Trying to Keep Up With B2B & SaaS Marketing Changes

As I’m writing this, four geese have approached my window (I live right next to a canal). Do you know how annoying it is living next to so many geese? 

Legit the other day fifteen geese (I’m not exaggerating because I counted them) were lined up outside of my window making loud noises. I opened the blinds, only to find two of them looking at me and making persistently awful noises. I was freaked out… it might sound silly, but I was! These feathery, dinosaur looking canal birds were all outside my flat, pooping everywhere and causing a ruckus. 

It wasn’t until I looked it up and discovered that the reason they were there wasn’t because they were sent by Tom as a way to spy on me (that may sound daft but I wouldn’t put it past him. Have you spoken to him recently? He just makes goose noises all the time). Rather, they were there because it was mating season and they were all trying to pair up with each other.

So, not only were these geese loud, intimidating, and smelt of poo, they were also horny as hell. And because of this new knowledge, I kind of just forgave them for the disturbance because… well, it was just nature doing its thing. Can’t be mad at that!

Next day, however, about fifteen men and women did the exact same thing in the exact same place, and my housemate said, ‘What the hell are they doing!?’ 

I explained, ‘Don’t worry, dude, they’re in mating season.’ 

For some reason, he wasn’t as forgiving with them as I was with the geese.

What’s the Deal With B2B Brands Becoming Media Companies?

🌍 The Times They Are a-Changin’

I feel like a broken record at this point, but it’s easy to see that everything in the world is rapidly changing. AI, social media, streaming services, electric cars - you name it.

Technology has advanced so much in the past decade that no one would really blame you if you’d given up trying to keep up with it all. Just look at bloody TikTok!

You won’t catch my nan going viral for lip syncing a scene from a film anytime soon (although that would be a sick idea, wouldn’t it?) She simply has no interest in doing it, or even any understanding of what it is.

That does bring us to a good point though: content nowadays is, in some aspects, unrecognisable to what it used to be.

Consumers want a mix of content types; if you’re on TikTok or YouTube Shorts, you want small, easy to digest videos; if you’re on YouTube or Twitch, you most likely want more long-form videos that keep you engaged. And SEO aside, blog posts just aren’t going to cut it anymore.

So where does that leave B2B and SaaS companies? Two industries whose marketing has always been a bit behind and archaic in their approaches to new media? Well, they’re having to adapt to it all, and if I’m being honest, it’s about damn time. 

B2B and SaaS companies have begun either creating or buying their own media branches in an attempt to get used to this new format. HubSpot bought The Hustle; Salesforce created Salesforce+; Pendo bought Mind the Product; and SaaS Marketer created SaaS Marketer Weekly… wait, that's us.

We’re all trying to get in on this new-age, neo media hype. We’re releasing weekly and daily emails; making podcasts; making videos and sketches - we’re trying all sorts to become wealthy in the attention economy we’ve somehow found ourselves in.

Sometimes, though, watching B2B and SaaS marketers try to engage with modern audiences can feel a bit like watching your grandad try to figure out how to use his new laptop that he’s asked you to help him with because you have a laptop, so you must know everything about computers.

Recently, AudiencePlus announced a public beta for their first-of-its-kind software platform, making it possible to use owned media to build a sustainable pipeline for businesses; they want to make it easier for businesses to become ‘world-class’ with owned media. It’s a neat idea, one that will help B2B businesses dramatically.

But why do they need it? Isn’t social media good enough? Can we not just make the most of all the different social networks?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No, we flipping can’t. Why? Because whether you’re B2B, SaaS, B2C or whatever else, organic reach to audiences is far more beneficial and provides a far better ROI than paid reach. But organic reach is determined by an algorithm that no one in the B2B world has any control over, meaning that on social media they are, essentially, renting their audience.

B2C brands can afford this because they’re trying to appeal to the masses, but for B2B brands… well, unless you’re on LinkedIn, you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb. Be honest with yourself, if you ever see a B2B brand advertise themselves on TikTok or Instagram, don’t you get a bit of an icky but also sympathetic feeling? Like, ‘Oh for god’s sake I don’t want to see this in my down time’, but also, ‘Bless them, they’re going to get eaten alive out here.’

That’s why we’re taking charge and grabbing the bull by the horns; we are making our own media companies so that we can reach the audiences we want, determined not by someone else’s algorithms, but on our own terms. Expect bigger and better things in the next few years from B2B brands - us including! It’s going to be great.

(Also, quick disclaimer, we’re not sponsored by AudiencePlus… we just thought it was a pretty cool idea.)

Read on the web >>

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! As always, let us know if you have any questions, thoughts and feedback, and we’ll either get back to you directly or we’ll respond in the next email…

And that’s a SaaS Marketer Weekly promise babyyyyyy

Keep growing
SaaS Marketer

P.S. 

Believe it or not we’ve got our first ever bloody sponsor. I know, crazy, right? They’re called SaaStock and they’re offering you 20% off on tickets for their next event!

Ballsy of them to advertise on here… do they know what utter drivel I tend to write?