What’s Trending: Brand Recognition and Resonance

Remember those commercials with the slogan, “So easy, a caveman could do it?” They were everywhere in the early 00s, even inspiring a short-lived sitcom based on the 30-second spots.

Now: remember what service those commercials were advertising, and for which brand?

Many folks would have no trouble remembering the commercials themselves. But there’s a difference between memory, recognition, and resonance.

B2B marketers are aiming to establish their brands in the minds of their audiences. They need to build credibility, provide value, and make the connection between the content, the brand, and ultimately the solution the brand provides. Miss one link in that chain, and you’ll see a gap between your efforts and your results.

This week’s roundup features tips to help your brand earn recognition and gain lasting resonance. Read on for advice around content creation, influencer marketing, and more.

What Marketers Are Reading and Sharing Most Right Now:

1. Your Obsession with Demand Gen Is Going to Suffocate Your B2B Marketing (Future of Commerce)

Demand gen: The process of convincing your target audience that they need your product. It’s a pillar of marketing, especially for B2B. But new research from Ehrenberg Bass Institute and LinkedIn shows that up to 95% of buyers are not currently in the market for your products, or anything like them.

The solution, says LinkedIn’s Amber Naslund, is a greater emphasis on brand marketing. Marketing that associates your brand with what it’s best at creates brand salience. Or, as Amber puts it: “When someone is ready to make a purchase — especially a potentially long-lived one in B2B — we want them to not only know that we exist, but remember our brand in that context.”

Instead of thinking about brand marketing as a nebulous, hard-to-quantify and dubious activity, think of it as laying the groundwork with an audience that isn’t ready to buy — but may be soon.

2. 5 Tips for Promoting B2B Content Co-Created with Influencers (TopRank Marketing)

Influencer marketing is one way to build credibility, increase your brand’s visibility, and promote brand salience. But just creating content with influencers isn’t enough; a promotion plan is essential for getting the most mileage out of what you’ve made.

TopRank Marketing’s Debbie Friez observes that promoting influencer content is essentially social media marketing, and should include all of the tactics that make a social media strategy successful. Relevant hashtags, custom images, and engaging copy are all essential components. 

A strong promotional strategy helps boost the content and enhance your relationship with influencers. “When working with influencers, you want them to understand that you value their content and want to share it with your brand’s community,” says Debbie. “Taking that to the next level with great social content they will want to share with their followers is key.”

3. How to Calculate the ROI of Influencer Marketing Campaigns (Search Engine Journal)

Measurement should be built into an influencer marketing campaign at the ground level, during the planning stages. As influencers become a bigger part of the B2B marketing mix, being able to prove their effectiveness will be essential.  “Like all forms of digital, influencer marketing must be measurable and have a demonstrable ROI to work as a viable marketing tactic,” says SEO-PR’s Greg Jarboe. 

Just learning how to track and measure the results of influencer marketing would be valuable enough, and Greg does that here. But he also offers tips on making the most of your influencer budget to begin with. 

The big idea: In B2B especially, micro-influencers are more likely to give a better return than you’d get spending millions on a celebrity endorsement. Look for people with 15,000 to 50,000 followers who are highly respected and authoritative in their field, and you’re well on your way.

4. Three Hot Takes: These Brands Make Content Marketing Look Like Kid Stuff (CMI)

Imagine your content marketing was so valuable, so fun to read, so creative and resourceful, that people would eagerly snap it up and share it with friends. It can be done, even in B2B, and it can be done without Lego or Red Bull’s budget.

The team at Content Marketing Institute presents three inspiring stories of creative content, including a “young entrepreneur kit” from Shopify, a children’s book from Zillow, and a must-read magazine from bicycle company Trek.

All of these success stories lead to the same conclusion: Content must be beyond relevant and useful to really earn attention. If it can make someone laugh, dream, or even cry, it’s more likely to move your audience.

5. Top 12 Most Common Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid (Search Engine Journal)

While you’re developing your next-level, amazing content, make sure to sidestep the common obstacles that keep content from connecting. Express Writers’ Julia McCoy walks through the most easily-avoidable mistakes that too many marketers are still making.

One key point: The days of quantity content are over, if they ever existed. Search engines want to promote high-quality content, and your audience demands the same. It’s important to publish at a regular cadence, of course, but pick a cadence that allows for substantive, valuable content. “Producing a large amount of content that is cranked out quickly isn’t going to be high-quality, and that’s what SEO is all about – useful, relevant content that is well-written, organized, and easy to read,” Julia says.

6. How to Use LinkedIn Events for Your Next Event (Social Media Examiner)

As much as we want to get back to in-person events, it looks like digital and hybrid events are the safer way to go right now. LinkedIn Events can help bridge the gap, and SME’s Lisa Jenkins offers an easy-to-follow guide for creating and promoting your own virtual event through the tool.

Lisa also offers creative ideas for different types of events to host on the platform, from workshops and webinars to networking and cocktail hours. “By choosing the right event type and employing smart strategies to promote your event online, you’ll be able to build more opportunities to connect with future and current prospects,” Lisa says.

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