Executing exceptional marketing is tough. Especially today when both the technology and techniques available to marketers evolve at a lightning pace. What’s ‘in’ today can go ‘out’ in the blink of an eye. Additionally, buyers are bombarded with messages and communication from a variety of sources making it even more difficult to capture the attention our your market.

As I have been working through some planning for 2017 and beyond, a few trends emerged that I felt are worthy of sharing. Here's my top B2B marketing execution tips for 2017.

I regularly hear people speak very proudly of doing "market driven development" and as a result, are constantly meeting the needs of their customer. Is simply meeting the needs of your clients something to be so proud of? In some ways, yes - especially considering the amount of companies who fail to do this successfully. I would argue, though, that it isn’t enough. Sure, you can make money out of doing the same old thing the same old way and creating ‘me too’ products to compete as a commodity. But where the hell is the fun in that!?

Have you ever bought something (big or small) only to have it fail shortly after receiving it? Extremely irritating! You put your trust into a company, gave them your hard earned money for their product, and they let you down.

Now comes a critical point for the company you purchased from - your support request. If handled poorly, you’ll return the item and be hard pressed to buy from them again. If handled well, then you will be singing their praises to family, friends, colleagues, etc.... Doing so generates word of mouth promotion and is a huge win for the company.

I realized several years ago that it is unlikely I will be the inventor of some serendipitous, billion dollar technology (though I still dream it will happen). Instead, my strengths are being the “get shit done and sell it to the masses” guy and I love it. After meeting and working with others like myself I’ve come to identify this as being a “builder,” and I find it to be the most challenging and rewarding work one can do.

Living and working in Sweden as an expat for the better part of a decade, I've learned that to be able to survive and succeed in today's economy it's important to think beyond borders. Whether it was bringing international investors to Sweden to meet innovative startups, developing new markets for an online transaction engine, or building a horticulture lighting company I have found that certain leadership traits are important for the person interested in international business. What works in your home market may not always translate to success when you begin working across borders.

"Intellectual Property has the shelf life of a banana." - Bill Gates
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I dove head first into the mix of innovation, venture creation, and law while doing my graduate studies in Intellectual Capital Management. Having now been within the European innovation community for nearly a decade, I've seen varying degrees of how well IP strategy and management is understood and executed from start-ups to large, multi-national corporations.