Trust Yourself

“Trust yourself," Dr. Benjamin Spock told young mothers, by which he meant trust your heart.

It has reasons reason doesn't know.

Never contradict it, because it's usually right about the things that matter.

Some people have a knack for letting their hearts sound the alarm and save them from failures.

The rest of us use our heads, and take a lot of hard knocks.

To B or Not 2B

Gary Slack provided today's post. He is chief experience officer of Slack and Company, LLC, a leading global b2b marketing strategy and services provider based in Chicago.

That’s the question for a lot of b2b…er, btob…er, b-to-b marketers.

What’s the right or at least the most accepted way these days to abbreviate the somewhat unwieldy phrase “business-to-business”?

Maybe the Business Marketing Association (BMA) has it right in just saying “business marketing.”

For many years, the accepted abbreviation was “b-to-b” marketing. When I started my career 30 years, that’s how we did it.

Then in the late 1990s, with the growth of the Internet and the rise of all kinds of now largely defunct online vertical industry exchanges, the alternative abbreviation “b2b” suddenly came into being. In fact, well into the 2000s, Silicon Valley thought it owned b2b.

One school of thought has it that b2b is easier to text and takes a lot (to the time challenged) less time to type than b-to-b, what with those two pesky hyphens.

Whatever the case, though, the “b2b” moniker gradually came to replace “b-to-b” for all kinds of business marketing, and today you rarely see “b-to-b” used any more.

Do a search, and you’ll see what I mean. On the websites, and in the blogs, of almost all b2b marketers, they use “b2b.”

There are a few exceptions (not that there is anything wrong with that). One is the Association of National Advertisers (now the parent of BMA), which is fixated on “B-to-B” (yes, with capitals) due to some ancient style guide.

One other exception is or was Crain Communications and its BtoB magazine, but the magazine is now defunct, and no one else uses btob.

You might consider us one, too, as our agency’s tagline is “The shortest distance from b to b.” In this case, though, we felt we had to mirror the classic line we’ve mimicked: “The shortest distance from a to b.” We use b2b everywhere and everywhen else.

So that’s the quick, 30-year tale of the rise of b2b. Question answered!

5 How To’s in a [Blog Post] w/Photo. For Who? Content Marketers!

You've just encountered a viral headline. That's if you buy marketing maven Arnie Kuenn's tips in Chief Content Officer.

And it took a mere 30 seconds to write!

You can write a viral headline, too, Kuenn says. Simply:

• Imply the post is a list
• Include "who,” "photo," and "how to"
• Make the headline no longer than 65 characters
• Include your audience's favorite keyword(s), and
• Describe the content that follows in a bracket ([slideshow], [blog post], [infographic], etc.)

Got it? Groovy! Now, I have a bridge that might interest you...

Please Say When You are Feeding the Fish

nOnly 2% of B2B sales are closed the first time buyer and seller meet.

The other 98% require the patience and persistence of a great teacher—anathema to most salespeople.

Remember Mr. Rogers' penchant for explanation?

No matter the activity, he took pains to explain what he was doing—a technique he adopted for the benefit of the blind, after a 5-year-old girl named Katie wrote to him:

Dear Mister Rogers,

Please say when you are feeding your fish, because I worry about them. I can’t see if you are feeding them, so please say you are feeding them out loud.

Do you have the knack for explaining your value proposition to prospects each and every weekday?

Or do you cast about for the 2% of deals you can close in one fell swoop?

Good luck with that.

Crap Content Portends Crap Customer Care

A friend once told me he paid a call on a prospect while battling a sudden-onset flu. My friend was ushered into the executive's office and promptly threw up on the man's desk. Not surprisingly, he didn't close the sale.

When you publish crap content—ungrammatical, tortuous and jargon-heavy—you kill sales, just as surely as my friend did.

Crap content portends crap customer care.

Need proof? Then consider the following, courtesy of the crap-content creators behind United Airlines' blog, Hub:

Top 5 things to know about the United Polaris experience

We're very excited about our brand new international premium cabin service—United Polaris first and business class—which offers comfort and relaxation for restful sleep in the sky. To make sure you know what to expect with United Polaris travel, see below for a few key reminders. You can learn more at united.com/Polaris.

1. Service


2. Lounge


3. Seat


4. Amenities


5. Cabin names


What makes this crap content?

• Prolixity. Why does the blogger use superlatives to excess? He's not "excited," but "very excited." The service isn't "new," but "brand new." It doesn't provide "comfort," but "comfort and relaxation." The blogger doesn't offer "reminders," but "key reminders."
  
  
• Jargon. The blogger packs the 180-word post with jargon like "long haul," "roll out" and "soft-launched."
  
  
• Nonsense. Planes fly, but since when do "seats take flight?" What the hell are "sleep-focused amenities?" And who really cares that United has renamed its first-class cabins?

Crap-content creators like United's will say: Who cares? It's only marketing content: here today, gone tomorrow. Their indifference reflects the brand's values to a T.

They'd be well served to take the advice of critic Alexander Woolcott:

I count it a high honor to belong to a profession in which the good men write every paragraph, every sentence, every line, as lovingly as any Addison or Steele, and do so in full regard that by tomorrow it will have been burned, or used, if at all, to line a shelf.