043 - “Messaging is like onions - it has layers!”
It’s really easy to overcomplicate messaging and it’s really hard to get right.
1* “Messaging is like onions - it has layers!”
It’s really easy to overcomplicate messaging and it’s really hard to get right.
Wynter founder Peep reiterates the need to simplify language and to talk like a human being to ensure your message lands.
Your buyers are busier than ever, they have so many choices from products to content to assume, and the words we need to use to engage them have never been more important.
This is a simple logical framework that breakdowns complexity and reinforced by thousands of messaging tests from B2B companies.
This post is great, please check it out.
1. Clarity. What is it?
2. Relevance. Is it for me?
3. Value. Do I want it?
4. Differentiation. Why you?
2* Shifting to brand from search & performance marketing is working
Back in 2019, Airbnb made a pretty big bet.
After some pretty sizeable legacy investments into performance marketing, Airbnb opted against that continued investment and opted for a larger stake into brand investment, indulging in more spending in TV and PR.
It seems the move was fully justified, with their recent earnings call ,Chief Financial Officer Dave Stephenson said “Our brand marketing results are delivering excellent results overall with a strong rate of return, and it’s been so successful that we’re actually expanding to more countries,”
Not every brand has the luxury of the riding wave of popularity and becoming so associated with a category.
Whilst not a B2C company by definition, we continue to see blurred lines between B2C and B2B companies, with B2B companies similarly a few years behind our counterparts in B2C land.
Performance marketing still has a big role in the B2B marketing mix, and its importance varies by maturity of brand.
Performance marketing and capturing demand, can only do so much for your growth.
Brands need to play the long game, winning brands are investing in the future and investing in brand,
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Most B2B enterprise advertisers are stuck in 2010.
5 marketing ”best practices” we need to unlearn
B2B buyers definitely make emotional buying decisions
Learn the Secrets of the LinkedIn Algorithm
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Nathan Latka - SaaS founders on business growth
Exit Five - B2B marketing on everyday challenges
042 - B2B brand rejection
What’s interested is that the brand rejection percentiles remain consistent across both large and small companies.
1* B2B brand rejection
Another thought-provoking piece from the B2B Institute.
Their latest research indicates the unnecessary consideration of the fear of being rejected.
The research confirms that less than 9% of actual buyers would reject your brand, and this mindset of placing time, energy and focus on minimising brand rejection is far better served in placing time that can have a much bigger impact.
What’s interested is that the brand rejection percentiles remain consistent across both large and small companies.
The research goes on to address the blockers on growth, citing what marketers can and can’t control. Prioritising on what markets can influence, such as awareness. Another healthy reminder of focus and the old adage of, if brands don’t know who you are, they can’t buy from you.
The piece finishes with both media and creative recommendations, instead of summarising here, I’ll avoid any further sound bites to encourage you to read it! It’s a great piece.
2* Not all MQLs created are equal
Hitting your personal MQL target doesn’t mean your company wins.
Looking beyond collecting a lead is paramount for successful B2B marketers.
This is a really clear example of leads vs business impact.
This piece from Chris Walker goes into more detail to the specifics of this example.
This model isn’t necessarily right for every business, but the thinking behind is critical, because this will dictate how you conduct your marketing.
If your business objective is to create leads, your marketing team will produce leads, their efforts, KPIs and GTM approach will provide leads.
Leads that take longer to convert, most likely have less LTV, with a much lower CVR to become a customer.
The evidence is overwhelming on the influence of brand and demand generation, and the long-term effect it has on driving business growth.
Your next steps.
To truly understand how your leads are converting, where they have come from, and what channels have influenced their decision-making.
3* The sad truth behind the buying experience
This is 10 out of the 25 steps to the B2B buying experience.
It’s the sad reality for most businesses, whilst elements of this experience are out of the hands of the marketer, it should still be a consideration for our marketing efforts and how we use our content, marketing and channels to advertise to our buyers.
Keep this in mind when your goal is to drive people to your website!
Check out the next 15 points here.
1. Dismiss the cookie banner
2. Close chatbot pop up
3. Dismiss the blog subscription pop-up
4. Close banner promoting an event
5. Be puzzled why the site looks broken. Realize it doesn’t work with my adblock extension. Disable extension.
6. Reload the site
7. Start reading the headline and get interrupted by a slider. Wait for the headline to reappear
8. Read the headline on the page 3 times to understand what the company actually does and if it applies to you
9. Wait for 10 seconds for the product pages to load
10. Dismiss the chatbot
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
What's changing about the B2B buyer journey?
What makes a good B2B positioning?
‘Brain engine optimisation’ is the new search engine optimisation
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Portfolio work is the way of the future
***
041- Getting buy-in for brand investment
These are the stories from 3 CMOs and how they approach their businesses to get brand investment buy-in.
1* Getting buy-in for brand investment
These are the stories from 3 CMOs and how they approach their businesses to get brand investment buy-in.
3 different approaches, and 3 different takeaways, here is what you’ll learn.
Using the right data to tell the right story
Building your unofficial board
Introducing brand tests to get people comfortable with a shift in direction
2* The real benefits of shifting from lead to demand gen
When marketers discuss a strategic shift, the approach and output are always the core focus.
Demand Gen = Long-Term Results | Lead Gen = Short-Term Vanity
This message is fine.
But I love this refreshing perspective from Alice heading up this movement over at Cognism.
Alice outlines how her time has shifted away from operational efficiencies to creative problem-solving.
This is a wonderful example of removing the shackles from real talent and empowering them to take on the real essence of a marketer's job, which is using creativity to solve business challenges.
Please read and share.
3* To gate or ungate, the conversation comes full circle
The smart folks over at Refine Labs have led a sea change in how we think about B2B marketing.
This movement led marketers to rethink their GTM strategy, how outdated measurement was forcing bad marketing, and the role of “dark social” influencing how B2B buying is actually done.
This also entailed the view of ungating all your content and focusing on optimising towards content consumption.
This narrative makes sense within the Refine Labs general POV
But here is an example of how a company resisted the urge to jump on the bandwagon, and based on their business model and sales lead time, they were able in one example at least, prove the value of gating content.
Like every piece of advice, it always comes with caveats and the notion around it depends.
The only known in B2B marketing is there is no one size fits all. One strategy, tactic, methodology, or playbook can work for you, but be completely ineffective for your biggest competitor.
*Bonus
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Getting started with consulting as a “side gig”
What marketers get wrong about community
How to build silos and decrease collaboration (on purpose)
The creator economy is coming for B2B
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
A 100 B2B creators to follow. An honour to be a part of the list : )
***
040 -Building B2B fame
“Make Advertising Sh*t Again” because a lot of the older advertising was really good.
1* Building B2B fame
This is an insightful interview between Jon Lambardo and Paul Fedweck.
Here are 4 takeaways I liked
“Make Advertising Sh*t Again” because a lot of the older advertising was really good.
What Paul’s most underrated idea in advertising is today
His problem with the word "creativity"
How agencies have dug a hole for themselves by talking casually about, you know, “we're doing this to build the brand,
2* Don’t ditch your strategy
I was inspired by this post from Danny Asling.
When times get tough, businesses will start panicking and more pressure is placed on reverting to old tactics, delivering leads, and spending more on “ROI” capable channels.
This means you turn your focus to driving leads from ebooks and lead gen forms, spending more money badly in search, and investing more in retargeting.
The well will quickly run dry, and short-term results will be OK, but the medium-term will be bad and disastrous long-term.
We all face a more challenging 2023, more scrutiny will be placed on how and where we spend money, please don’t deviate from intelligent marketing in favour of short-term lead generation.
Remember how buyers buy, remember the 95/5 rule, and remember the most effective advertising isn’t easily measured.
This doesn’t change because of a bad economy.
3* Media channels offer widely variable returns.
“In turbulent times, businesses become more risk averse. So it’s a good moment to look at how different media channels offer hugely variable returns”
ThinkBox has some fresh data reinforcing their media mix generator tool, and whilst this nifty tool is helpful (a happy customer right here), it’s come as no shock that this TV trade body research puts TV as king of the castle.
I would argue this insight is better used for B2C brands, but there are enough provoking views that we B2B marketers should take into account.
Times are tough, and they will get tougher, so how are we prioritising our media spend, the channels we use and the allocations we decide?
Whilst this data is underpinned by econometrics data shared by several large agencies, it is not as cut and dry for us folks in B2B marketing. The jury is still out on the role of econometrics for B2B marketing in my view, can it play a helpful steer to some of your decision-making, yes, would I have this front and centre to all my decision-making, no.
What I do like about this article is the narrative around placing short, medium and long-term bets.
We have to capture demand, and we have KPIs and targets, but there are only so many primed, ready-to-buy buyers at any given stage, so we need to speak to tomorrow's buyers differently and ensure our brand is top of mind when they do become ready. That is branding and demand generation, two separate things of course.
Deciding on your channel strategy selection should consist of a healthy mixture of complementary data, such as category insight, historical performance, qualitative data, customer data, business goals and human intelligence.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
What is "market penetration" and why do marketers need to think about it more often?
business triggers vs demand triggers
People buy from people" They do. But…
Structuring a LinkedIn ads account
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Hot off a fresh round of funding is Jasper AI. Create messaging 10x faster.
***
039 - B2B’s artificial funnel problem
The problem with the use of the funnel is that it sets an unrealistic expectation for what can be accomplished with how your B2B marketing should be set up. As such, how you approach it will be manufactured to adhere to outdated ways of working that help you deliver vanity metrics, such as MQL.
1* B2B’s artificial funnel problem
Original piece posted by Chris Peters
The problem with the use of the funnel is that it sets an unrealistic expectation for what can be accomplished with how your B2B marketing should be set up. As such, how you approach it will be manufactured to adhere to outdated ways of working that help you deliver vanity metrics, such as MQL.
4 points I dive into in more detail in this article
>| B2B buying is a journey, not a funnel.
>| Talk to those today who are buying tomorrow.
>| If your team is ultimately measured on leads and MQLs, this will reflect your marketing strategy.
>| The enabler that unlocks a better marketing strategy is measurement.
2* “The most important search engine is still the one in your mind”
Another cornerstone piece of thinking from LinkedIn to apply to your strategic armour.
I often like to apply my own thinking and POV to articles, but these excerpts are so perfectly written it's a simple copy and paste job today.
Here are 4 insightful things you’ll get from this piece.
If you believe most buyer behaviour starts with memory, it then follows that the primary job of marketing is not to generate clicks, but instead to generate memories.
When entering a buying situation, a category buyer first draws on existing memories to identify potential brands for purchase. These memory-generated brands are the starting point for the buying process. Other sources and search engines (e.g., google, colleagues) are usually only consulted if the memory-generated options are insufficient. And, even when consultation does occur, buyers still show a bias for the brands they already know.
Memory-generated brands are the starting point for the buying process.
Working with Category Entry Points. Here are four steps to help you work with CEPs: 1. Identify CEPs in the category 2. Prioritise CEPs for your brand/company/portfolio 3. Build CEPs into your marketing communications 4. Measure how effectively your brand is linking to those CEPs in category buyer memory
3* 45% of buyers prefer to conduct buying research on their own
This data is over 2 years out of date, I suspect this figure has increased to over half by now.
The Gartner Future of Sales 2025 report predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels.
Sales teams and B2B businesses need to evolve their org structures that build around how buyers want to buy.
Less than 1 in 5 people want to engage a sales rep in the buying process, more buyers want to conduct their independent research for suppliers to use and buyers want the process on their terms.
Brands need to think about how they deploy their sales team to engage them, the experience they provide and how they’re set up as a business to provide this new buying process.
This is a good piece of Gartner that goes into more detail to diversify digital selling tools and channels, rethink B2B sales enablement and Prioritise the seller experience and coaching.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Trying to figure out what you should be focusing on in 2023?
Influencer marketing is not a substitute for a content strategy
Four things that have become more important than ever when it comes to business building
How much demand is actually out there
Every marketer should embrace OKRs for this one reason
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Empowering B2B marketers to find mini consulting and advisory opportunities.
038 - The biggest opportunity in media that right under our nose
Despite the challenges in the market right now, brands continue to seek new levers to unlock growth, whether that's a new channel to test, an adapted strategy to launch or a technology to introduce.
1* The biggest opportunity in media that right under our nose
Despite the challenges in the market right now, brands continue to seek new levers to unlock growth, whether that's a new channel to test, an adapted strategy to launch or a technology to introduce.
But often the biggest lever to pull is close to home, its obvious importance is well known. And that’s creative.
Evidence continues to flood in that reinforces the need to invest in better creativity.
A new piece from Kantar research reiterates the impact creativity can have not only on brand metrics but overall business impact.
Shifting average creative to great creative, can yield an increase in ROI by 30%.
A route course to the problem is, we marketers don’t truly understand our customers, or certainly not as much as we think.
This piece from Anastasia Leng, touches on “The Empathy Delusion”.
2* Is your content helping or confusing your customer
When you strip it back, how helpful is your content?
What role does it play?
Is your content geared towards striking an emotional cord, an ever-growing requirement for your content strategy? Or is it to help educate a buyer not ready to buy, or is it simply engineered to get them over the finishing line to buy your thing?
Contents' role varies dramatically by brand, the objectives of their advertising, and the focus on the product/service.
But one thing your content must do is have an associated goal that triggers an action.
It must emotionally engage them
It must arm them with knowledge
It must provoke a reaction (comment, share, disagree, agree)
It must make them laugh
It must reassure them
What it mustn't do (terrible English, I know), is confuse them, give them reasons not to engage, to react negatively, and to move on to someone else.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Uncertainty is encouraging bad habits
Conversion Intern <> Sales velocity
How to create a one-page strategy
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Empowering B2B marketers to find mini consulting and advisory opportunities.
037 - Building a Memorable B2B Brand
The artificial funnel that alludes to a perfectly executed linear buying journey is, as we know, a myth.
1* Marketing measurement is being torn apart by media fragmentation, yet we need it more than ever
This is a snappy POV from Ian over at Pokerstars.
The artificial funnel that alludes to a perfectly executed linear buying journey is, as we know, a myth.
It’s fragmented, complicated and untrackable.
But, with the right guardrails, and leading indicators, you can introduce frameworks that allow you to continue to measure marketing effectiveness.
Check out Ian’s post, but I would add my point below.
> Introduce a marketing framework that incorporates different data perspectives for the advertising you conduct. My example is below, but you can incorporate more granular metrics, more revenue driven metrics, or more behavioural metrics. The point is to encompass what make sense for your brand.
2* Building a Memorable B2B Brand: Who Will Be the Next Iconic Brand?
This article is jam packed with insight and beautifully crafted infographics to visual some great takeaways.
Here are 3 interesting insights I found most interesting
B2B companies have become more confident with producing creative campaigns.
You’ll learn what a creative commitment score is
The impact emotion has on your marketing
3* Understanding market demand for abstract things
Mr X is back, the alias operating under Calvin Blanc who wrote “How good is demand-gen marketing at actually creating demand?” is back with his take on market demand, with the use of abstract thinking.
This is an interesting perspective about where demand lies and the 5 key components that support it
The overall theme of what exactly is fuelling and informing demand makes sense. It’s a healthy blend of what we know, with the useful addition of a minimalist design.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
A practical guide to making the move from lead gen to demand gen in B2B
Managing performance expectations
For far too long, customer success has been underappreciated for its impact on growth
Point of View is the cornerstone of marketing communications
Nice work from EY and Ogilvy with his commercial
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
The easiest way to showcase your product. Arcade.
***
036 - How good is demand-gen marketing at actually creating demand?
It’s easy to jump on the latest marketing graze, what’s harder is questioning the logic and thinking behind it.
1* How good is demand-gen marketing at actually creating demand?
I found this perspective on demand generation fascinating.
It’s easy to jump on the latest marketing graze, what’s harder is questioning the logic and thinking behind it.
Demand Generation, whilst not new, and seen a resurgence over the last 18 months, largely driven by the smart folks from Refine Labs.
But in his “rant”, Calin Blanc argued some valid and obvious points.
Is our job as B2B marketers really to create new demand, or is there enough pre-existing demand that our job is to simply nurture it?
”I know you already want this, but I know you’re not ready to buy yet, so my job is to stay in front of you until that day comes so that you don’t buy from my competitor.”
We can make our marketing as complicated as we like, but the crux of it really is, when someone is ready to buy, who are they thinking of?
Does creating educational content influence that, yes, of course, hugely, but as Calin quite rightly pointed out, it’s one of many factors influencing buyers to buy.
This is a nice healthy dose of marketing realism.
2* Start your content strategy with the quick wins
Content is hard.
It’s time-consuming, it encourages the most input and opinion, and don’t talk to me about approvals!
But yet, we often create content for what we think our customer wants, not necessarily what the buyer wants or needs.
Content should be built from customer insights, this is customer interviews, community posts, social comments and product reviews.
But sometimes it is simply about creating content for customers who already want to buy something right now.
What piece of content will get someone to choose you over your competitor?
When a buyer is ready to buy, they are researching the problem they have, the brands they know who can fix that problem, and they seek out their peers for advice on that problem.
You need content here that can influence this buyer and the final buying decision.
In marketing, sometimes you need easy wins and points on the board, start your content strategy with content that can help buyers buy.
3* 10 typical mistakes almost every B2B company makes
There are lots of takeaways here, and the original post goes into more detail for every point.
I like this one the most.
7. Prospecting all accounts the same way.
If some accounts can generate 10x more revenue, why should they be approached the same way as others?
But most B2B companies prospect all accounts the same way:
Automated outbound and display ads with the same message.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
B2B is the key driver of economic growth, and it will be marketers who build those businesses
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0-140k Downloads - The How-to podcasting guide
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Sales intelligence platform. Cognism.
***
035 - First mover advantage
More and more noise continues from B2B brands who take the plunge and test TikTok.
1* First mover advantage
More and more noise continues from B2B brands who take the plunge and test TikTok.
When platforms are new you can take advantage of immature algorithms, with a lack of competitor adoption, with efficient buys.
Whilst I have not taken the plunge personally or professionally, it’s on my list for later this year.
Be brave, try something new, and reap the rewards of first mover advantage.
This is one of many examples I have heard of brands taking the plunge and testing TikTok.
2* New way vs the old way
Cognism has been a brilliant example of a brand who have successfully pivoted their “old way” of B2B marketing, to “modern-day” B2B marketing, and their team continues to share brilliant actionable content across social media that demonstrates the actions they have taken to improve the effectiveness of their marketing.
The changes have been pretty simple.
They shifted the metrics they deemed a success.
This meant moving away from an MQL Focus & Cost Per Lead to a Qualified Pipeline, sales cycle timelines, and monitoring inbound inquiries.
Shifting their success metrics meant they could approach their marketing differently.
They put more emphasis on content, removing friction, and gateways, they focused on promoting content and educating their buyer.
As a result, they have seen a huge improvement in key revenue-focused metrics.
There were no shortcuts, a hack, or silver bullets.
It wasn’t hockey stick growth overnight, more stair step growth, but the patience, focus and resistance have paid off.
This is an example of an aligned team, with a focus on delivering impactful marketing.
3* Revenue is the fuel a company needs.
“Marketers will continue to celebrate siloed wins unless there is pressure to re-evaluate what success looks like.”
Marketing teams are too fragmented.
Goals are not aligned, objectives are not shared, and success often looks different between departments.
So, we celebrate what we can when we can. And this is fine.
Using my example above of Cognism, could more alignment ignite better marketing, more customer consideration and better results?
Would an aligned version encourage these traits?
Does our website offer a customer experience that users expect today?
Do I really understand how our product/service solves a problem for our customers?
When was the last time I spoke with one of our customers?
How does our ICP like to consume information and where?
What elements of our marketing are truly influencing purchase decisions?
I would say yes.
A shared vision brings alignment, a greater community of thought, creativity and ultimately better marketing.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Brands offer mental shortcuts that make purchase decisions quicker and easier
"Exhaust all capture demand channels before attempting to create demand"
To thrive in a marketing leadership role, there are two things that will accelerate your success
Buyers are no longer interested in buying products and services the way they have always done
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Something I posted a few weeks ago, I shared 24 talented B2B marketers you need to follow, check them out here and here.
034 - You could be deterring people from your “webinar”
Those “webinar” experiences are now associated with unengaging presenters with repurposed generic content with no thought given to their audience.
1* You could be deterring people from your “webinar”
Goldcast, one of the leading event software platforms has shared data that indicates a 5% drop off in registering for an event, to attending it, simply by referring to the event as a “webinar”.
This data, to me at least, is reinforcing the toll lockdown has taken on the webinars we have all succumbed to at some point.
Every company seemed to jump on the webinar bandwagon throughout lockdown, as such, many of us attended stuffy, boring and generic webinars that provided no value.
Those “webinar” experiences are now associated with unengaging presenters with repurposed generic content with no thought given to their audience.
“Webinars” or the concept is not dead.
People are happy to sit through an hour's worth of slides and presentations if the content is good, provides value and generally resonates.
Providing content for content’s sake will have a more negative brand perception than doing no content at all.
Find out for yourself, A/B test any of these alternatives
Workshop session, live event, brainstorming session, expert discussion.
A 5% drop off against your effort content strategy is a huge swing, given the resource put behind the presenter's time, the designer's time, the marketing team's time and the ad budget, which means a lot of dollars could be saved!
2* Outdated B2B vs. Changing B2B vs. Modern B2B
This post attracted over 1.5k likes and nearly 300 comments.
There is so much value in this post, I’m not sure where to start!
Modern Day B2B marketing is here, it’s happening, and the 300 comments reinforce not only good behaviours, but the behaviours brands NEED to have to be successful in the future, and now.
The “playbook” has evolved, and brands leaning into these new behaviours are the ones who will win in the future.
Take a note, take a lot of notes and see how many of your growth initiatives reflect outdated, changing or modern-day B2B marketing tactics.
3* Shifting to a demand gen strategy? This is how to get sign off from senior management
Overhauling your marketing strategy will raise eyebrows from senior management.
Especially, when that strategy doesn’t bring in “results” in a week or two.
Shifting from a strategy that doesn’t show instant gratification from historical success indicators, such as “leads”, will make that transformation a lot harder.
This is a simple framework that will enable your team to present to senior management, on their terms, what the current path looks like, the structure in place to measure the process, and what success will look like in the future.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
LinkedIn is sunsetting reach and frequency metrics
Hitting a point of predictable growth is great, but how do you stack growth to continue to scale?
Why B2B Marketing's a Long Game, Not a Hit-and-Run SaaS Play
If it seems like content about 'dark social' is everywhere these days, that's because it is
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Something a bit different this week, I posted 24 talented B2B marketers you need to follow, check them out here and here.
***
033 - How do you scale content when you are in a small team?
How do you scale content when you are in a small team?
1* “How do you scale content when you are in a small team?”
“2 ways:
1. Create one big asset that can repurposed many ways
2. Create smaller assets that can be combined into one larger asset”
This original piece of content provides a simple 7 step process to help maximise your content.
Don’t create content with one execution in mind, understand how your buyer wants to consume content and build a strategy that enables you to create your own repurpose strategy.
2* Buyers don’t live in PowerPoint slides
We’ve all done it.
We have presented a linear buyer’s journey where we have simplified so effortlessly the complex world of B2B buying, to be solved by a funnel. Where our unsuspecting buyer seamlessly goes from an unknown target customer, to quickly becoming brand aware, then a customer, and finally a beloved brand advocate.
There’s nothing wrong with the funnel graph, it often does a great job at simplifying the complex world of B2B buying.
What’s wrong is the suggestion that we can orchestrate such a smooth transition, from start to finish.
The buyer's journey is sadly not linear.
We might jump a stage or two, we might come back a stage as our research evolves, as time goes on and opinion changes.
Funnel graphs are useful, I will use them again, I’m certain of it, but I will proceed with caution and ensure there is a healthy dose of reality applied to them.
3* Vanity metrics must die
Salesforce CMO shares his candid view on vanity metrics.
3 things I learned from this article.
Why Arstro the mascot was created!
The importance of differentiating between aided awareness and product capability
The importance of relevant awareness
This is a great read!
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Launched a new demand strategy and unsure what metrics to measure first?
A simple re-framing exercise for marketers who believe their CEO doesn't get marketing
Paid efforts greatly impact organic sources, and I have the data to back up this claim
When you go from marketing at a big company to marketing in a SaaS start-up
The 5 types of people in every community and the role that each play
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Personalised sales pods for demo meetings, outreach and sales calls.
***
032 - Should we map marketing content to buyer stages?
B2B buyers don’t work linearly and trying to create a perfectly aligned scenario with your content and the buyer's journey is impossible.
1* “Should we map marketing content to buyer stages?”
“No! — and here’s why.
Creating specific content for each stage in the buying process forces marketers to produce the wrong type of content because they are assuming the purchasing path is linear.”
I couldn’t agree more with this contrarian view of mapping out your content strategy.
B2B buyers don’t work linearly and trying to create a perfectly aligned scenario with your content and the buyer's journey is impossible.
When presenting a funnel on a PowerPoint or an excel document with your content roadmap laid out based on the buyer's journey, it’s easy, but replicating this accurately in practice is very very hard.
Instead, focus on creating content that ticks all the traditional boxes.
“— Why should buyers consider this category?
— What are the reasons to prioritise it over others?
— What are the risks if we don’t prioritise it?
— What are the immediate benefits vs long term?”
If your marketing and content are activated right, your buyers will be consuming the content you want them to consume. When they want specific content from you, they will know where and how to find it.
2* Website Content vs. Dark Social Content
When we create content, our default approach is to ladder everything up from your website. This means, that we create content with the mindset that it starts with our website.
However, “Your website is not the destination people want to go to consume information”
It’s true.
No longer do we bookmark key blogs to consume information, we consume information from our peers we follow on social media, the newsletters we sign up to, the podcasts we listen to and the communities we’re in.
If that’s the case, why do we still create with a website first mentality?
“We default to creating website content because it’s easier to track”
Doing so limits our reach.
It’s harder to be shared and amplified via social media algorithms and it limits the people who can potentially consume it.
The number one goal of a content strategy is for it to be consumed.
So, when you think about creating content, think first where your buyers they hang out, and create content natively around these platforms to maximise the number one goal of your content strategy. Content consumption.
3* 12 pricing psychology tips to help you sell more stuff
We might not have the influence to dictate pricing strategy for your companies product, and the examples laid out by Katelyn refer to B2C.
But for your next event, service promotion, or upsell opportunity, remember these psychology tips to help test different pricing strategies that you can potentially influence.
This Twitter thread is packed with helpful actionable advice.
Example
“BIG font = BIG price
Our brains confuse the visual size of a number for numeric size
If we see $25 in large font, our brain notices how BIG the font is and assumes the price is big
Lesson: display prices using small fonts (not large ones)”
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Marketing is messy - Here are my top tips to simplify things
The hidden cost of being a platform
What’s the difference between messaging and copywriting?
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Turn your written content into videos.
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031 - The Dark Iceberg
What presents on the surface is what we can see, or at least what our attribution and CRM platforms tell us.
1* The correlation between demand generation and demand capture
This image perfectly encapsulates the simplicity of how demand generation and demand capture work TOGETHER.
2* The Dark Iceberg?
Keeping with the demand generation theme, The Dark Iceberg.
This is not a new buzzword, but an interesting articulation of how B2B Buyers are buying.
What presents on the surface is what we can see, or at least what our attribution and CRM platforms tell us.
But the reality is, there’s so much underneath driving demand and influencing the buying decision, we simply can't see it / measure it.
Understanding what you can see and can’t see, or what you can attribute and can’t attribute, will enable you to unlock better marketing, more strategic thinking and deliver creative experience..
Unless the shackles of what you “can’t see”.
3* “A scalable go-to-market strategy requires BOTH demand creation + demand capture”
The success of each depends on the other.
4* 5 B2B marketing trends that have been expedited, enhanced, or evolved in the pandemic
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
When you don’t have the budget as a founder or solo marketer
Your content strategy shifts and becomes clearer
Marketing is messy - Here are my top tips to simplify things
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
030 - “The most important search is still the one in your mind”
Memory-generated brands are the starting points for the buying process
1* “The most important search is still the one in your mind”
Profound statement within the foreword of this thought-provoking opinion piece.
This is a healthy reminder of the role of the marketeer.
Lots of value from this article. Here are the things I loved.
Memory-generated brands are the starting points for the buying process
Category entry points in a B2B world
The correlation between CEP and buying influence
Measuring the effectiveness of building CEPs
2 * Are you stuck on the 2010 B2B marketing playbook?
Does your marketing performance hinge on how many MQLs you have driven from your eBook campaign?
Does your pay rise and bonus rely on you sending 1000s of emails a week in the hope you capture one or two people interested in a meeting?
Does collecting insight mean going onto Salesforce to what channels drove the most efficient MQLs this week?
This is The B2B Hamster Wheel Playbook. Once you're spinning it’s hard to get off.
the B2B buyers have evolved, and it’s time your marketing did too.
The transition.
Measurement and internal expectations set what is expected from marketing.
Your job is to change that narrative and remove the shackles of a dated measurement framework.
1- Focus your time on obsessing over your buyer. Talk to them, listen to sales calls and immerse yourself in the platforms they engage with.
2- Plot your buyer's journey, and acknowledge most of your buyers are not ready to buy. Adopt the 95/5 rule
3- Build a measurement framework that takes into account multiple data points, they can include
* Marketing data from marketing platforms (CTR’s, video views, post likes)
* Revenue (Qualified pipeline , closed-won)
* Behavioural Data (website dwell time, return visitors)
* Qualitative Data (self-reporting, LinkedIn comments, key buyer's social engagement)
You need a mixture of leading indicators, qualitative insight, behavioural data and revenue metrics.
4 - Slowly transition your marketing efforts, you don’t have to change them overnight.
*Align with your sales team and set clear expectations from one another
*Start to ungate content slowly
*Incorporate more metrics when you report back to your internal stakeholders
*More focus on your content engine
*Amplify your content and distribution channels with more intent on content consumption
5 - Manage expectations that MQLs will start to decrease, with the expectations more qualified opportunities will start trickling in
3 * How to utilise webinar content
How most people run webinars:
- Promote webinar
- Run Webinar
- Send Webinar out Via Email
- Post to Website
How you should run webinars:
- Everything above, then...
- Cut into short clips
- Distribute via paid and organic
Check out this healthy reminder of how you should be approaching your webinar strategy.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Provoking view on creating demand
There is no secret distribution channel.
This is what purpose driven marketing gets wrong
Marketing teams need to work better with creative teams
Create content to help your audience go from A to B
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
A reliable and cost-efficient email delivery tool. Post Mark
029 - The Buyer Centric Revenue Model
Goals are not aligned, a unified approach on how to get there is disjointed and internal collaboration is sometimes treated with an air of scepticism.
B2B Excellence is a weekly newsletter that curates the best B2B marketing content from the brightest minds in our industry.
We include the perspectives from a variety of enterprise marketers, stories from fast-growth businesses challenging the conventional ways of working and thinking, and the top 1% of B2B marketers shaping modern-day practices.
Grab yourself a cup of tea and review our archived entries at https://www.b2bexcellence.co/
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1* “ Customer Acquisition Costs Have Skyrocketed by 55%”
Competition is at an all-time high
Buyer's expectations are at an all-time high
Key channels are more competitive than ever
And a recession is looming
Nothing new, and certainly all rather negative.
But we have internal control of the goals we strive for and the strategy to get us there.
But yet, brands, large and small are misaligned and more fragmented than ever.
Goals are not aligned, a unified approach on how to get there is disjointed and internal collaboration is sometimes treated with an air of scepticism.
The solution.
Sales, marketing and senior management need to align on the common goal for the business.
Sales and marketing need to work together on how to get there.
Sales and marketing need to set clear expectations and collective goals for achieving these goals.
2* The Buyer Centric Revenue Model
This image caught my eye on my news feed this week. Original post.
This is a perfectly summarised articulation of the modern-day challenges and opportunities for B2B brands.
Marketing has evolved dramatically in the last twenty years, ten years, and three-five years.
Yet, most B2B marketing still lends itself to playbooks from 2010.
This presents a huge opportunity for brands prepared to adapt to modern-day B2B marketing techniques.
A few quick suggestions…
Internal alignment between sales and marketing on revenue goals
Marketing to focus on qualified pipeline, not MQLs
Adopt a healthy obsession with your customers (feedback loops, customers interviews, listening to sales calls)
Introduce a strategy that aligns with how / when your customer buys
Manage upwards on expectations for marketing focus
3* Focus on leading indicators and quality instead of quantity
Measuring success does not mean always measuring it directly.
This is a great example of truly understanding your buyer, their needs and how to communicate with them.
Requiring success to be either attributed in a CRM platform, or a ROI deliver on every channel, is going to force you to execute your marketing in a particular way.
A way that isn’t best doesn’t reflect how buyers behave today.
Introduce leading indicators that reflect broader success is going to shift how you approach your marketing.
,Leading indicators can include qualitative insight / customer feedback, reduction in sales cycle, CVR increase for inbound.
All key metrics that build a broader picture to the impact of your strategic approach which will enable you to do better marketing.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
The problem with creating new demand
Ownership of the buyer's journey
Automation is not enough for B2B owners
Prospects ignore your templated emails and LinkedIn messages
How to write 10x better LinkedIn posts in 5 steps
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Are you interested in selling a book, an article, or a membership? Get started at GumRoad.
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028 - Change is the only constant in B2B decision-making
“Change is the only constant in B2B decision-making”
1* “Change is the only constant in B2B decision-making”
Influencing one person to buy your product or service is no longer enough.
91% of software sellers have seen the decision-maker change during the selection process.
• 20% of B2B decision-makers report that buying committees have increased in size since 2020.
This is important because when you set about marketing, it’s usually built around your key persona.
Whilst fully understanding your core audience remains the priority, understanding how your content and marketing needs to also influence the decision-makers beyond your ICP remains a key factor in what you market.
Some of those key individuals influencing buying decisions will work across procurement, finance and senior management.
Ensure they’re a part of your thinking, content creation and execution.
2* “When companies start with the campaign, they're really starting with Me, rather than starting with the Customer.”
Do you start with the campaign, or do you start with the strategy?
Starting with the campaign usually sets out to deliver a campaign with a blinkered view of the overall impact of your marketing strategy, this means less focus on what your customers really need and how best to engage them on the channel mix based on the wider strategy.
Starting with the strategy really puts the customer at the heart of the direction of the future campaign.
It enables you to think more creatively and intelligently, for example.
What’s the intent of our audience across different channels?
What content resonates across different platforms?
How do they use different social media channels?
What are our target audience trying to accomplish when they engage in different channels?
Start with strategy, it forces you to think beyond campaigns and it will ultimately make the campaign you deliver more effective.
3* Most of the things that influence buying decisions you can’t see in your CRM
Obsessing over attribution and directly tracking every piece of advertising will minimise the effect of your advertising.
Unleashing the shackles of attribution software will enable better and more impactful marketing.
The below illustration is an example of various touchpoints that are influencing buying decisions.
Your CRM is likely attributing these touchpoints to organic or direct.
If you had a measurement framework that helps inform your decision-making vs, just attribution, you will be able to double down on what is influencing buying decisions, and not what has the best click-through rate.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Effective messaging is effective marketing
Distil your messaging into components
10 reasons to implement #ABM as a B2B SaaS company:
Your website should be on brand, sure.
I’ve hired a lot of marketers from first timers to 6-figure pros.
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027 - Word of Mouth 2.0 = “Digital Word of Mouth”
Peers and colleague recommendations are one of the biggest influencers in helping inform a buying decision, reassuring a buyer when they are ready to buy, or discovering a new brand.
1* Use these four R’s of buyer’s trust to 10x your #ABM program
Referrals | Retention | Reputation | Relationships
Referrals
“The good news is that 83% of the customers are open to providing a referral... if you know WHEN and HOW to ask for it.”
Key Actions - connect with accounts your customers are connected to and use this as an opportunity to request an introduction. (Bonus) - Make your connection and request as easy as possible for your existing customer.
Retention
ABM is not simply acquiring new customers, it’s also upselling to existing accounts.
Key Actions - Share case studies from other clients to the buying committee. The buying committee isn’t just your main ICP. Think of finance, junior members of the team, the really senior people of the organisation. Create content for and distribute to the entire buying committee
Use this formula to drive awareness and demand with target buyers:
Reputation
EXPERTISE × CREDIBILITY × VISIBILITY × CONSISTENCY
Relationships
Strategically networking on the platforms your customers hang out (most likely LinkedIn). And turn engagements into meaningful conversions. Respond to conversations with genuine intent to provide value and engagement.
2* Word of Mouth 2.0 = “Digital Word of Mouth”
Peers and colleague recommendations are one of the biggest influencers in helping inform a buying decision, reassuring a buyer when they are ready to buy, or discovering a new brand.
Brands want a WOM of strategy, but how are you considering digital word of mouth?
George Macks put in, “you have to think of the group chat first.”
He adds that instead of trying to make it spread within group chats, you need to first understand what is spreading in these communities already.
I would add that the need to religiously understand your buyer to create content that is worthy of sharing. This insight can be gathered in many ways but simply asking them helps. Next time you speak to your customer, ask them what the last 3 pieces of content they shared were, and why.
Why is Digital WOM important? Speed & Conversion.
Physical WOM consists of that, seeing people in events, within the office, and out and about. These occurrences are not as frequent as in the digital world. You can reach someone in seconds on a group chat, where events are likely to be every few months.
When you share your message in person, it’s usually to one person. When you share it in chats’ it’s often to a much bigger audience.
3* Steal this 3-step framework to transition from lead gen to demand gen
Mindset | Metrics | Execution
This is an actionable framework that enables you to shift go-to-market strategy.
Key Actions
Mindset - this is huge, before you start. You and your team really need to understand the value of the leads you're driving right now from your “lead gen” campaigns, and cross reference to how your buyers are buying today.
How many of your buyers are converting from your lead gen campaigns?
How much time does your sales team spend chasing these accounts?
How much budget and time goes into creating these campaigns?
What’s the business ROI from the investment above, plus ad spend?
Once you carry out this self-assessment, you’ll truly understand the value of your lead gen campaigns.
Metrics - your marketing needs to influence revenue and your measurement framework needs to consist of a series of metrics that indicate business impact / revenue.
Execution - ensure you and your team have a healthy obsession with your buyer and construct a demand strategy around how they buy.
For example.
Distribute content in the channels they consume
Make it easy to consume that content
Create content based on insight, not what you think
Be present in channels and places they hang out
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
3 types of content to use while prospecting
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
MetaData. I have been following this brand for a little while. Not only is it a fantastic product, but it’s also a business that creates great content.
Metadata allows you to aggregate all your paid media channels into one channel, but it has been designed specifically for B2B brands.
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026 - How to get more from your content strategy
The problem with most content strategies is that the execution and final delivery are created for a singular purpose.
1* How to get more from your content strategy
The problem with most content strategies is that the execution and final delivery are created for a singular purpose.
For example….
>Our objective is lead gen = create a white paper and gate it.
>Ranking for a keyword = develop a 1,500 article.
>Top of the funnel article = 3000-word essay.
Each one of those examples can be leveraged far beyond one form of content.
One piece of content should be enough to create dozens of alternative forms of content.
For example, a podcast can be reproduced for…
YouTube video
Multiple LinkedIn cuts
An article write up
The copy can be used for your next ad campaign
The insight can inspire an infographic
Twitter quotes can be drawn up
The content can fuel your next outreach campaign
The POV can help shape your next question in your buyer's community
Approach your next piece of content with a broader view of where and how you can distribute it..
2* “Dark social'' is not just “word of mouth”. Dark social is an effect caused by digital activities that are not trackable.”
This is a smart take on distinguishing the difference between WOM and Dark Social.
WOM and Dark Social are key drivers to influencing decision making.
To influence these traits, one must “focus on driving conversation in dark social, you need to be thinking about how to get your message distributed to people that creates engagement and sparks conversation which drives shareability of your message.”
Is the content so good that customers share it with their colleagues on Slack or Teams?
Do you know your audience well enough to engage and answer queries in the communities they hang out in.
Are you and your team being invited onto podcasts to share their stories?
These are all leading indicators that suggest you're creating content that influences conversations in dark social.
3* The modern B2B buyer does not need or want vendor intervention until they are ready
Yes, yes and YES.
This is the reality of every B2B buyer's journey.
B2B buyers are more informed than ever before, they know where to get the research they need, who to contact, who to ask and they have brands already in mind for when they want to make this decision.
“👉 But don't wait until then. You'll be too late for the party.”
“It's no more complicated than this.” and I couldn’t agree more.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
The roles we have in software companies today won't be the same in 3 years
How to avoid complicated B2B attribution
Why you should invest in demand gen
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
Ogilvy have teamed up with Jon Lombardo, Head of Research at The B2B Institute at LinkedIn to talk about the power having a contrarian mindset can unlock.
Jon will be joined by James Myers, Head of B2B Strategy in a discussion that will cover:
- Why brand awareness is out, and situational awareness is in
- Why you should advertise to people who will not buy from you today
- Why there is no great product without great marketing, especially in B2B
025 - Are you competing against everyone else, with the same message?
Every single brand invests in the bottom of the funnel activity.
This makes sense, it’s easier to track, easier to show ROI, and people have a need, and you have a solution.
But “every single brand” is active here.
1* Why you should invest in demand gen
Every single brand invests in the bottom of the funnel activity.
This makes sense, it’s easier to track, easier to show ROI, and people have a need, and you have a solution.
But “every single brand” is active here.
Before a customer even seeks out a potential solution, they already have 2-4 brands in mind.
So, for those only active at the bottom of the funnel, you’re already at a disadvantage.
That’s why investing in demand generation can help unlock diminishing returns from performance marketing, increase higher converting inbound opportunities and speed up sales cycles.
Invest in building brand awareness before your customer is ready to buy, and this is how brands will win in the future.
2* Do we all sound the same?
We have so many products on the market, are they all starting to sound the same?
If you Google “marketing agencies”.
Look at any website that has curated marketing agencies, and half will possess the word “global”, “award winning” or a reference to being the “best”.
The impact of this generic messaging doesn’t impact the category leader’s vs those without brand recognition.
Smaller businesses need that point of differentiation.
Here is a 3-step guide to help you stand out.
1. Lead with a headline that only you can write.
2. Communicate your onlyness in the value prop above the fold
3. Say something your competition won’t want to copy (personality).
Check out the rest of this POV to see how these examples play out in reality.
3* 5 key roles in the ABM team
Are you building your ABM team?
Here are 5 key roles and their responsibilities for building an effective ABM team.
Conversations / Articles You Should Read
Brand Awareness vs. Demand Generation: What’s the Difference?
Demand-Gen vs. Lead-Gen: What's The Difference?
How to resolve the attention paradox
Building $1K - $10K MRR Micro SaaS products around Cold Outreach
If B2B marketers could time travel
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.
These are the five B2B podcasts I listen to, in no particular order.
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024 - What's your playbook
When success for the business is determined by leads, with no accountability for the quality of those leads, there isn’t much of an incentive to adapt your marketing.
1* Unleashing the shackles of a poor measurement framework enables better marketing
When success for the business is determined by leads, with no accountability for the quality of those leads, there isn’t much of an incentive to adapt your marketing.
This means the traditional playbook will be rinsed and repeated time and time again.
But for those willing to take on a new mindset, a new way of working, the benefits can be fruitful.
This post is a great example of a brand embracing a customer-first marketing strategy.
2* 4 out of 1000 will click your ad
This is an important metric, it references an average click-through rate of 0.96% of any given digital advertising campaign.
The problem with this figure is, that we have become accustomed to accepting this as the norm.
Our goal is to drive people to our website via social media, 4 out of 1000 people who see our ad will click, 2 or 3 will land on our page, and 0.005 may actually ever do anything beyond that first page.
This approach serves a purpose, and these are the rules we play in.
However, there is an alternative approach.
Focus on content consumption and optimising the distribution of that content to your target audience.
This means your mindset, strategy and tactics are built around creating content that engages, educates, and entertains your customers, and your role is to ensure your customers consume it.
When you have that mentality you start thinking differently about how to execute.
If your focus becomes on content consumption, and not driving website traffic. You’ll get more people consuming the information/content you're putting out, regardless of where they consume it.
There are always trade-offs with execution, and there are reasons to drive users to your website, but sometimes building brand association, a connection, a frictionless experience and getting your user to consume your content natively in the channels they’re in, is often a better method to engage your customer.
This post elaborates on this theory.
3* The best copy is no copy at all
Unfortunately, very few brands have this luxury!
But it’s a great reminder of the power of a brand association.
When I see Lego, I think of fun, imagination and creativity.
What do you want your customers to think when they see your ads and content?
Conversations You Should Read
Why you should invest in demand gen
How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile
How do you know if social media is working for your business?
Here are the three biggest reasons why B2B marketing is boring
Things buyers DON'T care about
Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts
Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.