MAIN INSIGHT 03
Tom Whiley
HEAD OF MARKETING
In your opinion, has the nature of B2B marketing evolved since the pandemic?
There are a lot of similarities between the evolution of marketing and the evaluation of dating. For a long time, marketing was largely about mass media buying without much targeting involved. Basically, it was like going to different parties and bars hoping to find that special someone. Now, with online dating it’s all about finding your perfect match using algorithms and targeting. It's less about chance and more about data, and the same can be said about the B2B world. In marketing terms, we are seeing a shift from using brands and volume to build reach, to now more performance-driven marketing and more sophisticated ways of targeting different mediums. Now, post-pandemic, brands are leveraging social platforms and podcasting to connect with their audience and take them on a journey. So, now we feel like we're capturing the best of both worlds, we're combining the old days of brand and awareness and reach with more advanced targeting, segmentation and social engagement which is giving richer buyer experiences.
What tools or techniques are you currently using to select your target audience?
I believe there are qualitative and quantitative approaches to better understanding and segmenting your audience. We regularly talk to customers one-on-one as a marketing team to get feedback and understand their current pain points. This allows us to craft content that is telling the right stories, and we make sure that we get that feedback to our salespeople. We also engage in expert roundtables with customers and influencers to have a conversation around what's really painful at the moment and what's making their roles difficult. Those conversations are recorded and then re-purposed by turning them into webinars, podcasts, blogs posts, social posts, etc.
We regularly talk to customers one-on-one as a marketing team to get feedback and understand their current pain points.
It’s about being present where your audience is.
What is the best way to engage with prospects as they make their way through the sales funnel?
It’s about being present where your audience is. SEO and Pay-per-Click are not really creating demand for your business. They're just capturing people ready to buy. People go to those channels when they're ready to make a purchase. But at the very top of the funnel, they're elsewhere: in their communities, talking with colleagues, listening to podcasts, using social media. That’s where the journey starts and that’s where we want to share our content. And most importantly, we want to do it in a way that is non-intrusive.
The Access Group is one of the leading providers of business management software to mid-sized organisations in the UK, Ireland, and Asia Pacific. It helps more than 60,000 customers across commercial and not-for-profit sectors become more productive and efficient. Its innovative Access Workspace cloud solutions transform the way business software is used, giving every employee the freedom to do more. Founded in 1991, The Access Group employs approximately 5,000 people.
