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4 New Year’s Resolutions for B2B Marketers

4 New Year’s Resolutions for B2B Marketers
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This is an excerpt from MarketerHire's weekly newsletter, Raisin Bread. To get a tasty marketing snack in your inbox every week, subscribe here.

B2B doesn’t have to mean Boring2Boring. But if you’re in B2B marketing, you know sometimes… it does. 

Jason Bradwell, writer of B2B Bite and host of B2B Better,  often sees B2B teams reuse “overplayed tactics and strategies that worked really well 20 years ago.”

But a new generation of buyers is emerging: 74% of 21- to 40-year-old knowledge workers play a role in their companies’ buying decisions, according to a new study.

Want to reinvigorate your B2B marketing in 2022 — and impress them? These four resolutions can help, Bradwell said. 

Ask, “Is this worth a press release?”

If you’re alerting the press about “very mid-level new hires” or an “incremental feature update,” rethink your team’s approach. 

“You can do that without spending thousands of dollars on getting it out [on] PR Newswire,” Bradwell said.

Explore typically B2C channels, like TikTok.

It’s not for every company, but organic TikTok has more B2B possibilities than you think, Bradwell said.

Consider Doosan, a construction equipment manufacturer. On its TikTok, which Bradwell calls “awesome,” construction equipment lip syncs, dances and hops on the “In the Air Tonight” drum solo.

To date, it has 180K+ followers and 2.4M likes. Strong engagement!

Reexamine legacy live events’ ROI. 

If historically, your company has spent six or seven figures hosting a once- or twice-yearly trade show, the pandemic already shook up your playbook. 

“If you've been doing your job over the last 24 months, you've been activating new channels at a fraction of the cost,” Bradwell said.

Reconsider your live events if you’re seeing diminishing returns — or if digital channels simply performs better.

Embrace the power of The Office (and pop culture).

Recently, training app company Trainual ran an ad on Facebook and Instagram starring the actors from The Office who play Kevin, Stanley, and Merideth. In character, sort of.

It was a slam dunk, earning 32.8M impressions and bringing in 2K new accounts in a month.

Not every marketing team should collab with Kevin, but “tap into pop culture and nostalgia,” and you can connect with prospects off the clock, Bradwell said — not just via workday webinars and emails. 

Our takeaway?

It’s not safe to play it safe in B2B marketing anymore.

A new generation of digital natives has fresh ideas about what’s professional — and boring. Impressing them is the only long-term marketing strategy.

Mae RiceMae Rice
Mae Rice is editor in chief at MarketerHire. A long-time content marketer, she loves learning about the weird and wonderful feedback loops that connect marketing and culture.
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4 New Year’s Resolutions for B2B Marketers

September 8, 2023
January 4, 2022
Mae Rice

Want to impress a fresh generation of B2B buyers? Pare back the investment in press releases and tap into pop culture references and powerhouses like TikTok.

Table of Contents

This is an excerpt from MarketerHire's weekly newsletter, Raisin Bread. To get a tasty marketing snack in your inbox every week, subscribe here.

B2B doesn’t have to mean Boring2Boring. But if you’re in B2B marketing, you know sometimes… it does. 

Jason Bradwell, writer of B2B Bite and host of B2B Better,  often sees B2B teams reuse “overplayed tactics and strategies that worked really well 20 years ago.”

But a new generation of buyers is emerging: 74% of 21- to 40-year-old knowledge workers play a role in their companies’ buying decisions, according to a new study.

Want to reinvigorate your B2B marketing in 2022 — and impress them? These four resolutions can help, Bradwell said. 

Ask, “Is this worth a press release?”

If you’re alerting the press about “very mid-level new hires” or an “incremental feature update,” rethink your team’s approach. 

“You can do that without spending thousands of dollars on getting it out [on] PR Newswire,” Bradwell said.

Explore typically B2C channels, like TikTok.

It’s not for every company, but organic TikTok has more B2B possibilities than you think, Bradwell said.

Consider Doosan, a construction equipment manufacturer. On its TikTok, which Bradwell calls “awesome,” construction equipment lip syncs, dances and hops on the “In the Air Tonight” drum solo.

To date, it has 180K+ followers and 2.4M likes. Strong engagement!

Reexamine legacy live events’ ROI. 

If historically, your company has spent six or seven figures hosting a once- or twice-yearly trade show, the pandemic already shook up your playbook. 

“If you've been doing your job over the last 24 months, you've been activating new channels at a fraction of the cost,” Bradwell said.

Reconsider your live events if you’re seeing diminishing returns — or if digital channels simply performs better.

Embrace the power of The Office (and pop culture).

Recently, training app company Trainual ran an ad on Facebook and Instagram starring the actors from The Office who play Kevin, Stanley, and Merideth. In character, sort of.

It was a slam dunk, earning 32.8M impressions and bringing in 2K new accounts in a month.

Not every marketing team should collab with Kevin, but “tap into pop culture and nostalgia,” and you can connect with prospects off the clock, Bradwell said — not just via workday webinars and emails. 

Our takeaway?

It’s not safe to play it safe in B2B marketing anymore.

A new generation of digital natives has fresh ideas about what’s professional — and boring. Impressing them is the only long-term marketing strategy.

Mae Rice
about the author

Mae Rice is editor in chief at MarketerHire. A long-time content marketer, she loves learning about the weird and wonderful feedback loops that connect marketing and culture.

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