Content - the New King of B2B Commerce

B2B marketing has recently crowned a new king - far surpassing paid search, PR, and mass media as the preferred weapon of today’s B2B entrepreneur.
In the 2011 B2B Marketing Trends Survey Report, marketing software company HiveFire surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the state of the B2B market. 
According to the report, B2B marketers are retreating from conventional tactics like SEM and have made content marketing the most-used tool in the box. In fact, twice as many B2B marketers now employ content marketing as they do print, TV, and radio advertising.
What is Content Marketing?

“The creation and publication of original content — including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos, and photos - for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display.”

• Search engine marketing at 70%
• Event promotion at 68%
• Public relations at 64%
• Mass media advertising (TV, radio, print) at 32%

• Driving sales and leads - 78% 
• Boosting brand awareness and establishing - 35%
• Maintaining thought leadership - 35% 
• Increase web traffic - 28%
• Improve search results - 24%

• Lack of time - Nearly 70%
• A lack of original and quality content - 66% 
• Difficulty in measuring results - 38%
• Lack of staff to do the work- 37% 

“Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products - a marketplace of content.”

What Steve Jobs taught me about Marketing

Over the past century, every generation has experienced a revolution in the cosmos of business.  And each awakening in technology has stemmed from a new innovation.  

In that respect, Steve Jobs is a legend.

To me (and many other business professionals in a variety of disciplines), his genius was noteworthy not only because it changed the way people live, learn, and behave, but also because of the fact that he did it multiple times across more than one decade, and particularly at the turn of a century.  

His drive to innovate was constant.

As a digital marketer, there are many critical lessons that Apple (namely, Jobs) taught me over the years about how to be a successful brand in any industry. Here are just a few of them…

Embrace Change, and Build a Culture Around it.

Yes, the Apple commercials across decades, along with other brand experiences, were nothing short of breathtaking.  But more important was the remarkably sustainable “us-versus-them” messaging.  The result was the “culting” of a brand.  

People didn’t buy Apple products - they bought into the brand’s ethos. As the rival evolved from IBM to Microsoft and now, increasingly, to Google, Apple consistently remained something more than just a company or a brand. It was a movement.

Marketing is No Longer Message or Media

Sure, these factors are certainly still key to most brands in today’s economy.  But even more important today is to make your product or service so innovative that it markets itself.  

With each product launch, Apple changed the game.  And in doing so, captured increased loyalty and boosted their brand’s revenue.  The message was great - “Think Different.”  And his products did exactly that, which only made the message stronger.

Be Genuine.

As consultant Bob Garfield recently stated in an Ad Age feature article: 

Now that I’ve shared the acumen given to me, feel free to chime in.  What are some of the things this digital genius taught you?

(Source: branditlikebarker.com)

BRIDGING THE GAP: Brand Message & Consumer Trust

All the messages funneled into consumer homes, cars, and on the streets, it’s a full-time job for businesses to simply break through the clutter.
 

Do consumers believe claims made by businesses for their advertised products? 

Many businesses spend millions annually trying to answer this question through research, focus groups, and other methods. In reality, consumers are a bit fickle about where they place their trust when it comes to an advertiser’s brand message.

Age demographics and level of education do play a role. The older the consumer, the more likely they will be skeptical about trusting a business’s  brand message.

Conversely, the younger the consumer, the more likely they may accept a business claim in its product messages. Users are also split on whether they trust government regulators to ensure honesty in claims made by businesses in their advertising messages.

For consumers with higher education levels, there’s an (incorrect) inclination to trust government regulators versus an advertiser or the advertising industry to ensure claims are honest. 

Those consumers who have not obtained a NCAA education tend to trust the advertisers and/or advertising industry more than government regulators. Of course, there will always be a percentage that will be skeptical of advertising claims.

Ensure when you advertise your brand message that the claims are honest! At the end of the day, it’s an uphill battle to resell a consumer once they have discovered a claim to be untrue.

Think of children, they are trusting to a fault -  until they have a bad experience. With social media at everyone’s fingertips, you don’t need bad press from those who have embraced your product and are your brand ambassadors. 

“People remember the bad a lot longer than the good!”

With information traveling at the speed of light due to technology, it is a lot harder to change perceptions once formed.