MARKETING
How B2B marketers can leverage the metaverse
While many big brands test virtual storefronts, NFT drops and other metaverse activations, what does this mean for B2B marketers? The B2B playbook will evolve to include some version of the same strategies. After all, B2B marketers have been adapting all kinds of consumer marketing channels, from video to social, even using B2B influencers.
Here are some metaverse entry points where B2B organizations can become early adopters.
The B2B metaverse. As marketers and agencies make inroads in the metaverse, more business use cases will develop side-by-side. Chances are, many of your business prospects are already using some of these channels.
“While there’s no single, streamlined version of the metaverse today, tech companies are investing big-time in the infrastructure to build out their visions,” said Chris Savage, CEO and cofounder of video and podcast hosting platform Wistia. “B2C and B2B brands, plus early adopters of virtual reality, augmented reality and cryptocurrencies, are seeing massive potential and are experimenting with extended reality technologies that already exist.”
Read next: How to join the metaverse with VR experiences
No ‘metaverse stack,’ no problem. “The tech that will be the foundation of the metaverse – including immersive games, VR headsets, 3D meeting rooms and more – is already being used for business, regardless of the fact that there’s no ‘metaverse martech stack’ at this time,” Savage said.
“I’ve personally attended meetings using a virtual reality headset and found the experience to be the perfect ‘third realm’ between the home and the office,” he added.
Metaverse communities. Business marketing is community-focused through trade shows and other industry events. During the pandemic, much of this community building went entirely virtual, and now it’s a mixed bag of virtual, on-demand and hybrid interactions.
As more employees, including key business contacts, began working remotely, they were also more connected digitally through the technology they used to get their work done. This means there’s a wider audience that B2B marketers can reach through digital channels, including on the metaverse.
“B2B marketers should think about how to utilize the metaverse to grow their business and reach wider audiences,” said Savage. “Customer content consumption has changed and if businesses aren’t where their customers are spending time, they’re losing out. While only a small fraction of customers are in the metaverse now, this will change in the future. B2B marketers should be open to the metaverse as a new channel to connect with their audiences – such as using it for virtual events and building communities.”
Elevating metaverse experiences. As the world opens back up, the marketing landscape is more dynamic than ever with its complex blend of in-person and digital experiences. Marketers can use the metaverse to connect and improve these experiences.
In the consumer realm, brand fans might acquire a branded NFT through a virtual community like Roblox. But if they keep that NFT in a virtual wallet, they can flash it from their phone at a brick-and-mortar store and gain special access there. In a similar way, the metaverse could merge experiences for business customers and prospects.
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“Virtual events are here to stay, and the metaverse will simply elevate these experiences by combining the best of virtual – cost-effective, accessible, flexible – with the best of in-person – interactive, collaborative, social,” said Savage. “Some events are better suited to 3D than others, but marketers can reach wider audiences by embracing new and creative ways to connect with customers.
Start small. How should B2B marketers start a metaverse strategy from scratch?
“My advice is to start small,” said Savage. “Because the metaverse is not yet fully understood or utilized, B2B marketers can attend metaverse events, meet with event coordinators in this space and experiment with existing extended reality platforms and tech to get inspired.”
He added, “There will be technical hurdles to throwing events in the metaverse, such as hardware and security, but the benefits will outweigh the risks for brands who approach the metaverse strategically as a marketing tool.”
Why we care. Though it’s still early stages, the metaverse has the potential to disrupt traditional marketing channels. Even if it’s not at the scale of what e-commerce did to uproot traditional retail, the lesson is that in order to remain competitive, marketers at consumer brands, as well as at B2B orgs, should at least plant a flag in the metaverse.
With major martech players like Salesforce providing metaverse-related services, there’s a good chance your competition is already building out their own metaverse strategy.
MARKETING
Trends in Content Localization – Moz
Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.
Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.
Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.
MARKETING
How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy
MARKETING
More promotions and more layoffs
For martech professionals salaries are good and promotions are coming faster, unfortunately, layoffs are coming faster, too. That’s according to the just-released 2024 Martech Salary and Career Survey. Another very unfortunate finding: The median salary of women below the C-suite level is 35% less than what men earn.
The last year saw many different economic trends, some at odds with each other. Although unemployment remained very low overall and the economy grew, some businesses — especially those in technology and media — cut both jobs and spending. Reasons cited for the cuts include during the early years of the pandemic, higher interest rates and corporate greed.
Dig deeper: How to overcome marketing budget cuts and hiring freezes
Be that as it may, for the employed it remains a good time to be a martech professional. Salaries remain lucrative compared to many other professions, with an overall median salary of $128,643.
Here are the median salaries by role:
- Senior management $199,653
- Director $157,776
- Manager $99,510
- Staff $89,126
Senior managers make more than twice what staff make. Directors and up had a $163,395 median salary compared to manager/staff roles, where the median was $94,818.
One-third of those surveyed said they were promoted in the last 12 months, a finding that was nearly equal among director+ (32%) and managers and staff (30%).
Extend the time frame to two years, and nearly three-quarters of director+ respondents say they received a promotion, while the same can be said for two-thirds of manager and staff respondents.
Dig deeper: Skills-based hiring for modern marketing teams
Employee turnover
In 2023, we asked survey respondents if they noticed an increase in employee churn and whether they would classify that churn as a “moderate” or “significant” increase. For 2024, given the attention on cost reductions and layoffs, we asked if the churn they witnessed was “voluntary” (e.g., people leaving for another role) or “involuntary” (e.g., a layoff or dismissal). More than half of the marketing technology professionals said churn increased in the last year. Nearly one-third classified most of the churn as “involuntary.”
Men and Women
This year, instead of using average salary figures, we used the median figures to lessen the impact of outliers in the salary data. As a result, the gap between salaries for men and women is even more glaring than it was previously.
In last year’s report, men earned an average of 24% more than women. This year the median salary of men is 35% more than the median salary of women. That is until you get to the upper echelons. Women at director and up earned 5% more than men.
Methodology
The 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey is a joint project of MarTech.org and chiefmartec.com. We surveyed 305 marketers between December 2023 and February 2024; 297 of those provided salary information. Nearly 63% (191) of respondents live in North America; 16% (50) live in Western Europe. The conclusions in this report are limited to responses from those individuals only. Other regions were excluded due to the limited number of respondents.
Download your copy of the 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey here. No registration is required.
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