Ayaz Nanji says, “B2B marketers say increasing brand awareness and dealing with budget constraints are the top challenges they face, according to a report from B2B International. The report was based on data from a survey conducted in 2015 of 181 marketers for B2B companies around the world. Respondents were asked to list the top challenges their organization faces without any options or prompts by the researchers. Some 13% of respondents say increasing brand awareness is a top marketing challenge, and the same percentage list budget constraints. Other major challenges cited include doing... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “For the past six years, Forrester has held its Sales Enablement Forum for B2B marketing professionals in March, the first two years in San Francisco and then down in Scottsdale (see here for my debrief from the successful 2015 event). I’ve already had a few calls and emails asking me about this year’s Forum: What is the agenda? Where and when is it being held? So, here is a timely reminder that we have reconfigured our events calendar this year and the 2016 B2B Marketing Forum is now scheduled for October 18 and 19 in Miami, Florida. Planning is well underway:... [...]

Steve Casey says, “Greetings! This is week three in my journey as a Forrester analyst serving you, B2B marketing professionals, after nearly as many decades as a practitioner like you. I’d like to start our conversation by sharing an idea I had the opportunity to explore during the interview process for this position. It was a process I enjoyed tremendously by the way, because it allowed me to connect the dots between several trends I had observed in my most recent role, where I led marketing for a digital engagement platform vendor, and some recent research from Forrester, most notably... [...]

Daniel Klein says, “Delivering credible, objective, and engaging content is a must for today’s B2B marketer as prospects discover, explore, and buy your solution. But what attributes and sources make content credible and objective to B2B buyers? This is a common question asked of my consulting team, and in the age of the customer — where empowered buyers rely on multiple content sources before talking with a sales team and 50% of buyers say much of the content they receive is useless — the answer is more important than ever. To get answers to this and other key questions we receive... [...]

Chris Sheen says, “Like many companies, in the last 12 months the main focus of our marketing strategy was to produce content. And lots of it. However, on further inspection it turns out we might have been focusing on the wrong metrics. So whether you’re a B2C marketer or B2B marketer like myself, you’re probably under a fair amount of pressure to produce content. Bill Gates famously declared that “Content is King” back in 1996 (yep, 20 years ago!) while more recently, respected marketers like Ann Handley have taught us that the best content is “useful, enjoyable and... [...]

Ed King says, “Congratulations! You have invested in a customer relationship management (CRM) and a marketing automation platform (MAP). You are capturing leads and running campaigns. Ready for more? Your next mission, if you choose to accept it, is segmentation. In this article we’ll explore four ways segmentation can improve demand generation, along with four practical tips on what and how to segment. Segmentation Is Key to Demand Generation Segmentation is the foundation of… Your ideal customer profile and target accounts lists: The best prospects are often those who resemble... [...]

Megan Conley says, “Time for another brainstorm session … After scratching out a list of possibilities, you turn to your computer for inspiration. Consider your go-to sources: Do you immediately navigate to your competitor’s blog? Are your bookmarks filled with favorite content from companies in your industry? Constructive thinking doesn’t happen inside of a vacuum. Instead, our best ideas come when we take a step outside the scope of our work and seek inspiration from unlikely sources. For B2B marketers, this means that the creative spark you’re looking for... [...]

Gavin Finn says, “The senior VP of marketing at a successful global technology company recently held her fiscal year 2016 planning meeting at a rustic, isolated hotel in the mountains, keeping the focus on business, not pleasure, for her senior global marketing team. Her intention was to center all of their efforts on performance rather than activities, outcomes rather than deliverables. As the team settled in for the first session, her VP of US marketing asked: “What should we use as guidelines for making decisions about priorities?” After that question, the rest of the agenda... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “Wake up, B2B marketing and sales enablement automation vendors — especially those of you in North America. Many of you have not yet seriously set up shop in Europe because you consider firms there to be late adopters of marketing and sales automation. Well, they are perhaps late from your point of view, but they have now caught up. Forrester’s Global Business Technographics® Marketing Survey, 2015 reveals the proportion of B2B companies intending to buy or expand their automation projects for, among other things: content management; sales; online marketing;... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “The B2B marketing research team has just published its 2016 predictions report, outlining four shifts that B2B marketing professionals can expect by December 31 of next year. This report is aligned with and part of a series of Forrester predictions reports — each discussing the effects on specific roles in a company, but all part of the greater picture: The Age Of The Customer. Forrester clients can read the full report here, they can also attend this webinar on December 10th. B2B buying has changed: Buyers prefer to do research themselves rather than rely on... [...]