Knock, knock . . .

Who’s there?

Tank.

Tank who?

You’re welcome.

It's time for the early surprise episode of The Fresh Salmon!

Read it in the next few minutes, and you'll enter the weekend like a brand-new marketer, smart and knowledgeable :)

Let’s go . .

1) Outspend Your Competition

🤯 🤯 . .

WTF does that even mean??

Let’s close our eyes first and understand marketing.

Marketing is about Behavioral Psychology AND Math.

It is not uncommon for people to love the Behavioral Psychology part and hate the Math part. Oftentimes, they will compensate for bad math with some compensating idea.

Some of the things they will say are:

I have a product that the whole world needs.

I've got the best phone in the world.

I've got the best copywriter that's ever walked the face of the earth. Etc. Etc.

But, nothing overcomes bad unit economics. Nothing ever!

It has to do with Cost Per Lead.

It has to do with Cost Per Qualified Opportunity.

It has to do with Cost Per Sale.

And in a competitive market, whosoever figures out the Math first figures out how to spend the most for their sales and Wins.

They can afford to buy:

+ Speed

+ Scale

+ Sustainability

In other words, the ability to outspend your competitors in customer acquisition can give you a significant advantage in the marketplace. It’s like having a SUPERPOWER!

2) We’re Living in a Peerbound World 

B2B buying is complex.

B2B buyers are faced with high-risk purchasing decisions. Insufficient insight results in suboptimal purchasing decisions, missed opportunities, and lost revenue for the business.

Today, there is an even greater disconnect between B2B brands and buyers.

Thanks to digital evolution, 70% of B2B buyers fully define their needs on their own before engaging with a sales representative. 

In fact, 44% of B2B buyers identify specific solutions before reaching out to a seller.

While online information and ratings are useful, they aren't enough for B2B buyers to pull the trigger. This is why B2B buyers trust their Peers.

They want to hear from someone who has been in their situation.

They want to speak to an actual buyer who can share their feedback. This is why 90% of B2B buying decisions are influenced by Peer Recommendations.

The next big question is - how do you optimize for this new Peerbound world?

🤔 🤔

3) Every Touch Point is a Brand Touch Point

Many people have many misconceptions about what a brand can do for their company.

To understand what a brand is, people talk about everything from the logo to the color scheme of the website.

When it comes to brand building, however, I want to point out a couple of things I believe.

1. When you are building a brand, it is all about building a relationship with your target audience. The stronger the relationship, the more people will stick to your brand.

It's hard to create a positive perception of a brand if you aren't connected to it. How can a brand succeed if it cannot connect with people?

2. Every touch point with the target audience is a brand touch point.

Be it a cold email or a social media ad, every impression every touch point is a brand touch point.

Therefore, every employee in the company is accountable for building a brand, not just your marketing department or your CEO.

A real-world example of what my team was required to do -

When we were doing cold email outreach, every now and then you get an "F**% U" response.

We would wait for a day (because the emotions run high...), and then write back to them - 

Hey, I am really sorry, I didn't mean to spoil your day. Can I send you a Starbucks Coffee Card to make up for it?

You know, not trying to get a meeting, just trying to make sure the brand is not tarnished.

That's how you should think about brand building.

Interesting Thing That I Read Last Week

I love those hashtags that James used :)

Tweet That I Noticed Last Week

My (virtual) mentor, Christopher Lochhead, stated facts 🔥 🔥 🔥

What Do You Think?

This concludes this edition of Fresh Salmon.

I would like to hear what you thought of today's newsletter.

Also, let’s connect on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cheers,

Vivek

PS. I love you ❤️