Communications & New Media Nov 2015 Vol 29 No 11

FEATURE
Old-school vs. new-school tech marketing approaches
The biggest driver of change in marketing and communications
today is buyers’ access to information. B2B technology marketers
need to renew their approach for connecting with customers in
strategic, meaningful ways.
By Michael Nelson
We’ve seen astonishing changes in
marketing and communications
over the past decade. With social
media, word-of-mouth can overshadow
million dollar marketing campaigns.
And now, through digital ad targeting and
analytics, we can finally tell which half of
our marketing budget is working (you’re in
trouble unless it’s both!). The single biggest
driver of change in marketing and communications
is buyers’ access to information.
Information empowers buyers to expand
their consideration set quickly, makes it
easy to compare and narrow alternatives,
and lowers switching costs.
Changing times have been rough on marketers.
Buyers adjust their social settings,
unsubscribe from email lists, fast-forward
past commercials and receive so many
flashes and buzzes that most marketing
becomes ambient noise. B2B technology
marketers need a new-school approach for
connecting with customers in a purposeful
way. If they don’t evolve, they’ll be overtaken
by competitors who put customers in
control.
What change is needed? A key insight
comes from Forrester Research, which
found buyers “might be anywhere from
Media brief
Newspaper reporter ranked
among “most endangered” jobs
Newspaper reporters now occupy one of the scarcest
jobs in America, a designation listed alongside
professions such as meter reader, mail carrier, farmer,
and logging worker, according to a recent ranking of
“endangered jobs” by CareerCast.com.
The latest CareerCast report claims newspaper
reporters currently yield an annual median salary of
$37,090, and the profession has a projected growth
outlook of -13%.
The job search site claimed the profession has yet
to recover from a severe decline in hiring that hit the
media industry nearly a decade ago, an industry still
“undergoing a profound transformation as outlets
work to keep up with evolving technology.”
Report research was compiled based on hiring outlook
and contributing economic factors. Other jobs
that rank high on CareerCast’s list of endangered jobs
include flight attendant, jeweler, insurance underwriter,
drill press operator, and seamstress/tailor.
It’s the second time this year a report by the job
search site has heralded bad news for the industry. In
April CareerCast deemed newspaper reporter among
the “worst jobs in America,” behind professions such
as lumberjack, cook, and military personnel.
two-thirds to 90% of the way through their
journey before they reach out to the vendor.”
In other words, if you’re not reaching
customers online in a strategic way early
on, you’ve missed the boat.
Consider old-school vs. new-school approaches
in B2B technology marketing.
The old-school approach was a one-way
communication. When the sellers were
the only organization with a budget, they
owned the communication channels.
An old-school marketer’s job was to provide
basic information about the features
and benefits of products or services. The
new-school approach fits the marketing
function into today’s social, search engine
and online ratings context. New-school is
about thinking of your customers as an
audience, and serving information that
helps them either overcome a challenge or
increase revenue. That could mean talking
about your products; equally it could mean
providing insights, sharing tips and spotting
trends. This shift in mindset is helping
new-school marketers create content people
love, act on and share. It also is building
long-term customer trust.
Flipping the power structure of the buyer-seller
relationship may seem counterintuitive
and complicated, but it doesn’t have
to be. What it takes is knowing who you
are, your customers’ needs and the right
technology. The combination will elevate
your brand by empowering your customers.
Here are seven steps that will help get
you started:
Identify your target customers, their
needs and how you can satisfy them. Who
are your target customers? What are their
challenges, needs and motivations? Answers
to these questions will drive how you
position your company from a messaging
and a channel perspective.
Nail your messaging. Draft messages
that connect your target customers’ needs
and wants with how your business can
help. Nail your organizational messaging
down, then expand and refine for brands,
products and target persona messages.
Have a great website. Your website is the
hub of integrated digital marketing campaigns.
It’s where you funnel online traffic
and capture leads. It’s where potential customers
will find information about your
brand, products, services and benefits.
And it’s where you can nurture prospects
from leads to customers, and passive customers
to engaged promoters. Make sure
your site looks and works great — both in
the eyes of your customers and in the eyes
of search engines.
Develop killer content. Great content
takes many forms — videos, eBooks, webinars,
blog posts, byline
articles, white papers
and infographics. No
matter the form, killer
content is digestible,
relevant and compelling.
Written to serve
as a resource rather
than to promote your
business, the primary
goal should be to delight
or enlighten, not
sell.
Michael Nelson
Extend content throughout your
brand’s online ecosystem. Killer content
is meaningless if it doesn’t reach the
right people. When developing content,
consider its ability to be used across multiple
channels — paid, earned, shared and
owned (PESO). PESO uses content to get
your company in front of the right people
at the right time. When done right, PESO
will use targeted online ads, media placements,
social shares or direct marketing
to funnel traffic to content, which lives on
your website.
Capture and track website visitors’ interests;
nurture leads along. With traffic
flowing into your website, connect the data
from your landing pages, downloads and
webinars to your CRM system to support
your sales team. Align lead nurturing and
personalize sales strategies around what
customers are doing on your website. If
a customer reviews a white paper, think
about sending them a case study on the
subject. If they look at your price sheet,
maybe it’s time to pick up the phone?
Measure and continuously improve
campaigns. With your integrated digital
marketing machine purring, you will be
collecting lots of data. Much of it can and
should help advance your business. Use
data to identify where your traffic is coming
from, what content is most effective
and how marketing contributes to your
company’s revenue.
Michael Nelson is Senior Account Executive
at PadillaCRT and a member of its B2B
tech practice.
36 NOVEMBER 2015 | www.ODwyERPR.COM