Virtual Vision: 5 New LinkedIn Features & How B2B Marketers Can Use Them To Succeed

What are the newest features on LinkedIn*, and how can B2B marketers best use them to attract, engage, and convert business professionals? As the world’s leading business social platform, Microsoft’s LinkedIn has released a surprising array of innovative new ways for B2B marketers and brands to build new connections and forge even stronger existing relationships. LinkedIn has undoubtedly witnessed numerous social platforms adding elements to attract B2B marketers, yet it remains the dominant player in the massive business sector. An important factor in LinkedIn’s continuing dominance and growth has been its steadfast determination to innovate with an abundance of new features. 75 percent of enterprise content marketers have said that LinkedIn produced the best results among social media platforms over the past year, followed by Facebook with 42 percent and Instagram with 32 percent. With so many new tools and options available on LinkedIn, it can at first seem somewhat overwhelming to know which ones to try first. Let’s take a look at a selection of some of the recent features LinkedIn has launched that are particularly well suited for B2B marketers looking to elevate connections, communities, and creativity.

1 — Robust LinkedIn Newsletters For Company Pages

A powerful feature for connecting with audiences is LinkedIn’s on-platform newsletter creation and distribution system — a largely undiscovered gem for B2B marketers that has recently been expanded in scope. LinkedIn’s newsletter system lets users who qualify for creator mode access publish written content at regular intervals, which is a boon for subject matter experts and influencers looking for new ways to share and promote material they’ve written or co-created with others. The latest addition to LinkedIn’s newsletter offering, however, has expanded the system to qualified LinkedIn pages, allowing brands of all sizes to fully harness the professional platform’s powerful scope and reach. Initial newsletter qualification requirements included LinkedIn users and pages with over 150 followers or connections, a recent history of sharing original content on the platform, and adherence to standard LinkedIn community policies. LinkedIn’s newsletter feature offers a wealth of options for B2B marketers that go well beyond what’s available using the platform’s traditional article format, whether for individual users or through LinkedIn’s specific articles for pages offering. A robust array of personalization options are included when creating a newsletter as a company page, and when a page publishes its first article using the feature, all of the page’s followers automatically get a notification to subscribe. Those followers who choose to subscribe — and by already being a fan of a page, it’s much more likely that members will do so — will subsequently get both an email and a notification when new newsletter articles from the company page are published — both of which can optionally be turned off. The ramifications of B2B marketers and brands using LinkedIn’s newly expanded newsletter capabilities are far-reaching, and the coming months will be a fascinating time to observe the creative uses LinkedIn members find for newsletter distribution on the platform. When it comes down to it, your marketing message and how it drives your readers to action or even enlightenment is paramount to success, and not particularly the medium or format in which it’s delivered. There are, however, many positive things to be said for the venerable newsletter format, whether sent in the traditional email format or using a social platform-based system such as the one LinkedIn has made available. To learn more about how B2B marketers can craft a great newsletter that stands out and stands the test of time, here are four articles we’ve published that explore the art and science of newsletter content and distribution:

• Sign Me Up: How B2B Marketers Will Create Top-Notch Newsletters In 2022
• Free The Story: How B2B Marketers Can Use Digital Storytelling To Bring Content Alive In New Ways
• How B2B Marketers Can Build a Community of Influence with Content
• Dear Friend: Secrets to Creating a Newsletter People Want to Read From Ann Handley

[bctt tweet="“The most important part of a newsletter is the letter, not the news.” — Ann Handley @AnnHandley" username="toprank"]

2 — Professional Skill Tool & Trend-Finding Data Resources

LinkedIn recently launched an interactive “Future of Skills” tool, which is a helpful way for B2B marketers to learn precisely which skills are the most in-demand and relevant for careers in different parts of the world, in various industries, and perhaps most importantly, in particular job titles. The data-backed tool is also a good way to learn how demand for certain skills has grown or waned over the years, and LinkedIn has made it convenient to learn more about each skill by tying the system to selections from its comprehensive educational offerings through LinkedIn Learning. That makes the task of augmenting certain skills simple to begin, through the use of on-demand video courses that range in length from under ten minutes to over three hours. LinkedIn took the time to share a selection of its top LinkedIn Learning courses for marketers, as Connie Chen, insights program manager, thought leadership and narratives at LinkedIn, explored in “Solidify Your Skill Set: The Top 10 Learning Courses for Marketers.” Another example of some of the recent insightful on-demand webinar content on tap from LinkedIn is the “2021 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study,” of particular interest to B2B marketers. B2B marketers can use the insights from LinkedIn’s “Future of Skills” tool — which contains aggregated information from the past six years for some 800-million-plus users — in many ways, from expanding their own repertoire of expertise and audience research, to examining job trends and how they will interact with new brand marketing efforts in the future. When it comes to what the data reveals, digital marketing specialists and account executives joined social media managers as the most in-demand marketing occupations, while digital marketing, advertising, and social media skills had the biggest mismatch when looking at job supply and demand, according to additional recently-released LinkedIn survey data. Elevating careers is a win-win pursuit for everyone involved in B2B marketing, and we recently tapped some of the world’s top marketing executives for their key advice and insight, which our own CEO Lee Odden shared in “How to Elevate Your B2B Marketing Career: Advice from Execs at Top B2B Brands.” [bctt tweet="“Always seek the opportunity to acquire new ways to do marketing, because the ability to pivot & adapt to the unknown is the most valuable skill set.” — Som Puangladda @sompny" username="toprank"] LinkedIn has also focused on highlighting how the record number of career changes the world has seen over the past several years has affected particular demographics of professionals, such as woman in the world of marketing in its recent “The Great Reshuffle: What Women in Marketing Want From Their Employers,” by Tequia Burt, editor in chief of the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog. To learn more about building skills for the future of B2B marketing, here are four pieces we’re published containing helpful tips and information:

• B2B Content Marketing: 10 Tips to Level Up Your Writing Skills
• 5 Free Online Courses to Sharpen Your B2B Marketing Skills
• 12 Must-Have Marketing Skills for B2B Content Marketers
• 10 Free Online Courses to Optimize Your Marketing Skills

3 — LinkedIn’s Intriguing New Podcast Network

Another recent LinkedIn tool that presents new opportunities for B2B marketers came in the form of the launch of the LinkedIn Podcast Network — a pilot program of podcast shows with an emphasis on professional career-building — that also encourages listeners to make connections and build community with show hosts. In the initial pilot, podcast listeners will have access on LinkedIn to programming and conversations from industry leading creators such as Winnie Sun, Morra Aarons-Mele, Jonathan Fields, Mita Mallick and Dee C. Marshall, as well as shows created in-house by LinkedIn News. The LinkedIn Podcast Network incorporates the full gamut of the professional social platform’s technology, such as the aforementioned newsletters along with live-streaming events plus video and written content — a potent combination that when fully rolled out will offer B2B marketers intriguing new options for podcast-related efforts. As we recently covered in our TopRank Marketing Friday news, 53 percent of marketers say they plan to spend more on podcast advertising in 2022, with listening having grown some 200 percent over the past five years. Additionally, overall podcast advertising spending climbed by 60 percent in 2021, with accompanying growth rate forecasts seeing $2.2 billion in spending by 2023. Podcasting for B2B marketers is an area we’ve also focused on over the years, and in that vein here are four helpful articles to get you started:

• Listen Up: Why B2B Marketers Are Embracing #InternationalPodcastDay
• Creating B2B Podcasts That Rise Above The Noise
• How B2B Brands Can Boost Confidence in Livestream Video, Podcast and Clubhouse Marketing
• 10 Tips To Turn Your B2B Podcast Promotions Up To 11

[bctt tweet="“Podcasting is the new 'blog'. At one time, businesses wondered if they needed one.” — A. Lee Judge @ALeeJudge" username="toprank"]

4 — LinkedIn’s Expanded Analytics Tools & Data

LinkedIn has released a preview of an expanded set of analytics information that will offer new details on individual posts on the platform. In addition to singular post performance data, the expanded information will also allow LinkedIn content creators to view a new selection of overall analytics statistics. Combined, the expanded post and overall analytics will bring more detailed audience insight to B2B marketers, and help them find out more about the people engaging with their posts. Another new addition on the analytics front at LinkedIn came in its recent acquisition of marketing analytics platform Oribi, which has technology that focuses on finding key top-performing marketing efforts. By combining Oribi’s technology with LinkedIn’s vast data, marketers can look forward to enhanced measurement for maximizing return on investment (ROI). LinkedIn has also worked to augment its company pages with new features, such as more powerful forecasting for post reach and frequency. “One of the biggest challenges facing most organizations on social platforms is knowing whether you’re reaching the right people, and what exactly they’re seeing,” Mary Yang, director of product at LinkedIn recently observed in “LinkedIn Pages: Our Latest and Greatest Features.” “Reach Optimization is one of the tools offered by LinkedIn to maximize the potential for this engagement,” Yang added. When it comes to crafting successful LinkedIn posts that hit the mark and utilize some of the many new features to find the right audience, LinkedIn’s head of creator programs Callie Schweitzer recently shared a selection of tips in a helpful Forbes article, “LinkedIn’s Global Creator Programs Lead Shares 4 Tips For Crafting Your First LinkedIn Post.”

5 — Keep Current With LinkedIn’s New Publications & Toolkit

LinkedIn also regularly publishes insightful takes on not only the new features it has rolled out to users, but deep looks at industry shifts and trends. Keeping on top of LinkedIn’s latest feature updates and industry-specific publications can be a great way for B2B marketers to make the most of their marketing efforts, both on LinkedIn and in more general terms. For sales professionals, LinkedIn recently rolled out a new edition of its digital magazine — The Pitch — featuring an array of strategic marketing tips for utilizing the professional social platform, along with thought leader interviews and reports of interest to B2B marketers. For marketing professionals, LinkedIn recently published a collection of handy tips and best practices for using a variety of tools, along with insights on advertising on the platform. This has all been gathered together in a new technology marketing guide, covered in “Driving Technology Leads on LinkedIn: A Toolkit to Help.” Sometimes even small enhancements to a social platform can resonate particularly well with users, as has been the case with LinkedIn’s recent announcement about its expanded handling of career breaks in member profiles, as the firm shared in “LinkedIn Members Can Now Spotlight Career Breaks on Their Profiles.” Through both minor adjustments and truly innovating features, LinkedIn has continued to offer its members new ways to engage and connect.

Eying Up New LinkedIn B2B Marketing Features

via GIPHY B2B marketers and brands have been wooed by the likes of TikTik, Pinterest, Snapchat, Clubhouse and many other social platforms with increasing frequency over the past five years.  Despite this, LinkedIn has remained atop the social B2B mountain, and with the many new features we’ve explored here, there’s little question why successful B2B marketers continue to not only eye up but embrace the platform. We hope you’ve found this look at some of the latest LinkedIn features for B2B marketers to be helpful, and that you’ll be able to apply this insight to your own efforts throughout 2022 and beyond. Creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why an increasing number of firms are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Contact us to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others. * LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post Virtual Vision: 5 New LinkedIn Features & How B2B Marketers Can Use Them To Succeed appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2022/03/virtual-vision-5-new-linkedin-features.html

Fast-Forward: 4 Business Problems Solved by B2B Content Marketing

For B2B business, the pandemic was a magnifying glass pointing out the cracks in systems. We discovered just how fast digital transformation can be when our livelihoods are on the line. We found that global supply chains aren’t as resilient as we thought. We found that remote work is far more viable an option than we’d been led to believe. None of these realizations were brand new — we were just able to see them clearly for the first time.  The same is true of B2B buyer behavior. When we talk about how the pandemic changed B2B sales and marketing, what we mean is that we can finally see what we have missed before. As we rebuild what’s broken and seek to evolve to the next level, we have a chance to put the buyer at the center of our efforts. Here are some of the biggest challenges ahead, and how we can meet them.

Solving B2B Business Problems with Content Marketing

1 — Communicating Empathy

You don’t get through collective trauma like we’ve all experienced for the past two years without a few scars. People are still adjusting, processing, struggling, even grieving. At the same time, businesses have needs that your solution can meet, problems you can solve. But how can brands help without seeming insensitive? Content marketing is our most powerful tool for communicating human-to-human, offering actual value. Now is not the time for bland corporate-speak, either — showcase your people in your content, along with others in your industry who have earned respect and trust.  Be helpful and kind in your content. Be a caring companion to your audience. After all, marketers are the keepers of data — we know these people and what they’re struggling with. We’re in a unique position to create uplifting content. [bctt tweet="“Be a caring companion to your audience. After all, marketers are the keepers of data — we know these people and what they’re struggling with. We’re in a unique position to create uplifting content.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

2 — Leading with Purpose

Lately, businesses have come to the groundbreaking realization that people care deeply about social issues. This is a discovery on par with the earth-shattering epiphany that B2B buyers are human beings who need emotional appeal as well as facts.  This epiphany has led to serious discussions about “purpose.” What does your brand stand for besides shareholder profit? What issues are top of mind and how is the brand helping address them? How can we let people know that we share their values? Content is key for a brand that’s looking to lead with purpose. It’s the medium to tell the brand’s purpose story, of course. But we can go deeper: Content can be a way to amplify other voices and help tell their stories. A brand can post a Martin Luther King, Jr. day message, complete with one of his safer quotes. But a content marketer can publish a blog post from a leading voice in the Black community. A brand can say they stand with Ukraine. A content marketer can bring refugee voices directly to a sympathetic audience. That's leading with purpose, not purpose as an afterthought.

3 — Humanizing the Brand

I’ve written before about humanizing B2B marketing — specifically about how easy it is to overthink the whole thing. What’s the line between relatable and unprofessional? Will we lose trust in our competency if our content is too lighthearted? How do we relate to our entire audience without alienating a segment? Here’s the thing: You can’t humanize a brand. I say again: You CAN’T humanize a BRAND. [caption id="attachment_30862" align="alignnone" width="300"] The exception that proves the rule.[/caption] Brands are not humans. People are. Content marketing can feature people on behalf of the brand, rather than attempting to speak for the brand.  Bring your executives into your content. Bring employees, influencers, external experts. Bring — I’m begging you — your customers and prospects in as well. If you want to truly humanize, let the humans come out from behind the brand. Content marketers can lead the way.

4 — Building Relationships

I have talked more about building relationships in a decade of being a marketer than I did in a decade of being single. But in the world post-pandemic (and our current world of ongoing but milder pandemic), relationship-building is an even more crucial part of success for B2B business. Repeat customers, referrals and brand advocacy are all a more reliable source of revenue than even the most targeted advertising. Content marketing can help build these relationships. The first three points I made are all about laying the groundwork for a relationship. Content can offer helpful advice, information about the state of the industry, best practices — in other words, what your audience needs to succeed in their professional and even personal lives.  The quickest way to build a relationship? Give your potential customer that crucial bit of advice to make them look brilliant in front of their boss. Give your existing customers recognition and highlight the awesome success your brand helped them achieve. The more you lift up and celebrate your buyers, the more they are likely to do the same for your brand. [bctt tweet="“Content can offer helpful advice, information about the state of the industry, best practices — in other words, what your audience needs to succeed in their professional and even personal lives.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

Elevate Your Content to Solve B2B Challenges

It’s been a rough couple of years. Human beings have experienced individual and collective trauma, and we’re still processing and rebuilding. That’s true both of the marketers creating content and the people consuming it.  The way forward is to use content for what it’s really good at: Telling stories, amplifying human voices, and providing value. That’s not to say content should be doing all of the above instead of driving a business outcome — I’m saying that helpful, human content is the way to drive a business outcome. We have the privilege, as content marketers, to create something that serves both the brand and the audience, and might even be fun for us to create. It’s a unique opportunity and one we should all embrace. Check out our Content Marketing service page for more inspiration.

The post Fast-Forward: 4 Business Problems Solved by B2B Content Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2022/03/fast-forward-4-business-problems-solved.html

B2B Marketing News: B2B Conversion Priorities, Google’s Sweeping Analytics Change, Ad Market’s Continued Recovery, & YouTube’s New Livestream Features

The Top Benefits of a Data-Driven B2B Demand Gen Strategy B2B marketers have said that better leads, customer experience, and return on investment (ROI) were among the top benefits of effective data-driven strategy, while 54 percent said that quality data enables them to make more effective spending decisions, according to newly-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingProfs Prepare for the future with Google Analytics 4 Google will sunset its longstanding existing analytics incarnation in July 2023, and has laid out a plan encouraging users of the present version to switch to the new version, which adds greater privacy law compliance, while also removing access to analytics data from the current version, the search giant recently announced. Google [bctt tweet="“Data analytics isn’t some new magic bullet. It’s a way of leveraging the data that most every business has been quietly accumulating for years to deliver insights that lead to better decisions.” — Joel Snyder, Ph.D. @JoelSnyder" username="toprank"] Wanted in B2B ecommerce: smooth supply chains and skilled workers 43 percent of B2B sellers have said that a top challenge in 2022 will be achieving supply chain improvement, while some 39 percent noted that locating and maintaining staffing levels would be a key obstacle, with 38 percent having said that getting additional B2B customers to purchase online would be key — three of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in recently-released survey data. Digital Commerce 360 YouTube Launching 5 New Features For Livestreams Google's YouTube has released information about forthcoming new features, with an update that will allow marketers the ability to utilize multi-person live-stream events, recommend additional channels, and more, Google recently announced. Social Media Today U.S. Ad Market Marks A Full-Year Of Economic Recovery In February The U.S. advertising market’s rate of spending grew by 14.7 percent in February compared to the same month in 2021, with digital categories continuing to see the top performance gains, and helping to drive ad market expansion that has now grown for a full year, according to newly-released report data. MediaPost What Does it Mean for an Organization to be “Data Driven?” Trustworthy data, easy data management tools, and swift scalable data access topped the list of how corporate executives, directors, and managers define data-driven operations, with some 36 percent having said that flexibility and agility are key in both business and data practices, according to recently-released report data. MarketingCharts Report: Edge technologies will drive emerging tech investments in 2022 When it comes to investments in edge technologies, over half of global professionals at mid-to-large organizations have said that board directors were among the primary decision makers at their firm, more so than for traditional technology choices that typically see greater involvement of IT departments — one of several findings of interest to B2B marketers contained in newly-released report data from Gartner. VentureBeat Microsoft Data Shows Consumers Looking For Experiences Microsoft report data reinforces expanding consumer desire for in-person experiences — a trend that is likely to influence how marketers make a shift from virtual and hybrid events to physical experiences, accounting to recently-released findings from Microsoft Advertising Insights. MediaPost Email Marketing Benchmarks: Trends From 2021 Data from over 100 billion marketing emails has shown little variance in performance depending on which day of the week campaigns were sent, with only a small advantage in performance for Monday at 22 percent, while average open rates were around 20 percent in the advertising and marketing industry, according to newly-release report data. MarketingProfs Revenue Marketing Priority in 2022: Improving Conversion Rates When it comes to revenue marketing, B2B firms are prioritizing getting more middle and bottom of funnel conversions, while 40 percent of B2B marketers noted that technology was seen as the top barrier to driving both revenue and pipeline, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “user-generated content creep” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Executive On Deathbed Requests Obituary Be Optimized For SEO — The Onion TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Joshua Nite — Top Content of the Week: Keys to Catchy Content — LinkedIn (client)
• Nick Nelson — Digital Decluttering, Using Email for SaaS Loyalty and More — Only Influencers

Do you have your own most relevant B2B marketing news for the week? Please don't hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below. Thanks for joining us for the week's TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and we hope that you will return again next Friday for another selection of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: B2B Conversion Priorities, Google’s Sweeping Analytics Change, Ad Market’s Continued Recovery, & YouTube’s New Livestream Features appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2022/03/b2b-marketing-news-b2b-conversion.html

B2B Marketers on the Move: Springing Forward With Fresh Leadership Opportunities

The B2B marketing landscape consists of rapid-fire changes, accompanies by growth that often happens so fast that it can sometimes be difficult to fully appreciate. For more than 20 years TopRank Marketing has been honored to help a wide array of the world's top B2B marketers and brands elevate and go beyond merely being competitive, to standing out from the crowd with a variety of creative, award-winning successes. In this spirit, we regularly take the time to congratulate and honor business marketers, thought leaders, industry influencers as well as our own talented team members who have recently advanced in their careers. When B2B marketers take on new roles in leadership, a natural move is to seek out trusted resources to help professionals in new positions hit the ground running, and TopRank Marketing is happy to have been a go-to B2B content and influencer marketing agency for so many great marketers in new leadership roles. We're also always seeking out B2B technology industry influencers advancing in their careers to partner with on unique content collaborations. We'd like to extend hefty congratulations to our B2B technology industry partners, clients, associates, friends and teammates in this fourth edition of B2B Marketers on the Move.

Springing Forward With B2B Marketers on the Move

Gail Moody-Byrd has taken a new position as vice president, marketing, LinkedIn Sales Solutions, at LinkedIn*. Gail was featured in our recent "How to Elevate Your B2B Marketing Career: Advice from Execs at Top B2B Brands."

The most effective, highest converting product content you can create to share with prospects are verbatims from existing customers. Find ways to bring your customers together, in conversation, discussing common challenges and how they are tackling them. Their solutions will inevitably include mentions of your products, but instead of sounding like Marketing-speak, your product benefits will be voiced in the authentic language used by practitioners, establishing the trusted relationship so critical in B2B sales.

Claire Luinstra has been promoted to account director at TopRank Marketing.

For advancing your career, it’s really key to have a clear vision about where you want to go.  You’ll win at what you focus on.

Nadine Dietz has taken a new position as executive vice president at 24 Seven Talent & GM of Marketers That Matter. Nadine was featured in our "10 Years of Women Who Rock in Marketing – CMO Edition 2019," and "20 Podcasts To Elevate Your B2B Marketing." Cecilia Marshall, MSc. has taken a new position as office of LAC marketing and strategic programs - senior director, influencer program, Women Forward Program at SAP*. Heike Young has taken a new position as senior director of video marketing at Salesforce.

My favorite thing about content marketing has always been innovation centered on our audience — finding little pockets of open space where creativity and experimentation can thrive. So when I heard our brand team was placing a bigger focus on video within our broader content strategy, I was all ears!

Amy Higgins has taken a new position as senior director of content strategy at Twilio. Amy is a TopRank alumni, and was featured in our "Top B2B Marketers Share their Content Marketing Predictions for 2021."

I commit to helping raise women up in the workforce by having open and honest conversations about how we show up, how others view us, and how we are compensated.

Jada Balster has been promoted to director of customer and campaign marketing at Adobe.

Future-facing marketing leaders will ensure their team is trained to acquire new skill sets to ensure they can continue to make a positive contribution, while technology improves productivity without increasing headcount.

Carla Fitzgerald has taken a new position as chief marketing officer at BigBear.ai.

In my experience, leaders lead regardless of their title or place on the org chart. They illuminate, challenge, solve, communicate, persuade, and motivate…and in doing so, earn the recognition (and title) they deserve, even when title isn’t important.

Paul Wilson has taken a new position as vice president of marketing operations and technology at OneTrust.

For marketing operations the importance of trust to the digital experience is more critical than ever.

Rachel Miller has taken a new position as founder and CEO at Swayd Company. Rachel is a TopRank alumni.

It’s important to be self aware and know when you need to slow down and when you can speed up.

Heather Garcia-Meza has taken a new position as global digital and video programs COE lead at Gigamon. Heather is a TopRank alumni. Travis Flak has been promoted to director of marketing at Capillary North America. Travis is a TopRank alumni. Travis Hawley has been promoted to director of media at BlueVoyant.

Culture is in my opinion one of the most important priorities of any organization because it’s the blood that supplies productivity and creativity.

Amanda Gebhard has been promoted to senior social media communications manager at Boston Scientific. Amanda was featured in our "13 Top B2B Social Media Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020."

Diverse perspectives make the workplace better.

Julie Niesen has taken a new position as marketing content manager at Cisco. Julie was featured in our "50 Influential Women in Digital Marketing: North Stars & Rising Stars 2016." Bronwyn Lait has been promoted to director of EMEA field marketing at Twilio.

There is power in listening and learning from the diverse experiences of our colleagues. Change takes time, but we all have a role to play in facilitating it.

Tom Gallus has taken a new position as senior art director at Mayo Clinic. Tom is a TopRank alumni.

This is one of those times where an unexpected journey created a new and extraordinary pathway.

Paramita Bhattacharya has taken a new position as chief marketing officer at Storyblocks.

Seize the opportunity and continue with conviction and passion. Defend against biases and blaze your own trail. And when you are a woman in a leadership position, then champion for other women in every possible way you can.

Reda Abroute has been promoted to director of digital and social media India, Turkey, Middle East and Africa at Accor. Victoria Shepherd has taken a new position as vice president of marketing at Insurety Capital.

There’s nothing better than being able to focus on the area of work you’re strong in.

Jono Alderson has been promoted to head of SEO at Yoast BV. Jono was featured in our "Marketing During a Pandemic: Stop Pushing and Start Pulling with SEO."

We need to think about content from a human perspective. We need to consider if we’re producing genuinely ‘high-quality’ content, written by and for real people with opinions and expertise, designed to help to solve real problems.

Tameka Kee has taken a new position as director of marketing and communications at Black Innovation Alliance.

As our lives increasingly shift toward being more digital and virtual, the currencies, business models and laws around content must continue to evolve.

Lindsay Lyons has taken a new position as vice president, acquisition marketing channels at SAP*.

Changing the status quo takes 2x the energy required to keep current momentum. But here's the thing... The world needs challengers. The world needs naysayers.

Corinne Sklar has been promoted to vice president of marketing, IBM Consulting at IBM. Corrine was featured in our "50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers, Experts and Speakers To Follow In 2022."

Business transformation is about human transformation - its our lives and how we experience the world. We all need to embrace a new era that's open and ethically responsible - impact is so much more than the technology itself. We need to build trust more than ever.

Jennifer Gutman has been promoted to director of customer experience marketing at Oktopost.

Marketing is about reaching people. At the right time. And in my opinion, helping people do their jobs better. The actual driving force behind every B2B social media success story is people.

Zach Doty has taken a new position as director, online marketing at AT&T.

If you care for and take care of your team, they will take care of [Priority X] and they’ll take care of you! Resist the temptation to attain a leadership position for glory, status, advancement, or pay. Be a servant leader known for taking care of those around you.

Stephanie Thum has taken a new position as global executive communications, executive communications to the chief people and operating officer at SAP*. Stephanie has been featured in our "How B2B Marketing Influencers Are Finding Success On New Social Channels."

Trust is the most important ingredient for creating an organization that thrives. However, virtual and remote teams are here to stay. Leaders and team members must learn how to understand, build, and sustain trust in new ways.

Tac Anderson has taken a new position as vice president of US marketing at Sendle. Rebecca Selby has taken a new position as vice president of corporate marketing at Guidewire Software. David Armano has taken a new position as senior director, CX strategy at Soul Machines.

Just like with workspaces there isn’t a catch-all solution for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The most important thing you can do, as an employer, is be open to understanding what motivates and demotivates your employees rather than pushing one collective solution for all.

Jen Holtvluewer has taken a new position as chief marketing officer at 3Gtms, LLC. Jen was featured in our "Inside Influence 5: Jen Holtvluwer from Spiron on Award Winning B2B Influencer Marketing."

When people see your brand is being mentioned by an influencer, it gives them that double-take that validates you more in the market.

Thanks To These Top Leaders For Helping Elevate the B2B Marketing Industry

We extend thanks to all of the talented B2B marketing professionals we've featured here who have recently been promoted or taken new industry positions. We're certain that you'll elevate and reach new heights when it comes to the performance you'll deliver in your exciting new roles. You can find our previous edition of "Saluting B2B Marketers on the Move" here. If you're looking for a new change of your own, be sure to check out our own list of current job openings at TopRank Marketing on our careers page. *LinkedIn and SAP are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post B2B Marketers on the Move: Springing Forward With Fresh Leadership Opportunities appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2022/03/b2b-marketers-on-move-springing-forward.html

5 Ways to Build B2B Content That Resonates With Your Audience, and Why They Work

B2B marketing has a content problem: there’s more of it all the time… and the people we actually want reading it have started tuning it all out. We can’t exactly stop the content deluge (look, we’re even contributing to it right now!), so instead we’ve got to figure out:

1. Why are decision makers tuning out content?
2. How can we keep them from tuning out ours?

Why isn’t B2B content resonating?

LinkedIn-Edelman helped answer this first question in their 2021 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study. Their conclusions aren’t really all that surprising. Decision makers can really appreciate good thought leadership content (64% said it was a better basis for assessing a potential vendor than marketing materials or product sheets), but…. only if it isn’t boring. And, frankly, boring is usually exactly what it is: 71% of decision makers said less than half of the B2B content they consumed provided any valuable insight, and only 15% said they would rank any of the content they consumed in 2021 as “excellent” or “very good.” Decision makers aren’t tuning out content because they don’t care about it or because their attention spans have been eradicated by the internet. They’re tuning us out because, when they DO stop to give us a shot, they don’t think we’re giving them anything they want. Which leads to question #2:

How can we make B2B content that actually connects?

Decision makers already told us what they want: insight. Our readers are looking for thought leadership that provides real guidance on how to navigate situations they find themselves in right now. Don’t worry: that answer should be frustrating. After all, isn’t that what you’re already doing? Your audience would find all sorts of great insights in your content… if they would just READ IT! The thing that’s stopping them from doing that must not be what you’re saying, therefore, but HOW you’re saying it. It doesn’t matter if you have the most earth-shattering, game-changing scoop in the history of your industry… if you talk about it exactly like everyone else talks about their listicles or industry awards. We’re all guilty of doing it, and it’s high time we stopped. Next time you produce some B2B thought leadership content, keep these five guidelines in mind to ensure you’re presenting your insights in a way that actually speaks to the audience you’re trying to grab hold of. You’ll be surprised what a difference it will make — in terms of how fun it is to make and to read.

1 — Get Real

If there’s one hallmark of bad B2B thought leadership, it’s that it sounds like it wasn’t made from inside the industry. In fact, it usually reads like it was made by an alien poorly attempting to conceal themselves as both a human… and THEN an industry professional. That’s probably why, despite buyers consuming more content than ever, 79% report that the content they read is irrelevant to their actual needs. The irony here is there’s no reason to speak that way! Your thought leadership probably is coming from an industry expert, and it probably is speaking to something they care about. So speak like it is! Tell your audience what you’ve got to say and why they should care as plainly as possible.

2 — Make It About Them

My teammate Josh has written extensively about the need for empathy in B2B content marketing, and it’s something I think about every time I sit down to write a piece. What does your audience want out of this? Why is it worth their time? What can it help them do, solve, understand, etc.? The kind of B2B decision makers reading your content are, above all else, professionals with a job to do. Whatever content they’re consuming, they’re looking for how it’s going to help them do their job better. That’s where to start. How will the insight you’re writing about affect your audience’s work? What should they do with this information starting right now? Your audience is already going to be “translating” your content into how it matters to them; do that work for them. [bctt tweet="“The kind of B2B decision makers reading your content are, above all else, professionals with a job to do. Whatever content they’re consuming, they’re looking for how it’s going to help them do their job better.” — Harry Mackin" username="toprank"]

3 — Dare to Express an Opinion

The old college essay cop-out is so well-known it’s a meme: “In conclusion, America is a land of contrasts.” If it doesn’t fly in college, why do we think it flies in B2B content marketing? And yet, how often have you read articles that come down to hand wringing or giving an audience “much to consider?” Thought leadership isn’t journalism. It doesn’t have to be impartial, and it’s not coming from an outside observer. In fact, that’s its power. Your audience wants to know what you—a human being writing at a computer—thinks about a situation or development. That’s why they clicked on your byline. Whether they agree or disagree with what you conclude about all the evidence you’ve collected, at least they’ll remember enough to have an opinion! Honesty always interests; college term papers, not so much.

4 — Leave Them with Something New

Great thought leadership works because it doesn’t stand alone. It’s contextual, it’s engaged with the industry and moment in which it was written, and, above all, it’s actionable. When your audience finds your content, it should help them reframe a relevant recent event or phenomenon in a way they haven’t considered. When they’re done, they shouldn’t just want to click on the next article or hit the “contact us” button; they should want to keep thinking about what they just learned. In addition to writing on their terms and with their motivations in mind, try to position all of your thought leadership content as something new. Even if it’s not a particularly new insight or data-point, make it a new way to THINK about that insight or data-point. If you can give your audience something to bring back from your content with them, they’ll remember where they got it. [bctt tweet="“Great thought leadership works because it doesn’t stand alone. It’s contextual, it’s engaged with the industry and moment in which it was written, and, above all, it’s actionable.” — Harry Mackin" username="toprank"]

5 — Have some fun with it

I think this is ultimately where the B2B content problem started. Somewhere along the way, we all started thinking of “B2B Executive Thought Leadership” as such serious business that we forgot it basically amounts to writing about something we’re legitimately interested in. In our efforts to “do justice” to the seriousness of the process, we lost the personal passion and voice that actually made thought leadership worth reading in the first place. You already care about your content — that’s why you started writing it, and that’s why you’re reading about how to make it better. Show how much you care in the content itself. Talk like yourself, be honest, and have some fun! It won’t just improve how much you like making your content; it will make it resonate with your audience much better, too. If you need a little help rediscovering your voice to help make your content resonate with your audience, TopRank Marketing would love to help.

The post 5 Ways to Build B2B Content That Resonates With Your Audience, and Why They Work appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2022/03/5-ways-to-build-b2b-content-that.html

B2B Marketing News: Top B2B Demand Gen Priorities, Instagram’s New Ad Format, Podcasting Ad Spend Rises, & LinkedIn’s New Tech Marketing Guide

B2B Marketers' Biggest Demand Generation Challenges 68 percent of B2B marketers say that email is their top channel choice for demand generation efforts, followed by organic social at 39 percent, paid social at 36 percent, and website or blog efforts also with 36 percent — one of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs Study: Global Contextual Ad Market To Hit $335B By 2026 The global contextual advertising market is expected to reach nearly $200 billion in 2022, and $64.6 billion in the U.S., with increases forecast to top $335 billion by 2026, while activity-based advertising is expected to hit $195 billion by 2026, according to recently-released report data. MediaPost B2B Marketers Set Their Demand Gen Priorities for 2022 [Report] Marketing-sales alignment, avoiding missed lead opportunities, and increased marketing qualified lead (MQL) conversion rates were among top demand generation priorities among B2B marketers, according to recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts [bctt tweet="“Marketing doesn’t create demand, the customers’ needs do. Which means our marketing has to instead address the most likely gap in the process: making sure they think of us when those needs arise.” — Amber Naslund @AmberCadabra" username="toprank"] LinkedIn Publishes New Guide to Help Technology Marketers Boost Campaign Performance Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has published a collection of handy tips on a variety of tool usage and ad insights for the professional social platform, featured in LinkedIn’s (client) new technology marketing guide, the firm recently announced. Social Media Today Instagram Begins Testing Ads at the Top of Feed With a ‘Small Number’ of People Meta-owned Instagram has started testing a new type of digital ad on the platform, which will appear atop user newsfeeds and which is intended to boost personalized ad performance for business advertisers, Instagram recently announced. Adweek Majority Of Advertisers Plan To Increase Spend On Podcasting and Streaming Audio 53 percent of marketers say they plan to spend more on podcast advertising in 2022, with 54 percent saying that they plan to increase digital and streaming audio ad spending — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-released survey data. InsideRadio Facebook rolls out new tools for Group admins to manage their communities and reduce misinformation Meta-owned Facebook has launched an array of new tools for helping group administrators on the social platforms find relevant new members, along with a variety of community management features aimed at existing group users, Facebook recently announced. TechCrunch Microsoft Advertising Editor Gains Audience Network Control Previously only available jointly via application programming interface (API) calls, Microsoft’s Audience Network and Advertising Editor have now become integrated, allowing digital marketers to more easily perform an array of ad campaign tasks, Microsoft recently announced. Search Engine Roundtable Instagram is finally letting livestreamers add moderators Instagram has launched a new feature that allows users conducting live-streams on the platform to specify and utilize moderators for the streams, in an effort to curb irrelevant or harassing live-stream participation, the social platform recently announced. The Verge 2022 State of SalesTech: Driving Adoption of Critical Operational Tools When it comes to sales technology, many of the tools that marketers are increasingly noting as the most important — including video selling — have gone unused in their organizations, according to newly-released report data. SBI, The Growth Advisory ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “artificial intelligence” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist A brief tour of the PDP-11, the most influential minicomputer of all time — Ars Technica TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Elizabeth Williams — Total Annarchy #108: ? Reader Q&A; finding focus; a new fun tool to play with — Ann Handley
• Lee Odden — The key to GROWING your blog audience [Video] — ActiveCampaign
• TopRank Marketing — Top 90 Digital Marketing Agency Blogs & Websites — Feedspot

Have you located your own most important B2B marketing news for the week? Please don't hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below. Thank you for taking the time to join us for the week's TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and please return again next Friday for another array of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: Top B2B Demand Gen Priorities, Instagram’s New Ad Format, Podcasting Ad Spend Rises, & LinkedIn’s New Tech Marketing Guide appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2022/03/b2b-marketing-news-top-b2b-demand-gen.html