What an awesome word!
ploiter – /ˈploitər/ v “to work in an innefective way”
How often do you run into a word that’s not even listed in most dictionaries? And one that fits so perfectly??!! (If you’re interested, here you can read the story of the person who discovered that the Oxford English Dictionary ‘lost’ the word)
Most B2B marketing these days (fair warning – if you’re likely to get offended don’t read this) is busy work. It’s checking the box, more of the same that you’ve traditionally done, hoping to yield some results. Back that up with some slides about ROI and you have a whole marketing department…if only you had revenue growth results.
Somewhere inside you that little voice (the one you only listen to when you’re stuck in traffic) keeps telling you why. Buyers have changed the way you buy…but you haven’t substantially changed the way you sell.
So whistling while you work, you keep plugging away at the same tried and true B2B marketing activities. There’s only one problem. They don’t work the way they used to. It’s getting harder and harder to grow.
You could say you just ploiter away your days.
What a dreadful way to work
So let’s get this straight. You keep working harder (longer hours, etc., etc.) and you’re generating less revenue growth. What’s wrong with this picture?
And the real tragedy is that in most cases, CEOs, presidents, GMs and even VPs of Marketing assume that it’s simply the reality which they must embrace.
Generally they figure that they’ve tried other approaches; direct mail, telemarking, magazine ads, even industrial directories and yellow pages. And of course they are understandably jaundiced toward internet marketing solutions which have consistently overpromised and under delivered.
So it’s Hi Ho – back to the old B2B marketing routine we go….
You know what Einstein said, right?
His classic quote, the definition of insanity? “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Well let’s stipulate that you’re not insane. So that must simply mean that nobody has shown you a different way. Allow me.
The skepticism of internet marketing is entirely justified – but it’s holding your business back. 93% of all B2B purchases start online. And you know, when you are ready to buy something, you start with an internet search.
But doing it right transcends SEO, social media, and all the other fads and buzzwords. You must have an integrated, multidisciplinary approach built around content and inbound marketing. And that means unlearning much of the common “wisdom” and embracing a solution that matches how your prospective buyers buy.
As a recent Search Engine Marketing article (by @morgancarrie via @marketingprofs) outlined, that means no more “project” approaches to your website, PR, SEO or any other tactic. And it means embracing the continual, long-term development of rich content marketing designed to deliver helpful information to people – not to game some algorithm.
So check out our video below, and you’ll have the opportunity to download our book on the evolution of B2B Sales & Marketing – for free!
And for goodness sake – please don’t act insane…and whatever you do, don’t ploiter. Your business is too important. Go grow it!
image credit – greenberg art