OK … so while the headline tries its darndest to secure the required Google Juice to get read, I’m sure it strikes hollow to many of you. I’ve read or seen promises just like this one each week for the last handful of years from a mix of well-intentioned compatriots and blatant opportunists. But before I divert on a rant, know this. I’m asking content creators and content curators to commit themselves to a mission of sorts as we move into 2013.

A Content Call to Action in 2013

Redefine “Good B2B Content” for 2013 and beyond as an altruistic endeavor geared to help rather than blatantly pimp products or services. There continues to be a tremendous amount of thrash among colleagues, content pros, clients and readers on just what constitutes “good content.” My personal struggles with this center on the fact that delivering information that people need when they need it is largely a subjective endeavor based on reader preferences and objectives, company goals, personal or professional biases, desired reader actions, deliverability concerns and where it fits in a buy cycle continuum akin to  Inform > Encourage > Influence > Validate > Deliver. 

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Why are all the memorable campaigns developed for consumers? Think Superbowl commercials. Often, the commercials are talked about more than the actual game. So, what can we learn from B2C marketers?

We’ve culled through the best B2C social media marketing campaigns of 2012 from the Bees Awards, picked our favorites, and then translated these lessons into B2B strategies you can use for your next campaign. Be sure to check out all of the awards, in case there’s another one that maps better to what you do.

The Best Job Ever Campaign

“Tourism Queensland hosted a somewhat unorthodox contest, the winner of which would be put up in a posh hotel, their only responsibility being to tour the islands of the Great Barrier Reef and blog about it for six months. Oh, and also they would pay $150,000. You read that right. Billed as “The Best Job in the World”, the campaign generated massive amounts of attention and thousands of applicants. Eventually a Brit named Ben landed the coveted position. Going off the latest numbers, he now makes $149,998.00 more than the average blogger.”

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I am 99% done with my holiday shopping, which is a first for me this early in December. But the single-most reason I want to brag about it is because it means I can delete every blasted retail email that’s been assaulting my inbox since before Thanksgiving.

If I were smarter, I would’ve set up a separate email address for these types of emails and followed the advice of my colleague to set up an information management system. But I’m not that smart.

So instead, like many of you, I’ve been bombarded by what feels like an hourly onslaught of emails that shout: Final Day; Buy Now; Don’t miss this deal, etc. You get the picture.

So I’m really excited now that 1) I can delete all these emails without fear that I’ll be missing out (since I’m nearly finished with my shopping) and 2) Unsubscribe from these lists with impunity (now that I have time since I’ve finished with my shopping).

What does this have to do with what YOU do? Well, a lot, in fact. Although these cautionary tales are not new insights, they are gentle reminders to stay the course and stick to best practices of a good content marketing strategy: providing truly valuable content.

#1: Sometimes, less is more.

I don’t know about you, but with this onslaught of emails, I’m more apt to delete ALL of them. I hear from Amazon more often than my own mother.

I probably don’t need to remind you that if everyone is clamoring to be heard, then it’s all just noise. Feel confident that it makes sense to stay the course on your production cycle rather than trying to send more content that will get lost in the cyber chatter. B2B customers aren’t going to forget you; they may be distracted momentarily but they won’t forget the content that makes them smarter, helps them perform their jobs better and gives them insight they can’t get anywhere else. Create content that illuminates a problem and offers solutions.

#2: Truth in advertising.

Give the buyer/customer what you said you were going to, and hopefully, what they want. In many cases, the retailers I hear from advertise a “great” deal that ain’t so great: new markdowns look a lot like last week’s markdowns; in order to qualify for free shipping, I have to hand over my firstborn, the super-cheap product advertised isn’t actually in stock, and so on. These are the retailers from whom I’m most likely to unsubscribe.

As a content marketer, don’t advertise a white paper if what you’re offering is, in reality, a thinly veiled product brief. Again, this isn’t a fresh, new insight so much as a reminder to adhere to basic best practices.

#3: Provide valuable content and people will read it.

Amidst the email onslaught I’ve been complaining about, I found a nugget, a white paper titled Social Analytics and Intelligence: Converting Contextual to Actionable Insights that I’ll elaborate on in a future post. For now, suffice it to say that I noticed it because it didn’t scream at me, because the topic is relevant and timely, and because the research just happens to dovetail nicely with a host of other things I’m working on. In short, because it’s valuable.

As a side note, did anyone else find it ironic that Black Friday started on Thursday and that Cyber Monday lasted a week? Just sayin’. Imagine what would happen if, as content marketers, we tried to get people to open a research brief about a product or service that doesn’t exist. Please. Just stop the madness.

Am I the only person tired of “over-marketing”? Let me know! I can’t wait to hear your marketing tales.

This past week I sat down with the chair of the marketing department at UNC Charlotte’s Belk College of Business, Dr. Sunil Erevelles, to pick his brain about the marketing industry. Dr. Erevelles is a distinguished professor who has consulted and delivered seminars to executives and top government officials. As a result of these efforts, he has won more than 20 awards for his research and work.

I wanted to get the professor’s opinion about where he sees the marketing world headed. We discussed the changing face of marketing and how it impacts both businesses and college students, in the first part of my Q & A series with the doctor.

Q: How have you seen marketing change since you were in business school? 

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We’re proud to announce that one of our marquee clients, personal computer giant Lenovo, won the 2012 Demand Generation Center of Excellence Markie Award at the 6^th Annual Eloqua Experience Conference in Orlando, Florida.

“A truly great night that shined a spotlight on the hard work of many and the importance of collaboration with a committed team of demand gen experts to achieve truly remarkable results,” said Steve Barnard, senior demand generation manager at Lenovo. “B2B Marketing Automation just flat out works if you do it right. Left Brain and Lenovo’s collaborative go-to-market strategy, Lenovo’s exceptional products and services, extended ecosystem partners, commitment to persona-based content and focus on metrics to drive campaign decisions certainly played a key role in this win.”

Barnard continued by adding that his internal team of campaign managers, marketing operations team, and strong partnership with the Lenovo sales team deserved high praise for their efforts. He also credited the support they received from Eloqua while using its state-of-the-industry market automation platform.

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By the time you read this, I’ll be flying Delta Air from water-logged Portland, Oregon, to the land of sun and mouse ears to be a booth babe at Eloqua Experience in Orlando from Nov. 6-8.

I look forward to crossing paths with you – my B2B marketing automation compatriots and B2B content marketing all-stars – to swap war stories and unapologetically steal your best ideas. Oh, and I’ll share some tips and tricks as well upon request.

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Content Consumption Trends Are Changing. Are You?

As the hour hand reaches 11 my accounting teacher begins his lecture. Within five minutes, 40 percent of the students’ heads in front of me have dropped. No, they’re not sleeping; they’re on their smartphones. If they aren’t on a smartphone, then they’re on a laptop or tablet, and the only “notes” they are taking are via Facebook or Twitter. This isn’t just the scene of a lecture on accrual accounting; it’s the scene for everyday life.

How many times did you check your smartphone or other digital device today? Probably more than you’d care to admit.

My peers are good predictors for the trends of tomorrow and if their content consumption habits are any indicator of the future of marketing, you better be making your information viewable and sharable on mobile devices. I can say firsthand that college students rely on their smartphones for nearly all content consumption. I find myself updating Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn so often that I almost feel like I’m on auto-pilot.

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Fellow B2B Content Marketing geeks, our coming year has been laid out for us – or at least become generously more informed – thanks to two of the best in our business, MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute.

Earlier this week these companies released a joint report “2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends.” In it they give us plenty of food pellets to consume on our way to greater understanding of the types of content and marketing tactics that are driving awareness, interest and the purchasing of products being sold by businesses to businesses.

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Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange is playing in the background as I sit in my college apartment, on my 2nd Hot Pocket today, contemplating how to begin my first blog post. How do I introduce myself to the massive realm we call the internet? Seems a little intimidating, but I guess I’ll begin with where I am and where I’m headed.

I’m a 20-year-old college student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, currently on track for a bachelor’s degree in marketing. I’m a big Florida State fan (yes, despite the constant disappointment) and a movie buff. If you haven’t seen End of Watch yet, I highly recommend it! I recently started interning for Left Brain DGA and am thrilled to soak up as much B2B demand generation marketing knowledge as I can. In future blog posts I will focus on things that interest me as a young marketing student, and students like me. Do the things we learn in the lecture halls really apply to the real world? My hope is to take what I’m hearing in the classroom and what I’m learning at my internship, combine the two, and try to make sense of it once the dust settles.

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“We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.”

~Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1

“OK, so what are we doing today?” I never know what to say to the hair cutter lady. The … barber? The hair dresser. I don’t even know what to call her. What does hair dresser even mean? Hair dressing? I’ll have the bouffant vinaigrette.

“Do you want your hair over the ear?”

Does “over the ear” mean the hair is cut short above the ear, or does it mean it’s cut long enough to hang over the ear? I don’t ask her, even though these are opposites, and even though I run into this sort of thing at work, as an online marketing person, all the time.

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