About Paul Gillin

Paul Gillin, host of FIR B2B, is a veteran technology journalist and a thought leader in new media. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. Full bio

FIR B2B #115: Social Media Adoption Over the Years – the Latest from the Annual UMass Survey

February 14, 2019 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:15 — 38.9MB) | Embed

University of Massachusetts Marketing Professor Nora Ganim Barnes has been surveying social media use by the Fortune 500 and Inc. 500 for 12 years, making her work probably the longest-running research of its kind. This year’s study finds a big jump in blogging by the F500 along with declining interest in Instagram and Twitter. Executives say ROI is their biggest social media question mark, but more and more of them are putting social media marketing strategies in place nonetheless.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #114: Does “Moral Marketing” Mean Wading into Politics?

January 31, 2019 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:08 — 25.9MB) | Embed

CEOs have the power to significantly influence public opinion, but is is fair to their shareholders to exercise that power? In a polarized political climate, they may be better off focusing on sales.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #113: How One Former Journalist Crossed the Chasm to Content Marketing

January 17, 2019 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:53 — 25.4MB) | Embed

Denise Dubie went from a successful career as a technology journalist to a new role in content marketing. The transition wasn’t always easy, but what she learned as a reporter turned out to have unique value.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #112: What It Means to Be True to Your Brand

January 7, 2019 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:32 — 26.6MB) | Embed

Welcome to the new year and we hope you all have had a nice holiday break. In today’s episode, we talk about what it means to be true to your brand and why marketing managers need to pay more attention to overall branding issues to become more effective.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #111: Privacy Invasion Was the Year’s Top Story; Here’s Why B2B Marketers Should Care

December 13, 2018 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:50 — 27.2MB) | Embed

Perhaps the most important B2B marketing story of 2018 is the invasion of our privacy, and how companies have been cavalier in abusing the data customers give them. We think this story is going to grow in importance in 2019, and B2B marketers should pay attention.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #110: Personas are for Marketers, too

November 29, 2018 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:22 — 28.1MB) | Embed

The concept of personas was originally created to help web designers better visualize visitors, but personas can be useful to marketers as well. David Lloyd from Brilliant Noise in London tells how marketers can use personas to shape campaigns.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #109: Transparency, Truth and the Rebirth of Long-Form Content

November 21, 2018 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download () | Embed

Why NBC handled Megyn Kelly’s dismissal gracefully while Google fumbled Andy Rubin’s. Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice is often based upon little or no data. Hour-long YouTube videos are a thing; should marketers re-think length restrictions?
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #108: Dan Newman’s 2019 Tech Trends for CMOs

November 2, 2018 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:13 — 44.3MB) | Embed

We speak with Dan Newman of Futurum Research about his recent Forbes column on the 10 top digital transformation trends for 2019 and how they will impact the CMO.
Continue Reading →

FIR B2B #107 – What LinkedIn’s Latest Sales Research Says About the State of B2B Marketing

October 29, 2018 by David Strom and Paul Gillin Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:26 — 37.4MB) | Embed

Once again we speak with Justin Shriber, Vice President of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales and Marketing Solutions. LinkedIn’s new State of Sales report examines how top sales performers are using technology and modern strategies to build trust with buyers and close more deals. This relationship with buyers makes the survey more interesting reading. Justin has lots more insights for B2B marketers in our conversation.
Continue Reading →