B2B Marketing Strategy: What’s a Real Differentiator?
A solid B2B marketing strategy requires differentiators that actually stand out. This seems obvious. But, unfortunately, in B2B tech, great differentiators are hard to come by.
B2B Buyer Personas: Delete the Fluff
The industry standard for B2B buyer personas is wanting. I frequently see buyer personas built by other vendors that read more like a dating profile than an exceptional piece of analysis and insight.
In these poorly amalgamated personas, significant time is spent on demographic details and personality traits of a buyer when other topics are far more critical.
Don’t GTM Before You’re Ready (Ignore The True Believers)
You believe in the company you’re marketing, and so do your product and leadership colleagues. But, often because everyone believes in the business, companies end up with a hero complex. This leads to dangerous territory: a go-to-market (GTM) strategy that’s missing the customer perspective.
Whether you’re entering a crowded space or offering a bold new product, you need customer input to understand where the opportunities are (and where they aren’t) when crafting your GTM strategy.
B2B Market Segmentation Research: Real Buyers vs. Imaginary Friends
How much guesswork is involved in your B2B market segmentation strategy? Are you building products for an imaginary buyer? In the B2B tech sector, this happens more often than you would think.
“I Have No Idea What Your Product Does”: A Cautionary Tale of Marketing Buzzwords
Yes, yes, I see that your solution will enhance my ROI and accelerate something or other while also optimizing and transforming my business. But, um, what does it do? If your B2B content strategy doesn’t include the prohibition of buzzwords, you may want to rethink your messaging. Read more
B2B Messaging: It’s Harder than B2C
Business to Business (B2B) messaging is more intellectually stimulating and harder to create than Business to Consumer (B2C) messaging. B2B messaging is harder to test as well, which is why the use of solid research methods is critical.
These challenges exist for one simple reason: B2B sales are more complex. Consequently, this complexity leaves B2B marketers with a heavy burden, one that can only be lightened with solid customer insights.
The Answer is Still No
One of the most important lessons of key account management: having a single account take up more than 20 percent of your profit and loss statement (P/L) is business suicide. Unfortunately, many executives don’t follow this sage advice – which results in broken businesses, laid-off employees, and the loss of entrepreneurial dreams.
B2B Quant: Not Your Average Survey
B2B quantitative research works differently than in B2C.
B2B Focus Groups: Aim for Alchemy, Avoid Anarchy
B2B focus groups aren’t just conversations among peers. They need the structure and punch of a debate with a roundtable discussion’s free exchange of ideas. A skilled market researcher can set this tone.
Hero’s Quest: The B2B Buyer’s Journey
In the B2B buyer’s journey, buyers have to wade through a lot of nonsense to find relevant information.
B2B Revealed Podcast
B2B is a complex and challenging field, but most of all, it is fascinating. Join Sean Campbell, CEO of Cascade Insights, as he shares over 20 years of experience in the B2B market.