CUSTOMER FOCUS

Marketing

When Talking About Manufacturing, It’s Time to Connect with Emotions

The last two years have been a roller coaster of emotions for almost everybody on this planet. In current times, feelings and moods are an essential part of the message to connect with audiences. Natalia Ortega, Editor in Chief for Plastics Technology Mexico, writes about why this is a valuable lesson from the pandemic when producing engaging content, even for industry.

Content Marketing

Key Takeaways from CMI’s 2022 B2B Content Marketing Research

The Content Marketing Institute’s 2022 Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends Report gives an interesting insight into the new post-pandemic landscape. Here are the major takeaways.

Marketing

Are Emotions the New B2B Marketing Tool?

What is the best way to connect on a human level? Appealing on an emotional level is the most effective way to engage with your audience. Take a moment to reflect and see if you have been marketing to your audience in the right way.

Content Marketing

49 Years at Plastics Technology, and How I Lived to Tell About It

I didn’t know it then, but a couple of lucky chances landed me a career at a single magazine. But there’s more to a satisfying work life than just work.

Marketing

Creating The WOW Experience

Do you want a WOW experience from the brands and vendors you do business with? Of course, that’s a rhetorical question. Everyone wants it. But is it reasonable to expect that you can deliver a consistent WOW experience? It depends on your definition of WOW.

Web and Digital Marketing

The Cost of Doing Business

IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show) leaders take a closer a look at what it costs to gain — and retain — customers.

Web and Digital Marketing

Get Emotionally Smart and Meet Demands of Modern Marketing

Modern marketing involves far less whiskey guzzling and far more data and introspection. So let’s explore the emotions behind the journey and focus on steps to gain emotional intelligence and meet the demands of modern marketing.

Events Marketing

Marketing: New World, New Rules—Trip Down Customer Lane

The Association For Manufacturing Technology and GBM – Gardner Business Media are launching IMTS spark, a completely new, totally comprehensive digital destination purpose-built for manufacturing technology. Using IMTS spark, manufacturers can connect, buy, sell and learn through a pandemic. IMTS spark is a manufacturing technology expert in a savvy digital package. Open it up to find solutions, collaborate with peers, network with potential partners, and gain insight from experts. In this article, we’ll focus on customer journey mapping.

Events Marketing

Marketing: New World, New Rules — Experience is Everything

Experiences are memorable. Experiences build connections and breed associations. If you can give a customer a positive experience, they will remember you when they have a need — whether that is tomorrow or 12 months from now. Put 2020 back in order by adopting some new rules — and applying some fresh ideas.

Setting Yourself Up to Be a Commodity? What’s Your Edge?

Whether good times or bad, we should all heed Alexa Von Tobel’s advice about staying close to our customers. As more organizations try to keep up with the latest tech trend and increase their focus on digital channels, human to human contact is on the verge of extinction. In fact, according to a report by PwC, a staggering 59% of consumers feel that companies have lost touch with the human element of the customer experience. A significant part of customer experience is about increasing human contact between your brand, your company, and your customers.

Content Marketing

Post-COVID Considerations for B2B Marketers

While we begin to return to “normal” from COVID-19, there are lessons for B2B marketers to learn and actions to take to recover and grow business as a result of this experience. Change is in order in how we look at B2B marketing, and our customers, in the near term “post-COVIDian” future. Call it a commonsense approach, rooted in proven best practices, our new-found “pull together” mentality and need to adapt to change. Not a blueprint, just parts and pieces to frame thinking. Sum it up in 5 words: Consistency; Community; Integrity; Agility; Contingency.

Marketing

Your Relationship With Your Customer Is Key to Your Success

Relationship building is truly the key to any salesperson’s success, but getting there can be both easy, and challenging. If you follow some basic steps and get involved in the industry you serve, then you’ll be well on your way to a prosperous sales career.

Marketing

Put the Human Touch Back into B2B Marketing

The marketing sector can be a complicated place as new marketing tools and techniques are launched, almost on a weekly basis. Powered by The Drum Network, this content invites The Drum Network’s members to demystify the marketing trade and offer expert insight and opinion on what is happening in the marketing industry today that can help your business tomorrow.

Marketing

Unusual Marketing Megatrends That Will Impact Your Business

It’s become a sort of tradition on The Marketing Companion to spend a little time on marketing megatrends and Mark and Brooke Sellas cover some provocative ideas on the show. Here are a few of the big ideas they talk about in this episode.

Marketing

Influencer Marketing More Meaningful in B2B

Because of the B2C focus, some companies mistakenly think that influencer marketing is not a good fit for B2B. They assume that the benefits of having an influencer use, talk about or recommend their content or products won’t work well for B2B because audience sizes tend to be much smaller. The good news is that influencer marketing not only works for B2B, it can actually be much more meaningful and cost-effective than in the consumer space. Here are five important reasons why.

Customer Obsession? Really?

Is customer obsession the right way to differentiate your brand and build preference and loyalty? This B2B marketing expert says there is a better way and shows how managing four factors can lead to marketing nirvana.

Marketing

4 Ways You Can Humanize Marketing and Build Relationships

Treating people like leads instead of humans just doesn’t work. It doesn’t sell. It doesn’t push you to any level of success. You want to suck at marketing or sales? Dehumanize your prospects. And dehumanize your interactions with them. What if you put your full attention on one customer, one buyer, one potential at a time? Could you do a better job connecting and building a relationship?

Web and Digital Marketing

The New Rules of Marketing Technology and Operations

If you can effectively cover the grid of these underlying 5 forces (centralize, automate, decentralize and humanize everything, and embrace continuous change), you can bring tremendous leverage to the marketing technology and operations of your organization.