Insider Interviews

Ruth Stevens: No BS About B2B Marketing

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Episode notes

This episode could be a lesson plan on B2B Marketing because Insider Interview's guest, Ruth Stevens, has been teaching BtoB Marketing at NYU and B schools around the world. And that's in between being one of the most influential consultants in the space, per Crain's BtoB Magazine. So, when Stevens calls BS on some approaches to B2B we all better sit up and listen.

Ruth marks the "fails" AND suggests best practices that make customers sit up and listen! (Like her advice to sellers everywhere of "Don't Be a Jerk on LinkedIn", in one of her recent articles about personal and professional networking. Hint: Don't jump to the pitch. Start with the relationship building!)

Per Stevens, salespeople these days have less ability to guide a purchase or even deeply understand the needs of the buyer today since 70% of (business) buyers don't really want to talk to vendors until down the road at the stage of writing RFPs and getting sales quotes. So, educational content marketing is a huge part of the B2B marketing mix today. But what are the creative rules for good B2B marketing? Is “storytelling” or emotion as important here as it is with consumer marketing? How is the impact of that creative measured?

Listen in as she shares her expert advice with Insider Interviews podcast host E.B. Moss about how to move from BS to business. Episode 35 also addresses the need for retention marketing and even how to leverage trade shows and virtual events more effectively.

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Find out more about Ruth Stevens at https://www.ruthstevens.com and read her thought-leadership at Biznology.com.