Identity/biometrics/technology marketing and writing services
I just made a minor edit to my Customer Focus page.
In the introduction to the page, I previously talked about how adopting a customer focus leads you to address “what is important to the customer.”
I changed that phrase to reference “what is critically important to the customer.”
This morning on LinkedIn, I was commenting that the March 2024 3.8% unemployment rate makes no difference to someone who is 100% unemployed.
My comment reminded me of one made by a far greater communicator 44 years ago.
During the 1980 Presidential campaign, when candidate Ronald Reagan was criticized for not knowing the difference between a recession and a depression, Reagan commented:
“Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.”
From the perspective of Reagan and his supporters in 1980, technical definitions of recession vs. depression made no difference when you’ve lost your own job. “It’s only a recession, not a depression” doesn’t feed your family.
Remember to apply this customer focus when talking to your prospects. They have a particular way of looking at the world, and as far as they’re concerned it’s the right way. They may be wrong, but you may or may not be able to convince them of this. If you can, focus on things from the customer’s perspective.
Because, as I said in my “Differentiating Your Company and Your Products/Services” video yesterday, the prospect doesn’t care about YOUR perspective.
Last week I prepared a presentation for a conference organizer, thinking that I would give the presentation at the conference in question. Instead, the organizer emailed the presentation slides to selected conference attendees. The attendees probably liked it that way.
But I still wanted to give the presentation.
And I also wanted to generalize the presentation so that it applied to ALL technology companies, not just the ones who were attending the conference.
So I recorded myself giving the presentation “Differentiating Your Company and Your Products/Services.” It’s ten minutes long, and you can view it now.
This video obviously discusses differentiation, but also discusses customer focus as well as the seven questions your content creator should ask you before writing (including benefits and target audience). Not only are the seven questions good for creating content, but they are also good for differentiating content. (For example, why is your product/service so great while all of your competitors’ products/services suck?)
If you’re watching this video on your laptop, be sure to keep your smartphone handy because at the end of the video I display a QR code to obtain more information. Just point your phone at the QR code.
Of course, if you’re watching this video on your smartphone, you can’t read the displayed QR code. So just go to https://bredemarket.com/drive-tech/ instead.
Business-to-business (B2B) writing isn’t as complex as some people say it is. It may be hard, but it’s not complex.
Neil Patel (or, more accurately, his Ubersuggest service) um, suggested that I say something about B2B writing.
And then he (or it) suggested that I use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to write the piece.
I had a feeling the result was going to suck, but I clicked the “Write For Me” button anyway.
Um, thanks but no thanks. When the first sentence doesn’t even bother to define the acronym “B2B,” you know the content isn’t useful to explain the topic “what is B2B writing.”
And this, my friends, is why I never let generative AI write the first draft of a piece.
Before I explain what B2B writing is, maybe I’d better explain what “B2B” is. And two related acronyms.
I included the “B2G” acronym because most of my years in identity and biometrics were devoted to local, state, federal, and international government sales. My B2G experience is much deeper than my B2B experience, and way deeper than my B2C expertise.
I’m sure that Ubersuggest could spin out a whole bunch of long-winded paragraphs that explain the critical differences between the three marketing efforts above. But let’s keep it simple and limit ourselves to two truths and no lies.
TRUTH ONE: When you market B2B or B2G products or services, you have FEWER customers than when you market B2C products or services.
That’s pretty much it in terms of differences. I’ll give you an example.
The sheer scale of B2C marketing vs. B2B/B2G marketing is tremendous and affects how the company markets its products and services.
But one thing is similar among all three types of writing.
TRUTH TWO: B2B writing, B2G writing, and B2C writing are all addressed to PEOPLE.
Well, until we program the bots to read stuff for us.
This is something we often forget. We think that we are addressing a blog post or a proposal to an impersonal “company.” Um, who works in companies? People.
(Again, until we program the bots.)
Whether you’re marketing a business blog post writing service, a government software system, or a pseudo rib sandwich, you’re pitching it to a person. A person with problems and needs that you can potentially solve.
So solve their needs.
Don’t make it complex.
Let’s return to the original question. Sorry, I got off on a bit of a tangent. (But at least I didn’t trail off into musings about “the dynamic and competitive world.”)
When I write something for a business:
Again, this is hard, but not complex.
It’s possible to make this MUCH MORE complex and create a 96 step plan to author B2B content.
But why?
So now I’ve answered the question “What is B2B writing?”
Can Bredemarket write for your business? If so, contact me.
Whether I’m creating content for Bredemarket or creating product marketing material for an employer (past or future), it’s important to ask some critical questions first.
My LinkedIn profile contains the three simple words “why customers benefit.” Not “what producers feature”—why customers benefit. Those three words encapsulate my approach to marketing…well, until I come up with three different words. Or two.
Song by Annie Lennox. Original reel on the Bredemarket Instagram account.
Dear 17X Certified Resume Writer,
You may think your marketing tactics and sequence are foolproof. But they’re not. Read on to see why.
And if you’re NOT a 17x certified resume writer, skip to the bottom to see how the resume writing market lacks differentiation. But what about YOUR market?
From observing you and dozens of your 17x certified resume writing competitors that I’ve encountered (and over 14,000 of your competitors that I haven’t encountered), here are the marketing tactics and sequence that ALL of you are using, and why they are COMPLETELY ineffective.
So this is why your tactics don’t work.
If you’re a regular reader of the Bredemarket blog—that’s a joke; if you haven’t read my LinkedIn profile, you certainly haven’t read the Bredemarket blog before—then you know that I recently wrote a post entitled “Five Reasons Why 17X Certified Resume Writer Pitches Fail.” It approached your marketing tactics from a different perspective.
But one afternoon when I received three separate LinkedIn InMails from three separate 17x certified resume writers in the space of five minutes, I figured that I needed to address this issue again, in a more pointed fashion. (Yes, I iterate.)
Now I don’t want you to read the entirety of my January 8 post. I know that you are very busy searching for “open to work” people to ask your canned question about their desired position. But I do suggest that you read the fourth of my five reasons why your pitches fail, and take the steps to ensure that you don’t sound exactly the same as your thousands of competitors.
Hope this helps.
That’s all I have to say. 17x certified resume writers can stop reading here.
Seriously.
Stop. Get to work.
OK, time for me to talk to the rest of you. It’s just me, you, and the wildebeest.
Frankly, I doubt that any of the 17x certified resume writers have even made it to this point of the blog post. Like I said, they’re too busy seeking their next prospects.
But the whole 17x certified resume writer market strikes me as one which is sorely lacking in differentiation, competitive analysis, and customer focus. The vast majority of people who provide resume services don’t even attempt to say why their services are superior and the services of their 13,999+ competitors are inferior. And the vast majority focus on themselves rather than the specific needs of their prospects. Why should I choose one of these 17x certified resume writers, and not one of their competitors?
But it’s not enough to take a look at a lack of differentiation in one market. Now I have to take a look at myself. Have I done an adequate job of differentiating Bredemarket’s marketing and writing services from those of my other content marketing competitors? I already know that Canva content creator G from Ray of Social is a much better singer than I am.
And perhaps you should take a look at yourself. Have you done an adequate job of differentiating YOUR company from the competition? Do your prospects have a reason to choose you?
If you are employed by a technology firm and need your content to stand out from the crowd, let me explain why Bredemarket’s services can drive content results, how I provide services that no one else does, and what we will do together to create that content your company desperately needs.
Just in case these questions come up.
I think the three words “why customers benefit” say it all.
Why should you work with Bredemarket to craft your customer-focused blog post about your product or service?
Get started today at https://bredemarket.com/contact/.
We relate to firms as entities with personalities…and particular tones of voice. Could you imagine Procter & Gamble speaking in Apple’s tone of voice, or vice versa?
And one more thing…Charmin. Now in black.
(Thunderous applause and royal adoration with no indifference whatsoever.)
Firms take care to speak in a particular tone of voice. Which means that the people writing their copy have to speak in that same tone of voice.
I have spent time thinking about Bredemarket’s own tone of voice, most recently when I delved into the “royalty” aspects of the Bredemarket family of archetypes. In that family “Sage” is most dominant, but there are also other elements.
In Bredemarket’s case, my sage/explorer/royalty/entertainer tone of voice is visible in Bredemarket’s writing. At least in Bredemarket’s SELF-promotional writing.
But MY tone of voice makes no difference to my clients, all of whom are focused on their OWN tones of voice. And Bredemarket has to adjust to EACH CLIENT’S tone of voice.
My hope is that if you see two pieces of ghostwritten (work-for-hire) Bredemarket work for two different clients, you WON’T be able to tell that they were both written by me.
I’ve addressed the topic of adaptation before, where people don masks to portray characters that they are not.
At the time I said the following:
So when Bredemarket or another content marketing expert starts to write something for you, should you fret and fuss over what your archetype is?
If you feel like it. But it’s not essential.
What is essential is that you have some concept of the tone of voice that you want to use in your communication.
From https://bredemarket.com/2022/10/30/donning-archetypes/
I then led into…well, something that is long outdated. But the gist of what I said at the time is that you need to determine what your firm’s tone of voice is, so that your writers can consistently write in that tone of voice.
So if Bredemarket works with you to create your content, how will I know your desired tone of voice? By one of two ways.
As we work through the seven questions that will shape your content, I ensure that I understand the tone of voice that you want to adopt in your content.
And with the review cycles interspersed through the content creation process, you can confirm that the tone is correct, and I can make adjustments as needed.
Unless you absolutely insist that I use a hackneyed phrase like “best of breed.” That requires a significant extra charge.
Do you want to drive content results in your own tone of voice with Bredemarket’s help?
When a customer approaches your firm to do business, the top-of-mind concern of the customer is the customer’s own problem.
If you would like to know more, see this curated collection of Bredemarket blog posts on the topic of customer focus.
Bredemarket