š¶ļø I Feel God In This Chili's Tonight
Pop culture in B2B, hosting a kick-ass virtual event + some red hot links
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In The B2B Bite, I break down the most interesting marketing stories into fun-size, actionable chunks to kick off your week.
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Here we go!
This week I finished binge-watching The Queenās Gambit, a period drama mini-series about a chess prodigy with a substance abuse problem. Beyond prompting an impulse download of a chess app where I lost my first game in under fifteen moves, the show also got me thinkingā¦
ā¦is āoldā the same as āboringā?
Chess is undergoing somewhat of a viewership revival. Between March and August, bolstered by people stuck at home due to the lockdown, over 41 MILLION hours have been streamed on Twitch - four times as many as the six months prior.
Why? Because of the packaging. Chess hasnāt changed much since the 6th century, but how itās consumed couldnāt be more different. Athletes (thatās right) are blitzing through games in minutes. Watching it played at the highest levels isnāt for the elite anymore; itās for anyone with an internet connection and a passion for the game.
This lesson can be applied to any kind of business - metal sprockets, compliance software, agricultural equipment, anything. How you package your offering and where you choose to distribute it is whatās going to the make the difference between being something that can capture the attention of your audience or something people used to care about in the good old days.
š¶ļø I Feel God In This Chili's Tonight
Anyone who knows me knows that I love The Office (US). It's like a comfort blanket for my brain. If the day is long and I need to unwind, I rerun Dinner Party for the 167th time and laugh as heartily as the first time I learnt Michael underwent three vasectomies inĀ theĀ course of trying to please Jan.
That's why when I heard Trainual, a software platform that helps businesses build playbooks to train and grow their team, had hired three of the actors to semi-revive their roles from the show to promote its product in a creative ad campaign, I had to know more.
You can watch the full ad here. It's a masterclass in executing a low-budget, high-impact idea around a subject that could otherwise feel a little dusty. Since publishing in July, the ad has generated:
20 million views
26,000 shares
2,000 new accounts
A virtual metric sh** tonne of that viral-factor
All for a B2B company that sells training software. And if that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will.
š„” Takeaway
Nostalgia marketing is a powerful thing; plugging into pop culture even more so. Your company may be firmly planted in the corporate world, but that doesn't mean your marketing has to always follow suit. Finding a way to connect your brand to the places your customer goes once they unplug from work can be an incredible way to stand out from the competition and catch eyeballs.
šļø Virtual Events Donāt Have to Suck
No marketing activity has experienced such an assault on the senses over the pandemic than events. And thatās a big problem.
Why? Because, for many B2B companies, they contribute a significant proportion to revenue-generating objectives over the course of the year - leads, meetings, pipeline, etc.
Fortunately, technology has afforded brands the opportunity to fill the gap with their own virtual events. Unfortunately, many of them are just terrible.
Cue G2, who earlier this year hosted one of the best examples of an online conference Iāve ever seen from a B2B company.
Why? Because they looked at everything that makes every other virtual event suck and went in the opposite direction.
Too busy to watch two days worth of content? After the live event finished it all went on-demand and will be online forever
Tired that these events all kinda say the same thing? The G2 team had their audience curate the sessions based on what they wanted to know specifically
Fed up with the fluff? The event prioritised real stories across sales, marketing and product with actionable takeaways
Couple all that with the fact that itās free and you have yourself a blueprint in how to successfully programme a phenomenal virtual event.
š„” Takeaway
Events will continue to be high on the list of lead-gen activities in 2021, but I think itād be naive to think they return in a pre-pandemic format any time before Q3. While Zoom fatigue is a real thing, B2B companies still stand to gain from hosting their own virtual conferences.
Like Netflix, the brands that will win will be the ones that prioritise convenience and quality of their programming. Donāt restrict access to a specific timeframe or an arbitrary price point - all youāll do is drive eyeballs to your competitors. Focus on exclusive, evergreen content that will pay dividends across the new year and beyond.
š“ Nibbles
Shameless plug... I sat down with Jonathan Ronzio, CMO of Trainual, to talk about how The Office ad came to be. A must-listen for any B2B marketers interested in working with talent to market their product.
From the archivesā¦ sorting through my Twitter, I stumbled on this awesome PR 101 thread from Amanda Goetz. Must-read.
B2C to B2B and back again... great thread from Austen Allred that lists a bunch of books, articles and resources for any consumer brand marketer moving over to the dark side.
You can't have one without the other... strategy vs. tactics and why the difference matters.
Never mix marketing and politics... or so my Gran used to say. But I did enjoy this tweet from Kyle Tibbitts on what marketers can learn from political campaigns.
And they've begun... annual 2021 B2B marketing predictions are starting to hit the interwebs.
...and one more thing
Every two weeks I sit down with aĀ marketing leader to lean how they hit their goals by thinking outside the box - and dig into how this can be applied to other B2B businesses. Here are a few of my most recent episodes.
Building a 10,000 Strong B2B Email List from Scratch w/ Sean Blanda
How to Use Instagram to Promote People and Culture w/ Nicole Tabak
You can also find the B2B Better on Apple Podcasts and almost all other podcast directories.
And that's it! See you next week.
glad to find you on twitter, and love the content!
Cleverly written and very insightful!