B2B Archives

Like many other industries, content marketing has frenetic times and quiet lulls – and December is often quiet. Campaigns are winding down as audiences focus on Christmas, the financial year may be ending, and everyone’s attention may drift a little.

Although it’s human to push back and take it easy in December, it’s also a clever time to do some thinking to get ahead for 2025 – to review, revisit and check you’re on course to stay on top of your game into the new year. Campaign activity for early 2025 is probably nailed down – but is it optimised for how prospects will think, feel and react in the new year?

This is where we come in. Here are some quick points that, if tackled now, could help your 2025 content marketing activity run smoothly and hit targets rapidly.

There’s no time like the present… to talk about what matters to your customers

How well does what you want to talk about fit with your audiences’ concerns?

You’ll have mapped out the next quarter’s strategy, but does it make sense in light of the trends likely to affect your audiences? There are a lot of predictive views on 2025 around right now, and some valuable market-leader insights and research available.

But dry facts don’t give the full picture of how audiences will react. As a content marketing agency, our success depends upon creating content that mixes a deep understanding of the audience’s operating environment and human factors. We fine-tune and freshen messaging to capture productive attention.

There’s no time like the present… to find your customers where they are

Do the comms channels you’re planning to use work for your audiences?

It’s easy to get caught in a cycle of repeating what appears to work – without giving enough consideration to trend shifts, viewer fatigue and ever-shrinking attention spans. Video, for example, has delivered excellent results in 2024. It’s proved incredibly effective on social media, as longer webinar-style thought-leadership discussions and general campaign promotion.

You could carry on as you are into 2025, or you could get an external view on your plans to see if there’s anything you could try to get even better results.

We’ve spent 2024 experimenting with video: let’s chat through the possibilities.

There’s no time like the present… to get ready to talk with authority

Is your thought leadership ready to stake a claim in 2025?

You’ll have 2025’s direction sorted, but do you have the thought leadership content ready to help your content cut through the clamour of ‘new year, renewed activity’ messaging from your competitors? It’s notoriously hard to get time in the diary of the C-suite and senior leadership. Yet, they may also be susceptible to the December lull, making it an excellent opportunity to capture their views to use in Q1 campaigns.

We’re experts in planning and conducting interviews with senior management, turning them into compelling thought leadership content. If you can secure the time in their diary, we can rapidly translate that into meaningful inputs. Let’s talk.

There’s no time like the present… to make sure you talk so your audience listens

Is your tone of voice pitch-perfect?

It’s so easy to get your communications wrong when a single, off-tone phrase can shut down a sales opportunity. The turn of the year is full of ‘break out’ words (demure, manifest, brat…) that don’t seem immediately relevant to the business sphere, but they flag that language, buzz-words and cut-through communication terms change.

Is it time that ‘innovative’ and ‘market-leading’ are retired because they’ve lost impact? What might work better? We craft written communications day in and day out, and we’re across the language that will drive action into the new year. Get in touch, and we’ll talk you through it.

There’s no time like the present… to squeeze value from what you’ve got

What content have you got that you can re-purpose for 2025?

Budgets are tight, particularly for content marketing. It’s wise and realistic to work with this rather than fighting against it. Your organisation probably has a wealth of existing content that can be repurposed to 2025’s requirements at a relatively low cost.

Now you’ve done the planning for January and February, December is the ideal time to review this content and refresh what you’ve got, ready to push it out in 2025 to augment your new material.

We have a strong track record of taking existing, valuable content and ‘topping, tailing and refreshing’ it with future-focused messaging. Ask us how.

There’s no time like the present… to get your technology tone right

Are your planned 2025 technology messages going to land right?

It’s likely you’ll be talking tech in the new year, but it’s far from a generic task. Customers are increasingly sophisticated and have a growing knowledge of technological intricacies. However, there’s a distinct danger that technology companies assume or misread what their target audiences understand. Are you close enough to your customers’ thinking?

Talking technology and making complex messages simple is what we do. Get in touch, and we can compare notes to find the best way forward for your organisation.

Think like a scout; be prepared for 2025

Our purpose is to be the source of fresh ideas behind your content campaigns – whether they are yet to be formulated or have a structure that can be refined.

Get in touch for a chat with one of our experienced project directors to scope out the possibilities with no obligation.

In B2B marketing, analysing your competitors’ content can uncover valuable insights to help inspire new ideas, highlight opportunities for differentiation and steer your content strategy in the right direction. It's a great way to make sure your efforts are on track and set up for success.

Here’s how to do a competitor analysis swiftly and accurately in four simple steps:

1. Make a list of your main competitors

The foundation of your competitor analysis is identifying your serious competition, in two stages. First, make a list of your direct competitors; businesses that offer similar products or services to you. Then, expand your list to include any indirect competitors; those who offer different products to you but target the same audience or fulfil a similar need. Consider, as well, any websites that consistently publish content relevant to your industry. These sites can compete for your audience’s attention, so it’s important to track their content and messaging.

2. Seek out any content gaps

Having identified your competitors, delve into their content to see what topics they cover and, more importantly, what influential areas their coverage misses. You’re on the lookout for subjects that are underrepresented or not covered at all, yet are highly relevant to your audience. These gaps become prime opportunities for you to create motivating content to address unmet needs while positioning your brand as a valuable resource. Analyse the formats and depth of their content, too, and consider deploying different formats for greater standout.

3. Evaluate competitors’ content quality and engagement

Evaluating content quality and engagement involves assessing the depth, accuracy and presentation of your competitors' content. Look at how well they cover topics and whether their content is informative, engaging and visually appealing.

Equally important is analysing their audience engagement by measuring likes, shares, comments and other interactions to gauge what resonates with their (and potentially your) audience. Identify their top-performing content to understand what drives engagement and why, and also analyse underperforming content to learn why certain pieces fail to engage and learn what to avoid from that. The result will be a better grasp of any areas where your content could improve in quality and deeper insight into how you could boost engagement.

4. Plan to do it better

The final step is to pull all this knowledge together and make a plan. If you're going to cover the same topics, make sure you do it better by offering more detail, presenting it more clearly or adding more valuable and influential expertise. This will help you increase the effectiveness of your content, improve your SEO and increase your engagement, delivering a content strategy that’s more effective and competitive.

Let’s get started

At asabell, we specialise in conducting thorough competitor analyses to help you stay ahead of the game. Our team is dedicated to uncovering valuable insights and crafting strategies that give you a competitive edge. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can enhance your content marketing efforts.

In B2C marketing it seems like you can’t turn around without falling into a persona workshop. Hours and hours are spent on constructing detailed personalities for customer segments with names, hobbies and life ambitions.

But B2B is a different field, so can personas have any value in the B2B sphere?

B2C and B2B are worlds apart

Since many B2C companies or divisions offer goods and services to an extremely fragmented audience, personas are an effective way to bring some focus to the largest groups they’re targeting.

But over in the B2B world, segmentation takes a different form, splitting audiences according to the broader factors around job roles and industry. This isn’t an absolute that applies in every instance; individual job specifications and the challenges of organisations within an industry will vary to some extent. However, this approach is a simple and easily applied route to kick off thinking about the requirements of different groups.

Effective B2B segmentation can accelerate planning

As a result, planning a campaign from a job role and industry position perspective can provide an effective framework for formulating marketing messaging quickly. At the core of this approach is establishing the pain points and challenges that the typical job-role holder faces within their specific remit, as well as the more wide-ranging challenges the organisation is up against. These organisational challenges are often closely linked to what’s currently going on in the relevant industry, combined with some that are specific to the organisation’s ambitions and standing.

In some cases, it will make sense to group job roles. For example, there will be broad issues that apply to the whole C-suite, or challenges that will have an impact across the IT, legal and compliance teams.

Also, it’s always valuable to look at segmentations used in previous campaigns to get a feel for what worked well and what wasn’t as successful. Talking to those in customer-facing roles can provide useful insight into how organisations in the sector are currently structuring their functions, so you can be sure your campaign is reflecting the most up-to-date segmentations.

Getting B2B segmentation right pays off

A robust and accurate segmentation framework sets your campaign up to unlock a wide range of benefits, including:

Enhanced personalisation through tailored messaging to achieve improved engagement.
Increased conversion rates as a result of targeted approaches and directly relevant messaging and offers.
Better campaign returns via a focus on higher-value segments, enabling budget optimisation.
Strengthened customer relationships thanks to relevant interactions offering clear benefits.
Competitive advantage achieved by building a reputation for a deep understanding of the target audience, together with approaches unique to that audience, giving an edge in the market.

At asabell, we frequently use segmentation tailored to each client’s market as the foundation of campaign planning. We’ve developed significant expertise in using this approach to deliver swift and accurate targeted messaging and add extra value through our experience of transferring segmentation learning from one sector to another.

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

Choosing a new content marketing agency is a big decision. Will they deliver what you need? Will they ‘get’ your organisation, industry and how you like to work? Will they be a good fit for you?

They may have been recommended to you, or their initial pitch may have been impressive but, when it comes down to it, will they walk the walk as well as they talk the talk?

After you’ve seen examples of their work, it’s sensible to scope out how they’ll work with you. Here are the top four questions to ask:

1. What steps will you take to get to know our business?

An effective agency should be proactive about asking questions around the topics below and suggest an onboarding meeting to learn what makes your organisation tick.

Topics to cover should include:

your organisation’s objectives and wider business goals
current industry challenges and trends
key competitors to check out
a big-picture summary of your target audiences
your ways of working and how you’d like them to fit in with these
your expectations of the agency and your priorities.

It’ll be important to share your past marketing collateral, brand guidelines and any strategy documentation before this meeting so your agency can review and ask any questions.

2. What experience can you bring to our partnership?

The experience an agency brings to the table is a significant asset – if it’s used to your benefit.

Ask them how they’ll use this in your work together.

Specifics to look for include:

insight based on previous experience in your sector and/or with your target audiences
an approach that views your business with a fresh pair of eyes
an understanding of the working practices of global organisations’ marketing departments and the likely pressures you’ll be under
practical suggestions about how they can become a genuinely helpful virtual team member.

3. How will you communicate with us?

Every organisation recognises clear communication as a vital part of any business relationship but what you need to pin down here is how this will work in practice. How will the agency go about building a collaborative partnership, particularly via a remote working setup?

An agency genuinely committed to collaboration should suggest:

regular check-in calls for project updates and to report progress on hitting project milestones
delivering regular budget updates
a named project manager who will be the main point of contact and regularly available during working hours for quick questions or more extended consultations
a willingness to act as a sounding board to help campaign development, sharing experience gained from cross-industry working.

4. How will you tailor your services to our requirements?

Your business is unique, and it requires content marketing that caters for your specific requirements. A marketing agency worth choosing will recognise the value of tailored content and be ready to deliver it.

Find out their approach to:

customising their standard approaches to different content types to your organisation’s style and preferences
considering your target audiences’ preferences, and crafting content to these
pulling together content mixes in collaboration with you to better meet your objectives
adapting in-life campaigns to emerging trends or industry issues to increase relevance and impact.

How we fit the bill

We pride ourselves on the outstanding quality of our work, our responsiveness, our ability to work to tight timescales, our transparency over progress and costings and our down-to-earth way of working.

But, above all, our clients talk about our friendliness, team spirit, can-do attitude and how well we collaborate as a virtual part of their marketing departments.

We’re always happy to chat about how we could support you and make your working life easier, so get in touch to find out more.

‘Thought leadership’ can be a burdensome concept, bringing expectations of sharing unique pearls of wisdom. This can encourage the belief that it’s both rare and hard to generate so, for many, it’s seen as a difficult task that people are reluctant to take on.

Reframing this mindset is the first step to high-quality, low-effort thought leadership.

Break it down, and ‘thought leadership’ is just another name for sharing your brand’s point of view on your industry and its trends, the challenges your customers face, and your experience of how best to overcome them in efficient and profitable ways. In fact, your experts and frontline professionals probably do this every day without really thinking about it. In the light of this, the real issue is how to make capturing and sharing your insights a quick and easy process. Here are a few quick tips for keeping your thought leadership content relevant and flowing.

1. Give your core ideas fresh headlines

It’s rare that your brand viewpoint will change dramatically overnight, which means the core of your existing thought leadership content will be relevant for a good length of time. But this doesn’t mean it has to stay in its original format – or that it has to be completely reimagined to be valid.

Think about setting your central points in today’s context, giving them a new wrap. Has there been a news event that’s relevant to your industry? What are customers particularly asking your frontline professionals about? Using these angles will increase impact and reinforce perceptions that you have your finger on the industry pulse.

2. Think smaller – as long as its relevant

Not every piece of thought leadership has to be a multi-layered, wide-ranging analysis tackling a broad issue. A single thought or recommendation offered at the right moment can reinforce your position as a guide or source of expertise. If your advice has helped one customer, chances are it will find a wider audience.

There’s a strong argument for becoming a consistent and frequent thought leadership voice, sharing opinions and insights regularly to the point where key decision-makers within your industry wonder what your take is on any arising issue.

3. Make it easy to capture and share expertise

Much of your thought leadership is already in existence; it’s just a matter of capturing and sharing it. Between them, your subject matter experts and experienced sector leaders have a wealth of significant insights that would be useful to customers, your target market and beyond. From advice on navigating current and future trends, to a deep understanding of how to optimise solutions and practical experience of overcoming sector challenges – you already have much of the thought leadership you need within your company.

For many organisations, however, extracting this insight and turning it into shareable content is an arduous process, dependent on the individual expert finding the time to create the asset. One of the most effective ways to make thought leadership creation easier is to lift the burden from the experts. Using carefully planned questions and structured interviews the marketing department and its partner agencies can quickly and easily gather the raw materials they need to create readable, valuable content.

What can low-effort thought leadership look like?

Here’s a selection of ideas we’ve used successfully with our clients, to get you thinking.

Get your CEO to share their thoughts on a current topic in a quick interview that can then be ghost-written into a blog post or longer-form LinkedIn post. Issue a quick email to key decision-makers with a punchy subject line to encourage access and spread the word further.
Ask subject matter experts to review the content of existing whitepapers and give guidance as to where gaps are, given current market conditions. This is a great shortcut for identifying where your expertise will be most effective and where a new whitepaper or mini-whitepaper can really move thought leadership forward.
Ask frontline professionals what the top pain points for customers are, and create an email campaign addressing them, including signposting to existing content that can advise on the issue.
Build the LinkedIn presence of your senior leadership team with regular ghost-written thought pieces commenting on current trends.

Increase your thought leadership content the easy way

One of our strengths is the ability to translate complex, technical concepts into accessible, compelling content aimed at decision-makers who may not have a specialist background. We ‘speak’ your industry’s jargon and understand its intricate workings, yet can also filter through expert inputs to pull out what matters to customers. With a 20-year track record of interviewing specialists and presenting them with punchy thought leadership content they’re happy to sign off, we make thought leadership generation easy.

Do get in touch if you’d like to tap into our experiences and see how they could work for your organisation.

Takeaway tips

Twenty years at the forefront of B2B marketing means we’ve played an active role in the evolution of strategic business communications. In that time, game-changing technologies have redefined the marketing landscape – creating exciting new types of content and marking the end of the line for others.

But amongst all this transformation, some things haven’t changed. The key to developing great content and campaigns is – and always has been - messaging that engages the target audience. Understanding the pain points, goals and fears of each specific audience is foundational, and from there we pool our creative resources to hit our ABCs – ensuring everything we create is Accurate, Bold and Compelling.

Once this foundation is perfected, there are a few hard-hitting forms of marketing content that consistently capture our audience and make sure our messages hit their mark. Proving their value again and again by engaging, educating and converting B2B audiences, here’s some of the B2B content that’s stood the test of time:

Hard-wearing whitepapers

It’s hard to imagine what B2B marketing would look like without whitepapers. For decades, these in-depth reads have formed the centrepiece of carefully co-ordinated campaigns – with satellite content driving traffic back to their key messages. With a strong reputation for educating readers on the latest trends, industry challenges and innovative solutions, they’re a firm favourite among business leaders. And they’re a powerful way to build trust and credibility with senior decision makers thanks to their detailed expert messaging and well-evidenced thought leadership.

Captivating case studies

A powerful way to demonstrate real-world success, case studies give prospects concrete evidence of an organisation’s expertise, capabilities and successes. Using measurable results and letting customer testimonials speak for themselves, case studies are a persuasive form of content that boast one of the highest conversion rates in B2B. A timeless marketing asset for businesses, they deliver consistent results at various stages of the buyer journey.

Buoyant blog posts

Blog posts have been a constant feature of digital marketing, despite their format constantly adapting to cater to sophisticated SEO algorithms and reader preferences. A quick and easy way to tap into advice and expertise, they’re a popular type of content that helps to keep your audience keyed-in. Done right, they also enhance SEO, drive organic traffic to your website and are a powerful way of reaching new customers through guest-posting and multi-channel sharing.

Enduring emails

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of delivering your message straight to the prospect. Far from the spam of the early 2000s, emails are now a sophisticated way of creating tailored content that speaks directly to each reader’s goals and challenges. Whether sending customised newsletters, specific product updates or personalised interacts, directly targeting your audience via their inboxes is a powerful way to nurture leads and build interpersonal relationships.

Worth-the-wait webinars

When it comes to webinars, the numbers really stack up. According to Dr James McQuivey, one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words, so it’s no wonder webinar content has been building traction since the 1990s. These online seminars are an engaging way to showcase expertise, demonstrate product features and engage in conversation with prospects. And because audience members typically register their attendance, they’re also a strong opportunity to capture leads and launch one-on-one sales conversations.

Playing the marketing long-game

Our 20^th anniversary has been a great time to reflect on the tried-and-tested marketing that consistently delivers results for our clients. But despite this milestone, we know you’re only as good as your last piece of work. That’s why we’re so dedicated to creating market-leading content, and our team’s always scanning the horizon for the next big thing we can offer our clients.

To discover how we can build B2B marketing content that delivers for your business, please get in touch.

19.10.23

Do you remember when...?

To celebrate our 20^th anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane. Here’s a taste of the content that was working marketing wonders in the days when mobile phones were just becoming ubiquitous, offices were filled with desktop computers and Google Maps didn’t even exist.

Traditional print media

The world wide web was still a baby back in 2000, so digital didn’t hold the marketing mettle it does today. Aside from the odd pop-up ad or email, traditional marketing dominated. Print was the go-to channel as marketers churned out research papers, flyers and branded flip calendars for office desks. Rather than being posted online, content was used at events and business meetings and shared via CD-ROMs.

Direct mail advertising

We’re not talking about LinkedIn here, we’re talking direct mail in the form of postcards, letters, brochures and catalogues that used to drop right through your letterbox or onto your desk. Personalisation was on the rise thanks to better data processing, helping marketers to understand audience behaviour. Like today, these pieces of content were usually integrated into a wider, strategic marketing campaign.

Telemarketing

Back in the early noughties, the Nokia Tune was more recognisable than the Coca-Cola theme and that’s partly thanks to the proliferation of telemarketing. Getting a call on your mobile phone was still novel and people typically responded well to a direct, personal approach. Trust, rapport and relationship building were all foundational to this method of marketing, but as time went on scams and overuse of the channel meant it wore thin with customers. Do-not-call lists and a preference for digital channels among younger generations meant it was soon replaced with the more modern approaches we’re familiar with today.

Getting to grips with Google

Digital marketing was just becoming visible on the horizon, with Google's AdWords platform launched in 2000. This service marked the beginning of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and SEO - and the most forward-thinking organisations were just beginning to put together web-based marketing strategies. In just 20 years, the burgeoning area of digital marketing has grown exponentially across both B2B and B2C with once unknown concepts like ‘going viral’ securing a place in our collective psyche.

Why we’re still here, 20 years on

While the methods we use to reach your target audience might have changed, our creativity and dedication to strategic, effective marketing hasn’t. Get in touch today to see how we can work with you to create content and campaigns that will keep your audience coming back for more.

20.9.23
Storytelling is part of who we are. It’s been around for millennia as folklore, old wives’ tales, cave paintings, ancient scripts, poetry and song. Stories have a powerful, innate purpose. Not only do they entertain and enthral and create a sense of community, but they're a survival tactic. These nuggets of wisdom are used to pass down vital knowledge from generation to generation. And so, story forms the basis of religion, philosophy, art (books, film, paintings, music) and the fabric of society in general.

Interestingly too, stories often carry a warning or a moral. They teach us important lessons. The most effective storytelling speaks to our needs, desires and weaknesses. It grabs the audience’s attention and taps into our emotions. As an exciting story unfolds, it takes the reader on a journey. It activates our imagination, encouraging us to guess what is coming next.

These are some of the features of the ancient art of storytelling that make it a compelling and effective medium to connect with your audience.

Resonating on a personal level

Identifying with characters or situations in stories like this builds a bond and develops trust. It elicits an emotional rather than logical response, inspiring the reader and sticking in their memory. This is undoubtedly a factor behind the rising popularity of influencer marketing.

Giving structure and narrative

The best way to structure your ‘story’ when writing content is similar to structuring a plot line: start with setting the scene, then introduce a challenge or some kind of tension and explore this. Finally, explain the solution and come to a resolution. You may have seen a plot line represented visually as a peaked graph with climax – this kind of structure keeps the reader engaged and excited.

By starting with the challenge and then introducing a resolution, you are compelled to focus on the audience and their needs, rather than immediately writing about how great your product/service/brand is, which can turn people off.

Providing a greater sense of purpose

One final aspect to storytelling which appeals to our collective consciousness is the idea of belonging – being part of a bigger narrative. Donald Miller, author of Building a Story Brand, explains “brands that give customers a voice in a larger narrative add value to their products by giving their customers a deeper sense of meaning”. He uses Tesla as an example, one of the most talked about brands of the 2020s. They don’t just offer their customers a car, they invite them to be part of something bigger, a futuristic sci-fi style narrative that focuses on saving the environment through new technology.

Weaving a story that positions the audience as part of a greater and united cause gives purpose and meaning to what you are saying. Words by themselves only have so much impact, it’s the story you tell with them that will leave a lasting impression.

If you think you need some more storytelling pointers or you’d like some support creating content, please get in touch.

21.08.2023

There's enormous value to ensuring your team is a multi-skilled marketing taskforce, with all the diverse talents and expertise to take on a range of different projects.

Across a single department, this could span content creation, digital marketing, data analysis, event planning, social media management and video editing to much more.

Here are just some of the many benefits of having a versatile, well-rounded and well-informed marketing team:

1. Enhanced adaptability and resilience

Multi-skilled teams have a knack for rolling with the punches. When challenges come knocking, they adjust their approach without skipping a beat. If someone calls in sick? No problem – there's always someone else who can pick up the slack. And when the unexpected happens (we’re looking at you, COVID-19), a multi-skilled team can pivot and adapt.

2. A culture of innovation and creativity

Having wide-ranging talents in your team fosters a greater culture of creativity and innovation. Diverse skills mean diverse ideas and in marketing, that's pure gold. More angles, more insights, more 'eureka' moments - your campaigns will have the innovative edge that gets your audience clicking, reading and buying.

3. Greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness

Having a team of marketing all-rounders is smart economics. Projects that would typically involve several departments can be completed within one, saving time, reducing communication bottlenecks and cutting down on everyone’s favourite – unnecessary meetings.

4. Comprehensive understanding

A multi-skilled team delivers a 360-degree view of the marketing landscape. From SEO to content creation, social media to event planning, every aspect can be covered. This holistic view leads to smarter decisions and more integrated and effective campaigns.

5. Fostering continuous learning and growth

Perhaps one of the most exciting benefits of being part of a highly competent, multi-disciplinary team is the golden opportunity for self-improvement. When you're surrounded by teammates who each bring something unique to the table, learning becomes a daily routine. This constant exchange of skills and knowledge doesn’t just make the team stronger, it also promotes individual growth, which in turn leads to increased job satisfaction, loyalty and enhanced team morale.

A word of caution

A multi-skilled team doesn't mean everyone needs to become an expert in everything. That could lead to a "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none" scenario, diluting the overall value of your in-house expertise. Instead, it's about fostering enough overlap in skills to enhance collaboration, understanding and the ability to step in when necessary.

The aim isn’t for your SEO specialist to turn into a graphic designer, but to understand enough about design to contribute ideas and collaborate more effectively with the design team. This approach promotes a culture of continuous learning while avoiding unnecessary skill acquisition.

Our unique and diverse marketing skills

These are just some of the reasons why building a multi-skilled marketing team is a considerable and worthwhile investment. Encouraging your team to start learning new skills and gaining experience in new areas takes a considerable amount of time, trial and error and even extra-curricular dedication. But in the long term, the returns will be enormous. Once harnessed, it’s a powerful weapon for any business.

For twenty years now, we’ve been developing our marketing team’s skills and experience across a range of areas. If you’d like to find out more about what our diverse team of experts could bring to your organisation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

20.07.23

Can’t decide what to eat at a restaurant? Not sure what colour to paint the living room? Torn about which movie to watch tonight? Indecision is part of life, and for most of us, it’s not a significant consideration. But what happens when it’s a potential customer who’s wavering on whether to enlist your services?

When you’re dealing with a prospect who’s grappling with uncertainty, the right marketing is key to helping them commit to a purchase. Carefully crafted marketing messages, deployed as part of a campaign that systematically reinforces and builds on these, are key. In this blog post, we’ll unpick some of the science around indecision, and look at powerful, proven ways marketing can help people overcome it.

Defining indecision

Starting with the basics, if a customer’s facing indecision, they’re experiencing a type of chronic procrastination that happens when someone has to make a choice. Overwhelmed by the number of options or the nuances of just a few choices, people typically end up either spiralling into extensive research or simply putting the impending decision out of their mind. At this point, the individual reaches a stalemate, unable to make a call and move forward.

Driving indecisive audiences towards decisive actions

Indecision isn’t all bad. There’s a growing body of evidence that suggests indecisive people are less likely to be swayed by confirmation bias. That means that, rather than favouring pieces of information that support their previously held views, they’re better at taking the information presented to them and weighing this up to make a more balanced decision. They’re also more likely to be perfectionists – and therefore scared of making a ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ decision.

These traits can be a win for marketers. One of the most common methods that indecisive people use to come to a decision is to consider their goals and the pros and cons of various options. Armed with this insight, you can gear your marketing to help them out. Prioritise concrete information that sets you apart from your competition and highlight the ways that you help customers to reach typical goals in their industry. Use stats, facts and clear language and deliver these at regular intervals to keep momentum behind the decision-making process.

Keeping things fresh for the future

Another useful insight to have up your sleeve when marketing to indecisive customers is that people typically experience greater satisfaction if they “choose the action that represents a change, rather than continuing the status quo”. New products, services, versions and additions to your current offering can all help to replicate this feeling of change and progress – meaning current customers don’t have to move on to another B2B relationship to keep things fresh. It’s vital your marketing capitalises on this by regularly updating messaging, highlighting additional benefits and drawing attention to new uses in the marketplace.

Keeping marketing engaging and persuasive – even for the most indecisive audience members – is at the heart of what we do here at asabell. We’d love to speak with you about how we can help ensure your marketing is successful, so please get in touch with one of the team to find out more.