Once upon a time… Storytelling in B2B

Once upon a time… Storytelling in B2B

Who doesn’t like stories? We live in a world surrounded by them; in fact, our life is a story in itself. Companies have recognized the potential storytelling can have and are utilizing it to captivate their consumers and potential customers.  What exactly is it, and why does it hold so much opportunity in the Business-to-Business (B2B) world? The solutions to these questions may be found throughout this blog.

Storytelling, in its purest form, is the art of telling, creating, and adapting stories in situations with a beginning, middle, and end, with the objective of communicating messages from an emotional perspective. 

In content marketing, it is a powerful tool because it allows you to tell stories about a brand and its products, and while it has been used for many years by companies in the B2C sector, one may ask if it can make a positive impact in the B2B world, whose buyers tend to be driven by logic, evidence, and facts?  The answer is simple: absolutely, because it has been proven that even in the coldest industries, the transmission of emotional, compelling, and entertaining stories has unimaginable effects on target audiences.

In content marketing, storytelling is a powerful tool because it allows you to generate emotional, compelling and entertaining connections with your audiences.

To help you understand it a bit better, here are three examples of how three B2B companies used storytelling to get their message across from a human perspective:

This hilarious Adobe Marketing Cloud ad conveys the value of the marketed product without boring the viewer at all. The video begins in an office with employees dealing with an unexplainable rise in orders and doing everything they can to complete them. The ad concludes with a touching and humorous visual that should not be missed!

Slack collaborated with Sandwich Productions to create the 2014 film “So Yeah, We Tried Slack.” From the perspective of the production company’s employees, the video depicts the widespread acceptance of today’s favorite corporate communications platform. It’s a clever idea that’s worth watching and analyzing.

Hootsuite discusses why certain organizations aren’t successful on social media in this animated video in a clear and honest tone. It then outlines how it may assist companies in resolving the challenge.

 

Did you like watching videos? Now, we’ll provide you with six tips on boosting your marketing campaigns using the art of storytelling.

  1. Identify

It’s the first step in telling a story, and to do that you have to ask yourself:

Will the audience be familiar with what I want to tell?

What do they want to know?

What challenges would my readers face without my product/service?

When you understand who they are and why they require your product/service, you will be able to interpret how to convey a clear message that will enhance the engagement of your campaigns.

  1. Try to have a structure

Good storytelling has a logical thread, i.e. a beginning, a middle, and an end, which makes the story easier to understand. Consider the following elements:

The protagonist: the customer.

The antagonist: the challenge.

The mission: the journey to overcome the challenge.

The execution: the solution to the challenge.

The climax: the result.

  1. Be sure to listen

It’s critical to understand what people want to hear and where they want to hear it. Do some research to understand your audience’s challenges, which will lead you to the best platform for telling the story. For example, if you find that people love short videos, you may create and share animations with amusing characters on social media.

  1. Harness the power of gamification

We like this one since we at Isource are specialists in the execution of immersive experiences and the positive outcomes they generate. By gamifying your storytelling, you provide your audiences unimaginable power with quizzes, games, puzzles, and countless other resources for them to learn what your product or service accomplishes, for example.

By gamifying storytelling, you give unimaginable power to your audiences.

  1. Let your customers tell the story

It enables the customer to control the story and showcase his or her own experience, humanizing it through case studies, success stories, testimonials, etc.

  1. Share stories with data

Numbers and narratives are both required. In fact, stories and statistics are strongly intertwined. One aids in the establishment of an emotional connection, while the other fosters trust in the realities of the situation.

The storytelling field has no boundaries, and we are confident that your company has a variety of elements to create effective and empathetic stories and, as a result, communication pieces that captivate your audiences. And we at Isource Marketing are here to help you since we have designers and copywriters that have been trained to do so. Interested in contacting us or scheduling a call? Find us here: https://isource.agency/#contact We look forward to meeting you!

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PR in a post-pandemic world: 7 predictions for 2022

PR in a post-pandemic world: 7 predictions for 2022

The arrival of COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation all while bringing a new way for businesses and the media to conduct public relations (PR), in which it has become critical to have more accurate information, faster responses to unforeseen situations, and a more strategic, comprehensive, and intelligent media monitoring. 

The Institute for Public Relations (IPR) recently surveyed 300 communications executives and senior managers to understand how prepared companies are for this new post-pandemic scenario. It discovered that corporate executives understood the need for communication in dealing with the pandemic. More than three-quarters (81%) of respondents considered their company’s communication role in the face of COVID-19 to be “essential” or “very important”. While most firms have made every effort to prepare for crisis scenarios, just 30% felt their companies were “extremely” prepared to deal with a crisis, while 55% said they were “somewhat” prepared. However, over half of those surveyed (44%) said their crisis communications plan did not incorporate pandemic disease guidelines. Worse, 10% of respondents believed they don’t have a crisis communications plan.

Scenarios like this one demonstrate the need for strategic communication and public relations. In Brazil, for example, a clothing brand was harshly criticized after putting on sale four different models of face masks at exorbitant prices, which resulted in such negative repercussions that Procon, the country’s consumer protection agency, took action. 

These “new” crises, created in an unexpected setting, need a distinct strategy that can only be carried out by a strong and efficient PR team. As a result, here are 7 reasons why PR became more essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  1. Ability to cope with a crisis

While many PR firms had a challenging 2020, corporate communications and PR teams worked tirelessly to adjust their messaging by giving interviews, developing crisis communications plans, and keeping their audiences calm. In this way, PR demonstrates not just their ability to navigate complex waters, but also how important they are.

  1. Profitability  

With a few exceptions, including the health and entertainment industries, the pandemic has had a detrimental influence on most organizations’ marketing spending. So where did they redirect the money then? Many resorted to PR, advertising’s more profitable cousin, with the difficult challenge of persuading others that the investment was worthwhile.

  1. Trust 

According to public relations communicators and journalists, the greatest strategy to overcome a crisis is to build trust which will improve the reputation of the organizations they work for. We saw a combination of the PR areas, marketing, social media, and corporate communication like never before.

  1. Technological innovation 

PR agencies have had to adapt, implementing technological tools to collect more information and monitor important issues, both in traditional media (radio, press, and television) and digital.

  1. Adaptation and interpretation of scenarios

The pandemic demonstrated that now more than ever, PR professionals must be able to quickly understand new scenarios. Understanding the situation of clients – in the case of agencies and accompanying them from a 360 point of view is essential to avoid making mistakes. The world is going at an ever faster speed and this accompaniment must be constant.

  1. The human touch 

Consumers today demand and appreciate empathy, and PR professionals are committed to delivering it. People have become aware of the fragility of not just our existence, but also of our dependence and relationships with others at times of such uncertainty, which is why public relations is so important.

  1. The power of influencers

Due to the pandemic, influencers received a notable increase in interactions and engagement of their content. It is widely known that many traditional campaigns were stalled, delayed, or suspended, especially in the tourism and hotel sector. Therefore, it became necessary for brands to learn how to reinvent themselves to overcome this crisis and continue to grow.

The pandemic’s challenges, as well as the new scenarios that occurred as a result of it, have caused changes in organizations all across the world. The way many communicated and positioned themselves before their target audiences became outdated and had to change. Technology, strategic thinking, and adaptability are critical to communication in a post-COVID-19 world.

If you like this blog and would like assistance with PR, please contact us by clicking here. Our experts are ready to assist you with communication and press strategy and actions to increase visibility, position, and strengthen your brand’s reputation.

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Digital Marketing Strategies for Tech Startups

Digital Marketing Strategies for Tech Startups

Startups are a leading business model that drives innovation and economic growth worldwide. Each year, new types of products and services are created by startups. They serve as a great example of entrepreneurial creativity and ambition, as well as the emergence of ground-breaking concepts. Unfortunately, marketing is not one of their strong suits. And it’s understandable: most of them got their start not by writing case studies and sending emails but by building cutting-edge technology. Not to mention that traditionally, digital marketing was only available to large corporations in the B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) sectors. 

However, there is some good news. According to First Site Guide, 7.1% of the startups in the world operate in the fintech industry. Followed by life sciences and healthcare with 6.8%, artificial intelligence with 5.0%, gaming 4.7%, adtech 3.3%, and edtech with 2.8%. Modern startups are drawn to the internet and digital technology, despite the lack of precise industry distribution data. As a result, a strong online marketing plan is essential for every business hoping to achieve success. 

When it comes to digital marketing, Tech firms should put a lot of effort investing into many different aspects. Most importantly, this powerful tool is here to stay, and it can quickly enhance your Tech startup’s success. Today, web advertising is more inclusive than ever before: it knows no boundaries. For example, if you have a software company and you want to target customers in several countries, online marketing will help you achieve that. In this article, we will guide you through some ways to develop an effective digital marketing strategy for your Tech startup.

 

1. Create a Buyer Persona

Developing a buyer persona is the most critical step in digital marketing and that’s the reason we put it at the forefront. This includes gathering important details about your audience, such as age, name, location, income, job, their demands and how they search for products and services on the internet. Once you have successfully gathered this information, you can focus on building the right marketing strategy. There is enough evidence to suggest that the buyer persona is essential for every modern business. Even more so when it comes to a Tech startup, because many IT experts have already joined the initiative to offer their services to customers all over the world.

2. Email marketing 

Did you know that email marketing continues to dominate the startup marketing world?  This tool allows you to connect with your target audience in ways that no other channel can. While it is a platform that has been around for many years, it is still one of the most effective startup channels, which is why marketing giants suggest relying on email newsletter solutions to harness the full potential of email marketing. 

Developing a buyer persona is the most critical step in digital marketing

3. Start a blog

​​Creating a blog is one of the most successful ways to begin increasing  traffic in the technology startup sector. Remember, you have great tech skills to capitalize on, so if writing isn’t your strong suit, hire a writer or content creator. It is one of the most effective methods to showcase your brand’s story and spread the word about your products and services. Blogging will help with SEO and increase your search rankings. Take advantage of all the ways you can benefit from your content efforts. A couple of ideas are to include relevant and reliable sources and links in your blog posts, link your website content to posts, and write guest blogs to improve brand awareness and get your name out there. Blogging also gives you a lot of versatility. You can decide the direction of your blog and the type of content you want to share. For example, you can write about anything from specialized technology topics to industry news.

4. Social media 

While social media is a powerful networking platform, it has also evolved into a savvy marketing tool that businesses in a number of sectors use to broaden their reach. And because it’s a huge platform, crafting your startup’s social media marketing strategy can be overwhelming. You could start by determining the platform that fits your brand. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Reddit, Pinterest and LinkedIn all have unique things to offer. All these platforms offer many ways to engage with audiences, from joining the discussion on a trending hashtag to publishing articles on LinkedIn and empowering employees to act on your company’s behalf. Participate in LinkedIn groups and answer questions on Quora. At the same time, seek out discussions that are relevant to the solution you offer and find a way to help out.

5. Use paid search advertising (SEM)

Paid search has become a very popular advertising channel for startups. It allows users to buy laser-targeted traffic on search engines such as Google and Bing, two of the leading paid search networks that offer the ability to target keywords on a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model. Using either of these networks, you can create customized ads for your startup that appear in search results when someone searches for a keyword related to your business

SEO is the foundation of successful digital marketing

6. Influencer marketing

Prominent Tech leaders who have huge followings on social media have authority and influence within the IT industry and market. Influencer marketing can be very powerful in this sector when companies utilize these tech leaders. If they have the secret sauce, i.e. a large following in your industry, they likely have influence over your target market. Partnering with these content creators can help you drive brand awareness to your target audience. Once your target audience is aware of your startup, your goal is reached. 

7. Include SEO everywhere

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the foundation of promising digital marketing. Besides being the basis of organic marketing, it is a key determinant of long-term marketing success. In fact, most marketers and experts associate SEO with long-form content or as part of the best blogging practices. However, you can use relevant keywords in your social media posts, hashtags, product descriptions, etc.  We suggest you incorporate an SEO strategy into your blog posts, overall content curation and marketing strategy. In addition, including long-tail keywords in your topic selection and blog content is an effective way to attract traffic in the long term.   

8. Retargeting / Remarketing

Email marketing, social media advertising and display ads are great for retargeting strategies. Retargeting is basically a marketing campaign based on a user’s past behavior. For example, LinkedIn allows you to set ads for specific individuals based on what they have done on your website. Meaning, if someone visits your website, adds an item to a shopping cart but doesn’t complete the purchase, you can place an ad for that product on LinkedIn and/or send the user a personalized email reminding them to come back and complete their purchase.  While the terms “retargeting” and “remarketing” are sometimes used interchangeably, the main difference is that retargeting is primarily concerned with sending cookie-based ads to potential customers, whereas remarketing is typically email-based.

So, now you know. At Isource we have all the tools and resources you’ll need to make your startup marketing campaign go through the roof. From creating a buyer persona and social media strategy to developing a search and SEO campaign, you can count on us to provide the best support possible at https://isource.agency/#contact Contact us!

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