Transforming Customer Experience With Data: 5 Tips
Usability and transparency are key when it comes to data and analytics. Brands suffer from one of two extremes: Either insights are so impenetrable that only data scientists can decipher them, or interpretations are so superficial that they provide no value to stakeholders.

Q&A: Michael Brenner on Empathy and Marketing
We chat the author of  “Mean People Suck author and discuss why compassion and empathy should be on the mind of marketers—and why so many people in general today seem to be lacking in these qualities.

B2B Online Shoppers Want Loyalty and Simplicity: Report
Over half of B2B online shoppers use loyalty programs, optimizing benefits both for the company and employees, according to new research from UPS.

5 Tips for Creating An Agile Marketing Environment
Was 2019 the year your team pledged to move to a more collaborative, agile marketing approach, testing and iterating new ideas more quickly? You’re not alone.

Integrating AI Into Your Marketing Strategy: 6 Steps
Implementing AI in a marketing strategy is becoming the new standard. In fact, 70 percent of business leaders expect marketing AI to be critical for the future success of their businesses.

Direct Mail Improves Multichannel Mix: Report
Direct mail ROI goes up by nearly 63 percent when the tactic is used as part of an integrated marketing campaign, according to new research.

Don’t Be Afraid: The Risks—and Benefits—of Driving Change
Increasingly, consumers are looking to businesses to drive change on issues they care about. Edelman found that 64% of buyers say CEOs should take the lead on change rather than waiting for the government to impose it.

Q&A: PWC’s Path to Digital Transformation
Reggie Walker, chief commercial officer of PwC, recently chatted with Chief Marketer about the part digital transformation plays in addressing shifting customer needs, and the challenge of connecting with a global audience.

Why Martech Investments Aren’t Optimized: Infographic
Over half of marketers expect their martech budgets to increase in the next year, but many still don’t feel they are optimizing their technology spending, according to Chief Marketer’s Martech Outlook Report. 

The Changing Face of B2B Social Media
For B2B marketers, social media no longer necessarily just means having an up-to-date LinkedIn page. Today, savvy B2B marketers are expanding their social circles to connect with audiences where they want to engage.

The post October’s B2B and Martech Top 10 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

9 Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Presence
Patrick King offers nine tips for improving your LinkedIn presence, both as an individual and a brand.

Direct Mail Helps EyeMed Get Seen By Prospects
EyeMed is one of many brands turning to the old school tactic of direct mail to engage modern B2B buyers.

The Evolution of Search: 3 Things to Know in 2019
As search continues to evolve, B2B sellers and marketers must be prepared to take advantage of new capabilities.

Learning From the Past: Digital Marketing Advice from 1923
Digital marketing is more advanced than ever before, thanks to an ever-increasing amount of tools and data. But too many ad buyers never learned the practical rules for creativity that were written by pioneers like Claude Hopkins.

B2B Ecommerce Portal Helps United Rentals Improve Customer Experience
An integrated online B2B ecommerce portal is helping United Rentals increase equipment rentals and engage with new customers.

2019 CMO Roundtable
91 tips, ideas and insights from 20 top marketing executives

TD Garden Takeover Shines Light on SunBug Solar
Massachusetts small business SunBug Solar got big time marketing exposure earlier this month with an advertising takeover of Boston’s TD Garden.

3 Ways to Leverage Marketing Research in 2019
Market research is crucial for gaining consumer insight, and the landscape is constantly evolving. Here’s three things to consider when leveraging research to differentiate your brand in 2019.

Captain Marvel Powers Wix Promotion
A team up with “Captain Marvel” is helping cloud-based web development platform Wix.com promote a new series of product enhancements.

Pushing the Envelope: 10 Tips for Direct Mail Success
Consider these 10 tips for integrating this old school tactic into your modern marketing strategy.

The post February’s Top 10 B2B Stories appeared first on Chief Marketer.

2019 Digital Marketing Trends and Predictions
The popularity of shopping on smartphones affecting the purchasing funnel from ad to cart, and the rise of digital assistants that have made voice search SEO a new part of digital strategies. Learn what other trends you need to be on top of in 2019.

B2B Marketing Watch: Top Opportunities for 2019
Chief Marketer recently chatted with the leaders of some of our B2B 2019 CM200 agencies to discover what they thought were the top challenges, trends and opportunities in B2B marketing for the new year.

Martech Spending Continues to Rise
The upwards trend in martech spending will continue in the new year, but many companies still aren’t confident they’re getting the best bang for their buck.

Q&A: CMO Rishi Dave on the Transformation of Vonage
Chief Marketer recently chatted with Rishi Dave, recently appointed CMO of Vonage, about the challenges and opportunities facing his brand in 2019.

Marketing Strategies at Risk: Six Predictions from Gartner
Four key forces buffeting marketing today have spawned six predictions that will dramatically affect marketing teams and their leaders.

How to Grow a Meaningful B2B Instagram Following
As a B2B marketer, it can be tricky trying to connect with buyer personas on non-business social platforms like Instagram.

Is Gating B2B Content Still Important?
Despite the debates in many organizations, gated B2B content is still critical to a successful digital marketing strategy.

Hiring Qualified Marketing Talent is Challenging: Survey
Is hiring new marketing talent part of your 2019 agenda? New research indicates that filling open positions might take longer than you think.

Aflac Highlights What It Is, to Showcase What it Is
Aflac has tremendous brand awareness. Everyone knows their iconic duck and that the brand has something to do with insurance. But beyond that, it gets a little murky.

New Campaign Puts Shutterstock’s Assets Into Focus
Shutterstock is rolling out its first brand marketing campaign in six years, to help educate prospects about the depth of its stock image library.

The post January B2B & Martech Top 10 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Gorillaz Fans Chat With Murdoc in Prison
A virtual cry for help from imprisoned Gorillaz bassist Murdoc Niccal’s via chatbot is the latest move in the band’s promotional push for its upcoming album.

10 Disruptive Trends All Marketers Should Consider
Here are 10 trends excerpted from the book, Disruptive Marketing: What Growth Hackers, Data Punks and Other Hybrid Thinkers Can Teach Us About Navigating the New Normal by Geoffrey Colon.

Move Over Monopoly, Here Comes McDonald’s Trick. Treat. Win. Game
Move over Monopoly. McDonald’s has a new Halloween-themed, collect-and-win game with the chance to win the big $50,000 prize.

The Difference Between Brand Experience, Experiential & Events
It’s worth working to establish a common understanding of these tools, how and when they can be used effectively, and who might be best suited to engage for a given brand experience because the wrong choice can mean the difference between success and failure.

Millions of Prizes in Starbucks Virtual Games
Starbucks is hoping to draw in new loyalty members—and provide some entertainment and fun for its loyalists—with a summer-long virtual board game.

Marketing Strategies to Increase Customer Loyalty
Marketers that operate programs integrating these approaches will see measurable increases in their rewards program enrollment—and a better lifetime value from their customers

5 Strategies for Better B2B Ecommerce
Here’s five guidelines to help B2B companies make ecommerce the new corner stone of an old-fashioned growth model: more relationship + higher-quality = revenue.

Last Fan Standing Wins a Mercedes Benz
Even though Mercedes-Benz is not a Super Bowl sponsor, like many brands it has found a tie in to the Big Game.

The Power of Brand Narrative: 5 Ways to Create It
The power of story can be harnessed on a brand-level scale. Done right, a well-crafted narrative about your brand can significantly increase its value.

The New Rules of Feminism in Marketing
The international movement against sexual harassment and assault, #MeToo, has increased visibility for the challenges women face around the world. It’s also raised the stakes for brands who want to engage female consumers.

The post 2018 Top 10: Our Most Read Stories appeared first on Chief Marketer.

B2B Content: To Gate or Not to Gate, That is the Question
Gated content is one way to build your lead database, but B2B marketers need to resist the urge to gate everything.

Big Data is Great, But Don’t Overlook Power of Small Data
Big data continues to capture the imaginations—and budgets—of brand marketers across industries, but should it?

State Street and Formlabs Explore the Human Side of B2B Marketing
State Street and Formlabs shared their strategies for creating an engaging, human connection with content.

Spotify’s Email Preference Center is an Inspiration for Email Marketers
The quantity-over-quality debate in email marketing has become a bit of a moot point since the advent of the GDPR.

AI Powered Everything: The Second Marketing Revolution
Artificial intelligence is everywhere, from ads for Burger King to a collection of essays by the late Stephen Hawking.

Better B2B Email: 10 Quick Tips
TraceLink’s Mary Hart shares 10 surefire tips to improve B2B email ROI.

Using Thought Leadership to Get Your Business Voice Heard Online
Here are six key steps to keep content fresh and engaging.

Building Engines Leverages Original Research for Thought Leadership
A first of its kind industry benchmark study is serving as the cornerstone of a B2B thought leadership strategy for software company Building Engines.

Using AI to Inform Your Video Marketing Strategy
AI can help marketers increase the efficiency of their video strategy, and help tailor content to customers’ individual interests.

How GDPR and Stronger Regulations Can Improve Your Email ROI
Smart email marketers realize that following the best practices outlined in regulations such as GDPR will ultimately help—not hinder—their email marketing ROI.

The post Our November B2B and Martech Top 10 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Attribution Still a Huge Challenge for B2B Marketers
Lengthy sales cycles, numerous touchpoints and too much data are among the biggest hurdles B2B marketers face when it comes to accurate attribution.

B2B Marketing Outlook Survey
In this exclusive annual survey report, Chief Marketer uncovers how B2B marketers are investing their time and money to boost engagement, conversions and ROI.

Q&A: Heineken Taps into Experiences to Create Relevant Marketing
Chief Marketer recently chatted with Jessica Robinson, VP marketing for portfolio brands at Heinken USA, to get her take on the challenges on reaching both consumers and B2B audiences like distributors and retailers in the competitive beer and lager space.

Power of Influencer Marketing Continues to Grow: Report
Influencer marketing budgets are on the rise but still only comprise less than 10 percent of overall marketing spend for more than 60 percent of marketers, according to a new report.

Chatbots From Czech to Chinese (And Everywhere in Between)
Increasing numbers of enterprises are investing in chatbots. The promise of offloading expensive support that previously required human intervention to artificial intelligence-driven technologies is attractive, especially for organizations with complex, technical products and services.

Making Direct Mail Work Harder: Three Essential Tips
In the same way that vinyl records are being embraced by under 25 year olds, direct mail is being reinvented by marketers who are using it as a vital part of their multichannel marketing strategies.

5 Ways AI is Affecting Content Marketing
AI has completely changed the mechanism of content marketing as well as its implication and implementation. Here’s five ways AI is altering the content marketing landscape.

Marketers Seeking More Sales than Audience Feedback on Content
Nearly three-quarters of B2B marketers seek sales feedback when creating content, but only 42 percent are having conversations with customers as part of their research, according to a new report from CMI.

Better B2B Email: 10 Quick Tips
Could your B2B email campaign use a boost? At Connect to Convert, TraceLink’s Mary Hart shared 10 surefire tips marketers can use to improve their B2B ROI.

How GDPR and Stronger Regulations Can Improve Your Email ROI
Smart email marketers realize that following the best practices outlined in regulations such as GDPR will ultimately help—not hinder—their email marketing ROI.

The post October’s B2B and Martech Top 10 Stories appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Direct Mail is About Data, Not Being Pretty
“If you’re getting started in direct mail, the most important thing is to learn before you leap,” says Gordn Brott, senior director of marketing at online lender OnDeck.

Filling the Glass: Lord Hobo Brewing Creates New B2B Content Strategy
Unlike many B2B marketers, James Furbush of Lord Hobo Brewing as one clear metric to watch when tracking ROI: Are we selling more beer?

Three Reasons Marketing Data is the DNA of Engagement
There’s no doubt data deserves the spotlight at every marketing meeting. It’s always been viewed as a piece of the puzzle, but it’s finally earned the right to drive KPIs that help marketers win the constant “prove your ROI” battle.

B2B Marketers Lack Confidence in Data: D&B
Half of B2B professionals have a lack of confidence in the quality of their marketing data, hindering adoption of ABM to increase engagement in key target accounts.

Volvo Ocean Race is Experential Showcase for HCL
For HCL Technologies, a partnership with the Volvo Ocean Race isn’t just another sports sponsorship. It’s a way for the IT services provider to showcase the brand’s capabilities and build customer relationships.

Memorable Events Help Sophos Engage B2B Customers
An event marketing strategy capitalizing on in-person experiences and humor is helping Sophos engage B2B prospects and customers

Want to Reach Millennials? Tell Them a Story
If you want to connect with Millennials in the workplace, you need to tell them a good story—and then hope they retain what they heard.

What’s on Marketers’ Minds? Trust, Authenticity and Change
Three interrelated trends emerged from the sessions at this year’s Inbound—change, trust and authenticity. Marketers should pay attention to how these insights can be leveraged for success.

First Data Focuses on Employee Engagement
A multichannel content marketing campaign for a large retail customer helped First Data encourage employee use of its Money Network payroll solution.

Connecting Employees With Brand Helps Fuel Grant Thornton
Getting employees invested in its branding strategy has been a crucial part of the success of Grant Thornton’s  “Status Go” B2B campaign.

The post September’s Top 10 B2B Stories appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Avnet Uses a Podcast to Connect With Engineers
A podcast sponsorship is helping Avnet build brand and engagement with designers and engineers.

The Future of Email in a Voice Technology World
Voice technology and the use of virtual assistants are becoming widespread, changing the way we live and respond to marketing messages. What does this mean for email marketing?

6 Reasons Influencers Should Be Part of Your Social Strategy
Kardashian-level names aren’t the only influencers brands should consider. There are individuals in almost every field who have established their credibility to loyal followers.

How Shifting Business Strategy Can Break a B2B Brand
Here’s a few tips to recognize issues, and what you can do to fix them.

Influencers Help Xerox Set the Page Free
An ebook powered by celebrity influencers helped Xerox create engagement and contemporary relevance for the brand.

Human Element Can Help Align Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing integration is still often tricky business, but sales development reps can be the bridge bringing the two teams together.

Applying Conversion Rate Optimization to All Aspects of Marketing
The CRO mindset is a natural extension of the promises of digital marketing. But CRO can also be applied other forms of more traditional advertising as well.

Don’t Pass Pinterest By: Why B2B Marketers Need to Think Visual in Social
LinkedIn may be the social channel many B2B marketers feel most comfortable with, but don’t discount the visual impact platforms like Pinterest and Instagram can have with business customers.

Increasing B2B Social Time With Video
For B2B brands, engaging buyers in social conversations early in the buying process can help them get ahead of the competition. Videos are a key way to get them talking.

Constellation Tees Up Partnership With PGA
A sponsorship with the PGA has helped Constellation promote its brand by showcasing energy efficiency on golf courses.

The post Cool Reads: Our July B2B and Martech Top 10 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

If you want superpowered marketing intelligence, check out our 10 most popular consumer marketing articles for June 2018.

Gorillaz Fans Chat With Murdoc in Prison
A virtual cry for help from imprisoned Gorillaz bassist Murdoc Niccal’s via chatbot is the latest move in the band’s promotional push for its upcoming album.

Jack Morton Takes Top Honors at the 2018 PRO Awards Gala
Jack Morton Worldwide took top honors at the 28th Annual PRO Awards Gala, winning the Platinum PRO Award for Best Overall Campaign for “CoverGirl Rantin’ & Raven.”

Q&A: JCPenney CMO on Marketing to Women in the #MeToo Era
JCPenney CMO Marci Grebstein, talks about the “Style and Value for All” campaign and the importance of getting it right when connecting with women.

The New Rule of Using Feminism in Marketing
The use of “femvertising” is on the rise; Katie Martell shares who is getting it right—and wrong.

Five Secrets to Winning Women’s Trust in Your Brand
Bruce Henderson points out that you’re discussing how to amplify your brand to better target today’s empowered woman, chances are you weren’t marketing to her very well in the first place.

What Makes Up the Ideal Marketing Team?
There’s been plenty of discussion recently around what makes up the ideal team. Should it be all marketers— brand marketers, marketing VPs, CMOs, marketing directors, marketing managers and so on—or should other types be on the roster?

Macy’s Recruits Employees as Social Superstars
Macy’s is the latest brand to recruit its own store employees as influencers.

Incredibles Make Acics Part of Their Super Suits
Considering that one of their members is a speedster, it makes perfect sense that sneaker brand Asics is a promotional partner for Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2.”

Create Compelling and Engaging Content With Influencers
Influencer marketing, when done well, is about storytelling by respected sources, and that requires more than sending product to 50 social influencers and asking them to post pre-packaged messages with a campaign hashtag on social media platforms.

Coke Cans Promote Peace and Hope for Trump Summit
Once again, Coca-Cola has put its own spin on a major cultural moment. This time, it joined in the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un using the #TastethefeelingofHope and a digital billboard.

The post Incredible Articles: Our B2C Marketing Top 10 for June appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Looking for some great summer reads? Check out our 10 most popular B2B and martech articles for June 2018.

Cisco’s Journey to Digital Transformation
Cisco is in the process of morphing into a customer-centric organization; Joseph Puthessery shares insignt on the journey.

Comcast Drives Growth With Marketing Investments
A variety of marketing approaches and tactics is helping Comcast Business connect with a wide range of B2B target customers.

The Rise of CGI Social Media Influencers
What you see is what you get isn’t always the case with social media influencers—especially when they’re actually computer generated avatars.

Three Key Differences Between Affiliate and Referral Marketing
The lines tend to be blurry between affiliate and referral marketing, the confusion leads to inefficient campaigns that often never even get off the ground.

Behavorial Analytics Habits to Keep Leads Flowing
Having a handle on the behavioral analytics behind online traffic can make a huge difference in reporting for any marketing team.

BNY Mellon Takes Their Shot With Hamilton
BNY Mellon is leveraging its connection with Alexander Hamilton to capitalize on the founding father’s newfound pop culture hero status.

Is Voice Technology the Next Big Disruptor?
Fifty-eight percent of consumers have used voice search to find local business information in the last 12 months and 46 percent look for a local business on a daily basis, according to a new survey.

Five Proven Ways to Improve Website Conversion Rates
Being able to get traffic to your website is great, but if the traffic isn’t converting, then all of your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will be wasted.

State Street Global, Grant Thornton, Hiscox Win B2 Awards
Campaigns featuring Fearless Girl, risk taking and the PGA helped top brands win big at the ANA’s B2 Awards

Emotions Matter When It Comes to Engagement: Report
What two emotions engage readers the most online? Nostalgia and schadenfreude, according to new research from online news site Topix.

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The post What Are You Reading? June’s Top B2B & Martech Articles appeared first on Chief Marketer.