B2B Content Marketing to Impact Status Quo

Earlier this week I talked about the payoff for B2B content marketing to focus on producing movement. Now, I'd like to back up just a tad and share some thoughts about what it takes to shift status quo. Because until or unless you can get people to shift from status quo, the movement you'll get from your B2B marketing content will be, well, zip.

So back up to the situations your prospects are facing and look at the severity of the pain they're dealing with. Ask the question, what would it take to make embracing change worthwhile FOR THEM?

If the answer isn't around a pretty impressive "shift" from where they are now, they won't change. It's not worth the effort, risk and stress. It's easier to stick with the devil we know, right? That's human nature.

Before you can develop a content strategy for complex sale nurturing, you've got to define the reasons why your prospect's would rather be inert than active about solving the problem.

Resistance to change can be about:

• aversion to making a mistake
• uncertain about what to do
• concern about what they don't know
• lack of justification and/or validation for the change
• overwhelming complexity
• losing face and professional standing
• influence of bad past experiences
• and more...

Many of these ripple beneath the surface and are not obvious from an outside view, but that doesn't mean they don't count. The point is that when all these thoughts are going on inside your prospect's head, your content has to produce a pretty big shift in thinking—and potential opportunity—to outweigh all that internal chatter.

In order to sway tolerance for status quo you've got to build a story that helps portray the movement toward outcomes your prospects consider important, while addressing resistance factors at the same time.

Talk about a result you know your prospects are challenged to achieve and the problem that's causing it to persist.

• Faster time to market impacted by supply chain issues
• Better decisions for action ahead of your competitor's advances.

Let them know that they're not the only ones facing the problem and that they don't have to take it anymore.

• Related industry trends and research data used in support of urgency.
• Customers like them who've successfully dealt with the issue at hand.

Showcase the impact in a context they understand.

• A CFO will get the impact of percentages of improvement against margins.
• An LOB manager strapped for human resources will get the impact of more hours to apply to priority projects.

Using active words to simulate the impact of your ideas can help. Business impact is evaluated based on whether it makes something go up (e.g. revenues) or brings something down (e.g. expenses):

Up words: increase, accelerate, escalate, raise, grow, gain, add, boost, ramp, scale, extend, expand, improve, attain, acquire, amplify, win

Down words: decrease, minimize, reduce, diminish, lessen, shorten

Do not mistake active words for buzz words and product features. If you do this then you end up with a bunch of gobbledygook that has no meaning for your prospects.

Focus on helping your prospects visualize the impact of how your ideas and expertise (not your product alone) will position them for success. People buy outcomes, not widgets.

But the real trick in moving people from status quo is also in the size of the shift they'll experience if they listen to you and take action. You've got to do some research and discover what that means for them. Then quantify it through expanding the idea to get them to reach farther than just solving the current problem.

For example: It may be appealing for an LOB manager to gain 40 hours back each month in man hours, but to push them to actively explore change, consider addressing what that means in real terms. What could they do with that 40 hours that makes not taking action to get those hours back unthinkable?

To shift status quo, it's also helpful to focus on short term gains. Long-term goals are important, but if getting to the good stuff is too far out, it's harder to vote for change. They won't see the pain diminishing fast enough to take action. We live in an instant gratification world. It's wise not to forget that in your B2B marketing communications.

Comments

[Edward Izzys]

Interesting!

I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. Good marketing means which can convert the leads into sales. The only marketing that has moved me in the last couple of years is Search Engine Optimization.

[Ardath Albee]

Edward,

Thanks for commenting! And it's funny you should mention SEO. Without good content, you have lousy SEO results. I'm hoping that good marketing becomes less scarce as marketers move toward helping add value for their buyers instead of selling stuff to them. It's a wholly different mindset. Plus, you're absolutely right - good marketing should move leads to sales readiness. Otherwise, what are we really doing?

Have a great weekend!
Ardath

[Emili Legband]

I agree with Edward, with the idea of the scarcity of good marketing, and SEO, which is one of the best ways of advertising, but it is very hard to be good, and make those results be good too.

[Glenn Evans]

Search Engine Optimization is really good for marketing, Edward, but one really has to consider the misconceptions about it; that it's an instant thing. And great point Ardath, content is what drives the traffic to continue to flow. Crummy content, would simply result to loss of reputation. Branding is priceless, and a simple crack on your branding strategy will end up with you starting from scratch.

[Mike Vigue]

SEO, which is one of the best ways of advertising, but it is very hard to be good, and make those results be good too.