Aprile, 2023

It’s time for marketers to schedule their upgrades ahead of next year’s planned shutdown of the previous Search Ads 360.

Being given direction over and over again without clarification or elaboration can be downright frustrating.

We’re guilty of this in marketing. When we repeatedly suggest that authenticity is the secret sauce to writing amazing content, what are we actually saying? The word “authentic,” as the wise and witty Ann Handly argues, is a lovely but vague directive, but “no one knows what it means.”

It has become a marketing buzzword — but buzzwords do have their place. They offer nice, concise ways to say what we mean without having to spell it out every time. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t occasionally revisit the definition to ensure we haven’t gotten off track.

That’s why we wanted to offer this deeper dive into what it means — what it REALLY means — to write authentic content.

1 — What is Authenticity, Anyway?

The thing about authenticity is that everyone wants it from other people, but it can be hard to do the self-work to identify it from within. That sentence? That’s authenticity. It’s the unvarnished truth, but not cruelty.

Authenticity is derived from boiling down who you are — whether that be your brand, your workforce, or simply (and most importantly!) yourself — and mixing the distillate with a pinch of who you hope you are when you connect with others.

[bctt tweet=”“The thing about authenticity is that everyone wants it from other people, but it can be hard to do the self-work to identify it from within.” — Theresa Meis @TMeisWrites” username=”toprank”]

2 — Identifying Your Authentic Voice

This top-down checklist of roles you fulfill as a writer should help you find center again when you’re searching for your authentic voice.

You Are The Brand

B2B content writers are masterful performers, donning the robes of brand identity and addressing the audience as the personification of whatever product, service, or idea the brand offers.

Brand authenticity is accomplished by honoring an organization’s agreed-upon values and mission through your writing. The good news is that more organizations are clarifying what those people-centered values are at the brand identity level, and you get to help amplify that to the world.

[bctt tweet=”“Brand authenticity is accomplished by honoring an organization’s agreed-upon values and mission through your writing.” — Theresa Meis @TMeisWrites” username=”toprank”]

You Are the People

The organization you write for may be an industry leader, composed of thousands of workers spread across the entire globe. Or, it could be a handful of visionaries working night and day to launch the next great thing.

You might be asked to write on behalf of any number of leaders or experts within your organization. Authenticity is important for adding the flavor of their voice to your brand messaging.

You Are Yourself

As B2B content writers, we write from behind a mask, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have truths to offer.

When you allow yourself to tap into your own deep well of personal experience, you elevate your writing from brand pitch to engaging storyweaving. And, yes, even if you’re writing about the most niche software solution.

The insights into human nature learned from, say, bartending in college have given you wisdom that informs the way you approach problem-solving for people who are overworked and stressed (your Monday to Thursday clientele) and how to communicate unabashed exuberance (the Friday/Saturday crowd).

Now, you probably shouldn’t tell those stories (I mean, it really does depend on the brand voice at your organization), but while you’re drawing on those memories while writing, your brain is in a human-centered space.

That, right there, is the secret sauce of authentic writing.

3 — Why We Need Authenticity In B2B Marketing

People don’t think of B2B purchases as an emotional buying decision, but if humans are involved, so are emotions… It’s no longer enough to inform customers, we’ve got to make them feel.” – Lee Odden, CEO at TopRank Marketing

These words from TopRank Marketing co-founder and CEO Lee Odden reflect the movement within B2B marketing to enrich content through connecting with customers at the human level. This sentiment also reflects the reason why human-centered content is now and will continue to be invaluable for B2B marketing.

Your B2B Audience Is People, Too

This is the biggest reason why content marketing should strive to be authentic.

For far too long, B2B marketing was focused on connecting the cogs of industry, forgetting that we’re the cogs!

A recent Gartner customer study revealed some startling truths about the B2B buyer journey:

1. 89% of buyers felt the information they encountered in a recent purchase was generally of high quality, relevant, and evidenced. However…
2. Over half of all B2B buyers surveyed reported feeling overwhelmed by the volume of trustworthy information they encountered as part of their purchase journey.

Rising above the noise requires a different approach, and the best way to differentiate yourself as a brand, as a seller, or as an individual human being is to embrace authenticity.

[bctt tweet=”“Rising above the noise requires a different approach, and the best way to differentiate yourself as a brand, as a seller, or as an individual human being is to embrace authenticity.” — Theresa Meis @TMeisWrites” username=”toprank”]

It’s About Solving People Problems

Behind every B2B problem is a people problem.

A machine goes down on the factory floor. The floor manager doesn’t know about it until it’s too late and serious damage has been done. The part is stuck in a shipping container somewhere, so the run of parts is behind, meaning everyone has to pull overtime to make it work. A lot of family dinners and little league games are being missed.

Software that alerts the floor manager to potential machine problems could have helped them avoid this whole cascade of problems.

But, which problem in that list is the one that matters most?

B2B always has been about solving people problems.

[bctt tweet=”“B2B always has been about solving people problems.” — Theresa Meis @TMeisWrites” username=”toprank”]

Your Brand Needs You

You are the secret sauce for authenticity in content writing, and authentic content writing is the secret sauce for exceptional B2B marketing.

A final fascinating insight shared by Gartner looked ahead to the state of B2B marketing and selling over the next five years. “The best sales organizations will equip sellers to engage customers very differently with information. Sellers will pivot from being the source of information to helping customers make sense out of everything they’re learning, irrespective of source.”

Brands that solve people problems will stand apart. Dig deep, embrace your authenticity, and get to solving people problems!

If you are looking for a strategic partner to help elevate your current marketing strategy, claim a time to connect with our team of experts.

The post 3 Key Ways Authenticity In B2B Writing Helps Solve People Problems appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Watches and Wonders Si è svolto a Ginevra dal 27 al 2 aprile Watches and Wonders, il più grande summit mondiale dell’orologeria, dove 48 marche hanno presentato i loro nuovi segnatempo, consentendo così…

SpaceX e Elon Musk hanno tweetato ufficialmente che domani, 17 aprile, verrà
effettuato un tentativo di lancio della Starship portata dal vettore gigante
Super Heavy. Questa è la patch ufficiale del tentativo:

La finestra di lancio inizia alle 14 CET (ora dell’Europa centrale). Il programma
di volo è descritto in
questo mio articolo; SpaceX ha una pagina che fornisce i dettagli del lancio (in inglese). Qui sotto trovate lo
streaming ufficiale su YouTube, che dovrebbe iniziare alle 13:15 CET.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 2023/04/16 23:10. Le puntate precedenti di questa cronologia sono qui: prima,
seconda,
terza,
quarta, quinta.

Il ricercatore Travis Brown ha pubblicato un elenco aggiornato degli account Twitter che finora hanno perso la spunta blu “legacy” di autenticazione e non hanno chiesto quella a pagamento (che, ricordo, non autentica nulla). Sono 1402 account su un totale di circa 408.000. La Grande Purga,
dice Elon Musk, dovrebbe concludersi il 20 aprile, ma per farlo dovrà procedere molto più speditamente.

Nell’elenco dei “degradati” si notano alcuni nomi di spicco (perlomeno per me; se ne trovate altri, segnalatemeli): il New York Times (55 milioni di follower), Doja Cat (5 milioni; ha commentato “Having a blue tick now means theres a higher chance that you’re a complete loser and that you’re desperate for validation from famous people”), Rose McGowan (980.000), Pat Sajak (370.000), MalwareTechBlog (Marcus Hutchins), Katharine Hayhoe, Electrek.co, Desigual_ES, American Red Cross Greater North Texas Region, NASA Center for Climate Simulation, FAADroneZone.

—

Come
preannunciato
dall’azienda il 2 febbraio scorso, Twitter sta disattivando l’accesso gratuito
alla sua API e lo sta facendo diventare a pagamento. Di conseguenza, molti
servizi informativi di Twitter chiuderanno o stanno già chiudendo.

La API (Application Programming Interface) è, semplificando, un
linguaggio comune che permette ai programmi di parlarsi tra loro. Consente per
esempio di creare programmi che mandino automaticamente istruzioni a Twitter
per pubblicare un post o rispondere con dei dati a un tweet. Moltissimi
servizi amatoriali e accademici usano questa tecnica per diffondere le proprie
informazioni. Si va dal frivolo (una foto di opossum ogni ora, presso
@PossumEveryHour)
all’essenziale (gli avvisi meteo, gli allarmi per gli tsunami di
@nws_ntwc).

Tantissimi account di comunicazione scientifica e accademica in generale, di
arte, di poesia, di assistenza ai disabili, di allerta sismica dovranno
sospendere le pubblicazioni perché non possono permettersi di pagare o hanno
restrizioni legali che impediscono di farlo:
Slate
ha pubblicato un elenco molto ampio di questi servizi, la cui scomparsa è
“una tragedia che sicuramente farà diminuire il valore di Twitter per tante
persone”.

Tutto dipende dalle decisioni di Twitter, che vengono prese caso per caso e
piuttosto arbitrariamente, a quanto pare, e vengono cambiate solo su protesta:
un allarme tsunami governativo statunitense, per esempio, si è visto
riattivare
l’accesso all’API dopo che ha
denunciato pubblicamente
il blocco del servizio da parte di Twitter.

Non è andata altrettanto bene, invece, a
DSCOVR:EPIC, che pubblicava
varie volte al giorno le bellissime immagini della Terra vista da lontano
grazie alle telecamere della sonda DSCOVR. Il suo accesso all’API di Twitter è
stato annullato il 15 aprile per una “violazione” imprecisata. L’account è ora operativo su Mastodon
qui.

[aggiornamento 23:10: l’accesso all’API è stato ripristinato].

Ancora una volta, Elon Musk sembra non capire che l’essenza del valore di Twitter sta negli utenti e nei loro contenuti. Se fa di tutto per farli scappare invece di agevolarli, Twitter diventerà un guscio vuoto.