A total eclipse of my heart (and mind)

How cool was the eclipse last night? Admittedly, being based in the UK I didn’t actually see it, but the photos and videos which now strewn social media and news sites alike are pretty impressive. This got me to thinking about the amazing fact that when the moon passed in front of the sun, when seen from the earth, it fitted perfectly to cut out all but the solar flairs. How can this happen? What are the influences at play to make this happen?

Influences, or more specifically influencers, are also top of mind for many marketers today (Alright, this was possibly the worst segue ever), or so it seems from the amount of content I have come across in the last week about Influencer Marketing. My weeks reading on the topic started with Influencer Marketing in B2B which provides an useful introduction to the topic. I then delved deeper into the importance of influencer marketing for B2B marketers published on Forbes, so the topic must be important.

Or what about this one entitled, practices for optimal ROI on your influencer marketing platform. That’s a clickbait headline if ever I have read one!

But I always like to balance things with a healthy dose of skepticism. Influencer marketing, B2B savior or shing object? You decide.

What we need is some concrete examples. Here you go. Four examples that prove influencer marketing works in B2B. Health warning on this article. Examples from Linkedin, Salesforce, Hubspot and Amex. So not necessarily your every day B2B firms, but useful nonetheless. Let me know if you have seen any other case studies, I am genuinely interested.

Anyway, one thing that does out loud and clear is the importance of content. Does the old adage of content is king still hold true? But how do you know if your content marketing is working? Here’s the answer. 7 easy questions that will tell you if your content marketing is working. For me, it is not how easy the questions are, it’s about how difficult they are to answer!

Unfortunately, it looks like we are not really measuring the impact of our content. So much so that this research highlights that marketers fail to track a whopping 87% of content shares. Another thing for my to-do list!

And if 7 questions isn’t enough, how about 12 B2B content marketing master tips. That should keep you busy for the rest of the morning.

On a theme, check out this CMO roundtable discussion to find out why content is king, and what needs to be done with the looming GDPR regulation.

Time for a quick summary of other pieces that have caught my eye this week:

The Maths of driving the right marketing behaviour (appropriate with GSCE results out on Thursday!)

If you think training is expensive, try ignorance (now that’s how to write a headline)

Focus on GDPR but ignore ePrivacy at your peril (I refer back to last weeks blog)

The digital election: How digital marketing became a political game changer (I couldn’t possibly comment!)

Now I know it is only August but I am already getting excited. Yes, the shortlist for the B2B Marketing Awards has been announced. Massive congratulations to all that have made the cut. Talking of best practice, I came across this example from Dell EMC of storytelling to humanise the brand and product. That’s a lot of buzzwords. Check it out for yourself.

Finally, those of you that know me, know that I love a good statistic. So I was over the moon (no pun intended) to find this video of vital stats for B2B marketers. Shoutout to @EarnestAgency for another ‘stat’ filled 3 minutes 48 seconds. There is a lovely moment at 46 seconds!

And did you know that 49% of marketers confess to not measuring ROI.

On that bombshell, it is time to sign off.

Happy influencing.