The B2B Mix Show

The B2B Mix Show

By Stacy Jackson | Alanna JacksonBusinessEntrepreneurshipMarketing
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The B2B Mix Show episodes

  • Every B2B Brand Needs a Face

    Ever wonder why some B2B brands seem to be everywhere -- people talking about them, doing news stories, winning awards, speaking at conferences? While advertising and good marketing can go a long way, many of these brands have discovered the incredible value of putting a face (or faces) to their brands. 

    In this week's episode, VanillaSoft CMO Darryl Praill shares why B2B brands should cultivate executives, as well as other employees, to be visible thought leaders who share, speak, and advocate visibly on behalf of the brand. Everything can't just come from "the logo."

    Darryl shares:

    • How fear stops people from taking on the role of champion or spokesperson
    • Why it's important for B2B companies to have visible champions and thought-leaders (hint: people like to buy from people they trust)
    • His thoughts on entering VanillaSoft as the most public figure for the company and how putting a face out there has changed things for the company
    • The importance of leading by example and grooming people to be ready to get on camera or speak and be visible on behalf of the company
    • The magic of transforming the company "junk room" into the company's studio and hiring a media producer
    • How you have to build personal rapport and influence with your brand's audience and how Darryl built his community of sales professionals and influencers when he started with VanillaSoft
    • The power of being a bit of a contrarian on social media and video and why you need to have an opinion
    • The importance of authenticity and using your personality to shine to build awareness for yourself and the brand
    • How his wife helps him shine online
    • What qualities and traits do employees need to be a competent and successful public thought-leader
    • How powerful it can be to have public-facing spokespeople from a variety of departments -- tech, customer success, product marketing, and more -- to hit different audiences
    • Why you HAVE to get your LinkedIn presence in order before you start looking for your next job
    • Why he would never hire you for sales or marketing roles if you aren't active on LinkedIn
    • How to help people rise to the challenge
    • Why you can't put your eggs in one spokesperson's basket; cultivate multiple, capable people
    • Steps he's taking to prevent over-saturation
    • Some of the results that VanillaSoft has seen since amping up executive visibility
    • What he would do if he weren't CMO of VanillaSoft and could do any job in the world
    • A little sarcasm at the end because he still can't believe Stacy edits the show with GarageBand (he's slowly pushing us to advance our podcasting gear and tech)

      • If you'd like to get in touch with Darryl, connect with him on LinkedIn. He's always happy to share his thoughts and discuss ideas with others in the sales and marketing community.


      The B2B Mix Show with Alanna and Stacy is brought to you by Jackson Marketing. Need help with your B2B online presence? Let's talk!

      1 hr 4 min
    • Lessons in Event Marketing
      Ever wonder what it takes to plan and promote a big business event or conference? Liam Martin, Co-founder and CMO of Time Doctor and Co-Organizer of the Running Remote Conference, knows what it's all about, and he's sharing what he's learned about event marketing with us.
      During our interview, Liam touches on some interesting facts about remote work, and he shares five tactics that he and his team used to pull off this amazing event, which was the large remote work conference in 2018.
      A quick note to listeners . . . we did discover during production that there are parts of the audio with a few crackly bits here and there. Annoying? Yes. Rampant? No. We hope you’ll overlook these few moments to hear what Liam has to share. He’s an interesting guy with real-world insights and data about what worked in his promotional efforts.
      This episode is longer than our usual, but we think you'll find the details interesting.
      In this episode, we learn:
      The power of podcasts as part of the Running Remote Conference promotion strategy
      How community partnerships and sponsorships helped spread awareness
      The role of cold outreach for connecting with influencers and performing direct sales
      The importance of speaker selection
      How video played a role in promotion of the 2018 event and how the team uses 2018 event video from the conference itself to generate awareness for 2019
      If you'd like to read Liam's post chronicling everything his team did to plan and promote The Running Remote Conference in 2018, check out this post on the Time Doctor website. It's very detailed and incredibly informative.
      ___
      The B2B Mix Show with Alanna and Stacy is brought to you by Jackson Marketing. Need help with your B2B online presence? Let's talk!
      58 min
    • Rebrand the Podcast

      We talked about it in the lessons learned episode (episode 10). Now we've done it! We've renamed the podcast. This week's episode is a quick one to tell you:

      1. Why we renamed the show to The B2B Mix Show
      2. Two upcoming episodes featuring special guests
      3. And a plethora of topics we plan to cover in the coming weeks

        4. Welcome to The B2B Mix Podcast!

        12 min
      4. What We've Learned About Podcasting So Far

        We did it! We recorded ten whole episodes. OK, so it's only a very minor accomplishment when it comes to podcasting, but we've actually learned a lot through these first ten episodes. Yeah, we've got a lot more to learn, but we wanted to share what we've discovered so far about the process of podcasting.

        In this lightly edited episode you hear us talk about:

        • Preparation and presentation: winging it vs. researching vs. rehearsing
        • What we've figured out when it comes to recording
        • Editing (and the parts about it that really annoy Stacy)
        • Vocal habits that Stacy and Alanna both discovered they have -- and how much these habits and fillers suck (We left this episode "lightly edited" to be more authentic for this discussion point - ums, uhs, and so's left in this time)
        • Things you should do to promote your podcast
        • Finding guests
        • What each of us likes and dislikes about podcasting so far (One thing we both love? Helping other. Helping is a big theme in our company values.)
        • Is a rebrand in the future?

          • Bonus: we introduce you to one of our fav online personalities -- A Sales Guy -- Keenan. He is authentic and energetic. Check him out even if you don't sell for a living. (Of course, if you subscribe to Daniel Pink's way of thinking, To Sell Is Human.

          Software we discussed during this episode:

          Zoom.us for recording podcasts. We mentioned that Mario Martinez Jr. uses Zoom for podcasting. (We actually said "webinars" during the episode, but we meant podcasting)

          Descript for episode transcription

          Samson Technologies Q2U Handheld Dynamic USB Microphone Recording and Podcasting Pack

          Flipboard magazine: Marketing Is a Girl's Best Friend

          Example of an episode/transcription page on our site - http://jmi.fyi/show-notes-example

          Example of a Sniply CTA (our CTA is in the bottom left of the page when you load the page)

          Tools to add CTAs to your curated content: Sniply, JotURL, Replug

          ____

          The Marketing Mix with Alanna and Stacy is brought to you by Jackson Marketing. Need help with your B2B online presence? Let's talk!

          39 min
        • How to Improve Your Webinar Game

          Want to take your webinars from 0 to 1000+ registrants heroes? This week we did a webinar with our long-time client VanillaSoft and talked about that topic. VanillaSoft has taken its webinar game to the NEXT LEVEL. 

          On this episode, we're sharing some "after the show" tips, but we aren't spilling all the tea from the webinar. You need to go check out that session yourself. You can view it right here: http://jmi.fyi/vanillasoft-webinar. Here are eight points we are sharing, plus a few links to some of our favorite webinar software and equipment.

          Eight Tips for Improving Your Webinars Covered in this Episode:

          1. Embrace authenticity and natural, conversational flow.
          2. Think beyond your email list when it comes to driving registrations.
          3. Don't focus on the number of attendees for the live event.
          4. Use the right equipment.
          5. Pick the best software options.
          6. Get social (or tap the social network of your team) to find terrific guests.
          7. Select topics that resonate and use social to find the right angles and fresh perspectives.
          8. Don't forget the post-event to-do list.

            9. Equipment mentioned in this episode:

            Mic: Samson Technologies Q2U Handheld Dynamic USB Microphone Recording and Podcasting Pack

            Webcam: 

            Logitech C922x Pro Stream Webcam – Full 1080p HD Camera – Background Replacement Technology for YouTube or Twitch Streaming

            Webinar software mentioned in this episode:

            GoToWebinar

            Zoom

            Other information

            Finally, if you aren't familiar with VanillaSoft and you have a sales team, why not check out their sales engagement software? (Disclosure: just a reminder, VanillaSoft is a Jackson Marketing client.) 

            Big thanks to Darryl Praill and the team for having us on the webinar. Don't forget to check it out! http://jmi.fyi/vanillasoft-webinar

            17 min
          9. Content Marketing Imperatives: Promotion & Distribution

            For years now, you've had it hammered into your head to create more quality content. Well, guess what. There's so much content -- quality and otherwise -- that a lot of it is simply ignored. Even your masterpiece will dwindle away in obscurity if you don't get serious about distribution and promotion.

            In this episode, we'll cover 12 terrific ways to get more ears and eyeballs paying attention to what your writing, saying, and showing. Here are the areas we'll run down. Be sure to listen, because we'll be mentioning tools and tips for each that you've got to try.

            1. Social media
            2. Newsletters
            3. Email signatures
            4. RSS feeds
            5. Curated content solutions
            6. Content distribution networks
            7. Guest blogging
            8. Influencer marketing
            9. Employee advocacy
            10. Public relations
            11. Repurposing
            12. SEO

              13. Sources:

              • Total websites
              • Tweets sent per day
              • YouTube stats
              • SEO

                • Tools Mentioned in This Episode

                • Missinglettr
                • HootSuite
                • Lately
                • HubSpot
                • MailChimp
                • Campaign Monitor
                • WiseStamp
                • BlackPearl
                • NEWOLDSTAMP
                • Feedly.com
                • Slack + RSS Feeds
                • Scoop.it
                • UpContent
                • Curated.co
                • Nuzzel
                • Flipboard
                • Paper.li
                • Quuu Promote
                • Taboola
                • Outbrain
                • Triberr
                • IZEA
                • Ambassador
                • GaggleAMP
                • Smarp
                • Social Chorus
                • Everyone Social
                • Cision
                • BuzzStream
                • HARO
                • Lumen5


                  • 22 min
                • What's a Brand? (Hint: It's More Than a Logo)

                  Listen in as B2B technology branding expert Chad Nelson of The Basis Group shares insights about branding. Chad tells us:

                  • What led him to become so passionate about branding
                  • How a brand is more than a logo 
                  • Why a brand is as important internally as it is externally
                  • About a brand's impact on corporate culture, customer experience, and even hiring
                  • Why branding is even more important than features when it comes to B2B technology companies
                  • The challenges of changing founder's (and quota-carrying salespeople's) minds to favor brand over features

                    • Links to information mentioned in this episode:

                    The Basis Group

                    Chad Nelson on LinkedIn 

                    Seth Godin's definition of brand

                    David Aaker

                    The Marketing Mix is brought to you by Jackson Marketing, Inc.

                    38 min
                  • Interview with a Gen Zer: What Insights Can a 14-year-old Share with Marketers?

                    This week, we interview a real, live teenager to learn what a Gen Z kid thinks about social media and the internet. Our niece, Kira, talks about:

                    • How she and her friends use SnapChat
                    • Discuss whether or not Facebook is for "old people"
                    • Discover the awesomeness of "streaks" on SnapChat
                    • Define "spill the tea"
                    • Talk about commercials on YouTube versus sponsored YouTube stars like Shane Dawson
                    • Think about the future and what social she will use and how she'll do research
                    • and a lot more

                      • We had a lot of fun and gained some interesting insights. We hope you'll enjoy.

                      26 min
                    • Can Disgruntled Former Employees Blow Up Your Social Media and Martech Accounts?

                      How easy have you made it for an employee to compromise your social media and martech accounts? In today's episode, we're covering employee separation in the marketing department.

                      • Stacy will share her personal story.
                      • We'll discuss the need to clarify, in writing, who owns the social media accounts.
                      • We'll chat about why you need to write employee separation procedures specific to marketing technology and social media accounts.
                      • We'll talk about why you might consider adding corporate social media information to nondisclosure, confidentiality and non-solicitation agreements. (We aren't lawyers, but these guys are. Read their thoughts on this topic: https://www.schwabe.com/newsroom-publications-12811.)
                      • We'll talk about who owns an individual's followers when a person has built a following as part of social selling or employee advocacy programs and how Twitter seems to lack an explicit policy. 
                      • We'll also touch on two notable lawsuits where employers have gone after former employees who left with sizable personal followings: PhoneDog vs. Kravitz and Roanoke Times vs. Andy Bitter.
                      • We'll share LinkedIn's User Agreement, Section 2.2 along with Facebook's Terms of Use and Facebook's Principles.
                      • And we'll share our personal (not legal) opinions about who owns an individual's followers.

                        • If you would like to try some of the team password managers mentioned in this episode, here are the links:

                        Common Key

                        Team Password Manager

                        Last Pass

                        Facebook Business Manager

                        23 min
                      • Small Content Teams with Big Content Dreams

                        We're talking about the challenges facing small content marketing teams. We'll chat about:

                        • Dealing with executives who “don’t get it” -- no support, no budget, no sanity.
                        • Being overly ambitious. Everything’s important and huge!
                        • Not being ambitious enough. “We’re too small. We’re too boring.”
                        • Winging it. “I’ll figure out next week’s post . . . next week.”
                        • Ignoring visuals/video--or worse,  doing it yourself when you don't know what you're doing!
                        • Not promoting and distributing content.
                        • Trying to do it all yourself..

                          • Additional Resources

                          B2B Content Marketing Strategy for Small Content Teams 

                          22 min

                        About The B2B Mix Show

                        From the publisher's feed

                        Welcome to The B2B Mix Show. We're focused on digital marketing and sales topics to help you elevate your B2B brand.