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Three Voices Strategy

“Three Voices™ Strategy” is a new framework for understanding and closing the gap between the way today’s B2B companies try to attract customers and the fast-changing behavior of B2B buyers. A key goal of Three Voices™ strategy is to facilitate stronger brand engagement through peer recommendations
– buyers telling their peers how good a company or product is based on their own experiences.

Particularly suited to knowledge-intensive companies with discerning audiences, Three Voices™ Strategy rests on three concepts: Voice of Company, Voice of Industry, and Voice of Customer. These three distinct voices help B2B marketers to visualize and create a structured platform for engaging stakeholders, and the framework provides a set of implementation tools and processes.

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Rapid buyer persona development

by David Hoskin

My colleagues and I were recently thrown a challenge by one of our clients to identify and describe its key stakeholder personas in half a day. On first thought, and despite our in-depth knowledge of the company and its industry (offshore engineering services), it seemed an impossible task, especially because the company has several business areas and various customer types within each of those business areas. But always up for a challenge, my colleagues and I planned a high-intensity session with the outcome of clearly defined buyer personas representing the most important revenue streams. Continue reading →

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How NOT to implement B2B content marketing – lessons from the field

by Jonathan Winch

I was recently privileged to hear marketing whizz-kid Thomas Webster talking about a project he had been brought in to advise upon for a knowledge-intensive B2B manufacturer. The project’s goal was to bring the company closer to its customers using content marketing. A Voice of Industry (arms-length content marketing) site had been set up, a budget allocated and the project was nearing the end of its first year of operation. But things weren’t going as well as the company had hoped. So Thomas and his team were asked to consult on ways to make the project work more effectively. Continue reading →

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A2SEA puts a spotlight on its knowhow: Part 1 of 3

by Jonathan Winch

Offshore wind turbine installation contractor A2SEA stands as a great example of a company that grew from a commoditized, generic position to dominate its industry through the constant application of knowhow as a key differentiator. Despite this transformation over more than a decade, many of its clients and prospective customers still think, more or less, that the company just provides the vessels and crew to lift enormous structures into place far out to sea – and that’s something you can buy, well, from anyone, can’t you? A2SEA just wasn’t getting enough Return on Knowhow. Continue reading →

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“Help us to get more out of what we know!”

by Jonathan Winch

Knowledge-intensive B2B companies are a special breed. Unlike many simple consumer products that perform a straightforward function, their product offerings are often experts who can solve a wide variety of problems and take on greenfield challenges. Clearly communicating what the company can do, therefore, is difficult at best. Continue reading →

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Knowledge sharing platform for a knowledge-intensive company

by David Hoskin

A new thought leadership platform encouraging stakeholder engagement and subject matter expertise has been launched by a global B2B technology company. Continue reading →

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Is word-of-mouth best for business execs?

by David Hoskin

Conversation is more than a social media strategy. While all the attention these days seems to be on online marketing – and, sure, that’s where the excitement is, there are still plenty of B2B executives getting results from good ol’ fashioned face-to-face networking and word-of-mouth exchanges. By and large, we are social beings, and most of us still value the opinions of people in our personal networks and trusted business connections more than rather tenuous Twitter and LinkedIn connections. But what is word-of-mouth marketing worth in B2B? Find out below and find three tips for making your clients become your biggest advocates. Continue reading →

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7 ways to keep your subject matter experts feeding the Content Machine

by Hugo Ludbrook

If your company has established a blog, a few social media accounts or perhaps an independent thought leadership platform, then you have a group of employees contributing content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. To keep the content flowing, they need to be supported as best they can. Continue reading →

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Leveraging Voice of Industry in your B2B communication strategy

by Jonathan Winch

If you have been a returning reader you will know that we are big on the ongoing changes in B2B buyer behavior and how most B2B companies have yet to follow suit and create a communication strategy to match the changes. But how can you actually do that? One way is by establishing a respected and credible Voice of Industry. Continue reading →

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Content marketing? Danish companies could lead the way.

by David Hoskin

Content marketing is about engaging your target audience with useful information that that helps them solve a problem or become better informed. It is not an exercise in directly promoting your products or services. Instead it involves encouraging and building dialog with interested parties, which can help position you as a trusted advisor and a credible, knowledgeable supplier who understands their industry and needs. Continue reading →