A selection from the new book: Different Rules – the B2B Marketer’s Guidebook to Product Differentiation

Successful B2B marketing is way easier than you think

By Chris Wirthwein

Why do people make things so hard – so much harder than they need to be? B2B marketing success is really quite simple:

1) Find out what your audience cares about

…from big picture to small, and mostly in areas that have nothing to do with you, your company or your product

2) Find out what they are trying to get done

3) Help them get done what they want to get done in a way that takes into account the things they care about and involves your product

That’s it? That’s it.

Now let’s talk about how to accomplish steps 1 and 2. Again, it’s simple. Get to know your audience as people…as human beings. You already know this, but people can be quirky and intense, laid back, smart, interesting, hard-working, lazy, interested and disinterested and a million other things. These folks care deeply about some things and not a whit about others. Get to know these people. They hold they keys to your success.

Forgive me, but I must ask: How well do you know them? As a marketer intent on being successful, you should answer that question thusly: “Well. Really, really well.”

Is that how you answered? Be honest.

Look, you and I…everyone…can get better at this – understanding our customers and prospects. To help you do that, I put together a list of 32 idea starter questions. Use them in one-one-one discussions with customers and prospects to get to know them better. These questions will work for any audience in any B2B market. Conduct 12-15, 45-60 minute

interviews using them as a starting place. When you’re done, you will be able to say you know your audience well…really, really well.

The questions come from the pages of my new book DIFFERENT RULES (pages 125-126). Click on the ink below to get your copy.

Read Different Rules - all 154-pages - free online e-book or purchase a hardcopy.

Chris Wirthwein is Senior Director for 5MetaCom, a marketing agency that develops strategies and campaigns to differentiate B2B technical and scientific products. He has authored three marketing books, including his latest, Different Rules: The B2B Marketer’s Guidebook to Product Differentiation. You can reach Chris on LinkedIn or at cwirthwein@5metacom.com.

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