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B2B Marketing KPIs: 3 KPIs That Generate More Money

April 18, 2024 No Comments

Crucial KPIs for B2B Marketing Success

Unlocking the true potential of B2B marketing requires a strategic approach, and at the heart of this strategy lies the indispensable concept of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

In his influential book, Measure What Matters, author John Doerr, a luminary in the business world, delves into the critical role of KPIs in shaping the success of B2B marketing endeavours.

B2B Marketing KPIs: 3 KPIs That Generate More Money

In his book, Doeer shares examples of how Google and other B2B companies achieve success by focusing on the right KPIs.

As a seasoned venture capitalist and influential figure in Silicon Valley, Doerr draws upon his vast experience to underscore the importance of setting and tracking KPIs for businesses striving to achieve excellence.

This article navigates through Doerr’s perspective, shedding light on how KPIs serve as the linchpin for B2B marketers, enabling them to measure, analyze, and optimize their efforts.

As businesses strive for excellence and relevance in the dynamic B2B arena, Doerr’s wisdom becomes a guiding beacon, emphasizing the profound importance of KPIs in steering marketing strategies toward unparalleled success.

In this article, you will learn the most critical KPIs for every B2B marketer to bring the right results for his or her company.

Understanding B2B Marketing KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the compass that guides businesses toward success.

Karl Pearson once said: “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

You will only create real success once you understand the KPIs that bring the right results.

Understanding the intricacies of these metrics is pivotal for marketers striving to navigate the complex terrain of B2B interactions effectively.

The Role of KPIs in B2B Marketing

At the core of any successful B2B marketing strategy lies the fundamental understanding of the role that KPIs play.

According to John Doerr, KPIs are not just metrics; they are strategic tools that drive decision-making and performance evaluation.

In the intricate dance of B2B transactions, these indicators become the cornerstone for assessing the effectiveness of marketing efforts and refining strategies for optimal results such as sales, customer retention, and lead attraction.

Selecting the Right KPIs for Your Business

One size does not fit all when it comes to KPIs. Selecting the right metrics tailored to your business is a critical step in leveraging their potential.

If your business focuses on monthly services, your KPIs may differ from those of a company that sells its product just once.

The process involves a deep dive into the unique aspects of your industry, target audience, and business objectives. As business strategist Roger Martin says: “You need to understand what game you are playing first.”

Doerr also emphasizes precision in this selection, advocating for KPIs that align seamlessly with your specific business goals.

Aligning KPIs With Business Goals

Before you consider the most critical KPIs for your business, it is important to identify the end result you are seeking with your strategy.

If you want to create awareness and initiate a free trial with your campaign, your KPIs should be focused on web traffic, new subscribers, or the reach of your campaign.

In contrast, if your campaign intends to close the sale, your KPIs should focus on cart abandonment, daily orders, and A/B tests.

The synergy between KPIs and business goals is the linchpin for success in B2B marketing.

Doerr’s insights underscore the importance of aligning these metrics with overarching business objectives.

Whether it’s enhancing brand visibility, increasing lead generation, or optimizing conversion rates, each chosen KPI should be a strategic ally in advancing the organization’s broader goals.

Three Most Essential KPIs for B2B Marketers

Some essential KPIs should always be on your radar. However, you can get distracted by trying to track too many KPIs.

As Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, said: “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have priorities.” The same applies for KPIs. If you have more than three KPIs, then you don’t have KPIs.

Amidst the myriad of available metrics, certain KPIs are essential for B2B marketers. These indicators serve as a compass, guiding businesses through the intricate B2B landscape and ensuring that they stay on course toward their goals.

These KPIs are website traffic, conversion rate, and customer lifetime value.

Website Traffic

Website traffic stands out as an essential Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for every B2B marketer.

The blood of every business is cash, and website traffic is the first step in the sales process to bring in money.

It serves as a barometer of the effectiveness of email campaigns, providing valuable insights into audience engagement and the impact of content.

If your marketing campaign is not bringing people to your webpage, you lose your money and efforts. It is like having a physical store that nobody ever enters to see what you offer.

Monitoring and enhancing website traffic signifies the success of email marketing efforts and offers opportunities to nurture leads and drive conversions.

Importance of Website Traffic for B2B Email Marketers

Audience Engagement and Interest: A surge in website traffic following an email campaign indicates that recipients are not only opening emails but also taking the desired action of visiting the website.

This demonstrates genuine interest and engagement with the content or offerings.

Lead Nurturing Opportunities: Website traffic is a precursor to lead generation.

By analysing the behaviour of visitors, B2B marketers can identify potential leads, understand their preferences, and tailor subsequent email campaigns to address specific needs, thereby nurturing leads through the sales funnel.

Conversion Tracking: Website traffic is closely linked to conversion metrics.

By tracking the journey of visitors from email click-throughs to specific landing pages or product pages, marketers gain insights into the effectiveness of their calls-to-action and can optimize for higher conversion rates.

Improving and Measuring Website Traffic

Measuring web traffic is very simple if you have the right service for it. With beehiiv, you can track all of the aspects involved in web traffic, such as demographics, time spent, etc.

Compelling Email Content: Crafting emails that pique curiosity and offer value is what will bring people to your website.

Engaging content encourages recipients to click on the website to learn more about your business and offers.

Two of the best practices to see if your content is creating that curiosity are through an engaging subject line and A/B tests.

Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Include a clear and compelling CTA in emails, directing recipients to visit the website for exclusive content, promotions, or further information. A well-designed CTA increases the likelihood of click-throughs.

Segmentation and Personalization: Tailor email content based on audience segments.

Personalized emails resonate better with recipients, prompting them to visit the website for content that directly addresses their interests or pain points.

If you have a worldwide audience, send them the information in their preferred language.

Landing Page Optimization: Ensure that landing pages are user-friendly, relevant, and aligned with the email content. A seamless transition from email to website enhances the user experience and encourages prolonged engagement.

Analytics Tools: Leverage web analytics tools to measure website traffic, track user behaviour, and assess the impact of email campaigns.

Platforms like Google Analytics offer comprehensive insights into visitor demographics, sources, and engagement metrics.

In conclusion, website traffic is a critical KPI for B2B email marketers because it is the first step to getting clients. Also, website traffic provides a comprehensive view of campaign performance and audience engagement.

By employing strategic measures to improve and measure website traffic, marketers can optimize their email campaigns, nurture leads effectively, and drive meaningful conversions in the competitive B2B landscape.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate emerges as a paramount Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that directly reflects the success of campaigns in turning leads into valuable customers. This is where the actual money comes to your account.

Understanding the significance of conversion rates and employing strategies to enhance and measure them are essential for B2B marketers striving to maximize the impact of their email initiatives.

The conversion rate directly measures how well an email campaign translates leads into desired actions, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or downloading content.

Conversion rate becomes a crucial KPI For B2B marketers because it quantifies the return on investment (ROI).

Also, conversion rates offer more than just numerical insights; they provide a qualitative assessment of lead quality.

Analysing which leads convert and the nature of their interactions allows marketers to refine targeting strategies and focus efforts on the most promising segments.

Therefore, the conversion rate is essential because of the money it brings and because it tells you where it is coming from.

You can calculate your conversion rates by simply taking the number of conversions and dividing that by the number of total website visits.

For example, if you had 70 conversions from 1,000 interactions, your conversion rate would be 7%, since 70 ÷ 1,000 = 7%.

Now, if you want to measure an ad’s conversion, the formula works the same. Divide the number of conversions by the number of interactions from the ad.

Improving Conversion Rates

Compelling Copy and Design: Engaging copy, coupled with visually appealing design, enhances the likelihood of capturing the audience’s attention and driving them towards conversion actions.

According to a study, high-quality images increase conversions by up to 60%.

Strategic Call-to-Action (CTA): The CTA is the linchpin of conversion.

Some marketers use the same CTA for web traffic and conversion. That is a big mistake.

The web traffic CTA is focused on getting attention from the customer. The conversion CTA should be focused on benefits for the customer. Ensure that it is prominently placed, visually striking, and communicates the desired action.

A well-designed CTA motivates recipients to take the next step. If the customer never takes the next step, you will never have a conversion.

Personalization and Segmentation: Tailor email content based on recipient preferences and behaviours.

You can gather tons of information about behaviour from web traffic.

Personalized and segmented campaigns resonate better with the audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Suppose you know that a possible customer has spent around 10 minutes looking at premium service but only 30 seconds looking at your basic service. In that case, you should use that information and offer the premium service in your emails.

Mobile Optimization: With a growing number of users accessing emails on mobile devices, optimizing email campaigns for mobile responsiveness is imperative.

A seamless mobile experience ensures that potential leads can easily convert regardless of their device.

Here is some data about the importance of optimization:

A/B Testing: Experiment with different elements of email campaigns, such as subject lines, copy variations, or CTAs, through A/B testing.

Analysing the performance of different elements helps identify the most effective strategies for improving conversion rates.

In conclusion, the conversion rate is a vital KPI for B2B email marketers, providing a direct measure of campaign success and lead quality.

Marketers can refine their email initiatives by strategically improving and measuring conversion rates, maximizing ROI, and driving meaningful business outcomes in the competitive B2B landscape.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Understanding and optimizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) alongside Cost Per Lead (CPL) emerge as indispensable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Usually, these two are taken as two different KPIs; but since you need to know the cost per lead in order to calculate the customer lifetime value, it is better to see both as one.

These metrics not only gauge the efficiency of lead generation efforts but also provide valuable insights into the long-term impact of marketing strategies on customer relationships and revenue generation.

Importance of CLV and CPL for B2B Email Marketers

Long-Term Revenue Projection: Customer Lifetime Value represents the total anticipated revenue that a business expects from a customer throughout their entire relationship.

For B2B email marketers, this metric goes beyond immediate transactions, offering a strategic perspective on the long-term value of acquired customers.

Even with products sold once in a lifetime, you can always upsell, increasing the value of a lifetime customer.

Think of Microsoft, for example. You only buy the software once, but they offer Office and other cloud services as part of their portfolio.

Cost-Efficient Lead Generation: Cost Per Lead measures the expenditure incurred in acquiring a potential customer. When paired with CLV, it provides a comprehensive view of the cost-effectiveness of lead generation efforts.

A lower CPL, coupled with a higher CLV, signifies efficient marketing strategies that yield sustainable returns.

Resource Allocation: Understanding CLV and CPL allows B2B marketers to allocate resources more effectively.

By focusing efforts on channels and campaigns that demonstrate a favorable balance between cost and lifetime value, marketers can optimize budgets for maximum impact.

Why trust me: I have been working for a social media agency for the last four years, and understanding the CLV and CPL has helped us allocate our resources wisely.

For example, our CPL is around two times the money a customer spent on his first purchase; however, by focusing on the CLV, we have discovered that it is worth paying that price because the average customer stays with us for around one year.

That means that the CLV is around five times higher than our CPL. That is good business right there.

Improving and Measuring CLV and CPL

The formula used to calculate customer lifetime value is: Customer Lifetime Value = Customer Value x Average Customer Lifespan.

The formula used to calculate cost per lead is: Your Total Marketing Spend / Total Number of New Leads.

Segmentation for CLV: Tailor email campaigns based on customer segments to enhance CLV.

Different customer segments may exhibit distinct preferences and behaviors, allowing marketers to personalize content and nurture relationships effectively.

Customers will keep doing business with you if they feel supported by you. It could be a simple email every week asking for feedback or offering help. Thought leadership content is another fantastic way to engage them with you and your services.

Quality Lead Generation: Focus on generating high-quality leads to improve CPL.

Social media has made us think that more is better, but you don’t need to reach millions just to get one customer.

If you focus on getting your content in the eyes of the right people, you will get better conversion.

By refining targeting strategies, employing advanced lead qualification methods, and nurturing leads through personalized content, marketers can increase the likelihood of attracting valuable prospects at a lower cost.

Customer Retention Strategies: CLV is deeply intertwined with customer retention.

Implement strategies to enhance customer satisfaction, provide ongoing value, and encourage repeat business. Engaged and satisfied customers are more likely to contribute to a higher CLV. Make sure to be there for them as much as you can.

Another good strategy is to involve your customers in new launches or beta versions of new updates. They will feel valued, and your relationship with them will increase.

Lifecycle Email Marketing: Implement email marketing strategies that span the customer lifecycle.

From onboarding sequences to re-engagement campaigns, personalized and timely emails nurture customer relationships, increasing the likelihood of a higher CLV.

In conclusion, CLV and CPL are pivotal KPIs for B2B email marketers, offering a holistic view of the effectiveness of lead generation efforts and the long-term impact on revenue.

Remember this mantra: You want to be in business for years and decades, not just months.

By strategically improving and measuring these metrics, marketers can optimize resource allocation, enhance customer relationships, and ensure sustainable growth in the competitive B2B landscape.

Conclusion

Web traffic, conversion rate, and customer lifetime value (CLV) aren’t just metrics; they are the pillars of success.

Web traffic signifies engagement, conversion rates validate strategies, and CLV guides long-term growth.

These KPIs create a strategic trifecta, providing B2B marketers with a comprehensive toolkit for effective decision-making and sustainable success in the competitive landscape.

In this data-driven approach, these metrics cease to be numbers and become the driving force behind resource-efficient lead generation, impactful conversions, and enduring customer relationships.

By JP Botero

Sourced from beehiiv Blog

Join beehiiv today and get access to the most complete analytic tool for your B2B marketing efforts. With beehiiv 3D Analytic tool, you will have all of the information and data that you need to measure your KPIs and dominate your industry. Join now!

In News

20+ Reasons B2B Brands Are Increasingly Moving To Influencer Marketing

January 16, 2023 No Comments

By Lane Ellis

Why are B2B brands increasingly turning to influencer marketing?

B2B influencer marketing is the business-oriented cousin to the B2C Instagram entertainment and lifestyle influencer. In B2B, some influencers go by creators, subject matter experts, industry experts, or other terms that disassociate them from the B2C influencer.

Whichever term is used, B2B influencer marketing provides an ideal way to combat disintegrating brand trust, so it’s no wonder that by the end of 2022 the B2B influencer marketing vertical is expected to reach $11.7 billion in revenue, with over 38 percent of B2B firms exploring influencer marketing for lead-generation and more, according to AdAge.

B2B influencer marketing is a many-faceted digital diamond that when done well shines brightly, however brands need to be wary of treating it like its vastly different B2C counterpart.

Let’s take a look at 20-plus advantages that B2B influencer marketing holds over traditional marketing strategies.

B2B Influencer Marketing Offers Key Advantages

New analysis published in the Harvard Business Review has shown that average brand boost could reach 16.6 percent by properly utilizing influencer marketing, with influencer originality accounting for a 15.5 percent rise in return on investment (ROI).

B2B marketers have said that influencer marketing will be among their three top priorities in the next three to five years, as 59 percent of marketing leaders noted that they considered B2B influencer marketing a priority today, and 64 percent pinpointing it as a top priority over the upcoming three to five years, according to recently-released survey data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

The academic world has also begun to take notice of the power of B2B influencer marketing, such as the comprehensive “B2B Influencer Marketing: Conceptualization and Four Managerial Strategies” study recently-published by Science Direct / Elsevier, including numerous citations to our own ground-breaking first industry B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report.

Social media publications are also increasingly becoming aware of B2B influencer marketing, such as Social Media Today’s recent article “15 Ways the B2B Influencer Marketing Industry is Changing [Infographic],” featuring our own latest infographic filled with data from our newest free 59-page 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report.

Influencer marketing has emerged as a key way that B2B brands can get the most marketing bang for their buck and help recession-proof marketing strategy. U.S. organizations are expected to spend $6.16 billion on influencer marketing during 2023, climbing from the $5 billion seen during 2022, as influencer marketing has been more resilient than other forms of marketing, with influencer marketing budgets staying strong, according to recently-published forecast data from Insider Intelligence.

Enduring Relationships & Increased Thought Leadership

B2B influencer marketing helps build successful and lasting relationships, as our CEO Lee Odden recently explored in a fascinating podcast with Justin Levy, director of social and influencer marketing at Demandbase, in “The Impact of Building Long-Term Relationships with Influencers with Lee Odden.”

42 percent of organizations with more than 1,000 employees work with influencers and creators, while only 28 percent of smaller businesses with under 100 workers do, according to Hootsuite’s newly-released annual social trends report. 2023 is likely to see more B2B organizations of all size either expand their existing influencer programs or beginning their first.

B2B influencer marketing helps improve brand reputation and awareness, as well as generating new leads, as diginomica recently explored in “Influencer Marketing – first, catch your influencer…,” also featuring data taken from our most recent research report.

B2B influencer marketing offers an ideal framework for successful content planning, creation, and promotion, as we covered recently in “Planning, Creation & Promotion: 5 Top Tactics For Creating Inspired B2B Content.”

B2B influencer marketing can have a direct impact on building thought-leadership and executive influence, and the time to redefine influencer marketing may have arrived, as our own senior content marketing manager Joshua Nite has explored in “How to Create More Authentic Influencer-Driven Content to Attract Qualified Prospects.”

“In our survey, over half of respondents said they included internal executives in their influencer content. Nearly half said they included their employees as well. This is a clear opportunity to create more valuable content and build your organization’s thought leadership at the same time,” Joshua observed.

“It’s time to redefine influence. Your most valuable prospects are looking to industry leaders, practitioners and peers for advice. Your team can deliver all of the above with the right mix of influencers,” Joshua added.

B2B Influence Creates Meaningful Brand Experiences & Builds Trust

When it comes to creating meaningful brand experiences and authentically connecting with buyers, B2B influencer marketing has found growing success. “In times like these, the importance of influence is critical for B2B brands that need to connect authentically with their buyers and create meaningful experiences,” Lee observed in our “2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report: New Data, Insights, Case Studies, Predictions.”

“In times like these, the importance of influence is critical for B2B brands that need to connect authentically with their buyers and create meaningful experiences.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden Click To Tweet

Social media platforms have proven to hold both influence and attention, while the influencer economy has gained precedence as a top form of customer communications, as B2B brand content creators increasingly become the faces of the brands they represent, as Talkwalker recently covered in its Social Media Trends 2023 Global Report.

“Content creators will become the faces of the brands they represent, especially in B2B. People trust people more than companies. Expertise is key to building trust with your audience,” Daniel Murray, founder of The Marketing Millennials observed.

“Content creators will become the faces of the brands they represent, especially in B2B. People trust people more than companies. Expertise is key to building trust with your audience.” — Daniel Murray @Dmurr68 Click To Tweet

Dispelling The Boring-To-Boring Myth & Boosting Engagement

The type of digital experiences that work so well within a B2B influencer marketing framework go a long way towards dispelling the longstanding notion of B2B being nothing but boring-to-boring, as Lee detailed in the recent “Break Free of Boring B2B with Influencer Content Ft. Lee Odden” episode of The Data-Driven Marketing podcast with host Mark Richardson, director of global content operations at Dun & Bradstreet.

The popularity of influencer marketing is on the rise, as 85 percent of respondents to our extensive survey expect activity to increase over the next year, with B2B marketers increasing their level of maturity and sophistication and shifting towards always-on, relationship-based influencer communities. You can take an eye-opening look at the future and power of B2B influence from 10 of the world’s top experts and influencers in our “10+ B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions From Top Experts & Influencers.”

(Click Through For More Predictions)

B2B influencer marketing also helps when it comes to boosting content engagement. In fact, 32 percent of marketers and influencers have said that influencer marketing has increased engagement, while 65 percent of marketers said that influencer marketing works more often than it fails, recent data has shown.

Additionally, 30 percent of consumers have reported that recommendations from influencers are among the most important factors in purchase decisions — more than the 27 percent who pointed to friends or family, while an upcoming greater reliance on influencers has joined greater adoption of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), according to HubSpot’s look at the future of social media.

B2B Influence Will See Increasing Use Among Brands in 2023

via GIPHY

While this list of more than 20 of the reasons why B2B brands are increasingly moving to influencer marketing only scratches the surface, 2023 is certain to see new takes on B2B influencer marketing that we can’t yet set, however by keeping on top of the most recent industry shifts, we’ll be better prepared for what the coming years hold in store.

Especially with B2B influencer content, crafting award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.

By Lane Ellis

Sourced from Top Rank Marketing

In News

(Not so) scary Google updates: is it time to purge the dead content on your website?

December 2, 2022 No Comments

By Nathan Dale

Is low-performing content draining the life from your website? Nathan Dale of Impression explains how to identify it and bring it back to life, in light of Google’s most recent algorithm updates.

In August and September 2022, Google rolled out two major updates to its core search algorithms. First, there was the Helpful Content Update, which was completed on September 9, followed by the routine September Core Update.

It can be a spine-chilling moment when Google introduces an update outside of the routine, causing ghoulish screams amongst digital marketers (OK, maybe not quite that bad) who are concerned about what might happen to the performance of their websites.

But really, these updates aren’t so scary at all. Google’s update is intended to reward the good content you’ve been producing.

Trick, or treat?

There were two important lines from the Helpful Content Update documentation: ‘The update generates a site-wide signal. For this reason, removing unhelpful content could help the rankings of your other content.’

It has long been the view of SEO professionals that the overall quality of a website was considered by Google when it ranks individual pieces of content. You could write a great article with detailed information, examples, a how-to guide and a video thrown in for good measure. However, if the rest of your site’s content is low-res, it’s likely your article won’t perform well in search engine result pages (SERPs).

Is there zombie content lurking on your site?

Web pages with no SERP impressions, clicks or traffic are often referred to as ‘dead content’ since they seemingly have no life in them, although a more accurate term might be ‘zombie content,’ because the page is technically still alive, and search engines could therefore bump into it during a (presumably late-night) crawl.

If Google finds this content and classifies it as ‘unhelpful,’ it will take this into account when ranking your other high-quality, helpful content too. The more unhelpful content you have, the more likely Google will think that your website is providing lower overall value to its search results and users.

Taking steps to identify and remove poor-quality, unhelpful content is no longer an ‘as and when’ task to be done during a period of downtime. The Helpful Content Update means this task should now be high on your list of priorities.

There are very few (if any) websites that have 100% perfect content on every single one of their pages. While Google understands that this is an impossible standard, it would prefer to invest less time and money crawling and evaluating content only to realize that it’s as much use as a rotten pumpkin on November 1.

This is likely why it’s explicitly asking content managers to remove low-quality, unhelpful content, and rewarding sites that action this with potential overall ranking improvements.

Lack of continuity in the ownership of web content is usually the hidden monster that results in unhelpful content. As web content is inherited by new starters, passed around departments or simply left unattended, chances are you’ll find some skeletons in the closet.

How to identify unhelpful content

Identifying low-performing content is straightforward. One approach is to use Screaming Frog SEO Spider, which can either crawl your entire website, a specific directory or a list of URLs.

In Screaming Frog’s configuration menu, select API access and add your Google Analytics account. Set the segment to Organic Traffic and the date range to the last 12 months, then your traffic data will be added to the crawl. We advise looking at this over a 12-month time period to give a truer picture (eg seasonal content might not get any clicks in June, but lots in December).

Once the crawl is finished, you’ll have a list of content with the session data shown in the Analytics tab. Simply sort by lowest to highest and you’ll find the zombie content that’s haunting your website.

Exorcise dead content (or bring it back to life)

Once you’ve identified the content with the lowest session data, you essentially have three choices. One: if it has the potential to be made helpful, you can update it with new and improved content. Two: consolidate any content that is useful into another page on the same topic, then remove and redirect the page. Three: remove the page entirely.

Side note: if you are considering totally removing a piece of content, you should check the ‘all users’ and ‘page views’ in Google Analytics as it is possible the page is being found in other ways.

For more information on Google algorithm updates, check out Impression’s search industry update blog series.

Feature Image Credit: Georgi Kalaydzhi via Unsplash

By Nathan Dale

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Do you need a B2B marketing agency?

October 17, 2022 No Comments

By George Sanders

What are the sorts of problems a B2B marketing agency can help you fix? In the first of a mini-series, George Sanders of Earnest goes back to basics.

When you’re thinking about employing the services of a B2B marketing agency, one of your first questions should be, “Do I actually need one?” Frustratingly, there’s often no one to ask, so here’s a guide on what to consider for B2B brand marketers left feeling stranded.

The right agency can do incredible things for your brand by providing experience and expertise that supplements, augments and amplifies your own, and solving the problems that you can’t internally. But you need to know what those problems are first; you don’t want to approach an agency with a vague, “how can you help me?” If you say to a car salesperson, “I think I need a car,” they’ll probably reply, “here’s our fastest, most expensive and reddest one.”

By first understanding and defining your goals, requirements, priorities and budgets, you can ensure you find the suitable agency partner to meet your needs efficiently, effectively and enjoyably – and avoid succumbing to greasy, glad-handing hustlers.

Defining your objectives

What are your needs and objectives? Think about both business objectives and marketing objectives. The former should already exist as a commercial strategy, and the latter should be captured in a marketing plan, defining opportunities, challenges and requirements to define the agency brief.

If you don’t have a marketing plan, create one yourself or employ the services of a freelance marketing consultant. To progress without one risks directionless activity, no clear line to commercial objectives, and wasted time and budget.

Business objectives

Business objectives are too often overlooked, forgotten or unknown by marketing teams. You should find them in company strategy presentations or board/investor reports, and might focus on international expansion, improving profitability or growing product lines.

By clearly connecting them to marketing strategy, marketers can ensure their work is more visibly and meaningfully contributing to actual business success, and that the metrics provide value outside of the marketing department.

Marketing objectives

Marketing objectives should be part of a marketing strategy and plan that helps make the business objectives happen. If your business objective is to grow revenue in the US market by 50%, your marketing objectives should work to make that happen (for example, by increasing brand awareness in the US by X%, provisioning for demand generation and providing local sales teams with tools and assets).

By defining these objectives, you can then determine what’s possible internally, and where you need external support. It may be that what you’re looking to achieve isn’t something that an agency can help with (sometimes businesses need to ‘get their house in order’ before they go outside).

For brands without a marketing strategy, marketing consultants can be invaluable. The right consultant will develop a picture of what you have, what you need, how to achieve it, and where (if at all) agency support would be most valuable. A common objection is, “Christ, they charge how much per day?” But the upfront cost of a marketing strategy could save the cost of going with the wrong agency. This is the architect before bringing the builders onsite.

Define your agency needs

Next, determine what kind of agency is required. This depends on objectives, your teams’ expertise and your work capacity.

B2B agency services range from strategic big-thinking (brand story and identity, campaign strategies, creative ideas, full-funnel development and production – this is where we at Earnest mostly sit), to more tactical and production-only (tactical or business-as-usual content and asset production, digital marketing, event production).

There are agencies that provide both ends of the spectrum; others specialize in one or the other. Understanding what you need and where the agency provides the most value will help you decide which one is right for you. Another clumsy house-building analogy: a handyman can do a bit of everything, but for a swimming pool you’ll probably want a specialist. The task dictates the service, not the other way around.

It’s important to realize what agencies cannot help you with, such as selling the need for external agency support to stakeholders; promoting the role of marketing internally; securing budget; and developing strategies and objectives. They can offer guidance and support, but these typically wouldn’t be in their remit.

Defining KPIs and the brief

Next, how will you measure the success of your work together?

Project KPIs should align with marketing strategy, determined by the task. That could be ‘increase visitors to the website by X%’ or ‘deliver a new brand identity by the end of December.’ This will help you find the right agency, help agencies determine if they’re right for you and inform the brief.

The importance of the written brief to agencies can’t be overstated. The quality of work from an agency is directly related to the quality of the brief; incorrect information, missing details and changing direction will lead to work that’s inaccurate, irrelevant and eventually costly.

Once the above are in place, determine what the engagement process looks like. Is it a request for proposal or a full-on strategic/creative pitch?

Engaging with an agency can supercharge your marketing with robust insight, informed strategy and inspiring creative. But don’t run into the unknown without foundational elements in place. The reality of the working world (aggressive deadlines, demanding stakeholders and tight budgets) make it difficult to have these in place when you need them, but taking a step back and communicating the importance of planning and objective-setting can pay off disproportionately.

Feature Image Credit: Matthew Waring via Unsplash

By George Sanders

Soured from The Drum

In News

Instagram’s Enhanced Creator Tags: Implications for B2B Influencer Marketing

July 28, 2022 No Comments

By Lane Ellis

How can B2B marketers make their content stand out and highlight the talented subject matter experts, creators, and influencers they partner with?

Earlier this year Instagram rolled out new enhanced tagging features that allow digital marketers to do a much better job of indicating and crediting the various influencers and creators involved in the creation of content shared on the platform.

Instagram’s addition of enhanced tagging — which is also available for use in video Reels — offers significant new exposure opportunities for B2B content that has been created by multiple professionals, often precisely the type of content that is either made or co-created by industry influencers.

Let’s take a look at some of the advantages provided by Instagram’s enhanced creator tags, and how B2B marketers can best put them to use.

1 — Straightforward Setup Process

The process of using the enhanced tagging features is fairly straightforward, however there are a few caveats to be aware of as you move to incorporate them into your B2B marketing workflow on Instagram, in order to get the full effect of Instagram’s latest tagging elements.

While Instagram has moved to make more of its features available to desktop users, the enhanced tagging features were initially only available from the mobile app.

Simply having content creators or co-creators tagged goes a long way, and shows a clickable link to learn more about or follow the people involved in the digital assets you find helpful on Instagram. The updated tagging feature can do more, however.

2 — Switch On A Business Or Creator Account

One aspect of the enhanced tagging system takes on even more value, and that’s when the people tagged have gone through the simple process of setting up their Instagram profile as either a creator or business account.

Tagging people with a creator or business account adds a second line of helpful information below the person’s username, containing a category they’ve selected, such as a few B2B-related examples listed here:

Video creator
Digital creator
Writer
Author
Advertising Agency
Marketing Agency
Market Research Consultant
Advertising/Marketing
Internet Marketing Service

To ensure that anytime your brand or the influencers you work with are mentioned using an enhanced tag that also shows category information, it’s easy to switch your Instagram account from personal to professional — there is no waiting period or fee involved — simply access your account settings and select the option to switch to a professional account.

From there you can choose between a creator or business account, described by Instagram as:

Creator accounts are best for public figures, content producers, artists and influencers
Business accounts are best for retailers, local businesses, brands, organizations and service providers

After choosing your account type, you’re given the option to select a category that best fits how you use Instagram, and this will be the category that shows below your username when others include you using enhanced tagging — however keep in mind that you must also tick the “show category on profile box” option.

Instagram uses a search box for finding the most relevant category for creator and business accounts, such as those we listed above, and it can be worthwhile to experiment with the available categories, as new ones may be added over time that better describe your own B2B marketing niche.

3 — Ripe For Implementation By B2B Brands

In the B2B arena, the new Instagram enhanced tagging is ripe for implementation by brands and marketers looking to distinguish their content from the competition, and to highlight the subject matter experts and influencers they partner with.

It’s still early days for implementation of the enhanced tagging, and those brands and B2B marketers willing to put them to use will be among the first to stand out as multiple contributors are highlighted in co-created content.

“The new Instagram enhanced tagging is ripe for implementation by B2B brands and marketers looking to distinguish their content from the competition, and to highlight the influencers they partner with.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis Click To Tweet

4 — From One Influencer To Many Others

When Instagram’s enhanced tagging becomes more regularly utilized, it will represent a powerful way not only for influencers to have the digital work they’ve helped create gain greater exposure, but it will also be a helpful way to find new industry experts who are tagged alongside an influencer you may already be aware of.

These days top performing digital content can involve a slew of talented creative professionals, from marketers and writers to video, audio, and social media specialists, and Instagram’s new enhanced tags make it easy to shine a light on everyone who had a hand in building a successful digital asset.

5 — Tagging Gives Voice To Underrepresented Talent

While not unique to Instagram, the new enhanced tagging features can play a helpful role in giving a greater voice to traditionally underrepresented talent.

Instagram’s augmented tagging features were brought to life through the help of three women in technology, who were each profiled in the Snobette interview, “Meet The Women In Tech Behind The Instagram-Enhanced Tagging Feature.”

“In a world where online visibility directly leads to brand sponsorships and other types of monetary opportunities, crediting is more important than ever,” Alexandra Zaoui, music data analyst at Instagram-parent firm Meta, observed.

“In a world where online visibility directly leads to brand sponsorships and other types of monetary opportunities, crediting is more important than ever.” — Alexandra Zaoui @ZaouiAlexandra Click To Tweet

“One of the biggest challenges about being a woman and particularly a Black woman in tech is not seeing nor working with others like you,” Cameryn Boyd, software engineer at Meta, noted. “I’m passionate about bringing other Black women and underrepresented people into tech because that is how and when some of the best and most equitable innovation happens,” Boyd added.

Just as in the B2C marketing world, B2B influencer marketing can help amplify underrepresented voices, and features such as Instagram’s new enhanced tagging help expand such efforts.

Our CEO Lee Odden featured efforts that give voice to talent as one of the top methods for elevating B2B marketing in 2022, in “Three of the Biggest Opportunities to Elevate B2B Marketing in 2022.”

“B2B marketers are in a unique position to make choices about how they represent their customers in content, who they partner with in content collaborations and the influencers they engage.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden Click To Tweet

Instagram Enhanced Tagging For B2B Marketing Success

By fully embracing Instagram’s new enhanced tagging capabilities, savvy B2B marketers can lead the way and set a good example for the influencers, digital creators, and industry experts they work with, in a process that’s beneficial for both brands and influencers alike — not to mention both existing and potential customers.

Instagram is just one of the digital menagerie of social media platforms that top B2B brands use to engage audiences, however as an increasing number of B2B firms find success on platforms including TikTok and others, having a solid cross-platform tagging strategy in place will give you an edge over those who don’t.

Creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why an increasing number of firms are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Contact us to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others.

By Lane Ellis

Lane R. Ellis (@lanerellis), TopRank Marketing Social Media and Content Marketing Manager, has over 38 years’ experience working with and writing about the Internet. Lane spent more than a decade as Lead Editor for prestigious conference firm Pubcon. When he’s not writing, Lane enjoys distance running (11 marathons including two ultras so far), genealogical research, cross-country skate skiing, vegetarian cooking, and spending time with his wonderful wife Julie Ahasay and their cat Kukla in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota.

Sourced from TopRank Marketing

In News

Fiverr launches Togetherr: ‘It’s fantasy football meets advertising’

June 30, 2022 No Comments

By Audrey Kemp

Fiver’s new launch, Togetherr, leverages AI to build optimized “dream teams” of creative talent for brands on individual projects.

For brands and agencies, putting together a dream team of talent has never been easier—at least, that’s the idea behind Togetherr.

Popular freelancer platform Fiverr teamed up with Tel Aviv-based advertising veteran Amir Guy to launch Togetherr. The platform’s algorithm, called the Creative Genome, builds virtual teams of highly skilled, independent talent and connects them with brands and agencies on an individual project basis.

Togetherr’s creators have compared its interface to fantasy football. “Togetherr allows brands to build creative teams that are tailored specifically to their needs… They are getting access to world class talent for any project they can imagine,” Guy told The Drum. “Togetherr gives brands what they need, faster, and with exceptional quality.”

The platform also provides freedom and flexibility to creatives by allowing them to choose the types of projects they want to partake in.

In addition to 30 micro-independent agencies, Togetherr’s growing portfolio counts over 1,100 vetted, award-winning creatives and ad industry leaders, who have worked on campaigns for Nike, Coca Cola, Apple and Netflix. The site launches today at Cannes.

Guy has spent over 25 years at creative agencies. Starting out at Young & Rubicam, he eventually climbed the ranks to take the helm of agency Grey, Israel, where he led regional accounts for P&G,Volkswagen and other brands.

It was here, Guy said, where the idea for Togetherr was born. After pitching the idea to Fiverr’s founders, they were happy to make it a reality.

How Togetherr works

When a client uses Togetherr, they’re immediately asked what they need, be it brand strategy and identity, creative concepting or something else. After making that choice, they can specify the channels they’re interested in, such as video, social or experiential.

Finally, the client inputs their industry, budget and brands that inspire them. That data helps Togetherr’s Creative Genome to quickly match the client to three teams of creatives best suited for their project.

Each team at least one creative lead and freelancers who have worked together previously, which ensures compatibility and punctuality among members.

A “dream team” built via Togetherr’s algorithm / Image credits: Fiverr + Togetherr

Togetherr’s future milestones

Guy has big dreams himself for this dream team model. Togetherr could also replace the advertising industry’s agency-of-record (AOR) model, which has gone stale over the past 25 years, he says.

“[AOR’s] hefty retainers, bloated head-count and overheads, combined with complex processes, is not meeting today’s client needs,” he saidsays. “Clients need a lot more for less, and faster. Trying to meet these needs without changing our industry’s complex system resulted in broken spirits and a lack of excitement.”

Although the site is officially live, Fiverr plans to continue to build out Togetherr’s platform and improve its AI, as well as add new talent that specializes in different areas, such as media buying and production.

“It’s also important to us to have talent from all over the world We want every team to be as diverse as possible.”

Feature Image Credit: Amir Guy, General Manager, Togetherr / Fiverr + Togetherr

By Audrey Kemp

Sourced from The Drum

In News

The new rules of digital engagement: what does contextual advertising 3.0 look like?

June 27, 2022 No Comments

By Jenni Baker

Over the past two weeks, The Drum has dedicated coverage to all things digital advertising as part of our Digital Advertising Focus Deep Dive. While we’re only just unlocking the value of Contextual 2.0, we asked experts from GumGum, Havas Media Group, Wavemaker and more, how this tech could evolve to account for the ever-expansive digital space, including the metaverse and beyond.

The digital advertising industry is in a transformational era, with an opportunity for advertisers to re-imagine how they connect with people and deliver ads, without relying on personal data. Contextual advertising is being realized as a futureproof modern solution to help brands win in a cookieless world.

Contextual 1.0 was around text-based keyword targeting; Contextual 2.0 technology understands the full interplay of video, image and text on a page; so, if we look ahead to Contextual 3.0, how could that technology develop to account for diverse and dynamic environments, like the metaverse and beyond?

We put a call out to future gazers across the industry to share their thoughts on how contextual advertising could evolve in the coming years. Here’s what they had to say…

Eric Visser, president, EMEA, GumGum:

Today’s dynamic online environments are calling for a more modern approach to advertising – and the ramifications will be positive for the industry as long as marketers apply the new rules of engagement in these burgeoning virtual worlds. Capturing attention respectfully must be our focus, as opposed to interrupting audiences. What’s more, advertisers need to do so without relying on the use of personal data, and across emerging and previously unimaginable digital environments at scale.

The future of digital advertising lies in dynamically tapping into mindset and context, and, to this end, advertisers must focus on an individual’s frame of mind in moments that matter, rather than relying on outdated behavioural data, which has been proven ineffective. Digital advertising should be able to move with us as we navigate online platforms and worlds and it’s critical that the industry aligns its digital ads with the way audiences operate today, across increasing numbers of virtual worlds and platforms.

Buying and selling media based on contextual intelligence is a more sustainable paradigm in an industry that has been struggling with outdated and short-term methods for too long. And, looking further ahead, contextual doesn’t just support the environments of today, but the environments of the future, too. Whether playing virtual games, whilst using wearables, smart speakers and interacting with other connected technologies, there are new and emerging digital environments presenting themselves almost daily – and far more will follow that we have yet to imagine.

Approached right, modern contextual advertising is a win for consumers and a win for the industry. And while data privacy is of course essential and has made this all the more acute, there’s good reason why we keep hearing about the attention economy, too. Content and ads are proliferating at a rate that far outstrips the audience attention available. With online ad fatigue setting in, in a world awash with digital content, it’s essential for advertisers to shift how they deliver campaigns to break through the noise and capture attention, and to reduce media spend on irrelevant ads.

Paul Bland, head of biddable media, Havas Media Group:

Contextual elements, such as your location, the time of day, a moment in the calendar year or the activity you are currently engaging in (reading about sports, for example) have always been powerful signals, enabling brands to deliver more relevant and impactful marketing messages.

As virtual and physical worlds collide, within a truly virtual environment like the metaverse, technology such as an AR lens on your mobile phone, or another form of augmented reality on the next generation of devices, provides a genuinely exciting opportunity for marketers. Harnessing this technology allows us to better understand those contextual moments, and to better enable brands to engage and connect with people in a relevant and meaningful way.

So, contextual 3.0 offers us the opportunity to de-code virtual and physical contexts (whether that’s location, moment of interaction, virtual and physical space or activity) in new and exciting ways, to make marketing messages more relevant and helpful for people, and more impactful for brands.

Stuart Russell, chief strategy officer, Planning-inc:

Contextual advertisers will continue to develop new techniques for reaching target audiences on emerging channels. To take it a step further, these advertisers will pair these techniques alongside first-party data, AI and predictive modelling to better understand where the most valuable consumers will be (and what they will want) in the future.

Advertisers will become even more impactful by combining contextual signals with augmented first-party data to serve targeted advertising that is specifically designed to convert based on an individuals’ thoughts, opinions, and behaviours. It will ultimately tap into the individual consumer’s subconscious, enabling advertisements to become the proactive solution to their future problems and desires across channels.

Sam Budd, founder and chief executive officer, Buddy Media:

Contextual 2.0 has been all about matching segmented customers with relevant brands when scrolling webpages. In the 3.0 world, contextually relevant opportunities can be taken to a whole new level. The avenues for exploration are manifold. There are many steps in this evolution.

Firstly, we see AI as a stepping-stone to getting granular around multi-sensorial targeting. Secondly, as the Internet of Things continues to impact all areas of our lives, it will unleash ever-increasing touchpoints for brands to interact with customers. It is also about a full funnel approach: using CRM data, engagers, video watchers and historic purchasing behaviours, constantly analysing all contextual data points to maximize ROI. Finally, NFTs represent an unbelievable opportunity for brands and influencers to emotionally connect with their customers in a way that has never been done before.

As with everything, we need to be adaptable and ready for change when it comes to Contextual 3.0. As more privacy laws come in, agencies will need to be more inventive and dynamic (for example with their influencer strategy, where they will need to constantly learn about their audience’s engagement habits to deliver more contextually aligned messaging).

Toby Evans, director of publisher and platform partnerships, SoPost:

One of the key ways in which the metaverse differs from web 2.0 is a strong sense of place. Rather than a bunch of pages with content on them, the metaverse consists of worlds, and as VR and AR evolve, those worlds will become more fully realized. As more are created, so those worlds will become increasingly relevant to – and reflective of – the users in them. In other words, perfect for contextual marketing.

Of course, contextual advertising is also all about place. While the contextual advertising of today is about appearing in the right place, for web3, contextual advertising is just as likely to be the place: being present within a world where brands’ customers are, or even, for large brands, creating a whole world of their own.

At base level, the immersive environments of the metaverse should mean more attention for brands in those places, and technologies will allow messaging to be fully integrated in exciting new ways – no more being pushed to the right rail or buried in a tiny banner. Beyond that, decentralization and blockchain technology will allow the user to control the context of their environment. With their own experience driven by the consumer, the parameters of what ‘contextual’ means is likely to blur, with consumers rather than publishers and platforms controlling what they see and how. The good news is that it can only result in efficiency, and the most relevant consumers seeing the most relevant advertising.

Fran Roberts, creative director, Trollbäck+Company:

The evolution of contextual advertising will in most respects be driven (and improved) by the transformation from web 2.0 to web3. The next generation of contextual ads will be able to set the highly flawed third-party cookie-based model aside, instead of relying on user-validated information through machine learning models to determine context. This form of blockchain-based user management will allow for greater transparency, revising the advertiser-user relationship to a more sustainable one.

The content ecosystem for contextual ads will see reinvention. Via tokenization, creators of all shapes and sizes will be encouraged to create, contribute, and share more readily. This too will help rebalance ads’ economic model in a way that naturally encourages better creators. These evolutions will ladder up to what could be the main event for contextual ads and web3 – the emergence of fully new platforms and touchpoints (especially the metaverse).

The wider use of AR and VR-capable devices and platforms will add the multi-sensory experience into the equation for the first time. Through the introduction of multi-sensory information, contextual ads will be able to increase accuracy and most importantly appropriateness, while preserving privacy through blockchain-based data structures.

Elliott Millard, head of strategic planning, Wavemaker UK:

To slightly butcher Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park: the future of contextual advertising is more about what we should do, rather than whether or not we could do it. Technological advances will unquestionably make it possible for contextual advertising to exist in fully immersive, virtual and dynamic environments but that solution might not always be the best solution for our clients and the brands we work with. The volume of data involved and the challenges of latency (which is a bigger, different challenge for the metaverse) mean that context will have to be AI inferred.

When it comes to context there are some risks associated with delegation of decisions to machines. We think of these as challenges around safety, serendipity and surprise. Brand safety is critical in the online world, but AI makes connections that humans would flag as inappropriate – as I write there are platforms serving cleaning products to people with OCD. Contextually that’s on point but it would be morally indefensible even without the immersive worlds of the metaverse.

Algorithms also optimize to the easiest sources of growth – context delivered in this way would lose the priming, ‘brand’ effects of campaigns. Placements alongside the most obvious content might not be the most powerful. The serendipity of finding new sources of growth and building connections in new ways would be lost. Finally, an AI delivered placement could risk becoming bland – contextual relevance suggests that fitting in is always the best solution which is not always true. The (probably over quoted) party cannon poster and the Von Restorff effect show this in action but standing out and disrupting norms are an established way to deliver disproportionate growth.

There will be extraordinary work done in the virtual worlds of the metaverse but we should always consider how our work is experienced and whether it is the best way to deliver a business outcome rather than tech for the sake of tech.

By Jenni Baker

Sourced from The Drum

In News

The ‘Flippening’ will usher in a Golden Age of B2B marketing

May 3, 2022 No Comments

By Peter Weinberg & Jon Lombardo

Brand marketing creates more financial value than short-term performance marketing – the sooner B2B marketers flip their perspective and start allocating budgets accordingly, the better it will be for everyone in B2B.

Should you be optimistic about the future of B2B marketing?

We are optimists, believe it or not. We believe B2B marketing is on the cusp of a Golden Age, a glorious revolution that shall be ushered in by a momentous event.

And we call this event…the Flippening.

To understand the Flippening, first you must understand the three numbers that explain everything that’s wrong with the B2B marketing industry.

80%, 95% and 8%.

First, 80%. If you talk to a financial analyst, they’ll tell you something like 80% of your share price is based on cash flows that are 10n years out into the future. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Wall Street is not short term. The market values businesses on their future cash flows.

Second, 95%. According to our research with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, something like 95% of buyers are not ‘in-market’ to buy your products right now. That means effective marketing works primarily by reaching the 95% of customers who are not yet in-market, increasing the odds your brand gets remembered when those customers do enter the market in some future period.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, delivering short-term sales isn’t the most important job for B2B marketers, because only 5% of customers are ready to buy today. The most important job is influencing the 95% of future buyers who generate future cash flows.

And finally, 8%. According to LinkedIn data, B2B marketers spend around 8% of their budgets on brand awareness objectives. Something like 92% of B2B budgets are dedicated to short term, bottom funnel objectives like lead generation.

This so-called performance marketing may capture sales from in-market buyers, but it has little to no effect on future buyers. Brand marketing is much better at building the lasting memory structures that determine future sales.

85%. 95%. 8%.

One of these numbers makes 0% sense. If 80% of your stock price is based on future cash flows and 95% of your buyers are future buyers, why would you spend only 8% of your budget on brand marketing, which increases future sales from future buyers? Why would you spend 92% of your money chasing after 5% of your customers? Isn’t that a massive misallocation of capital?

Yup!

But don’t worry, the correction is coming.

Brace yourself for the Flippening.

The Flippening: When 8% brand becomes 51% brand

So what the flip is the Flippening?

The Flippening is that magical moment when B2B businesses realise that brand marketing creates more financial value than short term performance marketing, and B2B CMOs begin to allocate at least 51% of their budgets to brand marketing.

The Flippening will spark a positive chain reaction, which will be good for everyone in B2B.

The shift to brand will benefit businesses, since brand 1) increases long- and short-term sales, 2) improves pricing power, 3) reduces talent acquisition and retention costs, 4) unlocks growth in new categories, and much more.

Sales does not share power. The bottom of the funnel is the land of Mordor, where sales torments marketing for all eternity.

By creating more commercial value, marketing will enhance its status within B2B organisations. Instead of sitting in the basement, colouring in our whitepapers and sales collateral, marketing will get back to the boardroom with the decision makers.

Moving up the funnel will also make the job of B2B marketing a million times more enjoyable. The problem with the bottom of the funnel is that marketing has to ‘share’ its success with sales. And as Gandalf once said to us: “There is only one Lord of the Rings, and he does not share power.”

There is only one department that will ever get credit for delivering short-term sales, and it’s the sales department. Sales does not share power. The bottom of the funnel is the land of Mordor, where sales torments marketing for all eternity. The top of the funnel is the Shire, where marketers can frolic like happy little hobbits. Marketing has a monopoly at the top of the funnel. Only we can influence future buyers at scale through brand advertising.

The Flippening will even benefit performance marketers, both by lowering their precious cost-per-leads and by increasing their budgets. That’s right – we don’t believe brands’ growth will come at the expense of lead generation. It’s incremental. Businesses need to both influence ‘out-market’ buyers and capture in-market buyers. The Flippening will grow the overall marketing budget. Performance marketing will receive a smaller slice of a much bigger pie.

Yum!

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By Peter Weinberg & Jon Lombardo

Sourced from MarketingWeek

In News

Marketing marketers: the unique challenges of your agency’s marketing team

April 27, 2022 No Comments

By Georgie Monaghan

Agencies’ in-house marketing teams have a unique job – what Propellernet’s marketing director Georgie Monaghan calls ‘marketing marketers.’ How can they navigate it? She takes us through those challenges, from managing resources to dealing with the struggle of not being able to talk about some of your best work.

It’s the question that I’ve begun to dread and I’m not sure why: “So, what do you do?” Oh, shit. My brain runs through all possible answers. “I’m in marketing.” Nope, they will collar me in to helping with their aunt’s dog grooming company. “B2B marketing.” Do they know what B2B means? “I market marketers.” Well, that is what I do but now I sound like a dick; there’s a blank nod; the conversation changes. The moment’s gone.

Rob Mayhew’s hilarious and very honest portrayal of agency life has got me reflecting on my own role recently – which is ultimately to market some of the UK’s leading marketers. It’s a role that comes with its own unique challenges. So, for the brave marketer marketers, this one is for you.

Finding resource

There is none. If you’re doing your job right, everyone is manically busy and resourced to the max. But to do your job, you need resource – to write content, to write award entries, to run an event… the list goes on.

This is a good problem to have, and it’s one that I’ve faced a lot in agency roles. How do you tackle it?

First, you’ve got to be clear why an opportunity deserves resource. It’s not just about monetary investment – for a business that sells time, why is this important?

Second, be proactive: what can you do to limit the resource needed? Can you ghost write elements of response you need? Everyone works differently, so learn how key stakeholders like to operate and create a plan based around them individually.

Finally, be flexible. Agency life is fast-paced; to enjoy the role, you have to be able to flex. Yes, set your deadlines and meet them, but don’t beat yourself up if everything on your well-articulated marketing strategy doesn’t happen. Keep track of those things, monitor and report on them, and voice when things really are impacting your performance.

And yes, you will invariably be there with one minute to go still trying to get an award entry uploaded.

Marketing agency budgets

Often, the events you would love to target are astronomically out of reach. Award entries add up. And random expenses from across the business get thrown your way.

As with resource, be flexible and proactive and build business cases. Beyond the data you can see, business development, client services and HR need to be your best friends to keep track of incoming leads; common threads across upsell opportunities; and brand perception when it comes to recruitment.

We’re doing the most amazing work – but you can’t tell anyone about it

This happens so often in agency life. You win a new client… but you can’t announce it. And of course, you’re getting the most amazing results for that client, but you can’t case study them or put them forward for an award. There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s just one of those things. It cuts deep. Smile, move on and drink a large glass of wine while reading the new win updates the following week.

Brand messaging

I vividly remember sitting in a meeting with the recommended agency register and them saying: “Don’t say it’s your people that make you different… of course it is, everyone says that. What really makes you different as an agency?” This has stuck with me throughout my career, brand and agency side. People, their skills and their contacts often come and go. Why should a client work with you as an agency? What can you bring them over another agency? What is true and genuine to your brand? These are big questions that you won’t be able to answer on your own. But you’ll be flying when you know what they are.

You’re marketing the experts

No one said this was going to be easy, but let’s be honest: that’s why we love it. When you present your marketing strategy for the year, you are doing this to a room full of people who are paid to build out marketing strategies day in and day out for some of the world’s leading brands. Intimidating or what? But you know your agency, you’ve got under the skin of your brand and have used all the data and insights you can to build out those recommendations into a strategy. You’ve got this.

And, in regards to being at the forefront of a fantastic industry, full of brilliant minds – well, there’s no other place I’d rather be. Here’s to the silent army of marketing marketers. I salute you.

By Georgie Monaghan

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Fast-Forward: 4 Business Problems Solved by B2B Content Marketing

April 26, 2022 No Comments

By Joshua Nite

For B2B business, the pandemic was a magnifying glass pointing out the cracks in systems. We discovered just how fast digital transformation can be when our livelihoods are on the line. We found that global supply chains aren’t as resilient as we thought. We found that remote work is far more viable an option than we’d been led to believe.

None of these realizations were brand new — we were just able to see them clearly for the first time.

The same is true of B2B buyer behaviour. When we talk about how the pandemic changed B2B sales and marketing, what we mean is that we can finally see what we have missed before.

As we rebuild what’s broken and seek to evolve to the next level, we have a chance to put the buyer at the centre of our efforts. Here are some of the biggest challenges ahead, and how we can meet them.

Solving B2B Business Problems with Content Marketing

1 — Communicating Empathy

You don’t get through collective trauma like we’ve all experienced for the past two years without a few scars. People are still adjusting, processing, struggling, even grieving. At the same time, businesses have needs that your solution can meet, problems you can solve. But how can brands help without seeming insensitive?

Content marketing is our most powerful tool for communicating human-to-human, offering actual value. Now is not the time for bland corporate-speak, either — showcase your people in your content, along with others in your industry who have earned respect and trust.

Be helpful and kind in your content. Be a caring companion to your audience. After all, marketers are the keepers of data — we know these people and what they’re struggling with. We’re in a unique position to create uplifting content.

“Be a caring companion to your audience. After all, marketers are the keepers of data — we know these people and what they’re struggling with. We’re in a unique position to create uplifting content.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites Click To Tweet

2 — Leading with Purpose

Lately, businesses have come to the ground-breaking realization that people care deeply about social issues. This is a discovery on par with the earth-shattering epiphany that B2B buyers are human beings who need emotional appeal as well as facts.

This epiphany has led to serious discussions about “purpose.” What does your brand stand for besides shareholder profit? What issues are top of mind and how is the brand helping address them? How can we let people know that we share their values?

Content is key for a brand that’s looking to lead with purpose. It’s the medium to tell the brand’s purpose story, of course. But we can go deeper: Content can be a way to amplify other voices and help tell their stories.

A brand can post a Martin Luther King, Jr. day message, complete with one of his safer quotes. But a content marketer can publish a blog post from a leading voice in the Black community. A brand can say they stand with Ukraine. A content marketer can bring refugee voices directly to a sympathetic audience. That’s leading with purpose, not purpose as an afterthought.

3 — Humanizing the Brand

I’ve written before about humanizing B2B marketing — specifically about how easy it is to overthink the whole thing. What’s the line between relatable and unprofessional? Will we lose trust in our competency if our content is too light-hearted? How do we relate to our entire audience without alienating a segment?

Here’s the thing: You can’t humanize a brand.

I say again: You CAN’T humanize a BRAND.

The exception that proves the rule.

Brands are not humans. People are. Content marketing can feature people on behalf of the brand, rather than attempting to speak for the brand.

Bring your executives into your content. Bring employees, influencers, external experts. Bring — I’m begging you — your customers and prospects in as well.

If you want to truly humanize, let the humans come out from behind the brand. Content marketers can lead the way.

4 — Building Relationships

I have talked more about building relationships in a decade of being a marketer than I did in a decade of being single. But in the world post-pandemic (and our current world of ongoing but milder pandemic), relationship-building is an even more crucial part of success for B2B business. Repeat customers, referrals and brand advocacy are all a more reliable source of revenue than even the most targeted advertising.

Content marketing can help build these relationships. The first three points I made are all about laying the groundwork for a relationship. Content can offer helpful advice, information about the state of the industry, best practices — in other words, what your audience needs to succeed in their professional and even personal lives.

The quickest way to build a relationship? Give your potential customer that crucial bit of advice to make them look brilliant in front of their boss. Give your existing customers recognition and highlight the awesome success your brand helped them achieve. The more you lift up and celebrate your buyers, the more they are likely to do the same for your brand.

“Content can offer helpful advice, information about the state of the industry, best practices — in other words, what your audience needs to succeed in their professional and even personal lives.” — Joshua Nite @NiteWrites Click To Tweet

Elevate Your Content to Solve B2B Challenges

It’s been a rough couple of years. Human beings have experienced individual and collective trauma, and we’re still processing and rebuilding. That’s true both of the marketers creating content and the people consuming it.

The way forward is to use content for what it’s really good at: Telling stories, amplifying human voices, and providing value. That’s not to say content should be doing all of the above instead of driving a business outcome — I’m saying that helpful, human content is the way to drive a business outcome.

We have the privilege, as content marketers, to create something that serves both the brand and the audience, and might even be fun for us to create. It’s a unique opportunity and one we should all embrace.

Check out Content Marketing service page for more inspiration.

By Joshua Nite

Sourced from TopRank Marketing