Going Viral: Have Business Buyers Developed Herd Immunity to B2B marketing?

With all this talk of COVID-19 and things “going viral,” I find myself wondering if today’s stuck-at-home business buyers have developed their own “herd immunity” to business-to-business (B2B) marketing?

As a veteran marketing executive, I am used to a high volume of offers from all sorts of businesses, including providers, vendors, and consultants. On any given day, I can receive hundreds of emails, dozens of messages on LinkedIn and Twitter, and a surprising number of cell phone calls, robocalls, and texts. Normally, I’m okay with that. It’s part of the job.

However, in light of all the recent boundary violations that have further blurred the lines between professional and private life, my tolerance for all these ham-fisted intrusions is reaching an all-time low. And I have one message for anyone trying to gin up business right now.

Stop. Just stop.

Use this time to understand your customers as people (not as buyers), and what they are probably going through right now. Here’s some food for thought.

Moving-target audiences

B2B marketing is not The Hunger Games. Using the word target, in any form, to describe human beings is wildly inappropriate. This includes but is not limited to: targets, target audience, retargeting, micro-targeting, or the two I saw recently, hyper-personalized micro-targeting, and hyper-segmentation micro-targeting. No, no, no, no, and no.

Hair-trigger, fight or flight mode

With tensions running high, business buyers are spending too much time isolated, either alone or with the family. Unwanted solicitations or other interruptions, no matter how hyper-personalized or well-intentioned, are likely to be viewed as invasions of privacy. The result: your potential customers shut down, go radio-silent, unsubscribe, or otherwise disengage. No sale.

Build a better mousetrap

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” He did not suggest developing growth-hacking strategies to “scale your business faster.” So instead of turning to the latest fads, B2B marketers should take a good, hard look at their core value proposition. Ask if your product/service really any better than the competition? If so, will my customers recognize and value that difference? If not, perhaps it’s time to double-down on product development.

Demonstrate real value

Put another way, “show don’t tell.” If you genuinely have a great product or service that people really need and want, now’s the time to find new ways to demonstrate that value. Informational webinars, podcasts, case studies, white papers, videos, and even social media can be great ways to showcase what’s so special about your business without pushy marketing tactics.

Tell better stories

Netflix stock is trading at a five-year high. Why? Because people love stories. What they don’t love are impersonal, jargon-filled, cliché marketing messages that neither surprise nor delight. Try saying something more interesting.

Build stronger relationships

One silver lining of all this social distancing has been the chance to reconnect virtually with people I haven’t spoken to in years…old friends, family, former colleagues, and old classmates. What’s been remarkable has been hearing about what they’ve been up to, how they are coping, and what they expect to happen next. As Dale Carnegie explained in the best-selling How to Win Friends and Influence People, it all comes down to one thing, “showing genuine interest in others.”

So, before you send another B2B marketing email, tweet, or message, ask yourself these three questions: Does it need to be said? Does it need to be said by me? Does it need to be said right now? If you can’t say yes to at least two of three, don’t send it.

I sincerely hope that one of the positive outcomes of all this trauma will be a kinder, more human B2B marketing world. One where I am no longer viewed as just another metric, buyer persona, or stakeholder, but as another human being who is “doing the best he can to muddle through.”

One final piece of advice for B2B marketers: If you want my business, respect my privacy. If you want loyalty, leave me alone. And, If you want to speak with me, let’s have a chat over a Zoom Coffee.

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Sean Smith is a B2B marketing consultant who is on a mission to teach real business growth. He is the Founder and Virtual CMO at Virtù b2b.