B2B enterprise has always felt like a second cousin to popular consumer brands like Pepsi, Apple, Nike and Beyoncé. B2B markets are more niche, their budgets typically smaller and B2B products and services are not always influenced by popular media. This has resulted in B2B brands assuming a second class status that is not always accurate.
Thought leadership, especially for B2B brands, is an important tactic in the marketing and communications toolbox. While it’s growing in popularity there’s new data that points to declining value and effectiveness.
There are many canaries that will alert you to the potential for lethal gas in your proverbial B2B brand coal mine, but no bird is more effective at pointing to danger than a sales team that struggles to describe what makes your brand and your offerings different.
In a sector where sales are king, many B2B businesses are making a key mistake by approaching the same ‘buyer’ from 10 or 20 years ago.
It’s surprising that, despite the data proving that marketers who have a documented content strategy execute more effective content marketing, as many as 63% of businesses still don’t have one!
