It reminded me of what we B2B marketers sometimes forget — that is, we are selling products to human beings with egos and personal motivations, not just databases or a mass of social media followers. Although B2B buyers must justify their buying decisions by the promise of benefits that will help the company — reducing costs, boosting productivity, increasing ROI, or others — they are still humans whose decisions are influenced by their emotions, experiences and personal goals. Put all marketing messaging in the 1st person. MORE >>

Video personalizes and humanizes communication in a way that words and even still pictures cannot do. With all the things we do to make B2B marketing interesting, attention-getting and memorable, it’s a fact that there’s nothing like video. It adds a human touch to marketing messaging that can be beat only by a face-to-face meeting. [.] Why anyone can use video in B2B marketing & why they should. is a post from: B2BMarketingSmarts. B2B Content B2B Email Marketing B2B Internet Marketing Web Site Copy B2B Marketing Content Conversion Landing Pages Video Website Content MORE >>

Terri talks about the value of social media and educational content to project a personal image for a company, and it’s solid advice. They give marketers extensive options for personalizing, from the salutation all the way into tracking the behavior of prospects and selecting specific messaging to be sent to them based on their behaviors. The magic words for marketers to make a personal connection with their prospects are “data&# and “versioning.&#. To make that connection, it’s time for B2B marketers to make their personalization personal. MORE >>

Amy’s post “ Stalin Is My Soulmate ,&# about trying make sense out of Web analytics, answered an inquiry from a person in a company that had just spent $80k on a Web analytics consultant only to end up more confused than before. We bring our personal experiences to every opinion we have and every decision we make. When I vented last October about various managers in B2B companies sticking their noses into areas of marketing that are not their concern, responsibility, or expertise, I thought I’d said it all. was wrong. In fact, the problem may be getting worse. MORE >>

This allows respondents to choose the gift that appeals to each one personally — regardless of gender. Is it politically correct to talk about the differences in B2B marketing to men vs. women? Maybe not, but working with a new client this past week revealed a bit of the reality related to that issue. It all started with the client implementing the proven, accepted best practice in direct marketing that involves including an offer tied to an expiration date or deadline. The purpose of employing this tactic is to overcome natural human inertia. Here’s how it works. MORE >>