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It seems like 2021 is turning into the year of looking forward – as we focus on the destination a little up the road. I don’t usually like to feature an artist twice in this newsletter (especially in the same month), but this song by Beck seems to be fitting this week… and he features prominently in the music article below!
Give it a listen with me as we discuss where things ‘are at’ this week…
Additional Revenue Streams for 2021
Revenue growth can be a challenge for any business, and can feel like an uphill battle. I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with our clients brainstorming ways to expand and continue to grow in 2021. Forrester SiriusDecisions has been talking about their five pillars of growth for years, and I think they are worth revisiting:
- Markets – expanding into new geographies, segments, or industries.
- Buyers – targeting new buying centres or buyer personas.
- Offerings – introducing new offerings or enhancements to existing ones.
- Acquisitions – acquiring another company or incubation of new business units.
- Productivity – maximizing efficiencies, effectiveness, and engagement.
As companies entered into our first lockdown, they certainly focused on maximizing efficiencies and effectiveness, and minimizing costs. However – as companies have learned how to survive and hopefully thrive, they’ve had to look at other ways to grow.
Many successful businesses learned to work smarter, not harder – and have done this by adding new revenue streams. But they don’t have to sell to new customers or a new market. While that’s a possibility according to the list above, many times efficient, effective new revenue streams can be found within your existing customer base. Look for ‘adjacent’ opportunities that can be sold to your current customers – it’s one of the fastest ways to grow your business, according to ValueProp:
- You’ve already built brand familiarity.
- Your customers already have a baseline experience with you.
- The existing relationship shortens the sales cycle.
Make sure your offering remains consistent to your current value proposition, and can enhance the value your customer expects from you. New products or offerings can sometimes backfire if they don’t align with your strategy. As always, think about your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and their buying needs!
Why Artists Should Sell Sheet Music
In today’s new digital world of music production and consumption, can you believe that sheet music still has a place? According to Hypebot, it’s not only relevant, but should be an integral part of any artist’s revenue stream! It can help a) generate extra revenue; b) develop your transcription skills; c) prepare music for future concerts; and d) reach a wider audience and engage with them.
Beck released an ‘album’ in 2012 that was distributed solely as sheet music. And it spawned an actual album a couple of years later with artists such as Jack White, Norah Jones, and Beck himself recording versions of these songs. What a great idea that created multiple revenue streams! Not only did he release music via the sheet music that is VERY engaging with customers (as they need to interpret the music themselves), but he was also able to leverage that effort to create an all-star tribute album later on to generate additional revenue.
I love looking at inspirational and unique examples like this and applying them to B2B. How can you use some of these concepts in your organization? Do you sell a product or service? Is there a way to productize some of your processes that you use to create your product/service?
In Beck’s case, he wrote an album’s worth of songs, then released the sheet music he may have already developed as part of his writing process. The sheet music is his ‘blueprint’ of the music he creates, and this revenue stream was completely based on the blueprint, and not the final product.
Perhaps there is a story you can tell or a resource guide you can recreate for your customers that can also generate a similar opportunity for you? If it’s engaging and valuable to your customers or prospects – who knows? Maybe this additional revenue stream is ‘where it’s at’ – no turntable or microphone required!
As always, if I can help you out, let me know! Don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello.
Looking forward,
Rick
Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat