A year on since TBT Marketing revolted… I mean, rebranded, and what a difference a year makes! Driverless cars are on the road (and not without concerns), AI robots are flipping burgers and Cuba is back on the naughty step.
A year on, and we at TBT Marketing have thrown away our laurels. We refuse to rest on them; our success and the success of our clients depends on constant evolution and improvement. We have seen the shape of clients’ marketing programs evolve in the last year, and as GDPR becomes reality for any business dealing within Europe, certain practises must continue to evolve. This is good!
It’s not rocket science that engaging with individuals who have consented to you reaching out to them through their preferred channels will drive more meaningful conversations and, ultimately, more profitable relationships. Following are some of the marketing practises that can help achieve this, and that we’ve seen our clients adopt much more in the last year.
“Driving meaningful conversations with the right people at the right moment enables organisations to cut through the noise and achieve maximum impact.”
Multi-channel experiences
To attract and engage effectively with customers at each stage of the buying journey, multi-channel experiences are a necessity. That means content driven marketing programs that leverage all communications channels. The challenge is managing such a program, from conception through design through execution and analytics, especially when third party agencies are involved. Many of our tech sector clients also rely on a strong channel network to increase total addressable market and drive demand, which requires a coordinated two-pronged approach to marketing; enabling the channel and building preference among end-customers. Our clients are relying on us more and more to orchestrate integrated programs on their behalf.
Intent-based marketing
Driving meaningful conversations with the right people at the right moment enables organisations to cut through the noise and achieve maximum impact. Intent-based marketing provides relevant experiences in response to buying signals, whether via social platforms or other digital channels. The benefit of course is that your interaction with customers based on intent can be so much more targeted and positive. It’s about gaining insight from your data and, done well, it involves: profiling your customers and defining clear buyer personas; understanding buying behaviour; and creating the right content that resonates and creates value at each stage of their buying journey.
Social media engagement
Social media is an effective way to engage with audiences and create personalised conversations in a marketing environment where people chose to interact; and there are far more tools available to B2B marketers than just LinkedIn. There are lessons to be learnt from B2C when it comes to social. We have seen a real increase in social activity among our clients over the last year – from content creation to social listening and influencer engagement. In fact, we’ve created a Social Media for B2B eBook discussing the six key best practice principles to ensure your B2B social strategy pays off.
Insight & Analytics
Measuring tangible ROI on marketing spend continues to be a tricky task for a lot of organisations. Gaining audience insight; understanding what messages, creative and channels resonate best with your intended audience; and tracking pipeline generated from your marketing activity is fundamental to informing future marketing activity. There are myriad tools and technologies available to crunch this data, but meaningful results require clearly defined objectives and KPIs for each activity.
Culinary Bribery
Or maybe that’s just us! We’ve seen an increase in doughnuts, egg & bacon breakfast rolls, gourmet burgers and sweet treats provided by our amazing Fun Committee over the last year. It’s a well-known fact (probably) that a constant supply of food keeps the brains ticking over and the teams delivering exceptional service!
One thing that hasn’t changed in the last year: those who chose to embrace, understand and harness the opportunities that change brings, are the ones who will thrive. A constant evolution is required to remain relevant, keep your audiences engaged, and squeeze maximum impact out of your hard-won marketing budget.
On that note, I’m off to eat my chocolate egg, courtesy of the TBT Marketing Easter Bunny.
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