6 Ways It’s Not About You

There’s a core truth about really good B2B marketing: It’s not about you.

Companies that get this and act on it have a sustainable advantage. Here are six ways you can improve your marketing to make it more about your customers and less about yourself and your company.

Your marketing strategy

The best marketing strategies are not how to promote your company. Rather, they are focused on your customers journey; in their experience with you from the very first time they get to know you all the way through to being a longtime customer, and maximizing that experience.

So focus your marketing strategy around your customers’ experience with you at every stage of their journey with you.

Your message

You need a unifying story for a strong marketing program – but not your story.

Your message should be all about your customer, their needs and how you’re going to solve their problems.

Don Miller and StoryBrand are great thought leaders on this concept. If you haven’t read Building a StoryBrand, do so.

You should make your customer the hero of the story, not you. You’re not the hero, you’re a guide – a Sherpa to help them solve their problems and find success.

Your website

It’s not a billboard.

If you’re marketing at your best, your website has information about your company of course, but it’s organized around being a source of solutions for your audience. And part of that solution is what you can do for them – your capabilities – but you don’t want to lead with that.

Your content

It’s not a source of company news.

There’s a place a time and place for talking about an acquisition, or communicating changes that are important to your customer or the market. But mostly your content should provide value.

You want to give away your expertise. Give away some of what you’re providing to your customer before they buy it.

That will help you to become a thought leader. It’s an opportunity to draw them to you rather than to try to chase them and talk at them.

Lead generation

It’s not about selling. That comes later.

Lead generation is connecting with the people that are interested in what you can do to help them.

Focus your lead generation programs on how you can help your ideal prospects solve their problems. By leading with that – giving away some of your value – you will be attracting them to you in a way you can’t if you’re talking about how great you are.

Your product

Think about your product or service as not being the least you can get away with.

It shouldn’t be about how much you can get out of your customer. It should be about how much you can do for your customer. What is the most you can do for them?

The reason this is an important investment – being generous and giving as much as you can to your customer – is that the best prospect in the world is an existing customer, and the best sales person in the world is a happy customer.

Most businesses don’t think this way. If you act on some or all of these ideas, you will stand out in your market, no matter what industry you’re in.