I got back from holiday recently and apart from the hideous time zone dislocation I definitely know that I achieved some of my goals – rest, a change of scene and the opportunity to do some quiet thinking without interruption.
Settling back into the work routine comes easily yet I find the best outcomes from this time are to start making changes.
Ideas, plans and thoughts which I have captured while travelling are always freshest and best implemented when energy levels are high.
Going back to your old routine feels as comfortable as familiar old clothes, but I believe it’s worth resisting and taking risks with new ideas and new plans.
And anyway, I like porridge!
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/noemie-roussel-ZoSftIGPP0g-unsplash-scaled.jpg17002560Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2025-05-01 16:07:272025-05-06 16:09:44Old clothes and porridge
Are these a thing of the past? Or are they still a useful marketing tool.
Remember when having a round number (ending in 000 or 5555) was a really important part of your business marketing positioning? We slaved to get the same 4 digits for all our regional offices back in the day.
Today, I’m calling Harcourts Real Estate in Brisbane – head office for a kinda large real estate business. Their switchboard has a voicemail. I left a message on 18th March – called again today – still on voicemail.
I read an article about airline spend on glossy safety videos and found some great marketing reasons for investing in high production values.
4.8 million views and counting
First – aligning cultural values with education. Air New Zealand partnered with the Department of Conservation (DOC) to promote the importance of wildlife protection. That was after they did a movie hook up from Men in Black featuring the All Black rugby stars.
The baton was picked up by United whose $1m spend and 160 crew on their current Safety in Motion video boggles – but apparently viewers love it.
Qantas uses a true customer romance story (with actors and the actual people in the credits – no they don’t look alike at all), British Airways features home grown “national treasures” like Gordon Ramsay. So far so good – but did you know some of these get millions of YouTube watches? Sounds like a new revenue stream from people who won’t even be paying to fly with you.
In these straitened times, does this make the cost of production a worthwhile marketing investment?
https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Airnz-safety-1.png5381534Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2025-03-25 14:58:212025-03-25 14:58:21Airline safety videos are a great messaging platform
That’s because they’re new, they represent change and that can be threatening to jobs, budgets and ‘the way we work round here’.
It doesn’t mean they are necessarily a bad idea. I find that frequently it takes a couple of goes to overcome the pushback and also it takes some time – maybe a year or more.
There’s nothing more powerful than “an idea whose time has come”. But that doesn’t just happen. The marketing communications outreach that builds the comprehension, that challenges the status quo, that offers alternative pathways is where us B2B marketers can prepare the ground so that you overcome the pushback, get acceptance for a pilot or a trial and then move towards adoption.
Here’s a case study.
I’m the MC for a B2B marketing careers event at the Marketing Association which I first proposed as an un-conference a year ago. Now the event is re-framed and is happening next week.
Let’s talk?
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Use your experience of life, of human communication and decision making to work out times in the customer journey when personal, individual, manual actions will have greater effect.
I love using letters, phone calls, SMS – all great tools for use cases when you need cut through and to effect human-to-human contact as a context for making a sale.
PM me and I’ll tell you one use case I’m doing right now with a CV for a job application.
No it won’t do the whole job for you, yes you will use your human insight and creativity to frame up the AI supplied text. It’s so satisfying.
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The inexperienced new business development marketer will disagree with that statement. Why wouldn’t you want more prospects in your pipeline?
The customer doesn’t owe you their business – but they do owe you an answer.
Creating marketing tactics that provoke the prospect to answer “no” is a good thing. Sales know not to pursue them and can focus their efforts elsewhere.
And remember, no is just for now.
95% of B2B prospects aren’t ready to buy at any one time. So going back to them later, may mean they’re ready to hear your brand message and review their plans.
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From your experience in B2B Marketing, what do you think our Pacific & Maori business women who target businesses as customers should focus on for their marketing activities?
Understand the customer – walk in their shoes
Keep good records – CRM
Businesses may look daunting as sales targets but they are made up of people – befriend them.
Use LinkedIn – buy a Premium membership and Sales Navigator
I attended the Marketing Association’s B2B meetup and here’s my write-up on the event.
Key learnings
Use what you have to the fullest extent – all functionality
Simplify your stack NOW
Check your use case matches your technology
Bring the team with you – upskill them to be confident using technology
Match your MarTech Stack to your needs
Technology is an essential component for successful B2B marketing – but the plethora of choices is beyond confusing – it’s daunting.
The Marketing Association’s Special Interest Group for B2B marketing hosted a panel discussion “Does your martech stack fit your needs?” to tackle this giant question head on.
Ably led by Cassandra Powell (Assurity), the panel shared their insights and experiences using technology to support marketing activity.
Find the right tools
Half the panel confessed that they were in the process of simplifying their technology at the moment. Traverna Addenbrook (Spark) assesses each based on whether it supports Spark’s data unification goal while Sharn Piper (Attain) always matches the tool to the job which needs to be done and then tries to use that tool to its fullest extent.
Datacom’s Alex Mercer confessed that when she joined they had 220 websites! Her team are integrating platforms in support of their brand development. Getting the data talking across platforms is a sizeable job. Simon Wedde (Stitch Tech) strongly advocated seeking native integrations between different software tools and to never use custom integrations, because one software update can cause you headaches. He also recommend to use your own data when doing demos of new tools so you can assess tech platforms’ suitability to your unique use case.
Bring the team with you
Many marketers inherit ‘hangover’ software which is already in place. This is not necessarily a disaster because if you assess the adoption rates for each, you’ll quickly be able to make a case for getting rid of the ones you don’t like or have become outdated. By surveying your team and understanding the landscape of actual use Travena managed to simplify her stack and improve both the integrations and the processes which support the marketing team. She had a word of caution about fear. Some team members may not use technologies which are in place and you need to understand your team’s capability around each tool before deciding which to sunset out of the tech stack.
Get the most out of your stack
Many marketers already know that we use only a small percentage of the capability of the software tools we buy. Relax says Simon, just use that part really well – but also build your use cases to confirm that the tools are aligned with business needs.It’s important to understand where your data is and how clean and up-to-date it is says Traverna. She reminded the meeting that sometimes things turn out in unpredictable ways – this isn’t a disaster. Don’t blame the model is her advice. If you understand data lag and the implications you will not have any trouble explaining to stakeholders what happened and why. If you’ve already done your internal PR with these folks you can remind them why they invested in this tool, that they should trust your marketing process and trust you. Marketers need to be comfortable around technology so they’re empowered to make informed decisions.
What about AI?
Sharn is not worried about AI tools replacing marketers, but he is worried about a marketer who knows the AI tools better than you replacing your job. The AI itself is not what you should be concerned about. His team is already running tests using AI to save time or money in the business. Get it done, know what works and what fails and build your knowledge about how to write AI prompts.
Rebecca Caroe
Member of the B2B Special Interest Group Board
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I”m always looking for new clients and customers when working with a B2B brand n their marketing.
Sometimes I see a cute tool or tactic and today I’m sharing three of them.
Home page call to action
Loved this because it shows light humour and a pretty persuasive message. Yes, I have scrolled a long way down the page (this is just above the footer) and so maybe I SHOULD be booking a demo or contacting the sales team.
The copywriting is clear, simple and unambiguous.
Clear B2B copywriting
LinkedIn last names
Frequently on LinkedIn, people with whom I’m not closely connected have their last name (surname) hidden or only the first initial letter published.
For many, this is easily solved.
Clicm on the person and open their full profile.
Check the URL
LinkedIn uses your full name (as registered on the site) as your unique URL identifier.
You can probably work out the last name and first name from this URL.
How to find last name in LinkedIn URL
Improve your Social Media Bio
There are lots of list sites which allow you to publish a list of URLs which you’re associated or have profile on. Here’s a new one set up by Squarespace – BioSites.
As their launch promo says
Select a custom URL- Claim a free username to create a URL. Add it on Instagram, TikTok, or to any social bio.
Add unlimited links. Connect your followers to your websites, social pages, stores, videos, and more with your Bio Site.
Publish and share your link anywhere.
Connect your content
Use your mobile device to update your Bio Site in seconds and build consistency in your online presence.
Accept payments and more.
They make it easy for you by supplying template designs.
BONUS – my reflections on LinkedIn Groups and Company followers
I am constantly frustrated by LinkedIn Groups – they used to be great places to build community but since their prominence in the news feed has been dialled down to zero, most are invisible.
These used to be good places to find prospects – folks interested in your products and services. Since few people join groups nowadays, they are becoming a redundant part of the LI platform.
Time to make an offline list of the members and try to connect with them elsewhere – preferably on a platform or medium which you control.
Company follower lists are another good place to find prospects – and often competitors!
There are a range of ways to download these – contact me to find out the latest easy method.
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https://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Home-page-CTA.png3741560Rebecca Caroehttps://creativeagencysecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CAS_Logo_1line_RGB.jpgRebecca Caroe2022-12-01 10:45:592022-12-01 11:04:233 simple new business hacks for 2022
