February 2023 - Air Marketing

How B2B Businesses Are Using TikTok

Posted on 12 February 20237 July 2023 by Hannah Sanders

B2B (business-to-business) companies have traditionally shied away from consumer-focused social media platforms like TikTok. But in recent times, B2B companies have started to realise the potential of this app as a marketing tool to reach a wider audience and connect with their target customers. With eight new users joining the platform every second, it will come as no surprise that there are predicted to be 8 million TikTok users in the UK by 2024.

Here are some ways B2B companies are using TikTok for their marketing efforts:

Product Demonstrations and Tutorials:

TikTok’s short-form video format is ideal for showcasing products and services in an engaging and fun way. B2B companies can use this platform to give product demonstrations, tutorials, and how-to videos, which can help educate and inform potential customers.

Employee Engagement and Brand Promotion:

TikTok allows B2B companies to humanise their brand by showcasing their employees and their work culture. This helps to create a positive image of the company and fosters a strong connection with potential customers.

Customer Testimonials:

TikTok is a great platform for B2B companies to showcase customer testimonials and success stories. By showing the impact their products or services have had on real customers, B2B companies can build trust with potential customers.

Influencer Marketing:

TikTok has a large community of influencers who have built a following and can be leveraged by B2B companies to promote their products or services. By collaborating with the right influencer, B2B companies can reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness.

Still need some convincing? Don’t just take our word for it – B2B brands such as Adobe, Sage, Shopify, and Square have used TikTok effectively for their marketing…

Adobe Creative Software has leveraged TikTok for its marketing efforts introducing #LevelUpWithAdobe – a series of workshops and resources aimed at assisting TikTok creators improve their video editing and production abilities.

Sage Accounting Software made a big impact on TikTok with its #BOSSIT2021 campaign. The company celebrated small businesses in the UK by inviting them to share their experiences overcoming obstacles during a difficult year. With over 1 million entries, the challenge was a huge success and helped Sage connect with many businesses.

Shopify leverages TikTok to share tips on productivity, business, and of course, ways to use their eCommerce platform. With over 100,000 followers on the platform, Shopify continues to create value for its users and attract new ones.

Square, a leading player in fintech, has partnered with TikTok to allow merchants to create online stores on the social media platform. ‘Square x TikTok’ links TikTok video and ad viewers to products sold on merchants’ Square Online stores, offering a seamless shopping experience while preserving the merchants’ unique brand identity.

Overall, TikTok is a versatile platform that B2B companies can use for their marketing efforts. By leveraging the app’s unique features, B2B companies can reach a wider audience, promote their brand, and connect with potential customers in a fun and engaging way. Is TikTok on your 2023 B2B marketing plan?

Opinion piece by Content Manager, Tamara Rowley

How to Be Brave and Sell More with Your Sales and Marketing

Posted on 9 February 202321 February 2024 by Hannah Sanders

We’re living in an exciting age of advertising, so there’s no doubt that you’ve recently come across a piece of highly creative and snappy marketing and thought ‘I wish my company could do something like that’. The good news is, that no matter what industry you operate in, you can! Thinking outside of the box and being brave with your sales and marketing has many benefits that can drive revenue growth.

Let’s delve into some of them:

Standing Out From the Crowd

CPB London’s 2022 International Women’s Day Campaign around breaking the gender bias was built around a nationwide study that said 39% of primary school aged children still believe that mothers should look after babies and do the housework, whilst fathers should go to work.

They produced a series of bold text-only posters that challenge instant biases with copy such as ‘Imagine a CEO. Is it a man?’ and ‘Imagine someone crying in the office. Is it a woman?’ They also launched a children’s colouring book alongside this that went further in challenging traditional gender roles.

Image credit: cpblondon.com

This campaign made them stand out from their competition and differentiate their brand as a disruptor within the industry. It also introduced them to a wider audience, including people who would not have been aware of their brand otherwise.

Increasing Brand Awareness

What feelings do you want to evoke when people think of your business? Boring, dated, ‘had its day’? Didn’t think so.

Your brand identity is the key to resonating with your target audience and driving more sales.

Take the latest British Airways campaign, for example. They’ve put a series of billboards up around the UK encouraging people to take their holiday seriously with a series of tongue in cheek out of office emails such as this one:

Image credit: famouscampaigns.com

They are implicitly driving sales by subverting expectations and relating to their audience’s desire to book holidays in order to switch off from their everyday working lives.

How relatable are your current marketing and sales materials? How could you appeal to your target audience more closely in your next campaign?

Building Trust with Your Potential Customers

By being bold and assertive with how you sell your products or services, you display a confidence in them that attracts interest and can lead to sales. Take this recent #RaiseYourArches advert from McDonalds. It doesn’t feature a single product or restaurant shot. It doesn’t even feature speech. It uses clever body language and their iconic golden-arch branding to show how people may communicate that they want a McDonalds.

Image credit: McDonald’s

McDonalds know that they don’t always have to use product imagery in order to sell burgers – they can instead focus on the feelings their food and the experience of eating it offers.

Consider how you could demonstrate confidence in your products or services within your marketing or sales collateral.

Increasing Sales Through Scarcity

KFC’s double down burger is one of its most popular menu items. But it’s not available all year round. The fast-food chain only makes it available for limited 5 week periods and when it’s on sale, it accounts for roughly 5% of its total revenue. The fact that it’s never clear when the burger might be returning to the menu, drives sales from satisfied customers who have previously enjoyed it. The product has a loyal customer base which means KFC can expect increased revenue over time, so long as they keep selling it.

Image credit: KFC UK & Ireland Instagram

How could you replicate this sense of urgency to motivate your ideal customers into action? Could you create exclusivity around a product or offer a lucrative limited time deal? The bolder, the better!

Leading Not Following

The release of the John Lewis Christmas advert is a highly anticipated event in the festive calendar. Viewers have come to expect a highly emotive and heart-warming tale that evokes the yule-tide spirit of giving. Hailing back two decades, this format has now set a trend with lots of other retailers now following suit with story-telling adverts in a similar format. This powerful story-telling format increases brand awareness and can be effective in driving sales, especially around the all-important festive period.

How could your business lead rather than follow with your sales and marketing processes? Could you offer added value that your customer base wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else? How could you inject freshness into your industry?

Being brave with sales and marketing isn’t something that’s exclusively reserved for the titans of their industry. In being bold and making your offering stand out from that of your competitors, you’ll force your audience to sit up and listen to what you have to say.

In thinking outside of the box with how you market and sell to your audience,, you will undoubtedly achieve a wider reach, build trust, and ultimately generate more opportunities for revenue growth. So be brave with your ideas, make the sky your limit and then go a bit further. In today’s oversaturated digital world, who dares wins!

Is your business ready to be brave and sell more, but in need of some guidance on how to execute this strategy? We’re here to help. Get in touch today to find out how we could guide you through the process and help you to generate more revenue opportunities.

ON AIR: With Owen Episode 75 Featuring Julia Nimchinski & Justin Michael – Co-Founders, HYPCCCYCL

Posted on 8 February 20231 March 2023 by Hannah Sanders

Introducing our 75th episode of ON AIR: With Owen – our latest interview video series with honest conversation about scaling revenue, hosted by our Founder & CEO, Owen Richards.

Our 75th guests are Julia Nimchinski (Co-Founder & CEO at HYPCCCYCL) and Justin Michael (Co-Founder at HYPCCCYCL). They discuss alignment of sales and marketing teams; the role of salespeople as marketers and vice versa; and how today’s business world can benefit from customer-centric virtual events.

Including:
– How to truly align your sales and marketing teams
– The role of salespeople as marketers and vice versa
– Benefits of customer-centric virtual events
– Encouraging sales and marketing teams to learn from each other
– The journey from SDR to marketer and vice versa
– Tips for fostering collaboration among sales teams
– Generating pipeline and revenue through virtual events
– The best tech stack for modern virtual events
– What it takes to run a customer-centric event
– The book ‘Reinventing Virtual Events‘ – why you should read it and where to find it.

Month: February 2023