B2B marketing is a crowded field, and it often feels like a thankless task. After all, most CEOs want everything now, but B2B marketing takes time. You typically have to guide prospects slowly through the acquisition process before handing them over to sales, and the whole process can take months from start to finish.
It can often feel as though there aren’t enough hours in the day just to get the work done, but the truth is that spending time to learn new skills and to stay on top of the competition is one of the most important things that you can be doing.
With time at a premium, we’ve identified two key things that you can do to better yourself as a marketer, and we’ve found a resource for each that will save you time and make self-improvement a breeze.
Improve your writing with ProBlogger
ProBlogger is the brainchild of Darren Rowse, and it’s all about helping you to become a better writer. The ability to write good copy is one of the most sought-after skills amongst B2B marketers, mostly because of the rise of content creation and inbound marketing. ProBlogger’s useful articles are a great way to learn all of the tricks of the trade in five minutes every day over a cup of coffee.
Rowse’s website has been going since 2004, and it’s earned itself a reputation as one of the best sites on the net for people who want to learn more about the craft of writing. They have over 8,000 posts with blogging advice, tips and tutorials, and much of the content is evergreen – which means you can go back through their archives and learn from their huge archive of information.
As if that wasn’t enough, you can also sign up to ProBlogger’s email list to receive ongoing writing tips directly to your inbox, and they also have a range of downloadable resources – such as ebooks – and a job board to help you to find work as a blogger.
Find out more about ProBlogger.
Stay on top of new research with Gartner
Gartner provide all sorts of interesting research studies that can help to give you a wider understanding of what’s happening in the industry that you work in. They’re particularly good at monitoring IT trends, and these are having more and more of an impact on both marketing and operations at B2B companies.
For example, if you’re struggling to understand virtual reality, the Internet of Things or artificial intelligence, Gartner will have a report to tell you what you need to know. In particular, you’ll want to keep an eye on Augie Ray, a research director who focuses on customer experience research for marketing leaders.
Gartner has over 8,100 employees (including 1,280 in research) across 85 countries, which means that the breadth and variety of their research is impressive. If you’re a B2B marketer and you want to keep an eye on trends and predictions, Gartner is the company to follow.
Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.