B2B Excellence - First mover advantage

B2B Excellence is a weekly newsletter that curates the best B2B marketing content from the brightest minds in our industry.

We include the perspectives from a variety of enterprise marketers, stories from fast-growth businesses challenging the conventional ways of working and thinking, and the top 1% of B2B marketers shaping modern-day practices.

Grab yourself a cup of tea and review our archived entries at  https://www.b2bexcellence.co/

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1* First mover advantage

More and more noise continues from B2B brands who take the plunge and test TikTok.

When platforms are new you can take advantage of immature algorithms, with a lack of competitor adoption, with efficient buys.

Whilst I have not taken the plunge personally or professionally, it’s on my list for later this year.

Be brave, try something new, and reap the rewards of first mover advantage.

This is one of many examples I have heard of brands taking the plunge and testing TikTok.

Original Source

2* New way vs the old way

Cognism has been a brilliant example of a brand who have successfully pivoted their “old way” of B2B marketing, to “modern-day” B2B marketing, and their team continues to share brilliant actionable content across social media that demonstrates the actions they have taken to improve the effectiveness of their marketing.

The changes have been pretty simple.

They shifted the metrics they deemed a success.

This meant moving away from an MQL Focus & Cost Per Lead to a Qualified Pipeline, sales cycle timelines, and monitoring inbound inquiries.

Shifting their success metrics meant they could approach their marketing differently.

They put more emphasis on content, removing friction, and gateways, they focused on promoting content and educating their buyer.

As a result, they have seen a huge improvement in key revenue-focused metrics.

There were no shortcuts, a hack, or silver bullets.

It wasn’t hockey stick growth overnight, more stair step growth, but the patience, focus and resistance have paid off.

This is an example of an aligned team, with a focus on delivering impactful marketing.

Original Source

3* Revenue is the fuel a company needs.

“Marketers will continue to celebrate siloed wins unless there is pressure to re-evaluate what success looks like.”

Marketing teams are too fragmented.

Goals are not aligned, objectives are not shared, and success often looks different between departments.

So, we celebrate what we can when we can. And this is fine.

Using my example above of Cognism, could more alignment ignite better marketing, more customer consideration and better results?

Would an aligned version encourage these traits?

Does our website offer a customer experience that users expect today?

Do I really understand how our product/service solves a problem for our customers?

When was the last time I spoke with one of our customers?

How does our ICP like to consume information and where?

What elements of our marketing are truly influencing purchase decisions?

I would say yes.

A shared vision brings alignment, a greater community of thought, creativity and ultimately better marketing.

Inspired Source

Conversations / Articles You Should Read

Brands offer mental shortcuts that make purchase decisions quicker and easier

"Exhaust all capture demand channels before attempting to create demand"

B2B creative inspiration 

To thrive in a marketing leadership role, there are two things that will accelerate your success

Buyers are no longer interested in buying products and services the way they have always done

Tools, Platform, Events or Podcasts

Each week I share a tool I find interesting, an event I’m attending or a podcast I have listed too.

Something I posted a few weeks ago, I shared 24 talented B2B marketers you need to follow, check them out here and here.

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