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Digital tools have shifted the focus of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing to resemble the long-term relationship building that characterizes business-to-business (B2B) marketing. McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey sure looks a lot like the iterative consensus building and problem solving required to be a successful B2B firm. As digital tools have matured, it sometimes feels as if they are built to accommodate consumer marketers. You may rightly ask why a 100-year-old commodity manufacturer needs to have a Twitter account. Maybe they don’t! Your business objectives, not the latest trends in digital technology, should drive your digital marketing presence. Here are seven things to consider when incorporating digital into your marketing strategy. 1. Determine business and marketing objectives . If your business objective is to increase revenue, choose a marketing program that builds awareness of your brand. If increased volume is the objective, tailor your campaign to ensure you are a top contender in the consideration set. If you are trying to shift to a higher profit margin customer base, your marketing efforts should reposition the brand or grow loyalty. 2. Choose platforms based on the personas of your decision makers . People purchase from companies (and people) they like and trust. In the B2B world it is imperative to understand the user, the technical expert and the buyer. They have unique personalities and rely on different sources of trusted information. Marketers today have to influence the user who learns from YouTube instructional videos, the engineer who studies validated performance data from technical sources, and the buyer who follows trusted thought leaders to mitigate perceived risk. 3. Know what success looks like . Set goals and preliminary KPIs early in the strategy development process. Continue to fine tune the KPI’s as you identify the data you need and the most representative sources of that data. Formulate a hypothesis to help you keep control of the process and to analyze data against objective criteria. 4. Prioritize actionable metrics . Business leaders respond to metrics that demonstrate conversion and contribute to the bottom line. A high rate of conversions will contribute more to your revenue than a large number of views. Drive referral traffic on days when customers are historically more willing to buy your products. Target an Email campaign to influencers on days and at times when they are most likely to open unsolicited correspondence. 5. Create consistent messaging with limited variables . Content and visual representation must always be consistent with your brand across all platforms. As you proceed through the campaign, make limited changes such as headlines, images, calls to action, or page placement to analyze which versions resonate best with your decision makers. 6. Gather, organize and analyze data . A talented analyst will organize columns of data into a meaningful analysis tool. Mitigate analysis bias that may creep in, commonly through sampling, interpretation, confirmation, outlier or other biases. Creative data visualization tells a compelling story to decision makers and guides them to action. 7. Test, interpret and iterate . Speed and flexibility are the hallmarks of digital marketing. Negative insights or ideas that flop are just as useful as the ones that make you feel like a marketing genius! Digital marketing is so much more cost effective than tradition marketing that we can afford to take a chance that doesn’t pay off, then swiftly redirect. If this feels like an unwieldy list remember that, in digital marketing, perfection is the enemy of good enough. Determine objectives, make assumptions, choose meaningful metrics and go for it. Your data analysis will help you perfect your journey based on actual, rapid results.
We have all heard frustrated executives lamenting that they would love to change their organizations, but those darn employees are so resistant. "Why can't my employees just see the benefits of change and embrace it without my incessant oversight?" Simply, change is difficult. McKinsey & Company reports that 70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals. Both managers and employees bear responsibility for these failures. Understanding your employees as normal, change-resisting humans, and supporting them along the change process will increase your chances of success. Predictable, repetitive activities feel comfortable because they are stored in the brain's basal ganglia, which requires low energy levels to perform habitual tasks. When we ask someone to change, the energy-intensive prefrontal cortex must evaluate the change versus the status quo. Further, if the change is sudden, complex, or overwhelming, the amygdala triggers the flight or fight response. Compounding all of this exhausting brain stimulation, the University College of London evaluated the effect of physical exertion on the perception of reward. Their study, published in 2017, determined that our perception of the value of an outcome is skewed by the amount of effort we need to expend to achieve that outcome. Our minds try to convince us that low-hanging fruit is more delicious because it is easier to obtain! The challenge for organizational change agents is to manage the process to reward and habituate change. I think of General George S. Patton's quote whenever I am struggling with a challenging choice. "Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." Evaluated in this light, the risk of change typically pales in comparison to the potential learning value and exhilaration of success. Does embracing change mean I am risk-averse? Nope. Should we offer risk tolerance training to our employees to help them better embrace change? Again, no. Instead, organization leaders need to create a culture that helps teams internalize the idea that maintaining the status quo is more uncomfortable than risking change. There isn't a single playbook for all organizational change. You may be undergoing a complete rebranding of your entire business unit or trying to overhaul your environmental, health, & safety compliance program. Regardless of the scope, leaders must unflinchingly implement a cohesive strategy to implement change successfully. Communicate a clear goal. Share information with your employees, so they understand the purpose and expected results from the change initiative. Make the initiative time-bound. Change takes time, so be sure to share interim milestones. Clearly communicate an identity the troops can rally around, whether it is your new brand or the slogan of the EH&S task force. Secure organization-wide buy-in. Employees will have some skin in the game, so be upfront about how this will impact them. Lead with positive motivation. Each teammate is critical to successful change so work with front-line employees and supervisors to develop accountable implementation plans that specify their part in achieving the expected results. Provide extra support for changed tasks until they are internalized. Finally, listen to your team. They will come up with new ideas for improvement that you have not considered. Create space (physical or mental) to try out new ideas. Provide safe spaces to encourage your employees to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Encourage collaboration. If you can make it fun, even better. Enjoy the journey toward change. Change happens in stages, not all at once, so you might as well enjoy the ride. Celebrate compliance and wins early and often. Energize your team with optimism. Adjust and adapt. What seemed like a great plan in February may look like Swiss cheese by November. Be prepared to take two steps forward and one step backward. Go back to that safe space you created and learn from your shortfalls. Track success metrics regularly and adapt them to market and organizational changes. Change is an arduous journey that, if done collaboratively and resolutely, will reward you with a stronger organization. I'll let General Patton take us out with more words of encouragement. "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."