Blogs, Casts and POV's

Recent Updates:

Insights, POVs and Perspectives on Topics That B2B Marketers are Focused on, Today.

B2B decision makers need to know more than benefits and specs

The new age of B2B marketing requires brands to change their SOM

Avoid Pitfalls with Playbooks and Operational Maps

Account Based Marketing | March 2025

Having the most advanced kitchen doesn’t automatically make you the best chef—it’s how you use the tools at your disposal to create experiences that keep customers coming back for more. For today’s B2B marketers, Account-Based Marketing is like trying to run a kitchen: you need a recipe to ensure all chefs and team members are on the same page.

With a massive 70% of B2B marketers* either using or planning to implement ABM—and 92% considering it critical for their 2025 go-to-market (GTM) strategy—it’s become table stakes for staying competitive. While there’s no shortage of tools (CDPs, platforms, data solutions, AI/agentic solutions, etc.), what brands need is a Playbook to align their technology, teams and tactics.

While having the latest and greatest appliances and tools might seem like a guarantee of success, even the best-equipped restaurants can fail by falling into pitfalls. Similar mindsets may lead the chef and the marketer alike to failure.

9 ABM pitfalls to avoid:

1. Overlooking Data: No ABM program can succeed without a full assessment of the data you have available to work with. Not all data is created equal, and since ABM is focused on helping key account relationships evolve, bad data will only lead to failure.

2. Technology-First Mindset: Overinvesting in tools without a clear strategic vision can lead to waste and brand disconnection. The equipment and tools selected should bring the marketer’s strategy to life rather than define the parameters of what can be delivered.

3. Set-and-Forget Syndrome: Failing to monitor and adjust your ABM programs can lead to declining performance. Consistent monitoring and refinement are essential.

4. No Personal Touch: People buy from people. In a highly automated environment, it’s easy to lose the creative spark that drives customer delight. Automation should enhance, not replace, meaningful engagement.

5. Poor Integrated Planning: New tools need clear workflows and team training. Without proper “rules of engagement,” even the best technology can create chaos rather than efficiency.

6. Shallow Personalization: Brands need to think about more individualized approaches to engaging in contact, using the breadth of the data to create stories that drive relationships.

7. Stakeholder Blindness: The right people need to be involved from Day 1, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for all team members. Communication needs to flow across and up the organization to ensure that business leaders and executives are all aware of their efforts and outcomes.

8. Selective Metric Monitoring: Paying attention only to positive feedback while ignoring the negative can mask highly serious problems until it’s too late.

9. Wrong Success Measures: Like predominant restaurant revenue that comes from promotional dinner specials, high engagement numbers in marketing mean little if they’re not driving profitable business outcomes. Focus on metrics that truly impact your bottom line.

ABM is compelling and at the core of business marketing needs, but success requires more than just assembling a sophisticated marketing tech stack and sales enablement tools. The most effective programs balance technology with strategy, automation with personalization, and efficiency with genuine customer engagement.

Before diving deep into ABM, ensure you have the right Playbook in place for your team. The benefit is better client experiences and happier customers.

*Source: HubSpot Nov 2024 Repor

Content Marketing | April 2025

B2B decision makers need to know more than benefits and specs

In the frenzied arena of B2B marketing, content is the ultimate weapon in helping buyers understand you and your solutions. It’s no longer enough to churn out generic PDFs; today’s executives demand more insights, perspectives and storylines to help them decide which brands to consider.

What to Say: From Generic to Addressing Real Pain

In the past, B2B teams churned undifferentiated lists and white papers. Yet, 57%1 of buyers ignore assets that fail to differentiate. Today’s B2B marketers need to craft content that tells a story, speaks directly to the prospect, and shows that you understand their situation and empathize with them. It’s time to stop contributing to the static of sameness overtaking B2B marketing—as long as you know who you are speaking to.

Mapping to the Journey: From Sporadic to Orchestrated, Journey-Driven Narratives

Knowing your audiences, their needs and habits is critical, though often overlooked. Only 37%2 of B2B marketers have a documented content strategy. Organizations should map every asset to the buyer’s path—Awareness (thought-provoking POVs), Consideration (comparative guides, demos), and Decision (risk-mitigation playbooks). Keep in mind that 90%3 of the user journey unfolds before a single sales call or outreach. It’s time to get your content in order and map the narrative to user actions. Act like you know them.

Measure and Adapt: From Vanity Metrics to Rigorous Pipeline & Revenue Attribution

A staggering 47%4 of marketers do not track ROI for their content marketing efforts. This may explain why content development is lagging: marketers struggle to assign proper metrics to its deployment and evaluate ROI. CFOs are watching contributions, and marketers need to lean into it.

Driving Confidence in Your Efforts—the New Imperative

Stop treating content as a “nice to have”—it needs to become a key part of the revenue engine. Start by embracing audience-obsessed assets (know what your ICP wants to consume), orchestrating the end-to-end journey and implementing iron-clad measurement (hint: it starts with a Learning Agenda).

How you communicate with a prospect is just as important as what you communicate. It’s time to give content the attention it needs to help you boost your pipeline and power your growth.

Adapt and Persist | May 2025

B2B Marketing: Evolving, Adapting, Enduring. Why Its Core Will Always Persist.

Taking a step back from the constant onslaught of updates, news and 'look over here', it is clear that B2B Marketing is in the midst of change, and that is a good thing. As AI promises hyper-personalization at scale, influencer voices gain more traction, and new platforms emerge constantly to help solve challenges, B2B Marketing has never been more interesting for those who chose to assess, adapt and evole with it. Overall, it is clear that B2B Marketing will persist, harnessing new solutions, adapting it to what we know works, and intelligently helping brands pivot with the changes.

AI is an empowering tool, making brands and agencies ponder how to deliver greater relevancy to audiences, while delivering greater value to their company and clients.

Influencers bring credible, respected voices to a landscape littered with white papers and static insights. Trust comes from human input and perspectives.

SME's get to translate new tech and solutions into tangible strategies that solve real business problems, elevating their value through stronger outcomes.

This blending of technology and human expertise can be powerful when focused on the goal - sustainable brand growth.

So, take a step back, assess, inspect and lean back in. B2B Marketing will persist by adapting and evolving, led by passionate SMEs who look to bring new thinking and solutions to brands who need guidance and expertise more than ever. Quick Thank you to the B2B2G group members for helping to contribute your perspective and insights to our monthly sessions and to the Chicago CMO roundtable for the chance to connect with other passionate B2B marketing leaders.

Time for some swagger?

After some recent and ongoing meetings with a varied group of marketing executives and agency leaders, I am seeing (hearing?) a reoccurring theme show up in these conversations. It's not about AI or the challenge in bringing their solutions to market—it's about regaining some swagger.

It is a term that is more broadly used in sports these days, but if you think about it, brands and businesses are dealing with an onslaught of challenges in managing AI solutions integration, watching the bottom line, keeping capex in check, and generally making sure nothing catches on fire.

What isn't happening, and I think we will start to see more of this, is brands getting back to being bold and regaining some 'swagger.'
A strong voice in the market. Loud, focused campaigns. Bold statements...activations that stick with consumers and b2b buyers.
Some brands have already started, and more will follow. It's not a headline news topic, but if you start to ignore the doom and gloom rhetoric, you will see brands getting back some swagger.

I love this industry!!!!!