When Less… is MORE!

I had the opportunity to travel to the South Carolina Coast for my son's wedding. However, I dreaded the idea that renting a house or condo was the only way to stay on Edisto Island. I had visions of Florida or Myrtle Beach, where the coast has huge hotels and condos. But my future daughter-in-law assured us that renting a house was the best option because it was within walking distance of the beach and ocean. She was not wrong, and it didn't suck.

The closest motel was an Econo Lodge over an hour away in Walterboro or other options in Charleston. You drive through the lowlands, which are mostly swamps, to get there. Once you do get there, there is almost none of the commercialism or tourism you find in places with people staying on the Atlantic Ocean. There is one very small Food Lion (grocery store), one gas station, a small strip of local shops (ice cream, restaurants, and gift shops), and a smattering of bars.

The main part of the island has two main roads and dozens of cross streets. Golf carts are the preferred mode of transportation, but they are not allowed on the main drag by the beach.

The City of Edisto Beach says, “Today, low-lying houses are situated along 4.5 miles of this uncrowded, pristine beach. With a laid-back lifestyle and a quiet, yet breath-taking, natural setting, this sea island destination offers everyone a chance to enjoy the slower pace of days gone by.”

The island's back part (defined by a very wide creek) has a marina, a Wyndham-managed section of condos, rental homes, and an 18-hole golf course (which I thoroughly enjoyed playing multiple times).

But the benefits outweighed the inconveniences: almost no light or auto pollution, local fresh food, and everyone was super friendly and accommodating. Tons of people were walking their dogs, giving Layla lots of friends. Also, she had her own fenced-in backyard and could easily join us for walks along the beach.

Less is More

In Edisto, we met a bunch of locals and renters. It was obvious who was who (signs on the fronts of houses also made that clear). Although the week was more of a vacation than work, I still had my technology and solved some client issues.

This convergence of the laid-back lifestyle with business also caused the convergence of locals and renters to make me think about marketing. It was a small, specific group of people who wanted that lifestyle for their families. It has a totally different vibe than the circus atmosphere of Myrtle Beach. And the locals shell out a ton of money to buy and maintain that property. It was a small island with a select and specific audience.

Fewer people, less traffic, less commerce, and only one road in and out make it a destination I would have never found without the referral of people who know what this hidden gem offers. I am sure there are other places just like Edisto all up and down the East Coast, but finding them will take some research and recommendations.

B2b Business Island

When it comes to marketing a B2b business online, it's more like Edisto than Myrtle Beach. Edisto is trying to reach a niche audience that is harder to find and communicate with. Yet, it can only serve a limited number of customers. They would love more sales, but scaling takes time and resources.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce (MBACC) is responsible for a significant portion of the area's marketing and has an annual marketing budget of around $30 million to $40 million. There is no record of what Edisto Beach spends, but I would imagine that with around 240 members of the chamber of commerce, they spend somewhere around $100-250 thousand per year.

I have spoken with companies with a marketing budget of $30-$40 million annually. Much of that is spent on SEO and Google or Facebook ads. Generally, they are bigger companies in the consumer space, but some are bigger B2b businesses with over $1 billion in sales.

I have worked with companies with a marketing budget of $100-$250 thousand annually. That gives them around a monthly budget of $10-$20 thousand for SEO and Google or Facebook ads. Generally, they are small to mid-sized companies in the B2b space, with over $10-$100 million in sales.

The big problem with competing on Google or Facebook with ads and SEO is that once the money is spent, it's gone. And you may be competing with your competition who may have bigger budgets than you. Also, you have to feed that beast continually.

B2b businesses are better served by creating assets that can be used repeatedly and using that as the fuel for a smaller advertising engine on LinkedIn. After all, that is where most of their customers and prospects hang out.

Doing More with Less

Microsoft, the biggest business-to-business software company in the world, owns LinkedIn. Microsoft is also one of the prime partners and funders of Open AI (the parent company of Chat GPT).

Google, the biggest business-to-business search tool in the world, is owned by Alphabet. They created an AI platform named BARD, and now Google search integrates A.I. Overviews. This new feature has raised concerns from website owners, who worry it will greatly affect their site traffic (and it already has). We are finding search engine traffic is declining for most customers.

The main goal of SEO is to raise your ranking in search. The main goal of search and ads is to get people back to your website. Google and Facebook do everything they can to keep you on their platforms. That is because they are both in the ads-selling business. More ad views equals more profits.

LinkedIn is not only a place to connect with people (customers and prospects), it is a platform that promotes great content. Your content can be shared and found by your current connections (clients and partners) and reused as ads to attract new prospects.

It's an added bonus to ensure your sales and operations team is involved in connecting with people. This helps expand the number of people who may see your content and click back to your website.

Spending your limited budget on creating great content gives you the ability and budget to use a free platform to distribute to your ideal audience. By investing in ads, you get the benefits of Google search, with a more targeted audience, in a greatly less competitive and costly ad platform.

Closing Thought

When it comes to using LinkedIn to grow sales, many thoughts, techniques, and tools are being pushed, sold, and pontificated on. The problem is that LinkedIn users are not on the platform to be sold. They are there to build networks, learn new things, and, frankly, find opportunities (like jobs).

The concepts I mentioned have been used with my customers. I just received a call from one who said they just had their greatest sales month ever. It was not by connecting and pitching but by creating content, sharing it, and letting customer and prospects self-identify by getting back to their website.

Just like Edisto Beach, they are not for everyone. They know who they have sold to in the past and who may need them in the future. They are doing more with less. They create low-lying content and share it in an uncrowded location. This has created a laid-back lifestyle and quiet yet breathtaking results while enjoying the slower pace of days gone by.

P.S. The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch!

Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.