Trick or Treat: The Spellbinding Marketing Sweets the TopRank Team Can’t Resist

Admit it. On Halloween night, the fierce competitor within you sprinted from home to home to claim as much sugary bounty as your pillowcase could carry. But the loyalist and purist in you was on the hunt for a specific candy treat. A treat that put all the rest to shame; a treat that always hit the sweet spot. via GIPHY For me, that coveted treat was: the Almond Joy. Sweetened coconut. Crunchy almonds. Smooth milk chocolate. Devilishly delicious, but ghoulishly elusive amongst a sea of KitKat- and Snickers-purchasing households. (Here’s to you, organic reach on Facebook.) As marketers, we all have our favorites. From tactical techniques that sweeten our marketing mix to the integration of marketing elements to tantalize our audience’s taste buds, the TopRank Marketing team weighs in on both fun- and king-size marketing treats they can’t resist.

Our Favorite Marketing Sweet Treats

Josh Nite

Senior Content Marketing Manager My favorite candy is black licorice. Black licorice doesn't appeal to everyone. That's a quality I like in candy—and in marketing, too. It's easy to make something bland and sweet that everyone tolerates—like, say, Necco Wafers—but that's not how you get raving fans. I've never met anyone passionate about Necco Wafers. Conversely, I've never met anyone who "kind of liked" black licorice. You love it or you hate it. Good marketing takes a bold stand, with personality and purpose. It draws in a target audience and excludes the rest. Love or hate black licorice, it's a perfect reminder that great marketing doesn't aspire to blandness.

Elizabeth Williams

Senior Account Manager Baby Ruth: My favorite part about Baby Ruth bars is they've got a little bit of everything—nuts, nougat, caramel, all with a chocolate coating. And, flavors all work so well together! To work well, good marketing must parallel Baby Ruths: A diverse yet integrated mix so that we can reach our audiences whenever and wherever they are and with a consistent message that resonates with their needs.

Nick Nelson

Senior Content Strategist Skittles. These bite-sized bursts of fruity flavor remind me of social media marketing. The bright colors reflect the vibrant imagery that stands out on feeds, and the many different flavors and colors represent the diversity of voices and viewpoints you can find across various networks.

Annie Leuman

Content Strategist Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Two incredible ingredients in their own right, come together to make an irresistible combo—kind of like SEO and content. Content is the peanut buttery center, and it’s wrapped in the perfect amount of chocolate to delight it’s consumers’ senses (and leave us all asking for more).

Ashley Zeckman

Senior Director of Digital Strategy I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for Starbursts. There are so many different delicious flavor varieties—from tropical to classic to my all-time personal favorite: All Reds. Much like the industry experts and influencers we partner with, the different flavor profiles add punch and pizzazz to the content palette. 

Tiffani Allen

Associate Director of Search & Analytics Twix. To borrow from Saturday Night Live’s Stefon: This candy has everything. Chocolate. Caramel. Cookies. A clever marketing strategy. Everything, people.  The combination of three complementary, yet distinctly different flavors reminds me of a well-integrated digital marketing mix of search, content, and influence. While each discipline on its own is delicious, it’s the mix of all three that produces a truly crave-worthy treat. 

Lane Ellis

Social Media and Content Marketing Manager From the 1850s until the 1920s my great-great-uncle Henry H. Ellis, and later his son, ran a confectionery and bakery making homemade candies. The business started first in Janesville, WI and then from 1867 on, moved to Cheyenne, WY, so I suppose my fondness for sweets runs in my family. I love marzipan and adore chocolate, so as a child over Halloween, when a particularly generous and creative woman placed a wrapped chocolate-covered marzipan candy in my sugary goodie bag, I was overjoyed. Decades later, the two mingling flavors are still a favorite, and remind me of a type of marketing nirvana in which two already excellent practices meld together to form something truly rare and beautiful, akin to when a favorite professional comedian takes over the social media channels of a company you're a longtime fan of.

Witch Way to the Candy?

Sorry. Bad pun. Moving on … Regardless of where your loyalties lie in the marketing sweets realm, perhaps the nuggets above will encourage you to reach into the candy bowl for a new variety. What marketing sweet is at the top of your trick or treating list? Tell us in the comments section below.

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5 Top B2B Brands Mastering Facebook Engagement

With more than 2.4 billion users worldwide, Facebook has long been a popular platform for brands both B2B and direct-to-consumer looking to creatively and effectively showcase their products and services. Facebook has released scores of new features over the past several years that have not only helped it remain among the most-used social media platforms — despite facing well-publicized challenges over the past several years — but also increasingly to become a destination for professional business users, and users looking for a social experience markedly different from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. With Facebook having launched so many new tools for brands to maximize their engagement on the platform, let’s take a look at how five large primarily B2B companies are creatively  connecting with audiences through pages, groups, communities, and several other methods Facebook provides.

#1 — Canva

https://www.facebook.com/canva/ 1,359,228 followers Since arriving on the Web graphic-design scene in 2012, Canva has seen its numerous creative tools adopted by more professionals every year, with company valuations hitting $2.5 billion in 2019. With its recently-launches Canva Enterprise design platform targeting brands by offering features including digital asset management and multi-channel campaign management, Canva counts among its B2B clients Pfizer, RE/MAX, and others. As a firm catering to creative professionals, it’s no surprise that Canva artistically uses its Facebook presence to engage with its community of some 1.3 million page followers, using entertaining video, informative image-rich posts, and coverage of events such as its recent Canva for Enterprise launch New York Times Square billboard. Canva regularly asks relevant questions of its Facebook community and actively responds positively in emoji-rich comments, such as a recent color and hue-related post which inquired “How are hue feeling?” Canva hosts several Facebook groups including a Canva Teachers Community, a Canva Design Circle, and a Canva Nonprofits Community, utilizes Facebook Events to promote its real-life events such as its recent “Design School After Hours: Branding your Business” workshop, and actively engages with Facebook fans in its page’s community section.

#2 — Airbnb

https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/ 16,152,571 followers Airbnb has skillfully utilized its Facebook presence to build a sizable following of more than 16 million fans, and with initiatives such as its Airbnb for Work program targeting business — used by companies including Salesforce and PayPal — the firm is a fine example of how B2B audiences can be engaged and nurtured on Facebook. Native video posts centered around relevant holidays, such as Airbnb’s recent “Welcome to Cisco. Population: 1” initiative — part of its “spooky stays” program — encourage Facebook fans to share and take part.

#3 — Mailchimp

https://www.facebook.com/mailchimp/ 405,208 followers For email marketing and automation firm Mailchimp, Facebook serves as an important social media platform to communicate with and inform clients and potential partners. Sharing marketing advice, studies, reports, contests and more, Mailchimp’s Facebook page thrives by helping both established B2B firms and new businesses with actionable insight delivered in entertaining and visually enticing stories. Facebook also serves as a platform for sharing news from Mailchimp’s many initiatives, including its original podcasts such as “The Jump with Shirley Manson.”

#4 — Boeing

https://www.facebook.com/Boeing/ 1,433,349 followers Boeing uses its sizable Facebook following to share behind-the-scenes video glimpses into the firm and its many programs around the world, such as a recent "Have you ever wondered?" look at how it goes about capturing the oftentimes breathtaking aerial footage it features on the page. Boeing also regularly encourages its Facebook fans to take part in a variety of corporate social responsibility efforts, such as a recent two-way conversation program for Disability Awareness Month.

#5 — 3M

https://www.facebook.com/3M/ 4,666,707 followers 3M* cleverly uses a variety of video, image-rich, live-streaming, and other types of Facebook posts to actively share news and information about its many global programs, such as a recent "3M Young Scientist Challenge" call for votes. At TopRank Marketing we are B2B influencer marketing specialists, and have recently worked to feature influencers in our client 3M’s Champions of Science series of podcasts. Recent industry experts appearing on Champions of Science have included geophysicist Mika McKinnon, Professor Stephen Curry, Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, Dr. Suze Kundu, Materials Chemist and Science Presenter, Chris Gammell, Principal, Analog Life, LLC, and Matt Hartings, Associate Professor of Chemistry at American University. Using podcasting can be a great way to improve customer experience game, and we’ve published several in-depth looks at how B2B marketers can promote podcasts, and have also gathered together an industry-leading list of top marketing-related podcasts, which you can find here:

• 10 Crucial Steps for Launching Your B2B Podcast Into the Wild
• 5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting
• How to Promote Your B2B Podcast
• 20 Podcasts To Elevate Your B2B Marketing
• 10 More Marketing Podcasts To Boost Your Business

Finally, 3M was the only firm in our list which automatically opens a Facebook chat window to instantly begin communications if desired.

Delivering a Solid & Sustainable Facebook Strategy

It’s clear from the varied examples we’ve looked at here cleverly implemented by Canva, Airbnb, Mailchimp, Boeing, and 3M that there are numerous methods for successfully building a solid and sustainable Facebook brand strategy. * 3M is a TopRank Marketing client.

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Creating B2B Content With Impact: Pearls of Wisdom from Marketing Leaders

Back in 2017, Dr. Rick Rigsby delivered an impassioned commencement speech at California State University Maritime Academy, sending the internet into a motivational frenzy. The minister, speaker, and former college professor regaled the audience with key learnings from the “wisest person” he’d ever met—a third-grade dropout, who also happened to be his father. Despite his lack of formal education, Dr. Rigsby’s father rigorously pursued learning and growth, instilling a drive for excellence within his children and providing a light in the darkest of times. But perhaps the biggest takeaway from Dr. Rigsby’s speech would eventually become his motivational catchphrase: “Make an impact, not just an impression.” via GIPHY As everyday humans, Dr. Rigsby’s message reminds us that striving to be our best selves can have a profound effect on the world around us. And I’d say that for B2B content marketers, this is more than just an inspiring directive, but also a growing imperative. We all know that the days of creating content for content’s sake are long gone. Customers and buyers crave insight, expect relevance, and demand better brand experiences. We need to create content for maximum positive impact. In the spirit of combining knowledge with wisdom to make an impact, I’ve pulled together a collection of motivational insights across three key areas from some of the industry’s best and brightest B2B marketers.

Creating B2B Content That Makes an Impact on Buyers

From Start to Finish, Empathy Is the Pathway to Truly Understanding Our Audience

“Know your audience” is an age-old B2B content marketing commandment. But knowing your audience goes beyond job title, company size, and the pain points your product can solve. You need to understand their motivations, attitudes, and perceptions, as well as how they interact with your brand. You need to put yourself in their shoes.

Delighting your audience includes understanding your customers, and understanding how your prospects or customers interact with your brand… Your goal is to be pathologically empathic to your customers. Why? Because: Empathy is the Miracle-Gro of a thriving customer-centric business. – Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs [bctt tweet="Empathy is the Miracle-Gro of a thriving customer-centric business. @AnnHandley @MarketingProfs #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

This empathy needs to be present from planning to measurement to optimization.

True content marketing starts at setting specific, concrete goals on what we believe audiences who engage with our content will do vs. those who don’t. Will they close faster? Will they stay longer? Will they buy more? That’s the benefit of content marketing. And it starts with setting measurable goals not for the content — but for the audience we want to impact. – Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Advisor, Content Marketing Institute [bctt tweet="True content marketing starts at setting specific, concrete goals on what we believe audiences who engage with our content will do vs. those who don’t. @Robert_Rose #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

And when it comes to your influencer marketing initiatives, you need to marry audience and influencer insights to hit the perfect point of impact.

Successful partnerships with influencers require an understanding of what the audience wants and how a brand/influencer collaboration can give it to them. Finding ideal influencers for impact means discovering those with on-topic credibility, the ability to publish, and engaged network and a willingness to share. Matching the right types of influencers with the right content for mutual benefit is essential. Brandividuals can drive awareness, subject matter experts can create engagement and customers who advocate can help inspire sales. As a result, customers get great content, brands attract new customers and influencers earn exposure and access to opportunities. – Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing [bctt tweet="Successful partnerships with influencers require an understanding of what the audience wants and how a brand/influencer collaboration can give it to them. @leeodden #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Read: How to Refocus on Your Audience for Better Content Marketing Results

Product-Centric Content Doesn’t Resonate, So Strive to Create Relevant Two-Way Conversations

For years, the TopRank Marketing team has been both advocate and practitioner of what we call best-answer content marketing. The premise is simple: Your audience has questions. You have the power to answer them whenever and wherever your audience is searching. But this goes beyond developing content based on keyword research or pumping out what we've always done.

We admonish companies to ‘become publishers’. However, boredom is not a PUBLISHING problem, it’s a RELEVANCE problem, which is an INNOVATION problem. B2B's publish endless content, but studies show underperforming outcomes in aggregate. We must synthesize the throughput and format models of publishing with those of social innovation and entrepreneurship. – Carlos Abler, Content Marketing Strategist and Keynote Speaker [bctt tweet="Boredom is not a PUBLISHING problem, it’s a RELEVANCE problem, which is an INNOVATION problem. @Carlos_Abler #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Social listening. Building relevant influencer partnerships. Providing thought leadership on burgeoning trends. Learning from what other brands are doing inside and outside our industry. Content marketing isn’t the act of creating and distributing content.

Great content isn’t about platitudes. It’s about provocation. Incitement. Taking a stand and making your audience think in a new way. Giving the counterargument to conventional wisdom. When we do that, we advance the dialogue, rather than diminish it. – Peter Issacson, Chief Marketing Officer, Demandbase [bctt tweet="Great content isn’t about platitudes. It’s about provocation. Incitement. Taking a stand and making your audience think in a new way. Giving the counterargument to conventional wisdom. @peisaacon #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Put simply, content marketing is about delivering buyer's with needed information, jumpstarting discussion, fostering engagement, encouraging collaboration, and above all else listening and then responding to what our audience needs from us. That’s how we make a meaningful impact.

In a dialogue, you cannot truly listen if you’re just impatiently waiting for your turn to speak. In a noisy content world, this behavior is inadvertently applied in how we, as content leaders, engage with our audiences. We pump out content and then wait until it’s our turn to speak again and pump out some more per our content calendars. What use is it if neither side is listening? Content is meant to be a source of dialogue. – Tameka Vasquez, Assistant Vice President and Global Marketing Lead, Genpact [bctt tweet="We pump out content and then wait until it’s our turn to speak again and pump out some more per our content calendars. What use is it if neither side is listening? @tameka_vasquez #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Without a Strategic Promotion Plan, Expect Minimum Impact

Your content will never reach its full potential—nor your audience—without a thoughtful promotion plan. Period.

The “Field of Dreams” B2B marketing game is over in 2019. If you build it, launch it or just create it, nobody is coming! It’s not only important to create a content strategy, tell great stories and solve customer problems, but you must customize and personalize this content and bring it to your audience where they are currently engaging. – Brian Fanzo, Founder and CEO, iSocialFanz LLC [bctt tweet="The 'Field of Dreams' B2B marketing game is over in 2019. If you build it, launch it or just create it, nobody is coming! @iSocialFanz #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Think of it this way: You’ve spent countless hours digging into who your audience is and what they need. Don’t fall short, especially when it comes to designing a plan that aims to not only inform, but captivate.

Don’t cut corners when it comes to creating a promotional plan. The ubiquity of mobile devices, social channels, and online content means that your ability to draw someone’s attention is mostly visual now. Images, graphics, videos, color choice, and layout are all key to grabbing someone’s attention in those two seconds as they scroll through a feed… Your images need to convey meaning and value without using words. Boring, generic stock photos won’t cut it. Contrary to popular belief, people do still read traditional content forms like whitepapers, eBooks and case studies, but first you’ll need to pull them in with attention-grabbing visuals that show them what they’ll get before you tell them what they’ll get. – Michelle Liro, Vice Present of Demand Generation, PTC [bctt tweet="Contrary to popular belief, people do still read traditional content forms like whitepapers, eBooks and case studies, but first you’ll need to pull them in with attention-grabbing visuals. @michelleliro #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

Make an Impact on Your Audience

As part of his closing, Dr. Rigsby told his audience: “If you’re going to do something, do it the right way… in that way you will grow your influence and make an impact.” Strive to go from having audience knowledge to audience empathy. Don’t just strive to create content; deliver insight and create conversations. And finally, remember that your content marketing initiatives can't make a positive impact if you cut corners on promotion. I’ll close with one more tidbit that I absolutely love from Ardath Albee, CEO and B2B Marketing Strategist at Marketing Interactions: [bctt tweet="Aim higher than a cliché. The objective is to transform mundane ideas into memorable ones. @ardath421" username="toprank"] Want more incredible insights from seasoned B2B marketers? Check out our recent B2B Marketing Fitness eBook featuring tips and advice from 16 marketing leaders.

The post Creating B2B Content With Impact: Pearls of Wisdom from Marketing Leaders appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Trust Begins Within: The Vital Importance of Building Internal Trust in Marketing

Let’s cut to the chase: If brands and marketers can’t build trust internally at their organizations, they’ll never be able to develop it outwardly in an authentic way. Plain and simple. When marketers broadcast trustworthiness as a virtue through content and messaging, while their company visibly deals with discord and misalignment in its own ranks, the sentiment rings about as hollow as a sinister-looking Disney villain telling the protagonist through a wicked grin that of course they can be trusted. (Except that today’s customers are more savvy and adept than those necessarily naive fictional film heroes.) via GIPHY Employees need to trust their leaders, and vice versa. Various functions and departments must foster trust between one another. When a sturdy foundation of confidence, reliability, and belief is in place, this will naturally emanate externally. But the opposite is also true, and it’s something all brands should be thinking about as trust-building becomes a primary differentiator in the business world.

Building Trust Within Your Organization

When a genuine culture of trust is established inside your organization, the benefits are innumerable: It fosters better collaboration, encourages transparency, and enables problem-solving. Perhaps most crucially, it also greatly affects the way your organization is perceived.  Let’s explore this dynamic through a few different lenses.

Trust Between Marketing Leadership and the C-Suite

Per the latest numbers, the average CMO tenure checks in about 43 months — less than half that of a CEO. Lee Odden has described this as "a crisis in confidence amongst business leadership when it comes to marketing." At the same time, marketing's impact on business results is undeniable. [bctt tweet="Marketing done well with a clear why, measurement and purpose creates the kind of value that both customers and business leaders will trust, ensuring credibility and investment far into the future. @leeodden #TrustInMarketing" username="toprank"] Clearly, there is widespread opportunity to strengthen relationships and solidify trust between marketing leadership and the C-suite. Openness, increased collaboration, and bottom-line proof are among the keys to achieving this. Lee shared insights and advice from a wide range of CMOs and marketing influencers on strengthening trust in marketing.  A few of my favorites: “The best way I’ve found to get people onboard with your way of thinking is to do some marketing of your marketing. In other words, treat every relationship as if they were a customer.” — Margaret Magnarelli  “Honesty. I know it sounds trite but trust is earned and earned through honesty. As marketers and storytellers we often 'spin' things to suit our needs. I think more honesty about the company you represent is the only way to succeed. People relate to flaws. It’s human.” — Julie Roehm  “In today’s world it’s all about the quality of A.I.R. you create; Authentic, Inspirational and Realistic marketing will win over your internal and external customers.” — Jeanniey Mullen 

Trust Within the Marketing Team

This is ground zero. Marketers are responsible for managing a brand’s outward image; when conflict and challenges plague the internal team, it’ll be tough to convey the notion of a unified front that’s all rowing in the same direction. When our Vice President of Client Accounts Alexis Hall blogged here recently about making the transition from marketing doer to marketing leader, she noted that cultivating trust on her team was top-of-mind. “Fostering a happy, well-functioning team is your top priority,” Alexis writes. “Not only can you not do your job without them, but it is one of the best indicators of success to your boss and your boss’s boss.” Among her recommendations are shifting the way we find personal value in our work (it’s not just about what you accomplish, but what you help others accomplish), clearing obstacles, and developing leadership qualities within those who show the potential to move up.  [bctt tweet="Fostering a happy, well-functioning team is your top priority. Not only can you not do your job without them, but it is one of the best indicators of success to your boss and your boss’s boss. @Alexis5484 #TrustInMarketing" username="toprank"]

Trust Across Departments and Functions

Building trust within the marketing department can be challenging enough on its own. Even if these individuals work together regularly, use the same lingo, and generally understand the specific roles for each player, global organizations need to coordinate between different regions and business units. Corporate marketing often pushes generic messaging in uniform fashion, overlooking the need for localization and contextual nuance.  Apply this dynamic across departmental or functional divides, and matters can become all the more tricky. We all know about the infamous barriers between marketing and sales. But it’s also important to establish strong relationships between marketing and customer success, product development, human resources, and beyond.  The soundness of cross-functional relationships in your organization manifests in many ways: efficiency of production, consistency of external messaging, the way colleagues interact with one another while in meetings or on calls with clients, and so on.  How to improve the connectivity of siloed units? There are a few key opportunities:

• Transparency: Make it easy for folks in one department to see what’s going on in another. 
• Honesty/Candor: Encourage people to speak up if they’re bothered of confused by what’s going on elsewhere in the company.
• Eliminate Isolation: Cross-functional meetings, or team outings that bring together individuals who don’t generally collaborate, can be really helpful.

Trust Between Employee and Employer

The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer hints at the existence of a new employer-employee contract: 

Employees are ready and willing to trust their employers, but the trust must be earned through more than “business as usual.” Employees’ expectation that prospective employers will join them in taking action on societal issues (67 percent) is nearly as high as their expectations of personal empowerment (74 percent) and job opportunity (80 percent). The rewards of meeting these expectations and building trust are great. Employees who have trust in their employer are far more likely to engage in beneficial actions on their behalf—they will advocate for the organization (a 39-point trust advantage), are more engaged (33 points), and remain far more loyal (38 points) and committed (31 points) than their more skeptical counterparts.

Those items in the second paragraph make clear the tangible benefits of emphasizing trust between employees and your company’s top leadership, and the first paragraph offers useful guidance on how to get there. In particular, executives can connect more meaningfully with their employees by rallying them around a higher purpose and taking a stand on things that matter to the team. 

Building Trust, Inside and Out

There’s a reason we cover the topic of trust in marketing so frequently, and from so many different angles, on this blog: It’s complex and multifaceted. One missing ingredient — especially at a fundamental level — can lead to dysfunctional operations, lower output quality, and attrition of employees and customers alike. When trust is built from the inside out, happy CEOs, marketing teams, and employees beget happy customers and engaged prospects. This is an area where marketing can and should take ownership and lead the charge. [bctt tweet="When trust is built from the inside out, happy CEOs, marketing teams, and employees beget happy customers and engaged prospects. - @NickNelsonMN #TrustInMarketing" username="toprank"] Learn more about TopRank Marketing’s views on trust in marketing by checking out past entries in our Trust Factors series:

• 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

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Digital Marketing News: Snapchat Growth Booms, Facebook Usage Falls, B2B Buyers Seek Greater Loyalty, Podcast Ads Succeed

The post Digital Marketing News: Snapchat Growth Booms, Facebook Usage Falls, B2B Buyers Seek Greater Loyalty, Podcast Ads Succeed appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

10 Tips From Influencer Marketing’s Hidden 1,000-Year History

When it comes to influencer marketing, we usually think of it as a fairly recent or even cutting-edge innovation. However, when you consider what’s at its heart, influencer marketing’s roots date back well over 1,000 years. The way successful professionals practice influencer marketing is undoubtedly innovative and thoroughly modern, yet for more than a millennia we’ve had the trust, expertise, and wisdom that meld together to allow one person to hold influence over another. There’s a reason influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful methods to build trust, create strong communications, and lasting professional relationships that it’s becoming more renowned for every day. That reason centers on fundamental human emotions and our innate desire to gain wisdom from people we trust — primal elements that apply equally to life and marketing that date from our earliest written history. Let’s take a look at ten influencer marketing lessons by great figures from each of the past ten centuries, which you can you to boost your business today, in 2020, and well beyond.

#1 — 1000 to 1099 — Lessons from Hugh of Saint-Victor

Eleventh-century Saxon theologian and writer Hugh of Saint-Victor offers our list’s earliest insights into what would nearly 1,000 years later become the practice of influencer marketing. "Omnia disce, postea videbis nihil esse superfluum," Hugh wrote, translated as: [bctt tweet="“Learn everything. Later you will see that nothing is superfluous.” — Hugh of Saint-Victor" username="toprank"] Each of the many parts that work together in an influencer marketing campaign will increase the overall success of the effort if they are as experienced as possible — experts who have made it a point to learn as much as they can in an ongoing process. Our world of social media, search, content marketing and other marketing technologies presents us with a virtually unlimited selection of new things to learn, so taking Saint-Victor’s advice and being a lifelong learner is a great way to continually boost your influencer marketing prowess.

#2 — 1100 to 1199 — Lessons from Hildegard von Bingen

Writer, composer and philosopher Hildegard of Bingen pushed through numerous boundaries during her life, and became Saint Hildegard. Her insights echo still to this day, and if we listen closely we can learn much about marketing and life from her writings. [bctt tweet="“Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk there, you must be prepared to leap.” — Hildegard von Bingen" username="toprank"] Taking a stand with clearly-defined messaging that showcases who you are and what you do well can go a long way in marketing today. As von Bingen urges, marketers should strive to push to the outer boundaries of digital messaging, and influencer marketing is an efficient and effective way to take that leap. via GIPHY

#3 — 1200 to 1299 — Lessons from Aquinas

Thirteenth century influencer Thomas Aquinas was not only a philosopher and theologian, but an innovator in many ways that still strike a powerful chord today. [bctt tweet="“It is better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.” — Thomas Aquinas" username="toprank"] The best marketers have a knack for helping others, and not just by solving the next-in-line problem, but also by sharing insight that will help their clients and associates in the long run, elevating and as Aquinas says illuminating through well-thought-out assistance.

#4 — 1300 to 1399 — Lessons from Chaucer

Great poet of the Middle Ages Geoffrey Chaucer, best known for “The Canterbury Tales,” left writing that to this day serves to inspire us to strive for newfound heights, such as in the following quote. [bctt tweet="“Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.” — Geoffrey Chaucer" username="toprank"] Overcoming the fear and other challenges of beginning a new influencer marketing program or expanding an existing one is required to reach greater success, and although the intricacies can seem daunting at times, Chaucer’s helpful reminder to venture forth nonetheless rings true today perhaps more than ever.

#5 — 1400 to 1499 — Lessons from Copernicus

Besides formulating that the Sun is at the center of the universe, Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus left many insights that we can learn from and integrate into our own influencer marketing strategies. [bctt tweet="“To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.” — Copernicus" username="toprank"] The best marketers don’t hesitate to say when they don’t know something, and enthusiastically recommend others in their professional network who do have the particular skills needed.

#6 — 1500 to 1599 — Lessons from Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s words and wisdom have been delighting and inspiring people for over 400 years, and the lessons the bard can teach us about influencer marketing are many. [bctt tweet="“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts.” — William Shakespeare" username="toprank"] The Web has made the world’s stage accessible to all, and it’s in this digital venue today’s marketers hold multiple roles in ever-changing marketing endeavors. It’s important to recognize the many new relationships marketers will form throughout their careers, bringing with them new opportunities, as well as the professional relationships that are bound to shift, wane, and end — all an inherent part of the great circle of marketing life. via GIPHY

#7 — 1600 to 1699 — Lessons from Galileo

Never a marketer by trade, Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer Galileo nonetheless contributed much to the world including lessons that we can apply to today’s influencer marketing. [bctt tweet="“Measure what can be measured, and make measurable what cannot be measured.” — Galileo" username="toprank"] Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) is an important part of influencer marketing, in order to gauge the success of every part of a campaign from beginning to end.

#8 — 1700 to 1799 — Lessons from Wordsworth

English poet William Wordsworth wrote much that applies to being a good marketer in today’s busy world. [bctt tweet="“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” — William Wordsworth" username="toprank"] Our paper today is almost entirely of the digital variety, however Wordsworth’s adage is a valuable reminder that what we write in the course of our marketing campaigns is best when it comes directly from the heart. When seeking out experts to take part in influencer marketing initiatives, those who are filled with the genuine “breathings” of their hearts should undoubtedly be among the top choices for consideration.

#9 — 1800 to 1899 — Lessons from P. T. Barnum

During his life famed showman and businessman Phineas Taylor “P.T.” Barnum founded the Barnum & Bailey Circus, and became known as one of the greatest promoters the world has seen. Barnum espoused almost countless witticisms, and although he’s usually associated with a quote that has never been definitively linked to him  — “There’s a sucker born every minute.” — he also had plenty to say about marketing and business success. [bctt tweet="“The possession of a perfect knowledge of your business is an absolute necessity in order to insure success.” — P. T. Barnum" username="toprank"] This “perfect knowledge” is precisely what “best-answer content” seeks to provide today, and plays a crucial role in successful influencer marketing campaigns. Barnum himself would likely have been a fan of an interactive influencer marketing digital asset we recently created for the Content Marketing World conference, featuring a big-top theme and content from conference speakers, as shown below:

#10 — 1900 to 1999 — Lessons from David Ogilvy

Widely known as the "Father of Advertising," David Ogilvy’s marketing manifesto centered around creative brilliance, research, actual results for clients, and professional discipline — all ingredients that apply to today’s successful influencer marketing. [bctt tweet="“I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.” — David Ogilvy" username="toprank"] Providing information in influencer marketing means delivering best-answer content — definitive information presented in a clear message by an expert we trust. Ogilvy famously encouraged clear, smart marketing messages created as if they were for your own husband or wife. “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her,” Ogilvy said.

Bonus — 2000 to 2019 — Lessons from Bill Gates

When I started out with my first computer in 1984 Bill Gates’ young company was a bitter rival to the Commodore computers I used, but over the years I’ve had nothing but increasing admiration for him and the impact he’s had that has transcended his firm, especially with the philanthropic efforts of the non-profit organizations he and his wife Melinda operate. [bctt tweet="“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” — Bill Gates @BillGates" username="toprank"] via GIPHY Empowering others is something that influencer marketing does particularly well, so I think Gates’ words — and those we've examined from Hugh of Saint-Victor, Hildegard von Bingen, Thomas Aquinas, Geoffrey Chaucer, Nicolaus Copernicus, Shakespeare, Galileo, William Wordsworth, P. T. Barnum, and David Ogilvy are all relevant, and represent an important message as we look ahead just a few months to 2020. With enough time, staff, and dedication most brands can build their own successful ongoing influencer marketing strategy, while others may find it more efficient and practical to partner with a professional marketing agency highly skilled in the area. 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.”

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