There’s been no shortage of bold claims about how AI will revolutionize (or ruin) marketing. I’ve spent the last six months experimenting with AI tools to understand how they could actually help my team. In this article series, I’ll walk you through the use cases that I’ve found most promising. Companies don’t buy products, people do. I’ve done B2B sales and marketing for my whole career, and I’ve seen how often my colleagues forget this very basic principle. All the talk these days seems to … [Read more...]
AI in Marketing Part 1: Optimizing for the New World of Search
There’s been no shortage of bold claims about how AI will revolutionize (or ruin) marketing. I’ve spent the last six months experimenting with AI tools to understand how they could help my team. In this article series, I’ll walk you through the use cases that I’ve found most promising. Connecting with buyers through web search is by now a decades-old practice for marketers. Most marketing teams do some level of search engine optimization (SEO). But AI has brought some big changes to search. … [Read more...]
Take Control of Your Pipeline With Demand Forecast Calls
CMOs can get themselves into a pickle when pipeline generation falls short. By the time they realize they are below the target, it may be too late to recover. I’ve borrowed a practice from my sales brethren to help me avoid this problem. Most B2B marketers are familiar with sales forecast calls. These meetings are typically held weekly by sales leaders. Sales reps review their deals and expected outcomes. Sales leadership inspects the deals by asking questions about timing, competition, access … [Read more...]
Six Keys to Winning at Analyst Relations
A favorable showing in an industry analyst report can result in millions in new sales. Being a laggard can mean you won’t even get invited to pitch your product. So, how can you make sure your company’s product moves to the top? The two most influential analyst reports for B2B tech buyers are the Gartner Magic Quadrant, aka "the MQ," and the Forrester Wave. I’ve been briefing analysts from these two analyst firms for many years now. By way of credentials, my teams and I have moved three … [Read more...]
Network Tech Branding: The Cool Stories Behind the Ethernet, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi Names
“Hey, what’s the 802.11 password?” I’m guessing you’ve never heard anyone ask that. But someone asking you for the Wi-Fi password? Every family vacation you have taken in the last five or so years? I was on a ski trip recently and was wondering how we ended up with phones that connect to my Audi via something called Bluetooth, an iPad that streams Netflix in the condo using Wi-Fi, and somewhere a router connected to the granddaddy of packet pushers, a thing called Ethernet. Three memorable but … [Read more...]
Building a Reason to Care
You told me the what, but not the so-what. You have probably heard this before. It’s often delivered as an admonishment to a salesperson or marketer by a customer or prospect. Maybe someone has said it to you. If we’ve all heard it, why are we not delivering a reason to care more often? Because it’s hard. As marketers, we all know better than just stating the what, but getting to the so-what takes a lot of work. Sometimes it just takes time for a market to emerge or for customers to fall in … [Read more...]
B2B Marketer Fails, Part 3 – Website Conversion Optimization
You have spoken to your buyer in terms that they find compelling. You have written helpful and authoritative content that has won their trust. Now you look to set the hook with an offer. Your email or Google ad sends them to a landing page. But has it been optimized? This oversight is a common fail. What’s a pity is that optimizing landing pages and websites is so easy. What’s a crime in ignoring optimization is that it’s so effective. Small changes in color, copy or imagery can have … [Read more...]
B2B Marketer Fails, Part 2 – All Sales Start with Google (or YouTube)
In the first part of this B2B marketer fails series, I talked about how B2B marketers fail to realize they are selling to people, not businesses. They sell to the professionals who work at a business. And though these professionals have their work hats on, they need to be convinced based on their own personal needs, ambitions, and motivations. The crux of the fail is marketers ignoring how they act themselves. Whether as a consumer or a professional, the people in the marketing department … [Read more...]
B2B Marketer Fails, Part 1 – You Sell to People, Not Companies
Note: I don't know why, but the pandemic and WFH seemed to sap my creativity and shut out the muse. Only after realizing it had been over six months since my last post did I give myself a kick in the rear to get back at it. Every month, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by B2B marketers trying to entice buyers from various businesses to inquire about their products. It pales in comparison to the half-trillion a year spent on ads to convince consumers like all of us to buy soda, cars, … [Read more...]
Three Psychology Tricks Marketers Use to Make You Buy
We marketers have something in common with magicians. Prestidigitators and product promoters are both students of human behavior. While magicians take advantage of distraction, marketers tap into three other psychological traits. Unlike magicians, we marketers have no code that prevents us from revealing our secrets. Tips and tricks blogs on growth hacks must number in the tens of thousands by now. So, I don’t fear being ostracized from the CMO club. Here are three of the ways marketers use … [Read more...]
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