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There are four key elements of brand marketing business people need to approach with more rigor in planning, and measurement. A framework I developed over fifteen years of doing work with complex business models in B2Bs, many of which included technology and digital, helps us guide choices.
When you deconstruct current approaches you can then reconstruct them to deliver ROI and multiples of growth. Map the brand by:
- breaking down the modern marketing method: Communicating, conversation, listening, and observing
- matching it to the right marketing task: Executions
- leading to a variety of Objectives
- all done with the right intent: Influence
Planning the right marketing executions is part of what I call marketing that makes business sense. It does need to make sense, especially because the complex B2B sale is high risk -- more money is at stake -- and low reward -- when you do it right, you're just doing your job.
This is important to understand; incentives in this context need to address directly the buyer's needs, which compound along the path to purchase.
A recent Mediative white paper provides some guidance in addressing each phase of this journey by exploring seven steps B2B organizations typically follow.
Address the needs of many stakeholders
When it comes to decisions in a B2B context, many stakeholders are involved, each with different information needs. You have product or service ultimate users who have the specs for what they need as outcome, buyers who get involved in the transaction, and decisions makers who influence the sale.
Your job is to provide enough information so that each of these audiences satisfies the needs of their position (what's at stake in their role), and mitigate the risk inherent with making the contributing decision.
Content decisions need to take into account many phases
The content should also be targeted to each phase of the buying cycle from creating demand in the pre-awareness phase, through helping assess the need, finding candidates, defining criteria, assisting with drawing the shortlist, the negotiation phase, all the way to purchase, and then earning referrals.
Each section of the paper outlines suggested considerations for online implementations to integrate the core Web (owned), with search (paid), and social (earned). How you execute also depends on whether you're addressing a customer, a prospective customer, or are included in a competitive bid.
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The mechanics of how we decide are also highly influenced by how the group views the world.
More for B2B companies and brands
Blog Your Way into Industry Conversations and Market Ecosystems
Give People Content they can Use to Persuade their Teams
Developing a B2B Content Strategy: Start with Who
Implementing a B2B Content Strategy: Consider How
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For a proposal delivered with confidence, contact me today.