Forget B2C or B2B and start focusing on H2H
For years Marketing has been divided into either B2C (business-to-consumer) or B2B (business-to-business). A simple way of classifying who your business is trying to communicate with and sell to.
Human-to-human (H2H) marketing is a way of communicating with your audience that is conversational. It recognises that regardless of whether you sit in traditional B2C or B2B, it is still an interaction between humans and should be treated as such.
How do you shift to H2H marketing?
Moving your focus to a more human-centric approach means creating connections with your customers and prospects. It’s easy to overthink this approach, but in reality, it is something we are all capable of.
By communicating with empathy, authenticity and personability you can begin to build a successful H2H strategy for your business. Think like your customer, what problems are they faced with and how can you help solve them? Tell a story that they can relate to, not just one that sells your products and services.
Make your communications meaningful and place emphasis on the value you are adding in every contact you have with your customers and prospects. It is key to ensure that this approach is consistent across your business. H2H goes beyond marketing, it should be reflected at every level from your customer service teams, through to leadership.
The rise of short-form video
In the past couple of years TikTok has completely shaken up the marketing world. And although seen as predominately an app for Gen-Z and Millennials, it is important to remember that this generation are rapidly becoming the decision makers in their organisations. So, it’s important to take note on how this audience interact with their peers and brands.
TikTok may not be the right platform for all businesses (for now) but what we can take from it is its format. Short-form videos are universally becoming the key format when it comes to engaging with your audience.
Short-form videos can be anything from 10 seconds to 10 minutes. The type of content will depend on your business and your audience but remember to be human. Are there how-to guides you can create? Is there a big change coming in the industry that you can help to explain? Think about what value your business can bring through short-form video content.
Hybrid events are here to stay
The way we now work has changed the events landscape. Many of us will spend 2022 and beyond working between our homes and the office and this in turn changes the way we attend events.
This comes with a great benefit to businesses hoping to host events. Having an online ‘version’ of your event makes it much easier to widen your pool of attendees without having a significant impact on budget. It also opens your business to an audience from further afield than local events allow.
The options now available for hosting virtual and hybrid events are incredibly sophisticated and if events are a key part of your strategy this year it is worth exploring and investing in these tools.
Mobile usage continues to rise, so make sure you’re optimised
According to studies, mobile devices generate around half of all global website traffic*. Digital experiences that are optimised for mobile should be playing a key part of your strategy in 2022.
A large percentage of the touchpoints you will have with your customers and prospects in 2022 will be digital, and increasingly on mobile. Now is the time to ensure that the experience your audience has is as seamless and easy as possible.
In practise this means reviewing your website either internally or with external expertise and ensuring all elements function as they should on mobile. The same applies to email communications, get into the practice of proofing all emails on mobile as well as desktop, to check how they will be viewed on both.
It’s time to focus
As with any new year planning, it’s often easy to make ambitious plans that often are slightly unrealistic. Start small and focus on one thing at a time. Working this way will not only be more beneficial to your business but will also make it easier to keep momentum going.
Focus on getting each area right one at a time and you will be on the path to a successful 2022.
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