24 NEWS & INSIGHTS

Communicating with your target audience today is paradoxically difficult. Yes, screens and devices from which to gather information are ubiquitous; but so are messages from others who are also trying to communicate with your target audience. Not only that, a litany of other obstacles stand in your way: ad-blocking software; smaller screens on wearables that make it harder for any kind of ad to be seen; ever-shrinking attention spans; ever-changing methods of communication.

In the short-term, this isn’t a doomsday scenario. The majority of people are not yet using ad-blocking software or exclusively using smaller screens, so you can still deliver your message digitally to huge numbers of people.

Furthermore, over the long-term, we would argue the news is even brighter: but only if you take an all-encompassing approach to marketing. Why? Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Seth Godin coined the term “permission marketing,” but we believe marketing has always been about permission. His genius wasn’t creating a term or even a way of marketing, but in creating a mindset about marketing. What he got (and gets) is that the goal should always be to provide something enough people want for you to have a profitable business based on providing it. Everything else is simply how you find those people and let them know you have it.

Whether you use interruption marketing, content marketing, search engine marketing, whatever; they are all part of what we like to call a permission mission. What we mean by that is, no matter what you call your approach, it remains a means to the end of gaining permission to communicate with your target audience. Period.

To illustrate the point, think of marketing as a Venn diagram. One circle is a marketing strategy where you do nothing but shout your message at people in an attempt to get them to hear you and buy what you’re selling. Another circle is where you do nothing but create original content, post it, and wait to be discovered. Both of these extremes can work on their own – but it’s really, really rare.

Instead, by utilizing both methods, the two circles eventually intersect and you now have permission to interrupt your audience. The beauty of this, however, is that they don’t feel interrupted. You have simply stayed in front of them enough to create awareness, so that when the right moment struck for them to notice your content, they were willing to grant you permission to continue to communicate with them.

But here’s the thing: it’s not the email or phone number you get from them that’s the proverbial gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s the fact that the person gave you their email. That means they saw enough value in what you had to say or what you were offering to essentially introduce themselves to you. Now it’s up to you to continue to foster that relationship and keep the lines of communication open.

All of the obstacles listed above are just that – obstacles. They aren’t impenetrable walls. If you adhere to the three key components of B2B marketing – identifying your audience, establishing your authority, and communicating with your audience – and implement your plan with an integrated strategy, you will get permission and your message will get through.

If this is a new concept to you or something you believe your business would benefit from, give us a call or shoot us an email. Either way, we hope we earned your permission to start telling you what 24 Communications can do to supercharge your B2B marketing effort.