In many B2B companies, especially those with a longer sales cycle (or buying cycle if you will), there is at least one division where employees meet customers and prospects without sitting behind their computers and campaign or CRM dashboards all the time: sales. An OgilvyOne survey found that 49% of those salespeople polled worldwide consider social media important to their success and the top performers among them rate it even more highly at 65 percent! The survey was based on 1,000 sales professionals in four countries. Many businesses underestimate that. MORE >>

From the top B2B marketing metrics to the most effective demand generation tactics, MarketingSherpa put together a great infographic they shared at the B2B Summit 2011. MarketingSherpa’s B2B infographic was based on data from their 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Study to be released later this year. Their study examines all stages of the B2B purchase funnel from lead generation to sales conversion. We’ll summarize their findings in a future blog post when the survey is released. We’re not surprised. MORE >>

Much of the money that B2B marketers have poured into direct mail campaigns, trade show exhibitions and trade print advertising for the last 50 years has questionable returns. In niche B2B markets with a small number of potential customers, that assumption may be optimistic. This simple tactic has been adopted by big B2B companies like General Electric and American Express as a key performance indicator. These include press mentions, speaking invitations and performance on customer satisfaction surveys.  simple telephone survey can identify who these customers are. MORE >>

According to a recent survey, Dutch Marketers have a long way to go in using content marketing effectively. B2B marketing Content marketing Research B2B content content marketing COO Magazine The Netherlands MORE >>

Tweet A lot of brands have proven and established themselves in social media in the B2C industry, but for B2B side of industry, it is still a hard sell. lot of companies in B2B sector are hesitant to try social media. It takes a closer look at the useage of social media for B2B marketing and is based on a study done by Business.com. In the course of the study, it was found that 55 % of the B2B survey respondents search for information using social media. However, LinkedIn wins the race and emerges as the most profitable platform for B2B users. MORE >>