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Hashtag Team: Why sales and marketing should shake hands, what matters to B2B buyers

Last updated on October 20th, 2015 at 12:55 pm

Another Wednesday, another round-up of some of the most shared and buzzworthy B2B content on social media this week.

As always, we’ve used Nexalogy to easily sift through piles of social data and discover these articles, and have collected them here to keep you in the loop.

This week, we found some research about the conflicting nature of B2B content marketing, tips for marketing to large enterprise businesses, insight about why sales and marketing should become more aligned in B2B organizations, and a great video about what your buyer probably wants you to stop doing, right now.

TRENDING TOPICS

B2B Content Marketing

This post from eMarketer, covering the results of a study by the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, sponsored by Brightcove, details the paradox that is content marketing for B2B organizations. The study found that while content marketing plays a significant role for B2B marketers, some are still struggling to understand what makes it effective. However, as mentioned in the post, this lack of perceived effectiveness “may be due to B2B marketers not documenting their content strategy.” And so many respondents seemed unsure of how content marketing could effectively benefit their business, with three-quarters of B2B marketers saying they expect to produce more in the future. Here’s hoping they document it, too.

The Evolution of B2B Sales

Since the buying habits of your B2B customers have changed, hopefully your sales strategies have as well. With the surge of e-commerce, buyers now have the ability to research, review pricing, check availability, and place an order without needing to speak directly with a sales person at all.

As Scott Benfield points out in this post on B2B E-Commerce World, this new world suits the hyper-efficient and cost-sensitive B2B supply chain well—but only if B2B organizations adapt to it. He lists the top five changes underway in the world of B2B sales, which you can use to either reinforce or inspire change within your own sales strategy.

Marketing to Enterprises

There are, of course, many differences between small or medium-sized businesses and enterprise organizations, the number of employees and amount of annual revenue being the most defining. An equally important difference is how to market to them. This post from Phillip Chen at Marketo covers the nine questions you need to ask before deciding to start marketing to enterprises. For example, #3 asks “Who needs to be considered in this decision? Who are the key stakeholders?”

Alignment Between Sales and Marketing in B2B

One of the biggest trends I’ve noticed when researching and writing about social selling is the changing relationship between the sales and marketing department. The lines between two are blurring, with each supporting the other in more ways than ever before. In this post, Marketing Magazine interviews Michelle Toy from BNP Paribas Securities Services about why this alignment between sales and marketing is important overall, and what elements need to be in place in order to make it happen.

TOP MEDIA

5 Things Your B2B Buyer Wants You to Stop Doing (Right Now)

This five-minute video from Ago Cluytens is a quick reminder of what matters to B2B buyers: thorough research, a seller who listens, well-timed pitches, and more. There are no groundbreaking ideas in here, but a solid reminder of best practices that your sales team will appreciate.

If you missed last week’s edition of Hashtag Team written by Brett Wilkins, head here to check it out. As always, if you have any B2B content we think we should share next week, let us know below or via @b2bnewsnetwork.

Photo via Flickr, Creative Commons

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Sarah Dawley
Sarah Dawley
Sarah is an Ecosystem Copywriter at Hootsuite, where she writes a variety of materials about social media and its impact on business. Prior to joining Hootsuite, she was the Social Marketing Manager for the Music & Entertainment Channels at Bell Media, where she spent nearly four years building the presence of Much, MTV Canada, M3 and E! Canada into social communities of over 2.8 million fans and followers. Find her on Twitter @sarahdawley