Words of Wisdom from #BMA16

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We laughed, we cried — but mostly we got a lot of really good information. At ANA/BMA16:

Masters of B2B Marketing, dozens of the world’s smartest marketers came together to share their thoughts on what works in business marketing, and what doesn’t.

Here are some of the highlights:

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Customers and prospects are interacting with your brand at all

times of the day. It’s imperative you have a consistent experience across your website, social channels, and

any other digital channel.

“Customers don’t log on to a different internet at night.”

— Linda Boff, chief marketing officer at GE

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“Sales are too important to be left to sales.”

— Russell Findlay, chief marketing officer at Hiscox

The onus falls on marketing to lead brands into the future.

Your marketing team needs to play an active role across the entire

organization, including with sales, IT, and everywhere in between.

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When launching your account- based marketing efforts, focus

on the 200 to 2,000 companies most likely to buy, and cater your

collateral to them individually. It can impact up to 70 percent

of your business.

“It’s about focus.”— Peter Isaacson, chief marketing officer

at Demandbase

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As the market continues to grow and change, you’ll need to try new

things, where there is no data to help you make the decision. In this

case, you need to trust your intuition, a sometimes undervalued

marketing tool.

“Your gut is a lot smarter than you think.”

— Reuben Webb, executive creative director at Stein IAS

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“Never bring an opinion to a data fight.”

— Andy Crestodina, co-founder and strategic director at Orbit Media

Conversely, when you do have the data for a given situation, use it.

In business, opinion fights always go to the person with the highest- ranking title. Curb this trend by

backing up your views with hard data. There is no overriding data.

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According to Brenner, 60 to 70 percent of content created isn’t even

used. Stop doing things that don’t make an impact. If you’re currently

working on a project without a measureable ROI, just drop it.

“Life is short. Your business life is even shorter.”

— Michael Brenner, author of The Content Formula

All content for this slideshow has been aggregated from sessions at the ANA/BMA16: Masters of B2B Marketing conference. Want more from this event?

Visit our Marketing Knowledge Center for video and session recaps.

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