Emerging Marketing Trends

  1. Marketers Expect Content Driven Campaigns To Increase In 2020 2/18/2020

    As reported by eMarketer, new research from World Media Group suggests 80% of marketers believe content-driven campaigns will increase over the next two years.

  2. 10 Content Marketing Skills You Need To Master 2/18/2020

    This Search Engine Journal post provides a great foundation in what makes good content marketing. In a world where voice-activated search devices and Google’s zero click responses are slowly suffocating websites ability to attract users by answering simple questions, the metaphorical lifeboat has to be through content designed to provide a deeper learning on larger topics:

  3. Do You Have A Chief Content Officer Yet? 2/5/2020

    Do you have a Chief Content Officer in your equipment manufacturing company? I’ve yet to find one in the water and wastewater industry. There are many examples in more B2C enterprises such as Goldman Sachs, HP or Uber. As consumers turn to online search and phone apps more frequently to understand issues and identify solutions, companies are finding they need to take a more strategic approach to generating the types of reader-facing content that will guarantee them a fair share of online interest.

  4. Sales Advice You Need To Ignore Today 2/5/2020

    Colleen Francis writes some great posts on modern sales for water and wastewater manufacturers to think about as they talk to their independent reps. From a content perspective think about these two challenges. How do you reach contacts high, low, left and right within a utility or large engineering firm? How do you create warm leads and referrals over low conversion cold calling?

  5. B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets And Trends for 2020 Infographic 2/5/2020

    One of the more interesting statistics from this infographic from Grazitti Interactive is the steady growth in companies with a documented content marketing strategy over the last few years.

  6. What The Biggest SEO Changes in 2019 Mean For Content Marketers 2/5/2020

    If you’ve been investing in content marketing for a while, this informative post from Maddy Osman on Skyword provides five trends in Search you should be aware of as you look to up your game in 2020:

  7. Online Analytics And Independent Sales Reps: A Powerful Combination 1/23/2020

    Many companies in the water and wastewater markets sell their products through 3rd party representation. For overseas manufacturers, it has proven the means over many years for entering the U.S. market. Even for U.S.-based manufacturers whose executive talent prefers to focus on the engineering discipline of product innovation and development over the softer skills of persuasion and negotiation, independent representation remains central to their business development success.

  8. The Best Content Marketing Can’t Outperform Bad Sales Follow-Up 1/22/2020

    Abby Sorenson, Chief Editor of Follow Your Buyer, takes an irreverent look at an assortment of sales follow-ups that drive marketers up the wall. For many companies in the water market who sell their products through independent sales channels, it’s a good list to think through as your prepare for your next sales event. Regardless how good your technology is, it’s the pursuit of the customer that might need some focus:

  9. 6 Trends That’ll Set Up Your B2B Marketing Campaigns For Success In 2020 1/22/2020

    There are some really interesting tidbits in this post from Christine Warner writing for Skyward. We talk tirelessly to water and wastewater clients about the need for “top of funnel” content to attract and engage potential customers but Warner’s post suggests that there is a real gap in content marketing portfolios between awareness and conversion. Her conclusion that (what we would call) “middle journey” content is needed to bridge the gap is a prescient point for our industry as content portfolios begin to mature:  

  10. Why B2B Marketers Need To Develop A Publisher's Mindset 1/22/2020

    Writing for Webbiquity, Brian Bennett, President of STIR Advertising & Integrated Messaging, explains why B2B companies need to adopt a publisher mindset to retain mindshare in engaging customers online: