Ardath Albee
The Blandscape of B2B Marketing Content Needs a Bit of Emotion
For some reason, B2B marketing content tends to lean more toward academia than literary license. Much of the content produced is dry, mechanical, and, well, academic. We think our content must exude professionalism because we sell complex, high-ticket ...
Quit Poking the Bear with Gated B2B Content
To gate or not to gate your B2B content?This is a question that comes up repeatedly for B2B marketers and one we can’t seem to answer definitively. Even though we know better, we seem unable to give B2B buyers what they want > unfettered access…
The Gap Between Interest and B2B Intent Data in Marketing
B2B Intent data is the latest tool in the marketing stack on the hype cycle. There are protractors and detractors, but when you get right down to it, intent data is just another great tool in your marketing toolbox. If it’s used correctly.The problem i...
Use Questions as Your Framework for B2B Buyer Enablement
I love questions. Questions are how you learn things. Questions create curiosity. But, for marketers, questions are one key to B2B buyer enablement. The process of Q&A drives momentum based on addressing how context shifts with each new intake of r...
Current B2B Content Marketing Challenges to Beat
Every year, Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs release their latest B2B marketing research. This year the report includes a chart of current B2B content marketing challenges. A few of them surprised me as I thought (or hoped) we had beaten...
Why B2B Marketers are Critical to Revenue Operations
Due to my interest in breaking down the silos that separate customer-facing teams, I’ve attended a few webinars focused on Revenue Operations (RevOps). Uniting the commercial team to produce profitable buyer and customer-driven experiences is something...
Point of View in B2B Content Changes the Game
Since the start of the pandemic, content has flooded digital channels trying to gain the attention of self-reliant buyers. The noise is deafening. And much of the B2B content produced is leaving buyers cold.Edelman and LinkedIn recently released the 20...
Stop Asking B2B Buyers to Take Leaps of Faith with Content
The content we use to engage B2B buyers must resonate and be relevant. Unfortunately, this is a challenge that marketers continue to struggle with. And that’s not surprising given the rate things change in today’s market landscape. However, sometimes w...
Help Your B2B Buyers Do Their Own Discovery
Discovery is most often considered a function performed by sales reps. But in this context, it’s more about discovery FOR the sales rep, NOT B2B buyers.One of the problems marketing and sales have as B2B buyers’ roles shift is that they start too late ...
Rethink B2B Content for Buyer Enablement
Buyers need to complete specific jobs before consensus can be reached for a buying decision. They need information that helps them understand what to ask, do, understand, and evaluate. And they benefit from B2B content that shows them how to do those t...
Why Sales Shuns B2B Marketing Qualified Leads
Shouldn’t sending people who actively engage and show interest in solving the problem be the core qualification for a marketing qualified lead (MQL)?
Closing the Gap Between B2B Buying and Selling
“Sellers use their sales process to place solutions.”“Buyers use their buying decision process to figure out how to resolve their problem with the least disruption.” This is how Sharon Drew Morgen explains it. She’s been working to expose and close the...
B2B Brand Marketing & Demand Gen: Better Together
I just read a recommendation that B2B organizations should allocate 46% of budget to brand marketing and 54% to demand gen.The reasoning is based on an estimation that at any given time, only 5% to 10% of customers are in-market for a category. This es...
Why Is B2B Marketing So Hyper?
Hyper-relevant. Hyper-personalized. Hyper-targeted. Hyper-everything in B2B marketing!What is it with all the hyper? Is it the new “new and improved” label for marketing concepts? If you look at the definition of hyper, the word is related to phrases l...
Marketers Need a Mindset Reset for B2B Personalization
Personalization in B2B marketing has been on an upward intention trend for a while now. But it’s not working out very well. Despite marketers’ best intentions, nearly half say delivering personalized and relevant content is a top business challenge.How...
It’s Not the Format of Your B2B Content, It’s the Relevance
Format is one of those chicken and egg things about marketing that just needs to cross the road.Every year, reports come out that tout which content type works best at which stage in the funnel and has marketers responding to which format drives the mo...
Misconceptions About B2B Buyer Personas
I’m really tired of seeing people dismiss B2B buyer personas as worthless. Although, I have to admit that many of the personas I review from prospective clients are little more than recipe cards for disconnected experiences. And shame on those who are ...
Revenue Teams Must Deconflict B2B Messaging
B2B messaging is a key component of doing business. All go-to-market and customer programs run on messaging. However, the different roles on revenue teams often create conflict with the messaging each of them chooses to use.It seems perfectly reasonabl...
More Stuff B2B Marketing Needs to Break
Last month, I attended the Break Sh!t event hosted by Terminus. It was a fun format and the short sessions from standouts including Andrew Davis, Katie Martell, Oli Gardner, Sangram Vajre, and more, were compelling.I could say a lot more about how grea...
How Marketers Can Help Reps Use Sales Content Effectively
Most marketers treat content like a tactic, not a product offering. Content truly focused on what your buyers and customers need to know becomes integrated with your products—just represented by media that you create and publish.For a litmus test, ask ...