Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of The Five, a weekly collection of B2B marketing lessons, learnings, thoughts… ok fine it’s stuff. B2B marketing stuff. Curated by me, Dave Gerhardt and driven by the community at Exit Five (we host a private community of ~3,500 marketing pros and normally I'm here promoting that you should join us but right now we're not taking new memberships for a few weeks as we do some housekeeping, but you can get on the waiting list if you want to be notified when we open memberships back up in May)
Thanks to the 2023 Exit Five presenting sponsors Jasper (AI), Demandwell (SEO), and Zapier (Automation).
Let’s get into it.
#1 B2B SaaS Content Strategy
Content marketing is a widely accepted part of B2B marketing today. But it's also one of the biggest wastes of money and time sucks for the team, and I can't tell you how many discussions I've had over the years about marketing teams "doing a lot of stuff" and everyone is feeling busy and burnt-out ... but the team is not hitting their revenue goals.
I see it all the time - there's a blog, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Reels, TikToks, webinars, emails ... and it's just a lot of "doing content" without any real strategy.
If that sounds like what's going on in your org flip over to episode 71 of the Exit Five podcast with my friend Lashay Lewis -- we talked B2B SaaS content strategy for about an hour and cover how writing influences buyers, the power of a strong company POV, training in-house writers and freelancers in a way that scales, where podcasting fits in a B2B content strategy, why search volume can be misleading, and thoughts on how content marketers can use ChatGPT.
*Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.
#2 Are You Burnt or Crispy??
Speaking of burnout ... this week's podcast (episode 72) is not with a B2B marketer but it's with Kara Hardin, a former corporate lawyer turned psychotherapist who works at the intersection of mental health and performance. This episode is all about YOU and your stress at work, managing burnout, and tackling that ever so confusing question I know I've struggled with ... does my work in B2B marketing peddling software actually have a meaning? I'm not curing world hunger or ending homeless ... certainly my job is just to feed the capitalist system right?? Well, Kara has some great insight on this topic and we went deep. Probably one of my favorite episodes to date of the podcast.
Listen here.
Or just search "Kara Hardin Exit Five podcast" wherever you like to listen.
#3 Who's The Best Manager You've Had? And What Made Them Great?
I asked the Exit Five community to tell me about the best boss they've had and wanted to share some of the responses here:
- The best marketing boss I've had is actually a HORRIFIC manager.
But he owns it. I don't think I would have had the same opinion of him if I worked for him earlier in my career. What makes it great is that he's a talented marketer, entrepreneur, and a good person. Above all, we have mutual trust and respect that makes working for him rewarding and enjoyable and extremely aggravating at times. LOL - He taught me how to scope and prioritize projects, invaluable
- Udi from Gong
- The CEO I work with now. Trusts the team. Communicates well. Isn’t overbearing AND isn’t ghost.
- Genuine care for his employees. Working to put himself in our shoes and support us as best he could. This manager was a male with all females working for him, so he read "Lead In" to help him understand what we face in the workplace. He told me on several occasions that my success was his success, and he would help me to advance in my career even if it meant leaving his team/company.
- Trust and being secure enough as a person in their own job to be able to see that I would always do what was in the best interest of the marketing team and subsequently the company. I.e. Let me do my job. 😊 Also, the kindness and the willingness to help open doors to a young marketing professional eager to learn who had not yet “done it all” in the marketing world. See above re: trust once competency and commitment was demonstrated. She’s still a dear friend to this day. And she’s retired. 😊
- The ability to listen and not judge.
- Not afraid of difficult conversations and providing constructive feedback in a way that actually made our relationship (and me) better. Knew how to channel my high energy, high ownership style. Didn’t let personal ego get in the way.
#4 How Do You Increase Event Registrations?
There was a question this week about ways to increase event registrations:
Hi everyone! I’m looking for some fresh ideas to increase event registrations. Does anyone have tactics they’ve used or come across that have seen success in growing event registrations for online, webinar format events? Thanks!
And I thought it would be helpful to share some of the best answers here, since this is a common topic in B2B marketing.
***
A couple of things I’ve used in the past to get 100s of ideal customers on a webinar/live event:
1. Partner with someone they respect that has an audience. Find opportunities to take the spotlight off your company and earn some trust this way. It also can drastically elevate the perceived expertise of your company just by being in proximity to those experts.
2. Direct email. People on here are probably tired of me talking about direct email, but it really works 🤣 Inviting a prospect to a webinar on a topic that solves a real pain point for them is a way better way to get in touch with a cold or warm email contact then a direct pitch.
3. Post clips from past videos (if you’ve done them) in short format. Make the CTA signing up for the upcoming event.
***
Assuming your audience is B2B, you can partner up with an influencer on LinkedIn. Either offer to pay them for them to post it or invite them as a speaker on the webinar and get them to post it. I’ve used this strategy before and generated over 400 leads on LinkedIn just from a single influencer post! Worked really well.
***
Instagram and TikTok style video content announcing speakers / location / news / key things to look out for.. Get the founder on a podcast tour talking to the ICP about the event and giving away custom promo codes to show hosts for their audience to have discounted tix.
***
If you have budget, paid social media posts and email blasts from organizations targeting your ICP can work really well. Just make sure to ask them for their average clickthrough rate to be able to calculate if the investment would make sense. And going for a company that organizes similar events can drastically improve performance as their audience would be interested in what you’re offering.
***
#5 Exit Five 2.0 TEASER VIDEO
We are getting close to being ready to make the move off of Facebook Groups into our new home for Exit Five, what I'm calling Exit Five 2.0
I recorded a ~5 minute overview the new Exit Five and shared it with members today and I thought it would be worth sharing that video here with you if you missed it or if you're not yet a member but might want to become one when we open membership back up in a few weeks.
Here's the video from me sharing the plans for Exit Five 2.0
And if you're not yet a member but want to get on the waitlist you can join ~200 people on the waiting list now and get notified on the day we re-open memberships; we just need to close it down to the public for a bit while we change the plumbing and re-do the house :)
Click here to put your name on the Exit Five waiting list.
- Dave
PS. Could you share this email with a friend? I wrote a tweet / social post you can use or edit.