This is where we’ll introduce you to the unseen presence. A Google search for the phrase “B2B marketing is dull” returns 827,000 hits. When it comes to marketing, 48 percent of B2B buyers say they’re not interested in what they see.
Worse still, marketers that create this content already know it’s dull, so they must sit down and create dull ads that bore their weary audience even worse.
It’s a vicious circle of fear and boredom.
B2B marketing is shackling creatives with these mind-numbing preconceptions about what marketing should be. That’s why we became marketers in the first place: to come up with fascinating concepts.
Lead generation has been a problem for us.
B2B marketing isn’t boring, but the tedious lead generation chores that eat up your time are.
We’re going to be honest on this website. In this article, we’re going to identify and shame the most tedious lead generation chores, and we’ll discuss the interesting things that marketers may be doing instead.
If you want to see the whole thing, you may either choose an item from the side menu or scroll down.
You’ve probably had enough of…
E-books
We could count the amount of pleasant e-books we’ve read on two hands. They aren’t much fun to read, and they’re much less fun to write. So why do people continue to make them? Because individuals still need to create leads in order to meet their MQL targets, and long-form, gated material assists them in doing so, despite the fact that e-books aren’t much pleasure for either the writer or the reader. More on the future of ebook content marketing may be found here.
Managing List Vendors
Email marketing is something we adore. A/B testing subject lines, creating interesting text, and getting to know your audience. All of this is fantastic; this is entertaining marketing! What we dislike is the month before the campaign. The back-and-forth with a list provider that delivers useless, out-of-date data as you scream like a 14-year-old losing on the Playstation.
Why do you have to spend hours manually reviewing an email list every time you want to conduct a campaign without having your domain blacklisted? Why do lead list transactions seem like they’re happening behind your neighborhood movie theater? Dealing with data providers takes so much time and is so dull!
Handovers are difficult
Continuing from the previous point. Hopefully, your workplace chair will absorb you. You’ve just given the SDRs a lead list from your list provider, and you can hear the disconnect tones. Ellen, the SDR, is sending you terrible vibes from across the room, and she’s barely been here a week.
Why is marketing to blame for lead list unpredictability? Why should you feel bad about a third party’s lousy work? This portion of marketing stinks, and if you’re still doing it, we don’t envy you.
Trade show sponsorship
To be sure, sponsoring trade exhibitions to get attendance lists isn’t as tedious as the previous items. But it does have a different issue…
What a way to blow through your money! Sure, you’ll have lots of leads leading up to your MQL goal, but you’ll have to hitchhike to the quarterly meeting. There are better methods to obtain leads, believe us.
E-blasts and newsletters that are sponsored
You’ll be punished, like snapping turtles, for believing sponsored e-blasts and newsletters are innocuous. Dropping into a stranger’s inbox unexpectedly isn’t a good look when they’re not interested in your offering. Because e-blast targeting is often poor to non-existent, you’ll wind up with a lot of burnt ground.
Plus, are there many more causes of B2B boredom than developing advertising for an unknown audience? What happened to the targeting? Where is the expertise? Where are the tests? Is there no excitement? “No, thank you.”
Syndicated material
Syndicated material is not necessarily a negative thing. Sharing content on message boards and blog sharing services isn’t always a negative thing. It simply becomes frustrating when you publish it randomly.
The true issue is with conventional content syndication, which involves delivering your e-book to a third party’s subscriber list. Aside from being an inconvenient initial point of contact with the individuals you want to impress, this kind of lead generation is tedious, costly, and yields little to no returns. That seems like a job we’d rather avoid.
Here’s the issue:
When you perform outbound and inbound marketing initiatives just to attain your MQL objective, you are not focusing on providing a positive buyer experience. Can you believe we’ve forgotten about it? Campaigns are designed to collect more B2B data. The customer experience is not just secondary, but completely neglected.
Lead KPIs keep marketers on a never-ending cycle of lead creation. There’s no time to be inventive since it’ll be the first of the month before you know it, and you’ll need to resume sending e-blasts. There is a better way to go about things.
B2B marketing isn’t dull
Get rid of the tedious lead generating duties we’re predisposed to do and take a look around. This year, people are doing some really interesting stuff. Let’s look at what we might be accomplishing if we changed our emphasis.
Make valuable content
To begin with, material may be unrestricted. People who want to read or watch your finest content no longer need to sign up for an email nurturing. More page views, more interaction, and more demand. Second, there is no longer any need to optimize content for lead creation. There is no need for a CTA at the bottom of every piece of ungated content that leads to a gated resource.
You can produce content solely for the purpose of providing value, and now that you’re not burdened with gated forms, you can remove your greatest material from your website and place it where your audience really hangs out. This will improve the quality of your material, and producing fascinating content is a lot of fun.
Run demand-generating campaigns
Lead generation initiatives are often stale and obvious from a distance. Where can you take your advertising if lead acquisition is no longer a concern? You may look at them from the same angle as your content. Trying to build demand and improve the consumer experience. The individual customer, rather than the faceless mass, becomes the center of your marketing.
Listening to sales calls and interactions with current clients might help you better understand your audience. Campaigns will become more fascinating now that you can test and activate additional channels depending on consumer information, such as YouTube and TikTok.
You might begin by asking yourself, “How can we produce something that our audience will like consuming?” and “How can we develop something that we will enjoy making?” These are the questions that high-performance marketing teams are asking.
Divide your material between journalism and SEO
Your authors will have more time on their hands if you are not focusing on developing e-books to generate leads. We decided at Iscope to divide our efforts between SEO material and journalistic content. Journalists are urged to discover the most recent story. Discover the most fascinating trends on LinkedIn, as well as noteworthy thought leaders in underserved markets.
We now have the opportunity to do research and expand on the trendiest themes, positioning ourselves at the forefront of marketing innovation. Every day, SEO writers work to improve our online visibility.
They are taking SEO classes, upgrading outdated sites, and undertaking extensive keyword research using the time saved from creating e-books. Our team soon escaped the MQL hamster wheel and started creating and enhancing our content.
Collaborate with thought leaders and industry professionals
How can you elevate journalistic material to a higher level? By establishing connections with influencers and subject matter experts. The individuals driving your industry’s story are already out there, and they’re generating game-changing material. Find a method to get them on board and become the megaphone through which they may express themselves.
We hired Jeremy Gleason to offer us with industry-leading sales advice, which we now employ to fuel our content. As a consequence, we’ve established ourselves as a one-stop shop for cutting-edge sales guidance. If major influencers aren’t a viable target in your business, look for micro-influencers.
It’s the era of personal branding, and a large number of bright individuals are creating social media audiences. These individuals are searching for a firm to help them enhance their voice, while you are looking for hot takes. Please contact us!
Dark societal influence
Dark social isn’t a new Netflix program; it’s a word for all of the places you can’t see where people are talking about your brand. Is it true that what is out of sight is out of mind? No! These are some of the most important discussions taking place, and just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t matter.
We now have a better grasp of the buyer journey. Customers aren’t pursuing the traditional paths of LinkedIn ad, blog post, demo, and customer. They’re jumping about, picking up tidbits here and there: a LinkedIn ad, a discussion with a friend, a Reddit search, a look at G2, a blog, a conversation with a colleague, a demo, and a client.
There are certain stages here that we haven’t optimized since we haven’t had the time and they aren’t quantifiable. Don’t mix up haven’t and shouldn’t. These actions are as crucial as the others. With the time saved by avoiding tedious lead generation strategies, you’ll be able to create a presence in the following channels:
- Natural social media
- Paid social that is not conversion-based
- Public Relations
- Slack channels
- Communication that is direct and personalized
- Groups on Facebook and LinkedIn
- Third-party events (unsponsored!)
- Podcasts
People will speak about you if you provide value in these locations! You’re not looking for instant consumers; instead, you’re attempting to connect with the individuals who matter to your company. Positive dialogues about your brand will naturally ensue.
Consider the most important statistic
MQLs are a white-hatted rabbit. You’ll follow them so deep down the rabbit hole that you’ll lose sight of what actually matters…
Revenue!
MQLs are at ease. You know where you are, and hitting the mark is comforting. But what good is it if your efforts aren’t converting? Giving your team’s management a revenue objective will alter things. A single goal that truly makes a difference, towards which everyone can work. How revitalizing!
Viewing your marketing efforts via the revenue lens will alter the campaigns you execute. Everything becomes much more essential, and marketing may now work as a revenue-generating channel rather than just a sales-enablement role.
Be creative and inventive!
Remember all of the marketing initiatives you fantasized of launching when you applied for this job? Funny commercials, costumed actors, podcasts, and multi-channel campaigns exposing how dull B2B marketing can be if you spend all of your time focusing on lead generation…!
The best part about making extra time for marketing is that it allows you more time to think, plan, and laugh! When you have time to be creative, marketing can be a lot of fun. It’s why you got into this in the first place, so go to work!
How to Make B2B Marketing More Interesting
Reliable contact information is still an essential component of every marketing plan. We’re not suggesting you should get rid of it. We just do not believe that creative marketers should devote all of their time to it. Get your contact information from a Sales Intelligence source and free yourself from the tedious lead creation activities you were dreading. Take a peek at some of the most popular sales intelligence businesses right here. Alternatively, go straight for the best. Speak with an Iscope professional right now.
