Popular songs and B2B content marketing? Nobody loves gimmicks like this guy, so I’m exploring how themes in cool tunes relate to the value of consistently creating thought leadership throughout the year.
It’s not quite “what proposing to my GF taught me about B2B sales,” but here we go.
“Remember the Name” by Fort Minor
I graduated high school in 2007, so this 2005 pump-up song hit me at the exact right time. In the iconic chorus, Mike Shinoda gives the following percentage breakdown:
- 10% luck
- 20% skill
- 15% concentrated power of will
- 5% pleasure
- 50% pain
- 100% reason to remember the name
The harsh reality about life for industrial/technical brands is that the vast majority of your total addressable audience – probably 95% – isn’t looking to buy right now. Product promotion and lead generation ain’t gonna work cause they don’t need your product yet.
You need to build trust with the 95% and position your brand as the expert in your world. And you do this with valuable, non-salesy content. If you build trust and keep yourself top of mind, when the time comes that your audience is part of the 5-10% looking for your product, you’re most likely in the conversation for Requesting a Quote.
The lesson: You need to give them a 100% reason to remember your brand name, especially when they don’t need your product right now.
“Baba O’Riley” by the Who
“The exodus is here!” Roger Daltrey cries out in the middle of this song.
Here’s the deal: AI isn’t going to create a huge change in B2B marketing. The change has already happened. Around 90% of B2B buyers use AI search in the research process, which is translating into a mass exodus of people migrating toward zero-click searches and causing vanity metrics like website traffic to plummet.
The lesson: AI has changed how people get information.
“Jolene” by Dolly Parton
Where’s he going with this one?
Dolly’s famous song about that homewreckin’ Jolene illustrates what can happen to brands that don’t take a proactive approach to the changes in how people get information. Here’s how it looks:
- AI rewards quality content about specific topics and uses that as a source in the answers it gives people.
- If you aren’t creating that kind of content, you won’t be showing up in AI answers – which is a lost opportunity to build trust with your audience.
- If you aren’t showing up, you’re opening the door for your competitor to dominate the awareness stage and show up in those AI searches.
- Competitors will build trust with the market and be seen as the authority.
- You’re left sadly telling your competitors, I’m beggin’ of you, please don’t take my leads.
The lesson: If you aren’t creating thought leadership about topics relevant to your brand, your competitors can steal opportunities to build trust with your audience.
“Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan
One way AI differs from traditional search is that people typically type out full thoughts and questions. Instead of using fragmented keywords in Google (“best pump for chocolate”), they are more likely to search longer questions.
That’s why it’s critical to find what your audience is asking, whether it’s:
- How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?
- How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?
- What’s the best pump to use for processing chocolate?
That translates into building a content strategy around key questions that your audience is asking, which you can find with AEO tools, social media, or simply having a conversation with your sales and customer service teams.
Beyond creating value for your audience, question/answer formatting on your webpages sends signals to AI that if somebody searches for this question, this is the answer you should pull from.
The lesson: Find what your audience is asking, then answer what your audience is asking.
“Gimme More” by Britney Spears
They want more? Well, I’ll give them more.
Always-On Content is impactful because of its scalability. If you have a content calendar, you can see how your content fits into the greater marketing plan – business objectives, key trade shows, new product launches, etc.
With a more organized plan, you can develop larger cornerstone content pieces in a way to slice and dice them into A LOT of content (infographics, articles, social media posts, etc.).
That’s how you get “compounding content” like this:
The lesson: If you have a plan, you can compound content and get more for your marketing dollars.
“Thunderstruck” by AC/DC
With a plan to compound content, you can start to plan a thunderstrike.
With a roster full of talented folks (subject matter experts, product experts, sales team, designers, writers, etc.), you can plan around when they are under one roof.
It could be a trade show, sales conference, content summit, or whatever, but you have the recipes (content calendar), so the lightning strike gets you the ingredients (SME insights) you need to create a Thanksgiving-level content feast.
The lesson: Find a time to get as much information from your experts as possible to accelerate your content creation.
“1, 2 Step” by Ciara
You shouldn’t think that you need either Always-On Content or Lead Gen. The two are connected. And when combined, they are the 1, 2 step toward a more consistent flow of sales-qualified leads.
Always-On Content builds trust with the 95% not actively looking to buy. If they view your brand as the authority, when they are part of the 5% that needs your product, your lead gen message is much more likely to land.
Both steps are important and need to be part of your marketing strategy.
The lesson: Always-On Content and Lead Gen are complementary parts of an effective marketing strategy.
“Ride Wit Me” by Nelly
How do you know it’s working?
Like other marketing tactics, how will leadership judge if it’s a success? The Nelly song says it best: “Hey! Must be the money!”
Brand marketing, such as Always-On Content, likely won’t have immediate results, but over time, it creates an ROI flywheel that:
- Builds trust with your total addressable audience
- Shortens the time between them having a need and requesting a quote
- Creates a more consistent flow of qualified leads
- Strengthens lead gen and sales efforts
- Boosts long-term close rates and a healthier pipeline
The lesson: Always-On Content enhances close rates and reinforces long-term market positioning for your brand.
Looking to learn more about Always-On Content? Check out this page or reach out to me.
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