humbly offering my own initiation into social media as a guide. Social Media B2B. Conversations.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Personalization 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 22, 2010

I wish I could say that social media leads to sales. So when we think about social media ROI, we need to make a leap of faith. To make ourselves feel a little more comfortable with this idea, we may need to categorize social media with something whose hazy ROI we’re more familiar and comfortable with: PR. Return on media impact.

Social Media 100

Social Media ROI Lead Ranking RSS 100

Chris Koch

MAY 21, 2010

Social media is beginning to teach us that long qual forms are going the way of the dodo. Especially as social media takes off, we’re finding that prospects and customers have less and less patience for giving us that information. I find much more value in Twitter than in any of the other social media networks.

Privacy 100

Privacy B2B Marketing Lead Ranking B2B 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 5, 2011

Recently, I was preparing a workshop on social media for an ITSMA client. The marketer in charge of the company’s social media effort gave me a clear edict: “Look, I don’t want you focusing on Facebook, okay? Relationships, right? And I just don’t see what’s good about Facebook for creating relationships in B2B.

Facebook 100

Facebook B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership B2B 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 22, 2010

In part it is being driven by social media. ITSMA’s annual survey of IT buyers found that this year, for the first time, a majority of buyers in the US—and 75% when you include other countries—are using social media in the purchasing process—especially the younger ones. And finally, the trade press and general business media are dying.

Lead Management 100

Lead Management Marketing Management Automation Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

Relationship. But it’s less familiar to lower-level buyers, who are only beginning to calculate this piece as the economics of social media open up the privileges of relationship from cheesy tchotckes at trade shows to online social networks. We should expect those prices to change as social media takes hold among buyers.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

Relationship. But it’s less familiar to lower-level buyers, who are only beginning to calculate this piece as the economics of social media open up the privileges of relationship from cheesy tchotckes at trade shows to online social networks. We should expect those prices to change as social media takes hold among buyers.

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 29, 2009

Even if we believe deeply in the power of social media, we all have that gnawing feeling deep in our guts that says that there’s little reason for a busy, intelligent person to want to receive frequent updates about our brands when those brands produce complex services and products with two-year sales cycles. The answer is we don’t.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Marketing Management 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 2, 2010

This may be the ultimate question in B2B, especially as we struggle to integrate social media into the overall marketing mix. Social media offers some new ways for us to build emotional connections with customers by connecting them with other people and their stories. But let’s not get too hung up on social media.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 9, 2014

Research has found that e-mail communications strip away trust, and lack of trust lights a can of Sterno under employee relationships, starting a slow burn that can lead to overheated conversations. Blogs, social media, and even videos have much more power to offend people. However, e-mail is not the only culprit here. Not so much.

Distribution 100

Distribution Training Opinions Trust Marketing 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2009

Consider pairing one of your top executives with a top executive from a customer to build relationship and shepherd participation in various customer programs. Integrate the council into other activities, such as conferences, social media, and reference programs. Offer access to something that customers can get nowhere else.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Thought Leadership Practices Best Practices 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 22, 2011

Social media management and innovation. 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. This shift in innovation has big implications for marketing.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Management Social Media 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2009

Consider pairing one of your top executives with a top executive from a customer to build relationship and shepherd participation in various customer programs. Integrate the council into other activities, such as conferences, social media, and reference programs. Offer access to something that customers can get nowhere else.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Practices Thought Leadership Best Practices 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 16, 2009

To someone her age, the concept of following immediately conjures up the issue of personal relationships—who you hate and who you like—and status—who is popular and who isn’t. Thankfully, adults have another context for developing relationships: communities of learning. Follow to learn. An entrée to the cocktail party.

Twitter 100

Twitter Web 2.0 Social Media Communities 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 21, 2011

Social media have created so much noise that it’s becoming more difficult for the good old white paper to stand out. The social media noise is personal. But let’s look at the social media noise more carefully. All through 2010, marketers have been telling us that they are having a harder time getting their content noticed.

Social Media 100

Social Media Budget Programs Paper PR 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 9, 2010

The way that we establish trust and relationships with buyers is through authority. Tags: Blogging B2B marketing Blog LinkedIn marketing Social Media social media management Subject matter expert. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how to get others to blog. But it’s not enough just to support bloggers. Tweet This Post.

SME 100

SME Aggregators Blogger Social Media 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

Most journalists have discovered social media as an important research tool. Those people may receive media training, presentation and speaking training, etc. If your subject matter experts don’t want to write, use other types of media to populate the blog such as videos and podcasts. Or interview them and ghost write the posts.

PR 100

PR Peer-to-peer Press Public Relations 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Capturing this opportunity requires stoking fans’ passion not just during game days, but 365 days a year, through every conceivable channel – in person, on the web and through mobile and social media. Some teams have set up “war rooms” that monitor social media to engage with fans. Improving the in-game experience extends beyond apps.

Loyalty 100

Loyalty Eye-Tracking Mobile Marketing Stats 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 26, 2010

One of the biggest challenges for B2B social media marketers isn’t creating content, it’s helping others create content. Marketing is the default head of social media management in most companies. Have you noticed what’s been happening to the media lately? How to use social media for B2B (christopherakoch.com).

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership RSS Enterprise Management Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

MAY 15, 2012

Please tell me if you think the following does the job: Relationships are what matter in selling. Relationship selling skills matter more than ever. No doubt that number has continued to go up—especially with the rise of mobile and social media. And I’m not sure that salespeople share the same passion for ideas as we do.

FAQ 100

FAQ Custom Publishing B2B Sales Work Management 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

For centuries, publishers had an uneasy, co-dependent relationship with advertisers. Lately, as traditional media fall away, marketers are getting the message and creating content that looks just like the stuff that readers love from traditional media: news, advice, and new thinking that is not meant to manipulate them into buying something.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 16, 2011

It may seem facile, but social media are the answer. Rather than trading information for value or simply stealing it through invisible cookies, what if we actually did it the way people do in real life: through a personal relationship? So how to stave off this impending crisis of buyer information?

B2B 100

B2B Privacy Click Rate Internet Marketing 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 16, 2011

It may seem facile, but social media are the answer. Rather than trading information for value or simply stealing it through invisible cookies, what if we actually did it the way people do in real life: through a personal relationship? So how to stave off this impending crisis of buyer information?

B2B 100

B2B Privacy Click Rate Internet Marketing 100