The lead generation experts at NetLine just released their “2024 State of B2B Content Consumption & Demand Report,” a meaty 38-page guide based on data from more than 6 million content registrations.  Here are the findings that stand out as potentially having the most significance for demand marketers: According to the report, user demand for gated B2B content rose 14.3% YOY, up 77% since 2019, a contradiction for those who would have us believe that forms are a thing of the past.  Even in the throes of an uncertain economic climate, B2B buyers’ appetite for quality gated content ..read more

If you haven’t noticed, Webinar emails have become extremely formulaic: * A couple of lines of copy stating the business problem to be addressed * 3-4 bullet points summarizing the agenda or main topics * a call to action, normally accompanied a desperate plea of “don’t miss this event” It might be another symptom of our AI-driven times, where creativity takes a back seat and what matters is how quickly and cheaply we can generate copy and put campaigns in market.  And it’s producing a sea of sameness.  Here a few simple tips for helping your Webinar email stand out in the inbox: 1 ..read more

At a time when marketing budgets are tightening, surveys and survey reports represent some of the most compelling and cost-effective content a B2B marketer can produce.  Why?  Because a well-crafted survey does all this and more: * builds thought leadership for your brand and helps establish your company as subject matter experts and thus a brand buyers can trust * helps validate, or brings awareness to, a specific business challenge – the very challenge your product solves for * delivers real information of value – i.e. what peers are thinking or doing about a specific, current tren ..read more

Like many B2B marketing agencies, even though we’re a professional services business and don’t sell or re-sell technology, our firm gets marketed to regularly by companies looking to recruit us as a channel partner. Most of these pitches inevitably revolve around the functionality of the product or solution in question and the benefits to be gained by our clients.  Precious few speak to our own, selfish motivations: adding value to the agency-client relationship, expanding our service portfolio, and yes, driving revenue for the agency. This experience underlines one of the common failing ..read more

A client asks: “We recently purchased a list of email addresses from a reputable vendor for use in a campaign targeting competitive installations.  Do the new Google/Yahoo deliverability rules make using a third-party list too risky?  How should we approach the campaign differently?” My response: First, whereas the new rules (see below) increase the potential risk from using purchased lists, they don’t necessarily render such tactics irrelevant.  There are also steps you can take to ensure that any risk is minimized. Let’s review what the new regulations are, in brief.  Ya ..read more

A good creative brief is the foundation for an effective marketing campaign.  In the face of deadlines, however, and at the normal, torrid pace of modern marketing, creative briefs are often viewed as an extra step, an annoyance, and an unnecessary obstacle to getting content in market. Why are briefs so important?  One word: alignment.  A good, concise creative brief ensures that all stakeholders — creatives, sponsors, partners, sales, those who will be reviewing and approving copy and design — are aligned and agreed on the key tenets of the campaign, in particular: * goals a ..read more

According to the blogosphere, and based on conversations with clients, there appears to be a movement afoot to free marketing content from the shackles of registration forms and offer everything from white papers to Webinars ungated.  Arguments from those who oppose gated content vary, but typically are variations of the following: * Buyer-centric marketing – today’s buyers don’t like registration forms, and marketers should bow to buyer preferences rather than do what works best for the seller * Less friction – eliminating registration makes it easier for potential buyers to engage with ..read more

When a marketing budget get cut, certain line items tend to get immediate scrutiny: media spend, headcount, events. However, simply slashing spend – while quick and dramatic – can have a detrimental effect on leads, pipeline, and revenue.  There are more creative methods for achieving marketing efficiency without sacrificing ad impressions, colleagues, or market visibility.  Here are 8 ways to get more from your marketing budget when the purse strings get tight: * Repurpose and recycle older content When trends, topics, and technology changes, marketing content can have a short shel ..read more

There’s an old truism in marketing that says the three most important success factors are (in order of priority): List, Offer, and Creative.  In more modern terms, this means that in order to drive conversions, and pipeline, and revenue, targeting the right audience is paramount.  If you’re aiming at the wrong companies, not even the best content or creative will save you. Most marketers accept this axiom implicitly, and yet B2B companies routinely define their target audience with more attention to logos and aspiration than actual fit.  Account-Based Marketing (ABM) programs ar ..read more

One way to increase marketing ROI in a “do more with less” economy is to integrate Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) into demand gen strategy and planning.  CRO isn’t a new concept, but traditionally has been more often the province of Web teams and SEO specialists.  Increasingly, however, it’s being leveraged as an effective, affordable way to maximize campaign performance across a range of different demand generation channels. CRO is a systematic, very deliberate process of modifying a Web page or Website with the specific purpose of improving the percentage of visitors who take a ..read more