The Mountaintop Insights, Inspiration and Perspective for Enlightened Marketers

March 8, 2010

Appealing to Human Values in B2B Marketing – Part 1 of 3 on Online Demand Generation

I have been working with large enterprise for the past 12 years primarily focused on Demand Generation, online Demand Generation to be precise. It took until until last year for one of what I consider to be, the last stones to fall into place on my holistic approach to this art form. Just 11 years to learn that lesson… not bad!

The lesson has to do with people and the conflict of personal and corporate values.

Who are We Marketing to?

I think many of us always tend to think about industries, positions, company types when we think of B2B targeting for our demand generation efforts. In my mind, this misses a crucial element in not only the messaging but the demand generation process which is the person we want to engage. So the first part of my realization is that no matter what, we are always selling or marketing to people, not businesses. A lot of you are saying, “yes, and???” because that’s not really something that’s rare knowledge. But here is where I followed the rabbit down the hole.

How Does this Make a Difference in Marketing?

Human beings are complex creatures, constantly processing tons of information every hour of every day to make decisions and stay within the boundaries of our own rules, society’s rules and the rules of the companies we work for. But what happens when a person has two conflicting set of values, say their personal values and the values of the corporation they are working for? Who wins the values conflict?

The answer depends on who you are targeting and how willing they are to compromise themselves and/or the companies they represent. So how do we market to someone who already has two sets of values in conflict? Are we going to push our own values on them to introduce a third factor in the conflict?

Understanding and Overcoming Values Conflict

A values conflict can be tricky depending on the type of person you are dealing with; some will be absolutely unwilling to compromise others will be very willing to compromise. Compromise could be personal compromise (based on the strength of the relationship you create) or corporate compromise where they are willing to bend rules to do business with you. Either way, there are several proven ways to improve your effectiveness.

  1. Play the horse, not the course. Focus on improving your attractiveness to certain types of people, not companies. A example of this is to be able to easily engage CFOs and COOs, instead of just appealing to an industry or sector.
  2. Align your values with the person. You can’t lose in this situation if you align to them instead of the brand they work for. Most times you will hit key values they both share anyway, but aligning to personal enables better engagement of the individual.
  3. Focus on them, not you. Make sure your approach is customer-centric, not about you. Do your research and make sure you know what they want for their business and themselves.
  4. Identify and Provide Solutions for Value-based Objections. This is probably the toughest one as it requires deep understanding of the customer’s values struggle. The best advice is to create scenarios that call values into question and create messaging, content and processes to overcome these with minimal to moderate compromise of personal values.

Much of this can be woven into your corporate websites, online content and digital presentations. Even corporate videos can be aligned to use this approach by using specific types of individuals and talk tracks to get the point across.

Closing with a Story

One of my fist clients and now a dear friend had a values struggle when I first met her. I was introduced to her by a colleague for a website RFP she was managing. While I came well regarded, my little company did not come near to meeting the requirements of this particular RFP. Her company absolutely forbid doing business with small companies as they were deemd unreliable from a delivery and service standpoint; a value her company held dear – reliable service and quality deliverbales.

As we talked and I got to know her and she began to understand me, a values struggle became clearly evident for her (although I didn’t recognize it at the time).  For her, my approach was very different. I asked good questions, I listened intently, I was available at all hours of the night, I clarified things for her that needed to be clarified, and I quickly developed top of mind presence with her when it came to thinking about this project.

Her struggle came to a head when I submitted my proposal versus all of the other large vendors. Mine was 3 pages plus an exec summary of one page; all the others gave 20-30 page proposals full of rhetoric. She told me later that it was at that point she knew I had won her business, that I understood her so well that I could articulate a solution for her in 3 pages.

But the struggle she went through was intense and the final decision called on her to question the values of her company or rather the rules formulated from the values of her company and make a decision based on her own set of values. The project was a great success for her and 10 years later we are still solid friends.

Has it always turned out this way? No. But it has given my little firm the advantage many times and won us some great client relationships – relationships that last into today and hopefully many, many years into the future.

Disagree with me? Let me know; I love good debates and would like to hear other stories that support or debunk my theories.

Cheers!

Jeff – Sensei

March 7, 2010

Social Relationship Strategy for Large Enterprise B2B – Part 1 of 4 on Social Experience Design

Filed under: Demand Generation,Social Experience Design,Social Media — Jeff @ 12:00 pm

For large enterprise, the rationale to get involved in public social media needs to be well thought out before deciding its right for your business and your customers. It should be approached strategically from the outset.

Why Strategy is Critical

The first question you need to ask is “Can Social Media actually do anything for me as a large enterprise serving other businesses?” Its a tough question that needs exploration in regards to who you want to target and will/are these people using Social Media channels now. Here are some points to think about and remember

  • Decision-makers don’t use it. Senior Executives are unlikely to use it at all. They are much more likely to listen to colleagues. IF you have something mobile however, they can be very active.
  • Influencers do use it. Many types of influencers use Social Media but each one has different reasons for it.
    • Middle Management: Typical usage is for personal reasons, but many blend business interests with personal. They are looking to advance in ranks in their companies so any knowledge or interactions that help make them more capable will go over well. Most are GenXers.
    • Thought leaders: These individuals vary the most and will be looking for content and interaction that promotes thought on specific ideas important to them and the businesses they represent. They will be more involved, more vocal on opinions, and asking more questions.
    • Media and analysts: Journalism went online a while ago and many have taken to the new medium of Social Platforms. These people are highly active in using the web to research and to share their findings and opinions. Most of them are very active in the blogging community.
  • Now ask who are you targeting? Where do they live online? What do they want or value from you?
    • What do they want? Needs, issues, drivers.
    • Do you have ideas to share with them that are actually different
    • Do you have an approach that matches Social Media delivery? (Friendly, engaging, balanced, not trying to sell, nor promoting yourself are all good starters)
    • Do you have a spokesperson/team that these people will accept and respect?

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The Importance of Research

Researching your targets, where they live and what they want is primary to success. Without it, you are basically throwing crap against the wall and hoping something sticks.  The other things you need to consider are:

  • Who are the third party thought leaders in the areas you want to plant your flag in?
  • What is the competition doing in these areas and how can you craft a more meaningful, differentiated approach?

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The Executional Plan

This is where it all either works or falls apart. This should coordinate 4 very important factors:

  1. People: Who are your people (roles and responsibilities) and who is the target audience
  2. Content: These are your ideas, opinions, thinking, and content on specific areas of interest to your targets
  3. Channels: Everyone thinks Twitter, YouTube and FaceBook, but in my experience, these are secondary (or even useless) compared to blogs, newsletters, and community sites that are just off the radar.
  4. Actions: What are our objectives, how are we going to acheive these objectives, and how does it integrate with everything else we are doing?

Once you have the research done and the strategic plan, you need to coordinate it with other marketing and relationship initiatives. Live events are a powerful medium for connecting the people you have built relationships with online to your people and your brand. After all, events are highly social.

Critical Objectives and What Social Media can Deliver

Do not look at Social Media as a channel that can deliver sales. Look at it as a channel that can deliver relationships that can deliver top of mind presence that leads to sales. The tremendous power of social media is its reach and interaction capability. If you manage expectations back to the Enterprise with this understanding, you can manage your risk for delivering results easily.

Remember, decision-makers are most likely to be influenced by peers or subordinates in their organization or busienss networks. Craft your strategy to reach those people so that your ideas reach the top of the totem pole through people decision-makers trust.

Please feel free to comment, push back or ask questions on this or any other topic. I enjoy every discussion.

Jeff – Sensei

March 4, 2010

Why I Will Buy a Toyota and Cheer for Tiger Woods

Filed under: Customer Experience,General,Human Behavior — Jeff @ 8:16 pm

Several years ago I was discussing the GM brand with a great and talented colleague out of the public advocacy space. He said something absolutely fascinating to me which I have never forgotten, “How long does it take to ruin a great brand? Not long if you try hard enough.” Now, I don’t know if he created this wisdom himself or was passing it on to me, but it stuck.

Fast forward to today and it is so true for Toyota and Tiger Woods. In a matter of months, they have destroyed much of the pristine, almost untouchable quality that was their brand. But this article in the NY Times got my Irish up. Why?

Bring out Your Dead

I'm not dead yet!

Well, it reminded me of that scene from the Holy Grail, you know the one, a guy is pushing a cart with corpses down the street screaming “Bring out your dead!” Then a guy comes out with an old man across his shoulders and flops him on the cart. The old man begins to babble, but no one is listening to him “I’m not dead yet, I feel happy!”.  Is the Tiger brand beyond repair or have we called it too early?

Tiger Woods – the Man and the Empire

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he screwed up big time and is paying for it big time. But at the same time I recall the words of my colleague, maybe there is an opposite rule that could apply – How long does it take to repair a great brand? Not long if you try hard enough. So here’s a different perspective.

If he is sincere (and he seems to be) about flying straight and doing the right thing, then the sporting world will welcome him back with open arms, as will sponsors. He is just too good at what he does. His brand will certainly evolve, but he will be fine as will his empire. As for his personal life… none of my business.

Toyota for Life

If any other CEO had come out and said he was sorry and that his auto company would bear full responsibility I would not believe him.  For me, I think there will be no better time to buy a Toyota in fact. Toyota is still a quality brand and it is showing in their service during this recall, including at home pickups and all sorts of extra measures. Yes, they screwed up, but what large company hasn’t? The difference between a company like Toyota screwing up and a company like GM screwing up is that you can be sure Toyota will fix itself. GM… not so sure, but we will get a chance to see that in action as they begin a recall of their own and point the finger at everyone else.

So How Does a Great Brand Bounce Back?

Maybe it starts with accepting responsibility as both Tiger Woods and Akio Toyoda have done. A good start to be sure. The next step everyone will be watching for is that commitment to making sure it doesn’t happen again. In both cases, I believe they can do it and people forget and move on anyway after all the huckle buckle dies down.

Until that time, I’ll cheer for Tiger in every tournament and look forward to getting my FJCruiser in the summer.

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