Digital Banter

Stock targeting in ad channels like Google, Facebook, and TikTok may not be the best option for B2B companies. It can be difficult to accurately target your ideal customer profile and personas. We've tried working around these limitations for years, but it's led to many failed tests, with the exception of LinkedIn. Recently, we've been experimenting with B2B targeting tools and the...

It grinds our gears that brands are always looking to cut costs and force as much of their budget into media dollars as possible.  We see them cutting tech, creative & agencies.  But cutting from the wrong area can be detrimental to the efficiency of your media budget. Its ok to pull from media spend and keep the tools you need. Here is some food for thought as you are looking at being more ef...

In this episode of Digital Banter, we discussed the game-changing technology of chat GPT, which uses artificial intelligence to create human-like responses. Chat GPT has the potential to revolutionize the world of marketing by automating tasks such as content creation, keyword and audience research, and copywriting. It can also improve marketing strategies and increase efficiency. However, it&apos...

Yearly planning is hopefully over at this point for most companies.  Now what do you have to to do turn that plan into action?  Most companies really struggle and things don't seem to get moving until Q2 or sometimes even later.  This weeks episode we talk through how to get shit moving, and its easier than you may think. At least on paper.  It come down to alignment & ownership.  Here ar...

B2B is known for creative that is literally the worst.  Stunning pictures of Digital E-Books, that you can be so lucky to have if you would just provide your business email address. B2B companies will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a few pieces of creative that simply don't get your message across, drive crappy MQLs and don't make an impact. Here are 3 takeaways for better b2b...

Balancing quick wins & long term growth continues to be the biggest struggle for marketers.  Especially for investor backed high growth companies. With current economic challenges, and less budget how can we continue to innovate? 1) For early tests where the goal is to create proof of concept, focus on low cost tests such as messaging & content. 2)  Develop ways to operationalize tests tha...

Building brand trust is one of the most difficult things to do in marketing.  The reality is, customers know where and when they are trying to be sold to.   People trust people, not brands. So how do brands create messaging that is believable & not bias.  Well it comes down to delivering actual value without asking for anything in return. Check out this week's podcast as we dive deep into...

Historically, our good friends in sales have believed that the purpose of marketing is for us to provide materials for them so that they an be better at sales.  As marketers, we have actually relied on sales to do marketing. In recent years, B2B buying has fundamentally changed.  B2B buyers want to buy on their own terms in the same way they would purchase any other product.  Aka.. they will reach...

Well, we often talk about how we are tired of seeing marketers boil their efforts down to "high yield" demand capture activities.  Its time to talk about the worst of them all, Branded Search. Agencies for years have come up with 50 different excuses to show the value of branded search, and while most are somewhat valid, it has led to a massive over investment.  As marketers we need to b...

There have been a lot of debate recently if creating demand &  driving brand awareness are the same thing.  In all honestly, when I first started really studying demand gen, I saw it as the first logical reasoning for brands to move up funnel into more "branding" activities... Well truthfully, they really are not the same thing at all.   Join Zach and James this week as we talk about...

Lead quality is probably the number one beef that sales teams have with marketing.  Most lead gen strategies are focused on capturing as many leads or "MQLs" as possible.  This leads to driving leads that simply aren't ready for sales. This week's episode we discuss how marketing can help dive better leads through a demand gen strategy rather than lead gen. Additionally we disc...

How do you decide whether or not it makes more sense to work with an agency or hire in house?  Well, a big part of it comes down to how your team is structured.  While agencies are most used for specific subject matter expertise, the ability to see trends across brands, & access to tools, the makeup of an internal team is the biggest factor you should consider when looking at an agency. The ag...

Google Ads,  our favorite demand capture tool.  Unfortunately we feel like it may be falling off the rails.  After the pandemic killed any form of customer service we had with Google, the ad platform is pushing us harder and harder to fully adopt new AI that just isn't a fit for everyone. In a world where tracking is becoming more and more difficult, how are we supposed to let an algorithm op...

The 2022 State of Marketing Budget & Strategy report by Gartner released a stat that saying 25.4% of marketing budgets is spent on technology.  After reading this stat, it has become pretty evident that tech is taking over. Join Zach and James as they discuss the pros & cons of marketing technology and the future looks like for humans in marketing.

We always complain about bad content.. Boring content, gated content, salesy content, etc.. But what we haven’t talked about much is what is good content? What works?  Join Andy and James this week as we dive into a very simple content strategy framework that will help you join results. There are 3 types of content that you need to create: Short form branded content that focuses on customer educat...

Join Zach & James as they provide advice on how to overcome the top 5 biggest challenges for B2B marketers. 1) Using customer intelligence to overcome the markets resistance to change. 2) Balancing quick wins vs long term growth. 3) Developing unique market positioning 4) Creating a testing framework that allows for innovation 5) Measurement & attribution

Is the full funnel AIDA model for marketing outdated?  We believe it is, and here is why:  Marketers & sales teams for years, have been making customers buy on their terms, by forcing them through a curated user journey.  Marketers and sales teams need to shift to building strategies based on how today's buyers want to buy. Join Zach and James and our special guest Andy as we talk through...

Creating demand is the most difficult part of marketing.  Our goal when creating demand is to focus on educating potential customers about a problem and driving them to the point where they are ready to act.  The easy part then becomes capturing that demand. Join Zach and James as they talk through how to develop creative and messaging across all the different stages of demand creation.

In a time of diminishing demand,  we are being asked frequently, "How can we steal from the competition"..."Lets run some competitor campaigns"...  Well, This almost never works unless it is very carefully thought out. Join Zach and James as they discuss the Do's and Don'ts of competitive campaigns as well as how to properly develop a competitive conquesting strategy.

Over the last few months we have seen the onset of a recession.  We have now seen layoffs across many different industries, and budget cuts across the board. Brands are competing over less demand and customer acquisition costs are rising.  Shifting from a demand capture strategy to demand generation can help your brand come out on top. Join Zach, James and our special guest Andy Groller, as we dis...

This week Anthony Daronzio, Head of Web Strategy at Contentsquare square joins us to combat our recent SEO banter podcast. Join us as we talk through a wide array of SEO topics & best practices.  Learn where you should be focusing and how to measure the business impact of your SEO efforts.

With advancements in social media and the growth of third party review sites, the purpose of your website has changed.  Brands are shifting away from generating content hubs focused on SEO to your website now being a sales channel. Sorry UX & CRO people,  the days of A/B testing minute elements to try to trick users into providing their contact information is over.  2022 is about Quality over...

Marketing attribution only becomes a topic of conversation when you are not hitting your numbers as an organization.  It is very rare that we see cases where companies are doing attribution correctly.  The reason for this is that there is no right way!  But we can tell you the wrong way, the wrong way is to try to develop some single source for attribution of truth that runs your business. Join Za...

Thanks to the advances in attribution technology, we have continuously seen brands trim down their marketing budgets to only invest in capturing demand.  This comes at the expense of future growth. Join Zach and James as they talk through the difference between demand capture and demand generation,  and what the future looks like for growth marketing.

SEO is Dead.   Stop buying links.   Stop trying to out rank objective 3rd parties for low intent keywords.   Stop building content hoping people will come to your site and read your blatantly bias opinion. SEO isn't really dead, but it is definitely time to rethink your strategy if you are doing one of those things. The customer journey has changed, and the purpose of content on your website...