Vertical-based marketing offers a huge opportunity for growth, but it requires a deep understanding of a particular business segment that goes beyond simply adding a few “insider” phrases to generic content. With careful positioning around a benefit statement for a specific market or even accounts within a market, businesses can drive profitable long-term engagements within a vertical, experts told Demand Gen Report.

“The most common mistake marketers make in terms of vertical industry marketing is thinking that adding a few buzzwords and niche terms to their marketing collateral is enough to appeal to their desired vertical,” said Justin Gray, CEO of LeadMD. “The reality is that marketers must demonstrate a certain level of expertise in that industry — which means committing to a learning curve in which they understand the end user’s challenges and pain points.”

DNN, formerly DotNetNuke, unveiled DNN Evoq, a suite of applications designed to integrate social functionality such as blogs and customer comments into existing web sites. The suite also features a web-based user interface that provides a unified management console for creating and controlling web content, according to company officials.

“With this rebranding and new suite of applications, we have made it easier to add community elements to a web site and optimize it for user engagement,” Will Morgenweck, VP of Product Management, told Demand Gen Report. He added that interactive web sites can help companies acquire and retain customers, drive product innovation, improve customer service and reduce overall support costs. “A web site is the first place anyone goes to learn about your company.”

NetProspex upgraded its sales prospecting solution SalesProspex to simplify the process for B2B sales teams seeking to identify key contacts at companies.

“With this latest version of SalesProspex, B2B sales teams now have a wealth of information available about the company and the individuals they are calling on — all from one screen,” Bruce McCarthy, VP of Product at NetProspex, told Demand Gen Report. He added that SalesProspex enables sales teams to pinpoint decision makers at target accounts using information such as job title, company size and location for complementary or competitive sales prospecting.

Marketing software company Volacci has integrated Facebook and Twitter into its Automatr marketing automation platform. Added as part of the software’s Socialize update, this feature enables users to post directly into Facebook and Twitter through the application.

“Socialize is just the latest in a series of marketing automation integrations unveiled by Volacci this year,” said Ben Finklea, CEO of Volacci. “We launched with several integrations like Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, GoToMeeting and UnBounce. We’ve since added integration with Drupal, which puts marketing automation tools right inside the admin interface of the content management system.”

Qvidian, a provider of sales enablement applications for intelligent selling, announced that it added more than 100 new customers for its Sales Playbooks & Analytics and Proposal Automation applications in the first half of 2013.

Qvidian also announced the company’s sixth consecutive quarter of revenue growth and the addition of new management and employees across various departments.

Traditionally, B2B marketing has taken a volume-centric approach of attracting the widest range of clients possible. However, some larger B2B companies have been successfully practicing a completely divergent marketing tactic by honing in on key accounts, and observers say some smaller B2B firms are beginning to follow suit.

Known as account-based marketing (ABM), this strategy involves a targeted campaign that focuses on a small number of important accounts that offer the greatest potential for a sustained business relationship. Xerox, for example, recently won a Killer Content Award for its content aimed at 30 of its top ManagedPrint Services clients. HPhas also been trailblazing the practice.