FIR B2B

Hosted by Paul Gillin and Eric Schwartzman, FIR B2B covers the latest news in B2B communications, interview practitioners at innovative companies, and present weekly ideas and tips for making the most of online and in-person conversations. Paul is a speaker, writer and B2B content marketing strategist who specializes in social media. Eric is a veteran PR practitioner currently focused on social media compliance. Eric and Paul are the co-authors of the 2011 book, "Social Marketing to the Business Customer";

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

B2B Video Doesn’t Have to Suck, With Guest David Spark

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

News & Trends

B2B companies are making creative use of video in a manner that takes its cues from B2C marketing. Arrow Electronics is using video to depict its business through the eyes of a five-year-old and create a bigger picture context of its business. Philips is rebranding with video that emphasizes innovation. While “innovation” is an overused term, we like the way this video speaks to a higher purpose. In addition to having brand value, this approach is also an excellent way to boost employee morale.

Shel Holtz pointed us to an Ad Age column, that argues that the distinction between business and consumer marketing is irrelevant. We’ve always argued that B2B and B2C marketing play to very different buyer needs and motivations, but we have to admit that we like the point the author makes. In a world of expanding sources of influence, appealing to consumer preferences is increasingly necessary for building brand.

Buyer motivations are also the focus of a slide presentation by the UK-based marketing firm Earnest that explores Behavioral Economics in B2B Marketing. Earnest makes the case that even big B2B decisions are heavily influenced by gut-level instincts. If your marketing speaks only to specs and features, you’re missing out on the bigger picture.

Special Guest: David Spark

David Spark took an unconventional route to content marketing. He spent more than a dozen years working as a touring standup comedian, a San Francisco tour guide and as a comedy writer for The Second City in Chicago before moving into technology journalism and ultimately custom content. His Spark Media Solutions is a brand journalism and media consulting firm that specializes in B2B video. In our interview he talks about how run-of-the-mill video interviews can be enriched with offbeat questions, the most common mistakes B2B marketers make with video and some of the best examples of B2B video he’s seen recently. He also discusses an innovative approach to combining video and still images in a recent project for Riverbed.

David shares some of his most successful techniques on his blog. Entries include 20 Great Ideas for Your Next Corporate Video, 5 Video Strategies that Are Totally Worth the Effort, 5 Interview Questions That Always Return Great Answers and 4 Examples of Corporate Videos Done Right.

He’s also the author of the terrific ebook, Hazardous to Your Social Media Health - 50 Previously Condoned Behaviors We No Longer Recommend. Follow him on Twitter at @dspark.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 04/16 at 12:00 PM
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Wednesday, April 02, 2014

FIR B2B Show #6: Marketers Struggle With Reinvention; Plus Euromoney’s Marissa Pick

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

News & Trends

It’s our “bad news for marketers” show, although the theme was unintentional. It’s just that a lot of recent news we’ve seen has cast B2B marketers in a rather unfavorable light. Highlights:

Even though most B2B companies have a lead-generation process in place, just 9% of B2B marketers say they are highly effective at generating leads, according to a study from research firm Demand Metric. This tends to confirm comments made by Dan McDade in FIR B2B #5 about how marketing often drops the ball on lead quality.

Even though CMOs believe that advanced analytics will play a significant role in helping them reach their goals, most feel their organizations are not in a position to leverage data to its full extent to gain a deeper understanding of the customer, according to a new study from IBM. Here’s a link to the report.

A new Adobe study says marketers see a need to reinvent themselves but don’t know how to do it. Data analytics skills are seen as vital. “A majority of marketers (76 percent) reported they need to be more data-focused to succeed; however, 49 percent said they rely on ‘trusting my gut’ when making budget decisions. Seventy-two percent of marketers said their long-term success is tied to proving marketing return on investment.”

A new research study of 350 business buyers by the CMO Council and Netline finds that third-party sources heavily influence B2B buying decisions. That’s not surprising, but what’s depressing is that only 9% said vendors are trusted sources of content. “Marketing executives unanimously agreed that a solid content strategy is imperative for building awareness it requires them to position themselves as trusted experts in their field,” the report concludes.

LinkedIn has launched new tools to help B2B marketers gauge content performance. They give brands a single score to gauge the effectiveness of multiple pieces of paid and organic content on LinkedIn, including company pages, LinkedIn groups, Influencer posts, employee updates and Sponsored Updates. It’s another useful new service from the B2B social network of choice. BTW, listen to the latest episode of Chuck Hester’s Linked Conversations to learn what LinkedIn’s “retirement” of the Products & Services tab in company profiles means to marketers.

Special Guest: Marissa Pick

Our special guest this week is Marissa Pick, Senior Social Media Marketing Manager at Euromoney Institutional Investor.  Marissa advises more than 100 global businesses internally on best practices to help drive traffic, membership, engagement, and ROI from social media effort across publications, events businesses, and other internal programs. Her internal clients span a huge range of market-specific publications and services. Marissa talks about the many channels Euromoney uses for promotion and the surprising power of Facebook as both a word-of-mouth and paid advertising channel.  Follow Marissa on Twitter.

Closing Rant

In our closing rant Paul Gillin picks up on a post by Danny Sullivan that calls out Google for penalizing a blogger’s entire site because of one allegedly spammy link posted nearly a year ago. Paul supports Google’s focus on quality content but believes the search giant needs to be more transparent about what is and isn’t permissible.


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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 04/02 at 10:35 AM
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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

FIR B2B #5: The Truth about Leads with Dan McDade

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

News & Trends

The latest CMO Survey finds that CMOs expect social media spend to grow from 7.4% of budgets to 10.1% in the next 12 months. In five years, they expect social to make up 18% of total marketing spend. Despite this trend, 49.2% of marketing executives say they haven’t been able to show the impact of social yet, and an additional 34.8% have only a qualitative sense of its effectiveness. Is ROI really that important or is learning how to use social media simply a requirement for doing business today.

Yesmail recently reported that half of all B2B emails are now opened on a mobile device, yet a BtoB magazine study released about a year ago indicated that only a pitiful 10 percent of B2B marketers had used mobile platforms in the past year. But B2B marketers are catching up. A recent Advertising Age report found that 38.6% of B2B marketers said they currently use mobile in their strategies and of those respondents, 47.3% use apps. Ihat’s up from 21% in 2012. This special report on FierceCMO looks at how mobile is impacting B2B marketing. That doesn’t mean everyone should go all in on mobile, but you should at least be aware of what devices your customers are using.

In related news, LinkedIn announced it is expanding its mobile advertising opportunities. Now B2B marketers will be able to directly reach customers and prospects via email on mobile devices by sponsoring the company’s InMail. LinkedIn continues to find new ways to monetize its more than 270 million members.

A survey Of 175 B2B buyers reveals what they want to see on vendor websites. The top choices are detailed contact information, case studies, white papers and articles. Nearly half see blogs as impacting their decisions. Further evidence that blogging is an imperative for B2B companies.

A fascinating chart from Experian shows the role of different media channels in customer decision-making process. Search is the top “greeter” while a website is the top “closer.”

Michael Procopio was one of the first group of LinkedIn members to get access to the new publishing features. He shares a comment about his experience.

Guest: Dan McDade

Our guest this week is Dan McDade, founder of PointClear, a firm that helps B2B companies with complex sales processes drive more revenue through effective prospect development. Dan is the author of The Truth About Leads, a book that sheds light on the little-known secrets that help focus B2B lead-generation efforts and get sales and marketing in alignment. Dan shares a horror story about the cost of poorly qualified leads and we launch into a discussion of the most common myths and mistakes about prospecting.

Closing rant

The future of your business is digital...or you’ll be…extinct. That’s the rather doom and gloom opening sentence from a recent Forrester report. With all due respect to Forrester, Allan disagrees.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 03/18 at 09:28 AM
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Thursday, March 06, 2014

FIR B2B #4: Avoiding the Landmines of Employee Advocacy Programs

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

LinkedIn is opening up its content platform to all members. Does this present a quandary for marketers? Should you continue to invest resources in your own blog or move much of that activity over to LinkedIn? The benefit of publishing on LinkedIn is that you get access to an existing audience and built-in analytics and sharing features. The downside is that your website doesn’t directly benefit. Is there a way to get the best of both worlds or is the LinkedIn company page destined to become a more important destination than your company website?

New research says nearly 90% of ad agencies are interested in social media and online video, but a majority question the value. Is video really all that useful to B2B marketers? Are those disagree somewhat on this. Paul points to the wildly successful Van Damme Epic Split as evidence that B2B companies can do truly remarkable things with video, but Allan thinks examples like this are few and far between.

Introhive has an infographic that assigns value to different digital media in the B2B sales cycle. It includes some surprises. For example, in the lead generation area, YouTube SlideShare and “Content” are considered strongest while Facebook is categorized as “Poor.” YouTube is also noted as a top performer for lead generation but a poor choice for lead nurturing.

Our special guest this week is Chris Boudreaux, founder of Social Media Governance, a website devoted to best practices in social media accountability and governance. The site was originally created to host a database of business social media policies but has now been expanded to include research and Chris’ frequently updated blog.

Chris has taken a particular interest in customer advocacy. He provides advice on how to mobilize customers to spread the messages of a business.He recently wrote on Social Media Today about how employee networks can minimize information overload.

His book, The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, tells how brands can “transform teams, empower employees, integrate partners and mobilize customers to beat the competition in digital and social media.” He also just published a buyers guide to tools that enable employees to speak on a brand’s behalf.

Activating employee ambassadors is not cut and dried. There may be regulatory issues to consider, and employees who aren’t well briefed on what they can and can’t say can hurt a company more than help it. People in different roles may also need to be activated differently. There’s also the risk of doing too much. If the brand creates too many social media accounts it can tax resources and create a perception that the brand is simply producing noise.

In the closing rant, Paul vents about legitimate publishers citing terrible research.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 03/06 at 09:53 AM
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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

FIR B2B #3: Buyers Consult Each Other for Advice; Can Marketers Adapt?

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. In this episode:

New Eloqua Research shows that buying cycles are lengthening and buyers are depending more upon peers for recommendations. “Social media marketing managers and social business teams need to be brand agnostic,” says Eloqua Demand Gen Report Managing Editor Kim Zimmermann. “Make sure that you’re adding to the conversation by sharing meaningful, educational, vendor-neutral content so that the “browsers” are getting the right content, even if they aren’t asking.” How well-prepared are brands to do this? Another study finds that B2B marketers say they’re rapidly improving at aligning content marketing to the funnel, so maybe the outlook is improving.

How Klout Is Poised to Clean LinkedIn’s Content Clock. LinkedIn has come under considerable criticism for changing its news service to de-emphasize independent sources in favor of its own experts. Now Klout is trying to fill that vacuum and give LinkedIn a run for its money as a news curation service. Is Klout’s gambit an indication that LinkedIn’s news content has become less useful since it began promoting its own influencers ahead of third-party sources?

Twitter’s first earnings report as a public company caused its stock to plummet amid concerns that its growth is slowing. Twitter has historically been one of the most effective B2B communication channels. Some people say Twitter is in trouble, but we don’t see peril on the near-term horizon.

A new report from David Spark lists 50 behaviors that were once condoned social media but aren’t anymore. One of the themes that runs through the collection of advice for more than 50 prominent social media experts is that over-sharing is becoming a problem. It’s drowning out valuable content and driving away once-active users.

Our special guest this week is Gary Wicks, who leads the Web Strategy Team at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He is responsible for strategy development, content development and social engagement in the digital space. He manages the Twitter account for Boeing Commercial Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) and is on the editorial board of the corporate website.

We discuss the challenges of coordinating social media across a giant enterprise and the tricky task of balancing transparency with the need to meet global compliance standards. Gary also speaks to the importance of influencers in his industry. Even hobbyists, whom you wouldn’t consider to be influential in large aircraft purchases, can create brand affinity that leads to sales.

We also discuss last year’s Dreamliner crisis, in which concerns about battery safety grounded the fleet for several months. Gary talks about what Boeing learned from the experience and the importance of communicating constantly with constituents.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 02/19 at 04:18 AM
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Tuesday, February 04, 2014

FIR B2B #2: Does Content Marketing Raise the Bar for All Marketers?

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg host the FIR B2B podcast. Discussion topics in this show:

The theme of this week’s show is content marketing, and we open with the results of a new study from AdAge that finds three-quarters of B2B marketers plan to increase content spending in 2014. At the same time, more than 64% of respondents plan to raise email marketing budgets, nearly as many said they would up investments in online video, and 58% said the same for social media. Are marketers spreading themselves too thin?

They may not have much choice. Content marketing is continually raising the stakes of the quantity and variety of content that organizations must produce to be heard above the competitive noise. Marketers need to differentiate not only with the subject of content they produce but also with platforms and media. It’s not surprising that media spending plans are growing almost across the board.

Want more proof that B2B and B2C marketing aren’t the same? Econsultancy recently asked marketers in both sectors what are the most exciting opportunities for 2014 . The answers differed sharply, with B2B marketers favoring content marketing and B2Cs liking mobile.

Which doesn’t mean mobile advertising isn’t relevant to B2B as well. Emarketer also reports that new research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Ovum found that marketers are overwhelmingly satisfied with mobile advertising. Our hosts wonder what opportunities exist there for B2B?

Ann HandleyThis week’s special guest is Ann Handley, founder of MarketingProfs and a thought leader in B2B content marketing. She believes content marketing and native advertising present new opportunities to B2B marketers to raise their profiles but they also present new challenges to produce differentiated and remarkable content. Ultimately, customers will benefit, Ann believes. She cites several examples of outstanding B2B content marketing efforts she’s encountered.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is the author or co-author of five books, including Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing. He is also a social media trainer and coach at Profitecture, a training firm for B2B companies and their channel partners.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 02/04 at 10:57 AM
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Sunday, January 26, 2014

FIR B2B Episode 1 with Paul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg

FIR B2BPaul Gillin and Allan Schoenberg introduce the FIR B2B podcast. Discussion topics in this show:

1. B2B and B2C marketing are different in important ways . That’s why different tactics and tools are needed in each market. We discuss six major differences between B2B and B2C markets and why they influence social media strategy.

2. Recent McKinsey research indicates business leader should be taking the lead in social media adoption in their companies. However, only a minority of CEOs are even using social media. Is it time for them to get on the stick?

3. The UK marketing agency Earnest produced a great collection of facts and figures about B2B marketing at the end of 2013. We look at several highlights, including data that suggests that traditional marketing still works best.

4. Recent reports from McKinsey and Experian indicate that marketers should actually be sending more e-mail. The reason: it works.

5. A nice roundup of clever and innovative B2B promotions highlighted in Advertising Age prove that B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring.

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About Your Hosts

Paul GillinPaul Gillin is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is a popular speaker who is known for his ability to simplify complex concepts using plain talk, anecdotes and humor. He is the co-author of Social Marketing to the Business Customer (2011), the first book devoted entirely to B2B social media marketing.

Allan SchoenbergAllan Schoenberg is based in London and responsible for managing the international media relations, issues management and brand communications for CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse financial marketplace. He was instrumental in launching the company’s social media activity in 2007 and continues to lead its social strategy and online community engagement. He has more than 20 years of experience in B2B communications, including his work for Accenture, Edelman Worldwide and Fleishman Hillard.

FIR Community on Google+Share your comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future podcasts, in the online FIR Podcast Community on Google+.

You can also send us instant voicemail via SpeakPipe, right from the FIR website. Or, call the Comment Line at +1 415 895 2971 (North America), +44 20 3239 9082 (Europe), or Skype: fircomments. You can tweet us: @FIRpodcast. And you can email us at fircomments@gmail.com. If you wish, you can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

To receive all podcasts in the FIR Podcast Network, subscribe to the “everything” RSS feed. To stay informed about occasional FIR events (eg, FIR Live), sign up for FIR Update email news.

FIR B2B is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications,serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Posted by Paul Gillin on 01/26 at 06:16 AM
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