Top B2B marketing news stories from this week

Top B2B news stories from this week

It’s mid December and there is only one thing on everyone’s mind: the news. Despite our best intentions, however, at this time of the year certain Gregorian observances have the tendency to divide our attention and saturate our diaries causing us to fall out of the B2B loop. It happens. No one’s to blame. But to help us along with our endeavour – the near instant consumption of information about current events in the B2B sector – we’ve compiled a round-up of the week’s top stories.

For full versions of the articles below, plus any other highlights you may have missed, visit our news section.

Top B2B news stories from this week

LinkedIn trumps Twitter (just) in content marketing

According to a recent study from the Content Marketing Institute, 93 per cent of content marketers employ LinkedIn as part of their strategy, narrowly edging out Twitter at 92 per cent.

Interestingly, Youtube was the next most popular channel, rising from 68 per cent last year to 81 per cent this year, leapfrogging Facebook (78 per cent) and Google+ (74 per cent) in the process.

Less popular platforms included SlideShare (49 per cent), Instagram (39 per cent), Pinterest (36 per cent) and Vimeo (32 per cent).

B2B sales teams hindered by key capability gaps

B2B sales teams around the world are being affected by a series of capability gaps that are holding back their effectiveness, according to a State of Sales report.

The report finds that 89 per cent of B2B sales professionals identify generating quality leads as a key factor that results in sales success.

However, only 55 per cent of respondents said their company was ‘very effective’ or ‘effective’ at generating leads, demonstrating many respondents don’t believe their company performs as well as required in a crucial part of the B2B sales process.

Only 2% of clients feel marketing agencies add significant value

Scary figure, right? Although, it’s not quite as daunting as it first seems.

While only 2 per cent of clients feel their agencies add ‘significant’ value, 75 per cent rated their agencies impact as either ‘average’ or ‘quite good.’

The research, courtesy of the Financial Times and Maxus, also highlighted senior marketers’ biggest fears, with 25 per cent of respondents daunted by the constantly shifting customer landscape.

Producing engaging content revealed as top content marketing challenge

Sixty-one per cent of marketers have cited creating engaging content as their top challenge, according to a Content Marketing Institute report.

Other stumbling blocks included measuring content effectiveness and producing content on a consistent basis (both 58 per cent), measuring the ROI of content marketing programmes (49 per cent) and producing a side variety of content (40 per cent).

Interestingly, technology demands carried little concern for marketers, with only 18 per cent worried about understanding/choosing the right technologies, and a mere 10 per cent daunted by implementing technology already in place.

Reputation biggest influence on vendor selection

A new study conducted by tech PR consultancy CCgroup has found that 35 per cent of capital markets decision makers are more influenced by reputation and profile than any ‘harder’ factors such as cost effectiveness, technological capabilities and meeting RFP criteria, when evaluating technology vendors.

The report, How to Influence FinTech Buyers in Capital Markets, produced in conjunction with Contentive, suggests a complex buying process that can be heavily influenced by strategic marketing communications. The study also found:

– Relationships and vendor profile are of utmost importance at longlisting stage.

– Buyers want evidence, not just thought leadership, at shortlisting stage.

– Reliability and reputation are the ultimate deciding factors.

Top B2B news stories from this week

Background image courtesy of Kate Holstein

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