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Improve Sales and Marketing Alignment
Is there a perpetual, uncrossable gap between the sales and marketing? We don’t think so. While the gap may be large, we believe it’s possible to build bridges that benefit both functions. The following are trends we’ve seen that can help B2B marketing teams strengthen their relationships with the sales function.
Read MoreHigher ed sector disruptions: New research
What do Higher Ed leaders have to say about the impact of COVID, disruption in their category, and evolving their market strategy?
Read MoreIdentifying the Best Win/Loss Approach for Your Company
What is the best win/loss approach for your firm’s needs and objectives? Like advertising, there are many flavors of win/loss research. This article provides guidance on how to approach win/loss research based on your objectives, who is driving the research, and the nature of your deals.
Read More12 Tips for Better DIY Win/Loss Interviews
If conducted and analyzed with a structured approach, win/loss interviews can identify trends and identify opportunities to improve win rates. If you conduct your own win/loss interviews these tips will help you ask the right questions, set up calls with those elusive lost deals, conduct a better interview, and produce an objective analysis.
Read MoreCompetitor Sorting: Ignore, Monitor, or Threat
Competitive intelligence delivers both short-term and long-term benefits by helping Sales close more deals, informing product messaging, and as an input to the product roadmap. B2B marketers need a simple, yet systematic, process to identify which competitors they can safely ignore, and which warrant ongoing focus and attention. One approach is to split competitive intelligence activities into two categories: High-Level Market Scanning and Competitor Profiling.
Read MoreKnow your B2B buyer
In any part of the economic cycle, organizations that understand their customers and prospects achieve better results, whether measured by growth, profitability, or other metrics. The current pandemic recession highlights how quickly B2B buyer needs can evolve, and the need to ground decisions in accurate data.
Read MoreSegmentation tips for B2B marketers
Segmentation is a bedrock principle for effective marketing. Yet, B2B marketers often don’t invest in it. It may seem too expensive, too complicated, or too “consumer-ey”. Segmentation can be all of these things, but it doesn’t have to be. B2B marketers can build an effective baseline segmentation using internal data and straightforward analytics.
Read MoreSpeaking to Trust in B2B messaging
In many B2B sectors, Trust, or Trustworthiness, sits near the top of market’s vendor evaluation matrix. Given that trust is earned over time presents a barrier to prospects switching to vendors that they don’t have experience with. When vendors say Trust me, at best the market views it as marketing-speak, at worst it conjures up images of unsavory car salesmen.
Read MoreMap your competitive differentiation: What can you own?
Differentiating your product or brand boils down to two simple questions. 1) What are your customer’s needs and buying criteria? And 2) which of these can your product/brand own? This post outlines a three-step process for mapping dimensions that will differentiate your brand and solution. The outcome provides a conceptual framework of your relative competitive differentiation.
Read MoreHas your customer journey changed course?
The customer journey always evolves. The change can be a slow and steady evolution. Or, the journey can shift dramatically based on sudden changes in market conditions. When the new normal settles in, one thing is guaranteed: The buying journey will be different than it was in January 2020. Do you know what changes will unfold in your customers’ journey?
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