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Well, it’s been a wild ride in the media the last few days with all eyes gazing across the Atlantic. When there is so much going on, and such a frenzy, it’s tough to deal with all the noise! Sometimes I just think it’s best to sit silently and listen to our thoughts…

Give this song by the Tragically Hip a listen with me as we see what the experts are saying this week.

B2B – Ahead by a Century?

Apparently, this is the B2B Century, and marketers will be the ones to lead it. What do you think – reality or illusions of someday?

There is no denying that the marketing industry obsesses over B2C brands, with every fizzy drink logo refresh or cereal promo getting covered in breathless detail. But what about B2B?

B2B is half of the global economy: 50% of the UK FTSE 350 firms are purely B2B, as are nearly 40% of all businesses in Great Britain. In the United States, an astonishing 72% of businesses are primarily B2B, and B2B sales add up to over $9 Trillion a year!

The biggest B2B categories are already bigger and faster-growing than the biggest consumer packaged goods categories:

  • Cloud computing, a $791B business, has an expected annual growth rate of 17.9%. (Compare that with the $434B soft drink business, with expected growth of only 4.7%.)
  • Amazon’s B2B business grew to $25B in five years – half the time it took its B2C business to grow that big.
  • Out of 10 successful tech IPOs last year, nine were pure-play B2B businesses.

As marketers, this is our life. B2C may not be going anywhere, but B2B sure is our future – am I right?

Constant Noise Gettin’ You Down?

We’re bombarded by audio all day. Some studies say that the world is louder today than it’s ever been in human history, with noise doubling or even tripling every 30 years or so. This means that silence – true silence – is in increasingly short supply.

Neuroscientists, psychologists, and other specialists confirm that noise is bad for our overall health and our brains in particular. Noise that we can’t control causes stress. Stress leads to increased adrenaline, blood pressure, and anxiety. Not good.

As someone who likes to play (and listen to) loud music, this worries me. Can periods of silence help? Perhaps. Trying to hear something when there’s nothing to hear stimulates the auditory cortex, the part of the brain dedicated to perceiving and analyzing sound, which creates “positive stress” and improves cognition.

In short, the exercise of listening to silence is good for the brain. The takeaway for B2B? Maybe instead of adding to the noise, we can find ways to sit silently and stand out to our prospects.

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello – I will enjoy it, even if it disturbs my silence!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat