Marketing Above the Noise

Boy is there a lot of noise in the marketplace today! B2B companies are touting that their products and solutions increase desirable outcomes and minimize the issues that hinder business achievements. The problem is that it often seems that there are only so many outcomes to go around.

Products/Solutions can INCREASE:

• Revenues
• Productivity
• Efficiency
• Accuracy
• Opportunities
• Engagement
• Satisfaction
• Etc....

Products/Solutions can REDUCE:

• Costs
• Time to Market
• Latency
• Time to Decisions
• Energy Use
• Headcount
• Buying Cycles
• Etc....

The gist is that what's important to your buyer is either the increase or the reduction of something. Your products are either maximizing or minimizing based on how your prospects frame their priorities and objectives.

So, if there are only so many benefits, values or outcomes (pick your term) - how are companies going to differentiate themselves and their products to a marketplace where their prospects are hearing the same things from countless vendors?

Your messaging and content needs to frame the context in a way that resonates with buyers.

For example, take "drive revenues." Is there a website that doesn't tout this as a benefit? This is what I call a vanilla benefit. It's so broad that it means nothing. Who doesn't want to increase revenues? But the phrase "drive revenues" actually doesn't have enough meaning to motivate and engage your buyers because it doesn't tell them how to get there.

There are many ways to increase revenues. The key is to think about the how and the why instead of relying on the vanilla benefit (the what).

For example:

Why is your prospect's priority focused on driving revenues?

• Perhaps it's because he's a product manager and his job rides on the amount of product that gets sold in the marketplace.
• Perhaps it's because she's the director of inside sales and her reps must provide the direct sales team with leads worthy of pursuit or they won't meet their quota for sales.
• Perhaps your prospect is a contact center manager and his initiative is to increase cross-sell and up-sell to current customers.
• It could be that your prospect is the CEO and responsible for increasing stock value for investors through continuous growth milestones the company must achieve.

To each of these people, the concept of driving revenues has a different context. The reasons supporting the goal are different. Their role and responsibilities within the company are different.

Now think about the how. How can they best contribute to the overall objective of driving revenues?

• For the product manager, perhaps it's making the packaging more appealing or getting salespeople trained in how to sell it. Maybe it's improved management of production to meet demand.
• For the inside sales manager, perhaps it's providing faster access to information that enables her reps to have better conversations with prospects, improving their quality and prioritization.
• For the contact center manager, perhaps it's the ability for her reps to easily know what products the customer already has and which are appropriate add-ons or advances.
• For the CEO, perhaps it's better dashboards or information visibility that enables better decisions.

When you can get specific enough to narrow your focus to the who, why and how that relates to the what (driving revenues) - then you can create messaging and content that raises you above the noise. Once again, that's why it's so important to KNOW your prospects.

Is your messaging specific enough to get heard?

Comments

[Rick Braddy]

Excellent post.

Question - what can you do when you sell a "horizontal" product that crosses multiple vertical markets and buyers?

Solution marketing?

[Ardath Albee]

Thanks, Rick!

To market horizontally, the best option would be to create versions of your content for each industry. Prospects in each industry tend to use terms and phrasing that differs a bit. Industries also sometimes have nuances that require a shift in context to tightly apply to the way your prospects view their situations.

I'd suggest creating a baseline of differences by industry and then modifying your content to increase it's relevance - including titles.

You'll also want to create a baseline of the differences between buyers. For example, if you sell to CIOs at larger companies, but CEOs at smaller ones, there are big differences in what's relevant. Consider roles and responsibilities.

I know this sounds like a lot, but try it for one industry, measure the difference in engagement, refine and then expand into others. Tackle it a bit at a time based on which industries are your best opportunities for growth.

[David Vogel]

Thank you. As a B2B writer, I've been banging my head against this for a while, and had been noticing the recurrence of "heightens efficiency" and "improves ROI" catchphrases in my own (and competitors) writing.

This may be the next evolutionary step in B2B marketing copy. We figured out a while ago we needed to speak benefits instead of features; now it's time to make those benefits unique and relevant.

Great article.