Manufactures and Other B2B Are Moving to All Things Digital
I’m really not sure why we continue to separate B2B and B2C–they are all people with many of the same desires for optimized user engagement.
In a recent Marketo study, B2B buyers (just like consumers) tend to use websites, email, online communities for comparing products and services. And just like B2C contacts, B2B buyers expect their “interactions with vendors to be personalized and that the people they deal with should do a better job aligning engagement with buyer preferences.
Not surprising is that the fact that 75% of buyers said that vendors must have a “deep understanding of their needs” to be successful. Simply put, we all need to understand our audiences more deeply so we can deliver better content and engagement.
It’s not “What do you want to tell people”, it is “What do they want to hear.” And now, with the loss of sales person or distributor doing the initial direct selling, more emphasis, research and creativity must to be placed on better digital messaging from top to bottom. It means stronger creative for email campaigns, building landing pages instead of websites, personalizing of information and integrating the process from initial interest to post-sale feedback.
And that means more research, journey maps and sales funnel analysis. We all need to understand the customer journey–from B2B or B2C–at a more deeper, personal level.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
