#78: Opening is harder than closing, Elon Musk’s strategies, double standards, a plea to do better, and the B2B herd
Friends, this week I had the opportunity to watch 152 people (including my sister in law) become US citizens on July 4th.
In the ceremony, the presiding judge read off all countries represented from A to Z and ended with “you’re all Americans now.” Chills, and applause. He continued:
“Immigration is still a distant dream for so many. Let us ensure the ladder that you climbed up to be here today is not pulled up behind you.”
And quoted George Washington:
The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent & respectable Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights & previlege.
Hope you had a great Fourth with your family.
In this edition of The World's Best Newsletter (#78!):
1. Elon Musk & jumping regulatory hurdles
2. Surprising new data on 2016 voters
3. Double standards for women in politics
4. "Find your passion" is terrible advice
5. A Plea for Content to Do Better
6. B2B Positioning: Breaking from the Herd
7. Quote of the week: Opening is harder than closing
It's a long one this week. Buckle up!
1. Elon Musk & jumping regulatory hurdles
via Evan Burfield on LinkedIn. A great read about how Elon Musk deploys brand, buzz, media savvy, lobbying, and grassroots activation to make his dealings w/ regulatory roadblocks (selling to government) a little easier.
Evan has a new book out about what he calls the forthcoming "the Regulatory Era" and I'm digging in.
2. Surprising new data on 2016 voters
via Chris Penn of BrainTrust Insights. The formidably data-driven Chris Penn has a new consulting firm, BrainTrust, nerds-for-hire who will dig through large sets of data for companies and reveal juicy tidbits of insight.
(Please reply here if they can be helpful to your firm and I'll make an intro. And if you're offended by "nerds-for-hire" I am sorry :) )
He's recently released an assessment of the voter supplement data that's collected as part of the census process to uncover some troubling trends:
More than 13 million Americans didn't vote, because they said they weren’t interested in politics
1.58 million said their vote wouldn’t make a difference (as a reminder, 107,000 votes in three states effectively decided the election)
2 million women under the age of 29 intentionally forfeited their voting rights because they weren't interested in politics.
Are you registered to vote? Click here.
3. Double standards for women in politics
via NPR. If it looks like a double standard and sounds like a double standard...
"I think when you’re a young man and you’re running for office, you’re seen as this go-getter & I think when you’re a young woman there’s some stereotypes there about ‘You’re new; you don’t know enough yet.’"
- Deborah Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University
Right now, only 1 in 5 members of Congress is a woman. Of those women, only four are under the age of 40, and zero are under 30. By comparison, there were 18 men under the age of 40 serving in this Congress, via Legistorm.
Voters worry whether mothers of young children, for example, can handle being in office and parenting at the same time. On the flip side, research has shown that voters fear that childless and unmarried candidates can't understand their lives.
"No one cares about my personal life, except the older men," she said. "I've been hit on multiple times."
- Morgan Murtaugh, a Republican running in California
Gag.
4. "Find your passion" is terrible advice
via Daniel Pink on Twitter.
"Passions never arrive fully formed. And focusing on passion over effort and contribution can inhibit a growth mindset."
The belief that interests arrive fully formed and must simply be “found” can lead people to limit their pursuit of new fields and give up when they encounter challenges, according to a new Stanford study.
The article quotes a study on fixed growth mindsets about intelligence.
"When children and adults believe that intelligence is fixed – you either have it or you don’t – they can be less resilient to challenges."
The study tested how these different belief systems influence the way people hone their interests. Students identified as either "Fuzzies" (interested in arts and humanities) or "techies" (interested in STEM) and presented articles falling into one of the two camps. Students who held a fixed mindset about interests were less open to an article that was outside their interest area.
That's dangerous, and something I relate to as a marketer. We're often being asked to fall into one camp or another, but being narrowly focused on one area prevents us from developing knowledge in other areas. The good stuff happens when we combine fields together to find connections that hadn't been seen before.
Bottom line: “develop your passion” is more fitting advice.
5. A Plea for Content to Do Better
via SnapApp. Melissa Nazar and I met when she showed up at an event I was throwing in concert with Jon Burkhart (Jon are you listening to this on your scooter?!) We locked her and a bunch of other marketers in a room with an open bar (it wasn't really locked) and the night was as strange and wonderful as you'd imagine.
Today I'm sharing her article "A Plea for Content to Do Better" because I found myself nodding along while reading this past week. That's usually a sign that it's newsletter worthy. She tells a truthful tale:
It was a glorious and seemingly distant time, the earliest years of content taking foothold as a real career, back when just the idea of creating a well-designed “definitive guide to [insert your industry]” would get you a hearty pat on the back from your marketing leadership and plenty of downloads by your prospects...
At the same time, B2B demand gen marketers were on their own parallel journey, alongside the content boom. They realized that you could actually use content to fuel demand....The need was clear – companies wanted to crank out content to supply their demand engines. All those newsletters and webinars and nurture streams and other programs all required content, and a LOT of it!
...The new wave of content meant prospective buyers were seeing lots of informative, educational, fun content and insights from vendors across the board.
Which is great… until you think about just how much content that means.
Think about all the possible B2B vendors out there. Each one of them internalized these best practices and was creating content and driving them through similar demand gen machines.
Every. Single. One.
...And while more B2B marketers are spending budget on content, buyers are becoming more discerning and skeptical about what to engage with....Prospects aren’t engaging with content, so programs aren’t converting. MQL and opportunity targets are missed. Sales gets mad, and demands more leads. Demand gen panics and spins its wheels searching for new ideas.
“We need more video!”
“We need verticalized content!”
“We need content to support ABM!”
“We need funny copy for stickers at shows!” (that’s a real one)
“We just need MORE STUFF.”
And the content team rushes to spin up content to support these new demands, without really thinking about what will truly solve the problem.
Enough is enough.
We need to do better."
Read her full, honest plea here.
Thanks Melissa. From one truth-teller to another.
6. B2B Positioning: Breaking from the Herd
This Aberdeen article (h/t Ardath Albee) uncovers an analysis of BI company positioning and the need for differentiation.
Author Lawson Abinanti, founder of Messages That Matter, found that 11 out of 19 business intelligence (BI) companies evaluated build positioning around the notion of “insights.”
"lack of differentiation has been a significant problem in this space for some time. To illustrate, in 2014 seven vendors claimed “better decisions” as their position. In 2015, six claimed “insights.” The number of companies doing so has increased steadily since then and, as I have mentioned, today a majority use “insights” in their positioning.
Why?
"These companies are all saying what the analysts are saying.” - Andy Kamlet
Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins began talking about “systems of insight” in 2014, and first wrote about “insights-driven businesses” in 2015. It was at this time that BI vendors began to move away from positioning around “better decisions” and began to embrace “insights.”
Since then, Hopkins and other Forrester analysts have written extensively on how organizations can become “insights driven,” and the benefits of “systems of insight” and “insight platforms.” Thus, it could be the case that BI vendors are simply trying to align their message with Forrester thought leadership.
And, the kicker, is that the marketers at these firms may be misinterpreting Forrester's real point. Lawson articulates Forrester's real finding later:
“insights” are not the benefit; “insights” deliver the benefit. And “insights” aren’t helpful unless they are connected to what Forrester calls the “the point of action.”
And the takeaway: "You can’t claim a position in your market if you are making the same claim as one of your competitors, let alone the same claim as most of them."
This is an excellent piece for B2B positioning, and a reminder to all marketers that prospects are attracted to powerful, unique claims. Our tendency to follow the herd does not serve us well in the long run.
7. Quote of the week: Opening is harder than closing
Opening is as hard, if not harder, than closing! Buyers are avoiding engaging with salespeople. Reps are being “replaced” by search engines and social networks.
Seller: call, email, call, email
Buyer: ignore, delete, ignore, delete
So true. Being ignored by the people who matter is the enemy we're all fighting today.
Best,
Katie
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