This is a great article by Eric Hollebone in this CMSwire article, here.
2022 for many companies was hard and 2023 is just going to get harder as the perfect storm of the internet, social media, mobile, digital and fallout from Covid disrupt our lives and business.
Before Covid I was told that seeing a doctor, going to church, piano lessons, business meetings all had to happen face-to-face and of course it's been proven they don't.
The answer I so often see from marketers to this change are tactics or some IT system they think will solve the problem.
There is a great quote from Eric's article which is
- "A blueprint isn’t tactics. It’s not campaigns, events or pipeline leads. Even the pandemic didn’t change the overall customer journey strategy; it may have changed some tactics (e.g., digital vs. in-person conferences) but not the B2B strategy of how people interact and sell.
- A blueprint isn’t technology. Technology is a tool; it can’t solve anything on its own. For example, if your objective is to triple revenue, your strategy is not “buying marketing automation;” instead, it’s “using marketing automation to respond to data trends and develop more meaningful connections.”"
We know that the buying process has changed, we know that the buyer is now digital and we know that we need to transform our business, if we want to grow, to one of being digital and move away from analog and physical marketing.
A growth strategy requires .... a strategy
In my third book "social selling - techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition", Chris Fleming, the CEO of Cyberhawk, talks about how they have built their business around social media. Treating social as a strategy and this has given them:-
- Visibility – recognition in the marketplace
- Trusted advisor status
- Recruit and retain the best talent
- Employee engagement & shared sense of purpose
- Pipeline, growth and new customers
Not as tactics, but as a strategy, their VC had told them they will IPO faster and at a higher value from this strategy based on social media and digital when compared to what they would have got when they were analog / physical.
Let's also sort the problem of talent ...
We have doubled the size of our business in the last 12 months, we have hired an additional 70 people to grow the business. One of the ways we have attracted talent is by having a bigger social media presence than any of our competitors
Job seekers will do their research (on social media) and if you have people posting relevant content it will have an impact
It cannot come from the official corporate account as nobody will believe it. The words need to come from the individuals themselves.
Part of the solution is to empower everybody to speak and encourage them to post.
If you are running a business in 2023, you are actually running two companies, the obvious one but the other one you are running is your own social media company. If you are not aware of this, you will slide further behind in the digital maze”
Some final words from that CMSWire article.
"Finally, everyone needs to see themselves in the blueprint. This is a chance to ensure their buy-in and advocacy. Make sure there’s a section in the blueprint that reflects the needs of every division:
- CEO: “Does this blueprint meet my growth needs?”
- CFO: “Does this blueprint have an ROI? Do I have a budget for it?”
- CIO: “Does this blueprint fit into my compliance picture?”
- CTO: “Does this blueprint help me build a better product?”
- CMO: “Does this blueprint empower me to focus on the customer?”"
Want to know more about social selling, check out my new book
"social selling techniques to influence buyers and changemakers - 2nd edition".
In this brand new edition, I have updated all the text, I have also got 15 practitioners, so people who are doing this already to explain how they are get (practical) business benefit. From the CEO that has been running a digital business for over 18 months to sales leaders who use social selling every day.
Articles on how these business have and are implementing digital, from Mercer, Telstra Purple, Ring Central, Cyberhawk, Namos, Ericsson, Crux Consulting, DLA Ignite and more.
It's available on Amazon worldwide. Link to Amazon.com here and Amazon.co.uk here.
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