Fresh Salmon
Posts
Marketing with The Market, Category POV, and Demand Creation

Marketing with The Market, Category POV, and Demand Creation

I have some big personal news to share.

February 06, 2023

Guten Tag. This is your favorite B2B marketing newsletter, Fresh Salmon, helping you quickly level up your marketing game.

However, before I get into today's edition, I have some big personal news to share. I relocated permanently to Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) last week from Manhattan (New York).

A huge change for us, as we look forward to raising our two daughters (almost 1 and almost 3 years old) in a much larger house than our apartment in New York.

I'll talk more about our move later. Now let's get started.

1) “Marketing with the Market” Instead of “Marketing to the Market”

In marketing, people must be understood as people and not just as consumers, customers, members, and users.

It is all about getting people to tell other people about a brand.

One is likely to miss a lot when viewing a person through the lens of a consumer.

Observing an individual from the perspective of a consumer means looking at the individual through brand usage, which is, by definition, one of the thousands of brands fulfilling a person's met and unmet needs. Most people don't define themselves by brands, and brands rarely interest them.

When one looks at people as consumers or users, one evaluates and benchmarks one's brands against those of other brands in the same category.

Nowadays, technological disruption and changing behaviors tend to present the greatest threats and opportunities outside one's category.

By trying to understand a person through category dynamics, one may miss what they are really seeking, which is one of the reasons categories get disrupted from the outside.

Word-of-mouth marketing has always been the most effective form of marketing. Social media and new tools and technologies have made word of mouth exponentially more powerful. We should consider marketing through people by arming them with assets, information, tools, and incentives, rather than marketing to them.

It's "Marketing with the Market" instead of "Marketing to the Market", a subtle but very important difference.

2) Your POV Drives The Category

You cannot create a category without a POV (Point of View).

The POV you provide is not just your differentiator, it is your "word-of-mouth marketing" fuel for growth.

In essence, it's like giving your customers scripts to share with their friends and colleagues.

It is your customers who repeat your POV and scale your business!

The power of a Category POV lies in the fact that consumers begin to evaluate all products through your lens.

It is when enterprise software RFPs are crafted from your point of view. Thus, you will have the best chance of winning.

POVs that are effective “bring the market to you”.

Without a category POV, it is like…

Trimming your beards for a video conference with the lights off.

3) Demand Creation = Building Audience

Let me share my definition of Demand Generation with you if you are new to my newsletter.

Demand Generation = Demand Creation + Demand Capture.

You may have heard of Demand Capture.

Demand Capture aims to catch buyers actively seeking your product or a product in your category. Typically, this group represents less than 5% of buyers in your target market.

This means that 95% of potential buyers aren't actively looking for your product.

This is where the playbook of a media company comes in.

Your media content allows you to reach a broader audience, not just the 5% of buyers, but the remaining 95% as well.

By consistently publishing great episodic content, you gain broader attention and followership.

The attention you receive results in free advertising for your company. A percentage of your followers inquire about your product. That's how you convert attention into sales.

Companies, especially B2B companies, are turning company marketing into a media company strategy.

In the coming days, every B2B company will be reimagining its funnel through this lens.

It is important to note that rented channels such as social media, and search and content networks like Spotify and YouTube are NOT diminishing in importance in the near future. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

Digital marketing strategies are changing as we understand the platforms and their roles.

Engage your audience on these rented platforms with engaging media content, and CONVERT them into members of your owned audience over time.

Linking out to your owned property for conversion is not an easy task with rented platforms. Thus, it is important to become familiar with each platform's nuances.

It is imperative that marketing builds its own audience in order to influence revenue in this next era of B2B Marketing.

Media companies have been doing this for years, B2B companies are just a little late to the party.

Bonus:

The #1 Way To Get Marketing and Sales Aligned?

I had the opportunity to join Alina Vandenberghe, Co-founder, and CMO at Chili Piper at their Master SaaS Live series about this topic + much more, check out this 7min conversation.