Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Facts Tell, Stories Sell – How Infotainment Inspires Action in B2B Marketing

10 B2B Marketing Masters

In the B2B marketing world, there’s a perception that “B” means “boring”. Of course that’s just not the case with modern B2B marketing.


According to a recent CMI & MarketingProfs study, 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing across an average of 15 different tactics. But it’s not just quantity that wins with B2B buyers.


Individual buyers and buying committees have to sort through a lot of information to make decisions and the marketers that can make the experience of information discovery, consumption and next steps a easy and positive one, will win the day.


One of my favorite expressions that illustrates this evolution in B2B content is:


Facts Tell, Stories Sell.


Stories, told well, are incredibly effective at engaging intellectually and emotionally with buyers. Turns out, I’m not alone in this thinking as LinkedIn Marketing Solutions (a TopRank client) has put together an excellent eBook highlighting 10 B2B Marketing Masters and their insights on storytelling.


Here is my excerpt from the ebook and below that you can see the full eBook that includes contributions from B2B Marketing Masters like: Beth Comstock, Jay Baer, Jason Miller, Tim Washer, Brian Kramer, Bryan Eisenberg, DJ Waldow, Jonah Sachs and David Raab.


Infotainment Inspires Action


The drive to scale B2B marketing performance is strong, because companies want to see a return on their investment. A singular focus on revenue has caused a lot of B2B content and social media to become more mechanical than meaningful. The result? Thousands of white papers, ebooks and newsletters left unread and dead to their target audiences.


There’s a saying, ‘The B’s in B2B are people too.’



Connecting with buyers on both an intellectual and an emotional level creates experiences that provide a clear differentiation from other companies. B2B marketers that can both inform and entertain (infotain) prospects will attract more engagement and inspire action that can scale in the most profitable ways.


Here’s the full eBook on Slideshare:



If you’re a B2B Marketer, how are you using storytelling in your content marketing?





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© Online Marketing Blog, 2014. |
Facts Tell, Stories Sell – How Infotainment Inspires Action in B2B Marketing | http://www.toprankblog.com




Source: TOP Rank Blog



Facts Tell, Stories Sell – How Infotainment Inspires Action in B2B Marketing

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