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The Lab Results Are Fine: When B2B Marketing Data Hides a Sick System

The Lab Results Are Fine: When B2B Marketing Data Hides a Sick System

Key takeaways: Healthy B2B marketing data can make a broken system look fine. Isolated metrics, such as organic traffic, cost per click and lead volume, can hide problems with buyer intent, sales trust and pipeline movement. When sales cycles exceed historical norms or sales teams stop trusting marketing leads, marketing teams need to look at […]
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Why AI Is Ignoring Your B2B Customer Case Studies

Why AI Is Ignoring Your B2B Customer Case Studies

Key takeaways: When B2B customer case studies bury customer problems and measurable results beneath company background and product details, AI systems can’t identify the information buyers need. As a result, many case studies never appear in AI-generated answers. Most B2B customer case studies make it hard to identify the problem, the solution and the results. […]
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The Thought Leader’s Shortcut: Build a Content Bank From 1 Asset

The Thought Leader’s Shortcut: Build a Content Bank From 1 Asset

Key takeaways: Break one anchor asset into a Content Bank of articles, social posts, carousels, videos and sales tools. Use a content repurposing strategy and employee advocacy to distribute those assets and support a 90-day, multichannel campaign. This allows you to reach buyers throughout their research process. In the last Expert-Led Content Engine article, we […]
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The Trust Gap: Why Human Content Wins in an AI Market

The Trust Gap: Why Human Content Wins in an AI Market

Key takeaways: Human-first content in B2B is grounded in experience, a clear point of view and informed judgment. It helps buyers build trust before they with speak with sales. For years at The Simons Group, our North Star has been “content-first.” It’s how we keep the focus where it belongs: on the message rather than […]
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Stop Asking Experts to Write: The Two-Touchpoint Content Workflow

Stop Asking Experts to Write: The Two-Touchpoint Content Workflow

Key takeaways: A two-touchpoint content workflow concentrates expert involvement into two focused moments that support speed, cost discipline and buyer expectations. By structuring participation around an input session and an accuracy review, organizations share insights while buyers are evaluating options. In addition, this workflow reduces inefficient use of expert time, supports consistent execution and aligns […]
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Create a Quarterly Content Planning Sprint

Create a Quarterly Content Planning Sprint

Key takeaways: Quarterly content planning gives B2B teams a clear, repeatable way to set direction before execution. Rather than reacting to scattered requests, teams align on priorities, themes and proof points during a focused planning sprint that brings marketers and experts together at the right moment. Experts contribute insight once per quarter, while marketers carry […]
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B2B Trust Has Turned Inward. Thought Leadership Gets You In

B2B Trust Has Turned Inward. Thought Leadership Gets You In

Key takeaways: B2B trust now forms early and close to home. Buyers place greater confidence in familiar people and proven judgment. New research shows that thought leadership content plays a role in helping buyers assess expertise and reduce perceived risk. However, today, merely showing up with content isn’t enough. Organizations that pair expert-led insights with […]
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The ROI of Content Marketing: Why Sales Wins Start With Relevance

The ROI of Content Marketing: Why Sales Wins Start With Relevance

Key takeaways: The ROI of content marketing is measured by its ability to accelerate sales cycles, increase pipeline value and establish credibility before sales outreach. By answering buyers’ questions early, content marketing reduces time to close and improves marketing-qualified leads to sales-qualified leads (MQL to SQL) conversion rates. Effective content also functions as always-on sales […]
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Build a Scalable Thought Leadership Content Strategy

Build a Scalable Thought Leadership Content Strategy

Key takeaways: A strong thought leadership content strategy treats expert time like the scarce resource it is. With one structured input session and one final accuracy review, you build a full quarter of content from a single anchor asset. By bringing experts in early and giving them clear direction, the result is consistent messaging, reduced […]
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The Hidden Bias in AI Marketing Content

The Hidden Bias in AI Marketing Content

B2B marketers depend on artificial intelligence (AI) tools as assistants for many tasks, often without considering every request carries an unseen slant. Every answer starts with a human prompt. Therefore, bias can slip in before these tools write a single word. This cycle makes bias in AI marketing content more common than people realize. How […]
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Stones on a board represent using KPIs and ROI together to measure marketing results.

KPIs and ROI: A Marketer’s Guide to Measurement

B2B marketers are under increasing pressure to prove the value of every effort. What worked last year might not be enough now. That’s why key performance indicators (KPIs) and return on investment (ROI) have gone from nice-to-haves to must-haves. These tools help you show what’s working, justify your budget, and

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A man sitting on a suitcase in an open field represents the possibilities of working with AI agents to help B2B buyers with self-research.

B2B Buyers Hate Waiting. AI Agents Deliver

Remember when B2B buyers waited patiently for sales calls and product demos? Neither do they. Today’s decision-makers and buying committees want immediate answers as they research solutions. Furthermore, they prefer to do it alone. That’s where AI agents are changing the game. Think of AI agents as digital concierges for

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Three people rock climbing together represent trust in B2B marketing.

Trust or Bust: B2B Marketing’s Greatest Asset

Trust in governments, businesses and media is in rapid free fall. Misinformation, disinformation and distortion add fuel to growing skepticism and erosion of credibility. Edelman’s most recent trust barometer underscores this point. Of 32,492 respondents in 28 countries, more than half said journalists, and government and business leaders are purposely

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A row of stars represents the importance of customer feedback and managing your B2B brand's reputation.

Ignoring Customer Feedback Can Sink Your Brand’s Reputation

B2B buyers want to see customer feedback about your brand before they invest in your products and services. Reviews help them make informed decisions before they commit. B2B purchases can involve large financial commitments. Thus, it stands to reason buyers conduct independent research. They want to know if your solutions

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An image of a human eye represents how AI can help writers.

7 Quick AI Tips for Seasoned Writers

That got concerning for a bit there, didn’t it? When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in early 2023, it felt like it was trying to take us down as writers. Suddenly, anyone could create generally presentable marketing content – instantly. Fortunately, it looks like generative artificial intelligence (AI) will be

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A woman sharing good news represents how customer advocates can help boost your sales through word-of-mouth.

Customer Advocates Ignite Your Brand’s Success

If your brand wants an unbeatable advantage that will boost your sales, marketing and customer experience, build a strong customer advocacy program. Every brand – no matter how big or small – will benefit from having advocates. What is customer advocacy? Customer advocacy is about building authentic, strong relationships with

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Chess pieces represent how content marketing crushes cold calling.

How B2B Content Marketing Crushes Cold Calling

Business-to-business (B2B) content marketing crushes cold calling when it’s done well. I emphasize that point because crappy content marketing won’t get you anywhere. True cold calling probably won’t either, because it’s not based on problem-solving. It’s a fishing expedition to sell products and services. When I started working in corporate

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6 Foolproof Tips That Will Help You Rock Your Next Project

Feeling frantic about a colossal project? Join the club. It’s called Project Management Meltdown – that heart-pounding moment of panic over a looming, larger-than-life deadline. Rather than face it head on, you freeze up faster than the Polar Express during the blizzard of the century. I know what you’re thinking.

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Writers follow style guides as the standard in content marketing

Style Guides Set the Standard in Content Marketing

To set the standard in content marketing at your business, it’s important to make sure writers are aligned. Their copy should follow agreed-upon rules. For example: Is it “don’t” or “do not”; “can’t” or “cannot”? Can a subhead be a question? Is the hyphen necessary in “non-essential”? What’s the plural

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To Accomplish More, Lead With Kindness

Growing up, the only business role model I had was my dad. He was charismatic (when he needed to be). He was wildly successful. The problem was that he ruled his company with an iron fist. He led with fear, and people in his wake were often left shaking in

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