Howard Sewell
Howard Sewell
Howard has worked in marketing for 25+ years, and is president of Spear Marketing Group, a full-service B2B marketing agency. Howard is a frequent speaker and contributor to marketing publications on topics that include demand generation, digital marketing, ABM, and marketing technology.
The Consumption Gap & What It Means for Your Content Strategy
When prospects download or otherwise request gated content (like a white paper, for example), do they generally read that content immediately? Not according to a...
A Lifecycle Approach to Customer Marketing
B2B marketers have long understood that successful demand generation requires tailoring messages and offers to a buyer’s stage in the lead lifecycle. Early-stage buyers...
A Data Privacy Checklist for Email Marketers
Data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA may have faded from the headlines, but their enforcement is very much a reality. In recent years,...
9 Tips for Improving the Lead to Opportunity Process
When the sales team needs help boosting pipeline, the request of marketing is usually either: 1) more leads, or 2) better leads, or 3)...
10 Tips for Selecting Your ABM Target Account List
Whenever we talk to prospective clients about helping them launch an ABM program, there’s one comment that always portends a difficult conversation: “We already know...
Why Nurture Programs Aren’t Just About Converting Leads
Even in an era of ABM, intent data, and AI-driven marketing, lead nurturing still has an essential role to play in helping B2B marketers...
12 Tips for Keeping Your Marketing Automation System Clean
Marketing operations managers tend to come and go (average tenure mirrors other B2B marketing roles at 2-4 years, especially in tech) and that transitory...
AI & the Devaluation of Marketing Copy
Can AI write marketing copy? Even the most hardened AI skeptic would have to admit: yes, it can. The follow-on question, naturally, is whether AI-generated...
New Report: Key Trends in B2B Content Consumption
The lead generation experts at NetLine just released their “2024 State of B2B Content Consumption & Demand Report,” a meaty 38-page guide based on...
How to Make a Webinar Email Stand Out
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...
Why Survey Reports Should be Part of Your Content Plan
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...
The 2 Most Common Mistakes in Partner Recruitment Campaigns
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...
The Impact of New Google & Yahoo Deliverability Rules on Purchased Lists
A client asks: “We recently purchased a list of email addresses from a reputable vendor for use in a campaign targeting competitive installations. Do...
10 Must-Haves for Your Next Creative Brief
A good creative brief is the foundation for an effective marketing campaign. In the face of deadlines, however, and at the normal, torrid pace...
In Defense of Gated Content
According to the blogosphere, and based on conversations with clients, there appears to be a movement afoot to free marketing content from the shackles...
8 Tips for Working with a Smaller Marketing Budget
When a marketing budget get cut, certain line items tend to get immediate scrutiny: media spend, headcount, events. However, simply slashing spend – while...
Exegraphics – What They Are & How They’re Changing B2B Marketing
TweetLinkedInShareEmail 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…
Improving Demand Gen Performance with CRO
TweetLinkedInShareEmail One way to increase marketing ROI in a “do more with less” economy is to integrate Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) into demand gen strategy…
MDF Funds & How to Use Them
TweetLinkedInShareEmail In uncertain economic times, Market Development Funds (MDF) can be a precious resource for channel partners (resellers, distributors, ISVs) looking for budget to fund…
The Rise of AI & Other B2B Predictions for 2023
TweetLinkedInShareEmail Each year, it seems there’s one topic that dominates marketing conversation, and 2023 is no exception. In recent weeks, AI technology, and in particular…