Doug Kessler & Rutger Frissen on B2B Marketing @Digital Wednesday - Eindhoven, January 30, 2019

1. The unexpected obstacles that
are killing your B2B marketing
Doug Kessler – @dougkessler
Rutger Frissen – @velocitytweets

2. 55 things to think about

3. 1Find your mojo

5. Some was funny.
Metro Trains
Dumb Ways to Die
Rainforest Alliance
Follow the Frog

6. Some was
super-helpful.
Moz
Whiteboard Fridays

7. Some was dramatic.

8. Some was quiet…
Some was silly.
GE Aviation
Paths of Flight
BlendTec
Will It Blend?

10. Great content is always
confident content.

11. Confident content signals:
I know what I’m talking about.
I’m good at telling stories.

12. The single most important
(but least used) ingredient
in marketing.

13. What we learn about the
communicator makes a
bigger impression and stays
with us longer than what we
learn about the topic.

14. What we learn about
the communicator
Time
Impact
What we learn
about the topic

15. Content is a demo of you.

16. Not so confident:
The High Velocity Low Speed
Fan Company – HVLS, INC

17. Confident:

18. Why confidence:
It attracts
It signals expertise and experience
Projects success and momentum
Grabs attention

19. The old B2B voice is dead.

20. The old B2B voice.
Stiff
Serious
Uniform
Formal
Dull

21. The new B2B voice.
Straight & simple
Confident
Conversational
Varied & flexible
Real & human

24. A mojo recipe
Aim high: make confidence a goal
Write how you speak
Surprise
Say less

25. 2Be insanely honest

28. Insane honesty signalled:
1. She cared about us having a great time.
2. We could trust everything she said
about the positives.
@DougKessler

30. Normal honesty is simply
ethical and professional.

31. ‘Insane’honesty
is a choice.

32. Actively seek out
your weaknesses

33. Actively seek out
your weaknesses
and share them openly.

34. Insane honesty is putting
your worst foot forward.

35. Why insane honesty?

36. Why insane honesty:
It surprises and charms

39. Why insane honesty:
It signals confidence

43. Why insane honesty:
It builds trust

44. Harvey Residential, Estate Agent
Not a very nice one bedroom
flat but like the budgie it’s
cheap; open plan, has a well
used kitchen, and if you can
call it this – a small lounge.
“
”

45. Why insane honesty:
It alienates less likely buyers

47. Kessels KramerHans Brinker Budget Hotel, Amsterdam

48. Kessels KramerHans Brinker Budget Hotel, Amsterdam

51. Why insane honesty:
It attracts ideal prospects

55. Be insanely honest
•Highlight your worst attributes
•Earn the trust of your ideal prospects

56. 3
Create a culture
of experimentation

57. Time. 36 hours
People. 5 people per team
Budget. $100 per team
Pitch. 3 minutes
The Typeform challenge

61. How to promote
experimentation
in your marketing

62. Get stakeholder
buy-in up front. • To the experimentation
principle
• To the likelihood of failure

63. Your VP
of Sales
Your idea
When your
idea gets
killed

64. Design ‘fail fast’
experiments. • Small, low-cost steps
• Front-loaded learning

65. Ring-fence your
experiment budget • Think 70/20/10

66. • Course-correct
early and often
• Let go of PlanA
Embrace pivots

67. Pfizer:Argiva

69. Let the dance begin.™

70. CB Insights, Nov 2018
burbn
A coding prototype
by Kevin Systrom
Too cluttered. Pare it
back to posting, liking
and commenting.
“
”

71. CB Insights, Nov 2018

72. Odeo
The podcast
discovery platform
CB Insights, Nov 2018

74. CB Insights, Nov 2018
Image: Waybackmachine

76. Milk your failures • For learning
• For showing
vulnerability
• For content

79. An experimental mindset and
program of experiments is the
closest thing to a guaranteed
route to greatness.

80. It starts by admitting you
don’t know everything.

81. And proceeds through
systematic learning.

82. That is how you
get better at getting better.

83. 4
Find conventions
to break

84. How to swear in your
fucking marketing

85. People are
a bunch of
sweary people.
Swear words
%ofspokenwords
0-3.4%
The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words, Timothy Jay

86. 1st person plural
pronouns
1.0%
People are
a bunch of
sweary people.
Swear words
%ofspokenwords
0-3.4%
The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words, Timothy Jay

87. 1.73 ‘fucks
per minute’.
– Final season,
Deadwood

88. We swear liberally in TV shows,
movies, plays, poetry, music,
fiction, non-fiction, daily
speech, bar mitzvahs, visual
arts, emails, Post-it® notes,
shopping lists and conferences.

89. We swear everywhere.

90. Everywhere but marketing.

91. Swearing is one way
to break convention so
your marketing doesn’t
look, sound, smell and
taste like marketing.

98. Kmart – Ship My Pants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCsqABAQLjs&t=2s

99. Smart Forfour – Swearing kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkmRuHGnBlk

100. Surprising
Confident Authentic
Resonant
Funny
Honest
Refreshing
Unconventional
Fuck,
yeah

101. Don’t swear if your
audience doesn’t
like swearing.

102. But do aim for
the things
swearing can
sometimes do.
Surprising
Confident Authentic
Resonant
Funny
Honest
Refreshing
Unconventional

103. 5
Actively manage
your stakeholders

104. digital, search, social, content marketing, mobile,
AI, marketing automation, data visualization,
the cloud, inbound, analytics, big data, journey
mapping, predictive analytics,
data enrichment, attribution modelling, lead
nurturing, data onboarding, programmatic
advertising, real-time bidding, native advertising,
SEO, PPC, CRO, CRM, ABM, APIs, KPIs…
Marketing has changed.

105. digital, search, social, content marketing, mobile,
AI, marketing automation, data visualization,
the cloud, inbound, analytics, big data, journey
mapping, predictive analytics,
data enrichment, attribution modelling, lead
nurturing, data onboarding, programmatic
advertising, real-time bidding, native advertising,
SEO, PPC, CRO, CRM, ABM, APIs, KPIs…
Marketing has changed.

106. We need to talk about
your stakeholders.

107. VPofSales CMO CEO
Salesteam Productteam Client
YourbossCustomer
TheRegionsFieldSalesEventsteam
Someguy
We need to talk about
your stakeholders.

108. Managing stakeholders
prevents you from
doing your job.
Oldview

109. Managing stakeholders
prevents you from
doing your job.
Realworld
is

110. If we fail at this,
we fail at marketing.

112. How to turn your stakeholders
into supporters.

113. Sell in your vision before
you sell in your work.

115. Build and defend
your credibility

116. Become your company’s
customer advocate

117. Be the data

118. Market your successes

119. Be prepared to quit
(or be fired)

120. 5 things to think about
1. Find your mojo
2. Be insanely honest
3. Experiment
4. Break conventions
5. Manage your stakeholders

121. Thanks.
Doug @dougkessler
Rutger @velocitytweets