INBOUND ACCELERATOR

If you have been following my 15 Lessons From 15 Years series of blog posts (this is post #11), you may remember that when I discussed the key steps to successful marketing in the healthcare IT arena, I said that integrating PR and marketing was essential.

In fact, it is so important for all industries, not just that one, that I felt I needed to revisit the concept and walk you through the steps we follow to ensure that all communications create a cohesive message and focus on reaching the same corporate goals.

In some professions, you have to do the dirty work to set up a project for success. Building the tallest skyscraper begins with making sure the ground is prepped and a solid foundation in place. Creating the most delectable dessert begins with making a mess in the kitchen. It takes some dirty work before the genius can be seen.

In marketing, it’s not so much dirty work as it is data work.

In my last two articles in this series of lessons in marketing, I’ve talked about the importance of trust when dealing with finances and money, and the importance of understanding the science when marketing in the life sciences industry. Healthcare IT is another field in which decisions are made slowly, based on data and authority.

Every industry has individual nuances in marketing tactics, techniques and needs. And while nearly every B2B market is also filled with industry-specific knowledge and vocabulary that marketers must understand in order to create credible content, when it comes to businesses in the life sciences sphere, the need for expertise and immersion in the field is even greater.

Life sciences, as a field, encompasses a wide range of businesses, most of which support the infrastructure that enables the healthcare system, from medical device manufacturers, to pharmaceutical companies, DNA research, and the contract research organizations that take on drug discovery, pre-clinical and clinical trial research for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

There was a day when a key part of a financial company’s branding strategy was based on a physical portrayal of its stability: the building itself. Large, solid, imposing structures, bank buildings have long been emblematic of the way the institutions want their customers to perceive them.

But with the rapid and nearly complete shift of financial services to digital and largely invisible infrastructures in the last 25 years, the need to build a brand identify of stability, authority and trust can no longer be met with a concrete structure. Particularly in the B2B financial technology arena, that brand identity must be built through careful curation of thought leadership, content and analyst relationships.

Sometimes the best way to learn how to do something right is by facing the consequences of doing it all wrong.

When it comes to hiring, I’ve made mistakes. And regretted them. But, I’ve also learned from them. Those mistakes, combined with what I know now about how I like to structure the workplace, have led me to develop a few guidelines I now keep in mind whenever I am hiring.

It can be tempting to think of all B2C marketing as being the type of impulse decision to which you can appeal with an emotion-driven campaign showing happy, strong, cool people. Not everything is as simple as a refreshing soft drink on a hot day or a pair of shoes that totally make the outfit.

At JONES, we have experienced the side of B2C marketing that requires engaging consumers with useable and useful information, understanding that larger investments have a longer sales cycle, and that especially now, with the world in our pocket, consumers research a wide range of products before making their final decision. The lessons we’ve learned through marketing financial services, higher education, personal electronics and even nutritional supplements for endurance athletes can be applied to a wide range of other B2C products and services.

Sometimes the most important lessons are those that may seem obvious or simple, but which are overlooked and ignored in the search for the next big thing. We, as humans and as marketers, sometimes convince ourselves that success is complicated and that the best strategy is something we haven’t yet tried.

We forget to go back to the basics upon which a successful marketing strategy should be built. This can be especially true of agencies that strive to differentiate themselves by being creative and innovative and coming up with new ideas to wow and woo potential clients. But when the very foundations of a marketing strategy are ignored, the whole thing tends to collapse.

This Marketing Lesson post focuses on the three simple (not easy, but simple) steps that every marketing strategy should build from.

While marketing as a science and art may rely on a few universal rules and standard tactics, each industry presents nuanced needs and challenges. B2B marketing, particularly in the enterprise software industry, is a unique environment where gimmicks just don’t work.

How do I know? I’ve been deeply involved in the software and technology industries most of my career as a corporate communications team member, an agency representative and as an agency owner. I’ve learned a lot about enterprise software and how to effectively market it (or to market a technology company by positioning it for acquisition) along the way.

Did you know that the average client-agency relationship in the marketing and PR world is 3.2 years or less? That’s really not much time when targeting strategies and campaigns that can extend for months and generate results years down the road. And with turnover that rapid, it means that the average agency is spending a lot of time prospecting and trying to land new contracts to replace the ones that are closing.

(Sources: The Drum and Bedford Group Consulting)

What would happen if the energy dedicated to finding new accounts was instead focused on building relationships that maintain the clients you already have and increase the likelihood that the contacts you have in those businesses may bring you even more business in the future?