Michael Brenner Forbes
How does a company move from becoming a promoter of their stuff to a provider of business insights? How do brands become publishers without hiring entire newsrooms full of journalists?
Turns out, the answer is simple: take the knowledge, the expertise and the passion of your employees and focus that on answering your potential customers’ key questions.
As Marcus Sheridan (aka @TheSalesLion) suggests: “They ask. You answer!”
This means your company is no longer in the business of just making and selling products. Your company is in the content businesses and needs to become a supplier of education and insights to your industry!
The Content Challenge in B2B
Content and “becoming a publisher” is a huge challenge for businesses today. Especially in Business-to-business (B2B) companies, where many of our employees are stuck on the notion that our products are so complex and our sales cycles are so long that we have to spend a majority of our time and resources explaining why we are better.
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Lee Odden toprankblog.com
Determining why your company should engage in a social media plan is one of the first and most important steps. Working towards the “what” without the “why” can result in wasted time, money and set a B2B marketing program off track.
Next up in our B2B marketing innovation interview series is Mack Collier, a well known and respected social media strategist and trainer specializing in helping companies better connect with their customers via social media. Mack is also the force behind #BlogChat, the largest organized chat on Twitter.
In this interview, Mack dives into four things brands can do to cultivate and connect with fans, as well as well as three basic questions every marketer should ask themselves before embarking on a social media marketing program. He also offers sage advice on B2B marketing innovation and tools.
Please tell us about you and the kind of B2B marketing work you’re most excited about. Solve any tough ones lately?
The thing that really excites me about blogging, social media, content marketing, etc. is that I think we are getting back to the idea of creating marketing communications that can also create value for our customers. I think we are getting away from the days when you ‘win’ the sale by simply banging customers over the head with your commercial 15 times, to creating content that also creates value, which helps build connections as well as your expertise.
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Alan Rae business2community.com
The use of social media in B2B marketing has a chequered history. In some ways this is surprising because business to business and service selling depends just as much on reputation as selling consumer goods does.
For the small company where it’s the owner whose reputation is on the line it’s relatively straightforward. The task is to produce enough social proof that you have a good grasp of your field of expertise to be taken seriously.
This can readily be done by a judicious blend of publicising your own materials and curating materials from other sources using tools like scoop.it or paper.li.
However, in the sunny uplands of the supply chain world, there is a much greater reluctance to do very much with social media. A recent study that I carried out with colleagues from the University of Kingston looked at what goes on in the Aerospace industry.
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Mike O’Neil visibli.com
Channel professionals can do lots to help themselves, their companies and their partners by using LinkedIn. In layman terms, channels refers to the process of having companies and individuals, not employed by your firm, represent your products, sell your products and deliver/install your products.
Best Buy is a channel partner for HP. Bob’s computers may be a channel partner for HP as well. Tech Data is a channel partner for HP. So – Bob gets the HP computers he sells to his customers from Tech Data who gets them from HP. Get it?
When we say channel professionals, there are many variations on the term:
- As a manufacturer, on the “host” side – HP, Verizon, Microsoft
- As an “OEM” on the “supplier” side – Intel, Seagate, Samsung
- As a distributor “in the middle” – Tech Data, Ingram Micro, Westcon
- As Channel Partner “at the end” – Best Buy, Statera, Bob’s Computers
Below are some simple things that ALL channel professionals can do to get going with LinkedIn, to get ahead and to stay ahead.
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Robert Clay marketingwizdom.com
If you think that marketing is just about spreading your message, you need to think again, writes Robert Clay of Marketing Wizdom. Marketing should actually be at the epicentre of your business, whether you realise it or not.
For nearly 10 years, once or sometimes twice a month I ran 3-day, 30-hour workshops opening people’s eyes to an array of low-risk/high-return marketing strategies. I discovered that the definition of marketing varied enormously between people. So the workshop always started with some definitions of marketing, which I am pleased to share with you now.
To a lot of people, marketing is about running an ad tomorrow so you can have sales the next day. If it were that simple you’d be a multi-millionaire and there would be nothing more to learn. But there’s so much more to it than that.
A good general definition of marketing, quite simply, is “The process of educating people to the advantages and benefits you offer them and compelling them to choose your products or services over those of your competitors.”
Author shares some top sales, marketing and management authority’s definition of marketing.
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Drew McLellan business2community.com
One of the 20 most watched TED talks of 2010 was given by Simon Sinek and speaks directly to anyone who is trying to market or sell something. Sinek’s premise is simple.
Always start with why.
Sinek began his adult life as a student of anthropology. His fascination with people led him to a career in advertising and he found himself combining his chosen work with his earlier studies to try and understand what motivated people.
All of that pondering led to his book Start With Why, his focus on how leaders motivate companies and customers and his famous TED talk.
His findings are very applicable to us as we market our products and services.
In the vast majority of marketing today, the lion’s share of the language and imagery we use is self-focused. We talk about ourselves, our products, our services and our organizations. When we don’t think that is enough, we dissect even deeper, breaking down the facts into bullet pointed lists of features that detail and justify the claims we make.
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Liz Strauss successful-blog.com
In 2006, as a professional blogger, I established a NEW Blogger Page on Successful-Blog. I filled it with links to resources and advice for people starting a new business blog. Yet, as my blog and my business kept growing and changing, the New Blogger Page moved to the background of what I did. Social media networks needed exploring. SOBCon and my own business were growing. New clients were taking the time I used to have for keeping the page in it’s most updated condition. Yet my blog still supports me and my business endeavors, especially as content strategy, content marketing, and content management have all become critically important to every business. So I’ve decided to reinvest in the New Blogger Page with an eye how blogs fit with Successful Online Business Strategy today. I’ve read through the original links and spent hours researching more. Every link included is here because the content is important to succeeding. New beginnings inspire and energize me.
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Dan Taylor thenextweb.com
A while back, I discussed how to use humor in your social media communications, and why it works. However, when you delve into the world of Business-to-Business (B2B) communications, a lot of rules, regulations, and seriousness must be applied. Comparatively, the world of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketing has a much higher ‘fun factor’ when it comes to communications. Working in the B2B sector doesn’t mean that your communications have to step into the realm of boredom, though. In fact, if you apply the following five rules to your B2B marketing content, you’d be well on your way to providing potential customers (i.e. leads) with valuable information, in an easy to read, remember, and perhaps most important, share format.
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Mikal E. Belicove Entrepreneur
While traveling in Pennsylvania recently, I stopped off in Pittsburgh to visit Nick Vacco, a serial entrepreneur. Vacco’s 13-year-old company, Detail King, is an auto-detailer training company. Vacco got his start in college when he ran an auto-detailing business out of the trunk of his car. While touring his training facility, I overheard a student from Tampa, Fla., ask Vacco how to get past a concern she has about hiring and training employees, sensing that some will turn around and run their own auto-detailing business to become the competition. It’s a good question, and Nick had a number of thoughts on it worth sharing:
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Rick Reynolds Harvard Business Review
Strengthening your relationship with a focus on existing customers is one of the best ways to increase sales. Your company’s account management and operating teams play critical roles in making this happen. If they’re not performing at their peak, the door opens for competitors to step in. Seeking new sales without strong account management and operating teams is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it. Identifying and fixing the holes — the gaps in customer satisfaction — can help your company retain existing accounts and increase new sales.
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Mark Fidelman Forbes
Apple’s Enterprise torch just dimmed a bit and Microsoft is to blame. That’s not good news for Apple shareholders. Apple had the chance to define the future workplace, but have been largely silent on the issue. Comparing Microsoft to Apple: Apple has surprisingly little enterprise experience in the company despite its mobile device dominance in the workplace. That’s left CIOs scrambling to devise their own device policy and an opening for Microsoft to bring clarity to it. Apple is officially in danger of losing their enterprise foothold. Ouch! To make matters worse, with the acquisition of Perceptive Pixel, Microsoft now controls the complete touch ecosystem from small device to large.
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