How to Think Creatively and Get New Customers in B2B

Regardless of which B2B vertical you find yourself in, acquiring new customers is essential for hitting revenue goals. Many conventional methods and tactics fall short, which means that marketers and sales need to adopt more creative approaches to customer acquisition. How do B2B marketers do that, and what role do they have to play?

That’s why we’re talking to Brook Shepard (Founder & CEO, Mason Interactive), who shared proven strategies on how to think creatively and get new customers in B2B. During our conversation, Brook emphasized the importance of focusing on breaking through the noise rather than just relying on technology. He also highlighted the need to understand churn ratios, set specific customer targets, and advocated for a diversified media strategy. Brook also stressed the importance of case studies and provided some actionable tips on how B2B marketers can think creatively to reach new people.

https://youtu.be/ZfT1_pIKkrc

Topics discussed in episode:

[1:47] Challenges B2B marketers face in customer acquisition

[4:54] “How to set realistic new customer goals in B2B marketing” is the single most important pitfall that B2B marketers should avoid

[6:18] The role of AI in modern B2B marketing

[12:45] Case studies and creative approaches to customer acquisition

[26:06] Actionable tips for B2B marketers on driving better acquisition

Ask agency for their advice
Figure out your churn ratio
Get new customer goals
Review the last 3-4 deals
Focus on the customer

[28:34] How to measure performance with the right B2B marketing metrics

Companies and links mentioned:

Transcript

Christian Klepp 00:00

Regardless of which B2B vertical you find yourself in, we can all agree that getting new customers to hit your financial goals is imperative. That said, we know that many traditional methods and tactics are no longer effective, which means that we need to get more creative about customer acquisition. So how can you go about doing that, and what role do B2B marketers have to play?

Christian Klepp 00:22

Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers, the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Brooke Shepard, who will be answering this question. He’s the founder and CEO of Mason Interactive, where data design and strategy work together. Find out more about what this B2B marketers mission is.

Christian Klepp 00:43

I’m gonna say. Brooke Shepard, welcome to the show, Sir.

Brook Shepard 00:46

Thank you, sir. Thanks for having me.

Christian Klepp 00:48

Really looking forward to this conversation, Brook, because, man, this is not just pertinent to B2B marketers. I think this is just highly relevant to businesses everywhere. So if you don’t mind, we’ll just, uh, get started. Hop right to it right.

Christian Klepp 01:02

So you, Sir, are on a mission to help businesses grow through paid social, paid search, social media, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), email and beyond. But for this conversation, I’m gonna say we need a zero in on a topic that I think has become part of your professional mission, and that’s how to think creatively and get new customers in B2B. So you mentioned something just for context for the audience. You mentioned something to me during our pre interview call, and it kind of stuck. It’s less about the technology you have and it’s about how you’re getting new customers to hit your financial goals. So here comes the question, why do you think so many B2B marketers obsess over the shiny object instead of focusing on how they can help reach new customers?

Brook Shepard 01:02

Let’s do it.

Brook Shepard 01:47

The short answer is, I think it’s easy to focus on a new fun toy. I have another theory about that, which is that if you’re buying a piece of software, you’re saying to yourself, this technology is going to help me and help make me better, whereas if you’re buying a consultant or like hiring me, I think you’re saying to yourself, wow, this person knows something I don’t know. And I think that’s probably harder. I think it’s probably a harder position for myself and for anyone, I think to be in it’s which to say, just to recast that it’s easier to buy the object than it is to have to have to acknowledge that you want to listen to someone else’s advice, because the object is a shiny new toy that may, that may work very, very well, and may transform your business. Certainly, there’s technologies we onboard that work really well, but yes, people definitely get distracted by six months long integrations of shiny objects.

Christian Klepp 02:38

What do you think a lot of these companies, regardless of whether it’s the B2B marketers themselves or the companies they’re in, why do they Why do you think that they resort to I guess I’m not gonna say tried and tested, because they were tried at some point now they’re just like, slowly becoming irrelevant. But why are they still defaulting to these old tactics instead of thinking creatively?

Brook Shepard 03:03

That’s a great question. I was talking yesterday to describe himself as private equity, as a financier who I was, I was really jealous of the situation he was in, because the way he the way his company works is he takes positions in businesses and and he might, he might buy 30% of your company, or 20 or 80% but he buys a piece of your business, and then he owns part of it, and then he’s on the board, and you sort of have to listen to him. Because he owns part of the company. And his joke was, no, they don’t always listen to me at all. And I was, and I was talking about the difference between that and and and working in an agency where people don’t always listen to us and follow our own advice, which is, I think we’re going to get more into this with some of the other questions we have ready. But I don’t always know whether I want to focus on what’s worked before and focus on what’s tried and true and iterate on it and make it better.

Brook Shepard 03:55

I get the I mean, there’s a story once about once when I was selling advertising, I walked into a guy’s office and he had a poster in the wall, and it was, it was a poster of two armies from from medieval times fighting, and a salesman was trying to sell one of the armies of machine gun, a Gatlin gun, and the guy in charge of one of the army said, No, this was a cartoon on his wall. So no, I don’t want to focus on anything. I can’t be distracted by a salesman. I want to focus on the tried and true, which was a silly it’s his pointing. How silly it was, because if only he had a Gatlin gun, this cartoon guy and this cartoon poster on this wall, this office, he would have won the battle. So you need it. You need a mix of both things. Honestly.

Christian Klepp 04:36

Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. So on this topic of, you know, thinking of new methods, creatively unconventional, finding ways to get new customers. What are some of these key pitfalls you think marketers should avoid, and what should they be doing instead?

Brook Shepard 04:54

I think the number one thing, and I said this in other places, I think the number one thing that people need to focus on is. Is how many new customers they want, and that’s that’s a little easier for B2B people to understand, but, it’s like, just so far and away is the number one thing. If I ask someone that comes to our agency for help growing their business, and are my sales teams talking to them, one of the questions I’d like to ask, because most people have revenue goals, most people have an idea of they want to be up 30% or they want to get to 5 million, or they want to get to 20 million, or they want to increase. Most people have goals like that. But if you ask someone the follow up question, which is say they want to get from 5 million to $30 million in five years, that’s great. How many of those are going to come from new customers is and if someone could answer that, I know that I’m dealing with someone who’s thought with some diligence and perspicacity about their business. And not everyone can, not everyone can think about that. It’s easier sometimes to talk about upselling existing clients, which is important, or reselling old clients, which is also important. But I think really the key thing for when you’re thinking about growing your business is, how many new customers do you need to get to where you’re where you’re going to want to go.

Christ...

Ep. 176: How to Think Creatively and Get New Customers in B2B