help me, don't sell to me - how to win hearts & minds with smes

Help me, don’t sell to me

How to win hearts & minds – and drive ROI – with SMEs

SMEs offer a huge opportunity

SMEs vs Large enterprisesNumber of enterprises in the EU (%)

0.2%

99.8%

99.8% of all EU businesses are SMEs

133 million employees across the EU

£1.8 trillion revenue in UK alone

SMEsLarge enterprises

Source: Eurostat

© Earnest (London) Ltd 2016www.earnest-agency.com

http://www.earnest-agency.com

There’s no surprise that blue chips want a piece of the action

70% of marketers believe the SME market is

extremely important to their business

38% say they will aggressively boost

their SME marketing investments

Two out of three big business brands are planning to

increase their focus and investment in engaging SMEs

Source: CMO Council, 2015 Survey



But there are three BIG challenges to overcome

1Hard to

define audience

2Expensive to reach

3Difficult to

speak to



Challenge #1: It’s an extremely hard to define audience

Who is the decision-maker and how is the decision made?

It’s tempting to start with job titles and industries…

Only 8% of marketers have a complete view of

the SMB customer

9 out of 10 struggle to identify and connect with

actual small business decision makers

Source: CMO Council, 2015 Survey



A new way of segmenting

Firmographics & Psychographics

Sets of characteristics to segment prospect organisations. What demographics are to people,

firmographics are to organisationsSource: Wikipedia

The study and classification of people according to their attitudes

and aspirationsSource: Wikipedia



Why Firmographics?

Goes beyond SIC/SOC:

Performance

Status or structure

Size

Location

Industry



Why Firmographics?

And means we can communicate to them in a life-stage transition:

Profit

Loss

Start-up

0

Years

Pick-up

Scale-up

Maturing

Strugglers

Grow to a large firm

Exit



Why Psychographics?

Because in business decisions personal drivers outweigh business drivers by 2:1.Google CEB/Motista survey

We must consider both when segmenting:

Explicit goals

Implicit goals

Category specific

Buyer specific

Driven by the individual

Driven by the organisation



The Earnest Goal Matrix

Progress I need to do this to get ahead

Gain an advantage over others; Innovate; Lead the field

Receive acclaim; Advance career; Win awards/accolades

Stay on top; Maintain status quo; Be empowered

Need to comply; Fulfil promises; Be true to my word

Be secure; Prevent losses; Avoid threats

Personal discovery; Learning experience; Challenge myself; Helping others

Go-getter

Status seeker

Adventurer

Worrier

Controller

Box-ticker

I need to do this to look good

I need to do this to stay in control

I need to do this because it’s expected of me

I need to do this to learn/because it looks interesting

I need to do this to avoid losing out/losing something

Recognition

Stimulation

Avoidance

Control

Obligation

PR

OM

OT

ION

Implicit goals Primary driver Motivations Persona

PR

EV

EN

TIO

N



Bringing it all together: example persona in action

Name: Jacqueline

Business: Tech consultancy

Job role: Managing Director

How they buy: Online industry forums. Peer recommendations. Social and search.

“If I had a solution to help keep track on my people and their projects – my work/life would be so much easier”

FirmographicsLifecycle: Scale-up

Industry

Location

Size

Status

Performance

Psychographics Persona: Go-getter

Explicit drivers

Implicit drivers

Challenges

Triggers

Technology Help clients. Provide tech recommendations. Grow the business.

Be valued. Be more than just an IT service provider.

Time poor. Lacking support and infrastructure.

A new client win – needing to expand headcount.

Brighton, UK

Small (25 employees)

Privately owned, self-funded

Growing y-on-y



Challenge #2: SMEs are difficult and expensive to reach

Low average cost per sale and addressable market size prevent big awareness push

82% of SMEs say telemarketing is not

effective

And the old ways just wont cut it…

<1% response rate to cold data emails

Sources: Circle Research, Fastcompany



We must align to how they research, choose and buy

Awareness

Exploration

Purchase

Delight

Buyer need

What’s my problem?Who’s in this space?Who can help me?

Get our message out in an impactful way

Who’s saying something interesting and different?Who’s helping my thinking?

Create interesting content that inspires and helps a potential buyer

What do I need to buy?Do I trust this company?

Be the easiest to buy from.Overcome any potential objections

Have I made a good decision?Does this company care about my needs?

Continue to reinforce and demonstrate value across the relationship. Surprise & Delight!

Our task



And target them contextually

Jacqueline, MD of IT Consultancy

B2B buyers are exposed to up to 5,000 marketing messages per day

Hubspot

Breakfast Travel On the job On the job Travel Home SocialiseLunch break

WoMOOH OOH




So how can we be the most helpful brand out there?



Case Example: HubSpot Website GraderClick here to grade your site!


https://website.grader.com/

https://website.grader.com/


Case Example: Town Square content hubClick here to check out the site

https://squareup.com/townsquare/


https://squareup.com/townsquare/


Case Example: YouTube Director appClick here to learn more


https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/make-video-ads.html

https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/make-video-ads.html?utm_source=YouTube%20Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=YouTube%20Blog

In summary: Key principles for planning your campaigns

Base around the buyer journey – and be the most

helpful brand around

Go beyond ‘interruptive’ marketing – answer

their needs

Take an iterative approach – learn from

your data



Challenge #3: Many brands get their tone completely wrong

“I am not an ‘SME’. I am a small, or owner-managed, or independent, or growing, or

self-employed, or new, or young, or boutique business. When I go to a party I do not say “Hi,

I’m an SME.” And as for the ‘smee’ word, what is that all about? I never ever call myself a ‘smee’. I do not want to be patronised. If people talked to you the way that corporates speak to small

businesses – you would punch them on the nose.”

Robert Craven, Managing Director, Small Business




An experiment...


Testing: going beyond focus groups

The problem with focus groups:

People adopt a personaUnconscious ‘herd mentality’Artificial environment

Eye tracking

EEG (electroencephalography)

Neuro marketing




Case Example: HiscoxClick here for full case study


https://www.marketingsociety.com/the-library/2014-highly-commended-hiscox-business-business-marketing-case-study


Case Example: iZettle 12 Hour StoreClick here to watch video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnz5GLbQWQo



Six key take outs

Segment your audience through firmographics & psychographics

Take an iterative approach: test and learn

Plan your campaign around the buyer journey

Be wary of testing creative in focus groups

Be the most helpful brand out there

Not all small business owners run flower shops and hold an ‘OPEN’ sign!

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@andrew__last

12 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 8BZ

www.earnest-agency.com

Expect the unexpected


help me, don't sell to me - how to win hearts & minds with smes

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