Endurance is a necessary virtue for us right now. Quarantine fatigue, Zoom fatigue, impatience, anxious uncertainty….all of these emotions are real, and we all share them.
We’re more tired than we want to admit. We’re more tired than we know. Paying attention takes energy, but COVID fatigue saps that energy. Fatigue feeds anxiety, and anxiety invites fear. Fatigue feeds boredom, too, and boredom shortens our already short attention spans. The big picture loses to the short term. And that means we’re on the edge of losing our edge. But we don’t have to stay here.
If you can recognize the fatigue, anxiety, fear and boredom in yourself, you can imagine the same in your audience. When you think of their needs, you can effectively change your marketing approach to enliven your relationships with your sales force and your customers. We can do something to relieve the situation. How? Start with a focus on one thing, for a moment: Think about a compelling B2B marketing response that helps sales as we all make our way forward.
We must all do without travel, and we all must cope with shorter attention spans. So, be willing to turn away from reliance on tradeshows, seminars and meetings. B2B marketing needs better and different tools to help sales strengthen customer relationships.
Marketing can help sales teams “travel” to their clients virtually but effectively. Develop a can-do approach to devising means to avoid Zoom and Teams fatigue, re-imagining ways for sales to talk directly with their customers.
And what about the need to re-evaluate target audiences? Marketing knows that with so many losing jobs, and with so many companies pivoting production lines, old lists may not be as expansive or “clean” as they once were, and even recent messages may not be relevant.
Just as many of our customers have pivoted to supply all kinds of products and services needed during the COVID-19 pandemic, their marketing focus needs to pivot as well.
For example, now is the time for marketers to focus on using meaningful small bites of content, dripped to clients in a regular stream. Two tips for an effective marketing pivot? Develop ways to stay brief. Target audiences by shifting your channels; refresh expectations. Let them see you in a different format. You can read more about these tips in Amanda’s latest LinkedIn article.
Whatever you do, work off fatigue with marketing changes to refresh focus on your work.
How can we help you?
