Not to brag, but we’ve helped a lot of enterprise, mid-market and SMB companies tell their B2B customer success stories. Doing so is always fun, and it helps our customers show prospects how the vendor’s solution has solved a problem that a company similar to the prospect’s company was having—and that they likely have themselves.
It’s important to show prospects that their peers are getting benefits from your solution, and to do so in their own words, because studies show that 53 percent of B2B buyers rely on peer recommendations before making any purchase decisions.
But there’s commonly one challenge we come across when building those stories: The customer has a challenge communicating the measurable performance improvements (metrics or key performance indicators [KPIs]) they’re seeing as a result of the new solution/product/service.
They may say "sales have increased", or they "definitely have better relationships with their clients and prospects", but they’re not able to give tangible data that supports those claims. Sales increases could be attributed to a number of factors, they’ll mention. Or they’re not sure how much interaction they had with clients and prospects before the implementation.
And therein lies the problem: They don’t have enough “before” data for a great before-and-after comparison. And without strong, tangible data to support your solution’s impact, your success story will be weaker than it should.
For Convincing B2B Customer Success Stories, Start Early—Before The Implementation
But you (or we) can fix that problem easily enough. It just takes forethought.
You need to start collecting data before the implementation even begins. Early in the process have your marketing people ask the client questions like: "What are your specific goals?" and "What do you hope to accomplish with this solution?"
Based on their responses, you’ll be able to figure out two or three areas that should improve after the implementation. Look at those areas and collect metrics associated with them. Write those metrics down for later. Then, after the implementation has been successful and the customer has (hopefully) been getting those anticipated results, go back and get those same metrics, which will now show improvements.
That will make for a persuasive before-and-after comparison.
Other Roadblocks to Compelling Data—And How to Overcome Them
Sometimes, the lack of before numbers isn’t the problem. I have seen a variety of reasons why a customer hasn’t been able to provide solid measurable performance results: Some clients try to keep performance metrics confidential; others don’t invest in measuring performance results as well as they should; for others, the solution hasn’t been implemented long enough for good performance metrics; and, in some cases, the performance metrics aren’t that good, so they’re hesitant about divulging them.
I'd like to offer two quick tips if you’re having trouble getting great metrics from a customer:
- Consider waiting longer; if you do, will you be able to better measure impact and KPIs?
- If they’re concerned about revealing confidential numbers, or if the numbers aren’t really that impressive, consider using percentage improvements. An increase in sales from 50 to 60 a year might not sound too impressive, but a 20 percent increase in sales does!
BayCreative: We Get Them Talking
At BayCreative, we’re experts at drawing out the kinds of metrics that create strong B2B customer success stories. So if you’re looking to build your library, and tell some great stories, please let us know.
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
marketing agency,
Client Relationships,
Content Development,
marketing strategies,
customer profile,
b2b marketing
Now that you’ve got your positioning statement, you have the foundation for all marketing materials you produce. That foundation will help you create strong brand messaging across all B2B marketing materials.
Brand messaging refers to how you convey your value and your unique value proposition and the language you use in your content. If you select the right language and focus on the right aspects of your business, you can make it stand out from the competition—and ultimately motivate the audience to buy your product/solution.
How do you pick the right things to focus on in your B2B marketing materials? How do you ensure you have strong brand messaging? Read on and we’ll provide some tips.
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
marketing agency,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
marketing strategies,
b2b marketing
It’s not easy to choose the right digital agency. But since 1998, we’ve been making the choice easier by helping B2B marketers out there make better decisions (with better results) for their brand and growth.
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
creative marketing,
Presentation,
PowerPoint,
demand generation,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
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PowerPoint is one of those handy tools that just won’t go out of style. Marketers lean on it for practically everything they do, and it’s no wonder. PPT files open and present from almost any device and they’re easy to edit. And with support for vector-based graphics and animation, your slide deck can be anything from simple explanation, to a detailed demonstration, to high-quality looping video.
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Get the most out of your slides by making sure they are built with the highest quality design and attention to detail.
At BayCreative we take PowerPoint creativity to the limits. We apply our 20 years of B2B marketing experience producing thousands of slides to get the very best possible. Often, people looking at decks we’ve produced have no idea they’re even made in PowerPoint. And, some of the decks we’ve produced:
- Keynote presentations at large events
- Fully integrated with video and audio
- Interactive, self-navigable decks
- Looping animated decks for passively viewed screens (lobbies, trade shows)
- Sales presentation decks with easily customizable slides
- Refined story flow and messaging
Regardless of your specific need, let BayCreative take your work to the highest level of quality. And make sure you’re getting everything you can out of your PowerPoint presentations.
To find out more about what BayCreative clients say about our PowerPoint/presentation work and their experience collaborating with our agency, check out the BayCreative presentation examples in our website portfolio: http://www.baycreative.com/work-type/powerpoint/
Please keep us fresh-in-mind.
All the best!
- Team BayCreative -
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
creative marketing,
Presentation,
PowerPoint,
demand generation,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
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Great Clients + Great Team = Great Results
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| For the second year in a row, BayCreative has joined the ranks of The Silicon Review's "Top 10 Fastest Growing Digital Marketing Companies" as published in its April 2018 edition. |
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"[BayCreative] brings more than 20 years of B2B marketing, branding and creative experience to the table and as a full-service B2B marketing agency it delivers value to growing businesses by providing a 'Marketing Department-in-a-Box.'" - The Silicon Review (April 2018)
We're thrilled to be part of Silicon Review's list as well as being listed in Clutch Research's "2018 Top San Francisco Digital Agencies." We've come a long way from our start as a small design shop, but ultimately our ethos remains the same.
Our goal then, as now, is to serve as an extension of our clients team, build a strong relationship through collaboration, and generate tangible results. And, as a single source for all B2B marketing/branding/creative support, we are now more than ever better able to serve our clients' needs.
At the end of the day, our success is our clients success, and commendations like these simply reflect the success we have helped our client's achieve.
Discover what BayCreative clients say about their experience collaborating with our agency, and see portfolio examples of work.
Please keep us fresh-in-mind.
All the best!
- Team BayCreative -
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
website design and development,
creative marketing,
demand generation,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
BayCreative is more than a full service B2B marketing agency; for more than 20 years, we've driven results for our clients as an extension of their team. With our “marketing department in a box,” approach, BayCreative offers in-depth, collaborative support to develop and execute effective digital/web marketing, inbound marketing, lead generation, brand awareness-building, new product/service launch and sales/channel enablement strategies that fuels our client’s growth.
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
website design and development,
creative marketing,
demand generation,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
Are you suffering from message sprawl?
New marketing channels and opportunities are popping up every day, and leveraging them all can feel like a game of “content whack-a-mole.” Each new piece of content is a new opportunity to go off-message.
A well-crafted messaging framework can save you from messaging sprawl, and keep your team on the same page. Through a process of moderated workshops and brainstorming sessions, combined with interviews of stakeholders, employees, customers, and prospects, BayCreative will develop a messaging framework that keeps your marketing on track and in sync.
We’ve helped dozens of companies define their message, articulate value and differentiation, and develop a framework to make their content more effective.
Contact BayCreative to learn more about our approach to message development and how we could help you!
All the best!
- Team BayCreative -
Download a sample Messaging Framework
we prepared for a high-tech B2B client
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
creative marketing,
Messaging,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
You wouldn't necessarily think file security software is a place for comedy, but BayCreative produced this video for our client Seclore that takes a humorous look at the world of Enterprise Rights Management.
Meet Steve, our enthusiastic but inept IT Director ... struggling to provide effective ERM solutions to his company.
We're proud of the team that developed this great video, and working with Seclore was a delight.
See for yourself, and keep us fresh in mind.
All the best!
- Team BayCreative -
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
video,
Content Development,
creative marketing,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
Every interaction with a prospective customer centers around one key question.
“How will you help me meet my business goals?”
The BEST person to answer that question is an existing customer. Happy customers are the most valuable asset for sales and marketing efforts. But are you maximizing the value of your current customers?
Prospects don’t want to be sold to all the time. They want to see how you work in the real world, how you'll help them if they become your customer. Success stories do that and more.
Through case studies, video customer profiles, and testimonials, you can help prospective customers understand the value and success they’ll experience by doing business with you. And, they provide valuable content for your website, email, and social media channels.
Showcasing your customer success can be as simple as:
- Tell a compelling, powerful story your target audience can relate to (similar business pains)
- Bring a new level of credibility to your marketing with quantifiable results
- Find the right person to tell the story (ideally a similar persona as your target audience)
- Let customer quotes lead the story (it’s not about you!)
- Keep it short, but be as specific as possible
- Use every opportunity to cross-promote your customer success stories
Over the years, the BayCreative team has produced hundreds of success stories in a variety of formats. Click below for some examples.
See for yourself, and keep us in mind when you need to tell your customers' stories.
All the best!
- Team BayCreative -
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Client Relationships,
Content Development,
creative marketing,
Presentation,
customer profile,
b2b marketing,
customer experience,
digital marketing
As the new year begins, you or your team might need a killer presentation to show off your 2017 successes, or forecast what's going to happen in 2018.
At BayCreative we create stunning PowerPoint decks, for everything from annual sales meetings and year-in-review summaries to 2018 executive outlooks, company overviews, and more. We’ve done this for 100’s of companies including Salesforce, Cisco, Fujitsu, McKesson, Flextronics and Motorola. The great thing about working with BayCreative is that we're not just a production house. We're a creative consultancy that will help transform your roughest, most abstract, chicken-scratch ideas into beautiful, polished presentations.
See for yourself, and keep us in mind when your next PowerPoint deck needs to CRUSH IT!
All the best!
- Team BayCreative -
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Topics:
strategic marketing,
Brand Development,
Content Development,
creative marketing,
Presentation,
b2b marketing,
digital marketing
