I’m finding a disturbing pattern in much of the B2B marketing I evaluate. A pattern where marketing focuses on everything BUT the problem they solve and the solution to it. ** What this looks like is gated content that is broad and generic. ** It’s vague messaging that could apply to anyone and everyone. The thought process with content seems to be the following: - Identify a broad audience - salespeople, accountants, HR, etc. - Come up with generic content ideas we could easily write about. - Spend weeks making an e-book - “Top 10 things XX care about.” - Gate said e-book to collect emails. - Collect emails and give them to sales. - Get mad at sales because they don’t follow up. - Repeat. The thought process with messaging seems to be the following: - Identify a broad audience - salespeople, accountants, HR, etc. - Come up with three generic benefits for said audience. - Add complicated language in an attempt to sound smart. - Share no real details - keep everything high level and vague. - Direct the audience to your e-book and go through the above. Let’s stop it. Instead, it’s pretty simple: - Embrace why your company exists and what you do for customers. - Focus on the Old Way vs. New Way. - Old Way => life before your product/category. (the status quo) - New Way => life after your product/category. (the solution) - Spend more time (60/40) articulating the status quo problem. - Make sure you are positioned uniquely against the competition. - Drill into anchoring the story on what makes you unique. - Iterate and improve as your gain more customer insight. - Get customer insight constantly, both formally and informally. - Build a messaging and content strategy focused only on this story. There are plenty of books on this subject - both old and new. This may sound super simple. However, what I see is that very few marketers do it. The reality is that this is the one thing your marketing team MUST do well if you want yourself, your team, and your company to succeed. The benefit is that you will stand out as most marketers won’t put in the effort because the OLD WAY (or status quo) I outlined above is easy and, unfortunately, the expectation. #b2bmarketing #marketing
Totally agree with you that top of funnel informational marketing needs to be focus on a well defined audience and shouldn't be a lead gen activity - I mean, you're educating your market and you're locking 90% of the buyers out because they won't fill out the form in return for getting a bunch of "leads" who don't want to talk to yet? Hard no. And I like your guidelines for doing good solutions focused marketing - it's a really well articulated. But - if you are selling a high-ticket solution, if it's disruptive, if you don't have the brand awareness of the incumbents, that broader content that is about needs and problems vs. yourself is really important. I actually see more over-rotation to solution focus at the expense of top of funnel activities. (I do think the world is getting tired of "10 biggest challenges for advanced widget designers!" ebooks though. There's probably more mileage to be gotten out editorial, analyst, and customer community activities.) Having a really clear view of your TAM and your own situation is really key to getting the balance right. (But please, don't gate an ebook and then hand the form fill to sales, you're wasting everybody's time.)
It's an interesting and distinctive post. Thank you. However I am confused about your pov on the Old Way vs. New Way. At the beginning it felt like you'd support focusing on the solution (the new way) But then on the last part, it sounds like focusing on the Old Way (status quo) is better. I am sorry maybe it's my lack of understanding, but I read it a few times and I was not sure about your exact opinion on the old vs new.
Adem Manderovic this is an example of what we were discussing. You can use the prospects website strategy to identify the holes, calculate impacts +/- performance value + create a customized proposal in the format they're accustomed to viewing data...based on strategy insights gleamed + tech stack.
Exactly why more companies should be hiring marketers with broad industry experience, not just SaaS. And hire copywriters who know to research, dig deep and write compelling, relevant stories! Trust us, you don’t want to leave all of the writing up to us marketers!
It's not only the shallow content, but the process itself - engagement with the content is NOT a green light for sales to contact me. If you consistently produce helpful, insightful content, you're building your brand the right way. If I'm looking for a solution, you're selling, I'll find a "book a demo/talk to sales" form on your website (hopefully). No need to call me. I'll call you when I'm ready.
What's your perspective on dropping the gate and just being awesome enough that people give you their contact info because they like you?
Spend more time on competition, what they are offering and how they are positioning their product in the market. Also keep an eye on the new entrants as well. You never know, they may become your greatest competitor. Cassidy Shield
As a conversion copywriter, I've always advocated for laser-focused messaging, a why behind your product, and understanding what your customers - not you - need to hear to convert. You've summed it up so well Cassidy Shield. I mean, it's even easier to stand out with great content when there's a lot of mediocre and vague pieces around.
Excellent writeup and a great checklist. I can use this right away.
Marketing Operations Director at Equifax
1yLisa Possee