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One of my mentors always told me, “You are not your target market.”
He said that it doesn't matter if you think the headline is great, the ad design is impressive, or the copy is great. All that matters is what the customer thinks.
He would say, “Our job is to create marketing that our customers find interesting, engaging, and compelling. Whether you feel the same way is irrelevant.” You are not your customer.
Unless, of course, you are.
Many B2B marketers focus on marketing products and services to other marketers. And marketing to marketers is one of the more challenging tasks – especially in today's digital marketplace.
It's hard to get a buyer's attention and trust these days, but marketers are savvier – and more cynical – than most. That's because they've seen (and probably used) every trick you can think of.
So what works for marketers in marketing today?
Earlier this year, CMI surveyed more than 300 marketers about the content they care about, the channels they use to learn about solutions, and the reasons they ultimately choose a particular solution.
The results didn't surprise me. But how meta is that? Of course I'm not surprised by the results. I'm part of the results.
OK – before things get even weirder – let’s look at some of the most interesting findings.
Marketers still read (and they don’t want to meet)
I know you hear a lot about using video and audio to attract leads—I do, too. And these formats have their place. However, most marketers (55%) still prefer to read work-related content online. Far fewer say they prefer watching video (26%), listening (11%), or reading print (8%) for work.
Email is still one of the most viable ways to reach marketers. Almost all marketers (98%) subscribe to work-related email newsletters, and nearly half (49%) subscribe to more than five.
Of the top five types of content marketers use to research tools, technologies or services, three are written texts. Almost all marketers (94%) read online articles when researching new solutions. Another 81% use product reviews and 75% use case studies.
Videos come in second after online articles at 92%, and webinars round out the top 5 at 72%.
One result surprised me: marketers prefer video calls to face-to-face meetings. Almost half of marketers (45%) prefer to discuss solutions in a video call. Their second choice? A (text-based) email (27%). No contact (meaning they prefer to browse the provider's digital content alone) came in third with 17%. A phone call came in fourth with 7% and face-to-face meetings came in last at 4%.
These results confirm what you probably already know: marketers don’t want to talk to anyone in person during the customer journey.
However, they are much more open to learning through digital and in-person events.
What marketers expect from physical events and webinars
Events are back. But also digital events.
Late last year, I wrote that marketers needed to step up their efforts around digital and physical events. Attendees' desire for in-person events remained strong despite headwinds like inflation, health concerns and the ongoing recovery of the hospitality industry.
The CMI surveys backed up my position: Among the tactics that marketers said produced results for them, webinars ranked second only to in-person events.
So we know that marketers get results when they include events and webinars in their marketing strategies.
But are your marketing colleagues attending webinars and in-person events?
That's true. Most marketers (51%) attend one or two in-person events per year (either marketing-focused or industry-specific) and 98% attend digital webinars. However, the reasons for attending vary.
81% of marketers who visit a vendor's booth at an event said they want information about a potential vendor's products and services. More than half (59%) want a demo of the solution. Just under half (49%) want to meet the people behind the product or service. And 26% want specific information to help them make a purchasing decision.
Webinars are a different story. Almost all marketers who attend webinars (92%) want to learn in depth about a specific topic they are interested in. Most (86%) want a general learning opportunity. Only 30% want product information and only 19% want a demo.
Simply put, marketers attend in-person events to find answers, and they attend webinars to learn what questions to ask.
Here's the proof. When asked about the most important things they hope to get out of attending webinars, most marketers (84%) said relevant and actionable content. Nearly three-quarters of marketers want content that addresses their current challenges and trends. Their peers also want on-demand access (55%) and speakers with real-world experience (53%). Very few cited interactivity (8%), a user-friendly platform, or networking opportunities as the most important things.
If you're a marketer marketing to marketers, think hard about these insights. A few years ago, I wrote about how vendor-generated information that lacks authoritative, specific recommendations for action causes buyers to want to avoid sales pitches. As I wrote, “The buyer's goal is to learn to play chess. And demand generation marketers bombard them with views on the history of chess and why it's such an important game.”
If you want to add value to your fellow marketers, you need to take a concrete point of view and create concrete, actionable content.
You already know that marketers appreciate it.
Marketers want what they charge (no sales pitches please)
One of the most confirming findings of this study: marketers value valuable content.
Almost all marketers (94%) said that the availability of comprehensive content on leading topics increases their perception of a brand as a valuable source of information.
But here's the kicker. The most important factor that gets marketers to open an email is that they requested the content. Nearly three-quarters (73%) said that requesting the content is the main reason they open their email. The second most important factor is a relevant subject line (62%).
If all of this sounds familiar, that's a good thing. As it turns out, marketers aren't all that different from other business clients. The difference is that the bar for high-quality, helpful content can be higher than for other business clients.
Savvy marketers can spot a sales pitch from afar. They know that if they give out their email address in exchange for an eBook, they're likely to end up in a never-ending drip campaign. They won't be fooled if you show screenshots of your product and talk about the best practices for products your company happens to sell.
So what can you do?
You can surprise them. My experience marketing to marketers tells me that one of the best ways to attract marketers is not to sell them anything. Inspire, inform and engage them. Help them as if they were your colleagues.
After all, in this case you are the target group.
Join us on July 24 for our webinar, The State of Marketing for Marketers. Robert Rose and other marketing leaders will dive into CMI's latest research and examine what's working and what's not in B2B marketing today. Discover actionable insights to improve your content marketing strategies for the second half of the year. Don't miss it –Register for free today!
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Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
Create your very own Auto Publish News/Blog Site and Earn Passive Income in Just 4 Easy Steps
