How does influence help B2B brands achieve success?
Influence may be multifaceted almost to a fault, however a key essence is its role in providing smart answers to the questions your audiences have.
Reaching target audiences through digital channels was recently found to be a top-three critical challenge for B2B marketers.
A new LinkedIn* report of the most in-demand marketing skills has shown that digital marketing represented the biggest mismatch of skills in supply and demand. Influence is a vital element of successful digital marketing, and presents B2B marketers with a powerful tool to overcome this challenge, and the five brands we’ll examine here have each used influence in a variety of ways to achieve digital marketing success.
These five brands are rocking with the power of influence, engaging audiences and telling captivating brand stories.
Let’s jump right in and take a look at their success.
1 — Dotgo
For Dotgo, a provider of rich communication services (RCS) and other business messaging solutions, enlisting subject matter experts from firms including Orange, Vodafone, Synchronoss, and IMI Mobile was an important part of explaining its mission.
Providing whitepaper content to influence potential industry customers involved a close look at the power today’s latest chatbot technology offers, including person-to-application (P2A) messaging, the benefit of chatbot directories for enterprise businesses, and the first customizable object recognition application for the visually impaired.
Another forum for utilizing influence is through industry award events, a route Dotgo has pursued with recognition from the Cannes Lions Awards, being shortlisted for innovation in early state technology. Find @DOTGO on Twitter.
2 — True Name by Mastercard
With its True Name initiative, Mastercard achieved global adoption and more than two billion impressions by tapping into the power of influence to promote its program that lets those in the transgender and non-binary communities display their chosen name on certain credit cards.
The campaign brought success in the form of positive brand sentiment, with a 3,000 percent increase, and achieved additional exposure through winning multiple industry awards, including the Black Pencil award at the 2021 D&AD Awards and shortlisting at Cannes.
Using videos that shared the powerful individual stories of people in the LGBTQIA+ community, Mastercard’s True Name campaign expanded to global availability, and used another form of influence in partnering with organizations including GLAAD and others.
Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar recently expanded on the firm’s embrace of radical changes in marketing and advertising, sharing how the human elements that incorporate influence provide the differentiation that is needed more than ever.
“Since digital marketing began, the dependency on technology and data has become so intense that people started regarding anything creative as unnecessary or fluffy,” Rajamannar shared in a recent interview with The Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
“But the reality is that technology and data will level the playing field, so a company can no longer compete on just its product features or benefits or pricing or distribution network. You are going to have to differentiate yourself through creativity that is relevant to human beings,” Rajamannar explained.
Mastercard also utilized its LinkedIn and other social media platform accounts to promote the True Name initiative, including a variety of video and static image content. Find @MastercardNews on Twitter.
3 — Google Search Black-Owned
Google embraced Black History Month for the launch of its Black-owned business discovery features, and enlisted Black voices of influence to inform the public about the program.
Offering easy ways to help businesses get support or to give support to Black-owned businesses, Google featured an array of people from small business owners to National Basketball Association superstar Stephen Curry.
“Good things happen when you search Black-owned businesses on Google — take it from Stephen Curry,” the campaign urged.
Google implemented a visual black heart over a three-striped orange background in its badge to denote Black-owned businesses, and worked in conjunction with the #BlackOwnedFriday initiative and the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. to provide business support resources.
Influence also played a role in Google’s Digital Coaches, dedicated to helping business owners thrive online, and Google made it easy for people to write and share reviews of the program — another area where influence thrives.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) most recently report on diversity in advertising revealed that black-owned suppliers were the minority, with a 10 percent figure that came in slightly less than the 11 percent Hispanic-owned figure, while 62 percent were women-owned, according to the association’s ad budget survey data. Find @GoogleSmallBiz on Twitter.
4 — Oracle People Over Profits
With its innovation showcase highlighting success stories during the pandemic, Oracle* has featured strategy from clients including The Vermont Country Store and its “People over profits” focus, highlighting how the power of influence can run the gamut from small to B2B enterprise firms.
Oracle has successfully shared customer stories in its innovation showcase, putting a human touch on what can often be cold software offerings, such as its Oracle Commerce e-commerce product — and going beyond the realm of traditional B2B product data sheets and often dry whitepapers.
Kelvin Gee, senior director of modern marketing business transformation at Oracle, sees the importance of a more customer-centric approach in personalizing content.
“Companies do need to be more customer-centric, deliver a better customer experience, personalize the content, align with sales, and measure themselves differently,” Gee told our own Joshua Nite in “Break Free B2B Marketing: Oracle’s Kelvin Gee on Winning with Enterprise ABM,” which offers not only a fascinating look at enterprise account based marketing (ABM), but also an exploration of the power of empathy in marketing.
“Companies do need to be more customer-centric, deliver a better customer experience, personalize the content, align with sales, and measure themselves differently.” — Kelvin Gee of @Oracle Share on XFind @Oracle on Twitter.
5 — Northwestern Mutual Celebrating American Resilience
Northwestern Mutual creatively uses influence in the form of storytelling, and even pushes it into a new form of what CMO Lee Hurley calls “storydoing.”
Telling the stories of business owners hurt by the economic impact of the coronavirus, and how they overcame numerous obstacles, Northwestern Mutual’s American Resilience campaign utilized digital, social media, and traditional advertising.
“Influencers will help break down barriers surrounding financial planning by sharing authentic stories about how, with the help of a Northwestern Mutual advisor, they are financially and emotionally navigating important life stages in a COVID-19 world,” the campaign explained.
A video featuring business owner Melvin Gonzalez told a story of both individual business dreams and overcoming fear and pandemic difficulties utilizing financial advisor services, expanded on in additional campaign content.
CMO Lee Hurley sat down with LinkedIn News’ Callie Schweitzer during an episode of Marketer Must Read, and explored the campaign and the power of influencers, family, and friends when it comes to brands vying for attention.
“You’re not just competing with brands; you’re competing with everyone who is creating and sharing content — friends, family, influencers, media companies, and so on,” Hurley noted.
“People want to align with brands who stand for the causes they care about, who are making an impact, who are standing up,” Hurley added.
“You’re not just competing with brands; you’re competing with everyone who is creating and sharing content — friends, family, influencers, media companies, and so on.” — Lee Hurley of @NM_Financial Share on XFind @NM_Financial on Twitter.
Influence is the Art of Providing Smart & Colorful Answers
Influence may be multifaceted almost to a fault, however a key essence is its role in providing smart answers to the questions your audiences have.
We hope the examples of influence at work we’ve shared here from Dotgo, Mastercard, Google, Oracle, and Northwestern Mutual will help as you drive your brand initiatives ahead into post-pandemic marketing efforts.
Creating award-winning B2B marketing with an artful mixture of influence takes considerable time and effort, which is why many firms choose to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Contact us today and let us know how we can help, as we’ve done for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others.
* LinkedIn and Oracle are TopRank Marketing clients.
