ELL

David Saxe and I sat down last week with Oil and Gas Global Network's Mark LaCour and Matt Bertram for a topic near and dear to our hearts -- Making the Business Case for PR & Marketing. What happened after was a thoughtful conversation that took off! There are so many strategies to forming an effective PR and marketing program, we really just scratched the surface! We hope to turn this into a series, as well as develop an in-person event. If you'd like to give it a listen, you can find it here:   https://lnkd.in/gAeqjecw

70%. This is the number to remember. To my b2b marketing friends. Not to overgeneralize, but A LOT of you have been in support functions, running events/tradeshows, building out sales enablement materials as requested, etc. All important things, but you are needed so much more, and I'm not sure your bosses realize it yet. In conversations with folks in O&G, industrial, whatever - I've recently heard a tremendous amount of folks that have sold one way for a long time, and it worked. But they're struggling to connect with the "young folks". It's a theme. Here's why. Let's call "young folks" anyone that's a millennial or younger. On average, according to 6sense, millennials prefer to get through 70% of the buying cycle on their own. They don't want to talk to you yet. Even when they're looking. They want you to provide what they need, let them wade through it and engage when they've already got you tabbed as a finalist. 70%. The other crazy thing is that the "young folks" aren't that young anymore. They're your buyer. 70% of b2b buying decision makers are now millennials or younger (see any study that's come out in the last 5 years). So 70 out of 100 of your top audience group want 70% of their decision-making to take place on their own. 20 years ago, we wouldn't be sending an underequipped, underpaid, poorly dressed sales guy out to call on your biggest prospect. So why on earth would we send our unmaintained brand, outdated (and ugly) website and no up to date content out to engage them now? Building a brand that reflects your value. Setting up a performance marketing engine and never turning it off. Building out the content you want people engaging with while they're weighing against your competitors. This IS sales. And it really is this simple. I'm just providing the info. Use one of our competing agencies. Build an in-house solution. Sure, we can help too. But do SOMETHING. 70%.