Top Story

• SAP's CMO: We expect "tough love" from our network
  SAP Chief Marketing Officer Jonathan Becher says the rings of influence on a purchase decision are like a bull's-eye, starting in the center with the company's website and controlled messaging, echoing outward to powerful influencers, from whom the company expects "tough love." "We recently started bringing live content feeds onto our website. I got asked last year, 'What happens if that live feed is not always positive?' I enthusiastically said, 'That's fantastic.' If there's something that we're not doing well as a company, if we don't know about it, we're never going to change it," Becher says in this interview. eMarketer (1/25)     

Eye on Marketing

• Optify's Doug Wheeler finds best practices in Benchmark Report
  The most successful business-to-business marketers have used a combination of search engine optimization, content marketing and social media "with highly targeted messaging and landing pages to generate 'opt-in' prospect responses," followed by nurturing e-mail campaigns, says Optify Chief Marketing Officer Doug Wheeler, extracting insight from his company's 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report. Wheeler addresses the surprisingly poor conversion rates of social media, the way to treat Google "not provided" keyword referrals, and Bing's materially higher conversion rates in this interview. HeinzMarketing.com (1/24)     

• T-Mobile adds desk-phone features to B2B mobile package
  T-Mobile's Office Connect will be bringing 4G network-enabled desk-phone features to its mobile platform in a new bid to strengthen its B2B offering. The enhanced features will permit users to consolidate all their business traffic on one mobile device, the company says. "Our new unified communications and equipment financing solutions demonstrate T-Mobile's commitment, as the 'Un-Carrier,' to challenge the status quo for our B2B customers," says Frank Sickinger, senior vice president of B2B. WebProNews (Lexington, Ky.) (1/24)     

• How marketers can cope with Google's algorithm updates
  Google announced more tweaks to its search algorithm this week, with the changes projected to affect about 1.2% of all English-language queries. That's a sign that marketers need to get used to continuing changes, and to shape their search strategies accordingly, says Clay Cazier of PM Digital. Contextually and geographically appropriate brand mentions are becoming essential, while directory listings are falling by the wayside. MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily (1/24)     

Tech Edge

• Facebook offers programmatic buys, conversion measuring
  Facebook is offering an ad measurement tool that it says can measure cross-platform conversion. "Facebook conversion measurement is ... the only solution that can report when a user views an ad on one device (e.g. mobile phone) but converts on another (desktop computer), which is useful for cross-platform ad campaigns," the company says on its blog. Facebook adds that its new "optimized CPM" service for programmatic ad buying can save advertisers up to 40% compared with a cost-per-click campaign. PCWorld (1/24), BtoB Magazine (1/24)     

• Videolicious 2.5 adds business-friendly branding, APIs
  Videolicious says that 1,500 businesses, including Coldwell Banker and other real estate firms, now use its video-editing application. The company avoided the consumer market in favor of enterprise customers. Version 2.5 of the app includes business-friendly features such as the ability to add a unified branding to all videos coming from a company and an application programming interface that integrates video with a content management system. TechCrunch (1/24)     

Innovation

• Arianna Huffington's guide to failure
  Failure isn't the opposite of success; rather, it's a stepping-stone to better things, says new-media mogul Arianna Huffington. It's important to remember that when your company begins doing well, and to keep taking risks, Huffington says. "Now that Huffington Post is successful, we try not to let that stop us. We constantly iterate," she adds. Inc. online (free registration) (1/24)     

• Are you ready to be pushy?
  Set a goal for each networking event, such as “I’m going to meet and talk with at least 10 people and get their business cards,” writes media executive Cathie Black. If there's someone you really want to meet, like an event speaker, "you have to be really fast before they disappear into the crowd. In some cases, you have to just really push yourself forward," she writes. TheDailyMuse.com (1/24)     

Association News

• BMA Carolinas Chapter -- Event -- Leveraging Mobile Marketing for B2B Success @ Bonterra Wine & Dining Room
  This event will be held Wednesday, Feb. 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the Bonterra Wine & Dining Room, 1829 Cleveland Ave., in Charlotte, N.C., when presenter Greg Olson, founder of Growl Agency and member of BMA's national board of directors, will share what measurements should be considered when using mobile marketing; what customers really want when they engage on the small screen; how B2B brands are leveraging mobile to bridge the gap between digital and traditional advertising; an in-depth discussion on developing a mobile app or mobile web application; and 5 tips to enhance your trade show marketing using mobile marketing. Read more.     

• For B2B marketers targeting C-level execs, it's all about them
  How do B2B marketers get noticed by the C-suite, whether internal to the organization or not, as being relevant and trusted enough to get (and keep) a seat at the table? The answer is much simpler and less frustrating than you think or have been led to believe. Read more.     

On Leadership

Top five news stories from SmartBrief on Leadership this week. Want more leadership news?

• How to hold worthwhile meetings (EblinGroup.com/Next Level Blog)

• Where Oprah went wrong with her brand (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership)

• Mars is out of this world, workers say (CNNMoney/Fortune)

• If your workers won't change, maybe you should (Management-Issues (U.K.))

• Mapping the economy as Obama begins his second term (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Finance)

SmartQuote

In youth we learn; in age we understand." --Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer