💜 Srivaradha Vanamamalai’s Post

From skepticism to love: How B2B marketing won over a reluctant marketer’s heart in 5 years. Discover the journey. https://lnkd.in/g7ZBvDVs

Over the past years of working / interacting with founders, and helping them think through the process of getting to product-market fit (PMF), I have realised that PMF is relatively easier (well nothing in PMF is easy but relatively!) in B2B (esp those with top down motion) as opposed to B2C. B2B startups with PLG motion fall in between (easier than B2C, but harder vs B2B top down motion). B2B (top down motion) has 2 advantages when it comes to PMF. One is less feedback friction, and the second is easier visibility on purchase reasons. Let us unpack these. 1/ Direct feedback fm every customer in B2B unlike B2C, and because in the early phase, the founder is selling (always!) the learning on the product is faster - the feedback can be relayed to Engg teams, leading to fast product iteration (Front, Retool all had superfast pace of iteration). In PLG the feedback is not always direct and hence there is learning impedance. In B2C it is even worse, as it is difficult for the founder to get feedback fm most users. This is why the best B2C founders are those obsessed with talking to individual customers. 2/ Every B2B product is a painkiller; it is purchased because it is faster, better, cheaper than competition or some alternative / workaround, and there is some resulting benefit measured through some cost, time or revenue advantage. The B2B buyer only buys your product because it confers a certain benefit / yields a certain value, and this is discoverable and addressable through specific features which can be improved upon thanks to the learning from direct conversations with the customer (see above). But, B2C products are vitamins not painkillers and often it is unclear (esp in the early phase) why customers bought it / what benefit it conferred, e.g., Tiktok, Mokobara bags, Comet shoes. It sometimes becomes hard to understand the exact benefit or see a clear pattern of benefits emerge, and thereby build product features and GTM hooks to leverage that pattern. And it is also made harder because there is more friction to reach out to B2C customers for the founder, and find why the customer bought it (and you dont get the true reason often - that is cheaper or looked good, as the customer is embarassed about looking shallow or poor). Thus it is not only harder to get feedback, but it is also harder to get correct feedback. Takeaway: B2C founders should build in time to speak to 3-5 customers every week. It takes 15-30mins per customer and it is worth it. They should try and search for patterns of purchase - and track it to benefits (The JTBD framework can help - what is the job to be done in my customers life that my product is being borrowed for?). Again, dont believe all that the customer says. Go by what they do as much, if not more than what they say. Doing great customer research is an art and a science, and it is a whole different topic altogether. Read resources like The Mom Test and yes, you will get better with time.

Common Q: How do you build & scale B2B Paid Programs? II put this together as an internal reference, but I thought it might be helpful if I shared it broadly. Over the next few weeks I'll be diving into some of these so be sure to follow

Common Q: How do you build & scale B2B Paid Programs? II put this together as an internal reference, but I thought it might be helpful if I shared it broadly. Over the next few weeks I'll be diving into some of these so be sure to follow

Some B2B SaaS founders boldly talk about the competition on their websites. While others prefer a more conservative approach (why lash at others, let's just talk about ourselves). Is talking about competition on your website good? Is it bad? Is it a tactic to make things sensational? Let's first understand what's the job of your website? ❌ to impress investors ❌ to please peers ❌ to house your content The job of your website is to "Get you into the consideration set". Now let's understand how to buyers build their considerations set. They compare new options with products they already know to check for TWO things 1️⃣ Is it similar enough to the product I know? (so I can be sure it does the same job) 2️⃣ Is it different enough from the product I know? (so I can be sure it does the same job much better) Talking about your competition is the smartest way to do 3 things: 👉 guide your buyers on which products to compare you with 👉 guide your buyers on how you are different 👉 guide your buyers to build the purchase criteria (in your favor) Example: "Get rid of enterprise CRMs that take 6 months to set up" 👉 it tells your buyers to compare you with "Enterprise CRMs" 👉 it tells your buyers how you are different, "faster set up" 👉 it guides your buyers to build the purchase criteria ("implementation time") Summary: Don't see competition talk as "putting your alternatives down..." See it as "guiding your buyers to build their consideration set..." Shift the focus, and you will feel more comfortable talking about your competition... #b2bsaaspositioning

Spray and pray vs Wait and pray? if you don't understand this paradigm shift, you're likely falling behind with your B2B GTM. The change in B2B buyer's journey shouldn't mean going from "full" control to no visibility at all over the touches that lead to a sale. Instead, we need to realize that there's just a new paradigm by which we receive signals from buyers in a complete different way. If the strategy before was spray and pray (AKA casting a wide net to see what we catch), the strategy now shouldn't be wait and pray (AKA just optimize for zero-click experiences and in-feed consumption and wait until you get inbound). Instead, we need to understand how different the signals from each paradigm are. Before, when the buyer's journey was more "linear", companies were after signals with: - Big impact (one signal means ready for sales) - High cost (because of the supposed big impact, there was a willingness to pay a higher cost) - One-time/lower cadence (getting a signal meant getting an opt-in, and therefore this happened only so often) - Declining intent/conversion rate (because of the need to have full control over it, the friction we demand buyers to go through in order to get these signals has been yielding diminishing returns) Now, if we try to map out today's complex buyer's journey in B2B, we can find way more signals on the way, which are cheaper and less meaningful in and of themselves, but that can have a way bigger impact when put together intelligently (and therefore, at least for now, have a higher conversion rate). To make it clearer: now, instead of getting a lead-gen form submission that can cost you $150-300, and that closes at a 1% rate to be optimistic, you may get a profile view, one comment, 10 views @ 50%, and a website visit in a matter of 2-3 weeks with less than $50-100 spent on that account (to be conservative). And that's not accounting for all of the signals we really can't access (yet), such as posts shared, company mentions in private channels, competitors discussed in calls... etc. There's an art in putting all those together, and most importantly take an intelligent action based on them that actually moves the needle in a way that feels natural and doesn't kill the authenticity of the buyer's journey. More on that as we keep figuring it out. #signalbasedselling #inboundledoutbound #b2bsales #b2bmarketing ------------------------------------------- P.S. I post multiple times a week about how to profitably advertise on Linked[ln] in a way that aligns with modern B2B best practices and helps generate high-quality demand. Hit the button in the top right to follow along. DMs are open.

Most B2B SaaS case studies are a snoozefest: bland and lifeless. But then there’s Gong.🏅 Here’s the breakdown: 1️⃣ Results-driven headline: None of that “Company X loved our solution” fluff. Gong gets right to the point: they helped Diligent increase close rates by 7.4%. Perfect! 2️⃣ Crystal-clear customer intro: We get the who, what, and where in a flash. It’s showing relevance from the word go. 3️⃣ The problem: Diligent’s sales reps needed a way to level up. Gong positions itself as the superpower that their sales superheroes needed. No unnecessary drama—just the facts. 4️⃣ The solution and the results: Not only did Gong boost close rates by 7.4%, but they also cut down the time to hit quota by 3 weeks. (Yes, I did a double-take too.) 5️⃣ Customer quote: Because nothing says credibility like someone else singing your praises. Pro tip: make it juicy, like Gong’s client did here. 6️⃣ Video content (brownie points 🎥): Because reading is great, but watching a story unfold? Even better. (Also, who doesn’t love seeing people nod thoughtfully in meeting rooms?) The takeaway: If your case studies aren’t hitting all these notes, you’re leaving money on the table—and eyeballs off your content. Write your case study like Gong. Make it snackable (videos help), results-focused, and oh-so-shareable. What’s the best case study you’ve seen recently? #b2b #saas #salesenablement

A Real B2B Horror Story 👻 Working in B2B can sometimes feel like a long trek through the desert. There are days when not a single lead appears on the horizon, and then, suddenly, it seems like leads are pouring in—like a rare desert rain—only to discover it's just a mirage. This happened to me recently with one of my clients. We finally saw an opportunity to shift from a strategy focused on clicks to one centered around conversions. I know that stats can sometimes be misleading, so I sat down with my colleague, Ethan, to dive into the client’s HubSpot account. And that’s when the real horror revealed itself: nearly 90% of the leads were flagged as spam, with most of them associated with Gmail accounts. The takeaway?💡 If you're only focused on tracking leads and ignore key metrics like MQLs, SQLs, and Opportunities, you’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. #B2BHorrorStory #B2BMarketing Casper Emil Sciuto Rouchmann Johannes Kristoffersen Frederik Saabye Møller Amanda Julie Spangtoft Poulsen Peter Lous

I once closed a $200+ million ARR B2B SaaS company over just two calls. Here's what it taught me: The easiest deals to close are inbound deals, especially if the decision-maker was he one who came inbound to inquire. The reason for this is that before decision-makers come inbound, they're almost sold on the solution you provide. Initiating an inquiry is often to see how much you can personalize your solutions to their needs + discuss pricing. It follows that earning a piece of your buyers mind and getting them to ponder about your solutions, relative to their problems, won't go out of fashion when it comes to getting qualified inbound. But how do you do this? By using relatable stories to craft resonant content your ideal buyers actually want to read and share with peers. Here's one way you can do that: https://lnkd.in/eTYR3c3i

In 25 days, we got 13 warm leads for a B2B company (> 50 people) in APAC (3 steps we followed) 👇 We have been working with this B2B company since mid 2023. The 1st 6 months worked pretty well. But, in Jan and Feb The number of leads started to drop a bit It was weird. -- We kept on: - Reaching out to the same target - Using similar sales intents - Sending the same type of personalise cold emails It didn’t work as before. -- Why? - There’s a seasonality in our client industry (Mid-Jan to Mid-Feb is slow) → They target accounting firms, law firms - Our client is based in Australia and target 2 main countries in APAC (Singapore/Australia) → In Australia: January/Feb is summer time there. A lot of people takes time off → In Singapore: January is slow and in Feb it’s Chinese New Year time. A lot of people takes time off too We weren’t worry as our client confirmed the above Their number of inbound leads went from ~30 inbound /week to 4-5 inbound/week -- 3 steps we followed: - We stayed consistent (consistency in sales in everything) - We launched a specific nurturing sequence to follow up/re-engage with those leads - We used this down time to focus our efforts and finding new sales intents In March, we continued our efforts Warm leads are getting back up! -- Our work backbone: - Our consistency - The data quality and relevancy - The way we use the data to reach prospects at the right time with the right approach Not all leads we reach out to will need our client’s product. But good first impressions count to nurture leads in future No spray and pray. It’s 2024. -- PS: If the above resonates with you and you fit the following criteria: - You’re an Exec / Director/ Head / VP part of a revenue team - Your company has an existing branding - You sell to SMEs / Mid-market - You make > 1 revenue/year - Have an average ticket size of minimum 5 figures - You generate inbound leads (> 15 inbound leads/month) But don’t know how to make outbound work in your favour DM me 'Multichannel'. We'll have a quick chat and I'll get you details. Happy Monday! Arnaud