B2B Marketers on a Mission

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On this podcast, we’re on a mission – to change and disrupt the way people think about B2B marketing one insightful conversation at a time. Get inspiration from interviews with B2B marketers and industry experts who share their stories, achievements, thoughts on trending topics, and give B2B marketing tips and recommendations. This show is hosted by Christian Klepp, Co-founder of EINBLICK Consulting.

  1. 6일 전

    How to Build a Winning Strategy for Your B2B Brand

    How to Build a Winning Strategy for Your B2B Brand In a fast-paced business environment, marketers, agencies, and consultants must proactively help clients differentiate their brands in the marketplace. One way of doing this is by analyzing the strategy, messaging, and brand positioning, both for their own brands and key competitors. So how can teams conduct this kind of brand research and competitive analysis in a way that’s insightful, efficient, and actionable for planning the next steps? Tune in as the B2B Marketers on Mission Podcast presents the Marketing DEMO Lab Series, where we sit down with Clay Ostrom (Founder, Map & Fire) and his SmokeLadder platform designed for brand research, messaging and positioning analysis, and competitive benchmarking. In this episode, Clay explained the platform’s origins and features, emphasizing its role in analyzing brand positioning, core messaging, and competitive landscapes. He also stressed the importance of clear, consistent brand positioning and messaging, and how standardized make it easier to compare brands across multiple business values. Clay also highlighted the value of objective, data-driven analysis to identify brand strengths, weaknesses, and gaps, and how tools like SmokeLadder can save significant time in gathering insights to build trust with clients. He provided practical steps for generating, refining, and exporting brand messaging and analysis for internal or client-facing use. Finally, Clay also discussed how action items and recommendations generated from analysis can immediately support smart brand strategy decisions and expedite trust-building with clients. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4_o1PzF1Kk Topics discussed in episode: [1:31] The purpose behind building SmokeLadder and why it matters for B2B teams [12:00] A walkthrough of the SmokeLadder platform and how it works [14:51] SmokeLadder’s core features [17:48] How positioning scores and category rankings are calculated [35:36] How differentiation and competitors are analyzed inside SmokeLadder [44:07] How SmokeLadder builds messaging and generates targeted personas [50:24] The key benefits and unique capabilities that set SmokeLadder apart Companies and links: Clay Ostrom Map & Fire SmokeLadder Transcript Christian Klepp  00:00 In an increasingly competitive B2B landscape, marketers, agencies and consultants, need to proactively find ways to help their clients stand out amidst the digital noise. One way of doing this is by analyzing the strategy, messaging and positioning of their own brands and those of their competitors. So how can they do this in a way that’s insightful, efficient and effective? Welcome to this first episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast Demo Lab Series, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Clay Ostrom about this topic. He’s the owner and founder of the branding agency Map and Fire, and the creator of the platform Smoke Ladder that we’ll be talking about today. So let’s dive in. Christian Klepp  00:42 All right, and I’m gonna say Clay Ostrom. Welcome to this first episode of the Demo Lab Series. Clay Ostrom  00:50 I am super excited and very honored to be the first guest on this new series. It’s awesome. Christian Klepp  00:56 We are honored to have you here. And you know, let’s sit tight, or batten down the hatches and buckle up, and whatever other analogy you want to throw in there, because we are going to unpack a lot of interesting features and discuss interesting topics around the platform that you’ve built. And I think a good place to start, perhaps Clay before we start doing a walk through of the platform is, but let’s start at the very beginning. What motivated you to create this platform called Smoke Ladder. Clay Ostrom  01:31 So we should go all the way back to my childhood. I always dreamed of, you know, working on brand and positioning. You know, that was something I’ve always thought of since the early days, but no, but I do. I own an agency called Map and Fire, so I’ve been doing this kind of work for over 10 years now, and have worked with lots and lots of different kinds of clients, and over that time, developed different frameworks and a point of view about how to do this kind of work, and when the AI revolution kind of hit us all, it just really struck me that this was an opportunity to take a lot of that thinking and a lot of that, you know, again, my perspective on how to do this work and productize that and turn it into something that could be used by people when we’re not engaged with them, in some kind of service offering. So, so that was kind of the kernel of it. I actually have a background in computer science and product. So it was sort of this natural Venn diagram intersection of I can do some product stuff, I can do brand strategy stuff. So let’s put it together and build something. Christian Klepp  02:46 And the rest, as they say, is history. Clay Ostrom  02:49 The rest, as they say, is a lot of nights and weekends and endless hours slaving away at trying to build something useful. Christian Klepp  02:58 Sure, sure, that certainly is part of it, too. Clay Ostrom  03:01 Yeah. Christian Klepp  03:02 Let’s not keep the audience in suspense for too long here, right? Like, let’s start with the walk through. And before you share your screen, maybe I’ll set this up a little bit, right? Because you, as you said, like, you know, you’ve built this platform. It’s called Smoke Ladder, which I thought was a really clever name. It’s, you like to describe it as, like, your favorite SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool, but for brand research and analysis. So I would say, like, walk us through how somebody would use this platform, like, whether they be a marketer that’s already been like in the industry for years, or is starting out, or somebody working at a brand or marketing agency, and how does the platform address these challenges or questions that people have regarding brand strategy, analysis and research? Clay Ostrom  03:49 Yeah, yeah. I use that analogy of the SEO thing, just because, especially early on, I was trying to figure out the best way to describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it before. I feel like it’s a, I’m not going to fall into the trap of saying, this is the only product like this, but it has its own unique twists with what it can do. And I felt like SEO tools are something everybody has touched at one point or another. So I was using this analogy of, it’s like the s, you know, Semrush of positioning and messaging or Ahrefs, depending on your if you’re a Coke or Pepsi person. But I always felt like that was just a quick way to give a little idea of the fact that it’s both about analyzing your own brand, but it’s also about competitive analysis and being able to see what’s going on in the market or in your landscape, and looking specifically at what your competitors are doing and what their strengths and weaknesses are. So does that resonate with you in terms of, like, a shorthand way, I will say, I don’t. I don’t say that. It’s super explicitly on the website, but it’s been in conversation. Christian Klepp  05:02 No, absolutely, absolutely, that resonated with me. The only part that didn’t resonate with me is that I’m neither a coke or a Pepsi person. I’m more of a ginger ale type of guy. I digress. But yeah, let’s what don’t you share your screen, and let’s walk through this, right? Like, okay, if a marketing person were like, use the platform to do some research on, perhaps that marketers, like own company and the competitors as well, right? Like, what would they do? Clay Ostrom  05:32 Yeah, so that’s, that is, like you were saying, there’s, sort of, I guess, a few different personas of people who would potentially use this. And initially I was thinking a little more about both in house, people who, you know, someone who’s working on a specific brand, digging really deep on their own brand, whether they’re, you know, the marketing lead or whatever, maybe they’re the founder, and then this other role of agency owners, or people who work at an agency where they are constantly having to look at new brands, new categories, and quickly get up to speed on what those brands are doing and what’s the competitive space look like, you know, for that brand. And that’s something that, if you work at an agency, which obviously we both have our own agencies, we do this stuff weekly. I mean, every time a new lead comes in, we have to quickly get up to speed and understand something about what they do. And one of the big gaps that I found, and I’d be curious to kind of hear your thoughts on this, but I’ve had a lot of conversations with other agency owners, and I think one of the biggest gaps is often that brands are just not always that great at explaining their own brand or positioning or differentiation to you, and sometimes they have some documentation around it, but a lot of times they don’t. A lot of it’s word of mouth, and that makes it really hard to do work for them. If whatever you’re doing for them, whether that’s maybe you are working on SEO or maybe you’re working on paid ads or social or content, you have to know what the brand is doing and kind of what they’re again, what their strengths and weaknesses are, so that you can talk about that. I mean, do you come across that a lot in your work? Christian Klepp  07:33 How do I say this without offending anybody? I find, I mean jokes aside, I find, more often than not, in the especially in the B2B space, which is an area that I operate in, I find 888 point five times out of 10. We are dealing with companies that have a they, have a very rude, rudimentary, like, framework of something that remotely resembles some form of branding. And I know that was a very long winded a

    55분

  2. 11월 27일

    How to Optimize Your PPC Campaigns for Maximum Impact

    How to Optimize Your PPC Campaigns for Maximum Impact Every Pay-Per-Click campaign has symptoms. While some are mild, others can be critical. With the B2B marketing environment becoming more competitive and as budgets continue to shrink, ensuring your PPC campaigns are well thought out and “healthy” is imperative. So how can B2B marketing teams ensure they run high-performing PPC campaigns? That’s why we’re talking to Serge Nguele (Founder, Your PPC Doctor), who shares proven strategies and expert insights on how to optimize your PPC campaigns for maximum impact. During our conversation, Serge emphasized the value of understanding PPC as a tool to test market assumptions and validate messaging. He also highlighted common pitfalls that B2B marketers should avoid such as launching campaigns without a clear strategy, relying on poor or incomplete tracking, and generic ad copy that doesn’t resonate. He advised that teams must fix their tracking, define what business success looks like, segment audiences with intention, and relentlessly test to discover what drives conversions. Serge stressed the importance of having a comprehensive, full-funnel approach to maximize the potential of PPC campaigns through Google and Microsoft ads. He also shared his “no excuses, no complaints, no self-pity” philosophy to illustrate the mindset required to drive stronger results and leverage the true potential of PPC. https://youtu.be/oSmgdh2Jfgw Topics discussed in episode: [2:13] The importance of PPC in B2B marketing [4:49] Some common misconceptions and pitfalls in PPC [15:04] How B2B marketers can avoid major PPC pitfalls [23:11] Practical steps to optimize PPC campaigns for predictable results Fix your tracking Define success in business terms Segment your audience in a smart way Differentiate messaging based on audience’s stage in the funnel Testing relentlessly [29:22] How AI is reshaping PPC and what B2B marketers must prepare for Companies and links mentioned: Serge Nguele on LinkedIn Your PPC Doctor Transcript Christian Klepp  00:01 Every pay per click campaign has symptoms. Some are mild, while others are critical. With the marketing landscape becoming more competitive and budgets shrinking, ensuring your PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns are well thought out and healthy is imperative. So how can marketing teams ensure they optimize their PPC campaigns for maximum impact? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in a Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Serge Nguele, who will be answering this question. He’s the founder at your PPC doctor who specializes in implementing PPC solutions for companies. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is. Okay, and here we go. Mr. Serge Nguele, welcome to the show.  Serge Nguele  00:49 Thank you for having me, Christian. How are you today? Christian Klepp  00:52 I’m great, and I’m really looking forward to this conversation, because I’ll be honest with you, I was looking through the archive of all the past episodes, and I have to say nobody has been on the show that is going to talk about this topic, so this is the first time. Serge Nguele  01:05 Oh, yeah, good to hear. We’ll try to bring some value to all the millions of you know listener out there. Christian Klepp  01:13 Absolutely, absolutely. So let’s dive in, because I think this is going to be an interesting topic. And I don’t know about you, perhaps you run across this many times, but in my space and in my network, the moment people hear pay per click or PPC, they get a little bit like, I don’t know. Oh, I’m not sure. And this is part of the reason, a big part of the reason why I’ve asked somebody like yourself to come on the show. It’s to take the ickiness out of this topic and get them to understand why it’s important, right? So let’s dive into the first question. Okay, so Serge, you’re on a mission to listen. I love this one. Listen, diagnose and prescribe the right paperclip solutions for B2B companies. So for this conversation, let’s focus on the topic of how to optimize your PPC campaigns for maximum impact. So I’m going to kick off this conversation with the following question, what is it about PPC that you wish more people understood? Serge Nguele  02:16 Yeah, thanks. Yeah. Thanks, Christian for your question, and to quickly touch on what you’ve said about PPC. That’s the story of my life. You know, when people are asking, what do you do? And I will say, Pay Per Click, I will start explaining, you know, and they will just nod, and I will be like, not quite sure they got it, but you know, the quick way would be just to tell them, whenever you search for anything online, you go on Google or whichever search engine. And we’ll touch on it, there is not only Google, you know, when we when it comes to PPC, you type your keyword, and you will see a lot of links coming and the one with a little ad, which means advertising that’s pay per click. Ah, they would say, Yeah, that’s fine. Serge Nguele  03:03 But to come to your question when it’s come to PPC, really, what I wish most marketers are understanding is that PPC, which stands for pay per click, and it’s pay per click, because whenever you type a keyword and you click on the link coming there is someone paying the advertiser, not usually the user. That’s why it’s pay per click. And what is good to I wish many people you know understood about it is that PPC it’s about buying time to test your market assumptions. Because, yeah, all of us, all the businesses, it’s really happening, not when you have the click, but it’s after the click. What’s happening there. So when done right? PPC is the fastest, one of the fastest way I know of to validate the messaging, your offer, your positioning, and I wish more marketers understood that PPC is in a silo. It’s a feedback engine, really, and when you use it to inform your market, product fit your sales messaging, or even your customer experiences. It really goes beyond clicks, and that’s where you get the magic out of PPC. Christian Klepp  04:30 Yeah, that’s a really good way of putting it. Serge, and thanks for sharing that. We’re going to touch on this, I think even more later on. But like just you know, from a very top level perspective. Why do you think a lot of people feel, even marketers, feel that PPC is a waste of marketing investment? Serge Nguele  04:49 Yes, with this one, if I’m taking from advertiser, let’s say you Christian, you are, you know, a business person, the way. Well. Yeah, when it’s coming to PPC, it’s fair to talk more about Google, because, yeah, Google is having 90% of the market. So we will say Google, but Google is not the world. PPC has rules here a bit later. So let’s say what Google has done over the year is to really make it easy for pretty much anyone on the planet to be in a position to choose a few keyword enter the credit card, and in a matter of minutes, they would have another running showing up to people. So that’s the easy part, but that’s not doing PPC, and what is happening out of it, soon enough, they will realize, Okay, we are having a lot of clicks, but not what we are expecting, which means sales, or whatever is that is making their bottom line. And a lot of client I would be seeing advertiser. It will be after that phase where they found them themselves, you know, out of pocket of 100, if not 1000s, of click. And they will all, all of them. They will come like, PPC doesn’t work. And I would say, yeah, it’s normal for it not to work, if you because it’s a job, you know, I’m not here to defend, you know, my job, but, yeah, it’s taking time to be a PPC expert. So really, for me, starting from the beginning, where people are doing what they are not meant to do is not like me. You know, tomorrow I won’t be going out there and say I’m a podcast host. You know, that will be an insult on, you know, all the learning you went through, you know, to be where you are. So for me, that’s really the key problem. So basically, it’s, yeah, it’s a West because a lot of unqualified people, and I’m saying this, you know, respectfully, are just, you know, wasting budget, essentially. Christian Klepp  07:16 Yeah, so what I’m hearing you say is, like part of it is certainly a lack of expertise. The other one is also, perhaps even a lack of strategy, and we’re going to talk about that later on in the conversation, but that is a great segue to the next question about key pitfalls that you think B2B marketers should avoid when it comes to PPC. So what are those key pitfalls, and what should they be doing instead? Serge Nguele  07:38 Yes, and this will be complementing my answer, because, yeah, I focus it on advertiser directly. But let’s say when PPC experts are doing are running campaigns for their clients. So this is to this question to as mainly PPC has said, it’s one of the quickest way to really generate clicks out there. That’s fine, but that just the beginning, but even before getting there. So it’s the strategy beforehand, because, yeah, it’s quite easy to set the keyword, generate click and realize the website is not ready. The offer is not what it was supposed to be, and it’s bringing us, you know, to really plan before even starting creating your first campaign. That means the strategy. What is your product? Are you understanding your market? What’s your positioning your competition. What are you bringing to the market? So that’s the strategy. Once you clear with it, it will make it easy for you to say, Okay, I’m understanding the market. This is my offer. This is what I’m bringing, different, you know, in the market space. And now this is the strategy, the approach I’m going to use to reach out to those people. Where are those people

    45분

  3. 11월 20일

    How a Growth Mindset Drives B2B Marketing Success

    How a Growth Mindset Drives B2B Marketing Success  In an increasingly competitive business environment inundated with digital noise, relying on “play it safe” tactics will only result in your brand drowning in a sea of sameness. The path to true differentiation, innovation, and standing out is not an easy one as it requires a significant mindset shift. For B2B marketing initiatives to succeed, you must create room for experimentation and data-driven discovery. How can B2B marketers approach this effectively and secure internal buy-in for it? That’s why we’re talking toVincent Weberink (Founder, Pzaz.io),who shares expert insights and proven strategies on how a growth mindset drives B2B marketing success. In this episode, Vincent talked about why design experiments are crucial in B2B marketing and highlighted the need for structured, data-driven growth experimentation. He shared his proven methodology consisting of ideation, ranking, and rapid prototyping designed to quickly and effectively validate concepts. Vincent also shared some common B2B marketing pitfalls that teams should avoid and emphasized the value of iterative testing and learning. He broke down how teams can build an entrepreneurial mindset and get internal buy-in for experimentation-driven B2B marketing. https://youtu.be/SlQa58iKf3k Topics discussed in episode: [2:09] The importance of running structured experiments in B2B marketing [5:21] Common challenges marketing teams face when designing and executing experiments [13:53] Key pitfalls marketing teams should avoid and some practical solutions [20:36] How to align internal teams and consistently generate strong experimental ideas [31:31] Actionable steps B2B marketers can take to run effective experiments: Understand and acknowledge that what you know is probably wrong Use ideation and designing experiments Trust your team Be creative in applying growth hacks Get external help if stuck Companies and links mentioned: Vincent Weberink on LinkedIn Pzaz.io Cisco Airbnb ChatGPT 13 Failures Later What The Hack?! Transcript Christian Klepp  00:00 In a B2B landscape that has become increasingly competitive and inundated with digital noise, using play it safe tactics will result in your brand drowning in a sea of sameness. That said, the path to differentiation, innovation and standing out is not an easy one, as it requires a change in mindset. You need to have room for experiments to truly create something that is relevant to customers. So how can B2B marketers do this, and how can they get internal buy in for it? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in a Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Vincent Weberink, who will be answering this question. He’s the founder of pzaz.io who specializes in developing business growth through creative, structured data driven growth experimentation. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is. Christian Klepp  00:51 Vincent Weberink, welcome to the show.  Vincent Weberink  00:54 Hello Christian. Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here.  Christian Klepp  00:59 Absolutely I’ve been really looking forward to this conversation. I think we’re going to have a great time. We’re going to have a great discussion also about topics, and a main topic in particular that I think is going to be so relevant to B2B marketers and their teams in general. So you know, without further ado, let’s not keep the audience in suspense for too long. Let’s just jump straight into it. All right. So Vincent, you’re on a mission to drive business growth through creative, structured and data driven growth experimentation. So for this conversation, let’s focus on the following topic, which is how B2B marketers can create a mindset and design experiments to understand what customers want. That kind of sounds like it’s very, I’m going to say pedestrian, but it’s incredible, and I’m sure you’ll have plenty of case studies to show that there’s a lot of people out there that don’t follow this process, and then they get into trouble. So I’m going to kick off this conversation with two questions, and I’m happy to repeat them all right? So the first question is, why do you think that design experiments are important for marketing teams? And based on that, where do you see a lot of marketing teams struggle? Vincent Weberink  02:09 I think they’re very important because as human beings, we’re emotional when we make decisions. Problems is that, therefore when we try to drive growth. We have this idea about something, and then we tend to completely jump into it, build everything. Spend a lot of time and money and resources on building that thing that we believe is going to be very, very successful, and that takes a lot of time. And the reality is that most of the time you’re actually wrong, even though you think that you know your customer, even though you think that you know this is the best trick or marketing tactic that you’re developing. And what this experimentation model does, it sort of forces you to go through a very structured, almost scientific process, because there are some steps in there that help you to remove that emotion from your decision making.  Vincent Weberink  03:12 And an example of how decision making often is influenced is when you’re in a small team or a large team, you’re sitting around the table and you’re trying to brainstorm, say, oh, you know, we have this, this challenge. We’re launching a new product, or we’re changing something, and we need to communicate it, driving sales up. And then the people who are best sort of equipped with sales capabilities are the ones that you know will dominate the conversation, and what we tend to do is then listen to them, whereas there are other people around the table that you know, they might be more introverted, might say less, that also have really, really great ideas. So what happens is that you collect all these thoughts and ideas, and then the person that’s very good at selling is selling their idea to you, and you end up taking that one. But it has nothing to do with reality, whereas in the methodology that I’m sort of promoting, what you actually do is you try to capture as many ideas as possible, as quickly as possible, and then, in almost a democracy, you rank and rate them according to several criteria, and that will help you to make some of those ideas float. And the ones that pop up are the ones you should actually focus on, because now, within that democratic decision making process, you’ve tried to optimize the chances that one of those ideas will actually lead to much quicker success than any of the others. And you can also use it in the reverse, the ideas that completely sink because no one voted for them, maybe only just the person that was selling. You know that they go away. You just throw them away and forget. About them, because clearly they didn’t get enough support. And the other question you were asking, sorry focused on the first question.  Christian Klepp  05:08 No problem, absolutely, absolutely no. Well, that was a great way to, like, set up the conversation. And I guess it segues to the question, where do you see, based on what you said, where do you see a lot of marketing teams struggling? Vincent Weberink  05:21 Well, I see them often struggling is that they tend to spend money and time on just the ordinary things that everyone sort of accustomed to, because depending on the type of company you work in, that’s the safe choice, and that ultimately doesn’t really help you grow. It’s typically the stuff that you would never expect to work. And I’ll give you a great example of this in a moment that might give you this amazing growth overnight or amazing success. It doesn’t necessarily have to be growth. It can be specific campaign where you just need people to sign up, because you’re trying to obtain information from them and to get those people to sign up. It could be a problem. You’re designing your funnel, and then something isn’t really working.  Vincent Weberink  06:15 So in my experience, what happens is that people will say, Okay, let’s build a landing page. Let’s build a website, and let’s make it beautiful. Let’s make it perfect. But while you’re in this early stage, you have no clue if it’s going to work or not. You’re now wasting all of those resources where it’s so much better to very, very quickly, design experiments, run them as quickly as possible, see where something is happening, and then sort of iterate upon that specific experiment that you were running. And then slowly, over time, you get to a point where that experiment can be fleshed out, can be refined. You might do some A/B testing, and especially in the world we’re moving into with the rise of AI speed is everything past early days of when I was starting to do, you know, growth marketing or growth hacking, depending on what you like to call it. Let’s say 15 years ago, you could simply run an experiment, and that experiment could would last for certain periods of time. You could get away with some of the experiments, even running them for months. But with the rise of AI, what we’re seeing is that experiments only work for very, very short periods of time. And what I see with a lot of the marketing teams is that, you know, they’re not accustomed to driving fast and quickly running and failing fast, so that you can very quickly learn to see what ultimately what ultimately works.  Vincent Weberink  07:55 So a great example of something that I experienced it when I was running one of my startups, which was a streaming service, and I believed I got everything right. I was just convinced that there was nothing wrong with the product, but I wasn’t getting any traction, nothing, literally, no one w

    39분

  4. 11월 13일

    How to Leverage Storytelling for B2B Marketing Success | Matthew Pollard | EP 198

    How to Leverage Storytelling for B2B Marketing Success  We hear it time and time again in the B2B marketing world: You must differentiate your brand and specialize in order to stand out in a highly competitive business environment. B2B companies should master the art of storytelling, craft a unique message, and sell authentically without pressure, cringeworthy small talk, or competing solely on price. So how can B2B companies achieve this, and what role can the marketing team play? That’s why we’re talking to Matthew Pollard (Founder, Rapid Growth®), who shares expert insights and proven strategies on how to leverage storytelling for B2B marketing success. During our conversation, Matthew discussed the significance of storytelling and specialization in B2B marketing. He also emphasized the need for differentiation in B2B companies by focusing on a specific niche rather than targeting everyone. Matthew highlighted the importance of creating a unified brand message that appeals to the target audience, and advised companies to remove generic content from their websites. He elaborated on how B2B companies can leverage their unique skills and insights, shared common pitfalls to avoid, and how marketers can help define their business’s specialty and value proposition to improve their B2B marketing strategy. https://youtu.be/W-G4-SvFRyg Topics discussed in episode: [2:35] Why specialization is the key to success in B2B marketing [10:17] A story of how Matt helped a client develop a “Unified Message” that effectively transformed her business [12:21] Common pitfalls B2B marketers face when specializing: – Tendency to focus on one’s own interests rather than the client’s needs – Trying to appeal to everyone [20:10] The role of functional skills and unique market insights in driving differentiation [31:21] Actionable steps B2B companies can take to create the differentiation and specialization that will set them apart from their competitors Companies and links mentioned: Matthew Pollard on LinkedIn Rapid Growth® Download the Rapid Growth template Download the first chapter of The Introvert’s Edge Transcript Christian Klepp  00:00 We hear it time and time again. In B2B you need to differentiate your brand and specialize in order to stand out in a highly competitive business environment, B2B companies need to master the art of storytelling, craft a unique message and sell authentically without pressure, cringe worthy small talk industry jargon or competing on price. So how do B2B companies do this, and what role can the marketing team play? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketer in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Matthew Pollard, who will be answering this question. He’s a recognized growth expert, author and an award winning speaker who’s out to prove that storytelling will sell more than facts ever will tune in to find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is. Christian Klepp  00:51 Okay. I’m gonna say. Matthew Pollard, welcome to the show, sir.  Matthew Pollard  00:54 Mate. I’m excited to be here. Thanks for having me on.  Christian Klepp  00:57 I mean, you know, we’ve been on a pre interview call a couple of weeks ago, and we got on like a house on fire. I kind of feel like I’ve known you for like, 30 years or something like that. Matthew Pollard  01:08 No, I’m glad. I’m glad we got a chance to meet when I was 11. It was a big defining moment for me. Christian Klepp  01:14 Fair enough, fair enough. Matthew Pollard  01:18 I guess if, if you didn’t have a Canadian accent, I didn’t have an Australian accent, right?  Christian Klepp  01:22 Yes, yes. There is that too. There is that too. But Matthew, really excited to have you on the show. I’m really looking forward to this conversation, because we’re going to dive into stuff that you are clearly very passionate about. But that aside, I think we’re going to discuss a topic that I think is highly relevant in the world of B2B marketing. So I’m going to keep the audience in suspense just a couple of seconds longer as we dive into the first question. All right. Okay, fantastic. So Matthew, you’re known as the Rapid Growth Guy, and you’re on a mission to transform 1000s of struggling or plateaued businesses into momentum and growth. So for this conversation, let’s zero in on the topic of how B2B companies can create differentiation and specialization. It sounds like such a pedestrian thing, but it’s amazing. And I’m sure you’re going to talk about this at length in a second. It’s amazing how many companies are still getting this wrong. So I’m going to kick off the conversation with the following question, so if memory serves me well, in our previous conversation, you mentioned that if B2B, companies and their marketing teams can specialize, they can generate more clients. So can you elaborate on that a little bit more please? Matthew Pollard  02:35 Yeah, absolutely. I think that the reason I use the word specialized rather than niching is a lot of people have in their mind that niching is this thing that everybody knows that they should do but doesn’t work for them. And while, of course, they’re wrong, they’ve created a bunch of really great excuses in their mind for why that is. And so that the best example I can give you is I worked with an insurance guy who also dabbled in wealth management, and he would go to networking events all the time, and he would talk to them, and he learned how to be interested before being interesting, which is heavily important when it comes to networking. And he did his research as well. I mean, he read my books and other people’s books, and really mastered that piece. But what he said when people reached out to him was also when, when people asked him what it was that he did, he would respond that he was in insurance. And it was like their eyes almost exploded. It was like, How do I get away from this person? They knew that they were, they were going to get this massive sales pitch. And I said, Look, Nick we’ve got to step away from you commoditizing yourself like that. As soon as you say insurance. People know what that is. They put it in a bucket. It’s like me saying I’m a sales trainer. They put me in a bucket. They’re like, most people think that sales training, you know, a lot of people feel like sales people are scam artists. So they’re like, You know what? I don’t have anything to do with you. But they’re but then the opposite is, if I say I’m in marketing, people go, Oh, I need marketing. How much do you cost? Right? Neither are positive. But when you say you’re an insurance salesman, or you’re an insurance people know that the word salesman was the next thing that was supposed to come out. So because of that, they’re trying to work out how to get away from you. And so we need to look at how you can sidestep what people think they know about your industry.  Matthew Pollard  04:26 And so I said to do that, what we need to look at is how you can specialize, how you can speak to a different group of people that see you as the only logical choice. I said. So help me understand, like I believe that in today’s world, especially, the fact of the matter is, you can create rapid growth out of anything. So there’s nothing worse than rapid growth business with customers you don’t like, in a business you can’t stand so let’s focus on a group you absolutely are passionate about helping. And secondly, let’s focus on a group that you can actually serve more effectively, because if you’re in a space where you feel that you. You don’t have a great product, well, then go sell something else. Right? In today’s world, there’s always something great to sell, but think about the space that you want to work in. He goes, Well, Matt, I’m really passionate about insurance, but I really just want to help everyone. And I said, Okay, well, if we’re going to lean into passion, because I know the word passion now we’re using two words, right? Passion, which everyone’s like, well, I’d love to focus on my passion, but that’s not realistic or niche in which people think that don’t work for them. And I said, if we focus on who you’re passionate about, and we leaned into that for just a second, tell me who you would think about working and he’s like, No, seriously, Matt, everybody. I said, truthfully, everybody, what about somebody that earns 50,000 versus somebody that earns 250 he said, Well, no, the person that earns 250 why? Well, they make more money. They can buy more insurance, not what I’m talking about, Nick.  Matthew Pollard  05:46 So let’s take a step back and say, let’s pick two people at random that make 250,000 the first person is maybe somebody that grew up poor study, got into Harvard through scholarship, maybe now works for a C level executive, or they’re a C level executive, C level executive that works for a big corporation, versus a person that maybe even dropped out of school. But now they’ve started up their own business and makes 250,000 a year. One has 10 staff, the other one has 10 employees. Which one of those do you want to work with most? And his response was interesting. He said, obviously the small business owner. And I said, why? Obviously the small business owner? I mean, I grew up with the reading speed of a sick grader until I was diagnosed with Irwin syndrome. There was no way I would have been able to break through some of those barriers. But I definitely wasn’t getting a scholarship to Harvard, like and getting into a C level executive job, you know, good for him or her. And he said, Well, no, I just feel like the small business owner deserves it more like, Okay, explain that for and he said, Well, you know, I had this grandfather, and my grandfather actual

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  5. 11월 6일

    How to Create a B2B Message That Can’t be Ignored

    How to Create a B2B Message That Can’t be Ignored Most B2B companies don’t lose traction because of a weak offer or a substandard product. They lose it when prospective buyers ask, “Why should I buy from you?” and the answer just doesn’t land. The main challenge lies in creating B2B messaging that resonates with prospects, differentiates your brand, and drives conversions. So how can marketing teams develop the right language and clear messaging that leads to revenue growth? That’s why we’re talking to Michael Liebowitz  (Founder, Magnetic Mind Studio),  who shares proven strategies and expert insights on how to create a B2B message that can’t be ignored. During our conversation, Michael emphasized the need to align messaging with the “critter brain,” which places value on emotions and survival. He explained why B2B marketers must communicate the main outcome delivered by their service and the core beliefs of their business. He also discussed why effective B2B marketing isn’t just about understanding your customer, but also about understanding one’s own business, brand purpose, and core beliefs. Michael highlighted the biggest messaging pitfalls that B2B marketers should avoid. He also predicted a shift from the attention to a trust economy due to AI, and stressed the need for rapid trust-building in a competitive B2B landscape. https://youtu.be/JMOPyTEmf_E Topics discussed in episode: [1:54] Why effective messaging is critical to B2B marketing success from a behavioral neuroscience perspective [4:30] Key pitfalls B2B marketers make when crafting messages [7:51] How to apply behavioral neuroscience in developing persuasive B2B messaging [9:42] How AI leads to a shift from the attention economy to the trust economy [12:32] How to build trust through authentic B2B communication [19:08] Actionable tips for developing impactful B2B messaging – Find out the operating belief within the business – Don’t start with ‘Why?’; start with ‘What’s important to you?’ – Highlight the main outcome and the core belief in the messaging [32:08] An example of how a company increased sales by clarifying their core belief [35:52] Why you have to understand yourself first to fully understand your customer Companies and links mentioned: Michael Liebowitz on LinkedIn Magnetic Mind Studio Simon Sinek Donald Miller Transcript Christian Klepp  00:01 Most B2B companies don’t lose traction because they have a weak offer or a substandard product. They tend to lose it when their prospective buyers ask, Why should I buy from you? And the answer they hear just does not land. So how can B2B companies and their marketing teams develop the right language and messaging that leads to revenue? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today I’ll be talking to Michael Liebowitz, who will be answering this question. He’s the founder of Magnetic Mind Studio, who is focused on messaging strategy fueled by behavioral neuroscience and linguistics. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is.  Christian Klepp  00:01 Michael. I mean, we had a dynamite pre interview conversation. I mean, that was already like foreshadowing what was to come. Let’s put it that way.  Michael Liebowitz  00:01 Yeah.  Christian Klepp  00:01 And I’m really looking forward to this discussion, because not only is this near and dear to my heart, but I think it’s also something that’s more importantly, highly relevant to B2B marketers and the companies that they represent. So let’s not keep the audience in suspense for too long, and let’s just jump right in on.  Michael Liebowitz  00:01 Sounds good. Let’s go.  Christian Klepp  00:01 Fantastic. So Michael, you’re on a mission to build communication clarity that aligns teams and supercharges marketing and sales. So for this conversation, let’s focus on the topic of how to create a B2B message that can’t be ignored.  Michael Liebowitz  00:01 Okay.  Christian Klepp  00:01 I’m going to kick off this conversation with two questions, and I’m happy to repeat them, right? So the first one is, why do you think it’s so important to develop the right B2B messaging? The second one is, what is it about B2B messaging that you wish more people understood? Christian Klepp  00:24 All right. Michael Liebowitz, welcome to the show, sir.  Michael Liebowitz  00:47 Thanks. I’m glad to be here. Michael Liebowitz  01:54 Messaging in general, communication in general. I’ll see if I can find some pieces that are specifically applied to B2B. But my area of expertise is in the realm of behavioral neuroscience and linguistics, and that is shared by all humans, regardless of B2B or anything else. So the best way to create a message that can’t be ignored? Well, most messaging is speaking to the wrong part of the brain. Right? It’s speaking to a part of the brain that has almost, but not entirely, anything to do with whether or not someone’s going to want the service that you’re selling or not. There is another part of the brain that’s operating in the background, and I’m just going to, for sake of learning, we’re going to call it the critter brain. Now this is a metaphor for learning. There is no such thing. You know people say is that the amygdala is like, well, the mingle is part of it, but just, it’s just how the brain operates. And this part of the brain just wants to know if you are safe to be around all it does it. It controls emotions and it controls survival. That’s all it’s concerned with.  Michael Liebowitz  03:02 Here’s the nut, the up shell of that, the nutshell that we feel good when we are with people who are like ourselves. To this part of the brain, I don’t want me to die, therefore people like me probably don’t want me to die either. Makes perfect sense to the Creator brain. So here’s how this relates to messaging. The meta frame on top of all messaging is how do you create like kind with your audience? Which is why I say and let me be clear about this. That means you do audience research. But here’s what most B2B marketing misses to the extent that it should be done as much as the audience clarification is, well, what is this business really all about? What does it stand for on a belief level? So to answer that question, how do you get these messages to really break through and get a yes, you have to communicate on a belief level, not just the level of the service that you provide. Christian Klepp  04:07 Fantastic, fantastic. And, yeah, and I suppose, like, what are these like when you’re developing that messaging that can’t be ignored? What are some of these? And you’ve probably seen that, all right, what are some of these key pitfalls? Let’s keep it top level, some of these key pitfalls that marketers should avoid, and from a constructive perspective, what should they be doing instead? Michael Liebowitz  04:30 Okay, the avoid part, hey, you’re going to be able to do all these things, fantastic, and even the surface level benefits, you’re going to be able to know, no more of that. Now it’s freedom for this, no more that. Now you’re got more money for that. Those are useful things to communicate, but you have competition, so your competition is saying the exact same thing. So here’s how you differentiate yourself, is this part of the brain that credit brain really only wants to know two things. Number one, what is the main outcome you deliver? So all those things that you’re saying that you’re going to be able to get from this business, we’re going to do all these things for you. Well, what do they what does your client have when they have that? That’s the main outcome. And the best way I’ve ever heard this described, and many marketers in your audience are going to recognize this quote comes from Theodore Levitt Harvard Business School around 1960s or so, which is, people don’t want a quarter inch drill. What they want is a quarter inch hole.  Michael Liebowitz  05:35 So the big mistake I see a lot of B2B marketing make is they’re talking about the drill. Hey, our stuff, that our platform, our thing, does a lot of this stuff. You need this stuff. It solves this specific problem for you. Great. I’ll put you on the list with the other ones I’m talking to to help solve the problem, right? And then we’ll somehow make a decision. Instead, your audience wants to know, like, Okay, what do I really get from all that, like, on that deeper level? So you have to dig deeper, like, the question, or one of the questions I ask is, kind of tongue in cheek, what did they get when they got what you gave them? Right? So that’s just one thing that the brain wants. This part of the brain wants to know. It gives it context, and it says, okay, but here’s how you make a real connection. And this is so deceptively simple, a little bit harder to surface, but this part of the brain just wants to know, do we share the same beliefs? That’s how it recognizes like kind it just wants to know what you believe to be true about your business or about the context of the business you’re offering, and once the critter brain on the other side of you, the buyer, is able to see clearly what you believe to be true, and as long as it doesn’t violate their criteria for Survival, which is hard to do in this context. You’ve just became a very survivable option. Now they don’t think of this consciously, or at least not not in their foremost awareness. It’s happening way in the background. Is practically automated, right? And so that’s what’s going on. Avoid talking about the surface level benefits. And here’s all the things you’re going to get are useful. I wouldn’t say avoid them. Just put them down below these two. What’s the main outcome and w

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  6. 10월 29일

    How Your B2B Content Can Be Found by AI Search

    How Your B2B Content Can Be Found by AI Search  Search engine optimization (SEO) is in a continuous state of evolution, and in the age of AI, it’s becoming increasingly complex. As AI-generated content shifts the way people search and Google’s algorithms adjust to this new dynamic, B2B marketers must have a more data-driven and strategic approach to SEO. So how can B2B companies leverage AI to increase visibility, build credibility, and generate more traffic? That’s why we’re talking to Adrian Dahlin (Founder & CEO,  Searchtosale.io), who shares proven strategies and expert insights on how your B2B content can be found by AI search. In this episode, Adrian discussed the evolving SEO landscape in the age of AI and highlighted the switch from traditional channel strategies to an authority strategy that builds trust and brand recognition. He emphasized the importance of platforms such as Reddit, Wikipedia, and LinkedIn for B2B SaaS companies to build credibility and search authority. Adrian also cautioned against self-promotional content and stressed the value of long-term planning and authentic thought leadership. He recommended tracking referral traffic from AI chatbots and user engagement metrics across community-driven platforms. Adrian also explained how B2B companies can learn from different SEO thought leaders and stay updated with emerging trends relevant to generative engine optimization (GEO). https://youtu.be/K2p459QEA5s Topics discussed in episode: [2:32] How to shift from Channel Strategy to Authority Strategy to prepare for the evolving landscape of SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) [8:08] How communities such as Reddit are becoming non-negotiable for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) [12:39] How GEO has changed the SEO landscape  [15:32] The core components of an effective GEO strategy and implementation process [22:36] How to select the thought leaders from whom you can learn GEO  [26:10] Metrics for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Referral traffic Conversion and engagement rates of users from AI vs. other sources Community engagement on platforms like Reddit [31:09] The evolving perspectives on GEO Companies and links mentioned: Adrian Dahlin on LinkedIn Searchtosale.io ChatGPT Reddit Quora Wikipedia LinkedIn Quora Ahrefs Ryan Law Perplexity Transcript Christian Klepp  00:01 Search engine optimization can be somewhat confusing, and it’s become even more confusing in the age of AI, both because of how people use AI to generate content and because of how Google search itself is changing. There are those out there who claim that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is dead. It isn’t. In fact, it’s more competitive now, which means you need a more refined approach. So how can B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) companies get AI to recommend their business? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers on the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Adrian Dahlin, who will be answering this question. He’s the Founder of Search To Sale, who creates content strategies that drive revenue from organic search and generative engines, tune in to find out more about what the B2B marketers mission is. Christian Klepp  00:52 All right. Adrian Dahlin, welcome to the show.  Adrian Dahlin  00:55 Thanks for having me.  Christian Klepp  00:56 Great to have you on. I’m really looking forward to this conversation, because it’s super pertinent to content marketing. It’s something that B2B companies should be paying attention to. So I’m going to cut to the chase, and we’ll just dive right in.  Adrian Dahlin  01:13 Awesome.  Christian Klepp  01:13 Fantastic. So Adrian, you’re on a mission to help B2B SaaS companies show up in AI interfaces. So for this conversation, let’s kick it off with two questions, and I’m happy to repeat them. So the first question is, what is it about generative engine optimization or GEO that you wish more B2B SaaS companies understood, that’s the first question. And the second question is, where do you see marketing teams struggle regarding you both. Adrian Dahlin  01:42 We have right now is a stage of evolution where we’re overlapping between the Old World and the New World. And the tactics that work to get you ranked in Google, get you mentioned by an LLM (Large Language Model ) are relatively similar to the way SEO hasn’t working for years, but the paradigm is fundamentally shifting, and basically what that means is that you can do pretty well at getting mentioned by ChatGPT by doing a good job at traditional SEO, but the risk is that you’re not preparing for the future by not actually changing the paradigm of how you think about this. Christian Klepp  02:23 Care to elaborate on that a little bit more, especially that last sentence, like, you know, preparing yourself. How should companies prepare themselves? Right?  Adrian Dahlin  02:32 And I think it actually, it probably starts with timeframe for your goals. If you’re in an organization that has short term incentives, like your startup that needs quick wins to get a couple of enterprise customers so that you can raise your next round of funding. You’re probably sticking a little bit more with the tried and true stuff that has always worked. But if you have the ability to think long term, then you really want to work on changing your thinking. If you have the ability to plan long term, you want to change how you’re thinking about digital marketing fundamentally. And one of those shifts is from a channel strategy to what I’m calling an authority strategy. So a channel strategy is a big way about how marketers would think about particularly the go to market process, where you’re deciding initially where we should even be investing in the first place. You consider who your audience is, you do some research about where they spend time online, and you pick a couple of platforms, you’re probably not trying to be everywhere. We’re trying to focus on a couple of channels. And most channels, I think you can describe as a place where supply and demand interact. And if you play by certain rules and best practices, you can do pretty well.  Adrian Dahlin  04:02 So Facebook, like, 14 years ago, I was like working on Facebook as a marketing channel, interactions between customers and companies play about certain rules you can do well. Tiktok today, paid search another channel. What’s different about AI is that ChatGPT, or any other AI chat bot is not a channel, because the supply side is not present. It’s not engaging directly with the customer. You have customers engaging with a large language model, which is looking at the entire Internet. Well, rather, its brain is trained on the entire internet, and then when you give it a query, it’s looking at some of the Internet to help inform its answer. In many cases, when you’re doing a kind of a search, type of a query in ChatGPT. Yeah, so this AI is making choices. It’s doing curation and filtering among all the information on the web to give you an answer to your query.  Adrian Dahlin  05:12 And the analogy that I’m starting to use a lot is that AI is like a consultant working for your customer, you actually want to think of it like a person. The way a person reads a bunch of information, it consumes a bunch of information, synthesizes, it comes up with a point of view that’s, that’s what AI is doing. It has the ability to look at it much more information than a human can, and it’s not as good yet as we are at synthesizing that information. But when you think about AI more like a person, like a brain, then I think the strategies that emerge from that are going to work in a longer term way. Those will be more durable strategies than just doing the tried and true stuff that hasn’t worked for SEO for the last bunch of years. Christian Klepp  06:06 That certainly is an interesting analogy. I’ve never heard of AI being compared that way before, like the one that I always hear is you treat it like an intern or you treat it like a co-pilot. But there’s, there’s definitely something to be said about treating it like a brain?  Adrian Dahlin  06:21 Yeah, I mean, I think treating it like an intern is useful when you’re using AI to get stuff done, you know, you’re building workflows, you’re asking questions, you’re even if you’re asking it to, like, work on content, whatever, and but we’re talking about when, when kind of use cases where someone is, like, researching product options or the kinds of queries that make sense to try to market to. That’s where I think this other paradigm of AI as consultant makes sense. Yeah. And if you imagine, imagine those human consultants, you know your job, if, if you’re like a software company that tends to sell through partners, your job is to get in the brain of the partner, to get in the brain of the consultant. So that’s podcasts and maybe books and trade shows and conferences. So what’s the analogy for those? For AI, that’s where we start to get to the tactics of where you want to show up online. You want to show up in the places where AI is forming its view of your world. And what we’re learning is that that’s a lot of our own media and platforms like Reddit and Quora and Wikipedia and these, these kind of community spaces that demonstrate credibility, particularly when that credibility is propped up by an authority like a industry, media company or the wisdom of the crowd.  Christian Klepp  07:56 Exactly. I’m going to move us on to the next question about key pitfalls that you think marketing teams need to avoid when it comes to this topic, and what should they be doing instead? Adrian Dahlin  08:08 So the number one cited website in LLM answers is Reddit, which has created this whole new incentive to be mor

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  7. 10월 22일

    How to Build a Successful Content Strategy for Korea

    How to Build a Successful Content Strategy for Korea South Korea is a highly developed and technologically advanced country situated in East Asia, known for its innovation and export-driven economy. For B2B companies seeking to establish a presence in the Korean market, understanding the local business environment, language, culture, and digital behaviors is imperative. What should B2B companies and their marketing teams consider before expanding into South Korea? What cultural and linguistic factors could impact their marketing success? That’s why we’re talking to Hyein Yoon (Founder, HY Marketing),  who shares proven marketing strategies and expert insights on how to build a successful content strategy for the Korean market. In this episode, Hyein highlighted some of the key differences between Western and Korean B2B marketing approaches. She discussed the importance of understanding the hierarchical systems, the relationship-driven nature of conducting business, and how these influence decision-making in Korea. Hyein also elaborated on the need for localized marketing strategies and content, including the use of platforms like Naver, which is a more commonly used search engine platform in Korea. She advised against directly copying Western marketing strategies and emphasized the value of community-driven targeting and influencer marketing to engage and reach Korean audiences. https://youtu.be/6KJhDNoqQls Topics discussed in episode: [2:58] Key differences between Western and Korean B2B marketing practices and approaches [6:11] Common misconceptions and cultural nuances linked to localization [11:11] The challenges of translation and adapting brand messaging [16:50] Key pitfalls to avoid in international B2B marketing [19:12] Actionable tips for B2B companies entering new markets [21:40] The benefits of partnering with trusted local experts [30:50] How to leverage community targeting and influencer marketing [35:35] Metrics and KPIs to measure localization success in Korea Companies and links mentioned: Hyein Yoon on LinkedIn HY Marketing IBM, Korea Nunchi NAVER Kakao Transcript Christian Klepp  00:00 South Korea is a country situated in East Asia that has a highly developed, export driven economy that ranks among the world’s largest so what should B2B marketers operating in North America or Europe take into account when they expand into markets like South Korea? What cultural and linguistic nuances should they consider? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today I’ll be talking to Hyein Yoon, who will be answering these questions. She’s the founder of HY marketing with proven expertise in the Korean market. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is. Christian Klepp  00:41 Okay. Hyein Yoon. Annyeonghaseyo (Hello), welcome to the show. Hyein Yoon  00:49 Yeah. Thank you for having me here. Christian Klepp  00:52 It’s a great pleasure to have you on. I think you get an award for being the first person that I’m interviewing from South Korea. Hyein Yoon  01:01 So much pleasure. Christian Klepp  01:03 Very, very, very exciting, very exciting. And I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show, because I know it’s a little bit late on your side of the world, and it’s so interesting. You know, when we have podcasts like this and conversations like these in these so called Modern Times, because, you know, we can be talking to anybody around the world at different times, and it’s and I think it makes it it makes it interesting, but I think also what makes it very interesting, and we’re going to get into that in today’s conversation, is that we’re all B2B marketers working in different markets, and it’s very important for us also to understand, especially here in North America where I’m based, it’s very important for marketers to understand that what may have been successful in this market might be a completely different situation than them in another market, right? So I guess we’re going to get into that today. So let’s dive in. I’m really looking forward to this conversation.  Hyein Yoon  02:03 Yeah, I’m so excited about this. Let’s do this.  Christian Klepp  02:05 Okay, fantastic. So Hyein, you’re, you’re on a mission to help companies scale their brands through strategic marketing in Korea, so in South Korea. So for this conversation, as I just said, We, we’d like to focus on the following topic, which is how B2B companies can build a successful content strategy for the Korean market. So I’d like to kick off this conversation with two questions, and I’m happy to repeat them. Okay, so first question is, wow, and we can talk about this one for hours, but just give us some top level answers. What are some of the key differences between B2B marketing in the west and Korea? So that’s the first question. And the second question is, what are some misconceptions that B2B companies have about doing business in Korea? Hyein Yoon  02:58 All right, that’s actually great questions, and I’m ready to answer everything possible to answer for the first question, actually, you have to understand that we have very difference between individuality and then collectiveness. And actually, when I visited the US for the first time, I realized so many things that we can actually make our customized plan, even at the restaurant, like you can make your customized burger sauce, the bun, bread or ingredients possible. But whereas in Korea, we don’t really prefer that option, it’s really uncomfortable to choose everything possible. For example, the subway, the sub sandwiches, they actually entered Korea, and they didn’t even realize that things like giving the options possible is really making uncomfortable customers. So they have to make the options to have the set menu combo. So you actually choose the numbers and then you get the all of the things ready made for you. You don’t have to choose. That was actually interesting story. So if I can go into more about the B2B market, we actually have some key factors, like hierarchical system and then result trust focused and the relationship driven.  Hyein Yoon  04:19 So actually, when I had a conversation with one of our guests on our podcast, he actually once mentioned this, and then this is kind of like overview that you can think of Korea really easily. So for example, when he have a conversation and then have a meeting for the first time, he maybe can share about the whole pictures about the companies or services or products, but after the first meeting, he will really not mention about the product or being salesy all the time until the prospect mentioned about what was your product you are talking about before. Can you talk about them more like because. We really value building a relationship first, not about really directness or, you know, being salesy or saving time. So it’s important to building the trust signal in the beginning, and then also in B2B market. When I had another conversation with someone specializing in sales and marketing from IBM, Korea, which is the biggest company in the world. She also mentioned that even if the company suggested you have to do everything online, but she didn’t agree with that, because she understand this, you know, hierarchical system, relationship driven system, so once you actually have a cold call or cold email, first she will be present offline, and then setting up meeting offline, so that you can actually make a relationship first, and then report. And then, you know, saving energy to have, you know, more meetings further for from the get go. So it’s important to have your presence offline. And then, of course, international business sometimes doesn’t have presence in Korea, so that’s why, maybe we can talk about later, having the local partner is important.  Hyein Yoon  06:11 And second question was about, yeah, the misconceptions that B2B companies have about. So this is actually also related to the key factors, for sure. And maybe you can think about online meetings are just fine, and then, you know, cold calls or cold emails, and then you set up the meetings all the time just online. But when you think about ROI (Return on Investment), actually, it makes sense just doing online. Maybe that’s the cost effective that you can approach. But if we just don’t know you at all, like you don’t have any presence in Korea, we had to research about your companies all the time, like case studies or like website all of that, only to realize it just would, you know translations? Yeah, there with English sometimes. So it doesn’t really make sense to us.  Hyein Yoon  07:00 And then the interesting part is that the English versus Korean language has different contexts, meaning English has a low context versus Korean language as a high context. So when we talk about some sentences like or speaking actually, sometimes it doesn’t mean the same way. So for example, when we say, let’s catch up later, but we have a mind reading skill like which is we call Nunchi. This is actually registered in Oxford dictionary, and we don’t really expect we are going to meet anytime soon. Or we can just say things because we want to be polite. So there are a lot of cultural nuances that you can think of. So online meetings are fine, or English is just fine, and translation is fine, something like we have to think about as a part of misunderstanding or misconceptions. And also 5% foreigners living in Korea in population, whereas 95% of our population is Korean, just who speaks Korean. mainly. That means, like, once we actually see English content, it’s just like Alien messages to sometimes. And then when you Google about how fluent our English is on Google, you would actually think about like, Oh, it’s just mod

    43분

  8. 10월 15일

    How Successful B2B Companies Are Increasing Their Web Traffic

    How Successful B2B Companies Are Increasing Their Web Traffic Many B2B companies struggle with generating quality website traffic that converts. They often focus on vanity metrics, and are obsessed with traffic volume rather than true visitor intent. The key to successful B2B SEO lies in understanding your ideal customer profile (ICP), what they’re looking for, and developing content that answers their needs, questions, and challenges. So how can B2B companies and their marketing teams develop smarter SEO strategies to drive the right website traffic? That’s why we’re talking to Nicholle Stacey (Chief Marketing Officer, Altitude B2B), who shares proven marketing strategies and expert insights on how successful B2B companies are increasing their web traffic. In this episode, Nicholle highlighted the importance of conducting a comprehensive website audit to identify technical SEO issues and improve domain health. She advised focusing on quality over quantity when it comes to web traffic, and how leveraging tools like reCAPTCHA eliminates spam bots. Nicholle stressed the value of domain authority, and how it is influenced by building trustworthiness through high-quality, seo-optimized content that answers client questions and earns backlinks from credible sources. She provided practical tips on tracking useful website metrics and stressed the need for a structured SEO approach. Nicholle also discussed how to optimize the use of AI and maintain a user-friendly web navigation experience. https://youtu.be/R6i9rUpnKFY Topics discussed in episode: [3:19] Common struggles B2B marketers face with SEO [4:46] How to get leadership buy-in for SEO investment [5:56] Key pitfalls that B2B marketers should avoid and how to focus on quality traffic [8:24] How AI is changing SEO strategies and search behavior [11:24] How to explain SEO value to business owners [13:05] Steps to grow web traffic from scratch Conduct a website audit to identify technical issues and improve domain health Identify your ideal client profile (ICP) Continuously improve the user navigation experience [17:07] How to measure content quality and performance [22:57] Why domain authority and backlinks matter Companies and links mentioned: Nicholle Stacey on LinkedIn Altitude B2B reCAPTCHA Semrush Ahrefs SE ranking Transcript Christian Klepp  00:00 Many companies struggle with generating the right traffic to their website. They obsess over quantity rather than quality. The key lies in understanding your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), what they’re looking for and developing the right content to answer their questions. So how can B2B companies start getting their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) right and increase their web traffic from scratch. Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Nicholle Stacey, who will be answering this question. She’s the Chief Marketing Officer at altitude B2B who helps B2B companies to improve their SEO. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is.  Christian Klepp  00:41 And off we go. Nicholle Stacey, welcome to the show.  Nicholle Stacey  00:50 Thank you.  Christian Klepp  00:51 Great to have you on the show, and it’s great to chat with a fellow Canadian and a fellow Torontonian. I’m just gonna try not to talk about the traffic and the road works, and then we’ll be fine. Like, fantastic. So, um, if it’s all the same to you, let’s just jump right in, because I think this is a topic that man, B2B companies and their marketing teams should be paying attention to this stuff, if they’re not already, right?  Nicholle Stacey  01:19 Yes.  Christian Klepp  01:20 So I’m gonna say that you’re on a mission to help B2B companies elevate their online presence with SEO and Expert blog content. For this conversation, I would like to focus on the following topic, which is how B2B companies can increase web traffic from scratch. And that sounds like a pretty big deal, and it probably is, to a certain extent, right? But that’s why we’re here, right? Where we’re here to, like, break it all down, and we’re here to tell people that it’s not impossible, but it does require work. So let’s kick off the conversation with two questions, all right, and I’m happy to repeat them. So the first question is, what is it about SEO that you wish more B2B companies understood? And the second question is, where do you see B2B companies and their marketing teams struggle regarding the above? Nicholle Stacey  02:11 So for B2B SEO to make some progress on their own, first and foremost, I would say, take an audit, just see where your website’s performing. Look at your metrics. What is your traffic like? What type of traffic are you getting? Are you resonating with your ideal client profile? If not? Look at the audit, look at the technical fixes and look at your content. Are you answering questions that your ideal client might be asking into search engines, you really want to make sure that you’re positioning yourself in a manner where you’re that response and on the flip side, you want to address all of those technical issues and make sure that your domain health is really elevated so that Google sees you as trustworthy, credible, and is willing to show you as a search result to those users. And then I’m going to ask you to remind me the second question, please. Christian Klepp  03:11 Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. Where do you see a lot of B2B marketing teams struggle regarding SEO. Nicholle Stacey  03:19 The biggest struggle is they don’t understand, or fully comprehend, the power that SEO has in regard to their marketing and investment in marketing. I’ve seen time and time again with B2B businesses where they don’t take digital marketing seriously. In this day and age. It’s so fundamental, and it’s so important, because if you’re not doing that, you’re missing a big portion of the market share, depending on the industry that you’re in. If you can get even, you know, 1% more market share, that’s huge return on investment that you’ll get just from SEO. So it’s super important. And you know, they just need to realize that it’s a true value. Christian Klepp  04:05 From a marketers point of view. All the things that you’ve said make total sense. But as we all know, there are business owners out there, or, if it’s a larger organization, there are people in the senior management that let us say they don’t quite understand what SEO is. And B, I think something that’s even more dangerous is out of sight, out of mind. If I don’t know about it, then it means it’s not that important. And that couldn’t be any further from the truth, right?  Christian Klepp  04:35 So you’ve probably run into the situation before, so that’s what I’m going to ask you. But how do you get buy in from those types of folks to invest in SEO? Nicholle Stacey  04:42 Yeah.  Nicholle Stacey  04:46 Yeah, it’s so true. Like, out of sight, out of mind, you just pretend it’s not there, and you don’t address it. But the reality is, like I said, like, if you look at specific industries, you can look at the data. And I always say numbers don’t lie. Okay, I have my own data from my own clientele that I’ve worked with as well, where you really see the value in investing in SEO. So for people who are business owners, who, you know, they may not understand, or they’re just like, You know what, I really don’t need this, I would say, Well, who doesn’t want more market share. Who doesn’t want to connect with more clients? Is that what you’re telling me? Because if that’s the case, then Are you really serious about doing business? And if you do want that, then SEO is the way to go. And again, the numbers don’t lie. Christian Klepp  05:35 Absolutely, absolutely. I’m gonna segue to the next question, or move us on to the next question rather, which is about like key pitfalls to avoid. And so again, we’re on the topic of building up your web traffic from scratch. So one of these key pitfalls that B2B marketers should avoid, and what should they be doing instead? Nicholle Stacey  05:56 Yeah, I would say just don’t get overwhelmed. Take it one thing at a time. With SEO, there’s a lot of technical jargon that gets thrown around, and I always like to educate my clients on like what specific things mean and why they’re important and why we need to address that. So when you’re running an audit and you’re getting overwhelmed. Just really take a moment to take a deep breath. It’s all good, it’s all okay, and take it one step at a time. And you know, don’t get overwhelmed by that. Christian Klepp  06:31 Okay, okay. And what else should they be avoiding? Should they be avoiding the traffic trap, as they call it? Nicholle Stacey  06:40 Yeah, you want to be avoiding the traffic trap like you want to make sure that your traffic is, you know, quality traffic over quantity. There are certain things that you can do to ensure that you’re getting real quality traffic. One of the things that comes to mind is always make sure that you’re using, for example, reCAPTCHA, which is just basically a plugin that you use on your site, where, when users fill out a contact form, you can segregate from, you know, bot intakes versus real human intakes. So simple things like that can be a good practice to avoid falling into, you know, false numbers, so to speak. Christian Klepp  07:23 Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, there’s this, there’s this obsession about, like, numbers, right? Like, okay, like, look how much traffic we have versus, or what you actually should be focusing on is the quality of that traffic. Like, are there quality leads there coming to the website? Right?  Nicholle St

    33분
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On this podcast, we’re on a mission – to change and disrupt the way people think about B2B marketing one insightful conversation at a time. Get inspiration from interviews with B2B marketers and industry experts who share their stories, achievements, thoughts on trending topics, and give B2B marketing tips and recommendations. This show is hosted by Christian Klepp, Co-founder of EINBLICK Consulting.

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