Sara Scurfield, AIMS volunteer and Online Program Manager at Advantex Marketing interviewed Jen Evans, President of Sequentia Communications regarding the opportunities and intricacies of building community within the B2B segment. Join us at the AIMS event on April 25th “Building Community” to hear Jen’s full presentation.
SS: Do you see community building as easier or more challenging in a B2B environment? What are some of the big differentiators in your experience?
JE:B2B community building is easier in some senses and harder in others. We find that if companies are really able to nail down their area of expertise and define what they know best, then articulating that expertise and providing that value to customers can be a very powerful community building tool. In other words, companies need to understand what motivates their customer base and then create value-added information that will make their audiences' careers or businesses better. Developing communities around that kind of expertise and knowledge can not only create a big differentiation in the eyes of customers and prospects, but shorten the sales cycle, build credibility and feed the lead and sales management process.
SS: What are some of the emerging trends in online marketing, community building and social networking for the B2B industry?
JE:Definitely value-based communication built around engagement. Instead of discounts, deals or reduced-price offers, companies are moving more towards providing expertise in their marcom materials as a community building tool. This encourages subscriptions and loyalty - when you offer something of value, you begin to build trust, and it's always easier to do business through a relationship build on trust than a cold call or a discounted trial offer.
SS: Do you have any advice for the B2B marketer who'd like to start an online community for their product or service?
Make sure you understand your audience's pains extremely well, and are creating materials that speak to those pains and enable your organization to be positioned as the thought leader. Then the community will come to you. The critical factors, however, are that you do need to be a thought leader and provide that value. Every organization has those key areas of strength and differentiation but so often we are so busy getting our message out the way that we want that we forget to engage our customers first.
SS: Considering that social networking and community tends to thrive in non-commercial environments, what can a B2B driven community do to maintain their credibility?
JE: Understand their customer's pains. I never cease to be amazed by how few organizations actually talk with their customers on a regular basis. And understand where and how your company provides value. Provide insights, expertise, ways of doing business better, ways of interacting with tools and technology better, and your audience will stay with you.
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