Welcome, or welcome back as the case may be, to The B2B Weekly Roundup, where we offer our take on some of the key developments affecting B2B marketing in bite-size form. Google’s I/O conference gave us all a glimpse into the firm’s integration plans; Godfrey’s Andy Hunt assesses the impact on B2B.  Separately, we note the opportunity to highlight your company’s deep expertise via web content for improved search results. Leanne Terpak poses a few key questions for marketers on the use of Big Data and suggests the most important thing is to turn insights gleaned into useful actions.  We share the inspiring story of a 17-year-old girl who won a Twitter hackathon as an example of the creativity that awaits B2B marketers in the social media space.  And finally, in case you missed BtoB Magazine’s Media Power 50 report, it’s worth a look; after The Wall Street Journal and WSJ.com, Google and LinkedIn occupy the #2 and #3 positions in the B2B media landscape.  No further comment on that one here, for now.  Enjoy and let us know how we’re doing.

Google's I/O conference kicked off yesterday. While the conference is billed as a developer's event, it really is a showcase for all things Google. During a massive 3 hour presentation various presenters showed all kinds of things we'll be seeing in the near future pertaining to mobile, search, education, maps and on and on. I've taken a quick look to see how it might affect B2B.

As a B2B marketing pro, you have a lot to keep up with.  We’re right there with you.  Now we’re right here with you, too, offering our take on some of the week’s most interesting news and powerful insights in the world of business-to-business marketing and communications.  As we work out the schedule and topics I hope you’ll leave comments to let us know how to improve.  Out of the gate, we’re committed to covering Search, Analytics, Social Media and Content Marketing and providing an anchor Digital Trend Watch.  We know you’re busy.  We hope this helps by giving you a quick handle on the relevant trends.  Your feedback will help us do that better.  Thanks, and welcome.

Making web content accessible across screen sizes and mobile devices is a necessity for b2b marketers. But what if there's a stakeholder you need to convince?

There’s a lot to learn from the construction industry – one so vital to our economy and yet so vulnerable to economic cycles. So here’s the question of the month: How do we plan when the future is murky at best?

Twitter released a new advertising service for any advertisers using Twitter’s advanced advertising options on Wednesday. They’re calling the new service, rather unpoetically, “Keyword Targeting in Timeline”.

This is my follow-up to the 10 things I was looking forward to the most at SXSW this year. I think the two matched up pretty well.

If it’s March, it must be South by Southwest. There’s so much to see and learn it’s hard to narrow all the options down. Here are the top 10 sessions that I’m looking forward to and why.

What does it cost to build a mobile app? It depends. Get the quick answers to common cost questions.

Technology may have blurred the lines between B2B and B2C, but at a fundamental level those lines are still there. And blurry or not, some of them aren’t going to be crossed anytime soon. Here are six reasons why B2B and B2C will always differ.

As B2B marketers continue to wrestle with the ROI of social media a recent survey indicates that it is being used by millennial B2B buyers to gather information, seek advice and comment upon the B2B buying decisions that they are making.

In two previous posts, I suggested the Millennial cohort is moving into B2B management positions. New research from The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project sheds more light on how their tech-savvy, always-on nature may inform the B2B purchase decisions they are increasingly a part of.

As the myriad of interface displays and mobile devices grows, responsive web design can help design a website for the future---but it means you have to let go of how you approached the design process in the past.

A press release has always been seen as a platform to send a message, but in today’s digital world it is much more than that. Despite some claims that press releases are no longer an effective way to communicate, the opposite is actually the truth - a press release is the hub of activity.

Whether you’re a content strategy veteran or are just getting started, Margot’s new book "Content Strategy at Work" is a must-read for everyone. Read on to hear about Margot’s inspiration for writing the book and her thoughts on how b2b marketers can leverage content strategy with clients.

It's been hard to miss all the co-mingling of marketing and IT that has been taking place over the past few years. As the volume of work shared between the groups increases and the pace accelerates here are a few things to keep in mind to ease the integration.

There are plenty of statistics and information available on the growing trend of smartphone use. But some of the more recent moves from Google in the mobile space put a greater emphasis on its importance, particularly in the Search and SEO world. Here are five Google announcements worth noting.

According to Forrester Research, spending on email marketing, delivery, analytics, integration and creative will approach $2.5 billion annually by 2016, up from $1.5 billion in 2011, a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent. Since email is becoming more valuable in the B2B market, I encourage you to take a second look at your email marketing strategy and examine what your database of email addresses is worth.

Email marketing includes mobile email users. Are you meeting their needs or making these common email mobile marketing mistakes?

Millennials are moving onto B2B buying teams and influencing product and service purchase decisions. Are you in present in the right places to engage with them?

I was pretty blown away by South by Southwest. While it would be foolish to try and cram a week's worth of discovery into one blog post there are a couple of quick observations to be made. 

In the world of B2B communications, some dealers, distributors and sales people are using e-tablets as a communications tool, often for sales presentations. But in a technology toolbox crowded with smartphones and laptops, it’s hard to figure out the real value of e-tablets and digital readers. Are they just another digital gimmick -- or the most disruptive force since Gutenberg’s printing press?

Google's new privacy policy will take effect on March 1. On the surface, the new privacy rules may not seem beneficial for advertisers, and there are definite drawbacks, however, there are many other factors that could potentially benefit Google advertisers— especially B2B advertisers, who often struggle to reach their target online.

Howard Stern knows how to re-purpose content. Marketers should take a lesson from his playbook.

I know what you’re thinking. “Sure, I know everyone’s using social media, but my company sells products that cost a ton of money and sales can take years to close. I can’t generate a sale, or even a lead, for any of my products using Facebook or Twitter.” If you’ve ever said some version of that to yourself, read this article to reframe the way you might want to think about social media for your business.

Why are you investing in a mobile app? Will this one offering make a difference with your target audience? Maybe you are expecting too much.

E-books have been getting a lot of attention lately and rightly so. E-reading devices are big sellers. Amazon and Apple have both expanded their support of highly designed and interactive content. We're releasing an e-book  for Caterpillar that takes advantage of some of those things and takes product literature in a new direction.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month's collection of all things Social Media examines a collection of lesser known networks and the content that fuels our social habits.

Millennials are moving onto B2B buying teams and influencing product and service purchase decisions. Are you ready to communicate with them?

Google Analytics has long been a great free tool that has helped B2B marketers review, analyze, interpret and make website improvements. Find out how a recent Google privacy policy change is affecting keyword reports and how you should continue to manage your organic search program.

Last fall I had the opportunity to attend PR News’ Digital PR Summit in New York City. The one-day seminar was filled with information on social media platforms, how to include social media in B2B PR campaigns and how to maintain and build relationships with editors through social media.

Google just introduced “Search Plus Your World”. What does that mean for your B2B company?

Who is winning the smartphone wars? Apple? Android? Blackberry? With all the conflicting news about market shares of smartphones, what matters to marketers is what your customers and prospects are using and what they experience on your digital properties on their platform(s) of choice.

2011 was a whirlwind year for the world of digital marketing and communications. And through it all, B2B Insights was reporting live on the scene.

I had a healthy amount of skepticism when it came to eBooks. After working with a few of them, I’ve turned the page, so-to-speak, on the subject. If you’re a content creator or publisher, now’s a good time to look give them some thought.

There are some certainties to the typical January workday. There are no free treadmills at the gym, lots of leftover cookies floating around and my rationalizations such as "I'm not really breaking the resolution if I..." But I'm convinced there are a few B2B resolutions that are easier to keep.

One of the most discussed and challenging issues marketers face these days is measuring ROI.

Looking back on last year’s holiday/year end post with equal parts amusement and disbelief that I could be that corny, I decided this year to focus more on what has gone right in the B2B digital world.

You can't create a custom digital solution for every new mobile device. But you can create one design that will respond to them all. Could responsive web design work for your B2B website?

 A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month's collection of all things Social Media sees Wall Street looking for a deal and examines big league tweets.

Cheap digital readers and e-tablets are making it easier to consume content digitally, which means B2B marketers must consider the impact of the medium on their message – including branding and content strategy.

We know you don’t want yet another platform to put your brand on, but Google+ isn’t going away anytime soon. An Information Architect and Social Media Manager break down what you need to know about Google+ before you create a page for your B2B company.

When Godfrey decided to produce our first e-book, it was quite the undertaking. Here are five tips I picked up along the way.

As 2012 B2B marketing planning should be in full-swing, I find myself internally rationalizing the necessity of early planning. A topical analogy seems evident as the 2012 Presidential Election is one year from today.

A recent announcement from B2B publisher Ziff Davis should not come as a big surprise – they are discontinuing the print editions of four magazines.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month’s collection of all things Social Media looks at the latest in the mobile landscape and a power player in hosted blogging solutions.

What does it cost to build a mobile app? It depends. Get the quick answers to common cost questions.

Have you been considering the need for a mobile app, or better yet, a mobile website? Here are some thoughts and statistics that could change the way you look at your audience and their interactions with mobile devices.

Media monitoring should be used to gauge public opinion, track issues and warn us of pending crises. It should be comprehensive and include all things digital. No matter your budget, you can still start some monitoring now. 

In the wake of Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote presentation at the Facebook developer conference, f8, last week, there are a few new words you will need to add to your FB lexicon – real-time serendipity, open graph and timeline. In this article, we'll take a look at what each of these changes is and what it means for your business.

Building a solid, lasting perception of your company depends on how well you align short-term marketing initiatives with larger brand objectives and common-sense brand stewardship. As you battle to defend and grow your brand, keep these five basic tips in mind...

It’s easy to think of metadata as some deeply encrypted line of code, tucked away in obscurity. But the truth is, a meta description may viewed more than any other copy on its corresponding page.

How I learned to stop delaying and love the Chrome.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month’s collection of all things Social Media explores bureaucracy’s move toward the instant media and we mix business with pleasure at BlackBerry’s expense.

There really is only one way to know. Test. We’ve been working with a number of clients conducting A/B testing and refining the best time to send their B2B campaign emails.  We have determined that certain times of day can, in fact, increase the open and response rate by a few percent. I’d tell you but it’s proprietary information. Actually, your audience will differ and our audience’s best time is not going to be your audience’s best time. So where do you start?

Content strategy — perhaps the latest buzzword — has taken the marketing world by storm. So what’s with all the hype?

A recent study by the Pew Research Center reinforces the idea that for a growing number of people, there is no such thing as a mobile Internet.

In its most recent issue, BtoB magazine published a survey of B2B marketing analytics in which most respondents confess relatively minimal involvement in analyzing their web data for marketing insights.

Do you own,  operate or plan on browsing a web site in the next 12 months? If you answered yes then there are some new privacy regulations coming out of the European Union which will affect you. We're still in the early stages of this but there are a few basic things you can do now to start preparing.

Many advertisers, mistakenly focuses solely on clicks. Yes, clicks are a performance metric to monitor but they are far from the only metric that matters.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month’s collection of all things Social Media peeks behind the curtain at Google+ and starts to look at Facebook’s “awesome” announcement.

Ever been to a meeting where someone carries in a laptop, an iPad, a smartphone and a paper notepad?

How eliminating a $60 cable TV subscription leads to a B2B social media strategy.

If you’re a B2B marketer and you haven’t jumped on the mobile marketing bandwagon, now would be a good time to hop onboard.

When your company CEO tells you to build an iPad app and your best customers want a web app, what's a B2B marketer to do?

If “B2B Branding” was a company, it would have a branding problem. Too many business-to-business marketers and senior managements think branding means logos, taglines, business cards and letterhead. It’s a lot more than that today.

Understanding your target audience and their goals is the first part of designing B2B mobile experiences. But even when users are at the center of your design, assumptions can weaken your approach.

The smallest gadget or advancement in consumer electronics has the potential to affect the B2B realm. Call it the “tech toy butterfly effect.”

The public relations landscape has changed dramatically but there are some tried and true “rules” to follow when pitching to the media that will never change.

You know you need to optimize your B2B website for mobile, but what exactly does that mean? And how do you start?

Learn what a QR code is, what the benefits are as well as the top eight best practices you should keep in mind before charging ahead.

Back in March, Google announced the new version of Google Analytics, Version 5, as a closed beta to users who requested it. But on Wednesday, April 20th Google rolled out the update to all of their users.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month’s collection of all things Social Media takes “Liking” offline and explores that other network...

The term “public relations” means many things to many people.  Even in my own company, there’s a difference of opinion.

When the major players in social media are named, twitter always makes the list. But should it really be classified as a "social" network?

“We have to develop an iPad App” and “how much does an iPad app cost” are two things I have heard frequently over the last few months.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt
This month’s collection of all things Social Media has Facebook asking questions and we are reminded to keep checking in.

These statistics will convince you--and your B2B marketing stakeholders--that designing experiences for mobile is a must.

We’ve come a long way from PDAs. (Ok, I’m done with the acronyms, promise.) But have you seen some of the things people are doing with their cell phones lately? From faster networks to video conferencing and product research, the mobile world is moving fast and you have to keep up.

Of course there is Wikipedia, the all-knowing Britannica killer whose crowd-sourced volumes we all cautiously adore. But clever developments in social media have opened the flood gates to the namesake of a humble Honolulu shuttle bus.

The audience information that media planners and buyers need in order to put together an effective media plan is a bit of a challenge when it comes to b2b online media channels.

One of the greatest challenges that face anyone who works in advertising is staying current on the vast array of ever evolving media channels and platforms. There seem to be new and improved ways to connect with your audience emerging daily.  One event that accelerates this evolution is the annual South by Southwest Conference & Festival (SXSW) taking place in Austin this week.

The iPad 2 is here and Apple apps are hotter than ever. Now B2B marketers are starting to want their own custom apps and are making room for these gems in their budgets. There are lots of facets to this issue. Here are five ways to rethink the iPad.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz & Mike Wilt

This month’s collection of all things Social Media speaks to when the biz’s big names break, the B2B marketing version of Terminator and a unique approach to targeting you and I as B2B professionals.

Suggested tools to help you find relevant conversations in social media.

“Work smarter, not harder.” For brand managers caught between the time constraints and budgetary challenges of the present economic climate, this is sound advice. Another smart piece of advice is to revisit your marketing asset management (MAM) strategy.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by all the measurements that are available these days. Let's start the discussion about which are most actionable.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings
by Anna Gerz  & Mike Wilt
This month’s collection of all things Social Media takes us uber-local, international and deal hunting with some of the big names in the game.

By now you’ve heard that good content is key to successfully attracting, interacting and engaging with customers online. In fact, this concept is so important that some companies have established the COO - chief content officer.

B2B marketers know mobile matters. But how do you start creating mobile experiences as part of a B2B strategy? There's one thing you must know.

Social media reached new heights in 2010, so what's in store for 2011?

You’ve heard some great predictions for the New Year, but let’s be honest, 2010 was just too good to let go. And that’s why we here at Godfrey have compiled a 5 track, 13 disk compilation of what, in our fast-paced marketing world, are already oldies but goodies.

Based on what I think I know today, here’s what we can expect to see in the year ahead:

You don’t have to guess whether your B2B email initiative will be a success.

Just give it a test drive—A/B multivariate split testing, that is.

Of course the first is being a Father, though then you have to put the needlessly complex things together. But along this same holiday-inspired theme, I find myself looking at all the gadgets, gizmos and whiz-bang things out there and immediately rationalizing how “I could really use one of those.”

Searching for a lesson in knowing when to clarify your position, do right by a wronged customer or let the venting permeate and eventually disperse.

I may be a bit late to the prediction party, I have been reading many blogs and articles relating to 2011 marketing prognostications for what seems like months, but here we are, truly on the eve of 2011 and thought now would be a good time to summarize and point out differences in some marketing spending/budget stats for 2011.

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings

This month’s collection of all things Social Media sees another UI change at Facebook, proof Google cares what you think and putting blogs in the hands of the professionals.

You hear all sorts of jargon in B2B marketing.

But when you hear “drip marketing,” don’t think Chinese water torture -- although you may have been subjected to it if you’ve ever opted to receive email from Land’s End or Amazon.

Ben Wilver’s recent post about Facebook Places started me thinking about how B2B marketers can use Facebook.  More specifically, is it somewhere B2B companies should be advertising?

A Regular Roundup of Social Media Musings

In our inaugural aggregation of social media happenings we look at Facebook Places, the Facebook privacy debate and social network gaming.

You just released your b2b iPhone app, and now you’re ready to charge ahead with the iPad. You're excited, but first consider these tips on how designing for the iPad is different from the iPhone.

2D codes seem to be gaining popularity as of late – the “new” way to download information in a pretty quick fashion. I hadn’t noticed these little beauties until they started appearing in magazines, touting specialized offers.

Whether you have been blogging for years or are just getting started, these writing tips can instantly improve your B2B blog.

There is a new iPhone, Google is taking over the world and you just spent fifteen minutes updating your status, re-tweeting, checking in and getting a jump on your email before you got to the office. It shouldn’t be news that your marketing mix should consider mobile.

These days it’s so easy to generate information about which companies have visited your site. It’s also easy to purchase contact information for prospects from those companies, the real trick is figuring out how to use this information wisely and effectively.

Based on smartphone market growth it’s clear that B2B marketing needs to include mobile. You may be thinking about a mobile web site, app, or both. But with limited budgets and resources, maybe you are feeling pressure to pick one. But which?

“Don't say the old lady screamed—bring her on and let her scream.” In his advice on storytelling, Mark Twain’s timeless wit and wisdom holds true in the discussion of online video.

I have really enjoyed the Winter Olympics this year. Perhaps it is because of the especially cold and snowy winter we have endured – or perhaps it is that I am truly in awe of the athletes who can spin, jump and fly on skis.

Identifying upgrades and additions to your web site is a critical part of 2010 planning. Perhaps you are considering a complete re-design, or you’ve been told you need a “Web 2.0” version of your web site. If you’ve already added engagement and sharing elements to your b2b site and are participating in social media, you may be wondering what the rumblings about Web 3.0 mean to b2b marketers.

BtoB Magazine reported that the popularity of B-to-B corporate blogging was waning, drawing on new information from Forrester Research’s report "How to Derive Value from B2B Blogging.”  53% of marketers surveyed said that blogs were irrelevant or marginal in their current marketing strategy.