B2B Marketing Minute

Putting on our analytics cap to ensure efforts contribute to the bottom line for clients, the Arketi team is trying to better understand the metrics that matter most in B2B content marketing. To do this, we're speaking with Michael Brenner, author of "The Content Formula." To continue our Measurements that Matter series, we spoke with Rand Fishkin, best known as The Wizard of Moz, to discuss measurements for search engine marketing.

Putting on our analytics cap to ensure efforts contribute to the bottom line for clients, the Arketi team is trying to better understand the metrics that matter most in B2B search engine marketing. To do this, we're speaking with Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz. To continue our Measurements that Matter series, we spoke with Rand Fishkin, best known as The Wizard of Moz, to discuss measurements for search engine marketing.

Putting on our analytics cap to ensure efforts contribute to the bottom line for clients, the Arketi team is embarking on a journey to better understand the metrics that matter most in B2B technology marketing. To do this, we're speaking with some of the smartest industry experts measuring marketing and communications. To kick off our Measurements that Matter series, we spoke with Katie Delahaye Paine, best known as The Measurement Queen, to discuss measurements for PR.

​If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much more is a motion picture worth? That seems to be the thinking behind the rapid rise of video in B2B marketing. In fact, 4 out of 5 B2B marketers report success in using video as a marketing tool, and two-thirds of them say they plan to increase budgets for video. Here are eight types of compelling BtoB videos to consider.

​If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much more is a motion picture worth? That seems to be the thinking behind the rapid rise of video in B2B marketing. In fact, 4 out of 5 B2B marketers report success in using video as a marketing tool, and two-thirds of them say they plan to increase budgets for video. Here are eight types of compelling BtoB videos to consider.

At Arketi, we've started asking “why?” more. Why you ask? We believe this simple question has the power to make us, and our clients, better marketers. Just because something's always been done one way, doesn't mean it should continue to be. So let's put the “why?” back in marketing, by reminding ourselves to question four commonly held assumptions.

My name is Dan Earle and I'm a corporate marketer who now works at an agency. Wait what? How did this happen? I always thought I was destined to stay in the corporate marketing world, using my skills to grow a single brand into something amazing from the inside. How did I become that specialist “sitting on the other side of the table?” Check out my thoughts on the transition from corporate to agency.

​If I were to ask you, “how open is your organization?” odds are, you would immediately think of your office layout, right? But what if “open” is how you describe your office culture? At a recent Technology Executives Roundtable event, Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, discussed his tips for building an open organization. Having left Delta for Red Hat, he pointed out the vast differences between both organizations.

At a recent Technology Executives Roundtable event, executives from four of Atlanta's marketing tech companies — Arke Systems, Cardlytics, Insightpool and Salesfusion — came together to discuss marketing and sales today. Tune in to find out the key take-aways from their discussion.

According to a survey of B2B marketers, the vast majority of leads never get past sales When performance is measured by revenue. One-third of marketers looking to find a way to make their leads better currently use some type of predictive analytics tool. Tune in to learn more.

Whether you are fresh to the PR scene or a media relations veteran, pitching reporters can be one of the most trying aspects of your job. Why? Reporters are busy. While breaking through the clutter can seem almost impossible, Arketi outlines five ways to help you establish better relationships with reporters and transform your pitches into placements.

Account-based marketing continues to be a hot topic among marketers. Whether account-based marketing is truly an innovative concept or just marketing's latest shiny new toy, one thing is certain. It won't deliver results if you don't do it right. To help you implement a successful account-based marketing campaign, we've shared five critical mistakes to avoid.

The web is constantly evolving, and the impact a website has can make all the difference to a discerning customer. After all, your website is the most significant place to share your brand's story with an audience. It's worthwhile to take a look at some Web design trends we think will continue well into 2015.

The web is constantly evolving, and the impact a website has can make all the difference to a discerning customer. After all, your website is the most significant place to share your brand's story with an audience. It's worthwhile to take a look at some Web design trends we think will continue well into 2015.

It's widely known that Google is secretive about the algorithm it uses to rank web pages in search results – and understandably so. However, they recently filed a new patent titled US Patent application 8,682,892 that offers some encouraging clues to PR pros.

While many BtoB marketers understand the importance of creating “sticky” messaging that resonates with customers and prospects, they may feel they don't have sufficient time to develop solid messaging because of a real or perceived need to rush to market. Even with adequate time and budget, others struggle to use a message approach that best suits their company's need to communicate effectively and drive sales.

All communications professionals are called to give presentations from time to time, and for many, the prospect can be daunting. But it doesn't have to be hard. The secret to a great presentation can be summed up in nine simple words.

We are often asked, “How do I know when I need an agency?” or “Do we have the right situation to hire an agency?” An agency can be a critical tool and resource to help your organization generate revenue. Of course, many executives come with their biases either for or against agencies, often based on past experience. Regardless, there are four questions you should ask yourself when trying to decide if you need an agency partner.

This hour-long, special edition of Arketi's B2B Marketing Minute features a recent Technology Executives Roundtable (TER) panel discussion, moderated by Principal Mike Neumeier, APR.

To understand BtoB SEO and execute search campaigns effectively, you need to know two things: the buyer cycle and the buyer.

This hour-long, special edition of BtoB Marketing Minute features a recent Booth 61 interview with Arketi Principal Mike Neumeier, APR. He joins a host of influential members from Georgia's technology community, and together they discuss the state of the tech industry.

In November 2012, Brickstream asked Arketi Group to craft and execute a strategy to re-launch the 12-year-old company at the largest retail show in North America – NRF's Annual Convention & EXPO, otherwise known as "Retail's BIG Show."

We compiled the findings from the sixth annual Technology CMO Roundtable into a must-read white paper for BtoB tech marketers.

Upon reflection of our recent PRSA Georgia Phoenix Award wins, we've distilled seven learnings that may be of interest to BtoB marketers.

The new year is here, and now is the perfect time for marketers to make (and start on) a few New Year's resolutions related to optimizing lead nurturing efforts.

Despite cuts in travel budgets and fewer mega industry conferences, respondents still prefer personal connections over technology touch points.

Earlier this year, Arketi's B2B Marketing News was named a best B2B blog of 2012 in The Best of BuyerZone series.

The key to bulletproofing a budget is to let metrics drive the conversation, using a return on investment model that demonstrates the dollar value of marketing.

Media relations is key to the overall success of your marketing strategy, but if you're like most companies, you'd like more success.

Your company's website is its face to the world. It's the first place anyone, and most everyone, goes to understand who you are and what you do.

These days, there is a mobile app for everything. While some enhance productivity and advance our professional endeavors, others are enjoyed purely for their entertainment value. Listen to find out the top 10 apps for this summer.

Marketers have long dreamed of having accurate information about customers and prospects. With today's social media, CRM, ERP and new tools for data collection, what was once a hard-to-find trickle of customer data has become a torrent of information. Companies are asking themselves how they can effectively manage the increasing volume and complexity of the data stream.

Across almost every industry, new customers cost more than old ones – so customer satisfaction, as a means to retention, is “job one” for most businesses. In recent years, the stakes have grown even higher as economic conditions and the growth of social media have given customer opinions more significance. Today, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn make it easy for a customer to share a positive or negative brand story with hundreds or thousands of people as quickly as one can hit the submit button. If customer retention is a goal, then customer advocacy – turning buyers into believers – is essential.

It's time to stop selling and start listening. This is a way of thinking that places buyers at the center of all marketing priorities. Understanding what buyers care about, how they make their decisions, and how they want to receive information, makes marketing about them, not about us. This isn't about doing more – or even about doing less. It's about doing what matters. And since most of us are being asked to stretch our resources ever further, focusing on what's important is more important than ever.

Arketi's fifth annual Atlanta High-Tech CMO Roundtable and the first such Roundtable for the Raleigh-Durham area featured marketing and PR executives from leading technology companies throughout the Southeast. The collection of top marketing and PR minds gathered to discuss the current and future state of BtoB marketing, and five common themes emerged.

The holiday season is full of family, friends, fun and food. If you're like us, that homemade pie was just too tempting to resist a slice… or two. Now, as the new year starts, we notice our waistlines seem a little fuller, our motivation kicks in, and we make resolutions to drop the added weight. Instead of trying to lose your love handles, shed some pounds elsewhere – your writing. No sweating is required (we promise!) and this is a resolution that you can actually see through the end of the year.

News release quotes are often the most underutilized communications tool at a PR professional's disposal. Quotes in releases have determined company policies, influenced political decisions and inspired strategic vision.

A recent article on a BtoB Marketing website titled “Facebook user satisfaction dips; could face user exodus,” reports that the online service's customer satisfaction has hit an all-time low. In fact, half of those questioned in an informal poll were prepared to abandon the social network in favor of Google+. Isn't that one of our dreams as marketers? Have the switching costs be so high, that folks would rather stay with you than go through the pain of moving?

The 2011 Arketi Web Watch Survey: Inside BtoB Media Usage of Social Media is hot off the press and reveals BtoB media continue to have a rich appetite for using social media tools. This year's survey found that 92 percent of journalists have a LinkedIn account, an increase from 85 percent from the 2009 survey. Find out where journalists are getting their story ideas and which channels you can utilize to engage with target audiences.

As BtoB marketers, we know what follows flies in the face of all that's instinctive. But the time has come for all of us to confront a tough reality – some of our prospect relationships just aren't working anymore. And it may be time to turn these prospects loose.

The email newsletter has become a mainstay of every BtoB marketing mix. But as the novelty of getting a newsletter in one's inbox has worn off, open rates and clickthroughs have declined. Much of this can be remedied by making the enewsletter more relevant, targeted and just plain interesting. In parallel to content and segmentation efforts, enewsletter design can also be tweaked to yield better results by keeping 4 key points in mind.

Arketi interviewed Jim Novy, founder of IT Marketing World, to discuss the growing online community made up of the best and brightest information technology marketing and PR professionals. The online community is committed to establishing and refining industry best practices for communications professionals working in technology organizations.

Did you know that 90 percent of BtoB organizations are now engaged in content marketing? In addition, more than a quarter of a BtoB organization's marketing budget this year alone will be spent on content marketing. WOW!

As the numbers of mobile device users continue to increase, so does the amount of people who rely on mobile apps on a regular basis. After reading an entertaining article in Lexusmagazine on the top mobile apps for Lexus owners, it got us thinking, “What are the top apps for BtoB technology marketers?” After posing this question to the Arketi team, we discuss five of our Top 10 mobile apps.

Arketi's fourth annual Atlanta High-Tech CMO Roundtable featured marketing and PR executives from leading technology companies throughout the Southeast. The collection of top marketing and PR minds gathered to discuss the current and future state of BtoB marketing, and four common themes emerged.

In today's marketing world, “print collateral” is a deceptive term. To meet the demands of today's digital world, collateral pieces must translate beyond print and into digital formats. This new definition has resulted in marketers shifting design philosophy to remain effective in all media and accommodate the widest audience possible.

Every executive wants to see the words “Industry Expert” in front of his or her name. In the quest for thought leadership, the speaker circuit can drive both brand awareness and lead generation—if executed strategically. Arketi believes there are five main elements to building a successful speakers bureau.

Over the past year, the use of video marketing has rapidly increased. Researchers have found that half of Internet users watch videos at least weekly and three-quarters watch professionally-produced online videos regularly. Arketi believes there are five main elements to effective BtoB videos.