B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict chats to Sam Shrager about what truly effective content and SEO marketing looks like. It’s really easy to get caught up in the idea that you have to push out content to keep up certain appearances, but if you’re approaching content strategy this way, it becomes increasingly difficult to actually give your audience what they want. An...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Madlen Nicolaus to discuss how obsession with pipeline could have an impact on brand awareness. With an impending recession, there are valid concerns about how companies are going to hit targets. There has been a growing concern on how to optimise pipelines and ensure short-term results. Focusing too much on pipeline...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict talks to Birim Gonulsen about the consumerization of B2B, and the lessons B2B can learn from B2C. Historically, there was the assumption that B2B and B2C marketing are completely different and separate from each other. However, this is becoming increasingly less true. There will always be a distinction, but as it becomes more import...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with James Watson to discuss all things thought leadership, and how it can educate B2B industries. Thought leadership is everywhere in B2B industries. However, it doesn’t always make a lasting impact on its target audience, and it almost never actually educates the target audience on a given concept. Effective thought lead...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict talks to Malcolm Fried about the crucial need for evidence-based marketing. With technology and data ever changing the B2B industry, marketers have more evidence than ever to effectively activate campaigns. However, it would certainly seem that marketers still don’t take a truly evidence-based approach to their marketing. Why have m...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Ben O’Connor of alan. agency to discuss the truth behind B2B marketers’ ambitions and convictions. In alan. agency’s recent research report, ‘ The Power of Provocation ’, business leaders agreed that marketers needed to raise their ambitions and take charge of their work. However, is it true that B2B marketers have no...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Ilaria Pasquinelli to discuss all things regarding the Creative B2B Lions. B2B isn’t really known for being all that creative, at least historically, and the industry as a whole doesn’t fully understand its value. However, the advent of the Creative B2B Lions is signalling not only that creativity in B2B should be upl...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Faith Wheller about employee retention, coaching, and what the pandemic means for the future of working in marketing. It’s no secret that the working world is forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost two years of working from home has changed the way employees want to work, how they collaborate with their team...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict talks to Melton Littlepage about how the B2B buying journey is evolving, and how businesses can adapt to a new era. Buyers have more control over the process than ever before, and they could possibly go through the whole process without ever interfacing with the seller. Because of this and the buyer journey in B2B is so much more co...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Adam Morgan, Executive Creative Director at Adobe, to talk about why the future of B2B is creative. In B2B, it’s already difficult enough to prove to businesses that creativity is a better long-term investment despite having ample well-researched studies stating exactly that. Then there’s the additional hurdle of comp...

In this special edition of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with the team at alan. to discuss their new report, ‘The Power of Provocation’. In 2017, business decision-makers fired a warning shot when 71% voiced their discontent. Five years, on the mob is angry. This year, 82% chastised B2B marketing as boring, predictable, repetitive. Frustration is boiling over. Through re...

In this final episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth of the year, Benedict and our lovely guests will bring us the thrilling conclusion to our provocative breakdown of B2B Marketing in 2022. With the world being so unpredictable, it is hard to truly know what’s coming next. But it’s important to think about the possibilities that come with the new year as it might have a bigger impact on...

In this special holiday edition of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict invites Barney O’Kelly and Komal Thadani to discuss and look back at the most provocative truths in B2B Marketing for 2022. Looking back at B2B Marketing in 2022, it’s evident that we’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still more to do. According to alan.’s research, 82% of business decision makers still think B2...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict talks to Simon Dodd about brand activation in companies that are both B2B and B2C. All marketers understand the importance of brand activation. Having a strong brand is how your company is salient in the minds of current or potential clients. However, there is a balance that must be found if a company is both B2B and B2C. Each arm o...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Nick Hughes to discuss building the value of purpose through a marketing lens. Purpose is now a topic hotly discussed at board level, but many argue it is still not properly understood. No matter the size of the company, from a single individual to thousands, purpose is absolutely necessary. Having that reason to get...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Will Brookes to discuss what marketers need to know about how their potential clients make decisions. Marketers often focus on singular audiences: the very people who would benefit from what they’re selling. However, it seems as though they are quite naive in their understanding of how their prospective clients’ decis...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Carrie Heath to discuss the role that marketing can play in employer branding and how to build the most diverse teams possible. Industries like financial and professional services have been lagging behind other sectors in building diversity. And, as the world becomes an increasingly diverse place, it is essential that...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict talks to Cheryl Guerin about authentically inclusive marketing for an increasingly diverse world. Businesses need to be inclusive not just in their marketing campaigns, but in their companies as a whole. It is the responsibility of every company to recognise that the world is more diverse than ever, and that it is necessary to eleva...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict speaks to Matthew Leopold about the key to good thought leadership. While businesses may understand that there is a need to contribute to thought leadership, they may not understand how to effectively bring it to market, which could mitigate its intended impact. Effective thought leadership has to be carefully considered and integra...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict speaks to Leeya Hendricks about giving marketing a role at board level. Marketers are expected to do it all without the recognition. As provocative as it sounds, marketing for a while has felt that the board of their respective companies doesn’t respect what they do. While studies have shown that the C-suite relies on the CMO, they...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Nina Reschovsky to discuss the differences between B2B and B2C, and how experience in a start-up can inform working for a large corporation. It has become increasingly less important to make a strong distinction between B2B and B2C marketing, because ultimately, as marketers, we all are trying to reach that emotional...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Teri Donovan to discuss all things data and how to make data work for marketers. There’s no question that data has become an integral part of marketing, especially in the advent of digital. However, with all this new data available, how can marketers utilise it to its maximum potential without it becoming a debilitati...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict speaks to Rosie Guest to discuss how to build and scale a marketing department in a business that traditionally doesn't understand the value of marketing. Marketing brings so much more to a business than making a brand seem “sexy”. But it can be difficult to establish marketing as a truly strategic business partner when the business...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Aiden Scusa, Chief Excuse Officer at EXYT (EXcuse Yourself Today) to debate whether Aiden’s philosophy of excuse-making is still a viable option for B2B marketers. For years, B2B marketers have made excuses. “The industry is too conservative”, “CEOs don't believe in brand-building”, “lack of budget” and “lack of creat...

In this episode of B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth, Benedict sits down with Gihan Hyde to discuss all things ESG for B2B marketing. More than ever, it is the responsibility of a business to seriously consider their ESG efforts because people are increasingly concerned with who and how they conduct their business. But what can marketing do to solidify ESG efforts? What misconceptions can we as...