Essential B2B Marketing Strategies for Q4

Jordan: My name is Jordan McFadyen. Welcome to the Marketing Mindset podcast. This podcast is designed to help you navigate this cluttered world of marketing and challenge you to move away from random acts of marketing towards planning an intentional marketing strategy. It is great to have Aarti back on the podcast this week. This is the second episode for you, isn’t it?

Aarti: Round two, we’re on the second episode, yes.

Jordan: Well, it’s great to have you back, because I wanted to chat around something which I know you’ve got a lot of experience in, and you’ve done a lot of work with in the past, working in a particular sector in terms of B2B marketing. And particularly as well because Q4 that we’re just entering, calendar year Q4, is traditionally a massive time of year for brick-and-mortar or B2C-type companies and businesses and organisations. Obviously holiday sales is coming up, everyone’s talking about Black Friday, there’s a Boxing Day coming up, there’s Christmas sales, everything like that.

Jordan: But what I just really wanted to get through today was, yeah, that’s really important for the B2C companies, but Q4, calendar Q4, is also a really important time for B2B companies as well. But it also poses quite a few different challenges for those type of businesses, instead of what we’re seeing with B2C, yeah?

Aarti: Yeah, absolutely. I think that there are similarly really massive challenges for B2B companies. I think that there’s a lot of different elements that they need to think about over that typical Q4 calendar year period, around things like pipeline, leads, where all of their deals or the stage of their pipeline: are they going to close before the end of the year? Are they going to push to next year? How does that impact the business financially? So I think there’s a lot of other areas that, yeah, typically aren’t B2C related, that B2B companies really do end up focusing on. I think also that end-of-year kind of shutdown period is a massive thing that people and businesses need to consider in that planning as well, because often it’s almost three weeks or four weeks of downtime before you can get in front of your customer, client, leads, prospects again.

Jordan: So we’ve got some ideas, I think, around what that is going to look like, and some ideas on some tactics that businesses should take around that kind of period as well. Now again, we’re looking at Q4 as a calendar Q4, but a lot of companies will have different budgets that they’re utilising across different quarters. I know in Australia, their financial year has kicked off halfway through the year. New Zealand, of course, we’re just kicking into Q3 financial year. So what I just wanted to touch base on was budget utilisation. And it’s one of those things of, if you’re not going to use the budget, essentially, you’re potentially going to lose that budget next time the budgets are kind of run. What do you think? That companies are rushing to spend in Q4?

Aarti: I think that it’s so important to be able to use that budget, because things don’t get approved again. I think that this year is a really good example of that, with financial crisis and the economic market being quite bleak, that the budget that have been approved for this year might be cut down significantly next year. So I think that there’s an element there of really going hard or going home, because if you’re not going to use that budget to try and really push, whether that target is leads, whether it’s sales, whatever the business’s targets or objectives are, you’re going to have to go really hard at the end of this year to really prove to the board, to your execs, that they want that extra budget for the next coming year. And I think that that economic side of it is massive. I’d be really interested to see what those kind of budgets look like, compared to last year, for 2025.

Jordan: If you’re not going out and actually spending the budget that’s been allocated to a particular campaign or anything like that, then it’s not really showing, like you say, a board level or CEOs, the effectiveness of a certain campaign. So I guess it’s about trying to build that trust as well, and making sure that that budget has been utilised, and utilised properly as well. That is one of the pitfalls that I do see, is obviously budget utilisation: making sure that if you are running out to spend that budget, obviously we’ve still got to make sure that it is spent really wisely on some of those channels that have proven to be able to generate the most leads.

Jordan: But I think there are some ways that you can also utilise that budget to kind of support some of the other campaign types you’ve got. And I guess this will come down to, as a B2B company, your different kind of channels and the multi-channels that you’re currently using. So, for example, if you’re running a lot of campaigns that are just based on lead generation and you need to use a bit of extra budget, I guess it’s a good time for you to start thinking about what are some of those top-of-funnel awareness-type campaigns or pieces of content that you can start to share, to be able to use the budget, but use it in a way that’s going to support further sales down the line as well.

Aarti: That’s such a good point, because I think, especially as the end of year kind of rolls down, it is about just nurturing and being able, I think those awareness stage campaigns are amazing, but then also that middle consideration of nurturing and continuing to offer information to your leads, to your prospects, over that period is massive as well. So I think even though, for some businesses, I think the goals might be to convert, convert, convert, but others with a long sales cycle, for example, maybe that’s not really relevant or necessary. So that awareness and consideration stage kind of type content or approach is going to be really important there.

Jordan: You bring up a good point there around the long sales cycle, and it’s quite a big challenge for B2B companies to face over this holiday period that we’re about to enter as well. And as you mentioned at the start, this is a real crucial time, and it’s a completely different game to what the B2C companies are facing over the next few months, because obviously they are trying to generate as many sales as they can, as quickly as they can, and try to build as much revenue as they can over these high-intense sale periods, where for B2B companies, focusing more on the long sales cycle, which means that they may not be closing a deal by the end of the year.

Jordan: But what would your advice be around if you do have a typically long sales cycle? What would you be thinking over the next three months, even coming into December, January, where a lot of these businesses are starting to really slow down or even shut down over that Christmas, New Year time?

Aarti: Yeah, I think that running kind of a final push before everything really starts to close for that Christmas holiday period is really important. You want to end on a high note, and I think doing that final push is super important. Before closing it off and being able to actually figure out a strategy that works, I think a really important part of it is making sure that you don’t let your campaigns die over the holiday period. I think that people fall into that trap of, no one’s going to be looking at content, emails. People aren’t going to be looking at emails. And actually, I think from experience, people are on channels more. They’re relaxed, they’re actually… I don’t know whether you’ve found that personally or with clients as well, but I think that people are more inclined to have that awareness and consideration level content absorbed over that period, because they’re so relaxed. They’re not worrying about that day-to-day, they’re actually looking at the future for what their next quarter looks like.

Jordan: So this is a unique position as well, obviously, from where I sit as well, because obviously we work with a lot of companies who are marketing over that period, but also at the same time, I kind of turn into a bit of a consumer as well. And I feel as though that is a time where a lot of businesses do really kind of slow down traditionally, but I’ve always had that mentality, that I’ve always found myself, and I’m not saying that this is everyone, but I actually find that I can get a lot of good work and planning done from Boxing Day through until that first week of January, because you’re not inundated in your inbox. Your staff may be on holiday, your clients are potentially on holiday, and you do have that unique time to actually spend that on-the-business time that we always are supposed to be thinking about.

Aarti: You’re always supposed to make time for, but you never do, so I agree. The out-of-office is on, and you have kind of clarity and mental, I guess, capacity to think about those things.

Jordan: So I would be thinking about some of that awareness-building content. I don’t think that you should be focusing too much on generating, for the majority, companies. I can think of a couple of clients that we have that may actually have some really good lead generation opportunities over that time, depending on their audience. But for the majority of B2B businesses, it’s probably not the time to focus on lead generation, and you might want to peel back those campaigns. But really starting to think about that awareness-building or that trust-building, thinking around what type of content can you share that are going to help businesses as they enter, or your key persona as they enter, into calendar Q1. What are those things that potentially you can get in front of these people, and they can consume over that time?

Jordan: And then hopefully, and we always find this even ourselves here, that we actually get a really good sales month from February, March, which is when companies are starting to come back. Their first lot of cash flow is starting to come back through. Their teams are starting to come back. They’re really starting to get back into the year, and that’s when they’re making some of those critical decisions. And if we’ve got all that awareness campaign done well over December, going into that holiday period, fingers crossed, we’re going to be top of mind, ready for when they’re wanting to make those decisions.

Aarti: I think that groundwork that you can do over that period is super important, and I think your reach of your audience can be massive over that period, and you can just start to bring people into a database. You can nurture them over a period of time, and I think with B2B, often timing is key, right? Because if you can do that over that period, then when the timing is right in that February, March, April period, you’re front of mind, your business is suddenly there, being like, oh, hey, I remember reading that great thought leadership article, or whatever it was.

Jordan: I don’t think it’s a time for us to kind of slow down, and I think that we’re in a really unique position now. So obviously, we’re recording this on the 1st of October, so we’re just coming into calendar Q4 now, which is great. And this is not the time to kind of slow down. I feel as though this is the time to start kind of reassessing, getting ready for that period, making sure that you can have a really solid end to the calendar year, especially if you do have a long sales cycle, you’ve got a budget that you need to be sticking to. And this is a really good time to make sure that you are keeping on track with all of those. But at the same time, I also think that this is a great time for B2B companies to be having a look at the past year that’s happened as well, and all the different elements of campaigns that have worked well.

Jordan: I spoke at a conference last week, and we spoke a lot around how technology, marketing, consumer behaviour, everything is changing so rapidly at the moment. So this would be the other thing that I would suggest, is in Q4, calendar Q4, to actually have a look at all those different things that potentially have changed over the past 12 months, or even nine months. So how has the customer sales cycle changed? Is the persona still the same? Even having a look at, like, competitive positioning and things like that, yeah?

Aarti: Because without reviewing how successful or unsuccessful you’ve been over the past year, there’s no way you’re going to hit the ground running for the next year. And I think that making sure that you are reviewing those channels, the channels approach, the target audience, all of those types of things. I mean, there’s new channels or apps coming out every day, right? So you don’t know. I think staying on top of where your audience is is a massive one going forward. And like you said, things are changing so fast that businesses might not be aware that there’s lost opportunities there. Or another massive one is that competitive positioning. Are your competitors now moving into a space that you haven’t even thought of, or weren’t ready to enter, or just couldn’t in this financial year? And maybe it needs to be on the plan for next year. I think keeping an eye on where your competitors are kind of moving in that space, and then using this Q4, start of Q1 period, is even a time to start to adapt slightly.

Jordan: But also, I was just thinking as you’re talking there as well, that if we’re reviewing things like our customer buying process and competitors and things like that, that period where things do start to slow down a little bit could actually be a really good time to kind of test some of that awareness stuff as well. Or test kind of new channels: are there new channels of how people are potentially consuming you? And, you know, blanket statement, but you may have a company that you’ve thought about, oh, maybe we could trial a bit more LinkedIn content, or, I don’t know, TikTok content or whatever.

Jordan: That could actually be the time, if you do have a bit of budget left over in the budget, to actually try doing a little bit of that testing across that time, where you’re trying to do that awareness building and trying to reach a new cold audience, to then bring back into your lead generation funnel from January, February onwards as well. So it could be a really good time to kind of have a look at all those different campaigns and all those things that you’ve kind of done over the year, or, like you say, what the competitors are doing, and start to adjust and start to build out how we can kind of be agile enough to kind of compete with them as well on the different channels about where your audience is.

Aarti: It’s a great opportunity to start taking some risks, trial different audiences or channels that you maybe haven’t done before, to see how they work out, especially if you’ve got budget to use. I think that goes back to the budget utilisation part, where you’re like, well, why not try these things to see what kind of output we can get, and then take those learnings and put them into the strategy for the next year.

Jordan: We’ve already discussed quite a bit of kind of to-dos that you should be kind of focusing on in Q4. So very much aware that there’s only so much that smaller marketing teams can actually achieve. But would you also suggest, from your point of view, around starting to plan for 2025, and what type of things would you be starting to have a think about during this period, so that you can kind of make sure that you are launching into January, February as strong as a position as possible?

Aarti: I think that businesses have to start thinking about 2025 now. I think that, like you said, that holiday period, it comes and goes pretty fast. And if you’re not kind of starting next year with how you’re going to start building that marketing plan, business plan, and what the plan is for the rest of the year, you’re going to be behind. And I think that businesses need to be able to monitor and track what they’ve done this year, learn from it and start next year really fresh. And I think that being able to, things like filling the pipeline for the coming year: if you’ve turned off all your ad campaigns over the holiday period, where are all these leads coming from? And being able to run campaigns when your budget switches over, whenever that period might be in the first quarter, that’s when you want to start hitting the ground running. And if you’re only starting those projects kind of further into Q2, you’re on the back foot already.

Jordan: Yeah. And the other one I was thinking just to have in the back of your mind, because there’s usually a lot of planning involved, is, obviously there’s a lot of digital stuff that we’ve spoken about so far. But even the things that aren’t necessarily digital, that are part of your multi-channel campaign: there may be conferences that you’re needing to be starting to prepare for, whether you’re making those decisions about including certain conferences into your budget, or appearing at any trade shows or magazines or any of those offline type of things as well. They can typically require a little bit more planning. So it is actually a really good time to assess how much we think that those have had an impact on sales for the year and lead generation and things like that as well. So we can either incorporate those, or make sure that we’re going really strong with a plan as to how we can utilise that budget better instead.

Aarti: I think people often do trade shows and conferences potentially, and thinking they’re going to come out of it with X number of sales or X number of leads. But did they actually? Like, it’s a great time to review that and be like, okay, this year did we actually achieve what we had expected, or should we spend this $10,000 elsewhere, potentially on digital, potentially on something else that has a higher return on investment? So it’s a really good time to start reviewing those processes and actually making sure that what you’re spending on is actually getting the return that you need.

Jordan: So look, there’s a few things to kind of look over. I think the main things that we want to get across here is that Q4, especially for B2B, so B2C, typically you see it a lot currently on LinkedIn. If you’re reading, everyone’s talking about get ready for B2C, it’s all happening, holidays, sales are coming up. But the whole purpose of this was just to remind us that if you’re in a B2B business, it’s not the time for you to slow down and to essentially just focus on your holiday shopping and getting ready for Christmas and New Year. It’s actually a really good time to actually start to make the correct planning for 2025, and actually starting to think about how you can adjust things and using this holiday period to your advantages as much as possible.

Aarti: There’s one other thing I thought, I just remembered, that I think is useful to point out, is kind of that review of the year: being able to share the wins of your year, and learnings as well. And I think that’s a really nice way, within your business internally or even externally, being able to look at the year and review and say, like, gosh, we smashed these things, we didn’t smash these things so well, and be able to kind of really internalise the success that you’ve had as a business, both with staff, against your goals, as a business. I think that it’s a really great time to start thinking about that, and obviously people’s Christmas parties and all the rest of it are all part of that. And being able to align that within your strategy to celebrate the wins of the year, I think, is a really nice way to close off the year as well.

Jordan: If you’re in that pocket of B2B, this is a good time to kind of start smashing some of those goals and reflecting, and making sure you’re kind of setting yourself up in 2025, but also making sure we’re utilising the right budgets for the end of this calendar year, making sure that we’re still kind of hitting, smashing those targets that have been set as well, using up that budget to prove that. And then just also not slowing down over that holiday period as well, like traditionally we do see a lot of, and trying to continue to get your messaging out there, to get your awareness content out there. Once Christmas is done and all those big sale periods are over, it’s actually a really affordable time to start advertising again, because advertising costs are going to go through the roof as we come into Black Friday. It’s a great time to start kind of utilising that budget and seeing what you can actually generate over that time as well.

Jordan: And look, if you ever want to discuss your B2B strategy or your marketing strategy in general, obviously that’s kind of our bread and butter, it’s what we enjoy doing, trying to work through. You’re more than welcome to contact us here at Done By Nine. Otherwise, you can go to our website as well. We’ve got a lot of different resources on there, including blogs and some other podcast episodes, where there’s a whole heap of other tips around how to support your marketing strategy and to help you move away from random acts of marketing. Aarti, thanks so much for your insights again, and yeah, let’s hope we can have a real solid Q4 and start to 2025, yeah?

Aarti: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Jordan.