Weekend Favs January 22

Weekend Favs January 22 written by Karen Cutler read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one that I took out there on the road.

• Loom – quickly record and share videos for team communication or product support
• Wistia – video and podcast hosting tool
• Typeform – create engaging forms, quizzes and survey

These are my weekend favs, I would love to hear about some of yours – Tweet me @ducttape

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B2B Marketing News: More Executives Using Social, B2B Events Rebound, New Trust Barometer Data, Meta’s New Ad Policies, & Mobile Ad Spend Rises

B2B Pros Worry About Leads Getting To The Right Person, Study Finds 58 percent of B2B marketers have said that they are only somewhat or not confident in their organization's process for taking inbound leads to proper sales team members — one of several statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in recently-released survey data. MediaPost More executives are turning to social media during the pandemic. [Report] Some 56 percent of business executives have said that they are increasing their usage of social media due to the pandemic, with 68.4 percent expressing positive reactions to colleagues or leaders sharing industry news and content on social media, according to newly-released report data. PRWeekUS [bctt tweet="“Social media is a great way to amplify the work that your team is doing and frankly, our next generation of leaders.” — Sarita Rao @saritasayso of @ATTBusiness" username="toprank"] LinkedIn Adds New Courses on Building Your LinkedIn Presence, New Alert and Newsletter Tools for Company Pages Microsoft's LinkedIn has launched three new online courses of interest to digital marketers, while also releasing new details about forthcoming additional platform features including newsletters and audio events, LinkedIn (client) recently announced. Social Media Today Last Year’s Global Ad Spend Said to Have Outperformed Pre-Pandemic Total by Almost 20% A strong 29.1 percent increase of the digital ad spending category highlighted overall 2021 global advertising spending that outperformed pre-pandemic figures by nearly 20 percent, according to newly-release report data of interest to online marketers. MarketingCharts Microsoft Removes Minimum Spend For Customer Match, Adds Shopping Enhancements Microsoft has eliminated minimal spending requirements to utilize audience targeting with its Customer Match feature in Microsoft Advertising, and added several new features, as the firm increases its use of zero-party data, voluntarily shared information the firm makes use of for increased transparency and control, Microsoft recently announced. MediaPost Social Media Usage Statistics For Digital Marketers In 2022 There were nearly 10 percent more global social media platform users in 2021, representing a total of over 4.5 billion people, while 84 percent of the U.S. population now say that they use at least one social platform — two of numerous statistics examined in a new look at digital marketing usage. Search Engine Journal Only 1 in 5 B2B Exhibitions Were Canceled in Q3 After a near-total 98.1 percent drop in year-over-year in-person B2B exhibition industry performance during the third quarter of 2020, the most recent 56 percent decrease in the The Center of Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) index points to progress on the slow road back to pre-pandemic in-person B2B event totals. MarketingCharts Mobile Ad Spend Leapt 23% To $295B In 2021, 19% Jump Forecast For 2022 A robust 70 percent of overall digital advertising spending was accounted for by mobile during 2021, with mobile ad spend garnering a 23 percent increase, as globally some 3.8 trillion hours were spent on mobile during the year — three of numerous statistics of interest to digital marketers contained in recently-released report data. MediaPost Meta Outlines Policy Requirements for Businesses Looking to Advertise and Sell on its Platforms Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta has rolled out information about forthcoming updated advertising policies, including some that will see the removal of certain targeting options used by marketers, Meta recently announced. Social Media Today Edelman Finds 'Vicious Cycle Of Distrust,' Puts Onus On Businesses, Brands Edelman has released the 22nd edition of its Trust Barometer report, highlighted by a growing 'vicious cycle of distrust," as fewer people have said that they trust the media, while some 58 percent have said they either buy or advocate for brands bases on their values and beliefs — two of many insights of interest to B2B marketers contained in the newly-released report. MediaPost ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at the “thought leadership” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Woman Bravely Powers Through Instagram Warning that She’s Been on App Too Long — The Hard Times TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Demandbase — Considering Working With B2B Influencers? Read This First — MediaPost
• Joshua Nite — 10 Ways to Adjust Your Current Marketing Strategies for Today’s Consumers — Small Business Trends
• Lee Odden — 5 Content Marketing Tips Using Webinars As An Example — Pepper Content

Have you run into own top B2B marketing news for the week? Please drop us a line in the comments below. Thanks for joining us for this week's TopRank Marketing B2B marketing news, and please return again next Friday for another examination of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post B2B Marketing News: More Executives Using Social, B2B Events Rebound, New Trust Barometer Data, Meta’s New Ad Policies, & Mobile Ad Spend Rises appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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Standing Out In A Crowded Market

Standing Out In A Crowded Market written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Mike Michalowicz

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Mike Michalowicz. Mike is a speaker and bestselling author, the creator of Profit First – which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. And we’re talking about his latest book called – Get Different: Marketing That Can’t Be Ignored!

Key Takeaway:

Many business owners are frustrated because they feel invisible in a crowded marketplace. They know they are better than their competitors, but when they focus on that fact, they get little in return. That’s because, to customers, better is not actually better. Different is better. And those who market differently, win.

In this episode, I talk with Mike about his latest marketing book, Get Different, where he offers a proven, method to position your business, service, or brand to get noticed, attract the best prospects, and convert those opportunities into sales.

Questions I ask Mike Michalowicz:

• [2:52] Do all of your books tie together?
• [4:57] Why’d you write this book?
• [6:19] Can you describe the research that led you to some of the conclusions in this book?
• [9:44] It’s always fun for consultants and authors to come up with acronyms for things – can you unpack and apply the D.A.D. acronym from your book?
• [14:55] What’s the filter for different that matters?
• [18:53] Can you tell people all about what you’ve got prepared for them if they get a copy of Get Different?

More About Mike Michalowicz:

• Get Different: Marketing That Can’t Be Ignored!
• More info about Get Different and the free resources

More About The Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network:

• Check it out here.

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Duct Tape Transcript

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John Jantsch (00:01): Hey duct tape marketing listener. We know you're always on the lookout for ways to more efficiently scale your business. That's why I'm so excited to chat about. I digress another show on the HubSpot podcast network. Troy Sandra is the host of I digress, talks all about how you can eliminate complexity, complications and confusion from your business equation and create clarity to streamline strategy solutions that achieve scalable and sustainable success. Check out episode 24, start there 14 minutes or so strategy is power. You know, I love that idea. So listen, learn and grow with I digress on the HubSpot podcast network at hubspot.com/podcast network. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Mike Michalowicz He's a speaker and bestselling author, the creator of profit first, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. And he's got a new book today called get different marketing that can't be ignored. So Mike, welcome to the show,

Mike Michalowicz (01:22): John, as always, is this cool hanging out with you? Thank you for having,

John Jantsch (01:26): I tell people this all the time, Mike, you and I have known each other a long time. You're like a little brother who has far surpassed me in terms of your impact.

Mike Michalowicz (01:33): I think the little brother part, for sure impact a question. I I'll never listen to you. And I know this story, but I don't know if listening to you. And I met for the first time face to face during a speaking tour with who knows, right? He may live and we did tour together and there was one day it was a professionally, perhaps one of the most impactful changing moments of my life was you said, you'd meet with me after one of the events, I was just talking about starting a membership organization. And it was the old pen and cocktail napkin paper, just writing down your thoughts. And I took it and earned it. I applied exactly what you told me and we grew proffers professionals. It was formed after the prototype. You laid out for duct tape, marketing and organization. You created

John Jantsch (02:22): Thank you. You took it and ran with it. You did a great job, obviously, and I admire your work. Do you talk about an arc of your books? Toilet paper entrepreneur was kind of like your first book to get out there, to write about what you'd been doing and your experience, but then it feels like you went on a pumpkin plan, profit first clockwork now even, you know, get different. Is there obviously I think you're targeting the same market, but are you saying, okay, for this book, I'm going to take on this aspect of business. Now, this aspect, and now this, and really tie do these all kind of tie together in that fashion.

Mike Michalowicz (02:55): They do. And they're all 30, the kind of formula behind it. So the overarching goal is to have a compendium of books for small business. I want to be the champion for, I call them the underdog entrepreneur, but the micro enterprise is a sub million dollar company. Like that's my piece. So I want to, when you're that size, it's very hard to get professional consultants to come in and invest in the amount of time and effort necessary to move that business forward. We just can't afford them. So I want to have the compendium of winning that business. One may have a marketing challenge. Business two may have a financial challenge. Maybe it's an efficiency challenge. So I'm trying to write all these books. The sequence they come out is based upon two things. First and foremost is reader impact. I'm blessed to be in contact with readers regularly.

Mike Michalowicz (03:43): Now it wasn't that way with my first couple of books, but now there's regular stream. So I can ask and survey and see, you know, what do people need now? And one of the common themes was I was hearing from people I depend on my clients refer me business. And actually they're mostly saying that a hundred percent of my leads come from client referrals, which is great. They recognize how good you are, but you can't throttle that you don't have control. How do you deliberately facilitate lead flow? So that was one thing. And the other thing is for me, is behind each book from your tutelage, I build an organization behind it. We found is that maybe 90% of the readers may 95% or the do it yourself, or if they want to read it and do it. But there is the faction that say, now that I know how to do it, I want to find the company that has this competency. So build the business. So I look for a partner early on now, and his name is Justin Wise. They have a marketing agency called the different company that they renamed a different company. And we've been working together on this project for two years. It's culminating a book and all the insights and practical applications of this process. And I also know that a portion of readers will say, I want to go a step further and work with the different company and this company that I co-created

John Jantsch (04:53): Awesome. So I guess that's some of the big idea. Why'd you write this book or this topic, and I know, and I also want to get into the research you did, but let's start with,

Mike Michalowicz (05:04): Yeah, I think there are extraordinary books out there. Duct tape marketing being one of the defining books, my opinion that show you the how to, and the marketing plans, the strategy, like here's what you do. And we need that. What I didn't find is many books focusing on the milliseconds of marketing, the cognitive behavior that happens from the prospect's standpoint. And so this book, one of the titles actually was going to be called the marketing milliseconds of how marketing happens in these fractional seconds. There's three key elements that happen within literally one 10th of a second. First is recognition of something, most stuff, the vast jury jury's ignored. So how do you get a ten second and retain attention? So we are subconsciously asking ourselves, should I stay engaged in this? Should I keep listening to podcasts? We just keep on asking ourselves as subconscious level and certain not serving. You're losing, you're dropping off. The last thing is subconsciously, should I take action with this? This is all happening in a flash of seconds. So this book is around managing those elements of mark.

John Jantsch (06:07): So I know that you are a bit of a, not necessarily scientific researcher, but you talked about, or you engaged a lot of people. You have a lot of conversations, you bring people in to try stuff in your laboratory, so to speak. Yeah. So what's the, describe the research that led you to some of the conclusions in this book.

Mike Michalowicz (06:23): Yeah. We, we have a room here at our office. Actually, when you come, maybe if we can spend a little time, I'll take you for a little tour, but we have a room. We call it the mad lab. It's our version of a lab. And what we do is we take existing marketing and we'll run tests on it against survey groups and audiences that don't, they're not told, you know, you're being tested. We're just asking, what do you, how do you respond to this and monitoring their behavior and looking for trends? And I'll give you one example. I like to pick on large companies, we were talking about that off-air arch company called Arthur Anderson, Arthur Anderson. There is one there's one called Anderson windows. It's also an Arthur Anderson Anderson window, which is pretty big. It's a pretty big franchise. And we had a marketing piece. We tested theirs and it failed the three key elements that identifying the book, differentiate to get attention, attract, to get engagement direct, to compel, to tell you when to do something and what this, this marketing was different.

Mike Michalowicz (07:19): They were sending out letters, handwritten letters saying, Hey, I'm your local rep or I'm the local business, or I'd love to do your windows. It was unique and different from the standard mail you get, but it didn't fail to attract because the owner was a guy named or is named Larry someone. But the hand script was a female's writing. It was very loopy. It was very clear. It wasn't him. It lost the authenticity. So we're read this and be like, this is a lie. This guy is marketing a lie. It's a shame that, that when we do marketing, many companies only do one element and they don't nail all of them. So our research of testing out other marketing, and then testing our own marketing techniques through our company, we had businesses do this. We found there's three kind of check boxes. You need to nail each time for marketing.

John Jantsch (08:06): So you use those terms of differentiated attract direct, uh, which conveniently spells out the dad method. And so should we take a few minutes and tell some dad jokes? It was, What did the fish say when he ran into a concrete wall?

Mike Michalowicz (08:22): Y, ah, okay. That's a good dad. Joke I got for you. When do you know a joke becomes a dad joke? I don't know when it becomes a parent.

John Jantsch (08:36): All right, there, you have it. Folks we're done here. And now let's hear a word from our sponsor. HubSpot CRM platform is easy to adopt and there are really two reasons. Two features that make this possible, that contact timeline and the mobile app and mobile keyboard HubSpot's timeline gives you the historical context. You need to get the work done and connect with customers because all of your customer data is in one place. It can serve as a single source of truth. In HubSpot, you can take an action, right from the contact timeline, make a call and roll a contact in the sequence, schedule a meeting. You've got it. And if you're on the go, you just use the mobile app to make it all happen and keep everything up to date. You don't have to spend a lot of time training your team. You can be sure that all the contact information is going into one system, making your team more efficient, look better adoption with a CRM leads to better data, richer insights, and a bigger impact on your customer experience. Learn more about how you can scale your company without scaling complexity@hubspot.com. All right. So obviously it's always fun for consultants and authors to come up with acronyms for things, but maybe unpack those a little bit. You balloon it to them in your story about the research, but just to make, maybe apply.

Mike Michalowicz (09:56): Yeah. So the three applications, first of all, most marketing fails because we are copying the behavior or the marketing method of our contemporaries, or

John Jantsch (10:08): This is what everybody in our industry, whenever else talks,

Mike Michalowicz (10:11): Right? But the consumer mind has this thing called the reticular formation. It's a part of our brain that achieves what's called habituation. Habituation is a way to avoid stimuli. That's not relevant. There's a reason. Sirens have changed on a police cars and ambulances. They used to be high, low, high, low. Now they chirp and they beep they do that because we've become so habituated. So familiar with it. We ignore it. People walked in front of a speeding. Ambulance had been killed by an ambulance. So what we need to do with our marketing is realize that consumers become habituated. And the only way to get recognized is to change the chirps and beeps when everyone else is going high, low classic mark example, you forgot the email that starts off with Hey friend. I don't know, John, if you got one of those in the first one I got, I was like, what is this?

Mike Michalowicz (10:56): I have a friend. That's call me a friend. Like this is so friendly. This friend, I actually read it. The second one, I was like, okay, the last one was actually smarmy marketing. Yeah. So this next one I skim through. I was like, I was marketing. I've never read a Hey friend since, cause I know it's marketing. I've become habituated to it. I don't put conscious thought to it. So the only way to break this pattern is to do what the people are doing because that will get past this gatekeeper to the mind. And I think that

John Jantsch (11:23): That really today, one of the key ingredients for getting kind of through the clutter is we have to do something that makes people talk about us. And you're right. That's the differentiator. A mutual friend, Jay Baer has a great book called talk triggers. That's really all about that idea of what can you do to get people talking? Everything else you do might be the same as everybody else. But you do this one thing,

Mike Michalowicz (11:45): One thing, it doesn't in some people get confused with outrageous, oh, I have to wear a clown costume. A clown costume will work. But if it's not congruent with your brand or who you are, it actually hurts you. So the next component, right? My,

John Jantsch (12:00): My attorney, my attorney shouldn't wear a clown suit. Is that what you're saying? Yeah.

Mike Michalowicz (12:05): With a squirting Daisy in your eye, Hey, sorry. Hey Joe, walk on the, because that attorney is not attractive. So the next component is this speaking to a need. I have a desire. Does it invoke curiosity? Does it entertain me? A clown actually could be perceived as a threat for some of us in this scenario. This is like a murderer. This is what a whack job does. So it has to be congruent with what your audience expects and needs. So what's attractive to them. And they're going to measure that very quickly. Differentiation gets attention, attraction, retains it. The last D stands for direct is to tell the audience now what to do with this knowledge and the key here is it needs to be reasonable. I think this is often overlooked. We have to give him specific, but it needs to be reasonable. If I'm selling a car as an example, and you're looking for a new car, I say, Hey, John, give me a hundred thousand dollars deposit.

Mike Michalowicz (12:51): We're gonna find your dream car like who are, you know, it's unreasonable. But if you walk on the lot and I say, Hey, John, would you give me my, your me, your cell number. I love to text you pictures of our inventory so you can find, and we can hone in on your dream car. That sounds reasonable. Also though, we've had our first transaction and now I can move us for the ultimate transaction, which is you buying a car and me collecting a commission. So the direct is to give a specific and explicit direction, but a reasonable and safe one for the customer. Okay.

John Jantsch (13:22): So I have heard you saying, of course this is in the book and this is not going to be good news for some people, but that better is not better. So that's going to be hard for some people swallow because I want to be the best at what I do and in my industry. And I think that you're going to say what's not bad to be better, but it's better to be different.

Mike Michalowicz (13:41): Yeah, it is very different and better is invisible. When you think about say, we have businesses that compete directly with each other, we both have cleaning companies and my clean company, I say, we will always answer the phone on two rings. You say our company will always answer the phone in one ring. You are unequivocably better. But the question is, does the customer care even notice most betters are actually invisible to the customer. It's the difference that get noticed if you're the only cleaning company that shows up in full bio hazard gear, that will be remarkable. And that's not a joke. That's what happened in the computer industry. My first business was doing computer systems and I was better than the competition. I had the certification to prove it. I had the response times to prove it. Then the company came in and they kicked my till Sunday. It was geek squad who dressed as geeks with the tape on their glasses, the flood pants. And because they were willing to put themselves out in a new and different light and they were talk worthy as Joe bear and Brinks too. They were remarkable. They dominate the industry. By the way, Robert Stevens founded a company. I believe now after their sale to best buy, they are at a $1 billion collective valuation, 1 billion. My company didn't sell for way less than that. I'll say it's sold for way less than that. So

John Jantsch (14:56): How do you, and you alluded to this, but I want to touch on it directly. I think when some people hear that we're different, they're like, okay, I'm going to be different for different sake. We're going to be the guys that wear purple shirts or to drive purple cars or something. And I think you address it with attractive. Does that matter? Yes. Okay. Somebody looks at it and goes, that's different. How do you, what's the filter for different? That matters.

Mike Michalowicz (15:19): Yeah. So if you are the business owner, the great thing is you are the filter. It's an amplification of who you naturally are. I'm a silly person. I like to be goofy. So you'll see my websites and all the work I do every time puts me out there. There's a silly component that is attractive, but I've got to be a little asterisk next to it. Next to that, to certain people, other people is repelling. They're like, who is this goofball or idiot, but it does magnetize a certain audience. So the truth is we gotta be true to ourselves. If I love, you know, purple rain I played every morning. When I start my day, I'm the purple guy lean into that because there's a community that is going to get you because you get it. It's the artificial difference that don't work. And I've had people that look at my website and said, wow, this was so different. As an example, I love it. I'm going to copy it. Is that okay? I'm going to go for it. It's who you are. It's not going to be attractive because there's going to be in congruency. You'll find who you are. You're the most professional, be more professional. If you're the most serious, be more serious, they'll be the more of you.

John Jantsch (16:21): You, you made a point that I don't think enough people, um, maybe would, would get just on what you said is it's actually okay to be polarizing. In fact, it might actually be a good thing. I'm not saying you want to go out there and be a jerk and have a whole bunch of people hate you. But the fact that you are very much upfront about here's who we are. And if that doesn't work for you, that's okay too, because we know there's people out there that this does work for. And I think probably the worst thing is just being as vanilla as possible and trying to appeal to Everett.

Mike Michalowicz (16:47): Oh, it's the worst. Yeah, don't be a jerk, but some people see you as a jerk, even though you're not being a jerk because you're being, you, you look at any presidential candidate. Any president has been an absolute jerk to 50% of the popular nation. Okay. Are you aware? And it's true for any organization. There's a community that is going to rail against you. I actually argue to leverage this, how it can be an ideology, some of your willingness, or it could be another represent representative in this community that just has a different ideology themselves and puts it out there. So I very much have a nemesis. And what this does is it rallies me to be more outspoken and more of myself to attract more of my audience, that the conflict between the two different approaches. And even though there's no overt conflict that this person does not know my name, I know their name, but it's not where we're in conflict. Our ideologies conflict, our Mar communities then are in conflict. This ideology is very light cigars with hundred dollar bills, make money and crush people. And my belief is embrace the community and use profits to be more an amplification and serve more. And those are different ideologies. And by having that conflict, both kind of fight each other and they both rally there's reasons why when presidents have very different opinions, approaches, there's more votes than ever the same can happen for our business.

John Jantsch (18:10): So you and I are in a growing club of authors putting out their books on September 21st, 2021. I've had you on, I've had Dory on, I've had chef hiking on the chefs, chefs releasing a book. The 21st Jonathan Fields is releasing a book on the 12th. And I think I'm trying to do my best to get everybody in the club on a, the, the podcast. So I think you've, you've checked you and I are recording this on the 20th. The book comes out on the 21st, but obviously go get it whenever you happen to listen to this. So tell people I know Mike, you always do on top of building campaign sites and communities. Quite frankly, you always tucked lots of goodies and extras and like behind the scenes stuff in your books too. So you want to tell people all about what you've got prepared for them. If they get a copy of get different. Thank you, John.

Mike Michalowicz (18:58): The site to go to is go get different.com. That's the site specific for this book? I think what's unique about it is I put resources on there that are all independent of book, including a hundred ways to immediately market your business differently. That costs nothing or cost very little, and you don't need the book to do it. You can get started so that go get different.com I'll show you you'll find case studies, stuff that we've done with other businesses that maybe you can interpret and using your own.

John Jantsch (19:23): You do also a great job with the audio book to, uh, to add some different content to that. One of the things that I've started doing recently, and I'll wrap this up, but is getting the audio book of a book I really get into. And I think, yeah, I really, I want to consume this book. I want to internalize it. I'll get the audio book and the print book. And sometimes I will actually listen and read at the same time. And I feel first off, I feel like I can go a lot faster, but I also feel like it just drives the point home. So that's my pitch. Go get Mike. So audio book and print book of get different, but it's go get different.com. So you and I are swapping a, I'm going to speak at your conference. You're going to speak at my conference coming up here this fall. And I had somebody actually asked me that they were like, why are we doing w I spoke at Ryan dices conference. So recently digital marketer and people are like, why don't you guys competitors? And I sometimes don't know how to respond because I'm on top of being friends, the world, the need for what we do is so immense that I can't imagine thinking of each other as competitors. And I think that's a lot of industries that are that way.

Mike Michalowicz (20:27): I love that because to me, I had a revelation. When I became an author. When I had a computer company, there was multiple people bidding. There was one person awarded the bid and you got it four years or sometimes a lifetime. It was very competitive. I wanted to destroy the competition as an author. There's no competition. It's contemporary. If someone discovers your book, John, your new one coming out, you know, directly marketing, I'm going to, if someone reads that and loves that book, what are they gonna do? They're gonna explore more books on marketing and it will only facilitate more reading. Yeah, it's the strangest environment for me at least. But the more successful your books are, the more successful my books are because all books get elevated. It really is the tide rising. All books go with the tide. Yeah. You find somebody who's got a shelf or two of marketing books and there'll be the easiest sale in the world for a marketing book, Zack, because they're constantly consuming. Mike, always great catching up with you. And I've been telling a lot of guests as I sign off. We'll hopefully we'll see each other in real life when we start getting back out there on the road. But you and I are going to do that soon. So I appreciate your friendship and support and congrats. So with another great book, I'll see you soon. My brother, my slightly older brother.

John Jantsch (21:39): All right. That wraps up another episode of the duct tape marketing podcast. I want to thank you so much for tuning in. Feel free to share this show. Feel free to give us reviews. You know, we love those things. Also, did you know that we had created training, marketing training for your team? If you've got employees, if you've got a staff member that wants to learn a marketing system, how to install that marketing system in your business, check it out. It's called the certified marketing manager program from duct tape marketing. You can find it at duct tape, marketing.com and just scroll down a little and find that tab that says training for your team.

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The Content Strategy That Works

Leveraging Video To Close More Contracts

Leveraging Video To Close More Contracts written by Sara Nay read more at Duct Tape Marketing



About the show:

The Agency Spark Podcast, hosted by Sara Nay, is a collection of short-form interviews from thought leaders in the marketing consultancy and agency space. Each episode focuses on a single topic with actionable insights you can apply today. Check out the new Spark Lab Consulting website here!

About this episode:

In this episode of the Agency Spark Podcast, Sara talks with Mike Moll on leveraging video to close more contracts.

Mike is the founder of Market Me, a consulting firm focused on helping entrepreneurs and business owners connect with the businesses who need them. Constantly striving to provide is clients with simple, cost effective ways to find new leads and land quality clients, Mike’s gained a reputation for using lean marketing to help his clients make more money. That reputation has landed him in hundreds of strategy meetings, providing consulting on multi-channel marketing and sales processes.

More from Mike Moll:

• Market Me Consulting Website
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Free Lead Generation Course

 

Like this show? Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts here!

 

This episode of the Agency Spark Podcast is brought to you by ActiveCampaign. Don’t just email – ActiveCampaign gives you the email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools you need to create incredible customer experiences. Learn more at ducttape.me/activecampaign.

 

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B2B Marketers: It’s Time to Make Inclusive Language a Priority. Here’s How.

If you're in the business of marketing, I don't need to tell you that words have power. They have the power to influence. The power to endear. The power to alienate. If you're in the business of marketing, I don't need to tell you how undesirable that last effect is. It's the risk today's brands are running if they fail to make inclusive language a priority. The words used in content and communications speak volumes about a company's values. Following a few simple guiding principles can make a big difference in projecting a brand culture and community that are welcoming to all, both externally and internally.

Defining “Inclusive Language” in Marketing

Inclusive language, as defined by our friends and clients at LinkedIn, is language that “does not exclude or stereotype people based on race, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, ability, socioeconomic status, or any other characteristic.” Examples of inclusive language cover a wide range of visible and invisible forms. There’s no set playbook to follow, because the recommended guidelines and best practices are fluid, just as language is. (Source: LinkedIn’s guide to Inclusive Language for Marketers) Inclusive culture is a journey, not a destination. But it’s an extremely important one for B2B organizations to undertake. Emerging generations are more diverse than any before, and the modern world is more globally interconnected. Your future customers and employees want to see themselves reflected in your brand’s marketing. The stakes are high. “The ability to communicate with all audiences is a sign of respect and demonstrates to prospective connections what to expect from your company,” says Rachel Douglas, Influencer Marketer. “Inclusive language can deepen relationships and leading brands understand the need to have an authentic, inclusive voice as part of their core identity.”

Why There’s “So Much Work to Be Done”

Last year, the AI-powered software company Creative X conducted an analysis of more than 3,500 image and video ads in the U.S. across popular CPG, beauty and alcohol brands, assessing representations of age, gender, skin tone and setting. The study produced some stark findings:

• Although more than half (55%) of ads feature female characters, male characters were 1.5x more likely to be shown in professional settings.
• Characters with light to medium skin tones were shown twice as often in professional environments. Characters with darker skin tones were featured roughly half as frequently as their lighter-skinned counterparts — 18% compared to 8%.
• Only 1% of ads included people over 60, and of those, less than 2% were featured in physical settings (i.e. offices).

“Female characters are historically four to six times more sexualized and less depicted as leaders,” according to Madeline Di Nonno, president and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, in the aforementioned article. “And marginalized communities, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, they're not even anywhere near the baseline population. There has been progress, but there's so much work to be done.” B2B brands and marketers have a key role to play in this work.

Taking the Journey Toward an Inclusive Culture

The single most important step marketing leaders can take today is to openly make inclusive language a priority. Talk about it frequently in team meetings. Build it into your creative process. Seek different viewpoints on how a message or piece of content will be received by different audiences. Moreover, here are some specific actions that will help embed inclusive language into your B2B marketing strategy:

• Create an inclusive language style guide, highlighting words and phrases to avoid as well as recommended alternatives. To get you started, the American Psychological Association has a lengthy list of guidelines. Ideally, your guide should be tailored to your company and its specific values; it should also be a living, breathing document that evolves continuously over time.
• Make diversity a focal point in hiring, across a variety of identity traits. Authentically infusing different worldviews and experiences into the creation of your marketing is the best way to make it resonate with diverse audiences.
• Set the standard from up top. When executives and leaders make a point of using inclusive language and calling out opportunities to do so, it sets an example for others to follow. Consider providing managers with free trainings on inclusive language and its principles.
• Review and evaluate past copy and content. Find instances of non-inclusive language from past content or ads (from your brand or others) and, as a team, identify better alternatives that could have been used. It’s helpful to see concrete, real-life examples to demonstrate more inclusive thinking.
• Maintain open and honest communication. As we said earlier, inclusive language is fluid and ever-changing. That’s why it should never be a set-and-forget initiative. Encourage team members to speak up and share ideas about how your guidelines can and should change over time.

What Message Are You Sending?

Seemingly small word choices and linguistic decisions can have a dramatic impact on how their source is perceived by readers or listeners. Keep in mind that nobody is expected to be perfect, and your audience will likely be forgiving of missteps if the intentions are clear and genuine. The journey is well worth taking. As Maysa Akbar, Chief Diversity Officer for the APA, explains: “By embracing inclusive language and encouraging others to do the same, we firmly believe that we will not only communicate effectively with more people, but also better adapt to a diversifying society and globe." There’s work to be done, but B2B marketers are uniquely equipped to help their companies accomplish it. If you’re ready to make inclusive language a priority in your strategy, but unsure where to start, here are some valuable resources:

• Last year, LinkedIn not only created a pocket guide, but also a full learning course covering key marketing-focused elements like making a business case for inclusive language.
• This inclusive marketing resources roundup from Search Engine Land includes links to a bevy of useful materials, such as Harvard’s Implicit Association Test to evaluate your own biases, and guidance around website accessibility.

TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden wrote on our blog about how marketers can become more inclusive with content and influencers.

The post B2B Marketers: It’s Time to Make Inclusive Language a Priority. Here’s How. appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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How to Elevate Your B2B Marketing Career: Advice from Execs at Top B2B Brands

As the talent that drives the B2B marketing world re-evaluates the meaningfulness, purpose and balance of their work and personal life, many B2B brands are also working hard to elevate how they do business. From creating better marketing experiences for customers to improving the employee experience, connecting the work to a purpose that is about more than profits and revenue is increasingly important. But here's the thing, it's always been time for B2B brands to think and act on opportunities to improve opportunities for the people that power the company from front line workers in customer call centers to engineers and analysts to senior executives. While many B2B brands understand the importance of optimizing career opportunities for greater employee retention and attraction, not all have the benefit of insight about what up and coming or successful leaders really want. To understand what is needed for B2B marketing career elevation in 2022, I've connected with top marketing executives from the Women Who Rock in B2B Marketing list we published recently. This diverse group of B2B Marketing leaders share their best advice on what up and coming marketing talent can do to elevate their marketing careers. These insights are as useful for the B2B marketing leaders of tomorrow and as they are to business to business brands that want to optimize employee experiences. If you want elevate your own B2B marketing career and even the B2B marketing industry, take this advice to heart:

As marketing leaders, we have all been given a platform from which others have granted permission to speak into their lives. Every word and picture shared becomes a platform that will influence—whether consciously or subconsciously—the people on the other side of the screen. There is also a responsibility that comes with that capacity to influence. You have a platform. Your career does not have to be just a career - it can be a platform for transformation. @tyrona

Tyrona Heath  Director, Market Engagement The B2B Institute at LinkedIn

It doesn’t matter what marketing role you are in, understand your products really well. Become an expert. Get to know your product marketers and your product developers. Marketing becomes much easier when you know the ins and outs of what you are marketing. Your product knowledge will help you understand your customers and their pain points better. It will also help you develop your confidence and gain credibility with others on your team. @srijanaa

Srijana Angdembey Director, Social Media & Influencer Marketing Oracle

We are in a different era now where uncertainty is constant and being the change agent will help evolve you as an effective & fearless marketer! Always seek the opportunity to acquire new ways to do marketing because the ability, confidence to pivot and adapt to the unknown will be the most valuable skill set you’ll ever have. While you do that, find space and room to refresh yourself to be open up to more creativity and energy. You will need it in this new world! @sompny

Som Puangladda VP of Global Marketing GumGum

My advice is to keep a hype file on yourself as well as other marketers you admire. Share the accomplishments that you make note of along the way generously in your writings, conversations, talks, etc. Everybody loves to be bragged on and it has the halo effect of elevating the entire marketing profession. @ranimani0707

Rani Mani Head of Employee Advocacy Adobe

Stay obsessed about your customers and think through their lens in every aspect of your B2B marketing. Too often we get caught up in product features and benefits as opposed to what problems are we solving for our customers and more importantly what value are we adding to their business. This will also help in humanizing the brand, the content we create and the stories we tell to drive awareness and meaningful engagement with our brand. @priaramesh

Priya Ramesh VP, Global Corporate Communications Informatica

There are three aspects that I'd encourage young B2B marketers to focus on: 1. Cultivate strategic thinking by crafting well-rounded marketing plans 2. Build martech acumen through an understanding of workflows and platforms 3. Understand your audience by reaching out to them directly, not just marketing to them. @PamDidner

Pam Didner B2B and Tech Marketing Consultant, Author, Speaker Relentless Pursuit

Make Storytelling Excellence one of your top goals in 2022. Wherever you are in the brand storytelling journey, aspire to tangible deliverables in your storytelling strategy as part of your marketing efforts. This includes defining a plan on how you can best design and tell your brand story considering inclusion, market trends, thought leadership and your customers which are all continuously evolving. @MiriRod

Miri Rodriguez Senior Storyteller Future of Work Microsoft

The first piece of advice I would give to up-and-coming marketers is to love what you do. When you’re excited about your industry and market, it makes it easier to be excited about your job. Also important is building your network, and what I like to call the Circle of Influence: a colleague you can turn to for support, a mentor who can coach and guide you, and a sponsor who will advocate for your career. And finally—invest in yourself. Never stop learning. @Luxythu

Luxy Thuraisingam Head of Global Partner Marketing Cisco

Steer clear of the “work harder” trap. The hardest worker doesn’t always succeed but they will likely burn themselves out and/or become very frustrated. A mentor once looked at the hours I was keeping and literally asked me what was I doing. The hours I was keeping showed that I wasn’t very good at delegation or getting work done thru others. He told me me that I needed to master the art of “making it look easy”. He shared that if it appeared I was struggling at my level no one would dare promote me. That has always stuck with me. @LMcCadney

Lauren McCadney Director, Marketing Delivery CDW

“Seek first to understand before being understood.” Do this with your boss, your colleagues, and your audience, and you’ll be highly effective. Most people do it in the opposite order. @judytian07

Judy Tian Senior Brand & Community Marketing Manager LinkedIn

The most effective, highest converting product content you can create to share with prospects are verbatims from existing customers. Find ways to bring your customers together, in conversation, discussing common challenges and how they are tackling them. Their solutions will inevitably include mentions of your products, but instead of sounding like Marketing-speak, your product benefits will be voiced in the authentic language used by practitioners, establishing the trusted relationship so critical in B2B sales. @gailmoody

Gail Moody-Byrd Chief Marketing Officer Noodle.ai

Take an integrated approach to your leadership framework by focusing on the impact you make on your company, profession, and community. Broaden your understanding of the entire enterprise so you know how the company wins–beyond marketing. As you grow in your career, engage in organizations that advance the profession and your industry. Be sure to follow your passions and help enhance the communities where you live, work, and play. @CSteeleFlippin

Dr. Candace Steele Flippin SVP and Chief Communications Officer Acuity Brands

Be intentional about surrounding yourself and learning from those who are different than you. Embrace diversity in all its forms, be curious, mindful of biases, and listen to and appreciate the stories and experiences of others. Doing so will not only make you a better marketer. You’ll find as your career progresses that embracing diversity will make you a stronger leader and someone who is able to bring people together to achieve a common goal. That is incredibly powerful today and will no doubt be critical to success in the future! @anavillegas

Ana Villegas Chief Marketing Officer National Instruments

As companies have boards shouldn’t you have one to help guide your career? As you move through your career from your first role and up, ask the people who you want learn from to be your mentor and serve as your unofficial group of guides or career coaches - basically a handful of people you can turn to with questions or concerns. You will need insight from people with different perspectives to help guide your career from finding jobs to navigating work life balance to learning new areas of marketing, expanding your horizons or landing important promotions, so ask a variety of people. @AmishaGandhi

Amisha Gandhi SVP Marketing Tipalti A huge THANK you to these top B2B marketing professionals for sharing their advice for up and coming B2B Marketing leaders as well as their peers on how to elevate their careers! I think we can all agree that the B2B marketing world could use some leveling up in many areas from humanizing B2B with authenticity to creating more meaningful and less mechanical marketing experiences. In particular, the B2B marketing industry could benefit from removing systemic barriers to inclusion, equality and diversity. From choices made in hiring marketing teams and promoting leaders to how customers are represented in marketing content, there are numerous opportunities for us to elevate the B2B marketing industry through greater diversity, equality and inclusiveness. In times like these, there's much inspiration to be found amongst those that are doing the work, creating impact and elevating others as a way to achieve business success. In that spirit of lifting others up, MLK said it well:

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Beyond following the sage advice of these B2B marketing professionals, another way you might elevate your career in marketing is to work with TopRank Marketing. We're currently seeking a Director of Agency Marketing and a Senior Account Director. Check out all open roles here on our B2B marketing careers page.

The post How to Elevate Your B2B Marketing Career: Advice from Execs at Top B2B Brands appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

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