Christopher Hosford

Patti Cocciolo, senior director of global brand marketing at Cisco, says starting the company’s in-house agency, The Hatch, took a “leap of faith.” But the move has proved beneficial for the tech giant’s marketing efforts. The in-house team brings an institutional knowledge of the company to the table while relations with outside agencies are a lot closer and more productive.

When the pandemic disrupted its ad production, USAA turned to an innovative idea — letting the onscreen talent shoot the entire thing with no director, technician, or crew members on site.

Major B2B brands bring several advantages to the market compared to smaller businesses and startups, including brand recognition, significant resources, and longtime relationships with customers and suppliers. But when it comes to leveraging their own data for opportunistic growth — not just incremental performance gains — B2B marketers lag behind their entrepreneurial competitors and could be ceding precious market share.

The savvy use of data analysis and artificial intelligence can have a significant impact on donor acquisition and retention.

Despite working from home for the past year, business pros are tapping into mobile apps to do their bidding. With a growing reliance on mobile platforms, buyers are cutting to the chase even quicker than before the pandemic hit, and B2B marketers must respond accordingly.

A new report explores the “consumption gap,” or the time between when content is requested and the moment it’s opened for consumption, and how this varies according to job title. As B2B buyers become even more elusive, it’s incumbent upon marketers to distribute their content more strategically and strengthen their measurement efforts.

Girls4Tech, a program founded in 2014 by Mastercard’s Susan Warner to inspire young girls about careers in STEM, has already far surpassed its initial goal of reaching 200,000 girls by 2020. The future looks even brighter.

The pandemic has put pressure on B2B marketers to craft a better customer experience and build more multichannel programming. Experts suggest that the right place to start is with existing customers.

With lower-than-average CPMs, B2B companies are turning to digital advertising to combat the decline in their traditional marketing channels. This reallocation doesn’t equate dollar for dollar, but there has been enough of a budget shift to drive substantial growth via paid digital channels.

With digital engagement accelerating, B2B marketers are starting to soup-up the look of their websites and other assets. However, many companies have a hard time connecting improved design with the top and bottom lines.

Despite the pandemic, the appetite among B2B buyers remains relatively strong. But marketers need to take this time to find more purposeful ways of serving their customers and prospects.