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COVID-19's Impact on B2B Software Budgets 31 percent of B2B software buyers say they'll spend less due to the pandemic, while 30 percent said that spending won't be affected, according to recently-released survey data. Web conferencing, collaboration, and remote desktop software were the three top segments for expanded spending, the survey also noted. MarketingProfs 90% of people buy from brands they follow on social media, study says Nine out of 10 people purchase from the brands they follow on social platforms, and the amount they spend climbed 12 percent from 2019 figures — two of numerous findings of interest to digital marketers contained in new report data. Just 23 percent of marketers use social media data for measuring return-on-investment (ROI), the report also noted. Mobile Marketer LinkedIn Adds Poll Feature LinkedIn (client) has rolled out a user polling feature to members, offering marketers a new avenue for gathering community sentiment, the Microsoft-o...

“WILSON!” “Wilson, I’m sorry!” via GIPHY Work, lately, feels a little like being a castaway. Isolating yourself. Dreaming of the past. Trusting in technology — however advanced or primitive — to get us through. And work could stay this way for a while. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented number of information workers, including marketers, home for work. In fact, 62% of American workers said they’ve worked from home at some point during this crisis. But many experts are estimating that this volume of distributed and remote work won’t decrease after the pandemic ends. They see that hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses are realizing they never really needed an office — they could have operated remotely all along. As we all come to grips with what could become the new normal, I realized there are lessons to be learned from feeling like a castaway. So, I turned to the world’s most famous — and successful — castaway: Chuck Noland. via GIPHY His actions are actuall...

Always-on influence is especially vital today as brands look to combat increasing mistrust and apathy. Why have top B2B firms including our clients LinkedIn, Adobe and Dell Outlet chosen always-on influencer marketing programs, and what results are they achieving using continuing influence programs? We answer these questions and more with examples of always-on influence in action. In the first installment of our new #AlwaysOnInfluence series, our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden explored what always-on influencer marketing is and why B2B brands need it now more than ever , and now we’ll move forward and look at why five major B2B firms have chosen ongoing influencer marketing. First let’s refresh our marketing lexicon with an overview of just what always-on influence is. What Is Always-On Influence? Always-on influencer marketing is the practice of ongoing relationship-building, engagement and activation of a specified group of influencers to build community, content and brand advocacy...

I wrote a special song just for you: Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday, dear reader of the TopRank blog, Happy birthday to you Are you emotionally moved or impressed by my effort? Probably not. Even if I used a little tech wizardry to insert your name in there, you likely wouldn’t be blown away by the level of customization. It’s just filling in a template, not creating something new. In theory, account-based marketing (ABM) should mean delivering hyper-relevant, custom content to your most relevant accounts. In practice, however, it tends to mean coming up with ever-more intricate Mad Libs.  We end up templatizing everything to scale up our efforts, losing the immediacy and relevance that makes ABM work. Fortunately, a few practitioners out there are demonstrating how to take ABM at scale beyond the “fill-in-the-blank” model. Gary Gerber shared his tips in our first Break Free video of the new season. This time around, we’re talking to Danny Na...

As business customers with questions are ignoring tone deaf brand marketing (and tiring of Pandemic messaging too) they are increasingly in search of information more than ever. Trust Radius reports that some B2B tech categories are seeing anywhere from 194% to 613% increases in search driven traffic. Search engines are clearly positioned to deliver answers for buyers seeking answers, but where is the trust? And more importantly, is your brand the best answer when and where buyers are looking? SEO alone is not enough . A study from CSO insights ranked Web searches the 8th most trusted source of information for technology buyers. According to a study by Forbes/Yext, only 50% of customers believe search results. Search ads are not necessarily the solution because 65% of marketers don’t trust them either (HubSpot). What good is being found in search if customers don’t trust what they find? The solution? Make search optimized content more trustworthy, credible and useful by partnerin...

How COVID-19 Is Impacting Business Event Planning 70 percent of business event planners have changed previously-planned in-person events to virtual platforms due to the pandemic, and 47 percent expect that once it ends people will still be hesitant to travel, with 27 percent expecting a swift uptick in real-world events due to pent-up demand, according to newly-released survey data from the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA). MarketingProfs Google ad sales steady after coronavirus drop; Alphabet leads tech share rally 2020 first-quarter advertising sales at Google tallied $33.8 billion, with 73 percent coming from search and 12 percent from its YouTube property, and Google's ad business accounting for some 83 percent of revenue for parent firm Alphabet, according to newly-released financial results. Reuters Spotify-owned Anchor can now turn your video chats into podcasts Spotify will utilize its Anchor property to make it possible to convert video meeting ...

While their importance pales in comparison to many other things taken away by our society’s ongoing lockdown, I do find myself missing sports. Going without them during a difficult time causes me to appreciate the comfortable routine and reliable distraction they provide all the more. Those who know me will not be surprised to learn that I’m longing for baseball especially — everything from strikeouts and singles to slides and steals. But there is no part of the game I miss more than home runs. Home runs are among the most satisfying individual achievements in sports. When a batter goes deep, he takes care of everything, going from home plate to home plate and putting a run — or more — on the board single-handedly. It is the literal representation of “covering all your bases.” via GIPHY With baseball and many other cherished forms of entertainment amiss, content marketers can help fill the void by focusing on experiential content , which is characterized by its ability to pull in a...