B2B Inbound Marketing Really Does Involve Science
There are two things you should know about me: (1) I enjoyed biology and psychology in high school and college, and truly believed that would be all the science I would ever need to understand, and (2) beyond the simplest basics of math, my brain is completely unable to absorb the intricacies involved with complex calculations. Secret – I would be in serious trouble without a calculator! Okay, now that those confessions are out, I feel better about moving on to some serious stuff – like the that B2B inbound marketing really does involve science and (gulp) math. I am not sure whether all marketers find this to be surprising, but I know it took me a while to absorb this as fact. I would like to briefly share my ideas about how science plays a role in B2B inbound marketing with you.
In my mind, the scientific concepts involved in B2B inbound marketing do not necessarily fit into the same categories as hard sciences. Hard sciences include those that are seeking “hard” facts, such as biology, chemistry, or physics. My personal opinions tend to lean towards B2B inbound marketing, and social media marketing in general, as sharing the views and processes utilized by the soft sciences. Soft sciences, such as psychology and social sciences, have different perceptions than hard sciences, mainly in that they do not come up with exact results or outcomes. As a result, the soft sciences do not always get the recognition they deserve by the hard science communities. However, either scientist actually uses quite similar experimental techniques and arrive at their results in related ways. Both sciences require research, hypotheses, experiments to test those hypotheses, data collection, and data analysis. Does any of this sound familiar? Are you putting together a strategy for your B2B inbound marketing plan; already have one in place; or in the process of making modifications to your plan? Then yes, you have probably taken some – if not all – of these “scientific” steps.
As with any science, the variables involved in B2B inbound marketing are numerous. The process involved in even identifying them can be painstaking – but is definitely an important first step. After determining your variables, the rest of the process for your B2B inbound marketing should fall into place, as long as you realize that there may be no guarantees in an absolute outcome. The only absolute that I have come across in talking with other marketers is that what works in one scenario for a client most likely will not work for all clients. In other words, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. So, is there science involved in B2B inbound marketing? It appears there certainly is, even though it requires an open mind.
In July of 2012, I attended a webinar that was hosted by Hubspot’s social media scientist, Dan Zarella, along with Ben Watson, VP of Marketing, at Hootsuite, on the Science of Inbound Marketing. One of the webinar’s primary goals was to break the Guinness World record for largest webinar. Although this didn’t happen, there were still a lot of attendees. I personally think some science must have been involved behind the marketing of this webinar – to see how many people could be enticed by the idea of breaking a world record! Hypothesis – experiment – data collection…see what I mean? Although the questions and topics covered did not specifically pertain to B2B inbound marketing within the webinar, there were statistics and percentages that could be helpful, such as the best times to blog, share content on Facebook and Twitter, and the percentage of people perceiving your website’s trustworthiness based on its organic rankings. My most important takeaway was that once more – there are no absolutes in B2B inbound marketing and that the variables will always be changing.
What are your thoughts about science being a basic part of your B2B inbound marketing strategy? I would be glad to hear your opinions.
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
photo credit: Gavin Llewellyn via photopin cc
Tags: B2B, B2B Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Online Marketing
This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 7:18 AM
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Saying hi, from SEO Tribe, Jennifer. You’ve got some awesome content; looking forward to seeing more! Great to meet you, too.
Nice to meet you too, Jayme. Thanks for dropping by and I appreciate your comments!
Regards, Jennifer
Jennifer,
When I read the title of this post, I was excited! and ready to talk all about the science of Social Media – sampling, statistical analysis, behavioral analysis, algorithms… But you’ve surprised me. And what I’m struck by is this – for everyday marketers, it is about the ‘art.’ The ‘soft’ skills of courtesy, conversation, and engagement. Wow! I would not have thought that’s where my comments would go! Thanks for the great post.
I appreciate your comments and feedback, Mark. I will leave the “hard” stuff – ie, sampling, stats, algorithms, etc, to the people who can speak intelligently about them! Indeed, those things are a part of social media marketing and B2B inbound marketing as well.
Regards, Jennifer
Nice post, Jen. I actually just commented on another blog about how much I love the science and math behind marketing these days. The analytics tools available to us provide such a powerful amount of data, which offers business owners an incredibly valuable insight into their customers.
Thanks very much for your comments and feedback, Will. The data that is available from the analytics tools is indeed invaluable. I agree that the information provided to marketers can take us to levels we never realized – as long as we interpret it correctly.
Regards, Jennifer
Great post, Jennifer – funny story about that whole maths & sciences thing: I was totally math-phobic in high school. Almost flunked Algebra II and never looked back. But 20 years later, I had a wild hair that I might be interested in marine science, so I started taking some classes at our local college – made straight As in both Trig AND Calc, thank you very much. Yeah, there’s quite a bit of science behind any kind of marketing, I think – you’ve got not only ROI calculations and metrics, but also the softer stuff, like psychographics, motivational points, linguistics, etc. But the bottom line for solo biz owners (like my clients) is that once they master their understanding of their targeted prospects (or ideal clients), what’s left is the art of persuasion without sounding “sales-y” and that’s all about the art of the message and the conversation.
Thanks for your comments, Annie – and for your motivational story! I fear the day my sons bring home chemistry and/or algebra homework for the first time and I’ll suddenly be forced to face my fears of math & science again! lol!
Thanks also for your insights about the ROI calculations, etc, too. It serves as a good reminder to the naysayers of social media having ROI that well, it actually can be measured…successfully!
Regards, Jennifer
Jennifer… it seems that I have been stuck with math since I was little. Always excelling at math on some levels. Then going to school for landscape architecture, where you had to have some math skills and science skills.. with Chemistry. Then doing mortgages for the last 19 years.. and now social media. There is an art and science to social media. Good post.
Thanks for your comments, Jeff. Yes – it seems that most of us, like it or not, really have been able to use the math and science skills we were taught in our younger years. I like that you also mention that art is part of social media – indeed it’s a combo of both art & science!
Regards, Jennifer
Hi Jen,
I certainly believe in the power of soft sciences when it comes to understanding people’s behaviour and those types of skills mentioned in your post are essential in Inbound Marketing. Using behavioural science as an example, gaining insight in to what drives people’s buying habits and what actions should be taken to personalise their experiences creates the opportunity that marketers are looking for when it comes to the B2B environment. Inbound Marketing, and the use of data in the inbound process, gives us the information required to help potential customers move through the buying cycle and ultimately leads to an increase in conversions.
I’ve been told that using terms such as buying cycle and marketing funnels are an out of date philosophy and is killing the World of Marketing. In my experience the very fact that soft sciences are an essential component of inbound marketing, coupled with the creative way we engage with people means that we can focus more on visitors as individuals and therefore treat them as such not simply as groups of demographics. Personally I think being able to understand people in such depth is a marketers dream and means you can deliver exactly what the individual is looking for so for me Inbound Marketing and the use of soft sciences within this model is the best way of harnessing the power that the Internet has created for us.
Hi Tim, a very belated “thank you” for your comments and insights. You have made some excellent points in your comments about inbound marketing within the B2B environment. I appreciate it.
Regards, Jennifer