Are you making it easy?
If you're trying to engage customers or clients, making it easy for them is crucial.
Perhaps the biggest misstep in B2B marketing - IMHO, of course - is 'menu marketing'. By that, I mean presenting 'our products and services' and describing 'what you do' on your website or in your collateral, rather than framing all that in terms of the problems you solve (or opportunities you create).
Why is it a misstep? Because it's the equivalent of a salesperson encountering a prospect, whipping out a menu and saying, 'Which one of these do you want to buy?'
How conversations start
With no reference, relevance or interest in why the prospect might need your products or services, you wouldn't expect to start many successful business relationships. Marketing that is, effectively, just 'talking about yourself' doesn’t engage people. However, there's another fundamental reason to make your marketing about your prospects and their problems. It makes it easier for them to understand your products and services and, ultimately, easier to buy from you.
This point was reinforced when I listened to the Uncensored CMO podcast's interview with Yum! Brands global CMO Ken Muench. Now, I'm really focused on B2B - ie. helping service and consultancy-led businesses to stand out and create opportunities to serve other companies. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to learn from how consumer businesses engage customers.
Make it easier
Yum! Brands encompasses Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC. At first glance, you wouldn't imagine marketing fast food, sorry, Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) has much relevance to B2B services, consultancy and expertise. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there is.
Muench shares that the most impactful marketing strategy in the QSR playbook is to make eating at their restaurants as easy as possible. Despite investing significantly in branding, promotion and influence, making the relatively mundane things easier far outweighs anything else when it comes to increasing sales. Improving the ability to order, choose and pay is a far better investment than creating cultural relevance or trying to raise awareness.
Make it understandable
The same phenomenon is visible at Yum! Brands, when it comes to launching new products, something that QSRs do a lot. Muench's experience is that successful innovations balance familiarity and novelty, recounting the launch of 'Naked Chicken Chips' at Taco Bell. This slightly odd-sounding product was a flop despite, he assures us, being delicious. The name and concept didn't resonate with consumers. They couldn't grasp what it was, and consequently, it didn't gain traction despite being sold in a place where there was already a large, relevant audience.
It's the same in B2B. If the people you want to serve don't understand how you can help them, you won't get very far.
Make it about them
Of course, being understood by people entering a fast-food restaurant is different to trying to engage decision-makers in businesses. If anything, B2B is more of a challenge. The prospects haven't self-selected by walking through the door. So you've got to work even harder to make it even easier for them to understand you.
That's why the 'menu marketing' approach is disconcerting for prospects. They don't understand your products and services like you do (and why should they). They don't know why they should be interested. They don't know what it can do for them. On top of that, 95% of the time, they're busy running their business, not looking for a new supplier. They don’t care about your business, they care about their business.
By translating what you're offering into terms that reflect prospects' needs, experiences, challenges and even aspirations, you're showing that you understand them. You're making it easy for them to understand why they need you. Which is a much better place to start a business relationship.
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The rest of the podcast is worth a listen too. It covers all kinds of topics including:
How to take bigger risks in marketing
The importance of independence and empowerment in creating great marketing
Why the CMOs should be idea-driven
How should you evaluate creative and, if it’s good, does it matter if it’s on-strategy.
