Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Marketers helped salespeople put words to the insanely complex products and services they were trying to sell. Knowledge management systems, for example, were difficult to use and difficult to keep up to date. Sharing information in a way that doesn’t overly sap productivity (hard to do before social media came along) raises all boats.

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Wiki Marketing Management Internet Marketing 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 4, 2011

The business model is broken. It’s not that the journalists have gotten lazy; it’s a problem with the business model for B2B publishing. That drives publishers to produce a lot of short content designed to reach the broadest possible audience (at least one online story about Apple per day for a technology pub, for example).

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies B2B Marketing Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Here are some examples: Most C-level executives are not in social media—they’re in search. They hold back because they know that they need the full support, commitment, and participation of the business in social media. The business case doesn’t exist for social media; but it does for idea marketing. 30% said yes.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Here are some examples: Most C-level executives are not in social media—they’re in search. They hold back because they know that they need the full support, commitment, and participation of the business in social media. The business case doesn’t exist for social media; but it does for idea marketing. 30% said yes.

Social Media 100

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

Chris Koch

JULY 28, 2010

The advantage to multi-author blogs (though not necessarily to the audience’s advantage), is that the workload can be shared, reducing the dreaded gaps in posts if bloggers get really busy in their day jobs. This is especially true for services companies, who don’t have concrete products that can do the branding for them.).

Blogger 100

Blogger Wikipedia Work Management Social Media 100

Chris Koch

MAY 14, 2010

We’re seeing companies use social media to bring customers into the product and service development processes to collaborate on new ideas and improvements. That means that marketers need to integrate social media with the larger marketing and business strategies. Our subject matter experts (SMEs) are talking to customers.

Organic Leads 100

Organic Leads Social Media Social Marketing Organization 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 research confirms it.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management B2B Marketing B2B Thought Leadership Marketing Management 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

He offers a great example from a client: “For example, in our campaign with Level 3, a leading fiber-based communications company, we tracked whether prospects downloaded a vbook. If prospects downloaded it, we can assume they were checking if their building or business is within Level 3’s fiber network.

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

Marketers, meanwhile, didn’t have a wall, so they filled their content with self-aggrandizing references to their own products and services that pissed off readers and sent them to other sources for advice. The best example of this that I can think of is IBM’s Smarter Planet. What’s the point? Association in action: Smarter Planet.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 5, 2010

For example, if the agency-managed interview leads to bad press, the guard dogs can show that they are managing risk for the company by blaming and firing the agency (agencies are used to this and work with many different companies in order to manage the ever-present risk of getting fired). What do you think? Tweet This Post.

PR 100

PR Press Paid Search Agency Lead Ranking 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 5, 2009

For example, when certain models of Ford’s Explorer experienced tire blowouts, Ford delayed taking action with customers, blaming the tire supplier for the problems. Meanwhile, the company kept up its emphasis on research and development so that customers would see that it was still committed to offering leading edge products.

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Companies Work Management Ethics 100

Chris Koch

JULY 22, 2011

Here are some examples: Educate the customer—or don’t. Many of us in B2B can be proud of how we educate our customers and prospects on the business issues they face—from current regulatory changes to future “sea changes.” Motivational. Market your strengths. They put me on blood thinners for a few weeks after surgery.)

Work Management 100

Work Management Marketing Management Social Media B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 22, 2010

This is the number of articles or blog posts that mention the product or service measured against the trend in sales. So for example, your blog comments on other’s blogs should contain your Twitter handle and a link to your blog. We track the marketing mix (including PR) over time against trends in sales. Lots of variables there.

Social Media 100

Social Media ROI Lead Ranking RSS 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

I’m hearing a lot from clients and researchers about how vast swaths of salespeople need to be eliminated as companies transition from selling products to services and solutions. But I think we start slicing the genetic material a little too thinly when we separate the product salespeople from the services salespeople. Information.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

I’m hearing a lot from clients and researchers about how vast swaths of salespeople need to be eliminated as companies transition from selling products to services and solutions. But I think we start slicing the genetic material a little too thinly when we separate the product salespeople from the services salespeople. Information.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 8, 2010

Not in our businesses, though. Companies that made commodity products would tell me with straight faces that even their financial processes were unique—GAAP be damned—and that they needed to customize their software to fit “our ways of doing things.” But in most things, we’re the same and we can usually acknowledge that.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Media 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 28, 2010

From Facebook to email to putting telephones on employees’ desks (remember, the telephone started as a “consumer” communication technology, too), companies think that every new wave is going to lead to gajillions in lost productivity. The ultimate risk in business is that your customers stop buying from you because they don’t trust you.

Planning 100

Planning Work Management Paid Search Agency B2B Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Here’s an example of a post that will run soon on SAP ‘s blogging channels that I collaborated on with my colleague, Stephanie Overby: The True Workhorse Behind the Maker Revolution (Hint: It’s not 3D Printers ). But it’s not just big business that’s benefitting from the next generation production tools.

Startups 100

Startups High Quality Lead Cost Order 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

IT and business buyers are flocking to social media more rapidly than anyone would have imagined even a few years ago. For example, a Forbes/Google survey of 354 top executives found that more than 50% of executives under 40 maintain a work-related blog, Twitter their thoughts, and visit online social networks frequently.

Social Media 100

Social Media Social Marketing B2B Marketing Work Management 100