Welcome to What We're Reading, a weekly rundown of news stories, marketing columns, and B2B industry news that caught our eye.

Building trust starts with a story

In a world where most business partnerships take place on either side of a computer monitor, it can be difficult to build trust with buyers. To maintain short-term and long-term trust, MarTech recommends telling a story that aligns with their success.

Using personalization for post-sale engagement

While personalization is more common in marketing and sales, Forrester suggests it can be used to raise the bar on customer engagement post-sale. Learn how personalization can improve the end user’s experience, drive renewals and repurchases, and find success stories.

How confidence drives competitive growth in B2B

New research shows that only 39 percent of senior B2B marketers have higher levels of confidence in their ability to prove the financial impact of their marketing efforts. MediaVillage argues that confidence in marketing is not a personality trait but a result of concerted efforts in areas like sales alignment, balanced investment, data integration, and measurement maturity.

Turn campaigns into continuums

While campaigns focus on achieving a fixed goal within a set period of time, CustomerThink urges B2B marketers to use a “continuum” framework, which sets multiple goals throughout the customer lifecycle. Find out how a continuum promotes continuous improvements as new knowledge and buyer insights are discovered.

Here's a way to strengthen connections with buyers...

Send them a bit of recognition and holiday cheer. Now's a great time to start planning ahead for the holidays, so check out this blog for some customer appreciation inspiration.