2019 Marketing Excellence Awards—Call for Entries: Honoring the Best in B2B Services and Solutions Marketing

LEXINGTON, Mass. - March 5, 2019 - PRLog -- ITSMA, the leadership community for B2B services and solutions marketing in the connected economy, today launches the 2019 Marketing Excellence Awards program. The program honors standout performance in seven strategic and critical aspects of B2B marketing.

"As B2B firms continue along their transformation journeys, marketing leaders are taking dramatic steps to expand their roles for digital-era business leadership. The most effective marketing organizations have stepped up their efforts to drive new market opportunities, strengthen brand loyalty, and deepen the most important client and influencer relationships," said Dave Munn, President and CEO of ITSMA. "This year's Marketing Excellence Awards program highlights seven key focus areas for B2B marketers as they transform their own organizations to drive standout business results in the connected economy."

The Awards Program, now in its twenty-second year, recognizes programs that demonstrate deep market insight, innovative marketing approaches, and substantial business impact with high value services and solutions. Last year's winners included: Avanade, Capgemini, Cisco Systems, Cognizant, HCL Technologies, Hexaware Technologies, HP Inc., IBM, InfinityQS International, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Microsoft, NTT DATA, Perficient Digital (formerly Stone Temple), SAP, Snowflake, SPR, Tata Communications, and Vodafone.

The deadline for submissions is May 10, 2019.

2019 AWARD CATEGORIES

• Building Reputation Through Brand and Differentiation. Creating marketing programs and experiences that strengthen brand awareness, knowledge, and consideration at the corporate, business unit, and/or regional level and substantially improve competitive positioning, differentiation, and reputation.
• Driving Strategic Growth. Raising marketing's strategic role in the business with the right combination of people, processes, analytics, and tools to provide better input to leadership to help formulate growth strategies as well as implement the right marketing programs to support and execute the strategy. [New in 2019]
• Enabling Sales to Accelerate Growth. Improving sales impact and effectiveness with programs, tools, training, and support, especially for new offerings, new markets, new types of buyers, and/or new areas for growth; programs can be marketing-led or sales-led if marketing plays a significant role.
• Engaging Executives with Thought Leadership and Innovation. Developing and executing high-impact thought leadership and innovation programs or activities that connect with target audiences, elevate your reputation, deepen engagement, and help drive revenue and results for the business.
• Personalizing Marketing with Digital Tools, Data, and Approaches. Effectively leveraging digital content, channels, tools, data, and processes to complement face-to-face interaction and create more personalized online experiences for customers and prospects for improved engagement. [New in 2019]
• Scaling and Optimizing Account-Based Marketing. Maximizing the impact and scale of ABM through central program offices, blended approaches, martech infrastructure, staffing models, agency partnerships, and cross-company collaboration that provides ABM coverage across multiple tiers of priority accounts.
• Strengthening Marketing's Role in Customer Experience and Success. Developing and strengthening marketing programs and initiatives across the customer lifecycle to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty and ensure customer value with new and existing services and solutions.

ELIGIBILITY AND AWARDS
The ITSMA Marketing Excellence Awards program is open to all companies that market and sell technology, telecom, and/or business services or solutions. Small and medium-sized businesses are especially encouraged to apply.

ITSMA awards two winners in each category:
• Diamond: Best in class for the industry
• Gold: Standout results in marketing impact

In addition to the two winners in each category, ITSMA will award two winners from small and medium-sized businesses. These awards will go to the strongest submissions from two companies with less than $500 million in annual revenue, regardless of category.

ITSMA will announce the winners at a special awards reception during ITSMA's Annual Marketing Vision Conference on October 15, 2019 in Cambridge, MA.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Visit ITSMA's website at https://www.itsma.com/about-us/marketing-excellence-awards/ for detailed information, submission guidelines, and online entry forms.

About ITSMA
For more than 25 years, ITSMA has led the way in defining, building, and inspiring B2B marketing excellence. With a dedicated focus on services and solutions for the connected economy, we provide our member community with insight, advice, and hands-on help to strengthen reputation, increase revenue, and deepen customer relationships. Learn more at www.itsma.com.