One day, Reg fancied trout for dinner. Instead of going to Tescos he decided to catch his meal. After all, he had all the latest fishing gear the nice man in the angling shop had sold him. How could he fail?
So he now finds himself down at the local riverbank.
Occasionally, the float bobs. He gets excited: ‘here comes the big one, I can almost taste it. I must be doing something right.’
But nothing bites. After a while of taking in the scenery and watching as the waters meander past, Reg has had enough. Somewhat angrily he packs up his gear. ‘Obviously no trout in these waters. Either that or this gear’s no good – I wonder if Tesco’s still open.’
As he walks back to his car he sees another angler. ‘No luck either?’ he asks.
‘On the contrary’ the other angler replies, ‘look, I’ve got all these trout,’ she says.
‘How come I didn’t get any and you’ve got all those?’
‘Ah,’ she says, ‘to catch trout you have to study them. Know where they hang out, what they eat and when they are most likely to bite – you have to put the right bait in the right place at the right time.’
‘That’s fascinating,’ says Reg. ‘Are you a professional angler?’
‘No,’ she replies, ‘I’m a professional B2B marketer, and it’s what we are trained to do when we need to catch some good sales leads.’
Don’t Do B2B Marketing Like Reg
It’s a sad fact that a lot of what is called digital marketing is done the ‘Reg’ way. No clear strategy or plan, no clear understanding of how potential customers behave or what is likely to attract their attention. But lots of whoops and high fives every time somebody shares the numbers about how often the float has bobbed in the water.
The float moving because you have a nibble doesn’t tell you what’s on the other end. You might get 50 nibbles in a day but if none of them result in you landing something edible you’re going to stay hungry.
Where the analogy breaks down, of course, is that you’re not trying to fool your prospects by luring them with a tasty looking treat that turns out to have a hook attached (they’re much smarter than the average trout!).
If you can show them enough value and benefits you won’t have to work quite so hard to land them. But you have to lure them first through careful positioning of your brand – and content that really speaks to their needs and ambitions.
If you’d rather not market your business like Reg, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do about it.