For today’s B2B brands, there is a key element to help you forge strong connections with your customers. Humans.
Continue readingWhat human connections do for marketing
Customer advocacy
Buzz Watch 2/5: Advocacy Marketing
In my previous post, in an effort to clear up some of the confusion in the way new terms are being used in the industry, I discussed what Account-based Marketing (ABM) was all about. This time, I’ll attempt to define advocacy marketing.
Advocacy marketing generally describes the idea of promoting (advocating) a product or service, typically where people or brands act as a third party to encourage prospects to buy. The overarching aim is to create trust in your product and your brand, based on the principle that people tend to trust the opinions of those they perceive to be similar to themselves – or to be independent experts in a specific field. Advocacy marketing can be used both to acquire new customers and increase loyalty with existing ones. Continue reading
Four Ways SMS and Marketing Automation Nurtures and Qualifies B2B Leads
Marketing automation is a time-saving action, and nurturing leads is a smart business practice. It stands to reason that both efforts can work together to create a dynamic, effective result. Now, that may sound simple, but it’s actually a strategic initiative that leads to qualified sales leads, which turns into greater sales revenue.
The challenge is how to properly lay out and execute a plan of action that is productive, manageable and measurable. It’s smart for B2B decision makers to employ email marketing into these campaigns, but that isn’t enough to really get the most out of your efforts. A key to successfully nurturing and qualifying leads is text messaging.
Used together, SMS and marketing automation empower your B2B company to reach your targets with a specific, enticing message. Here are four ways SMS and marketing automation nurtures and qualifies B2B leads. Continue reading
Inspire customer creativity with innovative case stories
B2B customer case stories follow a fairly simple format of explaining how a product or service solved a specific customer pain. But they don’t necessarily communicate that a company is innovative, or encourage customers to innovate with them. Yet there are good reasons why a repertoire of innovation-focused stories can draw in new customers or stimulate new ideas among existing ones. So why not use them to inspire innovation?
Showcasing novelty
Today’s markets are increasingly demanding evolution, not just adequate performance. And employees are being encouraged to seek out opportunities for incremental or radical innovation. In response, businesses could take the opportunity to highlight case stories about creativity involving their products or services. Continue reading
Tape your mouth shut for 3 days
Surprising advice by Stuart Symington, CEO of Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) in South Africa. What’s he getting at? Something deeper than just peace and quiet in his daily life, I’m sure.
How many business meetings or professional discussions have you had where you’re left feeling frustrated at being talked at the entire time without the opportunity for discussion or reflection? How many times have you yourself done that to other people? Continue reading
Knowledge sharing platform for a knowledge-intensive company
A new thought leadership platform encouraging stakeholder engagement and subject matter expertise has been launched by a global B2B technology company. Continue reading
Project success factors – 6 of the best
We’ve just finished presenting the results of months of work to one of our favorite clients. It went well, which is great, but I wanted to point out why I think it went well – and highlight some of those project success factors for others in the marketing business. Continue reading
Honesty and your Voice of Customer messages—can you go too far?
Those who’ve read our book, The Death of Propaganda, will know that we’re staunch advocates of honesty in advertising. Specifically, we advocate a more direct delivery of the facts, albeit in a helpful way, when it comes to talking about a company’s own products or those of its competitors. But how far can that honesty thing go? Continue reading
Establish thought leadership through your annual reports
While preparing the annual report of a global manufacturer of industrial products recently, it struck me what an ideal channel the annual reports are for establishing thought leadership. But it seems that many companies lock themselves into a standard formula that is all about reporting from the perspective of the company – like a true propaganda Voice of Company channel. It’s easy to miss the opportunity to truly engage stakeholders with content that is relevant and interesting to them. Continue reading
The role of storytelling in Three Voices™ strategies
In a conversation two days ago with social media veteran Jomar Reyes, one of the people who inspired us to write The Death of Propaganda, he spoke enthusiastically about the role of storytelling in B2B marketing and communication—and emphasized that, in his view, storytelling was a key component of any Three Voices™ strategy. Continue reading