Tag: content marketing

What do they care about?

FabrizioLeave a comment

When you think of differentiating from the competition, whether it is for a product or a job application, the question you should focus on is:

What does my customer most care about?

You might be absolutely the best at doing something, have more vision than anyone else in the market, be the cheaper option. But if that’s not THE critical thing for your customer, you will lose nonetheless.

And perhaps your customer still does not know that your uniqueness is something they will greatly benefit from.

In this case, you have a choice to make: you can try to educate them or you can leverage their emotions with a powerful story of how the future looks like.

Educating very rarely works.

One piece is many pieces

FabrizioLeave a comment

A piece of content is many pieces of content.

A webinar is a webinar, and it is also a blog post, short clips for social media, multiple banners for different campaigns, an infographic with insightful numbers.

A case study is a case study, and it is also multiple blurbs for your landing pages, a script for a video explainer on the impact of your product, copy for campaigns, testimonials for your social posts.

A video tutorial is a video tutorial, and it is also a blog post good for people trying to figure out what your product can do, screenshots for a knowledge base article, on-boarding content for new employees.

The reason why you need a content engine is not to produce more content, but to make the most out of the content you already have or are about to have.

That’s what makes the difference.

Sales and Marketing

FabrizioLeave a comment

The leads we are getting are no good.

Sales reps do not know how to sell.

This is a common exchange in B2B. And it’s where most strategies and plans go to die.

Try changing the approach to the following.

What information might we benefit from to get better leads?

What information might we need to close more sales?

You know the saying, two pairs of eyes are better than one. Imagine two pairs of eyes, two experts, two brains, two departments focused on solving the same problem.

No barrier

FabrizioLeave a comment

It’s easy to fall into the familiar refrain that goes: “B2B marketing is boring”.

That is just an alternative version of the hit: “We have always done it this way”.

The reality though is that most marketers don’t have the guts – sure, sometimes it is the budget, or the time, or the team, but let’s be realistic, it is mainly the guts – to try anything new.

Fortunately, some do. And some others do as well. And some others do it some more.

There is literally no barrier to B2B marketing today.

Just go experiment.

Note: the image in this blog post is from Postman‘s graphic novel, The API-first World.

As you go

FabrizioLeave a comment

We would like there to be a simple answer. And the reality, of course, is that there is none.

We would love the answer to be in the next article we read, the next podcast episode we listen to, the next online class we register for – even though we know we will never have the time, or the motivation, or the incentive to actually take it.

We would love our beloved go-to influencer to share their secret sauce. We would pay hard earned money to get it from their very own voice. We are desperate for it, so much so we convince ourselves that if only we would take the recommendation in the latest LinkedIn post they shared, everything would be fine.

The reality, of course, is that there is no secret sauce.

Every situation, every context, every team, every product, every go-to-market, every business model is different. You can apply some of your own previous expertise, or some of someone else’s previous expertise, but you’ll better do it carefully.

Starting with listening and asking loads of questions, seeing what you can take and what you need to drop, agreeing with others on the next important steps to take together.

That’s probably the only bullet that looks somewhat silvery.

Come up with the plan as you go.