If you’re still trying to create marketing campaigns that are built on solid logic, sound value propositions and robust customer testimonials, then you are missing the point!
The rules have changed.
You have to be interesting first and then relevant!
Being
interesting starts conversations, content get shared around the web and
your marketing campaign becomes something that lives and breathes.
Think about it. If a direct mail piece lands on your desk with a solid and logical headline; “Save millions with our new business software”, “listen to what our customers have to say”, “download our amazing white paper”. What do you do?
I will tell you: unless it is truly unique you forget it, you bin it, you move on to something more important.
Why, because we have all become hardened and fatigued to old world sales messages and old school ways of delivering marketing ideas. They are dull, disengaging and frankly boring.
And that’s the killer point. Most of the stuff we receive is boring, especially in a B2B context.
The online world has opened our eyes to what is possible in terms of exciting and memorable content and much of this has been driven by consumer marketing. Our expectations of what is fun, interesting and compelling is being shaped by our experiences as consumers, which means the “expectation gap” between B2B and B2C is getting wider by the nanosecond.
We live in a super connected world. Our online identities, profiles and connections are growing exponentially. Marketing campaigns that fail to exploit the viral looping capacity of the connected world are a total waste of money.
You need to be creating exciting content that sparks conversations. You need to be at the heart of these conversations, directing potential customers to online destinations where you have a compelling story to tell. You need to be hitting them with personalised sales offers and making them feel special. And in the very best examples of online marketing, this customer journey that you have carefully crafted, feels invisible and unmanufactured to your potential customer. It’s a journey of discovery, where they have the illusion of being in control, therefore, they don’t feel like they are being sold to.
So while many clients struggle with breaking away from the same old, same old campaigns that have served them well in the past, the digitally savvy are making waves and stealing vital ground.
Nobody has all the answers, but one thing is for sure, if you start by creating marketing campaigns that are interesting, exciting and memorable and that leverage the power of the super connected planet then you will be ahead of the pack.
For more information you can read our related articles on social CRM and lead generation by clicking the links.
I find it very difficult not to agree with you as 'exciting marketing' seems so much more 'exciting' to work with. But in the same breath, to assume that people are savvy to what is a 'literal' and 'good business deal' is actually just as narrow minded. Surely people in a B2B context have a business decision to make and if therefore as much as you can enjoy a bit of hype, if your deal is the best on the table for them then that's the one to go for, that in itself shoud be 'interesting'. So I guess what I am saying is the old school method is still the important thing, how much you wrap it up is based on your budget.
I agree that it is more about telling stories nowadays and then be more commercial the harder we can hold a customers interest, but in a B2B world I ask if it should be necessary with interesting things. Its a good service to be interesting but isnt it more important to be relevant and efficient in the B2B world?
I think the key question here is to define interesting! This will mean different things to different people. Here B2B organisations can learn a lot from the B2C world who have excelled at effectively segmenting and targeting their customers. In stark comparison the B2B world keeps to crude segmentation with vertical and function as the main criteria (if that).
To be effective I believe you need to understand what interesting is to the individuals you are targeting then using a mix of 'old' and 'new' marketing vehicles to reach them.
Thanks for all the comments, it's good to see the subject has stirred you into sharing your opinion. And that's the point. If this article was titled "ROI in B2B" it wouldn't even register on your radar. Why, because you've heard it all before! We have to be braver in how we package our marketing campaigns, to look at other tools like entertainment as a way to create, cut through and stimulate online conversations. But I deffo agree with the comment from Bitesize; what is interesting to one person is poison to another. And that's why the world needs marketing people, to make those decisions on what works and what doesn’t and to bring home the proverbial bacon.
Paul Cash