It’s no secret that we have made it our mission to elevate the world of B2B marketing. “Elevate B2B” has been the agency’s theme and mantra of the year, and we don’t see it going away anytime soon.
Our CEO Lee Odden shared in January, “from ‘boring-to-boring’ to being woefully behind B2C, there’s more than enough opportunity for us in the B2B marketing world to raise the bar.”
The TopRank Marketing team has been committed to elevating the industry, specifically targeting these three approaches:
1 — EXPERIENTIAL CONTENT
What good is content if the target customer is not engaged? Just like B2C audiences, B2B marketers and decision-makers want to experience brands through thoughtful, creative and innovative content. In our digital-first world, personally and professionally, marketers are drawn to messages that reach them where they are with memorial content experiences.
“In a LinkedIn survey of 1,600 senior B2B marketers, 82% said ‘creative confidence’ is growing in B2B. Buyers want innovative experiences, and marketers are more than equipped to create them.” – Alexandra Rynne, Senior Content Marketing Manager, LinkedIn
2 — LEADING WITH AUTHENTICITY
What does conversion come down to? Trust. What builds trust? A strategy that prioritizes credible, humanized content.
“Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.” – Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
The 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report found that 87% of B2B marketers rate trust as essential. This is getting to the heart of what a B2B influencer should be: Real and meaningful to the audience. Content collaborations between industry experts and internal subject matter experts and executives helps to humanize B2B brands by focusing on the real issues customers are dealing with.
“Good content isn’t about good storytelling. It’s about telling a true story well.” — Ann Handley of @MarketingProfs Click To Tweet3 — BOLSTERING TALENT
The B2B content marketing world is full of talented voices. Our friends, clients, partners, peers… even our competitors. There is no lack of aptitude, but there can be a lack of opportunities. We believe that the loudest voices should not be the only ones heard and that doing the same things with the same people is not optimizing anyone’s bottom line.
“Inclusion is actually how we all win. And there’s a few reasons for that. One is the diversity of perspectives and viewpoints that drives innovation. You need new inputs to get new outputs.” – Christy Haubegger, EVP, Chief Enterprise Inclusion Officer at Warner Media
“Inclusion is actually how we all win. And there’s a few reasons for that. One is the diversity of perspectives and viewpoints that drives innovation. You need new inputs to get new outputs.” — Christy Haubegger of @WarnerMedia Click To TweetThose that bring a new perspective, a fresh mindset and an alternative background to everyone else we may already be sitting in a room with challenge and inspire new ideas.
As an accumulation of these three pillars, we are here to say that while we’re not satisfied with the current state of B2B marketing, we’re committed to continuing to share real stories that are optimistic and ambitious with the launch of Elevate B2B Marketing, a podcast featuring conversations that inform, include and inspire the best of B2B marketing. Each episode will feature insights from a B2B marketing leader having a conversation with our very own Lee Odden.
Elevate B2B Marketing is kicking off with the queen of content herself, Ann Handley of MarketingProfs. Ann is an incredible storyteller and sought-after keynote speaker, lover of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Wordle ninja and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of multiple books including the completely revised and expanded edition of Everybody Writes. Join as she talks about B2B marketers’ post-pandemic challenges, creativity, and inclusivity within the industry!
Here are a few highlights and topics covered in the conversation between Ann and Lee:
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- The “new normal” of B2B Marketing
- The continued emphasis on content marketing through empathy and emotion
- Elevating B2B brands beyond “boring-to-boring”
- DE&I within the B2B industry
- Sneak peeks and insights from MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute‘s newest research
- and MORE!
Check out the full interview podcast here:
Check out the full video interview with Ann Handley here:
Listen & subscribe to the Elevate B2B Marketing Podcast now
Also be sure to check out Ann’s newly revised and greatly expanded (10% funnier too) Everybody Writes!
