Marketing serves a single purpose: contribute directly to generate a lucrative income. It involves everything- from creativity to commercial copy, to even catchy taglines enticing customers, and above all, creativity!
A marketer’s life revolves around using numerous marketing tools and methods to promote products and services, generate leads, increase sales, and eventually improve brand image.
When circumstances are tough & cash flow is limited, marketing will be the lifeblood of the business. However, there have been an increasing number of marketing tools, techniques, and best practices for content marketing. Thus, making it challenging to determine where to put more focus to get the most out of marketing. And this is where the new 95-5 marketing rule kicks in!
What’s with the new 95-5 rule?
LinkedIn’s B2B Institute and the University of South Australia’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science collaborated on a study this summer to aid B2B marketers in expanding their businesses sustainably. The study began with a bang, focusing on marketing success.
It revealed that only 5% of B2B buyers are in the global market to buy right now. That indicates that 95% of the people brands contact are out-of-market and won’t buy for months, if not years.
Contrary to popular perception, you won’t be able to persuade the buyer to move in-market because they currently own what you’re selling and won’t require a newer version anytime soon.
Buyers don’t go in-market because of marketers; they move in-market because of their demands. For example, if an IT manager bought a new cloud computing solution yesterday, that requirement is no longer present, and there’s nothing a B2B marketer can do to produce a sale right now.
The 95-5 rule for content is about earning an audience’s trust even if they don’t have a pressing need for your services so that when they do, they automatically think of you. In a nutshell, it’s farming rather than hunting.
At any moment, 95% of the people you’re marketing to won’t meet the minimum requirements for a sales conversation. However, 5% of the population will be ready. Hence, it’s up to your sales team to figure out how to apply the 95-5 rule, determine who’s in the top 5% and guide them through the consultative sales process.
What does this 95-5 rule mean for your digital marketing strategies?
Although the data is more pertinent to B2B marketers, there is something here for any marketer to think about and apply to their teams and campaigns. Most B2B marketing meetings, ideas, and strategies focus on moving customers along the acquisition funnel.
You know your target market and may already have a relationship with them, but you want them to buy right now. So, you create marketing that seeks to purchase. However, it’s over 20 times more likely that they’re unavailable in the global marketplace.
Your marketing still has value—having that touch point, raising awareness, and collecting that new piece of customer data is essential.
However, if you’re trying to persuade someone to buy when they aren’t in the market for something, you’re doing it wrong. Because it does not align with the client’s needs, it will be less productive.
Traditional B2B companies use a sales-driven approach to growth. Because the buying cycle is more intricate and less frequent, you can get to know and interact with your buyers directly.
People don’t want to buy the product when it doesn’t seem necessary for them. Hence, a sales-led approach works for 5% when customers are looking to buy & won’t work 95% when they aren’t.
It means that working with the same old marketing rules will not bear any results anymore. You need to make more realistic expectations from the market and plan your budget and allow marketing spending with a focus on the long term.
Then how to apply the 95-5 rule? Establish consistency to foster familiarity. Your digital marketing should include more versatility and focus on building credibility with the 95% of people who aren’t the potential buyers now and can be the buyers of tomorrow.
Benefits of 95-5 Marketing Rule:
Let’s get to the part where this new marketing rule can help brands grow. The most obvious benefit to the brand is that it focuses on the long-term. It means that if you are hoping to see any instant benefits, it’s next to impossible, and it will disappoint you.
Set Real Targets
This rule is all about setting realistic objectives for you. So if you are among the 95% of B2B marketers who still like to believe in product-centric marketing, this rule brings a message. Your buy-now advertising policy will never be enough to build familiarity with the 95% of buyers because it will only entice the 5%.
Be Bold with Advertisements:
The 95:5 principle allows you to be gutsy, put on a show, and have a good time. It expands the B2B creative canvas, pushing you to focus on publicity and bring more long-term results, which will undoubtedly work on the buyers.
Reach a Wider Target Audience:
With the 95-5 rule for content marketing, you will not only be able to develop creativity but also hit the 5% and then the 95% target customers. It will help you reach a broader audience & boost your brand awareness.
Connect with Audience:
It also develops strong relationships with buyers in the short & long term and certainly reduces your marketing costs. 95-5 rule is the future marketing, a route to generate future cash flows.
Executing the 95-5 Rule for your Brand Growth:
While the 95-5 rule is the main focus of the study, it is actually about the relationship between advertising and brand growth. In short, studies claim that advertising is most effective at generating memory associations to a brand – which means that while customers are shopping, they are more likely to recall brands that have been promoted effectively.
Now, it brings us back to the most pertinent question, how to apply the 95-5 rule in digital marketing?
While promoting your brand is important, being prepared to resolve each customer question in a much more reliable way. Brand recognition can be achieved in a variety of ways, including advertising.
Advertising is used by the most prominent firms as part of a bigger plan to acquire their potential buyers’ trust. You can’t make more B2B buyers appear out of nowhere. Still, by using the best practices for content marketing, you can increase excitement & interest in your company by being helpful.
Strengthening the inbound strategy is one way to go. Inbound marketing is all about content, trying to stand apart from a sea of mediocrity. When you hire writers and storytellers, they will automatically look at the research, and what they write will be eccentric.
Instead of requesting rapid action with CTAs, providing value to the customers is a better approach to entice them. It is far more fruitful to give them market insights, show them a new use case, and allow them to download a case study to get a different perspective on a common problem and how another business conquered it with your product or solution.
With thoughtful leadership, educating the audience and providing actual value is what builds iconic brands. Over time, impressions add up and contribute to establishing brand affinity, which is essential for staying top of mind.
You must promote to both people who are already in the market and those who are not currently in the market to be familiar with your brand when they are ready to make a purchase.
Taking a brand marketer’s long-term perspective and coupling it with a lead gen marketer’s results-focused attitude and growth marketing’s experimental approach is a powerful strategy that will get you far.
Rethink your Marketing Strategies with the New 95-5 Rule:
The possibility for B2B companies to take a marketing-led approach to growth is enormous. Marketing is better suited to meeting client needs 95% of the time when they aren’t actively looking to purchase.
When a customer is ready to purchase, marketing can increase brand awareness, consideration, and equity so that they think of your company. You’ve created brand-relevant memories with them, which means you’ve established a relationship with them.
To grow, adopt the 95-5 Rule: invest in lead-generation initiatives that target the 5% of people who are “in-market” today, but don’t hesitate to invest in brand advertising that connects with future consumers and creates future revenue flows.
Final Words:
Do you wish to explore how to apply the 95-5 rule in digital marketing? Then contact Wild Creek Web Studio to start with this new marketing principle!
