Jennifer Ross

At a time when many firms are trying to regain their footing or set a new course, having a clear, comprehensive marketing strategy that supports the business’s future vision is critical. Avoid these common missteps.

Amid lingering uncertainty, it may be tempting to question the value of long-range planning. The post-COVID landscape will look very different from the landscape pre-COVID — and B2B leaders who are unprepared will lose out.   

Forrester’s 2021 Global Marketing Survey reveals how B2B marketing leaders are adapting their strategies to accelerate recovery while keeping customers front and center. Here are three key takeaways.

Eager as B2B marketers may be to turn the page on 2020, there were clear positives amid the challenges. Here are eight lessons to carry into the new year.

B2B marketing leaders should continue to expect the unexpected and embrace change as a constant. These five actions can help you build a path forward through the unknown.

The Forrester 2019 Global CMO Study, representing responses from over 350 B2B marketing leaders, revealed that adapting to changing economic conditions was the top influence on their marketing strategy over the next two years — long before COVID-19 descended upon us. Now, it’s on everyone’s mind. Economic adaptation refers to changes in behavior on the […]

• SiriusDecisions 2018 B2B Leadership Study defined the B2B leadership characteristics essential for growth
• B2B leaders must understand which leadership characteristics to apply, emphasize or augment to drive successful business outcomes
• The capability to assess leadership requirements depending on the dynamics of a given situation can be used to align resources with business objectives

• SiriusDecisions has identified five areas of opportunity that should drive the priorities of CMOs and marketing executives in 2019 
• Defining the long-term marketing strategy ensures marketing’s role in creating and sustaining a competitive advantage 
• Marketing leaders have an opportunity to guide transformation to fuel the organization’s growth agenda

• CMOs are adding or enhancing B2B marketing skills to help them grow and retain top talent, as well as enable and drive high-performance marketing
• The annual SiriusDecisions Global CMO Study gives B2B marketing leaders a glimpse at what everyone else is doing in the world of B2B marketing, including planned skills enhancements
• Marketing operations is the greatest area for planned skills enhancements, with an emphasis on measurement, analytics and reporting

• B2B CMOs are on a journey to getting marketing measurement right
• Thirty-three percent of global CMOs plan to add marketing measurement skills to their team
• The right skills are only part of the equation; the CMO has a vital role to play in measurement initiatives

• Marketing resource management (MRM) software is among the top 10 technology investments for B2B CMOs
• Thirty-nine percent of global B2B CMOs are investing in MRM solutions
• Here are five key considerations for investing in MRM solutions

• A lack of required skills remains a significant challenge for most B2B marketing organizations
• Bridging the marketing skills gap requires a marketing enablement discipline and consistent focus
• Marketing enablement efforts must evolve into a discrete function/role in the organization

• Organizational design requires a systematic approach that considers the corporate growth objectives
• Optimizing the structure of the marketing organization requires an understanding of the required competencies
• Communication is critical throughout each phase of the organizational design process

• Eighty-eight percent of B2B companies are pursuing as many as five growth strategies
• Pursuing too many growth strategies can present significant challenges and result in a lack of focus
• Creating focus requires an assessment of the challenges and requirements associated with each growth strategy

• SiriusDecisions annual CMO study reports that 83 percent of B2B CMOs will increase their marketing budget in 2016
• Systems and tools will be the second largest area of investment
• Business intelligence and customer intelligence management top the list of technology investment priorities for CMOs

• B2B organizations are increasingly forming cross-functional committees to drive business-critical initiatives
• The negative connotation associated with decisions by committee is the result of poorly designed committees
• To avoid poor results, establish clear objectives, choose a strong leader and ensure accountability

Tips on how build an effective marketing plan that will resonate with stakeholders.

As B2B organizations continue to work very hard to get more people to “like,” follow and connect to their businesses, they need to turn these actions into something meaningful. Ultimately, the goal is to turn a growing social network into marketing qualified leads and more sales. Here are the first steps to turning those “likes” into leads