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Let’s all take a collective deep breath – do you feel any calmer? It’s safe to say that life has felt busy lately… REALLY busy. Between spring cleaning, yard work, soaking up the sun and getting back into the swing of things post-pandemic, it seems as if our to-do list is growing longer each day.
Give this song by Bush a listen with me as we see what the experts are saying this week… and see how we can be better than the rest.
Say Goodbye to MQLs
As your to-do list grows, are your lead follow-ups also getting out of control? The Death of the MQL has been a hot topic in the B2B arena lately as ABM’s meteoric rise in popularity continues. And though many marketers may find it difficult to let go of the metric they’ve held near and dear for so long, Forrester has made a compelling case for doing so and embracing opportunity-based marketing as an alternative.
As opposed to a traditional lead-centric process, an opportunity-based approach recognizes that more than one person is making a purchasing decision. The biggest change, however, is the fact that when both Sales and Marketing are focused on opportunities, they are working in the same currency. When Sales trades in opportunities and Marketing deals with leads, they won’t be aligned for years and years and years.
You know what we’ve seen with our clients? When their Sales and Marketing teams are BOTH working with opportunities, there’s still a handover… but what Marketing is handing over already fits the goal Sales is working toward.
Say Hello to Big Streaming Numbers
In the streaming world, however, it looks like quantity trumps quality – the complete opposite of our ABM/B2B world.
In 2018, the top 200 songs were responsible for nearly one in 10 of all streams; in 2021, that metric fell to less than one in 20, according to Luminate. Last year, 95,000 songs hit one million streams, a 36% increase over 2018.
Sure, there’s more money in hits, both in actual streaming payments and in touring, merch, sponsorships, etc. But music streaming is turning into television streaming: there’s so much product that nothing is as big as it used to be.
Just like B2B, it’s a numbers game. Do you want to focus on high volume but fewer ‘hits,’ or on lower volume and higher quality? Depending on your business you may go either way.
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