I just attended a webinar about Integrated Marketing. Elana Anderson from Forrester was the speaker. She's great to listen to, very knowledgeable. A few things she said got me thinking. Thanks to Omniture for hosting.
- Only 6% of consumers think companies tell the truth in their ads
- 93% think ads are not a valid way to learn about products
Okay, so this was about consumers, not necessarily B2B prospects, but they're consumers too. If that's what they think about the products they'd consider buying for themselves, what makes you think they don't think the same thing in their professional lives, as well?
The interesting thing Elana talked about was how marketers are not changing. How we're just "yelling" louder, sending out more messaging in an effort to attract attention. But people aren't listening. Not to product-focused messaging.
More than ever, there's a need to regain and build trust. In order to do that, consider the combination of emotion and experience. That's the blend that will get you to relationships.
This means you need a comprehensive marketing strategy that combines outbound efforts with inbound-responsive interactions focused on relevancy. One-size-fits-all product focused messaging won't work. Marketing needs to align their strategy with the way customers buy and focus on communicating interactively with core segments by utilizing customized/personalized messaging.
Another interesting statistic from the webinar is that 82% of database marketers surveyed by Forrester said the biggest missing piece for them is the lack of quality web data. I agree that this will hinder efforts for relevant responses triggered by customer behavior. I mean, if you don't know what your prospects are doing at your website, or in response to your messaging, how can you respond appropriately? Since 82% of these folks are stumbling around in the dark, is it any wonder that prospects don't believe what company's tell them?
Messaging and experience need to evolve through contacts.
Note the "evolution" component. Using story is a great way to evolve a relationship. If each communication builds off the last one, with proof points along the way, your messaging creates forward movement. This requires that you think strategically about how each message fits and what it leads to in relation to the prospect's stage in the buying cycle.
Complex B2B sales have a couple of huge hurdles to tackle. The first is loosening the status quo to the point that the prospect is willing to consider alternatives to their current situation. The second is the education element necessary to move your prospect to the confidence level that they are competent to tackle the change, and that doing so with your company's product is the right choice for them.
That's a lot of movement. It takes a concerted effort and a contextual content strategy to pull it off. But here's an upside. Of the marketing executives Forrester interviewed, 43% now play an integral part in developing company strategy.
