Digital Marketing News: Google Rejiggers Results Design, Instagram’s Brand Mentions Feature, Octi AR Social Network, & CX Gets More Budget

The post Digital Marketing News: Google Rejiggers Results Design, Instagram’s Brand Mentions Feature, Octi AR Social Network, & CX Gets More Budget appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Break Free B2B Series: Margaret Magnarelli on the Psychology of Trust for Better Content Marketing

Trust in marketing—how to build it and how to wield it for good—needs to be top of mind for every modern marketer. Why? Because nearly every decision people make, especially when it comes to purchasing decisions, has an element of trust built in. And content marketers have the opportunity to become trusty guides. “No one knows everything about everything,” Margaret Magnarelli, Executive Director of Digital Product Evolution and Growth Marketing at Morgan Stanley, shared with us in a recent Break Free B2B interview. “So, we have to be able to give our customers as much information as we can… and take them as close to the line of purchase—to the experience of purchase—as we can.” According to Margaret, understanding and leveraging the psychology of trust—the intellectual and emotional factors that guide our trust instincts—can be incredibly powerful. But building trust isn’t a solo marketing department endeavor (or ploy). “If you want to be a trustworthy company… it can’t be just a marketing philosophy. It has to be a business philosophy," she said. “People can see through fake attempts to build trust. So, I would caution brands away from being all things to all people.” [bctt tweet="If you want to be a trustworthy company… it can’t be just a marketing philosophy. It has to be a business philosophy. @mmagnarelli #BreakFreeB2B #TrustInMarketing" username="toprank"] From the four “trust factors” to engaging the C-suite around trust to key metrics, listen into Margaret’s full audio interview with TopRank Marketing President Susan Misukanis below.

Break Free B2B Interview with Margaret Magnarelli

If you’re interested in checking out a particular portion of the discussion, you can find a quick general outline below, as well as a few excerpts that stood out to us.

• 1:10 – Why marketers need to car about building trust
• 2:50 – Four factors of trust
• 5:20 – Trust as a corporate value
• 7:12 – Where marketers can make a difference in building trust with consumers
• 9:40 – Maintaining authenticity while tailoring messages to audience “weaknesses”
• 10:57 – Building brand intimacy with consistency
• 13:20 – The bottom-line impact of “trust incidents”
• 15:16 – Engaging the C-suite around trust
• 19:20 – Measuring and monitoring brand trust
• 20:30 – Intertwining trust messaging in current content marketing projects
• 22:18 – Building trust under pressure to drive results
• 23:15 – The state of trust in marketing in 3 to 5 years
• 24:57 – How marketers can break free

Sue: How are we providing prospective customers the information they need to bring them as close to the line of purchase as possible? How does trust factor in? Margaret: ... Trust comes out of two different parts of our brain. There's the cognitive part of trust that comes out of logic and proof points and data. And then there's the intuitive part of trust that comes out of our feelings and our intuition or heart. And interestingly enough, some of the research that has been done by marketing academics, has shown that [when there’s a] higher price point for a purchase, the more that process becomes intuitive rather than cognitive.  [bctt tweet="Trust comes out of two different parts of our brain. There’s the cognitive part that comes out of logic, proof points, and data. And there’s the intuitive part that comes out of our feelings, intuition, or heart. @mmagnarelli #BreakFreeB2B " username="toprank"] In any case, there are four major themes and factors into the trust analysis that we do. And they are benevolence, capability, authenticity and honesty.  So, benevolence: We want to know… does this person have our best interests at heart? Capability: Can they actually do the things that they say they can do? Authenticity: Are they real and genuine? And honesty: Are they truthful and transparent and what they're doing? And so using these four factors, and making sure that we are telling our stories with that framework in mind can really help us to establish trust with consumers. Sue: Where do you think the gaps are in terms of getting to that trust utopia? Margaret: I think that part of it comes from people's initial perspectives on trust. There's one thing that we can't really overcome as brands and that's people's trust disposition.  So, if you look at the psychological research—with Erik Erikson, the developmental psychologist—the first phase of development is earning trust. It's the first task of the ego, he has said. And, and what, what that means is that we learn whether or not to be trusting individuals in those first 18 months of life because as babies if you're crying, are your needs being met? Is someone coming to feed you or put you in bed or hold you? If you are not in a household that has that level of responsiveness and care, you might actually have a very low trust disposition— meaning that you are disinclined to trust, versus someone who was in a household that was very responsive to that and they have a high trust responsiveness.  Now that is something that our consumers all come to us with... it's their personal history, and we have no ability to change that right. So where we have the ability to change things is in those four factors that that I was talking about—the capability benevolence, authenticity and honesty… The things that we could do more of as content marketers is, I think, the capability aspect… Making sure that we are not just telling people that we do with thing, but like really showing them…  So how can we actually in video form or even in text form, like really prove to the people that our products work? And I think that also comes out of using third party validation where we can… It's hard for consumers to just believe a brand when they say they can do a thing. So if you have other people who say you can do a thing and you can do it well, and they can be your advocates, that's really powerful. So that's another area that I think that we really have the ability as brands to continue to leverage… Looking for our customers to help be our advocates, and looking for those outside proof points, and sharing those with our audiences so that they can understand how things work. [bctt tweet="It’s hard for consumers to just believe a brand when they say they can do a thing... That’s where third party validation can be really powerful. @mmagnarelli #BreakFreeB2B" username="toprank"] Sue: You talk about “trust incidents”—Can you share a little bit about that? Margaret: The main reasons that people lose trust with brands or what you would expect. So the primary one is poor product experience, like someone has not achieved the goal that they were looking to achieve with the product, or the product and didn't deliver in some other way, or felt they felt negative after the product experience. The second one is poor customer experience. But then some of the other reasons that people lose trust are again, things that you would probably expect, things like security breaches, leadership scandals, and that sort of thing… When something happens on a mass scale, like a leadership scandal or a security breach, companies really suffer the data shows that they suffer. I think it was an average 5% loss in revenue growth for the year that the trust incident happened; I believe that Accenture did that study. Stay tuned to the TopRank Marketing Blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Break Free B2B interviews. Here are a few interviews to whet your appetite:

• Break Free B2B Series: Emily Thompson on the Power of Content Marketing in Health Care
• Break Free B2B Series: Janine Wegner on Building Brand Thought Leadership With the Help of Influencers
• Break Free B2B Series: Adi Bachar-Reske on Taking the Lead in the Evolution of B2B Content Marketing

If you’re hungry for more insight and advice on the state of trust in marketing, check out our Trust Factors series:

• Trust Begins Within: The Vital Importance of Building Internal Trust in Marketing
• Trust Factors: Why Your Brand Should Take a Stand with Its Marketing Strategy
• The B2B Marketing Funnel is Dead: Say Hello to the Trust Funnel
• Trust Factors: The (In)Credible Impact of B2B Influencer Marketing
• Trust Factors: How Best Answer Content Fuels Brand Credibility
• Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics
• Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling
• Trust in Marketing is at Risk. These CMOs and Marketing Influencers Share How to Fix

The post Break Free B2B Series: Margaret Magnarelli on the Psychology of Trust for Better Content Marketing appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

The BIGLIST of 50 Top B2B Marketing Conferences in 2020

Marketing conferences offer a wealth of benefits to marketers looking to learn, network, and increase brand awareness, but how do you go about finding events that match your business and B2B marketing needs? Over the past decade the number of conferences has skyrocketed, making it harder than ever to hone in on the ones that can best help build your business, boost your networking opportunities, and offer the most relevant new industry education from top speakers, especially when it comes to B2B marketing. For 2020 we've gathered together no fewer than 50 events that place an emphasis on B2B marketing in all its facets, and we're thrilled to present the list here, in chronological order. [bctt tweet="“There really is no substitute for real-world interactions and creating a great experience for your customers or prospects.” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"] Now let's dig in and explore our collection of 50 top B2B marketing-related conferences and events for 2020.

50 Top B2B Marketing Events in 2020

AdExchanger Industry Preview — #IP2020 When: January 28-29, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: MarTech About: AdExchanger Industry Preview is an annual global forum for marketing technology, featuring two days focused on what to expect in MarTech this year, with featured speakers from Google, Amazon, Forrester, and Oracle. SMX West — #SMX When:February 19-20, 2020 Where: San Jose, CA. Theme: Search Marketing About: Search Marketing Expo West focuses on search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), with a well-rounded variety of digital commerce marketing sessions, featuring speakers from Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and Quora. The Gathering Marketing Summit — #TheGatheringSummit When:February 19-21, 2020 Where: Banff, Canada Theme: Creating Cult-Like Branding About: The Gathering Marketing Summit explores how some of the bravest brands deliver marketing, build culture and connect with customers in ways that don't just get them to buy, but to buy in, featuring leading speakers from Spotify, ESPN, GoDaddy, Coca-Cola, and Airbnb. B2B Marketing Exchange — #B2BMX When:February 24-26, 2020 Where: Scottsdale, AZ. Theme: B2B Sales and Marketing About: B2B Marketing Exchange focuses on B2B sales and marketing tactics and technologies with sessions covering content marketing, demand generation, sales enablement and more, with leading industry speakers including our CEO Lee Odden, Brian Fanzo, Tamsen Webster, Pam Didner and others from SAP, Oracle, and Cisco. Social Media Marketing World — #SMMW20 When:March 1-3, 2020 Where: San Diego, CA. Theme: Social Media About: Social Media Marketing World offers marketers a deep-dive into social media marketing focusing on new ideas and quality networking opportunities, including presenters from Microsoft, Vimeo, and Best Buy. Challenger Brands Summit 2020 by Adweek — #Adweek When:March 4-5, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: Brand Marketing About: Challenger Brands Summit is Adweek's second-annual conference offering two days of brand discovery and learning covering 12 major topics that impact the brand ecosystem, with top speakers from Uber, NFL, Puma, and Zagat. The ABM Innovation Summit — #ABMSummit When:March 17-18, 2020 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Account-Based Marketing (ABM) About: The ABM Innovation Summit explores account-based marketing's role in B2B marketing and sales, with an eye towards the future. Top speakers from firms including SAP, Salesforce, and Uberflip are scheduled to present. SaaStr Annual 2020 — #SaaStr When:March 10-12, 2020 Where: San Francisco, CA Theme: Software as a Service (SaaS) About: SaaStr Annual 2020 offers a cloud-focused business event bringing together B2B founders, executives and investors for the largest non-vendor SaaS conference, including speakers from Adobe, Slack, Google Cloud, and Intuit. Modern Business Experience — #ModernCX When:March 23-26, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Oracle Customer Experience About: Oracle's Modern Business Experience event is focused on customer experience (CX) for marketing, commerce, sales, and service professionals, including top speakers from Oracle, Deloitte Digital, The New York Times, and the Chicago Bulls. Pubcon Florida — #Pubcon When:March 24-26, 2020 Where: Fort Lauderdale, FL. Theme: Search & Social About: Pubcon Florida explores search and social marketing with a wide variety of subject tracks, and includes a training day where our CEO Lee Odden will present. Other speakers include Gary Illyes from Google, Jesse McDonald from IBM and Nagu Rangan from Microsoft. SearchLove 2020 — #SearchLove When:March 26-27, 2020 Where: San Diego, CA. Theme: Search Marketing About: SearchLove provides a multi-day event focusing on search marketing for in-house and agency search engine optimizers, business owners, marketing managers and more. Scheduled to present are speakers including Mike King, Will Critchlow, Cyrus Shepard and Wil Reynolds. Adobe Summit / Magento Imagine — #AdobeSummit When:March 29-April 2, 2020 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Digital Experience About: Adobe Summit and Magento Imagine at Adobe Summit explore re-imagining customer experiences with leaders in marketing automation, advertising, commerce and analytics, and feature speakers from Microsoft, Intuit, Best Buy and many others. LeadsCon 2020 — #LeadsCon2020 When:March 30-April 1, 2020 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Lead Generation About: As its name implies, LeadsCon 2020 focuses on the lead generation side of business marketing, and features speakers from SAP, Google, and Microsoft Advertising. Digital Sales & Marketing World 2020 — #DSMW2020 When:April 5-7, 2020 Where: Hartford, CT. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: Digital Sales & Marketing World provides a focus on aligning sales, marketing and leadership for digital success, and features top speakers from MarketingProfs, Vidyard and others. CXL Live — #ConversionXL When:April 5-7, 2020 Where: Austin, TX. Theme: Optimization & Experimentation About: CXL Live explores the best in optimization and experimentation for driving organizational growth, and features speakers from Mailchimp, Netflix, Airbnb, and Hilton. Martech West — #MarTechConf When:April 15-17, 2020 Where: San Jose, CA. Theme: MarTech About: Martech West focuses on actionable tactics in marketing technology to solve marketing problems, with speakers from Twitter, Wells Fargo, Thomson Reuters, Salesforce, and Verizon Business Group. Content Marketing Conference — #CMC20 When:April 21-23, 2020 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: Content Marketing About: Content Marketing Conference offers marketers actionable content marketing tools and tactics to humanize your brand, with top speakers including our CEO Lee Odden, as well as Ann Handley, Andrew Davis, AJ Wilcox, and Dennis Yu. B2B Online — #B2BOnline When:April 20-22, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: eCommerce About: B2B Online is a leading digital B2B marketing conference for manufacturers and distributors, offering speakers from LG Electronics, Office Depot, and Unilever. ContentTECH Summit — #ContentTECH When:April 20-22, 2020 Where: San Diego, CA. Theme: MarTech About: Offer a focus on content, technology and  strategy specifically for enterprise marketers, ContentTECH Summit features top presenters including our CEO Lee Odden and others from Microsoft, AWeber, NewsCred and Forrester. TOPO Summit — #TOPOSummit When:April 23-24, 2020 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: TOPO Summit brings together marketing strategy and technology for professionals in sales and marketing, and features speakers from Cisco, AutoDesk and Gigster. Sirius Decisions 2020 Summit — #SDsummit When:May 3-6, 2020 Where: Austin, TX. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: Sirius Decisions Summit enables B2B sales, marketing and product leaders to learn how to drive growth and energize their business, and features speakers from top industry speakers to be announced. C3 Conference — #C3NY When:May 12-13, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: Brand Marketing About: Conductor's C3 conference embodies professional marketers who connect, collaborate, and commit, and features top speakers including Ann Handley, Rand Fishkin and Aleyda Solis. ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference — #ANAmasters When:May 12-14, 2020 Where: Scottsdale, AZ. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: The Association of National Advertisers's ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference is all B2B, all the time, offering the latest B2B marketing insight by leading speakers from SAP, Visa, Intel, and Microsoft. Incite Marketing Summit West — #InciteGroup When:May 14-15, 2020 Where: San Diego, CA. Theme: Marketing About: Incite Marketing Summit West examines the future of marketing through the lens of authentic engagement on a personal level, augmented by purpose-driven data-backed marketing, and featuring speakers from LinkedIn, Intel, and SurveyMonkey. ITSMA Marketing Leadership Forum 2020 — #IMSMA When:May 19-20, 2020 Where: Napa, CA. Theme: Marketing Leadership About: The Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) Marketing Leadership Forum 2020 conference explores how B2B marketers can transform to thrive in our connected economy, and features speakers from Oracle, Deloitte, Cisco, and VMware. Influencer Marketing Show — #IMSNYC20 When:May 20, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: Influencer Marketing About: Influencer Marketing Show focuses on the future of influencer marketing for brands, to ensure they navigate their way through the planning, execution, and measurement of smart influencer campaigns. An impressive roster of speakers to be announced. B2B Marketing Ignite USA — #IgniteB2B When:May 27-28, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Marketing About: B2B Marketing Ignite takes its popular London B2B marketing event to the U.S., focusing on fresh and inspiring thinking and featuring leading speakers including our CEO Lee Odden as well as Joel Harrison, Ruth Stevens, and Doug Kessler plus presenters from Oracle, SAP, Dow Jones, IBM Systems, and Citrix. Email Innovations Summit — #EISConf When:June 1-3, 2020 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Email Marketing About: As its name implies, the Email Innovations Summit focuses on the email aspects of marketing, discussing the cutting edge of email marketing trends and featuring top speakers from leading firms to be announced. Growth Hackers 2020 — #GHConf20 When:June 4, 2020 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: Growth Hackers 2020 explores the next generation of growth tactics and the leaders building those tactics, featuring top speakers from IBM, Wish, and Worthix. SMX Advanced 2020 — #SMX When:June 8-10, 2020 Where: Seattle, WA. Theme: Search & Social About: SMX Advanced offers an in-depth look at the advanced tactical side of search and social media marketing, and features an array of speakers to be announced. DigiMarCon Midwest — #DigiMarCon When:June 17-18, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: The DigiMarCon Midwest digital marketing conference offers up emerging strategies, the latest innovative technologies, and best practices to move your business to the next level, featuring top speakers to be announced. SaaStock North America — #SaaStock When:June 22-24, 2020 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Software as a Service (SaaS) About: The SaaStock North America event focuses on the B2B side of  Software as a Service for founders and executives, and features leading speakers from SurveyMonkey, Emergence Capital, and Xactly. MozCon — #MozCon When:July 6-8, 2020 Where: Seattle, WA. Theme: Search & Social About: MozCon explores search marketing with tactical advice from industry-leading practitioners including Britney Muller, Cyrus Shepard, Dr. Pete Meyers, and Ross Simmonds. Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference — #MAICON When:July 14-16, 2020 Where: Cleveland, OH. Theme: Artificial Intelligence About: The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference focuses on digital marketers using artificial intelligence to make better business marketing decisions, and features an array of top speakers to be announced. CONEX – The Content Experience — #CONEX When:August 20-23, 2020 Where: Toronto, Canada Theme: Customer Experience About: At CONEX – The Content Experience, professionals from digital marketing, demand generation, and content marketing explore the content experience, featuring speakers from top firms to be announced. B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange — #B2BSMX When:August 10-12, 2020 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange brings together thought leaders in ABM, revenue marketing and demand generation, including speakers from McKesson – RelayHealth, HubSpot, Forrester, and Verizon. INBOUND 2020 — #INBOUND2020 When:August 18-21, 2020 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: INBOUND 2020 presents some of the biggest names and brightest minds in sales and marketing and other industries, and offers speakers from firms including Intuit, HubSpot and others. Brand ManageCamp — #BMCVegas When:September 15-16, 2020 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Brand Management About: Brand ManageCamp's conference explores the insights, tools, strategy and leadership inspiration to drive new brand growth, featuring a lineup a speakers to be announced. Connect to Convert — #ConnectToConvert When:September 16-18, 2020 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: Lead Generation About: Connect to Convert offers dedicated B2C and B2B content designed around each section of the sales cycle, and features top speakers to be announced. AI Summit Silicon Valley — #AISummit When:September 30-October 1, 2020 Where: Santa Clara, CA. Theme: Artificial Intelligence (AI) About: AI Summit Silicon Valley presents all things artificial intelligence for business marketers, and includes leading speakers from Google, Lyft, Boeing, Lenovo and more. 2020 B2B Next Conference & Exhibition — #B2BNext When:September 29-October 1, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Marketing & Sales About: The 2020 B2B Next Conference & Exhibition explores the digital-first B2B economy with a focus on collaboration in eCommerce, and features top speakers to be announced. Advertising Week New York — #AWNewYork When:October 5-8, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: Marketing & Sales About: Advertising Week New York serves as a worldwide gathering of marketing, advertising, technology and brand professionals, offering major speakers to be announced. Forbes Under 30 Summit — #ForbesUnder30 When:October 4-7, 2020 Where: Detroit, MI. Theme: Young Leaders About: The Forbes Under 30 Summit focuses on young leaders, bringing together top young leaders, founders and creators in technology, finance, philanthropy and other fields, with a lineup of speakers to be announced. Fast Co. Innovation Festival — #FCFestival When:October 5-9, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: Innovation About: The Fast Co. Innovation Festival offers business inspiration by leaders making a difference through technology and creativity, with a powerful slate of global speakers to be announced. MarTech East — #MarTechConf When:October 6-8, 2020 Where: Boston, MA. Theme: MarTech About: Martech East focuses on actionable tactics in marketing technology for solving marketing problems, with top speakers to be announced. REACH 2020 — #REACH2020 When:October 7-8, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Ratings & Reviews About: The REACH 2020 conference offers marketers, sales leaders, and entrepreneurs a closer look at ratings and reviews, with major speakers to be announced. Pubcon Pro Las Vegas 2020 — #Pubcon When:October 12-15, 2020 Where: Las Vegas, NV. Theme: Search & Social About: Pubcon Pro Las Vegas 2020 focuses on the search and social side of marketing, with a diverse array of content tracks and featuring leading industry speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the event. Content Marketing World — #CMWorld When:October 13-16, 2020 Where: Cleveland, OH. Theme: Content Marketing About: Content Marketing World conference and expo explores the best in content marketing to grow your business and inspire your audience, featuring top speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the event. Sitecore Symposium 2020 — #SitecoreSYM When:October 26-29, 2020 Where: Chicago, IL. Theme: Marketing Automation About: B2B marketers looking to explore the marketing automation landscape can attend Sitecore Symposium 2020 and learn the next generation of strategies and tactics, with a lineup of major speakers to be announced. Dreamforce 2020 — #DF20 When:November 9-12, 2020 Where: San Francisco, CA. Theme: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) About: Dreamforce brings together the Salesforce community of thought leaders and industry pioneers for education and inspiration, and with over 2,700 sessions its one of the latest business conferences. Look for speakers to be announced in the lead-up to the event. ONWARD20 — #ONWARD20 When:November 16-18, 2020 Where: New York City Theme: Search Marketing About: At ONWARD20 search marketing industry professionals explore future trends and tactics, with a strong lineup of speakers to be announced. ANA 2020 Influencer Marketing Conference — #ANA When:December 7-9, 2020 Where: Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. Theme: Influencer Marketing The Association of National Advertisers's ANA 2020 Influencer Marketing Conference is set to examine influencer practices related to digital and social, PR and media relations, content creation, social listening, data and analytics and more, with a lineup of speakers to be announced.

Take Your 2020 B2B Marketing Events To The Next Level

We hope you've found a number of new and useful events to attend in 2020 on our list, and that the networking and learning you'll experience from either these conferences or the many others available will help you achieve new levels of B2B marketing success this year and beyond. At TopRank Marketing we've explored the power of events for B2B marketers, especially those who incorporate influencer marketing, in a number of articles, and here are three to help you get the most from your 2020 B2B marketing events:

• Content Marketing Gold Rush: How to Unearth Content Gold at Marketing Industry Events
• Learning Changes Lives: Top Insights from #MPB2B & 5 Tips for Rocking Marketing Events
• 12 Helpful Tips for Effectively Using Social Media at Events

The post The BIGLIST of 50 Top B2B Marketing Conferences in 2020 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

The Universal Translator: How Marketers Can Improve Communication with Internal Stakeholders

Star Trek is one of my favorite franchises. It’s a beacon to guide humanity to a brighter future: One without wars and scarcity, dedicated to discovery and enlightenment.  (Can you tell I really loved the Picard series premiere?) [caption id="attachment_27932" align="alignnone" width="600"] (He has a PIT BULL named NUMBER ONE.) Photo Credit: CBS[/caption] But the best tech in all of Star Trek isn’t the transporter, the replicator, or even the holodeck. It’s the universal translator, a gizmo that can process language in real-time and convey every nuance and idiom. We have a similar technology right now, but… well, it could use some work. “Shivers down my spine” turns into “chicken skin?” That kind of margin of error would cause some serious diplomatic crises in Starfleet. But we shouldn’t be too hard on Google Translate. Sometimes people speaking the same language have trouble communicating with each other. Marketers are good at speaking marketing-ese, for example. But within our team we likely have multiple dialects, and that causes communication troubles. And when we step outside of the marketing department? Well, we’re back to flipping through a phrase book, asking “Dónde está la biblioteca?” Here are a few pointers that can keep your marketing team from getting lost in translation.

Tips for Fostering Better Communication with Stakeholders in 3 Key Departments

#1: The Marketing Department: Build a Shared Dictionary

Marketing is a multifaceted discipline these days, and you’re likely working with a diverse team to cover all the necessary skill sets. There’s the more technical-minded SEO folks, the more creative (but still strategic) design and content people, and of course the project managers who make it all work. Odds are, each specialty has its own lexicon. For example, our SEO and content teams have one definition for power page:

Power Page [ pou-er peyj ] (n): A comprehensive, 2,000 word or more content asset that aims to be the best answer for a group of search queries.

However, for account managers (the ones communicating with clients), a “power page” was a page designed to convert — what content folks would call a “landing page.” This misalignment in terminology was confusing for all of us. Once we sat down and agreed on common definitions, we were better equipped to give account managers what they were looking for, and keep our clients happy. via GIPHY I’ve found it’s valuable to have regular meetings with marketing team members in different specialties. Take a few minutes to understand what they do and the terms they use. The more your team understands each others’ roles, the better equipped you will be to work towards objectives together.  [bctt tweet="The more your team understands each others’ roles, the better equipped you will be to work towards objectives together. - @NiteWrites #B2BMarketing" username="toprank"]

#2: The IT Department: Use an Objective & Solution-Based Framework

Of course, getting all of marketing speaking the same dialect is the easy part. What happens when you have to talk tech with the IT department?  For example, if there’s a shiny new martech solution you’d really like to implement, or if your design team needs to use Macs in a PC-only environment, you might have a hard time making the case. Your IT team is likely highly opinionated on these issues, but what seems like stubbornness is just practicality. They need to have a controlled, secure environment. If you sneak in your own solutions to avoid confrontation, you can compromise the work they’re doing. It’s better to try and speak in terms that will resonate with their needs. Keep the conversation grounded in objectives. Talk about the capabilities your team needs to have, and be able to explain why they matter. It helps to understand at least a bit of the IT architecture already in place. If you’re talking about adding a new solution, make sure your vendor equips you to handle objections from the IT team. Even better, involve IT in the search process — don’t try to bring them in at the end when you’ve already decided on a solution.

#3: The C-Suite: Leverage Storytelling & the Bottom Line

Even more so than getting IT on the same page, marketers can find it challenging to communicate with the executives who set budgets and make purchase decisions. In a recent interview, Zari Venhaus shared her tips for speaking a language that resonates with the C-suite. “If they’re not marketers, they don’t understand what we do every day and the impact it has,” Zari says. “We had to learn how to storytell.” [bctt tweet="If they’re not marketers, they don’t understand what we do every day and the impact it has. - @zvenhaus on storytelling for stakeholders #B2BMarketing" username="toprank"] Zari’s team was able to use the same skills that make for great content marketing — empathizing, knowing your audience, and telling a compelling story — to address their internal audience. (We highly recommend you tune in to her full interview below; great stuff in there.) Ultimately, with the C-suite it comes down to proving the value of your marketing in concrete terms. That means connecting your marketing initiatives to revenue and ROI, whether it’s raising awareness or investing in new automation tools. It’s one thing to say, “With this tool, we’ll be able to increase conversion rates by .53%,” and another to say, “This tool will have a 135% return on investment within three months.”

Become a Universal Translator

We marketers are skilled communicators and strategists. We’re good at getting the right message to the right people in a way that inspires action. The key to good internal communication is treating our team members and stakeholders like our customers. That means first getting our messaging nailed down and consistent throughout the marketing team. Then it means delivering relevant messages — offering value, even — to the rest of the organization in terms that are meaningful to each stakeholder. As Jean-Luc himself would say: 

The post The Universal Translator: How Marketers Can Improve Communication with Internal Stakeholders appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

In a Fast-Paced Digital World, B2B Marketers Can Benefit from Slowing Down

We are living in the age of speed: faster connections, faster answers, faster service. People expect many things to happen instantly, in real-time, and technological advancements are increasingly making it possible. As such, it might seem counter-intuitive to suggest that we as B2B marketers are wise to slow our roll. Sometimes we tend to go through the motions too quickly, or in the wrong order, and it can hurt our results. In fact, it can prevent us from even accurately evaluating our results. Sean Callahan recently wrote a post on the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions* blog arguing that a top priority in 2020 for B2B marketers should be to slow down when measuring ROI. The case is simple and convincing: Sales cycles have grown significantly longer but analytics haven’t responded in kind. Per the post, 77% of marketers are still measuring ROI in the first month of a campaign, even though the average B2B sales cycle is now about six months long. “The reality is,” writes Callahan, “most marketers are showing up to their book club having only read a sixth of the book.” This got me thinking about the argument’s broader applicability in B2B marketing. There are a number of different areas where it’s becoming clear that practitioners might be moving too quickly and doing themselves a disservice. To be clear: We’re not suggesting that you delay making decisions or drastically cut down your content production; sometimes it’s as simple as stepping back and taking a beat. Let’s talk about four opportunities that stand out: experiences, strategies, social media, and SEO.

4 Areas Where B2B Marketers Can Benefit from Pumping the Brakes

Slow Your Experience

There are plenty of metaphors I could toss out regarding the inverse relationship between speed and quality of an experience, but I’ll go with this one: Would you rather be shuffled through a fast-moving line at a fast-food joint, or carefully walked through a restaurant menu by a knowledgeable and curious server beside your table?  Yes, customers want things quickly, but there’s a balance. It’s been nearly two decades since William McEwen made a point that remains very true today: When marketers emphasize doing things faster, they often end up doing things worse.  “If the goal is to create strong bonds that ensure customer retention, companies must focus on activities that create and sustain the customer relationships, not just on those that enhance company efficiency,” McEwen wrote in his book, Married to the Brand.  In his example he notes that a cold, tasteless sandwich from Arby’s isn’t going to yield a happy customer, no matter how fast it’s delivered. The same principles apply to any B2B experience — fast isn’t memorable. But when content is unusually entertaining, impactful, or tailored? That can stick in one’s brain. More recently, Ann Handley preached this premise at Content Marketing World 2019, arguing that the most efficient is not the most effective. She recommends that marketers step back and ask themselves a few questions with regards to the customer experience they’re providing: 

• How can I build trust and momentum for the content experience over time? And what does that look like?
• How can I involve the audience in a meaningful way so they are invested in the outcome?
• How can I create an experience that individuals rally around in a way that makes them more invested in the community?

[bctt tweet="The most efficient isn't always the most effective. Stop conflating them. @annhandley #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Slow Your Strategy    

Thinking through the questions above, and others, takes time. Rushing through our B2B marketing strategies invariably leads to overlooking key factors, while also generating undue stress for the team. It’s a real psychological phenomenon: Slowing down helps us reconnect with the present, enrich relationships, and find more productivity. “When you slow down, your mind can work on solutions to problems you may be experiencing, finding a better way to do something, prioritizing tasks and projects and eliminating or reducing conflict,” writes Suzanne Kane at Psych Central in the article linked above. These are the tenets of successful strategy. The “Slow Your Strategy” directive runs the operational gamut, including pre-planning, resource allotment, promotion, and — as referenced earlier — measurement.  When I think about pacing a business strategy, I think about the game of chess. Great players aren’t often the quickest; instead, they proceed methodically, analyzing the entire board and mentally playing out the consequences of a possible move before pushing the next piece. Marketers should adopt the same mindset. Strategy is by definition “a careful plan or method,” and being careful means taking our time. Don’t hurry while solidifying the seven elements of your your B2B marketing strategy:

• Goals and Objectives
• Audience Segmentation and Characteristics
• Brand Messaging
• Multi-Channel Touchpoints
• Content Types
• Content Topics
• Measurement

[bctt tweet="Strategy is by definition “a careful plan or method,” and being careful means taking our time, B2B marketers. Don’t rush the strategy process. @NickNelsonMN " username="toprank"]

Slow Your Social

The world of social media moves so quickly, it’s easy for marketers to feel under pressure to keep up.  “Has our latest tweet already been buried on feeds?” “Are we seeing results yet from this LinkedIn campaign?” “Should we be on Tik-Tok?” via GIPHY According to the latest B2B content marketing benchmarks report, social media is the most common content type used by B2B marketers, with 95% listing it. Yet in my experience, social often tends to be an autopilot function, disconnected from broader strategies. Bundles of messages are packaged up for scheduling across platforms, generic promotional links are hastily developed, and minimal effort goes into follow-up or interaction. What’s the point? Quality over quantity is a mantra that rings throughout the digital marketing environment today, and social media is a pertinent area in which to emphasize it. Take the time to think through the purpose of each platform, and each tweet or update. Prioritize value over volume. Keep in mind that aimlessly publishing without discretion can actually hurt your visibility on social feeds by diminishing your content’s overall engagement rates and causing people to unfollow.

Slow Your SEO

Every SEO specialist knows that influencing search rankings takes time. As algorithms increasingly shift from technical signals to user-based signals, creating quality audience geared toward a well-understood audience becomes all the more paramount. If you’re displeased with your website’s search visibility, a good next step is running an SEO audit of existing content. "An SEO audit is a great place to start when you’re trying to understand the factors that are hindering your search visibility," Tiffani Allen, TopRank Marketing's Associate Director of Search and Analytics, writes. "The data you collect, once analyzed, should help you create a roadmap to improve rankings and capitalize on white space." And as Aja Frost, Head of Content SEO for HubSpot, offers to Search Engine Journal: “I’d recommend auditing all of your content for overlapping rankings and merging, redirecting, and archiving as needed so every page ranks for a unique set of keywords,” Frost said. “If your website covers the same topics again and again, even if you’re covering these topics from different angles, your pages are going to knock each other out of the results.” This is but a sampling of examples of where slowing down with SEO can yield major long-term benefits. Scrutinizing your topical pillars, audience assumptions, and technical health of your site are additional measures that pay off. 

Moving Forward in Slow Motion

While watching playoff football over the past few weekends, I’ve been reminded of how much speed affects our perception. You can watch a play in real-time and miss so many details that become evident in the slowed-down instantly reply.  There’s no time clock ticking down on your B2B marketing strategy. Obviously we have deadlines and time-sensitive objectives, but in many cases we’re probably placing undue constraints on our programs that take a negative toll on results.  We live in a fast-paced world. But slowing down our marketing efforts — from experience to strategy to social to SEO — can help brands differentiate and achieve more.  [bctt tweet="We live in a fast-paced world. But slowing down our marketing efforts — from experience to strategy to social to SEO — can help brands differentiate and achieve more. @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"] So the next time you receive a request from a boss or client that seems to skip steps or rush through critical strategic elements, there’s only one valid response: not so fast.  Take a moment to assess and validate your marketing approach for the coming year by reviewing Lee Odden’s rundown of the Top 10 B2B Digital Marketing Trends in 2020.

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Digital Marketing News: Micro-Influencer Trends, LinkedIn Adds Interactive Tools, Strong Online Ad Spending, & Google’s Cookie Drop

The post Digital Marketing News: Micro-Influencer Trends, LinkedIn Adds Interactive Tools, Strong Online Ad Spending, & Google’s Cookie Drop appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Break Free B2B Series: Carol-Lyn Jardine and Heather Hurst on Effectively Managing Change in B2B Marketing

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This phrase is often uttered with a negative connotation, but incidentally, it also represents an aspirational ideal for B2B marketing managers and leaders.  In an environment that is constantly shifting, brands and agencies are tasked with navigating uncertainty while remaining steadfast in their pursuit of the same ultimate goals: engaging prospects, building relationships, driving business results. As such, change management becomes a key aspect of the job, particularly for those in leadership positions. Focusing on “how to help employees embrace, adopt and utilize a change in their day-to-day work” (as defined by Prosci), change management is oft-overlooked but clearly essential for a profession where one day can look drastically different from the last. Carol-Lyn Jardine, who now serves as Vice President of Marketing Operations and Productivity at Alteryx, says she’s had the opportunity to enter new organizations multiple times in recent years, and one of the consistent themes she encounters is that employees are unsettled by the amount of change happening. “As I have kind of unlayered that conversation, what really comes out is that they're not necessarily saying that they're unhappy with change, what they're actually saying is that they're unhappy with how change has been rolled out.” Carol-Lyn has experienced plenty of change in her winding career journey, which crossed paths with Heather Hurst at Workfront a few years back. Heather, now Senior Director of Digital Engagement at Vivint Solar, has also witnessed a substantial amount of change — and the pains it can bring about — during her career.  “I think we tend to forget that the first question that an employee is really asking is, ‘How does this impact me?’” Heather says of major organizational shifts. “They are concerned with their place in the company.” Heather and Carol-Lyn were kind enough to join me for the latest episode of Break Free B2B — our first with multiple guests! Getting both of their varied perspectives felt fitting for the topic. Scroll forth to uncover them. 

Break Free B2B Interview with Carol-Lyn Jardine and Heather Hurst

If you’re interested in checking out a particular portion of the discussion, you can find a quick general outline below, as well as a few excerpts that stood out to us.

• 02:53 - Managing change in marketing
• 06:18 - The evolution of change management
• 08:40 - New roles, new perspectives
• 10:41 - Big data and change management
• 12:50 - Communicating around change
• 16:20 - Barriers to efficient and effective organizational change
• 21:16 - Aligning work with personal values
• 24:23 - Breaking free in change management

Nick: What do you think are the sort of the most pressing, urgent changes that you're seeing in the industry? Heather: We talk a lot about trends in the way that we market and in the way that we bring products to life. I think one of the elements that we miss a lot in that conversation is the impact that change has on the employees. Whether you are a new leader coming into a department or whether you're making another change, another shift within the organization, it's really, really important to help lead and manage a group through any change.  And, this is something Carol-Lyn and I are both really passionate about. How do you either come in as a leader managing change or how, as an employee, do you embrace change as well? I think that's one of the biggest things that we overlook... leadership in marketing can have a pretty quick turnover sometimes. And you know, you forget what the impact that can have on employees. So we were really excited at the opportunity to talk about how you lead through change. Carol-Lyn: I've had the opportunity to go into new organizations a couple of times over the past few years. And one of the consistent themes that I hear from especially employees is that they're unsettled by the amount of change that's happening in their organizations … I look at them, and I think, Wow, we work in technology. Why are we surprised that there's change happening?  So change is inevitable. And as I have kind of unlayered that conversation, what really comes out is that they're not necessarily saying that they're unhappy with change, what they're actually saying is that they're unhappy with how change has been rolled out.  That's something that I've really thought about: How do we roll out change? How do we hope people understand why we're changing what the impact of changes and how those changes actually affect each individual employee? And are we being clear about that communication to help them see that vision? Nick: What is an insight or recommendation that you have about breaking free? Carol-Lyn: When it comes to change management and kind of breaking free, I think there are a few things I would keep top of mind. One, assume good intent from the people around you as you're going through change behaviors. I always try and make sure that when I'm going through these things, I assume good intent until it’s proven that I can't—but by and large, people don't disappoint me in that way. [bctt tweet="I always try and make sure that when I'm going through change management, I assume good intent until it’s proven that I can't. @cljardine #BreakFreeB2B #ChangeManagement" username="toprank"] Heather: I think that we can tend to get really sucked into work … I will completely echo the good intentions piece from Carol-Lyn. But I think also considering how we spend our time either at work or outside of work and how that time aligns up to our values and where we want to spend time. I think that some people—especially in marketing— we can become workaholics a little bit.  So, are we spending our time on our hobbies or family or all of the places where we want to spend it? So we do become more. I think we're better rounded employees if we figure out: What do I value? And then what does that equate to in the way that I spend my time? [bctt tweet="I think we're better rounded employees if we figure out: What do I value? And then what does that equate to in the way that I spend my time? @hehurst #BreakFreeB2B #ChangeManagement" username="toprank"] Stay tuned to the TopRank Marketing Blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Break Free B2B interviews. Here are a few interviews to whet your appetite:

• Break Free B2B Series: Adi Bachar-Reske on Taking the Lead in the Evolution of B2B Content Marketing
• Break Free B2B Series: Adam Dunn on Creating Blockbuster Video Content in B2B
• Break Free B2B Series: Hal Werner on the Intersection of Marketing Creativity and Analytics

The post Break Free B2B Series: Carol-Lyn Jardine and Heather Hurst on Effectively Managing Change in B2B Marketing appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Experiential Content

Experiential content will help drive 2020’s digital agenda, and savvy B2B marketers should take notice. Experiential is a word with subtly differing meanings depending on which setting it’s used in, however at the core of each definition is the fact that it all boils down to experiences. Experiential content makes us a central part of a story, and not just a passive subject receiving a one-way brand message. Use of experiential content has grown over the past several years as online technologies have reached a level capable delivering vibrant and engaging motion and sounds alongside clickable, swipable, and all other manner of interactivity to put you front and center. TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden recently mentioned experiential content in his annual list of the top ten B2B digital marketing trends for 2020. [bctt tweet="“Visual, experiential content that is easy to find and satisfies business buyer’s needs to be informed, entertained and inspired will continue to be areas of focus.”  @LeeOdden" username="toprank"] With 98 percent of consumers more likely to make a purchase after an experience (Limelight), and 77 percent having chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that delivers a personalized service or experience (Forrester), why haven’t more B2B marketers begun to use experiential content?

Experiential Content’s Advantages

In a seemingly million-message-a-minute online world, experiential content offers a number of advantages. It removes us from all other messaging, if only for a short while, and allows us to enter a world under our own control, where we can interact as we see fit, learning or buying at our own pace, all while creating a story that intertwines us with brand information and messaging. In 2020 experiential content comes in many forms, no longer limited to just the real-world selfie booths and similar elements of the past, with just a few examples listed here:

• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Cloud-Based Digital Assets from Ceros and Other Platforms
• Quizzes and Polls
• Interactive Flipbooks and eBooks

In a way online gaming has been leading the way for decades when it comes to digital experiential content, and only recently have brands and marketers started to bring this power to B2B advertising campaigns. An example of experiential content comes in the form of our Break Free of Boring B2B Guide, featuring interactive insight from a variety of B2B marketing industry influencers. Click here to enter the full-screen experience.

Experiential Marketing Embraces Digital Storytelling

Experiential content is also intertwined with both storytelling and customer experience (CX), together forming an extremely powerful triptych of B2B marketing strategy. As a key component of experiential content, storytelling becomes even more personal and memorable when you’re a key part of the messaging experience a brand is sharing, and being remembered is more important — as well as more difficult — today than ever, which is why forward-thinking B2B marketers are utilizing experiential tactics in their 2020 tool-kits. The importance of storytelling in the customer journey has become less of a secret in the past five years, as marketing experts and the data to back up the fact have combined to make brand storytelling a trend for the decade ahead. [bctt tweet="“Experiential content’s role in powerful storytelling will be an increasing theme among B2B marketers looking to drive next-generation brand efforts.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

Experiential Marketing Embraces Great CX

The other key element of experiential content — CX — appears to offer an ideal match, combining to form two important facets of successful B2B marketing. What better way to deliver a stellar customer experience than by creating memorable brand storytelling using experiential content? Two years ago we saw the rise of real-world physical pop-ups from the likes of 29Rooms achieving considerable success on Instagram and other social media platforms, however a shift to creating these worlds virtually online as immersive experiential content has taken place in 2019 and into 2020. Experiential content also appears in WARC’s recently-released ninth-annual marketers report for 2020, which places it alongside purpose and product as three of the most important elements needed for brands to achieve greater success this year. Some marketers and brands are pulling back from an over-investment in technology that has taken a certain amount of focus away from creativity, the same report’s survey data shows. Indeed, among the survey’s respondents — almost 800 global client and agency-side executives — one of the top elements comprising experiential content, VR and AR, was seen as being one of the most important emerging technologies in 2020. Another big part of experiential content is online video, a near-unanimous selection on most top marketing trend lists, as it continues to receive the type of swift growth in ad spend dollars that has helped make online video a big success for Instagram, YouTube, and increasingly TikTok. Over 80 percent of marketers plan to increase spending for online video in 2020, with 33 percent planning to boost spending on TikTok this year, according to the WARC survey. In the U.S. alone digital video spedning is expected to increase by over 31 percent in 2020, to $5 billion. (Winterberry Group) [bctt tweet="“Being creative while retaining consistency of brand is key to unlocking the benefits of brand-building: from forging emotional attachments, to driving long-term brand equity and sales influences.” — Simon Cook  @Cannes_Lions" username="toprank"] Cloud-based experiential content platform Ceros offers both an overview guide and an on-demand webinar for learning more about the technology, and offers up their own take on just what the term means. “Experiential content is digital content that is purposefully designed to create an immersive experience for its consumers through some combination of interactions, animations, embedded media, and storytelling. It encourages active participation in an effort to form memorable, emotional connections between the consumer and the brand or creator,” Ceros notes. [bctt tweet="“Experiential content makes us a central part of a story, and not just a passive subject receiving a one-way brand message.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

Bake More Experiential Goodness Into Your B2B Efforts For 2020

via GIPHY We’ve looked at what experiential content is, explored a few examples of how B2B brands are using it successfully, and showed how it is likely to see growing adoption in 2020 and beyond. It takes considerable time, effort, and resources to implement a standout experiential content campaign, which is why many brands turn to a dedicated agency. TopRank Marketing had the honor of being named by Forrester as the only B2B marketing agency offering influencer marketing as a top capability in its “B2B Marketing Agencies, North America, Q1 2019” report.” Finally, here are several additional related resources we've put together to help you build your own interactive content:

• How B2B Brands Can Break Into Interactive Content
• Creating B2B Content With Impact: Pearls of Wisdom from Marketing Leaders
• How B2B Marketers Can Make the Most of Interactive Content Tools
• B2B Marketing Examples: 7 Bold Examples of Interactive B2B Content
• Break Free of Boring B2B with Interactive Influencer Content

Looking to learn even more about B2B marketing? Tune in to two free upcoming webinars with our CEO Lee Odden, with complete details here.

The post What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Experiential Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Break Free B2B Series: Emily Thompson on the Power of Content Marketing in Health Care

Trust is the linchpin of modern marketing. It plays a crucial role in every vertical, industry, or niche. But nowhere is trust a more essential crux than in health care, where the personal stakes are immense. “We're in an industry where, you know, it's serious,” says Emily Thompson in her interview for Break Free B2B. “This is about people's health and well being, and a lot of times people get very nervous — they're scared, they're sick.” As a Boston-based freelance writer and content strategist who primarily focuses on the health care sector, where she has worked with a wide variety of clients ranging from startups to enterprise, Emily acutely understands the impactful nuances of messaging. She says seeing things from the other side — as a first-time mother who frequently sought information online — helped her develop a more empathetic view. She incorporates this into her craft, creating patient-focused copy designed to build trust and confidence, and offers valuable insight for B2B marketers everywhere. In the interview, she shares some tactics and techniques that are being used effectively in her industry to achieve this rapport, from smartphone apps to user-generated content to data-driven personalization and beyond.  [bctt tweet="Research says that 93 million Americans have searched for a health-related topic online. So If we know people are going online, we have to be there too. @BosCreativeCopy #HealthcareMarketing #BreakFreeB2B" username="toprank"] Watch my conversation with Emily below, and let her experiences and perspectives help guide you toward building healthier relationships with your B2B customers. 

Break Free B2B Interview with Emily Thompson

If you’re interested in checking out a particular portion of the discussion, you can find a quick general outline below, as well as a few excerpts that stood out to us.

• 03:46 - The emerging focus of content marketing in health care
• 07:05 - Big data in health care marketing
• 09:42 - Responsible data usage and personalization in health care marketing
• 12:35 - Leveraging traditional and emerging channels in health care marketing
• 13:42 - Counterproductive mindsets in health care marketing
• 16:14 - User generated content in health care
• 19:55 - Challenges that span across industries
• 22:17 - Rising demands from patients for digital 24/7 access

Nick: Can content marketing build trust in the patient care continuum? Emily: That's really what, to me, content marketing is all about. It's building trust with the consumer, whether that's a patient or a referring physician. And, I think that … when an organization can deliver strong content that helps inform people, it only builds that trust. And if you think about the patients that are watching, often they're frightened, they're overwhelmed, they don't know where to go. And so there's just a lot of opportunity in health care for marketers to really rely on content to help them build that trust. When an organization can deliver strong content that helps inform people, it only builds that trust. @BosCreativeCopy #BreakFreeB2B #ContentMarketing #healthcare Nick: Transparency is key in managing health care data. How else can marketers benefit the health care system?  Emily: I think it comes down to messaging too, and if you make sure that your content is ultimately really helpful to the consumer. So, for example, I was on these apps [after giving birth to my son], and I was being served up a toy that might work for my son in his age and developmentally where he was at. Or food — we were struggling with a type of formula or milk that would be good for him.  Ultimately, people just want information that's helpful to them. It helps calm them down whether they're nervous about their health information or they’re, you know, a new mom. It's hard to be frustrated when an app is using information about myself that is ultimately benefiting me, helping me out. Nick: Is there anything that stands out to you as a real opportunity for marketers, and specifically those who are working in the B2B space, to break free of something that might be inhibiting them? Emily: Yeah. Break free from fear. I think that health care can be a very conservative market. And, you know, to be fair, there are reasons for that. We're in an industry where, you know, it's serious. This is about people's health and well being, and a lot of times people get very nervous — they're scared, they're sick. But I think that isn't a reason to hold back from trying new things. I think that especially with digital, it's very easy today to try a new type of message, or a new type of way of communicating to someone. Let's say you never blogged before, why not try a blog? Let's say you never did email marketing, why not try it? Or a new type of message?  The worst that can happen is you measure it, you learn from it, and you try something new. I think that often, as health care marketers, we can get stuck in the same way of doing things. And, a lot of times it's a little too safe. [bctt tweet="As health care marketers, we can get stuck in the same way of doing things. The worst that can happen is you measure it, you learn from it, and you try something new. @BosCreativeCopy #BreakFreeB2B #ContentMarketing #healthcare" username="toprank"] Stay tuned to the TopRank Marketing Blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Break Free B2B interviews. Here are a few interviews to whet your appetite:

• Break Free B2B Series: Amanda Todorovich on Creating Content that Pays Off
• Break Free B2B Series: Hal Werner on the Intersection of Marketing Creativity and Analytics
• Break Free B2B Series: Adi Bachar-Reske on Taking the Lead in the Evolution of B2B Content Marketing

If you're hungry for more insight and advice on the state of trust in marketing, check out our Trust Factors series:

• Trust Begins Within: The Vital Importance of Building Internal Trust in Marketing
• Trust Factors: Why Your Brand Should Take a Stand with Its Marketing Strategy
• The B2B Marketing Funnel is Dead: Say Hello to the Trust Funnel
• Trust Factors: The (In)Credible Impact of B2B Influencer Marketing
• Trust Factors: How Best Answer Content Fuels Brand Credibility
• Tip of the Iceberg: A Story of Trust in Marketing as Told by Statistics
• Be Like Honest Abe: How Content Marketers Can Build Trust Through Storytelling
• Trust in Marketing is at Risk. These CMOs and Marketing Influencers Share How to Fix

The post Break Free B2B Series: Emily Thompson on the Power of Content Marketing in Health Care appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.