December 6, 2024 • 10 mins
https://www.heinzmarketing.com/events/sales-pipeline-radio-epi-368-matt-heinz-jesse-humphrey/
This week's show is entitled, "Balancing Brand & Demand in B2B" and my guest is Jesse Humphrey, VP of Marketing at Diversified.
Tune in to Learn:
-
Balancing Brand and Demand: Understand the importance of maintaining a strong brand presence alongside demand generation in B2B marketing.
-
Building Trust: Discover how a solid brand foundation can reduce customer indecision and foster trust.
-
Measuring Brand Impact: Learn methods to gauge the effectiveness of brand initiatives on demand generation.
-
Consumer Insights for B2B: See how B2B brands can adopt strategies from consumer companies to enhance brand experience.
Listen Now | Watch the video HERE | Read the Transcript on the Heinz Marketing blog.
Matt interviews the best and brightest minds in sales and Marketing. If you would like to be a guest on Sales Pipeline Radio send an email to Sheena@heinzmarketing.com.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:15):
Alrighty.
Welcome everybody to anotherepisode of Sales Pipeline Radio.
So excited to have you here.
I'm your host, Matt Heinz.
Thank you to everyone who is joining us.
Thank you so much for liking,subscribing, downloading episodes.
Every one of the Sales Pipeline Radioepisodes, past and future, always
available at salespipelineradio.com.
Very excited to havewith us, Jesse Humphrey.
She is the Vice Presidentof Marketing at Diversified.
And Jesse, thanks so muchfor joining us today.
Of course.
Happy to be here, Matt.
There's a wide variety of things wecould talk about, but I think in our
limited time, I want to talk aboutthe balance between brand and demand.
I think a lot of conversations we'vehad on this show over the years,
it's called Sales Pipeline Radio.
So you'd imagine it's about demand.
Increasingly, I see more and morecompanies as we head into 2025
indicate a greater investment in brandto support and grow their business.
So I guess the central questionI think is, What's the right
balance between brand and demand?
How do they best coexist?
And to start with, how do youdefine and differentiate those
in the work that you've done?
(00:35):
It's a great question.
And I really think you're right.
Especially in B2B and technology,we see a lot of marketers really
focusing in on that demand genactivity versus the brand stuff.
For me, I'm a littlebias more towards brand.
And I always feel like if you don't havethe brand as your foundation, your demand
engine is not going to work as well.
The data out there also shows so much.
The 6sense report, the B2B BuyerReport that just came out, right?
Talking about buyers, they're already 69percent of the way through their journey
before they even engage with sellers.
So all of that journeyupfront, what is that?
What's driving that?
That's the brand.
And so for me, I think if you'redefining brand demand I like to
think about it a little bit too
like your brand is like the car.
Your demand is the engine.
It's the functionality thatmakes the movement happen.
And the intent signals as acustomer in the driver's seat.
Maybe they're hitting the gas pedal.
That's the intent signal.
(00:55):
And then your demand engine is thething that's responding to that,
to get the movement, the nextthing, the conversion to happen.
And so that's how I like to think aboutit, but with the data showing, I think
that buyers, as they're evaluating,they already, know the top vendors,
people that they're looking for andhaving that up front and the brand
piece being more of a focus is onlygoing to help to accelerate the action
once they're in the driver's seat.
Yeah, I completely agree with you.
We've seen for years data thatindicates-- and it's uncanny to me
that the data is usually in 68 to 74percent right in the same place of
the amount of the buying journey thatis over before sellers are involved.
And the newer data that I've seenfrom this fall actually makes it
worse to say that those same buyers,they do not want to talk to you.
Until that moment, theydon't want to hear from you.
They don't want to havea conversation with you.
What that really means is theydon't want to talk about product.
They don't want to have a salesconversation, but they will still listen
if you have something interesting to say.
They'll still listen if you are doingsomething that is more value added,
(01:16):
that is more educational, that is moreabout helping them be and think smarter.
To me, that feels like the activationof the brand opportunity for a
lot of companies moving forward.
Absolutely.
And I think the other data thatI've seen, that's really interesting
to me too, is that between 40 and60 percent of sales deals are also
lost due to customer indecision.
And so there's also something therethat's really interesting to me
is that from a marketing, a brandperspective that we really have to
start instilling that trust up front.
And it's not just about brand awareness.
It's about building that trust as acredible company that's going to help
them get from point A to point B.
And so some of those demand generationefforts that we're putting in to
supplement the brand efforts need toalign to deliver on that brand promise.
That's right.
I think one of the reasons why thedemand side has been so attractive as
a focus area is because we feel likewe can measure it more effectively.
(01:37):
And I could argue that all day long too,because the more complex your motion, the
less likely you're going to say, Oh, thewhite paper download or the, paid search
click generated the seven figure deal.
But at least we've convincedourselves that we could actually
measure the effectiveness of demand.
How do you do that on brand, right?
What have we learned from CPG companiesand what have we learned from larger
B2B companies that do invest heavily inbrand and have throughout all of these
changes in the market, like how shouldexecutives be thinking about that?
That is the age old question.
And the thing that I think thatpeople and marketers ask more
than anything but there are ways.
And I think when marketing starts lookingoverall at the metrics, that they're
not just looking at those campaign levelKPIs, that we're actually looking at
overall the business, the pipeline thatwe're generating, the deal sizes that are
coming in, all of the things more from ahigher level, business level perspective.
I think it's important to track thosethings upfront, but for us tracking
(01:58):
branded search traffic is one way.
Comparing that against conversionrates to identify awareness driven...
how is that impactingour demand generation?
And making sure that those thingsare trending in the right direction.
Inbound, obviously, if you've gotpeople coming into your website,
they're converting more on yourwebsite, you're able to see if
those brand efforts are working.
And for me, the first thing I did whenI came to Diversified, I looked at
our contact us form, our inbound form.
And how did you hear about us?
And if you give them an open opportunityto tell you how they found you, they
will pretty explicitly tell you.
And I think being able to find someof that data and those details will
actually be able to help you say, Hey,here's some stuff that we've done from
a brand perspective that is actuallyhelping us to convert inbound deals.
Yeah, we're talking today on SalesPipeline Radio with Jesse Humphrey.
She's the VP of Marketing for Diversified.
(02:18):
And, it seems to me that there's anawful lot we can learn from the consumer
space on this from the way back machine.
I know you spent some time with Red Bull.
And here's an organization-- verydifferent market, but has invested
heavily, not just in brand, butreally making itself a media company,
like legit creating channels andcontent that isn't just about getting
people into the funnel or gettinga pixel or cookie on your computer.
They are a media company as muchas they're a beverage company.
Is there a lesson there for B2B marketersand B2B brands how to create and
really manifest this brand opportunity?
Wow.
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's very much inline really with even what
Diversified does for our clients.
The business that we're inreally in pro AV, audio visual,
is we have two business units.
We have a workplace business unitand kind of a media business unit.
But what we're really seeingtoday across the industry is
the convergence between the two.
We've been saying this for years, butwe're really starting to see it even more
(02:39):
now, is all companies are media companies.
So that content that you're producing andbeing able to enable that kind of thought
leadership to be able to be distributed,whether internal or external is absolutely
key I think in helping to create thatdemand, create that brand experience.
Like I said, it is bothinternal and external.
It's the brand experience as asan associate or an employee or a
partner, just as much as it is foryour clients that you're talking to.
Yeah.
And I think that, if we take thisfrom a different lens, where if we're
focused on demand, then what we do,we're trying to go generate leads.
We're trying to go generate demand.
And if you ask the sales team,they're like, we need more leads.
We need more leads.
I don't actually think sales teams,that's not really what they want.
What they really want is a marketthat craves what they're selling.
Yeah.
And and what are the ways that canmanifest, like understanding the
problem, quantifying the problem,having awareness that you are
associated with solving that problem.
So when they call Oh, I'veheard of you guys, right?
Or when you email them or whenthey see you at an event, Oh,
(02:59):
I've heard of these guys, right?
And there's an association with something.
Because let's face it, like a lot of thesales and marketing we do is driving by
someone's house at 35 miles an hour andtrying to throw something in the mailbox.
You're gonna miss a lot.
Yeah.
So if I say, how do I build awarenessof us, but also a correlation between us
and a problem that needs solving so thatthe prospects are more likely to answer
the phone when the sales team calls?
So they're more likely to lightentheir gate as they walk by
your booth at the trade show.
These are measurable manifestationsof what a brand can do in B2B.
Yeah.
And I think also, from my perspective too,when you talk about the investment between
brand and demand and how marketing leadersare really separating that out today, it's
generally been really heavy, more like70 percent more demand, 30 percent brand,
and sometimes even, more than that, right?
I split it more down the middle.
We really need to have both.
Brand needs to be more of a focus area.
And, when you talk about likeat the trade shows, our company
has been pretty event heavy.
(03:19):
But it's how are we activatingat each one of those things?
How are we also creating morecontent at those events and almost
repurposing some of the things?
And then distributing them acrossmultiple channels to make sure that
you're there when those buyers are readyto actually have that conversation.
That's right.
Thank you so much forbeing part of this today.
I have a feeling we're going to be talkinga lot more about brand demand and how
they all fit together in a go to marketmix over the course of 2025 as well.
Thank you everyone so much forlistening, watching, downloading
this episode of Sales Pipeline Radio.
We'll be back next week with more contentuntil then thanks so much for being here.
We'll see you next week.
Appreciate it.
Thanks, Matt.
Alrighty.
Welcome everybody to anotherepisode of Sales Pipeline Radio.
So excited to have you here.
I'm your host, Matt Heinz.
Thank you to everyone who is joining us.
Thank you so much for liking,subscribing, downloading episodes.
Every one of the Sales Pipeline Radioepisodes, past and future, always
available at salespipelineradio.com.
Very excited to havewith us, Jesse Humphrey.
She is the Vice Presidentof Marketing at Diversified.
And Jesse, thanks so muchfor joining us today.
Of course.
Happy to be here, Matt.
There's a wide variety of things wecould talk about, but I think in our
limited time, I want to talk aboutthe balance between brand and demand.
I think a lot of conversations we'vehad on this show over the years,
it's called Sales Pipeline Radio.
So you'd imagine it's about demand.
Increasingly, I see more and morecompanies as we head into 2025
indicate a greater investment in brandto support and grow their business.
So I guess the central questionI think is, What's the right
balance between brand and demand?
How do they best coexist?
And to start with, how do youdefine and differentiate those
in the work that you've done?
(00:35):
It's a great question.
And I really think you're right.
Especially in B2B and technology,we see a lot of marketers really
focusing in on that demand genactivity versus the brand stuff.
For me, I'm a littlebias more towards brand.
And I always feel like if you don't havethe brand as your foundation, your demand
engine is not going to work as well.
The data out there also shows so much.
The 6sense report, the B2B BuyerReport that just came out, right?
Talking about buyers, they're already 69percent of the way through their journey
before they even engage with sellers.
So all of that journeyupfront, what is that?
What's driving that?
That's the brand.
And so for me, I think if you'redefining brand demand I like to
think about it a little bit too
like your brand is like the car.
Your demand is the engine.
It's the functionality thatmakes the movement happen.
And the intent signals as acustomer in the driver's seat.
Maybe they're hitting the gas pedal.
That's the intent signal.
(00:55):
And then your demand engine is thething that's responding to that,
to get the movement, the nextthing, the conversion to happen.
And so that's how I like to think aboutit, but with the data showing, I think
that buyers, as they're evaluating,they already, know the top vendors,
people that they're looking for andhaving that up front and the brand
piece being more of a focus is onlygoing to help to accelerate the action
once they're in the driver's seat.
Yeah, I completely agree with you.
We've seen for years data thatindicates-- and it's uncanny to me
that the data is usually in 68 to 74percent right in the same place of
the amount of the buying journey thatis over before sellers are involved.
And the newer data that I've seenfrom this fall actually makes it
worse to say that those same buyers,they do not want to talk to you.
Until that moment, theydon't want to hear from you.
They don't want to havea conversation with you.
What that really means is theydon't want to talk about product.
They don't want to have a salesconversation, but they will still listen
if you have something interesting to say.
They'll still listen if you are doingsomething that is more value added,
(01:16):
that is more educational, that is moreabout helping them be and think smarter.
To me, that feels like the activationof the brand opportunity for a
lot of companies moving forward.
Absolutely.
And I think the other data thatI've seen, that's really interesting
to me too, is that between 40 and60 percent of sales deals are also
lost due to customer indecision.
And so there's also something therethat's really interesting to me
is that from a marketing, a brandperspective that we really have to
start instilling that trust up front.
And it's not just about brand awareness.
It's about building that trust as acredible company that's going to help
them get from point A to point B.
And so some of those demand generationefforts that we're putting in to
supplement the brand efforts need toalign to deliver on that brand promise.
That's right.
I think one of the reasons why thedemand side has been so attractive as
a focus area is because we feel likewe can measure it more effectively.
(01:37):
And I could argue that all day long too,because the more complex your motion, the
less likely you're going to say, Oh, thewhite paper download or the, paid search
click generated the seven figure deal.
But at least we've convincedourselves that we could actually
measure the effectiveness of demand.
How do you do that on brand, right?
What have we learned from CPG companiesand what have we learned from larger
B2B companies that do invest heavily inbrand and have throughout all of these
changes in the market, like how shouldexecutives be thinking about that?
That is the age old question.
And the thing that I think thatpeople and marketers ask more
than anything but there are ways.
And I think when marketing starts lookingoverall at the metrics, that they're
not just looking at those campaign levelKPIs, that we're actually looking at
overall the business, the pipeline thatwe're generating, the deal sizes that are
coming in, all of the things more from ahigher level, business level perspective.
I think it's important to track thosethings upfront, but for us tracking
(01:58):
branded search traffic is one way.
Comparing that against conversionrates to identify awareness driven...
how is that impactingour demand generation?
And making sure that those thingsare trending in the right direction.
Inbound, obviously, if you've gotpeople coming into your website,
they're converting more on yourwebsite, you're able to see if
those brand efforts are working.
And for me, the first thing I did whenI came to Diversified, I looked at
our contact us form, our inbound form.
And how did you hear about us?
And if you give them an open opportunityto tell you how they found you, they
will pretty explicitly tell you.
And I think being able to find someof that data and those details will
actually be able to help you say, Hey,here's some stuff that we've done from
a brand perspective that is actuallyhelping us to convert inbound deals.
Yeah, we're talking today on SalesPipeline Radio with Jesse Humphrey.
She's the VP of Marketing for Diversified.
(02:18):
And, it seems to me that there's anawful lot we can learn from the consumer
space on this from the way back machine.
I know you spent some time with Red Bull.
And here's an organization-- verydifferent market, but has invested
heavily, not just in brand, butreally making itself a media company,
like legit creating channels andcontent that isn't just about getting
people into the funnel or gettinga pixel or cookie on your computer.
They are a media company as muchas they're a beverage company.
Is there a lesson there for B2B marketersand B2B brands how to create and
really manifest this brand opportunity?
Wow.
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's very much inline really with even what
Diversified does for our clients.
The business that we're inreally in pro AV, audio visual,
is we have two business units.
We have a workplace business unitand kind of a media business unit.
But what we're really seeingtoday across the industry is
the convergence between the two.
We've been saying this for years, butwe're really starting to see it even more
(02:39):
now, is all companies are media companies.
So that content that you're producing andbeing able to enable that kind of thought
leadership to be able to be distributed,whether internal or external is absolutely
key I think in helping to create thatdemand, create that brand experience.
Like I said, it is bothinternal and external.
It's the brand experience as asan associate or an employee or a
partner, just as much as it is foryour clients that you're talking to.
Yeah.
And I think that, if we take thisfrom a different lens, where if we're
focused on demand, then what we do,we're trying to go generate leads.
We're trying to go generate demand.
And if you ask the sales team,they're like, we need more leads.
We need more leads.
I don't actually think sales teams,that's not really what they want.
What they really want is a marketthat craves what they're selling.
Yeah.
And and what are the ways that canmanifest, like understanding the
problem, quantifying the problem,having awareness that you are
associated with solving that problem.
So when they call Oh, I'veheard of you guys, right?
Or when you email them or whenthey see you at an event, Oh,
(02:59):
I've heard of these guys, right?
And there's an association with something.
Because let's face it, like a lot of thesales and marketing we do is driving by
someone's house at 35 miles an hour andtrying to throw something in the mailbox.
You're gonna miss a lot.
Yeah.
So if I say, how do I build awarenessof us, but also a correlation between us
and a problem that needs solving so thatthe prospects are more likely to answer
the phone when the sales team calls?
So they're more likely to lightentheir gate as they walk by
your booth at the trade show.
These are measurable manifestationsof what a brand can do in B2B.
Yeah.
And I think also, from my perspective too,when you talk about the investment between
brand and demand and how marketing leadersare really separating that out today, it's
generally been really heavy, more like70 percent more demand, 30 percent brand,
and sometimes even, more than that, right?
I split it more down the middle.
We really need to have both.
Brand needs to be more of a focus area.
And, when you talk about likeat the trade shows, our company
has been pretty event heavy.
(03:19):
But it's how are we activatingat each one of those things?
How are we also creating morecontent at those events and almost
repurposing some of the things?
And then distributing them acrossmultiple channels to make sure that
you're there when those buyers are readyto actually have that conversation.
That's right.
Thank you so much forbeing part of this today.
I have a feeling we're going to be talkinga lot more about brand demand and how
they all fit together in a go to marketmix over the course of 2025 as well.
Thank you everyone so much forlistening, watching, downloading
this episode of Sales Pipeline Radio.
We'll be back next week with more contentuntil then thanks so much for being here.
We'll see you next week.
Appreciate it.
Thanks, Matt.
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