Attend the regional user groups, interact with them via social media, and join your field reps on sales calls.  The Honda Corporation recently aired a new commercial touting their new 2013 Honda Accord.  The theme of the commercial is “We Know You”.  Throughout the commercial, the narrator discusses all the things they know about their drivers – you are tired, frustrated, need to work, have relationships, need to let loose, etc. The commercial speaks to us. No matter what our frame of mind, Honda knows us and can relate to us.  Genius! What challenges do they face on a daily basis? MORE >>

Properly targeted content affects everything from social media promotions to marketing automation campaigns to actually closing deals. Most often, this content comes in the form of short videos, blog posts, articles and social media promotions. The B2B buyer’s journey has changed. Gone are the days of buyers contacting companies directly to learn about a product or service. Instead, buyers independently research solutions online and independently narrow their options before ever engaging with a vendor. Enter content marketing. . Content then fuels lead nurturing. MORE >>

have written enough on Social Media ROI. This week we are fortunate to have the winner of the 2010 B2B Twitterer of the Year, Michael Brenner , guest post and share his thoughts on Marketing ROI. Michael Brenner is a Sr. Director of Marketing for SAP. He is the author of B2B Marketing Insider and co-founder of Business2Community.com. Michael has been in marketing for over 17 years in various roles where he has used customer insights to drive sales, ROI and customer loyalty through effective sales and marketing strategies. You can follow Michael on Twitter: @BrennerMichael. Metrics MORE >>

Here are just a few recent data points to support this: More than 50% of customers are engaged socially – this allows them to gather information on products and services they are looking to buy without connecting with any vendor or sales rep. I just got done reading a Net-Results blog post that quoted John Common , CEO of Intelligent Demand who stated the following about marketing automation: “It is a disruptive technology in that it forces a company to think differently about its most important process: revenue creation. This is a good thing! The real disruption is the customer. MORE >>

Only 14% of marketers that utilize social measure its impact on revenue. Only 38% tie their social efforts to lead generation – Only 26% tie it to sales. Of those that do measure the social media ROI impact 76% define ROI on “soft” metrics such as likes, followers, fans etc. A few weeks ago, I was speaking with one of my colleagues about the state of B2B marketing and the maturity of today’s marketers.  We came to the conclusion that by and large, B2B marketers are at a stage where they DO KNOW what needs to be done and where their organizations need to go. Seriously.”  MORE >>