The business world is great at generating buzzwords. And while many of them fall into the category of cliché and jargon, there are actually three very powerful buzzwords that can provide a little lift and excitement to your B2B marketing efforts.
The first of these buzzwords is “Data-Driven Marketing.” The business world has fallen deeply in love with the concept of Big Data, and what it means now is that there is a much deeper emphasis on using data to improve overall marketing performance. The more quantifiable and data-driven your marketing is, the more likely it is to drive results. It’s hard to argue with that.
What it means for the B2B marketer is that it’s easy to identify your best customers and your best leads using data. It tells you who to contact, and who not to contact. It tells you who might be open to a new offer, and who might not be. It tells you which demographic to target, and who to avoid. Focusing on the data helps to avoid all the assumptions, biases and stereotypes that invade the marketing world.
Another big buzzword is “growth hacking.” What this means is that every organization needs to find unique, experimental, and unconventional tactics to grow the business. The term has its roots in the Silicon Valley hacking culture, in which it’s completely acceptable (and even encouraged) to hack the system – to find clever ways of getting around obstacles, barriers or conventions.
For B2B marketers, “growth hacking” can be the inspiration for a number of hacks to conventional marketing. Maybe it’s something as simple as putting together an e-book based on a recent client engagement, and putting it up quickly on the Internet for free download. Or maybe it’s a live stream of an event using hashtags. There’s a certain amount of risk involved with any hack, of course, but the experimental aspect of hacking is what’s so alluring – it gives you permission to try whatever you think will work best.
The last buzzword is “millennial.” Remember when Gen X or Gen Y was all the rage, now it’s “millennial.” These are the young people born in the period from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. While there’s been a lot written about them – their tastes, their interests, and their work habits – it’s hard to say that every single member of a generation thinks and acts the same. Instead, the “millennial” buzzword should be an inspiration to think of how your company can appeal to a much younger demographic.
For some organizations, it means bringing in a young millennial to handle the social media responsibilities. For other organizations, it means re-working the marketing message to appeal to the sensitivities of young digitally-savvy consumers. (Notice how many companies now use #hashtags in their ads?)
Of course, buzzwords come and go. But by understanding what’s percolating in the business world right now, it’s possible to make tweaks to your B2B marketing and give it a much-needed boost.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.