These ideas span marketing budgets, studies on tactics, and sadly, goodbye to a couple of beloved brands in marketing and PR
This blog was started in 2009 as a tool for my own professional development.
A long-time (but since retired) member of the reserves and Guard, I came home from a long deployment to Iraq in 2008 and realized Web 2.0 was changing my profession. This blog was a means to figure it all out.
Consistency counts for a lot in many things, including marketing and communications. Accordingly, I write and publish a weekly blog post on Tuesdays like clockwork. Often I’m up early or out late making this happen – to keep my day focused on delivering value for clients.
In 2024, I wrote 53 blog posts and an estimated 53,000 words. Most of my posts are 1,000 words or so, sometimes longer and sometimes shorter. This is on par with previous years, which again, speaks to consistency.
All in all, this blog attracted 85,786 visitors who viewed 124,878 pages this year. The vast majority of readers are in the United States, followed by Singapore, Norway, Germany, UK, Hong Kong, India and Israel.
Below are the most-read posts in 2024, according to the analytics.
Number 1. Peer-reviewed study finds startups don’t invest enough in marketing
Those companies in the early stages of a startup building a product stand to gain “the greatest” valuation benefit from marketing.
Read more: Early stage B2B tech startups don’t invest enough in marketing [peer-reviewed study]
Number 2. Goodbye, Burrelles
Burrelles bids farewell to print media monitoring and shutters a 140-year-old business – perhaps the oldest vendor in the history of the PR profession.
Read more: Farewell, Burrelles [PR Tech Sum 56]
Number 3. Goodbye, HARO
Cision shuttered the HARO brand this year – a huge miscalculation in my opinion. However, the original founder, Peter Shankman, who successfully built and sold Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO) has returned with Source of Sources (SoS). The service is free to use for journalists and PR folks alike.
Read more: Today, we say goodbye to HARO [PR Tech Sum 53]
Number 4. Just 5% of B2B tech buyers are ready to purchase now
This piece explores the source of this statistic – because its applicability to your business has enormous implications on how you invest your B2B marketing budget.
Read more: Only 5% of B2B buyers are in market today; but where did that statistic come from?
Number 5. Here are the economic reasons why B2B tech companies have struggled recently
Too many B2B SaaS companies went after ‘bad fit customers’ under a mandate of ‘growth at all costs’ – along with these other trends – is the cliff notes on what’s thwarting sales and marketing in the tech sector.
Read more: 7 ideas explaining why the B2B SaaS sector is sluggish right now
Number 6. A genuine commentary on the problems at Cision
One PR vendor we did not say goodbye to in 2024 was Cision. My analysis, based on my own monthly reports for the last ~5 years, suggests things aren’t looking much better in 2025 either.
Read more: New products and problems across PR software land [PR Tech Sum 60]
Number 7. Good webinars drive leads, said data study
The average number of interactions has increased 20% since 2022 and webinar hosts saw a 56% increase in demo requests stemming from webinars.
Read more: Personalization matters: new webinar benchmarks and metrics for 2024
Number 8. Good B2B thought leadership drives business outcomes says study
When done well, thought leadership improves awareness, purchase consideration, customer retention – and gives vendors pricing power. Indeed, good thought leadership requires actual thought and actual leadership. When done poorly, it can cost your business dearly.
Read more: 7 takeaways from a study on B2B thought leadership; why it works or doesn’t
Number 9. A simple explanation of why you lose content subscribers
About one in five (20%) of 2,000 readers surveyed say they unsubscribe from email marketing because they get too many messages.
Read more: Survey says this is the top reason people unsubscribe from email marketing
Number 10. Here’s how to get coverage amid traditional media austerity
Media coverage is harder to obtain, but journalists are open and candid about what they need – which can make a difference for those PR pros who are willing to listen.
Read more: 7 journalism statistics from a survey of 3,000 reporters to improve PR performance
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Many thanks for spending some time pursuing my ideas – I sincerely hope they help drive your business.
If you like the advice I offer and need help, please keep in mind I do offer marketing and communications services for hire. I’d be glad to have exploratory conversation.
If you don’t need help, but still want to enjoy the good stuff I strive to ferret out, here are some subscription options:
- Subscribe to weekly blog posts by email;
- Subscribe to the audio version through the B2B Marketing and PR podcast;
- Subscribe to a monthly newsletter with a curated list of must-reads; and
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Finally, I wish you all a safe, happy and successful New Year.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like these 2024 roundups:
- Readout: 33 B2B marketing statistics from 2024
- 18 B2B marketing and communications statistics that aptly summarize 2024
- Machina or ex-machina: ~40 marketing and comms predictions for 2025
Image credit: mine
