That probably works for B2B brands with a popular presence in culture.  On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of moderating a great panel conversation on the use of social media in B2B sales and marketing.  The panelists included Anne Plese from Cisco, Tom Vaughn from Microsoft, and Ari Newman from Jive Software. The discussion was all in keeping with MLC’s B2B research this year, Influencing the Newly Empowered Customer , in which we suggest marketers need to build conversation muscle in the mid-funnel, as customers engage sales forces later and later in the purchase cycle. MORE >>

We know from our work last year that the average B2B customer is nearly 60% of the way through the purchase decision before engaging supplier sales reps.  The technology generally works well—marketers love that it gives them a chance to target their content and better manage and track the lead pipeline. Your customers live in a noisy environment.  They are constantly bombarded with messages.  You’re trying to break through and it’s tough. At best, a typical B2B supplier can expect to get 12% of a customer’s total share of attention across the purchase process. Or does it? MORE >>

But the big question is how to tie those digital channels together with the rest of Marketing’s work. Chatter on online communities is an great resource for understanding customers’ views on how their business works and what they need from your products.  When telling customers that some of their fundamental beliefs about how their business works may be wrong, it helps to have some credible back-up. We recently polled B2B CMOs on their top priorities for next year and “Digital integration” came pretty high on the list.  Cisco is a great example here. LinkedIn vs. Facebook). MORE >>

It’s a perennial complaint we hear from B2B marketers: “We did all this work to put together a great sales tool/piece of collateral/campaign, but Sales refuses to use it! What’s going on?” ” Most marketers throw up their hands, call the salespeople a few choice names (“cowboy” is one I can repeat for a family-oriented business blog like Wide Angle) and just start plugging away again, thinking that someday those dastardly cowboys will realize what Marketing can offer. Others get frustrated and quit. So what seems to be the problem? MORE >>

The following will help marketers gain an insight into their customers’ mind: Identify Customer Jobs and Outcomes: The customer world is made of a number of units of work flow – the jobs. How would you feel if you were served a dish which you never ordered, instead of the one that you really wanted? can imagine feelings of shock and disappointment. Switch gears to marketing. Many B2B customers today find themselves unpleasantly surprised, when companies design offerings for them that they never asked for. Customers have a desired outcome for each job. Never again an unwanted dish! MORE >>