My first 4 months working in B2B Marketing - How have I managed?

As I started my career off in B2C marketing, B2B marketing was always a foreign language to me. That was until I joined SEKO and immersed myself in the wonderful world of B2B.

Firstly, the main difference I noticed was the tone of the copy. My experience with B2C copy was that it is very transactional, it’s all about the sale, the conversion and the revenue generated. Do not have me mistaken, all three of those aspects are extremely important, regardless of industry but there is a difference. In B2B Marketing, the tone of the copy is very informative and welcoming. This allows customers to feel more comfortable when engaging with the company and/or their employees.

Aside from the copy, the overall focus is completely different when comparing B2C marketing with B2B marketing. In B2B, the focus is placed heavily on building customer relationships. In B2C marketing, the customer relationship is not as important. This is because the turnover of customers is higher and repeat business is less important, the opposite of B2B marketing.

“The difference between epic and epic failure is customer experience"
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- Peter Bell – Marketing Director, Adobe

        

Previously, in my career, I have been instructed to focus on impressions. Whether that may be for a social media campaign or for email marketing, impressions have always been most important. Personally, I think this is the case for most B2C companies as the idea of new potential customers is overwhelmingly important.

Since transitioning into a B2B marketing role, I have learnt that impressions and open rate are nowhere nearly as important as engagement and click through rate (CTR). One of my colleagues brilliantly said “it’s a bit like fishing, isn’t it? You can go fishing with a net and catch all sorts, or you could go fishing with a rod and the correct bait and catch the fish you want”. Now, I’m not expecting this analogy to be winning awards any time soon, but they do have a point, a handful of great customers is better than an abundance of average customers.

This insight is most definitely connected to the fact that B2B marketers spend more time nurturing their good customers into great ones and B2C marketers are looking to gather as many potential customers as possible. Obviously, this is a slight generalisation as both aspects are important for both sides but from a B2B marketer’s perspective – Precision and accuracy are key.

Since taking responsibility over all digital platforms 4 months ago, I have encountered various problems and subsequently discovered the required solutions.

To begin with, there were some teething problems in terms of content. Often, I would align water treatment products with cleaning and hygiene posts and vice versa. This type of issue is completely expected when working with new industries. As a couple of weeks passed (and lots of brochures were read) I became a lot more confident with the products and the industries that they’re aligned with. Other problems surfaced too; from difficulties prioritising day to day tasks to issues with mailing software, each of these mistakes provided their own lesson and an opportunity to learn from them.

As a complete perfectionist, dealing with making mistakes has always been difficult for me, in my personal life as well as my professional life. To be completely honest, I can be extremely harsh on myself when the inevitable happens and that can be extremely damaging to productivity. Now, with the assistance of an understanding manager and a supportive team, I can make these initial mistakes, learn from them, and gain the experience that is invaluable at this early stage of my marketing career.

“Experience is making mistakes and learning from them"


- Bill Ackman?

        

Despite previously mentioning mistakes, most of my time spent in this new role has been overwhelmingly positive. I love my job, the success, and the learnings. In my interview, the progress of the corporate LinkedIn page was highlighted to me as being crucial to the overall growth of the business’ social media presence. I was tasked with growing the page to 10,000 followers by the end of the year. I am pleased to say that I had smashed that goal by the end of June, 6 months early! Hitting milestones and seeing visual proof of progress is the main reason I love doing what I do. So, for me, this has been an amazing achievement and I am pushing on to hit the next milestone as soon as possible. ????

To conclude, my time spent in B2B marketing has been eventful. I have spent many days learning new things, developing my skill set and most importantly, gaining experience. I look forward to each day of my working life and that feeling will not subside for as long as my passion for marketing continues.