INTERVIEW WITH
Kay Kienast
Chief Marketing Officer
B2B Customer Acquisition: The role of human engagement in a world of digital-first enterprise marketing
The simplest approach is the winning approach - clearly show your prospects what problems you solve and how you can help
How have buyer expectations changed as a result of the global pandemic?
Since the global pandemic, video has become the default meeting option for many people. Alongside this, the pandemic has impacted the priorities of many individuals. Buyers simply aren’t interested in being entertained anymore - they just want to get the business done. Whether it’s to go home to their families or enjoy an extracurricular activity in the evening,
Successful sales and marketing teams have recognized this change and revised their approaches accordingly. The sales teams have become confident in delivering human interaction over a digital experience, so that they can still learn about their prospective customers and build relationships with them. Whilst the marketing teams recognize that buyers want to self-serve as much as possible in their buying journey, so they make resources such as demos freely available and simply accessible on their website. The simplest approach is the winning approach - clearly show your prospects what problems you solve and how you can help, and you’ll stand a great chance of winning them as a customer.
This support from marketing to sales is also highly valuable when targeting a new prospect. A great salesperson will know as much as they possibly can about a new company they want to target, but really understanding a customer can take time
What can marketing teams to do to support their sales colleagues with industry knowledge?
Nobody wants to read long tombs of information. Salespeople in particular. This can be a challenge when you consider that they need to have expert industry knowledge if they want to come across as credible to their prospects. Marketing can assist here by taking larger industry reports, say Gartner or Forrester, and summarizing them in a page or two for their sales colleagues. If presented correctly, this information can even be shared with customers as a ‘value add’ to help boost their knowledge.
This support from marketing to sales is also highly valuable when targeting a new prospect. A great salesperson will know as much as they possibly can about a new company they want to target, but really understanding a customer can take time. Marketing can help by integrating tools with the CRM that provides “snapshots” of recent articles about the prospect and the company; along with annual reports and other pertinent data about the customer.
Talk about your current customers and how you’ve helped them solve problems, this makes your content relevant and valuable to your audience.
KAY KIENAST
Chief Marketing Officer
Is social media an opportunity for salespeople?
TikTok and other forms of social media are huge areas of opportunity for salespeople right now. It’s known that a well-managed LinkedIn profile is an essential tool for salespeople for some time, but it’s also important that they at least keep an eye on other social media channels even if they are not active themselves. This is because their customers are likely to be active on those channels and therefore, it’s a learning opportunity to see what matters to not only their prospects, but also the customers of those companies.
Social media also gives salespeople an opportunity to show their personality. Video content allows salespeople to show their prospects exactly who they are and what they stand for, a key part of building trust. Talk about your current customers and how you’ve helped them solve problems, this makes your content relevant and valuable to your audience. When done correctly, video content will also help the salesperson reach new prospects. Alongside video content, make sure that your digital audience have the opportunity to participate - the best social media is a two-way street. Polls are a great way to do this as they can be anonymous or public, giving everybody a chance to be involved.
Kay is a leading technology Chief Marketing Officer with extensive experience in global growth strategies, generating revenue, brand building and rebranding, creating high-performing marketing teams, launching new solutions, and successful exits. She prides herself on keeping up to date with the latest technology and trends.
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