It’s time for B2B marketing to embrace the now

Edgy. It’s a word that you probably haven’t heard used to describe B2B marketing.

And with good reason.

I recently attended the B2BMX conference in Phoenix (yes, that's a real conference photo of my pants matching a booth), and while it was an incredible event in many ways (and a chance to connect with our clients in person: hey, great to see all of you!), the sessions and content were…

The same ol’ same ol’.

Common themes included: content is king and video rules the world, marketing leads are dead, humanize your content, and ungate your content (who suggested this topic? A time-traveler from 2015?).

To all of this, we must say, respectfully:

Duh.

Because…You already know content is king. You know you shouldn’t be gating it randomly. You know video generates 1200% more social shares than non-video content. And you know that your customers are human beings who want human content.

Why are we spending valuable conference time talking about the things we already know? The things we’ve known for years and years.

I walked out of that conference thinking about the future. Because things are constantly changing, and sales are more dependent on marketing than ever before. And if B2B marketing doesn’t step up and think about what comes next (instead of just recycling old ideas in an endless loop), the minute our competitors do, we’re kaput.

First, one to the future wins.

I’m not kidding.

So, how do we get there? Here are three places we could all stand to be a little edgier:

1. Our creative!

If your creative looks the same as it did five years ago, 10 years ago, even two years ago…danger, Will Robinson. Have you seen the new, fun face of some of today’s big tech winners??

For example: Slack’s new Euphoria campaign .

Slack really said gone are the days of steely blue logos and serious brand designs. Now is the time for kittens and popsicles! Gone are the days of long-winded explanations of our technical prowess. In come the catchy, single-sentence ads.

Is your creative languishing in the past or pushing the boundaries? Slack is proof positive that pushing boundaries works—and not just for B2C.

(And if you want to know just how much we believe this? We just brought in a new, bold creative lead to push our own edges even farther.)

2. Our platforms

If you want to time-travel back to 2000 and go digging for customers on MySpace and Xanga, well, I guess that’s your business. As for us, we’re mixing the tried-and-true with the bold and new. This means taking risks on platforms experiencing massive growth (or even new players on the scene).

The bottom line here: you should be where your customers are.

Slack knows this means trains and bus stops, as well as online. And we know it also means TikTok and Instagram, working with influencers .

To be fair, the conference touched on these things. But the point here isn’t that they exist. It’s that they are where you can push your boundaries, be the first, have the new idea, and generate the sales and buzz that you’re looking for.

3. Our account-based marketing (ABM)

ABM isn’t new. And to be frank, it’s gotten more attention than it should over the years. The danger is that all that attention can leave you thinking it’s the end-all, be-all solution to your marketing woes, never needing an upgrade.

Spoiler: It’s not.

?But it is important.

And there are ways to push your ABM to the cutting edge.

For example, you can integrate your ABM and intent data into Folloze to create (and auto-populate!) custom landing pages for target contacts. Previously, your sales team had to manage those pages by hand (hello tedium), but now things are automated, and marketers have control. This means you can better track leads and engagement, free up time for your sales team, and better collaborate between sales and marketing. Win-win-win.?

Join us on the edge.

Here’s what we’re not saying: we’re not saying content isn’t king. We’re not saying you should ignore video, ditch your tried-and-true marketing efforts, or jump on new bandwagons just to be cool.

We are saying that B2B could take more risks, engage more fully with our customers, and—ultimately—build more engagement, make more sales, and build our companies.

If you’d like to know how Catalyst can help you think differently, reach out .