In the fast-paced world of B2B marketing, data specialist agency engaging emerges as a dynamic powerhouse, filling a gap in the market with audience first strategies and a commitment to making every campaign more relevant and, yes, engaging than ever before.
Recognising that B2B historically has not been well-served in the marketing area, engaging has rebranded from Clear Engagement, to better reflect its brand proposition, focusing on B2B and complex markets in New Zealand and Australia.
There are significant differences in approaches between B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing. With the former, customer behaviours are distinct, characterised by more complex decision-making processes involving multiple decision makers and stakeholders. This complexity often leads to longer, more involved sales cycles, requiring a specialist marketing understanding and, despite B2B marketing contributing significantly to a business’s revenue, it is often overlooked.
Enter engaging, the agency determined to change this and make B2B marketing more, well… engaging.
CEO Tim Anderson, says that his agency’s approach includes a combination of specialist expertise, strategy, creative and technology innovations to deliver sustainable growth for their clients.
“What we want to do is to really get people to understand that B2B marketing is different and doesn’t need to be boring,” he says.
“The assumption is that creative is a key component, but so is technology, so is the data, and so is the partnership with our clients, making sure that we’ve got the sales people connected to marketing,” Tim adds.
Combining years of marketing experience, a talented team of B2B professionals, the right technology, and a superstar telemarketing team, engaging is able to help businesses execute end-to-end demand, acquisition and retention programmes.
engaging is underpinned by a proprietary ANZ business database and integrated CRM/marketing automation as a service (CaaS). This combination enables the agency to provide B2B focused strategy, creative / content and telemarketing services that work together in harmony. Seamlessly connecting sales and marketing, the team can facilitate effective engagement with businesses across the range of traditional and digital marketing channels.
Alex Leece, Head of Account Strategy, says: “We’re increasingly finding that clients are looking for specialist B2B support and joined up thinking, starting with data, analytics and technology to enable smarter strategy and engaging creative content.
We’ve found that the key driver of demand and acquisition is building deeper and more meaningful engagement between the prospect and the sales and marketing teams.”
engaging focuses on building these strong, long-lasting relationships with customers and their brands. Alex says this is one of the biggest differences between B2B and B2C. “With B2B, [making a purchase is] a more complex decision, the sales cycle takes a lot longer so you’ve got to take a longer term view of building that brand over time, building that engagement, building that relationship to get the sale at the end of it.
“To be able to maintain that relationship over time, you have to make sure you’re delivering content that captures their interest and adds value. Making sure we’re developing a proposition that resonates with the audience and ensures that the content is personalised and relevant.
“The other critical part is our analytics and tracking through the engagement funnel, seeing people go from a low to medium, and high level engagement. We score everyone based on what they’re engaging with and adjusting things depending on where they’re at [in the funnel].
“There is an art to distilling complicated offerings and putting it in a way that the customers can understand, can relate to, and solves their problems.” engaging is currently collaborating with a diverse range of global and local brands, operating across ANZ.
The agency’s recent achievements include an account-based marketing (ABM) initiative for Lenovo. This campaign earned engaging a place as a finalist at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards last year.
Additionally, the agency spearheaded a successful B2B e-commerce programme for Samsung, which yielded substantial growth through a new sales channel. This expertise extends to partnering with various local B2B-focused enterprises operating in the IT technology, services, trade, and manufacturing sectors, including a strong relationship with Claymark, New Zealand’s leading timber products manufacturer.
As for the future, Tim and Alex have their eye on the many digital advancements that are revolutionising the way B2B businesses enhance customer experiences. This includes B2B e-commerce and the integration of deeper personalisation and relevance for stronger customer relationships.
ABM is also gaining prominence locally as an effective strategy to establish and nurture genuine connections with clients, thereby driving brand preference and sales while customer experience will continue to be paramount.
“Ultimately, B2B is about building meaningful relationships between client’s brands, their team and their customers.” says Tim. “What we’ve got to make sure is that we are driving preference and ensuring their brand is top of mind at the critical times in the purchase cycle.”
For more information, visit engaging.co.nz or find us on LinkedIn.
This article was originally published in the June/July 2023 issue of NZ Marketing. Click here to subscribe.
