NetLine’s SVP of Audience, Product, and Marketing, David Fortino was recently invited onto Sweet Fish’s B2B Growth Podcast to talk about some of the most fascinating insights from The 2020 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report for Marketers. 

We’re certainly biased, but it’s a terrific episode of an excellent podcast — one that we think you’ll thoroughly enjoy.

You can listen to the show here or on Apple Podcasts 

Here are some of the things Dave talked about with host Logan Lyles:

On Why NetLine Created the Content Consumption & Demand Report

The backstory of the Consumption Report, as Dave tells it, is that in 2016, NetLine began fielding questions from clients looking for greater insight around the data the company had access to. “The customers wanted to better understand what was happening,” Fortino said. “Not only as it was related to their content, but other competing organizations, as well.”

As a business, this was an opportunity for NetLine to rethink how the company went to market. After discussing the questions with the rest of the executive team, it was decided that NetLine’s first-party data capture and analysis would become one of the true promotional pillars used to make data front and center as a company.

On Looking Inward to Improve Your Company

The 2020 Content Consumption Report is the result of internal conversations spurred by external requests. Regardless of the impetus, we still found the solutions by reviewing what we already had in abundance. 

Now, NetLine is able to use this data to educate marketers across the B2B landscape so that they could be better at what they do. As Fortino shared, this allowed the company to be influential without being self-congratulatory. “NetLine is not the thought leader — the data is.” 

On First-Party vs Third-Party

It’s no secret that we’re first-party data’s #1 fan. Without it, we wouldn’t have the tremendous insights we have within the 2020 Report. Fortino and Lyles talk about the differences between both first-party data, which is directly sourced by individual users who have decided to share their information with you, and third-party data. 

Fortino’s main question when it comes to third-party data sets deals with comfort level around how you’re acquiring “customers”. “Are you ok as a marketer tapping into datasets,” Fortino said, “where your customer has zero idea that they’re participating?” This is a great segment of the episode that we don’t want to spoil, as it’s a question each marketer and business needs to answer for themselves.

5 Other Awesome Things Dave & Logan Discuss

These two gentlemen certainly packed quite a bit into this episode. In addition to what we’ve reviewed, here’s what else you’ll find when you listen:

• Why Email Newsletters are the one marketing model that won’t die
• Exploring the Factors Around Why the Content Consumption Gap Rose by 8% YOY
• How Our Data Can Inform Display & ABM Campaigns
• How COVID-19 Has Impacted Content Consumption & Demand
• The Need to Change How Your Content’s Presented

You can download The 2020 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report for Marketers here.