Louis Gudema

About Louis Gudema

How big ticket B2B companies use search marketing

Despite all the research and writing on the B2B buyer’s journey, quite a lot of B2B marketers still believe that “my buyers aren’t looking for us in search.”

Their assumption is that the customer in a position to buy a six- or seven-figure (or larger) piece of equipment or service is going to be deeply experienced and already know who the main providers are, and that’s who they’re going to request bids from. The evidence suggests otherwise.

An ad campaign doesn’t always go viral, but when it does…

It’s very rare that an ad campaign truly goes viral. But when it does it becomes part of our language, its slogan is repeated by people way beyond the commercials, and the bounce for the brand can be huge.

To give some inspiration for your next effort, here are a few noteworthy examples from the United States.

And for a different take on this topic, read Econsultancy’s other posts on why social video doesn’t have to go viral to make an impact, and a run through of the top 20 Super Bowl ads of all time.

How predictive analytics for B2B sales and marketing can offer huge returns

Predictive analytics is way ahead of even lead scoring in helping companies close new business, and new SaaS vendors make it easier for companies to adopt it.

In this post I’ll look at how B2B marketers can make use of predictive analytics to provide double digit increases in leads, opportunities and sales.

But first, here are a few examples of well-known B2C brands achieving big wins with predictive analytics and marketing automation.

Leads and opportunities are the primary B2B marketing measure, not ‘attention’

We’re at an inflection point in B2B marketing, and marketers should celebrate the opportunity to show their true contribution to revenue and not fall back on squishy metrics like ‘attention’.

Last week the esteemed Top Sales World blog published a piece entitled, “Attention (not leads) should be B2B marketing’s primary measure”.

I couldn’t disagree more. And, since the post doesn’t include a way to comment, I couldn’t disagree on the page itself, so I’ll do it here.

Five keys to successful content marketing

Companies are giving increasing support to content marketing for a number of good reasons. 

Many companies, however, are not getting nearly the return on their content marketing efforts that they could.

Here are five keys to a successful content marketing program.

What content marketers can learn from the ‘Jerusalem’ cookbook

Storytelling is one of the best ways to create a bond with people, and content marketers should use it and other creative techniques to make their materials stand out.

This year the ‘Jerusalem’ cookbook is a hit. Written by an Arab and a Jew from Jerusalem who now live and work in London, more than 400,000 copies are in print in the US and UK , easily 10 times more than most other cookbooks.

What makes Jerusalem stand out is a number of things, including how tasty its recipes are, but also that it tells a story.

Of course, there is the story of a Jew and Arab from Jerusalem working together, with its unspoken suggestion that “if they can do it…”

When bad comments happen to good websites

Publishers who permit disrespectful, spammy comments about their stories are discouraging people looking for intelligent conversations and undermining their brands.

They should implement policies, such as moderated comments, to create a more civil discourse.

JK Rowling proves the value of brand equity

Over the years academics and analysts have attempted to show the value of brands (their ‘brand equity’) in terms both theoretical and monetary.

The Millward Brown BrandZ Top 100 report showed Apple to be the most valuable brand in 2013, with brand equity worth over $185bn; the other four top brands were, in order, Google, IBM, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola.

Since 2006 the BrandZ Top 100 has appreciated about twice as fast as the S&P 500.

Now J.K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series (as if anyone needed to be told), has inadvertently revealed the value of her brand.

When bad content happens to good websites

bad contentPublishers with quality content are undermining their brands and providing their visitors with a poor experience by attempting to maximize revenue through paid links to poorly targeted, often low-quality third-party content.

For example, did you know:

The one sure-fire tip for losing weight? That a certain billionaire thinks that the economy is about to crater? That Tom Brady and Bridget Moynahan are having a baby?

No? Then you’re not reading some of the content being offered up through links on some major sites.