In a stock-image, blue graph, ‘solutions’-filled world, It’s nice to talk to someone who gets that B2B marketing doesn’t have 2 B boring.
Doug Kessler is Creative Director and Co-Founder at Velocity Partners, B2B marketing agency of huge brands like Salesforce and Sprint Business. But you don’t have to be B2B to learn from Doug.
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Doug’s the definition of a thought leader in content marketing. His Crap’s had a couple of million views, and he has a knack for making marketing meaningful and emotional. And fun.
We talked about:
• The story behind the famous ‘Insane Honesty’ rant, and how it’s worked in practice;
• How sales people react to some of Doug’s more ‘out there’ techniques;
• Building a strong content brand;
• How many content marketers are unwittingly making their job harder;
• Balancing ‘I need lots of leads’ with ‘I need great leads’;
• Hedging your bets on home run pieces;
• Where Doug finds great content creators;
• And the killer elements for a winning content team.
Doug on…
The power of honesty
It is powerful to be able to say, “This isn’t for everyone” and just be really honest about that. Marketers are trained to be manically positive and it’s just not how humans are. If you just relax that and say who you’re for, who you’re not for, it’s a great way to start. Marketing should also be a filter, not just a magnet. You just don’t want to attract the whole world.
Quantity versus quality
It’s the age old struggle… the argument about quantity and quality. I’ve always been a both kind of guy. There is a threshold: you cannot be below a certain quality level. If you can do lots above that level and really good stuff, well, go for it.
B2B marketing
The B2B marketing world has learned: wow, these are human beings on the other end! And so there’s a new voice which is great. I think social media started it
People Tell Richard Stuff: Episode 10
Doug Kessler, Creative Director, Velocity Partners
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