It’s October, which means we’re now fully entrenched in football season.  Which is great.  So, I figured I’d offer some gridiron-inspired food for thought before your next gameday grocery run.   During my sports agency days, we often used case studies to show brand clients how effective sponsorships could be strategized, negotiated, and executed.  In…

Case study writers are the journalists of the B2B marketing world.  Whether they’re external consultants or internal staff, successful writers must be able to:   Ask the right questions Navigate conversations with different stakeholders Search for compelling angles Connect many disparate dots at once Use all of this to produce a story that pulls people…

You don’t need to be a career marketer to know how important branding is to your business.  Colors, logo, tone, culture, mission—all of these and more represent who you are to the world.   But, it all starts with a name.  Strong, catchy names can perform up to 33% better on the stock market than…

Lists of content marketing materials generally include case studies.  Sure, they’re content, and you market yourself with them.  Same thing with blogs, white papers, infographics, and so on.   I don’t consider case studies to be simply content marketing, though.  Unlike those other tools, studies are mission critical.  To wit:   You don’t need to…

I’m a big fan of B2B partnership marketing.  Strategic alliances can open so many doors that otherwise wouldn’t be available for reaching corporate and consumer audiences.   Sports sponsorships are especially popular.  These deals make up approximately 70% of the $65B+ sponsorship industry.  Depending on your business and objectives, they can be a great option…

When most marketers hear the term “case study,” they typically think of customer stories they’ve put together to show prospects that their solution works.  That’s good, since 88% of B2Bs cite studies as the strongest content-marketing tactics.  In other words, if you’re not using them, you may want to look into it.   Sometimes, though,…

News flash: we’re a social species.  Social media, social studies, social science, social distancing, social this, social that….   While we’re at it, how about social proof.  This is something you take part in all the time whether or not you’re even aware of it.  Coined by Dr. Robert Cialdini, “social proof” all boils down…

Full disclosure:  I’m not an energy-drink guy.  The mad-scientist combination of carbonated water, sucrose, taurine, benzoic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, maltodextrin, and 17 other multisyllabic compounds just doesn’t do it for me.  That said, I do give credit where credit’s due.  The category is as strong an example of brand consistency as you’ll find.  And one…