That’s Not My Name

Welcome to The Beat by Rockstar CMO. I’m Ian Truscott, not a rock star, but a CMO and trusted advisor, and in this newsletter, I’d like to share a mix of marketing street knowledge that I hope will help unlock the rockstar marketer in you.

Hello!

In most B2B situations, it is very rare that your buyer wants to be a buyer.

In B2C, we are motivated to be the owners of things, and that promise, even in the most considered purchases that require us to spend time buying, the idea of having a house, car, or whatever we are agonizing over, eases the pain of being a buyer.

But who among us woke up this morning aspiring to own a CRM?

Well, maybe a little bit, as I did work with a CEO who heard the clarion call of Hubspot and thought being a Hubspot Enterprise customer was a mark of the business maturity he aspired to, but aside from this fella, most buyers reluctantly find themselves with this extracurricular role out of necessity to solve a business problem.

They don’t want to be an expert in your category, to know which of your flippers beats a competitor’s flappers, what the capabilities are, and why that’s important. You know, the stuff we are passionate about. They want to solve a problem.

But, most of all, of course, they don’t want to fuck this up. The job of the buyer is not to buy, it’s risk management.

Not a huge revelation, but what does this mean for us?

Each choice, each question, each feature comparison, each micro-decision creates friction and creates the risk of your biggest competitors, ”do nothing” or “not now” taking the deal.

We need to ensure we are not adding to the cognitive load of this decision by speaking in their language and addressing their problem, rather than forcing them to learn the language of our goldfish bowl. We need to guide them rather than burden them with a research project as homework.

Of course, we are not the only guides in this risky endeavour, despite how much the world predicts AI will kill the analyst industry. Buyers will still rely on intermediaries, influencers, and trusted experts to mitigate risk.

We might be all excited about being generative AI-optimized and how AI is shaping shortlists, but when it comes to a career-defining decision, AI may shape discovery, but trust still comes from humans (who, let’s be honest, they can blame).

In our frothy AI excitement, we can’t forget to influence the influencers.

So, a simple message this week, we need to remember that when we want to build awareness and trust with a buyer: “buyer” is our label, not their identity.

Or, as in the Ting Tings tune which gives this week’s issue its subject line, “That’s not my name”.

Have a great week!

Cheers!

Ian

Aside from the point above about buyers, ever felt invisible? This is will get your marketing mojo working…