The B2B marketing and communications world (or what I like to call “complex service environment”) is like no other. Marked by long sales cycles involving multiple stakeholders and dialogue with prospects that is far more consultative and educational than sales-oriented, B2B is the “long haul” carrier of the marketing and business communication worlds. So why was this presenter focusing on disposable, tactic-intensive, make-a-deal-today marketing approaches as though wheeling and dealing from well-stocked shelves stuffed with so many jars of jelly or out-of-season irises?
To me this is one of the most irritating and recurring mysteries of marketing “complex services.” The more that architects, management consultants, computer hardware providers, industrial grease suppliers, biotech firms and countless other B2B companies believe they must be “marketing savvy,” the more they seem to adopt B2C approaches to marketing. Most of the time, these moves spawn ill-focused messages, superficial understanding of target markets, inefficient budgets, impractical MPM time horizons and frustrated senior managers confused by the way marketing wants to talk to their customers. In such instances B2B becomes B-2-Nothing.
But B2B pros can pull back from this fate. First, take a lucid look at the products and services in your enterprise portfolio. What is the story about the value and problem-solving capabilities they offer? Then, build that story — authentically and methodically, and tell it in environments that invite audience collaboration and real-time feedback. If (like most B2B enterprises) you have a finite target market, emphasize “high-touch” communications techniques, and selectively harness social media in ways that add context, not confusion. The end game for all of this is to broaden the understanding of your company’s value with your prospects and to establish a broad sales pipeline because you’ve established a business dialogue that can grow.
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John Durante is senior marketing associate for WordWrite Communications.
