Boredom in marketing….cause for distraction – Part 2

In the first part we spoke about how marketing is all about applied psychology. So to ensure that the prospects read and respond to your message they have to get curious about what you send to them.

When you are marketing to consumers, you can have different nuances like comedy, location and other things to make the prospect curious about your offerings. However when you are marketing to B2B customers the messaging has to be a little more formal. The remaining part of the post is focused on B2B messaging and how to make it more interesting for the recipient so that they don’t get bored and move to the next item.

One way, to ensure you are not boring, that I have written about multiple times earlier, is using triggers. These could be related to the industry in general, the company in particular or the person specifically. The more specific the trigger, more the chance of getting a person interested.

In B2B messaging, the concept of triggers, works best when you’re doing one – on – one messaging. A person could have joined new, a person could have got promoted, a person could have moved to a new department within the company. The CEO of the company could have set new priorities. Or the price of oil going up could impact the company positively or negatively. You will need to have people dedicated to working on tracking these triggers for your list of prospects.

You then need to mold your message about your offerings and make it relevant with the triggers. If you’re using FedEx or a similar service you could even deliver an oversized package to draw the attention of your prospect even further. On the other hand if you’re going to use email then the message has to be short and should invoke curiosity.

We will discuss in more detail next time.

Till then….

Carpe Diem!!!

B2B messaging – Using Triggers – 2

B2B, Business, differentiation, Marketing, messaging, persistence, single target market, Triggers

Yesterday I wrote about one of the best triggers that I have found in B@B messaging, when someone joins in a new role from outside the company in the executive position.

There are multiple other triggers that can be used based on the environment the company is operating in.

New regulation / compliances in the industry which everyone has to comply with especially if followed with a time limit
Going out / End of Life – of a license/regulation – again if there is a time limit it is even more critical
Entry of a new competitor in the market
Entry of a new technology
Impact of an event on a competitor and how it can apply to them
Global crisis and many more….

The reason I addressed the “new joinee trigger” as an independent post yesterday was because I have found that to be the most effective. With the above triggers the challenges are seen as more long term and people may not react to your messaging immediately.

Apart from the timing issue the other challenge is again related to targeting the right person in the organsiational matrix with the messaging for the above.

If you have been following my blog, I have given so many tactics for messaging whether its with dissonance or now with triggers or earlier with pain areas and aspiration areas.

The reason you have to test for so many different types of messaging is because you don’t know what kind of messaging will invoke a response from which prospect. You have to keep persisting with trying various options continuously.

So keep testing.

Till next time then

Carpe Diem!!!

B2B Messaging – Using Triggers

B2B, messaging, Triggers

I have written a lot of posts on B2B Messaging. Here’s one more.

The reason for this is that while the database is critical, once you have identified it , there’s no more variability. On the other hand you don’t know which message will resonate with your audience. Here you have to try multiple iterations and improve on each “control” by changing one variable at a time.

One item which I have observed work for my team a lot of times is “triggers” especially when someone new has joined at an executive position.

If you can track the priorities of the CEOs when they take over and/or other CXOs, then you can figure out if your solution can fit into their priorities.

If you send out a consistent set of messages after that, then you will end up building a recognition so that when the CXO is willing to work out on the priority, they will definitely ask their staff to “check you out”.

That’s when you get a chance to make an impression and wow them with your commitment to service.

Does it always work. No. But it does work a considerable amount of times. So its worth trying. Let me know if it works for you as well.

Till next time then

Carpe Diem!!!

“Where” to meet your B2B buyer -2

B2B, Marketing, persistence, Positioning, Sales, segmentation, single target market

In my last post I wrote about how “intent” data could help you find the buyer or you could set up Marketing Joint Ventures with people who either sell before or after your product or service is needed.

Inspite of this however you need to figure out “when” they will buy, what will be the trigger to buy so that you can meet the buyer at that moment in case you have not been able to identify them in advance.

One of the key triggers in a B2B buying process is when there’s a change at the Executive level. Depending on what you’re selling, the Executive level could vary, sometimes a V.P level, sometimes a CXO level.

Whenever someone new comes in they always have an agenda to achieve in the next 1 year. If what you have to offer is part of the 1 year priorities then you can essentially get a reason to be in touch.

Keeping a track of new joiners at the executive level can help you identify the “where” to meet your targets.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!