Hi .

First, quick announcement.

After a year of thorough work on the B2B marketing strategy playbook, we are finally ready to share it with you. It’s the exact framework we’d use if you hired us to develop a marketing strategy for your company.

Inside you’ll find.

1. Short actionable videos that break down in detail the process of developing a B2B marketing strategy

2. 9 sections that review how to define the most profitable market segments, how to develop sales process based on how your customers are buying, ICP, buyer’s journey, marketing planning, and reporting

3. GTM strategy toolkit that includes:

• Ideal customer profile template
• Account segmentation and qualification
• Market segmentation
• Questions for customer interviews
• B2B marketing report & dashboard

4. Lifetime access to the course and future updates

5. Bonus workshops and exclusive interviews with Peep Laja, April Dunford and Darrell Alfonso

Also, it’s Christmas time, and I can’t leave you without gifts.

Enroll today and save 50% ($119 instead of $249 - apply code CHRISTMAS at checkout), get my bestselling book “LinkedIn content marketing” + a recording of live workshop about LinkedIn allbound marketing I did in Valencia, Spain.

Get instant access to the GTM strategy playbook and grab 2 gifts here.

What's happened in Trenches

We are recruiting several writers to kick off a community blog. Stay tuned.

Upcoming events

Positioning for growing tech companies or how to stand out with April Dunford

When: 9th Dec - 5pm CET - 11am ET.

JOIN US TO LEARN

• How to identify what positioning strategy will work best for you.
• How to validate your positioning and make sure it emphasizes your unique value and resonates with customers.
• 5 components of positioning you'd use
• The most common positioning mistakes B2B companies make without realizing it.

​As always, you can join the discussion and ask your questions live.

Save your spot here.

Events we hosted last week

How to get your PR pitches accepted by top influencers and media with Rand Fishkin

We discussed:

• ​Why does marketing through sources of influence work so well?
• ​How do you find true sources where PR will have the most impact?
• ​How to get your pitches accepted

Watch the recording here.

How to develop B2B Go-To-Market Strategy for 2022

We hosted a webinar where shared a framework we use to develop a GTM strategy for B2B companies.

​We've discussed:

• ​The Boiler Room Strategy
• ​6 core elements of marketing strategy
• ​Full-funnel model or how to influence the buying journey
• ​Measuring GTM strategy efficiency

Watch the recording here.

Questions from fellow Trenchers

Let's help each other. If you can contribute or answer any question below, just click the link and share your thoughts.

• POLL QUESTION: Do you want $$$ for taking part in a 40-minute customer research interview?
• What do you think about this positioning/statement?
• Who knows or participated in a program by Sales Assembly?
•  I would love to be able to track abm account engagement with our employee LI posting efforts, not just our company account. Has anyone found a way of doing this?
• What would you say is the easiest way to convince many people inside the organization to remove gated content?

Post Of The Week

Here is how to fix a B2B funnel with some #ABM and common sense, by applying some micro-commitments.

Sales folks tend to understand and use the power of micro-commitments more than the average B2B marketing gal or guy. (B2C marketers also have an advantage here.)

But WTH is a micro-commitment?

Glad you asked. 

They are tiny actions, interactions you ask your prospect to take. These little actions and commitments can then build up to greater ones. 

The underlying psychology is this: if somebody puts effort into something, they are more likely to value that over an alternative, which they have less prior “investment” in.

To use a dating analogy: the first commitment you want your to-be-sweetheart to take is to: talk to you. That’s it! Or even just to smile back at you.

Those are small commitments on behalf of the other person, but they set the stage for more important ones: replying to texts… then, grabbing coffee »» then dinner »» then…

The mechanism is the same in your process too. 

Each interaction should get more meaningful with the account. As a whole, each should demand a larger and larger commitment from the buyer, gradually building up the bond that will eventually turn into a contract.

What B2B tech companies get wrong is that they try to get the equivalent of a dinner on the first interaction: which is a demo or an expert call. 

Going from cold to demo is like asking out a stranger for dinner.

Not impossible, but totally suboptimal.

Here is how you can easily add micro-commitments to an account-based marketing funnel:

Old funnel:

1. run ad for demo

landing page » get a demo

This funnel aims to get 1 micro-commitment (click) and one big commitment: a demo

New funnel: 

• connect and engage with target prospects on Linkedin (teeny-tiny micro commitments)
• send them content or tag them in comments (also a minor interaction)
• run content-rich ad with more in-depth teaching/advice in a blogpost (micro commitment here is a click)
• in the blogpost, give the opportunity to sign up for a demo because some will be ready)

Then, you can reach out to them personally and/or run ads for your demo.

See how we’re building up the "pitch" for the demo in 4 steps rather than 1? 

“But more steps add friction to the process”, I hear you. For some folks who are at the buying stage and they’re ready to jump on a call. 

You should always have shortcuts to schedule that call… but for the vast majority of the market, building a relationship the way real relationships are usually built, is the way.  

By Daniel Zsolt Rényi

Best Shares From Trenches Community

• What are the biggest misconceptions you've heard about brand?
• 8 mindset shifts to generate leads in 2022
• Not all Ideal Customer Profiles are created equal
• 7 steps to map your buyer's journey & how to influence it
• Most B2B companies' go-to-market strategy is a series of semi-random trial and error plays, where learning and long-term results are suboptimal (to put it mildly).

See you in Trenches 😉

Andrei Zinkevich