Is the future for the majority of marketing professionals a freelance model of working for dozens of clients at the same time? My last post triggered a heated debate (mostly in the LinkedIn B2B Technology Marketing Community ) about the dramatic changes we see in the B2B marketing function. One of the interesting topics that came up was outsourcing. This trend is nothing new, it has been building for a long time and many corporate functions like manufacturing have been outsourcing for decades. Is marketing moving to a subscription based model? What do you see happening? MORE >>

What segmentation approach worked for you? The previous B2B market segmentation exercises ( Part 1 | Part 2 ) likely produced a large number of potential target segments. If focus is one of the reasons for segmentation in the first place, then having too many segments will obviously distract from this goal. To narrow down our list of segments, we need to create a handful of criteria to assess and evaluate the candidate segments in order to prioritize and filter out the non-viable segments. Then plot your segments against this chart using the two dimensions. MORE >>

What forms of content work better than others? B2B buyer behavior has been changing dramatically over the last few years as buyers increasingly refuse to be interrupted by traditional outbound marketing tactics. Content marketing has emerged as a highly effective strategy to engage the reluctant B2B buyer who is actively searching for guidance and information online, often involving social media, before making a complex purchase decision. But as they embark on content marketing strategies, B2B marketers are asking themselves questions like: What types of content should I create? MORE >>

What are your secrets for making your call to actions work While marketing strategy and planning are critical to success, marketing often fails on the execution side. Take online campaigns, for example. Here you can often see campaigns break down not because of lack of a compelling offer or properly segmented audience but because the call to action is not powerful enough to trigger a response. The best offers never get consumed if your call to action doesn't convert the visitor to even get to the offer. MORE >>

Here is a great collection of social media policies from 123 Social Media's web site to help you create a policy that works for your organization: [link Do you hesitate to jump on the social media bandwagon with your company? Concerned about what happens when an employee shares insider information? Social media is inherently dynamic, even chaotic. Provide no guidance and you likely end up damaging your brand. Be too restrictive and your social media initiative will never take off, putting you at a competitive disadvantage. MORE >>