For B2B marketers who want to make structural changes in their communications strategy, buy-in from the C-suite is vital. However, the "mood" of the company is just as crucial, according to Jeffrey Hayzlett, author of the new book, "Running the Gauntlet Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits" (McGraw-Hill Cos.). "You can have great products and services, but if the mood of the company is one in which that it believes that its best days are behind it and not in front of it the company will never succeed," said Hayzlett, a member of the BMA national board and former CMO of Kodak. "I think mood is the most important factor facing any company that's trying to drive change."

A growing number of B2B marketers are under the gun to generate a solid return on marketing investment (ROMI). The metric tends to override all of the measurement tools because it determines whether marketers will be the beneficiaries of bigger budgets - or whether their marketing dollars will be curtailed. In this book excerpt from "Advice from the Top: The Expert Guide to B2B Marketing," B2B marketers Lee Gallagher and Sandra Zoratti provide some tips on how to improve your ROMI and the principles of so-called "precision marketing." This is the first of several excerpts from the book that is scheduled to run in BMA Buzz.

The BMA is now calling for entries for the B2 Awards, which recognize marketing activities across a wide range of disciplines, including global brand strategy, new media strategy and successful new product and service launches. The awards honor marketing activities targeting traditional customer and prospect audiences, as well as other key stakeholders such as sales forces, channel partners and consumers. The entry deadline is March 15.

By David Nobs

One of my clients recently asked me how to avoid the pitfalls surrounding marketing campaigns that are built to support their sports, entertainment and event properties. As sponsorships come under increasing scrutiny it's an important question, particularly as B2B companies look for growth and value from existing and potential partnerships more than ever before.  

BMA NorCal Chapter Branding Roundtable: Brand Successes and Failures of 2011  

1/11/2012 | Palo Alto, CA 

BMA Colorado Chapter Keynote Meeting: How Winning B2B Companies Achieve Profitable Growth
1/11/2012 | Denver, CO 

BMA Milwaukee Chapter Event: Marketing Data Trends
1/12/2012 | Milwaukee, WI

BMA Chicago Chapter Marketing Innovators Luncheon Seminar: Marketing Innovations: The Big Marketing Idea is Alive and Well in Chicago
1/12/2012 | Chicago, IL 

BMA NorCal Chapter eMarketing Roundtable: Social Signals in Search: Making the Sum Greater Than the Parts

1/12/2012 | Palo Alto, CA 

SEE ALL UPCOMING EVENTS> 

Marina: BMA SmartBrief designed to 'empower' B2B marketers 

BMA SmartBrief, which launched late last year, is a free newsletter that features news, trends and best practices in B2B marketing, social media, technology and leadership. The newsletter is designed to expand the BMA's reach and increase the brand's exposure throughout the B2B marketing arena. Luz Marina, president of BMA Southern California, who spearheaded the project, spoke with BMA Buzz about the newsletter.  

Twitter's recently launched Brand Pages enables advertisers to customize their profile page of their brand and customize their "tweets." Yet the social networking service and microblogging service, which now has more than 100 million active users, hasn't exactly bowled over the B2B crowd: While 91% of B2B marketers are using Twitter as part of their integrated social media campaign only 15% said they generate leads, according to a study by Pardot, a cloud marketing automation software company. Still the six-year-old Twitter is probably just getting started. A new white paper released by Optify provides some guidance on how to use Twitter for B2B channels.

Six ways to start subject matter experts thinking like content marketers >

Social marketing gems: Tools to make sense of chaos >

The perils of 'friending' people at work >

How important is e-commerce in your 2012 marketing strategy? >

Hits and misses, social trends, acquisitions and more >  

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