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What is it about water?

Whether it’s a lake, river, or ocean – it’s always held a special place in the human psyche. It’s a source of nourishment, a medium for exploration, and a force to be reckoned with. Some of my most productive thinking happens at the lake!

Just as water can take on many forms, from tranquil lakes to tumultuous oceans, its symbolism is equally diverse – reflecting our desires, fears, and aspirations. What’s it reflecting for you this month? As year-end approaches, are you wrapped up in fear or a confident force to be reckoned with?

Give this song by Jane’s Addiction a listen as we wade into the Ocean Size waters of B2B and see what the experts are saying this week.

Saltwater B2B Lessons

I was recently sitting by the ocean watching a group of dolphins swim effortlessly past – and it made me pause. When we think of B2B marketing, we often picture boardrooms, data analytics, and corporate strategies… not the playful acrobatics of dolphins. But I love finding unlikely parallels to B2B – so I thought we could take a journey beneath the surface and discover the unexpected ways in which these ocean-dwellers and B2B marketing intersect.

1. Communication and Collaboration: Dolphins are known for their exceptional communication skills and collaborative nature within their pods. Similarly, effective B2B marketing thrives on robust communication and collaboration among teams, partners, and clients. Just as dolphins work together to achieve common goals, B2B marketers must foster clear and open communication to succeed in reaching shared objectives.
2. Adaptability and Innovation: Dolphins showcase adaptability in their behaviour and problem-solving abilities. In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B marketing, adaptability and innovation are crucial. Just as dolphins adapt to changes in their environment, successful B2B marketers need to embrace new technologies, strategies, and market shifts to stay ahead.
3. Relationship Building: Dolphins form strong social bonds and maintain relationships within their pods. In B2B marketing, cultivating and nurturing relationships with clients, stakeholders, and industry peers is fundamental. Building trust and rapport, as dolphins do within their social groups, is key to establishing successful, long-term B2B partnerships.
4. Eco-consciousness and Sustainability: Dolphins are often seen as indicators of the health of oceanic ecosystems. Likewise, in the realm of B2B marketing, there’s an increasing emphasis on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Just as dolphins signal environmental well-being, businesses are now expected to contribute positively to the environment and society.
5. Embracing Creativity and Playfulness: Dolphins exhibit playful behavior, showing that even in the most serious of endeavours, there’s room for fun. In B2B marketing, incorporating creativity and a touch of playfulness into campaigns can set a brand apart, making it more engaging and memorable.

The connection between dolphins and B2B marketing might seem abstract, but the lessons derived from their behaviour can still serve as valuable insights for marketers. By observing the strengths of these no-talking-all-action creatures, we can mirror their resilience and intelligence in our vast ocean of commerce.

Spotify and Smaller Bands?

As you may have gathered from last week’s post, my colleague Marlene is a fan of hard rock. I spoke a few weeks back about some of the changes to Spotify’s royalty model, which will have an adverse impact on rock and metal artists – many of whom are smaller acts.

Check out this article and video for more details.

It ain’t easy living for smaller artists/bands to begin with, and Spotify is poised to make it even tougher. The new payment structure will cater to established artists and labels, with the biggest change being that any track will need to hit an annual streaming minimum before being eligible for royalties.

What about in B2B? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation – perhaps with one of your preferred SaaS platforms changing on you? Do you adjust your processes or strategy to accommodate those changes… or look for alternatives?

As always, 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

The post Say Hello to Your Newest B2B Marketers appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

Can we build it up?

With Halloween only a week away, there’s a race to close out Q4 strong. While the pressure to meet year-end goals can be intense, it’s also a time to reflect on the progress made throughout the year and rally the team for a final push. Keeping a positive and motivated mindset is essential to tackle the challenges that come with closing out the year.

Give this song by Rival Sons a listen and see what the experts are saying this week.

The Power of Video & Animation

Last week we talked about the power of the human voice in the buyer’s journey – what about video? Simply put, being able to tell and show at the same time helps your audience understand better and stick around to hear more of your message. Seems like the perfect balance between that human voice and digital touch, right?

Our friends at Flikli explain that we absorb 80% of the information we see in visuals (as opposed to only 20% from reading). When you couple this innate preference for visuals with the dynamic, colourful nature of animated videos, it’s no surprise that they attract and hold attention more effectively than textual content: human beings are predominantly visual creatures.

So what other characteristics does video have that increase engagement?

• Simplicity: processing ease and enjoyment
• Emotion: creating connection and driving action
• Narrative: storytelling for memory enhancement
• Novelty: tapping into curiosity

Next time you’re looking for a compelling and interesting tactic for your marketing, maybe it’s time to try video or animation. It’s unique, spans both the human and digital channels and hopefully works for your money and earns its keep!

The Power of (Cloned) Voice???

There’s a new bootleg war – and it involves human voices!

The Recording Industry Association of America recently released its annual Notorious Markets List, which it submits to the US Trade Representative in hopes that the American government will do something about it. It names countries that are either ignoring the theft of music or not doing enough to combat it.

This year, the list cites a new problem: voice clones.

The year 2023 saw an eruption of unauthorized AI vocal clone services that infringe not only the rights of the artists whose voices are being cloned but also the rights of those that own the sound recordings in each underlying musical track. This has led to an explosion of unauthorized derivative works of our members’ sound recordings which harm sound recording artists and copyright owners.

Only one site is mentioned by name: a cloning service designed by a 20-year-old computer science student in the UK. Voicify.ai features vocal models of artists like Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Elvis Presley, Bruno Mars, Eminem, Harry Styles, Adele, Ed Sheeran and many others – and even goes beyond the music industry to include the likes of Obama, Trump, and Biden! Within seconds, anyone can have any one of these people say or sing anything you’d like.

Is this illegal? It’s unclear. The law has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to artificial intelligence.

What do you think? With pressure and time, some countries will likely introduce legislation around this… but maybe not everywhere. How might that affect the B2B landscape?

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello. Or even better, have one of the above artists or celebrities say hello on your behalf!

Looking forward,
Rick

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

The post Voice and Video – Better Together appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

How much rent do you pay?

No, I don’t just mean an apartment or housing. In our business lives we ‘rent’ many things. Equipment? Office space? How about software? The whole SaaS model is equivalent to paying monthly rent on your systems.

Think about all the technology you touch on a daily basis for your work – how many monthly/recurring payments do you have? It’s overwhelming, isn’t it – and a slight increase by multiple vendors can significantly impact your bottom line.

Give this song by Spoon a listen as we see what the experts are saying about the rent we pay this week…

For the CRM Aficionados…

SaaS pricing is an art unto itself. How many tiers, what features are available on each tier, etc. – there are many variables. For those of you who use Salesforce, you’ll probably be impacted by their latest price increases.

For the first time in more than seven years, Salesforce has increased its prices on the majority of its popular plans. The Starter plan stayed at the competitive $25/user/month, but the Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited plans all saw an average increase of around 9%.

What’s the reason for the increase? According to the official Salesforce press release, it’s because the company has substantially increased its generative AI offerings, including AI Cloud, Einstein GPT, and others. As a result, they’ve increased prices to make up for the increased functionality of the platform as a whole.

I’d love to hear from you if you’re a Salesforce user – how are these increases impacting you? Maybe you’ve been losing sleep over the changes – or maybe you’re still seeing the value? I’m curious how other major CRM vendors will respond.

For the Music Lovers…

Spotify users have been waiting almost two years for the platform to up its game when it comes to audio quality. Apple, Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon, and others are already available in higher-res audio while Spotify seems stuck in 2017.

A “Supremium” tier was announced in 2021, and promises have been made and broken since then. Now, though, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel: data miners have identified changes in Spotify’s code that seem to include the ability to carry lossless audio.

The Verge also reports on the possibility of 24-bit lossless audio, AI playlists, advanced mixing tools, audiobooks, and more. And – the code seems to reference a cost of $19.99/month.

What do you think? Does a tier for higher-res audio resonate with you? And what about B2B? I’m sure most of us have found ourselves working with systems overdue for an update. Do you stick it out and make do because you like the rent you pay… or does the stuck-in-the-past software have you looking at alternatives?

As always, 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

The post The Art of SaaS: What Do You Pay? appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

Ahh… the hot and lazy days of summer… when we all take a couple months off until September and the B2B rush starts again – Not so fast! It’s been BUSY! And I’m happy to see that many of my clients didn’t need my usual ‘don’t let your lead generation take a summer vacation’ reminder – there has been lots of activity!

My teams are seeing solid connect rates and good lead conversion numbers this July. Plus – there has been a lot of market and industry activity recently, as you know…

GO give this song by The Black Keys a listen as we see what the experts are saying this week!

Thoughts on Threads?

The biggest news in the tech space this month has got to be the release of Threads… and it seems to be off to a solid start. By now over 110 million accounts have been created. Not bad considering that the latest figures on Twitter (2022) is that it has 450 million monthly users (240 million monetizable ones). This growth is even faster than what we saw with ChatGPT earlier this year.

All these numbers are sketchy, of course, because we don’t know how many are bots or multiple accounts held by one person. But while Twitter’s streets aren’t bare, they could be in danger. I’ve been asking my peers (remember to leverage that peer support!) and here is a short list of some feedback I’ve heard on the new platform:

• A post can be as long as 500 characters – more than enough for a microblogging service.
• Clean interface. It’s easy to use.
• Many of the people/organizations I follow on Twitter are also on Threads.
• No ads. There won’t be, says Meta, until there’s around a billion users.
• You can’t delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram one. Meta no doubt considers that a feature.
• Still no way to track trending topics with hashtags or topic searches.
• DMs. No desktop version. Not great.
• No API integration with websites (yet).

Yes, this is further fragmentation of social media, which dilutes the whole experience and power. You have to wonder how many people have signed up for Threads just because the fire is gone in Twitter and they hate what it’s become.

Some say that Threads is the new Napster… in essence, a natural and inevitable evolution of the space it’s in. What do you think?

Random Music News

We’re smack-dab in the middle of Summer Festival season – here are some quick snippets of news that might interest you:

Don’t throw stuff on the stage!

Bomb threats at a Noel Gallagher concert (not from his brother, Liam)

Elton John’s farewell tour unicorn!

The shadowy world of ticket brokers

It’s hot outside – there’s a lot going on! Pick one that interests you and give it a read. I’d love to hear how these relate to your B2B activities!

As always, 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

The post First Impressions of Threads appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

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Welcome to 2023! Apparently, this is the year of the Rabbit (if you pay attention to these things). I’ve never been one to put much stock in these classifications – I think we all need to build our own luck. Maybe it’s the immigrant parent’s work ethic – but I firmly believe hard work, diligence, and common sense can help you succeed.

What are you doing to help your organization succeed in 2023?

Give this song by Jefferson Airplane a listen with me as we see what’s up this week and kick off the new year!

Feed your head! Resources to help you…

Interested in a look back at 2022? Or are you looking ahead to 2023? Maybe you’re just after something to get you pumped up and motivated for the New Year. Whatever it is, I’ve got you covered with these quick resources.

• FUNNEL REBOOT I had the pleasure of being part of a “Funnel Reboot” podcast last year – check out this awesome 2022 recap – some amazing episodes and brilliant contributors.
• 2023 TECH TRENDS FOR MARKETERS Great overview from Marketingprofs. Big surprise – AI continues to be top of marketers’ list of emerging tech!
• NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION If hitting the gym is a resolution of yours – what’s the best music to work out to?

Hopefully, these can help you kick-start your year… and instead of chasing rabbits, you can make your own luck!

As always, 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

The post Booting up 2023 appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

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A client reached out this week and asked if I could help them out. They had a proposal in front of them from December of 2020, and wanted to know if we could get started asap! Can you relate? Well… sometimes we let things lapse, and then we’re suddenly in a panic to get those lead numbers THIS QUARTER!

Give this song by Silversun Pickups a listen before YOU hit that panic switch!

Top Enterprise Sales Tools for 2022

You may have heard about the latest round of financing 6sense closed last month. The sales and marketing tech space is hot… and this latest round increases 6sense’s valuation to $5.2 Billion! Their AI-driven ‘account engagement’ platform promises to unify data, people, and processes to unlock predictable revenue potential. This got me thinking about other sales and marketing tech in a crowded room.

How do you prioritize those solutions to add the most benefit to your initiatives? Our friends at Vidyard put together their list of top enterprise sales tools to adopt in 2022. How many of these have you integrated into your tech stack?

More NFT Nonsense – It’s Never Worth My Time

Like many musicians, Ozzy Osbourne has jumped on the NFT bandwagon, even though most of us still don’t really understand what they are, or the technical babble – and often white noise – that is used to describe them.

Ozzy’s CryptoBatz collection – comprised of 9,666 non-fungible tokens – is a new creation in the digital art world, and pays tribute to his infamous live bat-biting incident in 1982, which you can now own a small slice of in the form of a totally cool virtual bat.

In a highly-amusing video, wife and manager Sharon explains Ozzy’s NFT journey, while he freaks out behind the scenes in his home library over the creative process of making said NFT.

Wow.

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello. And no bats, please!!!

Looking forward,
Rick

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

The post Don’t Panic! MarTech Heating Up appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

How is your 2021 stacking up? This time of year tends to be a time of growth and optimism, yet some industries continue to thrive while others continue to struggle. The past year has been one of paradox, which can make us feel like a bunch of walking contradictions…

Give this song by Green Day a listen with me as we see what the experts are saying this week:

What Are You Investing In This Year?

I spend a lot of my time talking to clients about their sales and marketing priorities. And, where possible, I like to use industry data – knowing where we stand against peers and competitors allows us to better position ourselves and uncover areas of opportunity. HubSpot’s Executive Marketing Leadership Survey provides some great insight into where marketing leaders are spending in 2021:

Growth Marketing – Building and retaining a customer base over time, including design elements and unique content to connect your brand with your audience. Stay adaptive, consistent, and recognizable to your target market!

Reacting at Speed – Developing unique, creative content at a fast pace and adapting quickly to trends is integral to marketers. 11% of respondents say that responding to global environments is a barrier to productivity.

Investing in Marketing Tech – 60% of marketers indicated that they are set to increase their marketing tech spend in the next 12 months. These investments are directly related to the above marketing trends, as they will help marketers retain and delight their audiences and react at speed when necessary.

Also clear in the survey is that marketing leaders are struggling with the transition to remote work:

• 43% said their team workload has increased since COVID-19 hit
• 80% find it difficult to motivate their teams & improve productivity

There’s clearly an opportunity for growth, with 46% of marketing leaders reporting an increase in web traffic since COVID-19. While that may be positive, this data shows a major predicament – there’s more work to be done, but employees are having a hard time getting motivated to put it together. Victim of a catch twenty-two?

Thinking of Running for President?

Well, you might be running against Green Day. Apparently Billie Joe Armstrong has filed the paperwork to start a campaign for the U.S. Presidency in 2024. Who knows if it’s a truly serious run – or if it’s just that, in his own words, his wallet’s fat and so is his head. Did you know there are a number of other musicians who have attempted to run for president in the past?

Alice Cooper has run for president in a tongue-in-cheek way in every election since 1972. Joe Walsh of the Eagles made a half-baked run in 1980 with a promise of cheeseburgers for all. There was a 2020 campaign by Ozzy Osbourne even though he was ineligible because he was born in the UK. And, of course, we’re all familiar with Kanye West’s 2020 attempt and all the press surrounding it.

There is that adage that ‘any press is good press.’ But does that hold true? I think you need to always be conscious of your personal brand and voice and ensure that any of your publicized activities are consistent with that voice. And, of course, your personal brand needs to align with your corporate brand where possible. Talk is cheap and lies are expensive – don’t be a walking contradiction!

As always, 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

The post Marketing Investments in 2021 appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

We’re all busy. But how busy are we… really? Are we moving things forward on a daily basis, or just going through the motions? With almost a year of various levels of lockdown behind us, perhaps we need a little novocaine for the soul to get us through and keep moving forward!

Give this song a listen with me as we discuss takeaways from the past week:

Increasing Data Quality

It feels like I’ve been talking to clients about data A LOT lately – intent data, data quality, data sourcing. The discussion always ends up coming back to that old computing adage, ‘garbage in, garbage out’ – and it’s as applicable now as it has ever been! So I spent some time looking at my favourite sources for research around data to discuss this week.

B2B data decays rapidly. I’ve pulled some stats from various sources – based on these, it’s no wonder companies struggle to keep their data clean!

• 40% of email addresses change at least once every two years
• 18% of telephone numbers change every year
• 21% of CEOs change every year
• 25-33% of email addresses become outdated every year

And I’m sure these numbers have increased due to COVID! According to ZoomInfo, there are some things you can do to address bad data:

1. Audit your database
2. Improve your data collection methods
3. Automate data maintenance

The HubSpot data, as well as reports such as this one from Dun & Bradstreet, show that marketers have increased investment in the quality of their data and are placing much more emphasis on data quality to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

How are you improving data quality? Is it top of mind for your organization, or is your data quality costing you more than you realize?

Recorded Music Did Well Last Year

COVID didn’t keep the recorded music industry down last year, as revenue was up 9% to around $12 billion. That’s the 5th straight year of growth for the industry! According to the latest year-end report by the RIAA for 2020, streaming accounted for 83% of the total or a little more than $10 billion.

Paid subscriptions to on-demand streaming services are at the heart of the streaming revenue increase, and these subs grew by 14.6% up to $7 billion. Many wonder whether streaming subscriptions have hit the saturation point, but that’s not indicated in the numbers.

How does this impact B2B? Streaming services have a lot in common with B2B SaaS solutions. I think we can learn a lot by watching B2C tech and the trends in their marketing strategies and performance. Are there lessons learned that you can apply to your B2B solution? Perhaps it’s a tweak to your pricing model or a change in your market positioning.

No matter what, based on these results, it seems that there is no chance of them ‘sputtering out’ anytime soon!

Are You Ready for ABM?

Free Forrester Report Our friends at Forrester are joining us for another webinar – “Are You Ready for B2B Account-Based Marketing?” Learn how to create your own ABM Success in 2021 – sign up and we’ll send you their research report too!

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

The post Overcoming Bad Data appeared first on Virtual Causeway.