Fishing requires skill and patience. You need to be focused on what type of fish you’re going after, the best location to catch them, what bait they’ll go for, even the presentation of that bait. You have to take into consideration weather and water conditions and know how they affect the fish each day.
Marketing requires the same levels of preparation, especially in today’s selling landscape. You must consider the individual buyer’s preferences, practices and interests, as well as the buying environment, your competitors, your messaging and more. Fishing for prospects with a broad net (and throwing back the ones you don’t want) just doesn’t cut it anymore.
The Trick to One-to-One Interactions
Buyers are expecting a one-to-one level of personalization, which can be considered B2B marketing’s Holy Grail. B2C marketers seem to have this down: Brick-and-mortar stores serve push-messages to customers when they’re in certain proximities, Netflix and Hulu provide on-demand television, and sites like Amazon recommend products based on your search and order histories.
It’s not as simple for B2B marketers, but certain technologies are breaking down the barrier. Marketing automation tools like Marketo and HubSpot help with segmenting and personalizing email correspondences to groups based on industry, role and other preferences. But it can be a huge challenge for B2B organizations to provide a completely personalized interaction with each call and email, while still remaining efficient and effective.