THE 414 - B2B Marketing Podcast: Recent Episodes
James Rostance
As we come out of the pandemic there’s expected to be a sizeable economic boom. But in order for you and your company to benefit fully from it there is one key quality which will determine just how well you do... Adaptability will be the deciding factor, but ahead of that you need to have a clear understanding of what you’ll need to re-think and re-evaluate.
Buyers want to be confident that they will be successful if they purchase and implement your product or service. As a marketer you can help speed up sales cycles and provide higher quality marketing qualified leads if you address these confidence issues in your content. The goal is to become buyer-centric and position everything you put out so that at every touch point it’s helping address the issues which need to be tackled before a purchase decision in your favour can be made.
Connected TV , or CTV for short is how nearly the majority of us watch or consume television. Previously, television advertising only really suited B2C brands. But CTV offers advertisers the ability to target customers in a way which traditional linear broadcast television never could.
Marketing when taught is skewed to very large companies such as IBM, Caterpillar and Oracle. Revenue is generated by the entirety of the business, not just the top line of sales and marketing.
The most expensive way of testing anything is to launch it and to see if it works. However, that’s often how things are done when it comes to new campaigns and website launches Scientists base everything they do on the relentless testing of ideas to either prove or disprove concepts BEFORE rolling them out.
As a B2B marketer, you can make a huge impact on your company’s sales figures by taking the lead on a very particular type of personalisation.
Pitch decks are a classic request for ‘the colouring in department’.
But gone are the days of a one-size fits all slide show to give to sales teams.
In fact, any company who speaks to their customer base in broad and generic terms is likely to be the first to be removed from any consideration set.
One of the secrets of the best performing B2B companies is that they have their marketing teams equip sales teams with pitch decks and supporting material which can easily be personalised for each individual prospect.
The reason why they do this is to communicate why the solution you’re offering is a perfect fit for the prospect’s specific problem or need, having taken into account their unique set of circumstances and buying criteria.
From outreach brochures, to the sales pitch, and even down to the proposal.
Ultimately, it all comes down to the more personalised your collateral is to the prospect, the more sales your company will make.
This week on the show we’ll get a clear understanding of what to personalise and how to personalise it, so that you can provide your sales department with the ultimate tools to do the job and win the game.
You can connect with Itai here:
https://www.storydoc.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/itai-amoza-b44327a0/
Are you a B2B marketer? Connect with me on Linkedin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrostance/
And if you're interested in getting the edge in B2B marketing, check out my free eBook on the hottest new concept... Story Selling Case Studies:
https://casestudies.uk
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As a B2B marketer, you can make a huge impact on your company’s sales figures by taking the lead on a very particular type of personalisation. Pitch decks are a classic request for ‘the colouring in department’. But gone are the days of a one-size fits all slide show to give to sales teams.
Do almost dread being asked what do you? If you do, then there’s a way to change that. The concept of an elevator pitch is as American as waffles and bacon. But the concept really does work, even for the British, who’s reserved nature would otherwise have us avoid at all costs the concept of talking to a complete stranger in a closed confident space.
Tracking where leads, and ultimately sales come from is getting harder by the day. In fact, buyer journeys have become so complex, that what used to work is likely not giving you an accurate picture today.
But it doesn’t stop there. Because when you factor in the desire to help direct sales teams on which leads they should focus on for maximum conversion opportunities, you’d be incredibly lucky if what you have in place, is still serving you as best as possible.
Your customers will likely set about searching for information that will help them with their problem or need before looking for companies to provide the necessary product or service.
As a marketer it’s important to fully appreciate Google’s mission to customers, which is to provide the best search results possible.
At the forefront of making B2B marcomms more authentic, along with connecting with your audience on an emotional level is the ability to communicate as we would speak normally.
Who’d have thought that we’d have to make a concerted effort NOT to write or produce content which has the same flow and comatosing qualities of the terms and conditions section of vehicle hire agreement.
Having a six figure budget and dedicated team large enough to fill your local TGI Fridays is awesome for running ABM campaigns.
But small teams should not be dissuaded if the prize is big enough!
Having a six figure budget and dedicated team large enough to fill your local TGI Fridays is awesome for running ABM campaigns.
But small teams should not be dissuaded if the prize is big enough!
The concept we’ll be examining is that if you’ve got really valuable target accounts... why would you use spray and pray when you can actually spend your money in a much more targeted way?
This also aligns perfectly with the drive to make B2B marcomms more personalised and authentic.
Particularly for small companies where rapid growth is the stated goal, an ABM strategy which is tailored for making the best use of comparatively limited resources is not just smart but borderline GENIUS when you realise the full potential of what you can achieve.
This week LIVE from Newbury, UK with Helen Brown!
Insights & Wisdom From The Greatest Minds In B2B Marketing
The UK’s #1 B2B Marketing Podcast.
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Every week James Rostance interviews stand-out experts in B2B marketing so that you can directly expand and enhance your professional knowledge.
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Winning large accounts, particularly through ABM is often a lengthy and hugely resource intensive process.
But rather than going head-to-head and competing on the same terms, what if you took the gloves off and re-wrote the rules of engagement?
Washing the dishes and dealing with data have something in common.
Unless you wash the dishes you'll be in trouble the next time that you want to eat.
The same is true for your marketing data.
Being smart with what resources you have can often lead you to victory, even when pitched against a much larger adversary.
Time and again, challenger brands and companies pull the rug from under industry giants.
It's great to hear those stories, but what if you did exactly that?
What if you set about re-evaluating your resources and how you use them?
Specifically, we're talking about your bringing your colleagues in to help.
They are as it would seem, very commonly an untapped resource with regard to how they could greatly assist in nurturing market qualified leads.
Creating and fostering relationships, building trust and and staying top of mind is a huge undertaking which you address on a daily basis.
But unless every employee is directly helping with that through their social media, you're missing out on a huge opportunity.
This week on the show we'll be looking into the possibilities to be had and what difference it can make to your company.
Also, how to have everyone in your company help nurture clients and play a significant part in the sales process, all with minimal effort.
Live from Toronto, Canada.... Johnathan Baldock
Insights & Wisdom From The Greatest Minds In B2B Marketing
The UK’s #1 B2B Marketing Podcast.
⏯ ⏯ Previous Episodes: https://The414.net
📲 THE 414 on YouTube: http://bit.ly/The414-Youtube
📲 THE 414 on Facebook: http://bit.ly/The414-Facebook
📲 THE 414 on Twitter: http://bit.ly/The414-Twitter
📲 James on LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/James-LN
📲 James on Instagram: http://bit.ly/James-IG
📲 James on Facebook: http://bit.ly/James-FB
Every week James Rostance interviews stand-out experts in B2B marketing so that you can directly expand and enhance your professional knowledge.
Support the show (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPpIRSD8X6yE3cbvQ_3DGsA)
Washing the dishes and dealing with data have something in common.
Unless you wash the dishes you'll be in trouble the next time that you want to eat.
The same is true for your marketing data.
Free alcohol, always being the funniest person in the room, invites to glamorous events as well as being the envy of friends for their chosen career path.
Of course, professional comics also enjoy those kind of perks too, but what can B2B marketers learn from a professional comedian?
One of your key skills as a B2B marketer will be in producing epic content. Let's not be shy about that!
And it's borderline heartbreaking when your hard work in producing content goes to waste.
But sadly, that is typically the norm rather than the exception.
Your funnel, or specifically your marketing funnel map is supposed to be your definitive guide for how leads eventually become customers.
But what if that map is not a true representation of how things are, and how things work in the real word?
What if there were certain assumptions or biases at play when it was conceived and codified?
As a B2B marketer you're in a much better place to help drive efficiencies and profitability for your company than you might think.
In fact, it really is an opportunity for you to shine.
Every piece of software that your company uses makes up your tech stack, but you're likely in a better position than anyone else to investigate and strategise what other tech or software could be adopted to improve efficiencies, lower costs, reduce time and of course increase profitability.
Agile development is a process which can benefit B2B marketers, and it originates from software development.
Back in 2001 a group of software engineers got together to create a framework to facilitate adapting to changes as projects developed.
If you've ever been asked to put on an event at a drop of a hat, or to 'work a bit of marketing magic' on the creative equivalent of someone's last will and testament, then that's exactly how your SEO team feels when you ask them to get you ranking high on Google for anything and everything.
Personalising B2B content is the next frontier which B2B marketers need to overcome and conquer.
But conquering will also mean choosing the BEST content to personalise, and get in front of audiences.
John Wanamaker is one of the American pioneers of marketing, who famously said "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half".
It’s the marketing equivalent of a cold shower, juice detox and vitamin shots.
Yes, every once in a while you need to hear the facts straight, but if you’re brave enough to take them, you’ll be a lot better off for it.
Right now we're in a fantastic transition period of B2B marketing.
The concept of marketing to buyers as if they're real people is really taking off.
If that sounds obvious to you, then you're already enlightened, but equally there are a lot of people who are yet to truly discover this.
Account Based Marketing, or ABM, is a hot topic right now, and it's increasingly being seen as a strategy which everyone needs to adopt in order to 'keep up with the Joneses'.
But even more controversial than Harry styles in a dress, and hopefully with more substance, is the notion that ABM is NOT for everyone, and even more shocking is the claim... that given the size and scale of businesses in the UK, ABM is actually only suited to a select number and certainly not the majority.
Leaders in business all say that they support Marketing Communications, or Marcomms, but there's a big problem in that a lot of people don't truly understand exactly what Marcomms is.
Sure, they've got an idea, but that's a long way off having an intricate understanding and appreciation of what it is, why it's important, and how to make sure it's done well.
Previously PR was just about generating awareness to help with lead gen.
But there’s been a significant shift in B2B PR in recent years which has really stepped up the game.
Sky championed the art of annoying customers as well as making it nearly impossible to leave, so much so that it triggered an Ofcom investigation.
But in an ideal world, your customers shouldn’t be scrambling to get away from you and the government shouldn’t have to step in to let them escape!
If you have a solid understanding of psychology, influence and persuasion you’ll have a huge advantage over other marketers.
It’s a mixture of science and art, and when you put it to use you’re able to connect and engage with customers at a much higher level, and with much greater effect.
Why B2B Needs Don Draper
There’s a famous line of thinking which says that if you keep doing the same thing, you can’t expect different results.
Perfecting The Art of Virtual Pitching Do you, your company or agency deliver virtual pitches?
What B2B Can Learn From The Charity Sector... Getting inspiration from outside sources and specifically, other sectors can be hugely beneficial for you to get a fresh take on things.
Speaking at Virtual and Live events are an excellent way to connect with potential customers. But how do you get into public speaking and what’s involved?
Personas or customer avatars are the foundation of any successful marketing activity. But when was the last time you updated yours, who should be involved and what hidden benefits are there of doing it?
Personas or customer avatars are the foundation of any successful marketing activity. But when was the last time you updated yours, who should be involved and what hidden benefits are there of doing it?
Personas or customer avatars are the foundation of any successful marketing activity. But when was the last time you updated yours, who should be involved and what hidden benefits are there of doing it?
What does a successful LinkedIn advertising campaign look like and what are the processes involved?
A well known ‘secret’ is that the best performing B2B companies have tightly integrated Sales & Marketing teams. This week on the show we’ll fully lift the lid on the path you’ll need to take to achieve the deep level of integration and co-operation that's necessary to blow last year’s company results out of the water.
Today on the show we’re going to be focusing heavily on media strategy. Why it’s important, how you can break it down, and things to consider with regard to creative as well as connecting user experience and customer journeys.
The aim of today’s episode is to give you a first class understanding of how you can develop a bigger bet, and a strategy which you can get buy in and support with, from across your company.
As consumers we are all spending much more time online. That’s also where your customers are, and that should be making it easier to connect with them. But this is a double edged sword, because as a result of the fall out of the virus, not everyone is in market right now.
We’ve all adapted to working from home, but do you know what would be better than that? Working from any country, anywhere, anytime, otherwise known as a Digital Nomad.
Customer Experience and User Experience are often thought of as important, but individual processes and disciplines in their own right.
PR is incredibly effective when it’s an integral part of your overall marketing strategy. But still, only a select number in any given niche use it to its full potential.
It is quite a challenge to transform your company or brand into one which customers respond to, admire, and connect with. However, it’s far from impossible, you just need to understand what’s involved.
Most B2B brands have either run their social media badly, or never got started.
They watch with envy as consumer brands run highly engaging social campaigns, believing B2B ‘too boring’ to achieve that kind of success.
This is a fallacy. B2B brands are better placed to succeed on social media.
Their audiences are more focussed and easier to target.
The have stronger communities and a captive audience (9-5, at least).
They are soaked in innovation and run by genuine subject matter experts.
All they need is a match to light the social ‘touch-paper’.
Today on the show, Luke Brynley-Jones will explain where B2B social media went wrong, and how it can be fixed.
- B2B Social strategy
- Organic social media
- B2B influencer marketing – how and why it works
- Content marketing
- Paid social for B2B
- Future?
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Most B2B brands have either run their social media badly, or never got started. But B2B has massive untapped potential for winning with social media.
How to get the most out of all the Government Financial Support on offer. PLUS how to leverage it to GROW your business or agency.
Marketing Your B2B Agency During COVID-19 So you can ignore the hystericals who are screaming STOP SELLING. Stopping is wrong, but adapting is right. But how does a B2B agency sell itself?
For the economy not to collapse businesses still need to thrive. But the playing field for selling has changed considerably, so how should you adapt?
Adapting Your Approach For Winning Customers & Delivering Your Service
So you can ignore the hystericals who are screaming STOP SELLING.
Stopping is wrong, but adapting is right.
But how does a B2B agency sell itself?
You’ve got to do something, but HOW should you adapt?
Joining me on the show toady will be Adam Graham who specialises in helping B2B marketing agencies to create authentic and differentiating brand stories so that they can attract the right type of clients and build a consistent pipeline.
So his advice and guidance is exactly what B2B agency owners and management teams need right now.
And Adam will give you a detailed breakdown of how you as a B2B agency can succeed in helping B2B businesses, at a time when your services are needed now more than ever.
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Adapting how you communicate
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Re-discovering and connecting to your personal and business vision
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The fear/perception of sales and what the barriers could be
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Acting like a brand – how do you add authenticity and personality to your story
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Accountability and Ownership
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New business as a game – the phycological battle amid COVID-19
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Mindset and skills required to be good at sales
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What happens when a crisis has no immediate end?
For the economy not to collapse businesses still need to thrive.
But right now, the playing field for selling has changed considerably.
Which begs the question, how should you adapt?
The answer it would seem could well come from focusing on telling your story, or stories, as a business.
Doing this involves documenting your journey and telling the stories of your customers, suppliers and employees.
Ultimately, those stories stand to help you forge strong connections with everyone whom you’re involved as well as crucially, preparing you as the ideal vendor or partner for when the time is right for them to buy.
Jessica Gioglio is a brand storyteller and international keynote speaker whose books on the subject have received admiration and personal endorsements from Guy Kawasaki and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Jessica will be joining me to share with you:
- Why story telling is the best course of action for you to take
- Why your values are really important right now
- How your relationships and connections will be improved
- What stories you can tell
- How to set about crafting your stories
- How to deliver stories
- Why you will prosper in the immediate and long term
Support the show (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPpIRSD8X6yE3cbvQ_3DGsA)
Crisis communications…there are many reasons why you need to make sure you and your company have your communications on point right now.
Alexander Swann gives a detailed breakdown of how to create B2B campaigns which achieve cut through and connect with the audience.
Right now BIG businesses are facing a huge challenge to stay relevant, whilst start ups and scale ups, establishing credibility is an equally big problem.
Jonathan Low, an award winning digital marketer who specialises in neuro-marketing and shares his insights on how we no longer respond to traditional stock images.
Kane Simms, co-founder at VUX world, will bring you fully up to speed on what voice technology is, deep dive into what it can do and what you can do with it.
56% of a B2B buyer’s decision making process is based on emotional factors, we look deep into some groundbreaking research which helps give a detailed understanding of this highly significant finding.
The importance of trust and building trust when it comes to using customer data.We will also be looking at how you can ethically gain significant business advantage over your competitors, all completely within the law.
B2B lead generation and conversion. What B2B marketers are currently doing, the challenges they’re facing as well as what’s working the best.
A new approach for selling B2B - standing up and standing out for something through story telling, focusing on the person not the product.
Looking into one of the most widely used, but often under appreciated tools at our disposal, and that is, voice overs.
How to reliably connect with the full range of decision makers involved with a company’s purchasing decision.
This week on THE 414 LIVE we’ll be discussing what Always On marketing activity actually means, why you would want to do it, and what you stand to gain.
I’ll be speaking with Yvonne Deegan who is an expert in conceptualising and implementing Always on Marketing as part of ABM strategy to connect with the full range of decision makers involved with a company’s purchasing decision.
Yvonne will cover in detail how this kind of approach stands to give you a tremendous advantage over your competitors, as well as how you can then stack the odds in your favour because little, if anything is left to chance.
The 414 is produced exclusively for you as a B2B marketer for you to expand and enhance your professional knowledge each and every week by hearing insights and wisdom from some of the greatest and most interesting minds in B2B marketing.
Presented by James Rostance, live from Southampton, UK.
Search ‘The 414’ on Youtube to watch the video version of the show.
www.The414.net
Support the show (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPpIRSD8X6yE3cbvQ_3DGsA)
How to build marketing teams who have a laser focused shared sense of purpose, which is why and how they ultimately produce exceptional results.
Voice is going to take off by storm, but unlike previous technology changes - most people already own voice enabled devices, it’s they’re just not using them… yet.
The partially controversial topic of Cold Approach Direct Outreach, but specifically, we’ll be looking into the positive sides to it and what it stands to offer if it’s done correctly.
This week on THE 414 LIVE we discuss the divides, disconnects and the varying levels in which sales and marketing teams simply don’t work together as they should.
Solutions to the divides, disconnects and the varying levels which sales and marketing teams simply don’t work together as they should.
How to develop a perfectly congruent content strategy, as well as how to get much greater results from working smarter, not harder.
Knock out your competition through avoiding one-on-one technical comparisons, because you are the king of your own unique category.
James Rostance speaks with Catherine Maskell, at The Content Market Association (CMA), about the evolution of content marketing for B2B marketers.
James Rostance speaks with Nick King at Autotrader about consumer psychology and how B2B marketers can level up their game and results by bringing this discipline into their strategy.
Content marketing and tailoring content for B2B audiences to improve audience engagement and accelerate sales.
Making exponential increases in sales revenues by putting to use the huge potential of proprietary data which most businesses have, but never even think to use.
James Rostance speaks with Joel Harrison at B2B Marketing about this year's industry trend tracker and the annual marketing event 'Ignite'.
On this week’s show, Sophie Pemberton, arguably the most out spoken champion and specialist in Out of Home, joins us to give the inside scoop on applying data from multiple sources to Digital Out of Home.
Mike Shaw at Data XU talks about bringing together consumer data from multiple sources in real time so that advertisers can deliver significantly more successful TV advertising campaigns.
The competitive advantages for businesses to re-position and reassess their aims within the industry through significant changes to their products and communication schemes in light of the the so called ‘Perfect Storm’.
Customer-driven growth: brands working in partnership with customers to create better, more desirable and significantly more marketable products.
This week on THE 414, it’s about marketing industry leaders getting together to help attract future talent to the industry with a new School of Marketing.
James Rostance speaks with Jordan Bourse at StyleHaul about how technology can be used to prevent influencer fraud. Plus the ongoing fight against influencer fraud for the benefit of both the industry and clients alike
James Rostance speaks with Chris Pearson at Element London about getting creative with competitions and prizes to drive social engagement, awareness, and increase sales.
James Rostance speaks with Debby Penton about strategically integrating PR campaigns with marketing in order to provide continuous qualified business leads.
James Rostance speaks with Paul Maher to find out which techniques and strategies are delivering incredible results in other sectors, and what he recommends marketers within the tech industry adopt if they want to crush their competitors.
Performance influencer marketing and using AI to help set up campaigns. The benefits of a well implemented content DNA strategy, including using content DNA to increase recall and effectiveness.
The golden opportunity for brands to reach highly engaged mobile users in the least crowded online environment. In-app and in-game advertising, the case for an opportunity with in-app and in-game advertising
The London Sock Company implemented a highly successful marketing strategy to build a leading fashion business in just 4 years.
How to use LinkedIn to position yourself as the go to expert and have prospects coming to you, pre-sold ready to buy. Learn the secrets behind turning your profile into a true lead magnet.
Discover the secrets behind the single most effective free form of advertising, and learn about the marketing strategy which Richard Branson built his empire on.
Size and spending power does not make you invincible in marketing. How challenger brands are able to steal valuable market share from large brands and market leaders.
The case for today’s most organic and unbeatable form of marketing, Influencer Marketing.
How Influencer Marketing can benefit you, the secret to its power along with the correct approach for any influencer based campaign.
Machine learning and AI has been around for many years. We are now at a tipping point where marketers for companies of all sizes have access to this technology and are able to put it to incredible use.