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Bridging the Chasm

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:17:34 GMT

'Bridging the chasm': Addressing the disconnect between high-level messaging, actual technical differentiation and the intrinsic value your customers receive

At Synima Group, we have the privilege of partnering with innovative B2B technology companies across a wide range of industries and by inference, invest time analysing competition in their space. This vantage point has provided our team with a unique perspective on one of the critical challenges facing marketing teams - Namely clearly and compellingly connecting high-level brand narrative to tangible, technological value delivered by products/services to customers. Too often, we see a "chasm" between lofty marketing messages and actual differentiation.

Why? Plain and simple, it often comes down to a lack of technical understanding in the domain space.

World-class B2B tech marketing seamlessly bridges this divide - Correctly capturing the product/service fundamentals from SMEs; Appropriately framing benefits and problems resolved, in terms that customers immediately recognise; and laddering through an integrated messaging hierarchy links aspirational promises to validation sources like:

Detailed product/solution specifications
Proven use cases and case studies
Customer success stories and testimonials
ROI/TCO calculations and proof points

The most effective companies achieve this with collaborative and intertwined marketing and product marketing teams. These roles intimately understand the technical domain and can autonomously translate product realities into impactful content and campaigns.

In the next breath, the top organisations know when to ask for external support. World-class teams understand the time it takes to get things right and the benefits of additional bandwidth, objectivity and best practice guidance from specialists.

After all, there's a masterful degree of difficulty in balancing clarity and differentiation, technical accuracy and aspiration. The rewards however are substantial. Companies that authenticate their vision and cultivate deep credibility stand to:

Accelerate prospect education and sales cycles
Drive higher win rates and customer lifetime value
Elevate their brand to industry leadership

Does your current marketing bridge the chasm? If you need a hand spanning the gap, augmenting efforts or would like to review your approach, our experts are here to help. Reach out and a partner will be in contact.

Success with a Fractional C-suite role

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 08:47:18 GMT

Small to medium sized businesses need experienced strategic leadership just as much as large organizations

Small and medium sized businesses need strategic leadership, planning and organizational experience to maintain growth - but may not be able to afford C-suite executives. They're potential customers - Industry and non-profit organizations; all of whom carry experienced C-suite execs; should be engeged with similar levels of expertise, if a business wants to be successful.

To address this, many organizations are turning to the use of fractional C-Suite executives to scale-up capabilities. Drivers include:

The need to capitalize-on or sustain rapid growth
Organisational plateauing at $5M, $10M, $50M, 100M or even $1Bn because the business....
Encounters financial and operational challenges, or need to ensure success with a major strategic initiative

The fractional CxO route presents a more cost-effective way of onboarding expertise versus hiring full time C-level leaders.

What are the potential benefits of hiring a Fractional CMO?

Many businesses may have built their success leveraging their reputation and network, but now need to expand beyond their know, and well-mapped sales channels. They now need to develop a strategic marketing plan to expand reach and manage the customer journey from awareness through sales engagement and conversion - Then taking it further, converting newly-won customers to advocates.

So what should you expect from a Fractional CMO in terms or outcome? Here’s an example of a public mid-sized technology company who were achieving just over $100m of annual revenue. Their CEO realized marketing was not helping drive the level of awareness and engagement needed and other international competitors were out-marketing them.

The Results:

100% Revenue growth over three years to $200m+
30% Reduction in marketing systems costs
60% Reduction in cost per-page collateral development
300% Increase in visibility and engagement in the first 12 months including marketing support for expansion in four new countries
90% Increase in overall product and services coverage for collateral, case studies and white-papers

The Fractional CMO Actions

Evolved the existing marketing organization of 6 (one new hire)
Provided a clear organizational direction, purpose, strategy, vision
An annual plan to budget, with clear objectives and goals

Agencies were used selectively:

Day-to-day support e.g. collateral production, social content and PR
Strategic or project purposes, digital marketing systems, brand, web and overall creative

In addition, relationships were re-established with key industry analysts ensuring equal or better ‘billing’ with their competitors and in many cases differentiated positioning to continue their success. Other responsibilities included being spokesperson with investors and the market for the company and participation at the Board level.

We will leave the last word to the CEO of the company - “We have achieved amazing things during and following the pandemic and you (fractional CMO) have been a pivotal part of that achievement.”

"Democratizing the narrative"

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 09:07:52 GMT

The importance of democratizing your narrative

As a CXO you understand the importance of explaining the value your products, services and business brings to clients, shareholders, investors and your own employees.

"People buy from people" . New business is driven by relationships, trust and a crystal-clear articulation of what you provide, in terms relevant to your customer. The same is true for raising capital - And for turning your own employee base into evangelists (your ultimate sales and marketing team).

Frequently businesses mistakenly make this the responsibility of a single individual, moved meeting to meeting as the sole teller of the ‘complete’ story. This limits the ability to broadcast your story and also places undue pressure on that individual.

Synima Group "Democratize the narrative" , simplifying your value proposition, pitch or brand narrative, most importantly making it accessible, understandable and repeatable by all employees - And of course, the more who 'get-it', the more it gets passed it on, and on, and on...

From SMEs to corporates across tech, retail digitization and services markets, businesses seek our help to crystallize their value proposition and narrative. Our work has helped customers raise capital from the world’s largest PE Firms; Credibly share their vision of the future, and accelerate their sales funnel.

Synima Group is a strategic marketing consultancy, helping customers shape their future business. Get in touch - Fill in the form below and a partner will contact you.

The art of Story-selling

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 07:33:12 GMT

The art of StorySelling

Many talk about storytelling when marketing for a company. Today the core of a company’s marketing has to be integrated with the sales engagement process to maximize int erest and drive towards profitable sales growth. So really it’s all about story-selling and bringing the customer journey to close.

You have to lead with the why, or as Simon Sinek would say “Start with the Why”

Far too often as we’ve worked with tech companies and product teams we see a focus on the What! “Let me tell you all about my cool technology, the widgets and how the widgets all work.” The challenge is, the What! approach doesn’t explain what you are actually offering, and in many cases won’t get your prospective customers attention, or even be in their search results.

The questions you need to answer are:

Why do t hey need your product or offering?
Why does your company exist?
Why can you make a difference to their outcomes?
Why will it make what they do easier, simpler, faster, faster, more profitable, than what they are doing today?
Why should I trust you?
Why are you experts in this area?
Why now ?

It’s all about telling your companies story—storytelling, or maybe it’s actually story selling.

To tell a sales story you need to consider the entire customer journey:

How do you get their initial attention-the introduction.
How do you set the scene, tell them about the market space you are in, demonstrate you are knowledgeable
How do you maintain their interest, educating them on how you can make a difference for them
How do you engage all the decision makers
How do you close the sale

And for all good storytellers, there’s always the suggestion of the sequel or the next story, how to maintain the engagement until the next time, the next sale.

If you feel your What needs a Why, your companies story is not compelling, then let’s set up time to talk and see how we can build your story together and sell customers on your Why.

Synima Group work with tech businesses around the world to better help them tell their story, not only engaging their customers but their employees too. Democratizing your narrative so anyone can explain your intrinsic value in an engaging and enticing way is transformative.

Delivering great product marketing

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 14:40:14 GMT

Great product marketing comes by design.

Most of us didn't experience the 1949 unveiling of the VW Camper Van - an icon from the 1950's to this day. It still evokes images of endless summers, friends, adventure and a simpler, more care-free time.

That harmonious image was shaken however as the painful, PR disaster of 2015’s ‘dieselgate’ unfolded. Adversity often forces hard choices in business and it did with VW - The scandal accelerated Volkswagen’s strategic move to electrification and the launch of the Intelligent Design (‘ID’) range of vehicles.

In a masterstroke, resurrecting the evocative iconography, in the backdrop of Pebble Beach, Herbert Diess announced the spiritual successor to the VW Camper, the ID Buzz. Was it any surprise that the new EV was presented to an aptly-chosen anthem of Simon and Garfunkel's 'Sound of Silence', beach imagery and modern, environmentally-conscious, happy-family? Let’s be clear, it was a strategic product marketing play, plain and simple. Beautifully done - Bravo VW!

A clear product strategy is essential to delivering a product proposition - especially one that creates a contextually relevant, emotional connection to your offering. Put simply, the more accessible and compelling, the more commercially successful. And with it, you gain the buy-in of your investors, partners, distribution, and of course your own employees.

Quoting Jonathan Ruff, one of our partners "Great product marketing delivers a story, so compelling that your customers become your advocates and storytellers.” - that comes by design, and experience... not by accident.

If your business needs support with Product Marketing , SYNIMA Group has the expertise and experience to manage individual and diverse product portfolios, develop product, solution and portfolio positioning, and execute product, solution and portfolio launches.

As for the re-born VW Camper, it sounds like a run-away success, when you can buy one!

How Does 5G Impact the business Travel industry?

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 16:00:36 GMT

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I was asked by a former Motorola colleague, who now leads Marketing for a leading business travel company, to join an industry panel at GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) Conference 2019. The subject under discussion was “what 5G is going to mean for the global business travel industry”. After a very active and interesting discussion here are my thoughts:

It's not just 5G that will change the Global Business Travel Industry. It will be achieved by a combination of AI, data and industry supported APIs that will change the travel experience for business travellers. It’s going to be a lot more about individualization, collaboration, predictability, reacting to changes, timeliness and reducing friction for me as the traveller. But how and why?

Combining mobile devices, industrial IoT capabilities, autonomous vehicles with 5G infrastructure and low latency data sharing will enable systems to make real-time decisions on a massive scale to benefit me, the traveller. Every interaction between my devices, and each and every device, system, vehicle during each step of my business journey, whether walking through an airport, train station, office or restaurant, will all intertwine. This will make my business travel experience like having a personal travel coordinator travelling just ahead of my every step, anticipating my next step. For instance, your bags missed the flight so don’t stand waiting around in baggage claim: go straight out to your car, which will be waiting right outside, and your bags will be delivered to where you are staying tomorrow. Now take me to a store that’s open to buy a few things until tomorrow. Plus makes claims, expenses, and completion of each and every trip effortless.

But how can this work? My life as a business traveller has become a patient waiting game of lines(queues), waiting for the next mode of transport to arrive, waking up in a different room in a different location and finding the next meal, all while meeting and engaging with clients customers and colleagues in the four corners of the world. And yes, hoping (actually planning for the fact that) the airline doesn’t lose my bag again. Combine that with the time it takes to plan every aspect of a trip, work the system when things happen and complete expense reports at the end, means travel takes up more time which is either not productive or not billable.

I want my travel experience to be one where every step of the way is timed to perfection: the Uber, Rental car, limo arrive just as I need them at the airport terminal, hotel, office or home; I reach the gate to board my flight just in time, whether it's on time or delayed; each hotel room is personalized to my preferences, temperature, lighting, music, just as if I was at home; and dinner, meeting locations are selected / suggested based upon whom I am meeting with. When other friends or colleagues are in the same location, we all know in advance and bookings are logically coordinated, or dinners are suggested; and when friends connected through social media are nearby, I get the option to meet them, wherever we may be.

How can this happen?

It’s going to need technology, but more than that it’s going to need collaboration and cooperation between every element of the travel experience… airlines, rental cars, hotels, rideshare, restaurants, road networks, airports, security, travel booking systems, accounting systems and travellers themselves.

5G brings connectivity architecture to link existing wired and wireless networks to each other and mobile devices. More importantly, it brings the capacity and reduced latencies to enable real-time data for and to every element of a trip and the ability to combine datasets to provide instantaneous actionable insight and decision making.

"Distributed data management, centralized and local compute power, along with AI algorithms, can perform real-time analysis directing me, the traveller and other elements of the travel ecosystem to provide just in time service. When I collect my bag from the baggage claim, it tells me which door to use and ensures an Uber or taxi is waiting for me as I exit. The driver may well have been alerted as my baggage reached the terminal and not the baggage carousel as even my bags are being tracked every step of the way, hopefully. In the future, the same may apply to my rental car, as it drives itself to the terminal to collect me, avoiding the horror of cramped, heavily loaded and always inconvenient rental car centers and buses.

"Mutually agreed APIs and datasets will need to be established between all parties who make up my travel experience, including for example airport baggage handling systems, so as the barcode tag on my bag traverses the check-in to baggage truck to plane to baggage truck and baggage carousel, the system and I am informed. This will change the relationship of apps and services with travellers, I may use one app to act as my travel concierge - it interfaces to all of my individual apps. Think of the Fitness industry where we often use one app to combine information from a fitness app, dietary app, connected scales, and mobile device to provide us with a view of how our fitness is progressing. But we can still use each app individually to learn more specific details - our data is shared effectively across all these app types but remains part of each individual apps influence.

Analytics will not only make real-time decisions as we travel, reducing the inevitable hanging around but will predict how long each stage of our journey will take, based upon previous insight from other travellers, as well as understanding how we travel. Analytics will also play a part in the planning, changes, documenting (expenses) and even more social or pleasure elements of our trip. As we book, it will consider whether we have been to the destination before, my previous visits, my preferences, as well as whether other colleagues are going because I have meetings scheduled with them or they are also booking travel. Analytics will also interrogate other systems to understand weather, traffic, or other meetings may cause changes that need to be accommodated and finally will also establish whether I have extra or free time that I could use to do something related to my interests or hobbies which for me means great locations to take photographs or unusual or interesting venues to listen to music."

What this means.

My chosen concierge app connects to each of my various travel apps and it constantly revises the whole story of my trip. It’s constantly considering and directing my next steps and telling me what to expect and when. Alerting and directing vehicles or me on when and where to go or be, changing the settings in my hotel room. Finding dinner locations, events or venues I will enjoy or can inspire me. So, making my trip the best possible experience I could have and putting me in the best of moods.

The overall objective is to make the whole travel experience as frictionless, flexible and financially economical as possible based upon my preferences and within the guidelines of my employer."