One of our in-house experts provides their view of the month along with some recommended reads and takeaways.
Tamera May
Strategic Planner
October 2023
Questions from a Gen Z-er to a B2B marketer
Working in the B2B industry for just over a year and a half I often hear the same thing over and over – creativity is key, innovation is crucial, and transformation is vital.
If history has repeatedly demonstrated that the brands willing to adapt quickly, fail fast, and act on insight, are those that will drive the right balance between stability and growth in an unstable market, why are we slow to take action on that advice?
Industry leaders describe our community as chaos – we fear the unknown, have conflicting, time-consuming opinions on how things should be done, and focus on boring lead generation tactics instead of trying to be bold.
So, as we look forward to 2024, I want to share some inspiring material that I use as a Gen Z marketer, and some challenging questions you could ask yourself.
- You wouldn’t wear a knock-off Gucci, so why is our creative so unauthentic?
I recently went to the annual Cog X Festival in London, the world’s biggest festival of AI and transformational tech, where I saw a video demonstrating this principle. People don’t like samey and unauthentic content. Instead, I want to laugh, I want to feel like I’m connected to something much bigger than just myself. And believe it or not, I don’t always want to relate to everything I see. I want something that stops me in my tracks and makes me question my own thinking.
Watch this short video and see people’s behaviour when a guy named Kyle Vorbach starts to post fake pictures of himself on social media – watch here
- If you didn’t like homework at school, what makes you think people will enjoy it now?
One of the most important objectives for all B2B marketers is education, especially when selling complex, technical, and high-cost products to non-technical personas. It’s often too easy to create another whitepaper, report, or long-winded webinar. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a place for these forms of content, but don’t you sometimes find it just a little boring?
Now I know this isn’t always the easiest to execute. But if you take one thing from this video it should be to think that little bit differently about education and how you can create an experience that is more enjoyable, rather than something that feels like homework – watch here.
- I would rather experience enjoyment than read about it, wouldn’t you?
I’m sure you have all seen the viral CGI Maybelline video of a tube and a bus getting a lash lift in London. It’s caused a lot of buzz which most marketers would deem a success. But one question I have is how long do you think the impact will last, especially when people find out it was fake? My bet is not very long.
I think real experiences have a much longer lasting impression. Here’s another London-based example that offers something real as a comparison. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is most impactful – read here.
- No-one likes giving their time away for free, so what makes you think it will work for you?
Finally, I want to share a powerful podcast. Often in the B2B world we forget the true meaning of value. We see it in relation to ourselves and our brand, forgetting the needs of our customer. We need to ask ourselves, what’s in this for them? So, if you haven’t heard it already, listen to the below podcast and take the time to think about your organization’s definition of value, and how this might differ from your customer’s definition – listen here.
If you’d like to discuss how our strategy team can provide you with bespoke insights to improve your campaigns, get in touch.
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