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B2B Humor — How to Play It Well

Comedy is a killer.

When it plays well, it makes a presentation or interaction memorable and meaningful.  It builds rapport and creates a foundation of trust that can help a sales professional or marketer move a deal forward. That’s killer!

If it falls flat, it leaves a lingering sense of disappointment and discomfort that negatively impacts relationship building.  That too is a killer.

I’d like to think I know funny.  For the past decade I have donated my time to perform stand-up comedy at events and fundraisers hosted by community groups, charitable organizations and schools.  My credits include shows to benefit the Marine Corps Marathon, Arlington County Fair and Operation Renewed Hope Foundation.

How funny am I?  Here is a link to a video of my opening joke during a keynote presentation at the Inbound Marketing Summit in San Francisco.  I employ a classic double punch line.

I thought you’d find of interest these articles about how comedy is being put into action by companies like yours.  It is very much about creativity, connection and relationship building.

No Joke: Why the Business World is Embracing Comedy

Want to Improve Your Business Skills?  Try Stand Up Comedy

How Improv Methods from Comedy Can Lift Business Performance

 

And here is an example of a comedic attempt that falls short.  It is an unsolicited sales Email I received from a vendor attempting to make light of my lack of responsiveness.

Hi!  I’ve reached out a few times regarding “WordPress Developer/Technical Lead”. My guess is that we’re out of touch for one of three reasons:
– You don’t see a fit;
– You have other developers available for your task;
– You are secretly a superhero and have been too busy fighting crime to reply.

If any of these are correct then they may be the exact reason why we should talk now… a phone call / Skype would be a pleasure.  I am looking forward to your reply.

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The Big 4 Content Marketing Best Practices

Insource…outsource…a blended approach?  Senior marketers often debate how to most effectively staff and resource a content program.

The most high impact campaigns we have been a part of at Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) have been led by corporate and field marketers, with third-party vendors tasked with creation, promotion, distribution and analytics support.

In addition to the ability to ramp up tactical execution, marketing consultants and vendors bring best practices that allow a corporate team to sharpen its approach.  Here are four recent examples of how marketers like you have elevated impact:

  1. Give them a reason to read!  Exclusive interviews with an industry thought leader build community.  Here is an example from Today’s Modern Educator and Learning Without Tears:   Dr. Margo Isabel, Head of Lower School discusses how to create a culture of lifelong learning.
  2. Timeliness, impact and conflict are attributes that make content newsworthy.  So does human interest.  NetApp publishes about a technologist who also “rocks out” as a member of a band called the Petabytes.
  3. Sourcing content from a partner’s blog allows a company to present a comprehensive view of an issue or trend.  The marketers at Comstor provide an example in the EDGE 360 campaign.  Check out how Cisco is sourced.
  4. Align your company’s content marketing with its presence at an industry conference for relevance and timeliness.  Rockwell Collins shows us how with its Modern Military Training campaign:  Q&A with Dr. Benjamin Bell, Conference Chair, MODSIM World 2018.

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A Brilliant (and Brutal) Sorority Email

What many consider the most deranged sorority Email ever sent is actually brilliant in its brutal candor.

It is April 2013 and an exasperated Rebecca Martinson sits in front of her computer to pen an Email to her sisters in Delta Gamma sorority’s University of Maryland chapter.

She writes, “If you just opened this like I told you to, tie yourself down to whatever chair you’re sitting in, because this email is going to be a rough ?##@@!!! ride.”

The rest of Martinson’s missive is legendary.  You can read the Email in its entirety on Gawker.com here at this link.  (Warning: inappropriate language and content.)

Rebecca Martinson, author of the deranged sorority Email. (Photo source: TMZ.com)

Martinson’s candor lacks maturity, yet her beef with the Delta Gamma sisters is justified.  Their lack of interest in and engagement with the fraternity they had partnered with during Greek Week had created perception issues on campus.

What is the lesson here for marketers?

While a potty mouth is no way to represent yourself or your organization, shock value has impact.  When was the last time your organization offered a controversial opinion?  Made a bold prediction? Or called out a competitor?

Successful entrepreneurs like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff and Richard Branson have all employed shock for strategic advantage.  It shouldn’t be the foundation of your communications program, but there is a place for it.

So…I am sure you are dying to know whatever became of Rebecca Martinson.  According to Cosmopolitan, she is now an editor for a Web site called BroBible and a published author.

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Lessons from Bloomberg’s Maiden Sale

Michael Bloomberg in the 1980s. (Photo source: HollywoodReporter.com)

It’s 1982.  Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger dominates the pop charts.  Imagine you work at financial services firm Merrill Lynch.  A young Michael Bloomberg arrives unannounced at your office with a cup of coffee for you.  What do you do?  Give him 15 minutes to pitch his product.

It is now 2018.  You are humming Ed Sheeran’s Perfect at your desk.  A bold and brash sales rep barges in.  What do you do?  Dial security.

Last week, entrepreneurs from across the United States gathered in Washington, DC for the 10,000 Small Businesses Summit, hosted by Goldman Sachs.  Billionaire (and former New York City mayor) Michael Bloomberg was among the A-list speakers.  He shared a wonderful story about how he scored his first customer for Bloomberg LP.

Every morning for nearly a year, Bloomberg scoured Merrill Lynch’s office chatting up anyone he stumbled across with the goal of building relationships.  One of his targets turned out to be the company’s chairman, who eventually approved funding to trial Bloomberg’s product.

“No matter how much digital we have, people are what make businesses,” Bloomberg told attendees at the conference.

While Bloomberg is spot on that the world works on the relationships, the approach to foster connections has been dramatically recast.  There is no walking the halls of customer accounts.  Cold calling is unproductive.  Unsolicited Emails get minimal response.

That is because broadband adoption, the searchable Web and social networks have empowered customers, and given them more control than ever before on how and when they consume information about products and services.  Gartner Group refers to these customers as enlightened buyers.  Forrester Research uses the phrase the buyer’s journey.

Today, it is incumbent for companies like yours to meet buyers on their terms.  Thought leadership content is the vehicle to accomplish that.  When combined with targeted distribution and analytics to assess engagement, lead generation and account based marketing becomes more disciplined and measurable.

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Are B2B Marketers Guilty of Fake News?

Regardless of your politics, the 2016 presidential election was disconcerting for marketers as rumor, innuendo and mistruths spread on social media like a rash.  This created pause at my firm as we asked ourselves an uncomfortable question:  are we in the business of fake news?

Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) helps clients articulate thought leadership in the form of written articles, podcasts, videos and infographics and then publish on a micro-site or corporate blog.  This content is promoted via search, social media and digital communications to attract an audience of business-to-business buyers.

The study of analytics serves as a roadmap to facilitate sales, business development, channel and other revenue-generating activities.

The sustained decline of the business press and trade media has opened an opportunity for companies that subscribe to a journalistic view of content.  Educate…don’t sell…and you can absolutely build a community of high value readers.

When combined with a commitment to transparency, there is no way Strategic or its clients are purveyors of fake news.  Or are we?

One former industry journalist thinks so.  In an article posted on social media earlier this month, a media scribe offered a candid assessment of a crisis he believes exists in government technology:

Massive financial pressures have allowed non-media companies to enter the market under the guise of being legitimate journalism pursuits. From IT consulting firms to pure-play marketing and PR firms, these companies have formed “fake news” operations that are focused exclusively on serving their paying clientele with interviews, video programs, Q&As, blogs, research surveys, guest columns and even promises of quotes in stories.

The article – which has since been removed – detailed a specific example of the corrosive and conflicted nature of corporate sponsored news.

One of the sessions (at a conference) featured a presentation by the marketing director of a major government contractor. The audience listened carefully as he detailed how he had created a “news” publication and hired a well-known defense journalist to lead its reporting…But the marketing director said something else that anybody concerned about fake news would find highly disturbing: Editorial coverage decisions are made by executives in the contractor’s business development unit. Yes, business development executives get to have input on what topics and stories are covered in the pages of this fake news site.

The easy play for us at Strategic would be to chalk this up to a disgruntled journalist who finally reached a tipping point of frustration.  Let’s just ignore it.

Yet, we didn’t let it go that way.  We talked.  We debated.  We asked uncomfortable questions.  Here is what we concluded:

  • We don’t claim to be journalists.  We identify ourselves and the mission of our sites, which we refer to as online buyer communities. We must be honest.
  • We create content with integrity and transparency by identifying the companies we work for. We strive to avoid marketing speak and help our clients see the value to taking a more editorial approach. Plus, when possible, we share the opinions and thoughts of many — not just our clients.
  • We respect the buyers we attract, and also recognize they too have a responsibility to verify what they read and the source it comes from.
  • And finally, if we ever feel uncomfortable with what we are covering, it’s a red flag. We have an open conversation about it. We don’t let it fester. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t right.

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