As the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving Day this week, the world looks back at another year of challenges, changes in the marketing landscape, and workplace shifts.

Despite the global challenges we’ve all faced, we’ve overcome, grown, and adapted, and now is the time to look back on those parts of our lives for which we’re the most thankful.

This year our team here at TopRank Marketing has continued to grow, and we’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on thankfulness in both our professional and personal lives, continuing our annual traditional post sharing messages of gratitude.

Our ability to see and express gratitude in challenging times such as those we’ve all faced over the past two years can be especially meaningful and even replenishing.

Let’s take a moment to open our hearts and take in sentiments of thankfulness from our team, shared with the hope that you’ll also be inspired to reflect on the silver linings that may be hidden in our lives if we simply take the time to listen.

What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Thankful for in 2021

Lee Odden

CEO and Co-Founder

2021 has been an eventful year and one in which many people have re-examined their priorities, goals and plans for the future. While it’s important to look forward, there’s also a lot of value in reflection and gratitude.

The world in 2021 is very different than 20 years ago when TopRank Marketing was founded. Not only did we not anticipate there would be a global pandemic, we also couldn’t have imagined how well our team adapted, and excelled at the new normal of B2B marketing.

I am incredibly thankful for the entire team at TopRank Marketing for their equal parts passion for the craft of search, content and influencer marketing with service to clients and to each other. All are instrumental in our efforts to help elevate the voices, experiences and humanity of B2B marketing.

Of course success is great but it’s not worth much without health and family. I am incredibly thankful that I have been able to find a passion in running and be on track to run over 2,000 miles in 2021. I am also thankful for my amazing kids and supportive parents who continue to teach me invaluable life lessons.

Lane R. Ellis

Social Media and Content Marketing Manager

2021 held many new wonders and delights, a few sad losses, all coming together to form a year I’m thankful for

I’m especially thankful for my wonderful family, friends, and associates.

Celebrating 20 years of marriage with my amazing wife Julie Ahasay tops my thankfulness list, along with the continuing joy of having my parents Konnie and Bob in my life, as well as my astounding and always-inspiring 104-year-old grandma Lilly Haldorsen, who recently hosted her first Zoom talk and has taken up learning a new language.

I’m thankful for nearly 38 years of using the Internet, and to still be able to run, mountain bike, and cross-country ski the beautiful trails of Duluth, and for our loving cat Kukla Francis Oliver. Sadness came in the form of losing several dear friends, and our beloved eleven-year-old cat Phineas Faustus Ellis, and these losses reinforce how fortunate we are to have the gifts each day offers to us.

It’s a great time to reach out and give the world and its endless opportunities a cozy wintery embrace, so here’s a big virtual hug to all of you I’m fortunate enough to know, lovely family and friends. Thank you.

Senior Director of Operations & HR

With all of the changes that have happened in the past 2 years (almost!) I am most thankful for having a team of people, both personal and professional, surrounding me – giving me support, inspiration and motivation to do great things.

My family always serves as my rock and reason for everything I do and I can’t be more thankful to have all of them in my life, cheering me on to see me grow.

The team at TopRank Marketing continues to be some of the most intelligent, interesting, and driven people I have ever met. Many of whom I can truly call friends, not just colleagues, I am so thankful to have the relationships with them I do. Their drive and passion push me to go beyond what I think are my limits – to do bigger, better things – day in and day out.

Maria Kawaguchi

Director of Agency Marketing

Never would I have imagined that 2021 would involve me moving across the country, to my hometown of Columbia, SC. This year has challenged me even more to step outside of my comfort zone, open my eyes, and welcome new possibilities. I’m most thankful for having more time to spend with family, the honor of caring for my parents, and the opportunity to tap deeper into my passion for dance.

Moving to a new place has taught me the beauty of connection and building community. With that, I’m grateful for all the opportunities to volunteer on the healthcare front-lines and at local shelters. Here I’ve met so many like-minded individuals who are committed to giving back and helping the under-served.

Professionally, I’m grateful to have joined the TopRank Marketing team! Despite the fact that I have never met anyone in-person, it has truly been a breath of fresh air with all-around good energy! Thank you!

Mike Odden

Research Analyst

I am very thankful for my wife Ruthe who has supported me all these 57 years, and also our children and grandchildren who we are especially proud of.

Also the opportunity of working with a great team and company, TopRank Marketing.

Anne Leuman

Senior Operations Strategist

Each year, I grow more and more thankful for my coworkers here at TopRank Marketing. The uncertain times we live in have not been easy – in life, or in work – and the support we have for each other has really shone through. I also am so grateful for our open-mindedness as an organization. From processes to resources to client programs and beyond, we are always willing to hear thoughts for improvement and make changes. That willingness to change and drive to improve makes TopRank an exciting and rewarding place to work each day.

Elizabeth Williams

Senior Account Manager

My heart overflows with gratitude every year I get the chance to share on our annual blog. This year, I’m grateful for a brand new, healthy baby girl who’s already jumping and “talking” like crazy at 5 months. An energetic number-readin‘ 4-year-old. A stretching 7-year-old sunshine. And the least thanked, superhero that makes our daily lives ‘go‘ – my husband of 8 years!

Sam Kirchoff

Internal Marketing Manager

I’m thankful for life. I mean that in both the grandest and minute way: we’ve all gone through so much these last nearly two years in a chaotic, pandemic world… and many people didn’t make it through. But I did, and my loved ones did. I’m thankful for the ability to roll my eyes when my parents don’t know how to use technology, I’m thankful for dear friends who always respond to late night texts, I’m thankful for a partner who always does the dishes because I hate getting wrinkly hands, I’m thankful for a workplace that makes me feel not only welcome, but celebrated. I’m thankful for instant noodles, good books, and BTS. I’m thankful for my cats, my wool socks, and my space heater. I’m thankful for everything.

Mostly, though, I’m thankful for my daughter. Without her, all the rest would fall away. With her, my life is golden.

Debbie Friez

Senior Influencer Marketing Strategist

I am thankful for almost 7 years of working with the amazing, smart, talented team at TopRank Marketing. Every day I look forward to new challenges and exciting experiences. The best part of my job is learning from the many thought leaders some will call influencers. I truly treasure the relationships I’ve built with so many great minds.

In a year that has brought so many health challenges for the world, I am thankful for my health and that of my family.

TopRank Marketing Gives Thanks For You

All of us at TopRank Marketing are grateful for you, and thank you for being the supportive fans, amazing clients, friends, and enthusiastic influencers that have allowed us to achieve personal, professional, and brand success.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

The TopRank Marketing Team

The post Bountiful Thanks: What the TopRank Marketing Team is Most Grateful For appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com

Great news! It’s easier than ever to host a virtual event.

Not-so-great news! Every B2B brand you’ve ever heard of is ALSO hosting virtual events. And most of us are sick to death of staring at a screen 24/7.

That doesn’t mean to not do virtual events. But it does mean we have to be more strategic about putting one together. You have to bring all of your marketing might and prowess to bear in order to make sure your event is attended, and that the attendees have a great experience.

Let’s take a look at a few things you can do before, during and after a virtual event to kick it up to the next level.

13 Top Strategies for Virtual Events

From content marketing to organic social, a successful virtual event uses every tool in your marketers‘ toolkit. In addition, there are a few considerations that are unique to this particular channel.

Before the Event: Strategy & Promotion

1 — Set Goals

Start your event process by setting goals for the business purpose you want to achieve. For example, if you’re raising awareness of the brand, you’ll want to have influencers and thought leaders that appeal to a broad audience. But if you want attendees to book a demo after attending, you’re looking for a smaller but highly targeted audience. This is the first decision that will shape your promotion strategy and even your content.

2 — Choose a Platform

There’s a potentially bewildering array of virtual platforms out there right now. They range from something as simple as live-streaming on Facebook or Instagram, all the way to enterprise-level virtual conference halls with multiple customizable rooms.

We find LinkedIn Events to be a good middle ground between these extremes. There are plenty of easy-to-use tools built in that make it more customizable and interactive than a flat live-stream, but it doesn’t have budget-busting bells and whistles.

That said, if you’re an enterprise looking for an all-inclusive hosting solution, there are plenty of options. This blog post has the rundown on some of the most popular.

No matter which platform you choose, make sure to have a backup plan in place. If your LinkedIn Livestream fails, for example, be ready to roll on YouTube.

3 — Pre-Record and/or Rehearse

A virtual event doesn’t have to be 100% live — in fact, it might be a better audience experience if it’s not. You can present a few pre-recorded sessions livened up with b-roll and music, to balance out the talking heads.

Whether you choose to pre-record or not, it’s a good idea to rehearse your segments before the event itself.

4 — Plan Your ‘War Room‘

During the event, you will want to have a team of folks coordinating behind the scenes (more on that next section). Now is the time to figure out who will be on duty, which tasks they’ll be taking care of, and how the team will communicate if you’re working remotely. Some of our clients work with an instant messaging platform, combined with an internal video call to keep everyone connected.

5 — Set an Agenda

Your virtual event should be highly structured — guests should know exactly what they’re getting, and be able to plan for the times they want to attend. When you set the agenda, make sure to plan for interactive segments, too. Give the audience a chance to add to the conversation and be active rather than passive.

[bctt tweet=““Your virtual event should be highly structured — guests should know exactly what they’re getting, and be able to plan for the times they want to attend.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites“ username=“toprank“]

6 — Promote & Amplify

The above tips will help make the webinar run smoothly. Now it’s a question of getting people to attend. Start with a little content marketing: Use your blog to introduce the speakers and subject matter. Add a notice to your newsletter, too.

On social media, post organic posts asking your audience to submit questions, and consider paid ads to register for the event. If you’re on LinkedIn Events, you can offer a seamless registration process.

And of course, our agency always includes influencers as part of the promotion strategy. Equip your presenters with social media images and messages they can use to amplify the even to their audiences.

During the Event: Support and Engage

7 — Screen Questions and Engage in Chat

I mentioned the ‘war room‘ up above — during the event, there should be a few moderators devoted to managing audience engagement. These folks can ask for feedback in the chat, post key takeaways in real-time to social media, and screen audience questions for a Q&A. This team makes it easier for your presenters and host to focus on what they’re doing, rather than trying to engage the audience.

8 — Have a Dedicated Socializing Space

One thing that makes a virtual event feel more like a physical one: A place to chat, socialize and network. Some virtual platforms have these spaces built in — they’re virtual rooms with spatial audio that allows people to break into small conversation groups.

If your platform doesn’t have this feature, consider a service like Gather, Topio or Bramble. Make sure to have a moderator or two in that space as well, to answer questions and keep order.

9 — Keep Promoting throughout the Event

Just because the event has started, doesn’t mean the promotion work is done. Your team should be posting on social media — especially Twitter, for immediacy — sharing takeaways and linking back to the event itself. You can keep inviting people to join as long as the event is running.

After the Event: Review and Repurpose

10 — Debrief Your Team

While the event is fresh in everyone’s mind, have a meeting to discuss what went well, what could go better, and what you can improve for next time. It’s also a good opportunity to pull out key takeaways and spot opportunities for repurposing.

[bctt tweet=““While the event is fresh in everyone’s mind, have a meeting to discuss what went well, what could go better, and what you can improve for next time.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites“ username=“toprank“]

11 — Create a Highlights Post

Round up the key takeaways from your virtual event into a blog post. You can share the post with your influencers to reactivate them and start raising awareness for your next event.

12 — Share Influencer Highlights

Create social media posts with images that feature quotes from the event. Make sure to equip your influencers with images and messages they can use to promote the takeaway blog, too.

13 — Send a Thank You Email

If your virtual event required registration, you now have an email list that can be used (judiciously) to promote future events. Send an email thanking people for attending, and allow them to opt into emails from the brand, or just emails about future events, or to opt out completely.

A Virtually Perfect Event

Virtual events have evolved a lot in the past two years — it turns out necessity really is the mother of invention. As long as you approach a virtual event with the same depth of strategy that you would use for an in-person one, you can make it memorable for your guests and worthwhile from a business perspective.

Check out Lee Odden’s post on virtual events, podcasting and Clubhouse to learn more.

The post 13 Top Strategies For B2B Marketers To Host & Promote Live Virtual Events appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com

Here’s What B2B Content Marketers Will be Investing in Next Year
69 percent of B2B content marketers have said that videos will be their top area of content marketing investment in 2022, with 61 percent saying that events will lead their investment areas next year, while 57 said that owned-media assets will top their content marketing spending in 2022 — two of several statistics of interest to digital marketing contained in recently-released survey data. MarketingCharts

New LinkedIn data shows how gen Z is recalibrating the norms of work
Gen Z comprises the fastest growing audience demographic on the LinkedIn (client) platform, with 63 percent visiting the Microsoft-owner professional network at least once a week, and 74 percent saying they use LinkedIn to learn new skills, according to newly-released report data. . The Drum

YouTube gives dislikes the thumbs-down, hides public counts
Google’s YouTube video platform has done away with the default display of thumbs-down count data, moving instead to make that information available only as private feedback to video content publishers, in an effort to foster more respectful interactions between creators and video viewers, YouTube recently announced. The Verge

B2B Buyers Say They’re Engaging Salespeople Late in the Process, But Are Open to Doing So Earlier
The solution identification stage is the most frequent point of first engagement B2B buyers use with sellers, followed by the identification and clarification stage, with the evaluation of solutions phase rounding out the top three first engagement points, according to newly-released survey data of interest to online marketers. MarketingCharts

Making the Business Case for Your Marketing Budget
Building a collaborative relationship with corporate suite peers is a leading way to make the case for marketing budgets, and the Harvard Business Review looks at how CMOs can show the effectiveness of marketing in driving business, using data, trust, and more. Harvard Business Review

Massive CTR Study Reveals Actionable Insights
Differences in Google search desktop and mobile click-through-rate (CTR) insights garnered from 750 billion impressions are featured in newly-released third-party study data, which reveal that in the business and industrial sectors more searches for business-related content are conducted on mobile devices than on traditional desktops. Search Engine Journal

LinkedIn Quietly Experiments With Product Pages To Boost Conversations
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has undergone testing of specialized business product pages on the platform, as part of ongoing efforts to increase engagement between members, brands, and brand product development teams, the social network recently announced. MediaPost

25% of marketers cite sustainability as ‘general goal‘ rather than employ specific metrics
Gauging the success of sustainability efforts is a top challenge among marketers, with some 42 percent having said that they need to make new technology investments in the area, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. The Drum

ON24 teams up with HubSpot in app marketplace
B2B users will be able to better integrate the features of the HubSpot platform and cloud-based hybrid engagement service ON24, with new event data-sharing options available in a forthcoming upgrade to the platforms, ON24 recently announced. MarTech

Budgets Show Spending Across All Social Networks: Trends For 2022
Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the three top social media platforms when it comes to effectively reaching business goals, according to Hootsuite’s newly-released annual social trends report, which has also shown that younger people are increasingly using social networks to research brands instead of traditional search engines. MediaPost

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at the “inflation, shrinkflation, and skimpflation” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Instagram is Paying Up to $35,000 to Lure Creators Away From TikTok — PetaPixel

Atari Unveils New Logo, Games, And More For 50th Anniversary — Forbes

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — 5 Questions 4 With Lee Odden — Demandbase
• Lane R. Ellis — What’s Trending: Embrace Your Inner Tinker — LinkedIn
• Lee Odden — Membership Update Fall 2021 [Digital Marketing Institute] — Digital Marketing Institute

Have you found your own top B2B marketing news from the past week? Please drop us a line in the comments below.

Thanks for taking the time to join us for the week’s TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and we hope you’ll return next Friday for more of the week’s most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: Global Social Trends Study, What B2B Marketers Are Investing In, LinkedIn Product Pages, & New Google Search CTR Study appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com