Let's face it. We are living in a world that is overwhelmed with information.

  • 380 new websites are created every minute, and over 500,000 new websites are added every day
  • 7 million blog posts are published across the internet daily
  • 300 BILLION emails are sent per day (85% spam)
  • 720,000 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube (30,000 days' worth of video content) per day
  • AI-generated content creation will double those numbers in less than a year

As a business-to-business sales organization, you have been sold and encouraged to jump into the fray and add your perspective to the sea of consciousness called web search, social media, and more. Although those sentiments are not wrong, your content will only continue to get harder to find, stand out, and create relevance with an audience that is shifting and evolving faster than we can adapt.

  • Search engines are in the ad-selling business (not content search)
  • Social Media platforms make money from ads, not your content
  • Email programs are now using AI and search data to increase spam emails
  • Videos are becoming less about content and more about cash
  • AI is recreating content from existing content, completely eroding trust

Getting your messages in front of any audience is getting harder and harder, let alone the perfect audience who might care about what you do or sell.

Okay… Take a deep breath. It's not all doom and gloom. All of that information is only a problem if you are trying to outperform companies with deeper pockets and more cutting-edge resources.

You can totally zig while your competition zags. While most businesses are hunting for new clients in the internet marketing space, you can grow your business better and faster using relationship marketing principles. These principles are based on psychology, sociology, and human-to-human principles that date back to the beginning of time.

Let's dive into five myths and five remedies that may help you achieve your desired outcomes while spending less money and making more in the long run.

1) Standing Out

MYTH: More content equals more attention.

I have seen and tried almost every content creation and distribution methodology and trick, and I can tell you that nearly all of them fail to live up to the hype. One stat I can share is that for years, I have been posting two daily motivational quotes, two weekly newsletters, and additional posts about my podcast and blog on LinkedIn four days a week. I have over 5000 followers and contacts, yet I only get 1000 impressions per week. That is only 150 impressions per day.

Keep in mind that an impression means someone sees it. Engagement means someone likes or comments on any post. I get around 50 engagements per week. I will see a bump on a controversial topic or if one influencer comments. I have also learned that influencers don't purchase my services or convince others to do so.

REMEDY: Better targeted content increases engagement.

As a solopreneur, I cannot increase that—the algorithms control who sees what. You have the option to get your staff involved and increase that number. If you have ten employees, your impressions will grow to 1500 impressions per week and over 500 engagements per week.

2) Target Your Audience

MYTH: You can count on search and social to find your audience for you.

As I stated above, your posts on social media get throttled. Counting on a search engine to deliver results is not easy and is getting more complicated with each new revision to the search algorithm. Even if it did what it promised, 50-80% of those seeing or searching are probably more interested in selling you than buying from you.

REMEDY: You already have your audience… talk with them.

By connecting with your current and past customers on social media, you increase the chances that someone who has bought or is already buying from you will be reminded about you, your staff, and what your business offers. Also, seeing posts from someone they already know, like, and trust creates a sense of connection and pride.

3) Trust Builds Business

MYTH: Trust leads to conversions.

Trust has to be earned. What stands in our way is people have the attention span of a goldfish (about eight seconds). It's hard to convince and convert anyone, especially if you expect them to watch or read testimonials unless they are in the later stages of their need and desire to purchase.

REMEDY: Conversations lead to trust.

The best way to create trust is to build interest slowly. Ultimately, you have the best chance to convert impressions into sales by getting people to converse. That is one of the reasons that spreading your content across staff increases the opportunities to start and continue conversations that convert.

4) Organic Beats Ads

MYTH: If we flood the zone, we create leads.

Quality consistently outperforms quantity. Advertising is about repetition, but repetition requires relevance to convert interest into income. So, fewer posts with a higher-quality message will always be more relevant than trying to dominate a space or platform with cheeky quips or attention-grabbing controversy. While AI-generated content is faster to produce, it is built upon what others have posted in the past and not what is currently emotionally relevant.

REMEDY: Ads engage and can capture leads.

If you find a post generating more engagement, boost it or create ads around it. Although it costs money, it will reach not only your current audience but also a look-alike audience of perfect prospects who will engage when the time is right for them. You can use client data to replicate this audience.

5) Unique User Experience

MYTH: We can use chat, email, and ads to help our audience self-segment.

In a world of AI chatbots, email drip sequences, and random ads, it's hard to know who is and could be interested in your products at the right time to make a purchase or even start to look for suppliers or vendors. You risk annoying away sales by trying to outsource or automate the process. Post-pandemic, people are more interested in human-to-human interaction.

REMEDY: Use your humans to collect and update data for you.

Your phone, website forms, and in-person events significantly increase human-to-human contact. Try to do everything you can to use humans (your staff) to capture data and ensure that it is entered into some form of database. Try to convince your staff that connecting and engaging on the phone, email, social media, and in-person meetings have long-term benefits for everyone. Make sure your emails have an invite to connect and converse.

Closing Thought

The biggest challenge is time. You must have the staff and time to create quality content to share, optimize your website to increase data collection, and prune quality contacts from noise and hackers. You have to get your salespeople and CSRs to make time to connect with clients and prospects on social media. You have to promote that content consistently via email and social media. You also have to monitor the results and strategize to do more of what is working and less of what is not.

Success is different for every business. It's a process shrouded in a bit of luck. However, not doing anything is what many struggling companies have tried and failed at before.

If there were a perfect formula, I would not be creating this post. I would be sipping tropical drinks on my private island in the Caribbean.

However, for the last five years, my team of incredible US-based experts and I (based in Raleigh – not the Caribbean) have been helping other companies succeed by creating content, optimizing websites, connecting staff with customers, creating and sending emails, posting to social media, and doing all of the above.

If you could use a little help with any or all of those above activities, let's have some human-to-human contact – AskBrian@b2b-im.com or 630-248-6232.

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.

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