Ardath Albee

Relevance Engineering vs. B2B Marketing Theatre - Marketing Interactions Relevance engineering designs b2b marketing strategy, content, experiences to help buyers make sense of complex realities to pursue outcomes that matter

We bet on performance marketing as our ROI savior but what we got is marketing theatre more reminiscent of The Emperor with No Clothes...

It’s past time to activate Relevance Engineering for content marketing.
- help buyers think, not just click
- move from metrics to meaningful momentum
- and more

Growth at all costs based on shallow attribution made B2B marketing more of a sales function - giving away its strategic value.

We need to show how all our programs work together to increase sales effectiveness to regain the value we abandoned in favor of a short-sighted focus on the short term.

Balancing the human-to-AI mix in B2B marketing | MarTech While the hype warns AI will take marketing jobs, its pattern matching can’t beat a human’s creativity, empathy and problem-solving.

“While AI can enhance efficiency, human creativity and delivery leads to stronger memory, which can influence decision-making.”

As #B2B marketers rush to use #AI, we need consider where the true value plays out in supporting & enabling the creation and delivery of better buyer-driven experiences.

Thanks, Julia!

The A.I. Path To Predictable Growth - Campaign Coach AI - Use AI Strategically The struggle to connect with your audience is real! The rules have seemingly changed -- the quick shortcut tactics aren't working like they have in the past, and that's wreaked a lot of havoc on hitting revenue goals. I've been at work looking at how to sustainably solve the problems that I've seen so many

Want the A.I. Path To Predictable Growth? Want campaigns that hit the mark more than they miss?

Underneath all marketing is one core element. And if that is off -- the campaign won't succeed. Get this one thing dialed in.

https://campaigncoach.ai/the-a-i-path-to-predictable-growth/

AI means the end of internet search as we’ve known it Despite fewer clicks, copyright fights, and sometimes iffy answers, AI could unlock new ways to summon all the world’s knowledge.

Interesting discussion about the shift underway from keyword search to conversational (#AI) search from MIT. Along with why and what this change enables...

Are you ready?

Marketers Help B2B Buyers Use AI for Better Buying Decisions - Marketing Interactions B2B buyers use AI in their buying process. Here's how marketers can help B2B buyers use AI to make better buying decisions... in their favor.

89% of #B2B buyers are using #AI in their buying process.

Yet buyers are still frustrated with complex buying situations.

Here's a thought > What if we help them use AI to make easier, better buying decisions?

Think of it as the new version of helping them write the RFP

Why to consider it >

Align B2B Buyer-Driven Experiences to The Bigger Picture - Marketing Interactions B2B buyer-driven experiences that help customers evolve, anticipate roadblocks, and feel good result in bold buying decisions.

It takes more than your product to win the deal in #B2B.

Research by SBI found B2B buyers ranking “how they felt” during the buying process as carrying more weight “what they bought”

58% say we’ve nailed the logic/product part.

Only 24% say we succeed at how we make them feel.
We can fix that >

Bookmark this: the ultimate guide to customer research We've compiled the best tips, recs, and tactical advice from marketing pros on customer research—so you can improve relationships (and retain 'em).

If you want to be relevant, grow engagement, and momentum with #B2B buyers, marketers need to commit to customer research.

Not as a one-time project, but continuously.

Buyers are in control. Do you know what matters - and why?

This customer research guide can help you consider what's possible >

Thanks, Maureen! Happy Holidays!

The purpose of content in #B2B is to drive engagement and action toward change.

Subscriptions (SaaS) are a good model for what that means.

Here's how to think about it and 4 Factors to incorporate in your content marketing strategy >

Right?!! I watched it happen with one company close up this year. Ugh.

The Future of B2B Marketing: 11 Predictions for 2025, From New Playbooks to Strategic Brands and AI Agents In 2025, two forces will reshape B2B marketing: the death of the traditional marketing playbook and the rise of AI agents. Read the detailed analysis.

@jonmiller2.bsky.social predictions for 2025 #B2B marketing.

I agree with most - but think some will take beyond 2025 to get there - but we'll see progress!

My favorite is #10 - which means we'll need to do the work to really understand our buyers to increase relevance.

Which is your favorite?

The Great Marketing Massacre: How Corporations Are Systematically Destroying Their Most Strategic… Tags: #marketing #CMO #leadership #strategy #businesstransformation #corporateculture #marketingstrategy #businessstrategy #careeradvice…

Are you seeing this scenario play out?

"...if we continue down the current path...we’ll lose marketing’s ability to drive business growth. We’ll create a generation of tactical executors - brilliant at optimisation, but blind to opportunity; experts in efficiency, but novices in effectiveness."

Personalization in B2B Marketing: Overrated or Misunderstood? - Marketing Interactions B2B marketers strive to achieve personalization in content. Engagement depends on it. It's not working. It's time to rethink personalization.

Let's face it > #B2B marketers struggle with personalization.

Relevance based on context beats basic attempts at personalization.

Try focusing on what’s “personal” to your audience to create a meaningful connection between the reader and the information.

What to know and why #buyerpersonas help >

I think #B2B marketers are sometimes stuck in campaign mode - Like the buyer's journey is all about a single campaign.

But it's not. It's about hundreds of interactions across the buying committee over months.

We need to ask questions of data as we go and continuously optimize for reality...

Think of it like # follows on Twitter. You can search for terms and find feeds/threads on that topic. There aren't a lot of them yet...

B2B Marketers Use a Buyer MVP to Excel with GenAI - Marketing Interactions B2B marketers use a Buyer MVP (minimum viable persona) with GenAI to improve and validate outputs for relevant AI-assisted content marketing.

As #B2B marketers experiment with #GenAI it's important to have a way to validate what the AI spits out.

Relevance is critical, so you need to know if the content, social, email copy, etc. hits the mark.

A Buyer MVP (minimum viable persona) helps you hedge your bets...

Here's how >

Brand vs. Demand: A False Choice in B2B Buyer Journeys - Marketing Interactions In B2B marketing, it's not brand vs. demand, it's brand-to-demand. A focus on contextual stages, not the traditional funnel, changes the game

#B2B marketers got carried away with demand over brand, short term over long.

I believe you need both. They’re part of the same story.

Marketers need a mindset shift to match the need for buyer-driven experiences that dictate which vendors get on short lists.

It's all about matching context...

Marketers Can’t Afford B2B Buyer Journey Blindness - Marketing Interactions A B2B buyer journey goes beyond marketing campaigns that most of us can't see. Gain visibility with data and context to optimize pipeline.

Given the changes in buyer behaviors, I’ve become a bit obsessed with the #B2B buyer journey. The whole thing.

Not just as related to a specific campaign, but across as many channels and touchpoints as possible (acknowledging the dark funnel exists).

We need visibility. Here's why it matters...

Sounds like Andy 👍

True. Depends what your hypothesis is and how well you try to disprove it. Taking data at face value doesn't give you usable insights...

I'm curious. What does being "data-driven" in #B2B marketing even mean?

It can't be looking at vanity metrics like clicks and views and thinking - yep, I'll do more of that thing.

I think it means tying marketing impacts to business objectives without losing track of the time lag.

Thoughts?

Yay! Followed you back 😀

Feels great to be here! Any #B2B marketers hanging around?