Comments from K2 Global Communications

Know What Your Customers Are Thinking

Quick. Name the most powerful marketing tool you have.

The answer comes in various forms - consumer insights, customer data, market research - but all these terminologies amount to one critical word.

KNOWLEDGE.

Topics: content marketing, social media, customer communications, linkedin, marketing qualified leads, sales qualified leads, twitter, youtube, facebook

At first glance, account-based marketing (ABM) and inbound seem like polar opposites: ABM focuses on decision makers within particular enterprises and engages them with personalized communication. Inbound marketing takes a more expansive approach, attracting customers to products and services by creating valuable content.

Topics: marketing, inbound marketing, messaging, PR, Account-based marketing, sales, ABM

Taking an account-based marketing (ABM) approach pinpoints your focus on a few high-opportunity, high-value accounts who are more likely to pay attention to your communications because they actually need your product and have the budget for it.

Topics: marketing, inbound marketing, messaging, PR, Account-based marketing, sales, ABM

Build up ABM success by bringing down the silos

Not all prospects give you the best fit or highest value for your solution - thus, the growing popularity of account-based marketing. Approximately 92 percent of B2B marketers consider ABM a critical component of their marketing efforts; and 87 percent of ROI-measuring marketers say that ABM tops all other marketing investments.

Topics: marketing, inbound marketing, messaging, PR, Account-based marketing, sales, ABM

 

Topics: Public relations, content marketing, content, social media, cybersecurity

Want to break through the clutter? Want to rise above the market noise?

Are there too many cybersecurity companies for our own good? Some have become unsustainable as others have gone under. It seems ironic that cyberattacks - the biggest threat to both organizations and nations - have given rise to a global cybersecurity market whose value is set to swell to over $300B by 2024 and VC funding that saw $12.5 billion in funding in just the first half of 2022. Should be good news, right? However, the unrelenting waves of cyberattacks and the increasing need to mitigate security risks has also given rise to more than 3,500 cybersecurity companies, whose marketing messages are now flooding -- make that clogging -- an already congested vertical.

Topics: content marketing, marketing, audience, message, messaging, personas

Hmmm…should this be a blog or rant?

We’re constantly amazed at the number of companies who’ve been around for years and don’t have a cohesive messaging document (MD).

While I understand the aversion – MDs are difficult to execute, with various stakeholders within the company trying to get their voices heard – a well-conceived MD creates a virtual paint-by-numbers scenario, where all of your USPs are well defined for audiences across the purchasing chain, smoothing the account-based marketing process.

Topics: marketing, brand, customer communications, message, messaging, corporate communications, client relations, integrated marketing

Robert, CMO of a cybersecurity business, devotes his energies to making his company’s solution stand out in a very crowded marketplace. He ensures his marketing and sales teams stay on top of the latest available analytics, CRM, social media, and other technologies that’ll help them achieve his goals. While Bob is a super-effective CMO, he’s also a fanatical sportsman - forever trying to fit tennis matches in his already busy schedule - as well as a devoted dad of three.

Topics: marketing, message, messaging, B2B, customer journey, integrated marketing

 

Understanding the role of market research and up-to-date intelligence

An article on 31 product launch statistics for 2022 revealed this nugget from a Harvard Business School professor: about 30,000 new products are launched each year, and about 95 percent of these will probably fail.

Topics: market research, customer communications, message, messaging, B2B, marketing strategy

B2B messaging should clearly explain the unique selling propositions (USPs) and myriad advantages of your solution to everyone participating in purchasing process. Sometimes, that just isn’t achieved.

Fail 1 - The “too-broad” B2B messaging

General marketing blah-blah is not appreciated. Technology products are very rarely designed for general use, and the more specific you message to your personas, the better. Messaging must make it immediately apparent who benefits from your product and how.

Topics: persona, customer communications, message, messaging, B2B