B2B Product Marketing Insights: Oct 2021
Release Date: October 28, 2021
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📈 8 MINI GROWTH CASE STUDIES
[1] Build your brand's long-term identity by becoming an "advocate, well-wisher, and guide" for its core purpose.
Calm wants to be the Nike of mental fitness. The company donated $15K to a French mental health organization in response to Naomi Osaka's fine for the same amount for withdrawing from the French Open. Calm's 50-50 marketing strategy involves 50% planned campaigns and 50% participation in cultural conversations around mental health.
[2] Create a content-rich product discovery environment within your platform to generate additional revenue through partners.
Ulta Beauty wants to replicate the upside of apps like TikTok, Instagram within its own digital sales channels. By prioritizing product discovery, the company aims to sell targeted ads to its brand partners.
[3] Extend the benefits of IP by expanding the world around it through new customer interactions and purchases.
Walmart's dedicated online hub for Netflix merchandise shows the latter's efforts to grow its retail business on the shoulders of its popular shows. Netflix also has relationships with other retailers and mirrors Disney's age-old strategy of monetizing fanbases in multiple ways.
[4] Drive users to rely on your integrations with other solutions to retain them as customers for a long time.
Think of your B2B product as a platform. Enable users to quickly set up connections between your B2B tool and other B2B tools they rely on. This improves the chances to retain your customers longer.
[5] Identify how customers modify your product in the real world to uncover new use cases, product features, and offerings.
FigJam is an online whiteboard for ideation and brainstorming that started as a non-traditional use case of Figma's design tool. Watch how your customers modify your product and see how much value you can bring by solving that pain.
[6] Win more B2B buyers by selling the big vision to accomplish things they never thought possible.
Your product should eliminate pain for your B2B customer in the short term. In the longer term, your product should unleash capabilities in your customer previously not possible. This long-term outcome should be your main pitch and not the immediate pain.
[7] Offer simpler, easy-to-calculate pricing options (even flat-rate where possible) vs. competition to improve margins.
Customers don't mind an expensive product if it's easy for them to do the math on the pricing. Use rounded numbers without complex decimals to signal fairness and transparency to the customer.
[8] Think of your business as a media company that builds and sells stuff to a specific group of people.
Huckberry curates goods and articles aimed at their core buyer ('the outdoorsman'). They seek to entertain, inspire, or educate the core buyer group they want as customers.
📚 2 BOOKS & THEIR TOP 3 INSIGHTS
[1] “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” by Katharine Hayhoe
Tackling disagreements on climate change - (1) Start conversation on something you agree, (2) Ask questions rather than arguing, (3) Share personally why climate change affects what you care about, (4) Talk about practical solutions available today.
The two main economically efficient policy mechanisms that countries can use to cap carbon in any sector or region: (1) Cap and Trade, (2) Carbon Pricing (for each $ increase in the cost of carbon, the country’s emissions growth rate decreased by ~0.25%).
Two communication insights worth remembering - (1) “Think of every conversation as being three conversations at once: about facts, feelings, and identity" - Boghossian & Lindsay. (2) “The most effective communication strategies are based on simple messages, repeated often, by many trusted messengers” - Maibach.
[2] “The First Minute: How to Start Conversations That Get Results” by Chris Fenning
The 3-sentence structure to get the most out of any workplace conversation: (1) Name the topic you want to talk about, (2) What you want the person to do with the info, (3) The most important part of the overall message.
A quick, structured summary always follows a "Goal, Problem, Solution" outline.
To facilitate faster decision-making, follow the communication tactic of the US military under the acronym BLUF ("Bottom Line Up Front"). Place the conclusion and recommendation at the beginning of the message.
🧠 10 CURATED BUSINESS THINK PIECES
[1] How digital powers will reshape the global order (treating tech giants as nation-states)
[2] Carbon might be your company’s biggest financial liability
[3] The nasty logistics of returning your too-small pants
[4] What the restaurants of the future will look like
[5] Who is making money in space?
[6] How prescription drugs got the direct-to-consumer treatment
[7] 12 predictions for the future of music
[8] How the American Dream created a new genre of work
[9] B2B payments: unlocking a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity
[10] What’s your focus during your first 90 days as Head of Product?
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Keep Learning and Carry On!
Regards,
Bryan Elanko
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