There is a game B2B marketers around the globe play every day. The stakes are always high, the rules are never the same, the goals can change during the game, and it often takes months to determine a winner.

The game is played in every industry and with all types of products and services.

Any number can play, but in most instances, there are five or six participants—all with different roles, agendas and experience levels. Players can come from the client side, the agency side or an outside consultant.

This challenging contest has no official title. In fact, most B2B marketers don’t even realize they’re playing. For the sake of this article, we’ll call it “The Information Game.”

Here’s an example of how The Information Game works, with some tips to help you win the next time you play.

 

Today’s Challenge

Launch a new product in a saturated market using a modest budget

 

Goal

Generate awareness and qualified leads

 

Other Players

Research & Development Director

Product Category Manager

Sales Director

Chief Financial Officer

Legal Counsel

 

Your Role

Chief Marketing Officer (lucky you)

 

Steps

1. Listen to all other players’ input
2. Consider their insights carefully
3. Decide the right strategy to go to market
4. Choose campaign tactics to optimize your budget
5. Take full responsibility for success or failure

 

Before we play, let’s set the scenario.

The action starts at the big Shareholders Meeting. The CEO announces that a new product is coming and it will be a “game changer for our industry.” She boldly declares that this remarkable innovation will “increase our customer base by 10% over the next fiscal year.”

The CEO looks confident, and why not? She states that her projections are based on “successful soft launches with a few of our best customers. They’ve shared some great stories about our product.”

The meeting ends and the chaos begins.

Everyone must scramble to make the bold predictions happen. The team assembles to share their ideas and The Information Game officially starts.

At this stage, the players all have a chance to reveal their opinions and strategies. Here is what they say.

 

Player 1: Research & Development Director

His position: “Why did the CEO poison the waters? We kept this product under wraps for two long years. Now, everyone has us under the microscope and our competition will be ready to pounce. They’ll copy our product as soon as it hits the market.”

His strategy: “Let all the hype blow over. Delay the launch for six to ten months. Blame supply chain shortages. Everyone does nowadays.”

 

Player 2: Product Category Manager

Her position: “The competition has owned this category for years. This is our chance to take the lead for once.”

Her strategy: “Come out with guns blazing. Spend this year’s budget and next year’s as well. Flood the market with ads. It’s all or nothing, folks.”

 

Player 3: Sales Director

His position: “My team is short staffed and short tempered. We’re tired of all the dead-end sales calls.”

His strategy: “We are not contacting one prospect until you get us some qualified leads for a change. No more tire kickers.”

 

Player 4: Chief Financial Officer

Her position: “We used most of this program’s budget on beta testing. That leaves enough to run a few trade publication ads or produce an explainer video. Nothing else.”

Her strategy: “Whatever we do, it had better deliver ROI. If we can do that, I can justify additional spend.”

 

Player 5: Legal Counsel

His position: “We’re in uncharted waters here. All I’ve heard so far is big claims. Where is the data to back it up?”

His strategy: “We cannot run with any campaign that strays from solid facts. Don’t try to send marketing fluff across my desk. I’ll never green light it.”

 

Now it’s up to you to choose a direction or develop one of your own. Isn’t The Information Game fun?

Before we reveal the winning choice, let’s recap the strategies.

1. Delay the launch for six to ten months
2. Flood the market and drain the marketing budget
3. Take no action without qualified leads
4. Prove ROI if you want more money
5. Go to market with facts, not fluff

Those strategies are all over the board, but there are some shreds of sense in some of them. However, none of these directions will make you a winner on its own.

To come out ahead in this version of The Information Game, you must appease everyone and increase market share in a hurry. That won’t be easy, but all the clues are there if you look a little closer.

The Winning Strategy

First, go back to something the CEO said. She mentioned “successful soft launches.” There’s your differentiator: Leverage the experiences of actual customers using the new product. Create Customer Success Stories based on their outcomes and let your best customers share their enthusiasm. Those real-world experiences will be the heart of your strategy, help set your new product apart with hard facts, and keep Legal smiling.

Now, let’s deal with the other doubters.

The CFO demands ROI and the Sales Director won’t budge without qualified leads. They’re both in the right, so give them precisely what they want.

Use your Customer Success Stories to create short videos with big outcomes. You can create them on a modest budget and still deliver honest impact.

Next, develop a social ad campaign showcasing the videos and program it for your target industries, titles and even companies. That should deliver measurable ROI on a precise, pay-per-click basis. The CFO will be impressed.

When prospects click on your social ads, drive them to a landing page where they can learn more, see other videos in the series, start to visualize the product in their own companies, and request a meeting. Hey Sales, ready for some engaged and qualified leads? Here they come.

Now for the kicker: As the campaign starts producing results, your budget will increase. That means more videos, some other compelling content such as white papers or industry articles, and more product awareness with every new outreach.

Congratulations, you win The Information Game.

Here are some valuable lessons we learned along the way:

• Don’t listen to the doubters when you have to get results
• Don’t waste any of your budget
• Never use fluff when you have facts
• Help your customers visualize the results they could achieve
• Leverage initial success to create more

Thanks for playing. See you next time.