Nutcracker Agency

INTO THE WOODS
Content strategy: your guide to storytelling

This story is not about you…
Every story starts with a hero on a quest. They set off on a journey. They pull the sword from the stone. They defeat the foe. They find their happily ever after. 

When you market your business, you are telling a variation of that story. Every blog you write, every advert you create, every post you share, is part of that narrative. But in this story, your brand is not the hero. Your customer is.

So what part do you play in their journey?
The psychology of storytelling
First things first. Why do we need storytelling in B2B?

1. It’s the best way to convey information – and make sure it sticks.
What’s more effective, telling a child not to lie or the gruesome story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf? Stories are scientifically more memorable than facts and figures, with one academic study finding that narrative text is twice as fast to read and twice as easy to remember compared to expository text.1 For B2B, it’s an excellent way not only to convey USPs and information, but to make sure they are remembered.
2. It influences decisionmaking by evoking an emotional response.
All decisions are, in some way, based on emotions: even when we think we are being guided purely by logic and rationality (such as at work). Recent studies have used FMRI scanning to understand the role of emotion in decision-making and found that emotions are always at play - whether consciously or subconsciously - both when we are considering our options and acting on them.
People are exposed to 5000+ brand messages every day, but are only aware of about 86, while only 12 make a lasting impression
3. It raises long-term awareness and forges long-term connections.
B2B marketing is rarely about instant gratification. A CIO, for instance, isn’t going to buy a new data platform on a whim because they saw an advert on Google. B2B is about creating long-term awareness, building trust, and being in the right place at the right time. Storytelling makes your brand part of that customer journey, hitting your target audience with relevant messages at every step.
4. It makes you stand out in a very crowded market.
Just because it’s B2B, doesn’t mean it needs to be boring. If you want to get your audience’s attention, you need to do things differently. Create something eye-catching. Be memorable. Stop churning out the same old content as everyone else and see the impact it has on your engagement. 

How to tell a story
Consumer advertising has always been about stories.
Empathetic and personal, they elicit an emotional response, pulling us towards a desired action. By telling those stories successfully, the brand becomes a manifestation, not of what we should buy, but what we need to make our lives – or ourselves – better.

Yet for some reason, when it comes to B2B marketing, all of that disappears.
Dry facts and industry jargon are packaged up and delivered to the audience wrapped in generic corporate paper. It’s safe, it’s sterile, it’s functional and it forgets a crucial point. B2B marketing is still targeting people.

Just because your target audience is ‘at work’ that doesn’t mean they have become a robot, devoid of personality, emotion, preference, pain. If you want to connect with a B2B audience, you need to be able to tell their story, to hold up that mirror, to show them how your brand is the answer to their problems.

So who is your customer?
What is their story? Where do you come in?
Let’s break it down chapter by chapter…

THE HERO
All the best stories have a relatable protagonist. Your customers need to see themselves in your marketing to be able to relate your brand to their needs. That means identifying the right decisionmakers and finding out as much about them as possible.
Who are they? Where are they? What resonates with them?

Thanks to digital, we’ve surpassed traditional demographics of age and gender, and can glean insight into the people we are targeting that goes beyond job title and geography. What are they reading, what social media platforms are they on, what interests them, what influences them, what irks them? The more you can discover about the people behind the profession, the more you can weave narratives that compel them to take action.

The Nutcracker guide to closing more deals
10 tips for salespeople

1. Collaborate with Marketing

• You speak to prospects every day. You know the pain they feel and how they express it. Share that with the marketing team, and they’ll be able to create more effective campaigns that generate more warm leads.
• There are two sides to collaboration. When you close a deal, don’t forget to give credit where it’s due, and acknowledge where your leads came from and it will motivate marketing to produce more.

2. Prepare

• A warm lead is too valuable to waste. You know where the lead came from and what they responded to, so you know what message resonated with that prospect. That tells you what their pain point might be and how you may be able to help.
• That means you have useful information before you even contact them, which should make your initial approach more effective and your questions better. Plan your approach before you pick up the phone.
   

3. Do not rush through your questions

• Questions aren’t a checklist to get through before you start your pitch. They’re what make or break your pitch. Good questions will reveal a prospect’s pain points, uncover what product or service they need, and will give you more insight into the challenges they are facing. This will in turn uncover how you can help — even the most seasoned sales professional can rush through this part, skipping questions and weakening their chances of closing the sale. 

4. Listen

• The point of asking great questions is to get great answers.
• When you truly listen to your prospect, you get valuable information. Not only does that improve your odds of convincingly showing why your product or service is right for them, but it will make your prospect feel like you care about fixing their problem, not that you’re just trying to get their money and sell something.

Bonus tip: Don’t be afraid of silence after you have asked a question — instinctively, they’ll fill the silence, and possibly tell you even more.

5. Understand Objections

• Notice that wasn’t ‘overcome’ . Don’t argue with the objection, find out more about it. Often it can mean the prospect just wants more information or wants to understand ‘what’s in it for them’ , why should they take the risk?
• An objection is either a legitimate reason not to buy, or a different uncertainty in disguise. Ask more questions to find out which it is.
   

6. Disqualify

• When you’ve asked great questions, listened to the answers, and understood all of the objections, and a ‘no’ really is a ‘no’ , that ‘no’ is not a failure.
• Not every warm lead is a customer in waiting. Knowing when to move on gets you more time with people who will buy and the people who genuinely don’t want to buy will respect you for it. 

7. Sales is a profession. Treat it that way.

• Professionals stay focused and disciplined, without relying on short-term success to motivate them.
• Professionals have processes. They don’t just pick up the phone and wing it. Processes are standardised, repeatable actions towards a result. If you can’t explain why someone bought from you (or why they didn’t) and how you can magnify that, then you need to improve your process.

8. Stay Humble

• Don’t turn professional pride into ego.
• You have something to learn, whether you’re new, a few years in, or a veteran. That’s true for doctors, teachers, lawyers, and architects. Why wouldn’t it be true for salespeople?
• You can learn something from anyone, even someone less experienced than you. Be open to it and embrace it. Sometimes going back to basics can be the kick you need to unlock even more sales potential. 

9. Don't be defensive

• When things aren’t going well, don’t be afraid to admit you’re struggling. A good manager will help you find what isn’t working, then give you the support you need to get back on track.
• Staying quiet won’t change you missing your targets, it will just get worse. 

10. Manage your profile

• When things aren’t going well, your LinkedIn profile can help you build trust. People only buy from people they trust.
• If you share interesting articles, write thoughtful posts, and add value to discussions, you show that you’re an expert in your area, and you care about what you do. That’s the kind of person that people want to buy from.  

BUSINESS HEALTH AND NUTRITION
Preventing common ailments, treating symptoms, and maintaining healthy growth

When you’re running a business, the company’s pain is yours as well. Whatever’s harming it or stunting its
growth, you’ll be desperate to fix it.

Businesses are highly susceptible to ailments, especially during growth. Fortunately, those conditions are easily
treatable, especially if caught early.

Here are some of the most common causes, the typical symptoms, and the best remedies.

DRIED UP PIPELINE:

• A dry pipeline is often painful and always irritating.
• When there are few leads, it can induce anxiety, restlessness, and sometimes panic.
   

Common causes:

• Poor targeting: You pitch your messaging poorly and don’t place it where your targets will see it. That means it doesn’t reach decision-makers.
• Unengaging output: When you discuss topics that don’t resonate, or you don’t present them well, you will get no attention from the people you want to reach.
• Unclear identity: You’re cautious and conformist with your brand. If you can’t stand out from the crowd, you
• won’t attract customers.

LEAKY PIPELINE

• The lining of your pipeline is too weak to contain prospects or progress them through the system.
• Accompanying symptoms include frustration and confusion.

Common causes:

• Unexciting Content: Most decision-makers think less than half of thought leadership is valuable. Once you’ve earned their attention, you have to work hard to keep it. 
• Sales and marketing are misaligned: Salespeople speak to prospects directly. They know what is hurting
• them and how they express it. If Marketing doesn’t hear and act on that information, they can’t keep decisionmakers engaged.
• Content doesn’t serve the whole buying cycle: Only 5% of buyers are actively looking. You have to appeal to the rest of the buying cycle to keep your pipeline healthy

POOR RETENTION:

• Your business excretes clients before it can realise their full nutritional value. Replacement costs time and money.
• Common reactions include weakness, feelings of helplessness, and even despair.

Common causes:

• Staff shortage: Your client list has grown faster than the team has, staff don’t have the capacity for optimal service, and customers lose trust.
• Not seeking or implementing feedback: If you don’t encourage suggestions from your clients, or take action when you get them, customers don’t feel respected, and your offering falls behind your competitors’. 
• Unclear success criteria: You didn’t define very clearly and objectively with your customer what success looks like and how to measure it. You can think you’ve delivered, but your client can disagree.

TREATMENT:
Treating stunted business growth usually requires one or all of the following:

• A strong brand, including distinctive design and tone of voice
• Consistent marketing output demonstrating expertise on your targets’ problems
• Aligning your sales and marketing strategies,  or better yet, treating them as one

It’s possible to use home remedies, but when you’ve poured everything into your business, you might want professional care.

THE INTANGIBLES

WHAT REALLY GROWS A BUSINESS?
How do you know if your sales and marketing are working? You sell more. If what you sell solves someone’s problems, what ultimately decides whether they buy? Trust. So, how do you measure trust? You can’t, really – it’s an emotion.
When you’re marketing your business, it’s tempting to measure success by hard numbers, things like engagement, cost-per-acquisition, and conversion rate.
However, the things that grow a business sustainably (like trust) don’t fit on a spreadsheet. It’s not that metrics aren’t useful, it’s just that many businesses have the wrong relationship with them – they misuse and overvalue them at the cost of growth.

THE VANITY MIRROR UNDERSTANDING WHAT MATTERS

You might have heard the phrase ‘vanity metrics’, which describes data points that look good, but don’t contribute much to actual growth. Those can be things like social media ‘impressions’ and ‘engagement’ and ‘reach’.

It’s a bit unfair to label the metrics negatively. The data isn’t vain, but how you use it can be. You can mistakenly think that if a thousand people have seen your social media post, and eighty people clicked through to your website then that means it was a successful piece of marketing.

On the other side of the coin, if you’ve poured resources into a creative, exciting, in-depth content marketing campaign, and then you don’t get hundreds of enquiries from it, it’s tempting to think you’ve wasted your money and time.

TALK IS CHEAP: BRANDS AND BUSINESS GROWTH

Metrics might look like they’re bringing rigorous objectivity to your communications, but branding is where the real science of marketing sits.

Why does good branding make people buy?
If it’s a well-established brand, it’s largely because it’s got a track record of quality. However, the same principle works with completely unknown brands too.

Why’s that?
The answer is in biology, specifically in something called ‘signalling theory’. The biologist Amotz Zahavi suggests that something like a peacock’s tail is useful as a signal because it takes a lot of a precious resource (energy) to create — it’s not just saying that the male peacock is a healthy specimen and a viable mate, it’s proving it.

You can sum it up with the adage ‘talk is cheap’. Now apply it to business. Create a powerful identity and your audience will (subconsciously) think, ‘I can trust this company
– they’ve sunk a lot of resources into their brand and their marketing. They’ve got something to lose if they let customers down.’ Ultimately it makes your business proposition feel solid.

CONTENT AND BUSINESS GROWTH
An important rule of thumb is that only 5% of your targets are in the market right now. If you want your content to give you a quick return on investment and a nice punchy conversion rate, then you’re assessing it all wrong.

This is also about trust. Your branding is there to say, ‘This business is worth your attention’, and your content is there to deliver on that promise.

TRUE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP:
• helps prospects understand what their problems are
• demonstrates that you understand and can solve them
• moves prospects through the buying journey

If you look at those outcomes, you see that they’re not quick, and you can’t easily put numbers on them. It takes guts to invest in something that won’t pay off immediately, and it’s sometimes hard to measure when it does, but it’s what makes the difference in B2B marketing and ultimately in sustainable, longterm, business growth.

WHAT SHOULD YOU MEASURE, AND HOW?
Any metric has its place, and what you should use as a mark of success completely depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you want to build trust and use the intangibles that grow a customer base, here are some things you can track.

• CONVERSATION:If you position and promote interesting content well, it will spark discussion. Forums like LinkedIn can give obvious signs of that engagement in comment sections.
• RECOGNITION: This is often anecdotal, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth knowing. For example, when a member of the sales team makes a cold call, and the prospect recognises the name of the business, then something is working.
• ENQUIRIES: Because we’re dealing in the long-term it’s often hard to credit one piece of marketing or content with an inbound enquiry. Overtime, though, if your inbound leads start to consistently increase, and more sales convert, then it’s almost certainly because your brand is getting stronger, and your marketing is working.

How to grow your Greentech business
Reaching buyers, selling a complex product, and standing out from the crowd

The UK is home to 5,200 climate tech startups and scaleups. Globally, there are four times more than there were in 2010.

2022 saw $1 trillion of investment in Greentech worldwide. The global market is worth $60.06bn in 2023 — in just seven years it will be worth $417.35bn

All that demand comes from several different pressures.

• Governments around the world have signed up to Net Zero pledges  which means new infrastructure, initiatives, and regulations
• Businesses are aware of the commercial benefit of green credentials
• The public increasingly expects businesses to reduce their environmental impact

You need your audience to know that you have the solution, but how do you do that in a crowded market?
This guide will show you how to market your Greentech brand and stand out from the crowd.

You probably know all of that.
But do you know that...
 

• 83% 95% 94% of a buying journey happens before any interaction with a supplier?
• 95% of your targets are not even looking for a solution?
• 94% of visitors will leave a website immediately if it’s poorly designed?
   

Not only do you need to stand out from the crowd, you also need to prove that you’re worth people’s valuable time and attention. You know you are — you know you have an incredible idea, a compelling vision, and a cutting-edge solution — but how do you show all of that in a few seconds, then keep your audience hooked?

How to position your Greentech solution

When you’re selling Greentech, complex, technical language isn’t going to grab anyone. Your product features and performance data are valuable in your messaging, but you need to lead with the vision.

You have an incredible solution, so what is it going to fix? How does the world look with your innovation vs without it? Most importantly, how would it make your prospect’s world different?
83% of purchase decisions are emotional.

Product specs won’t get people excited. Your audience probably doesn’t understand Greentech — they just know that they need it. They might not even know that.

• A CEO is conscious that environmental impacts attract more and more taxes and penalties, and it’s their responsibility to prevent that.
• Consumers are increasingly conscious of a business’s environmental impact. The threat of poor PR or even a boycott is also a threat to people’s jobs.
• A founder has poured their heart and soul into a business, and wants to see it grow. There are certain funds, awards, and tenders that are only available to green businesses.
• An MD has had a deep, personal commitment to the environment since they were a student, and brings that dedication to their working life.

How to write about your Greentech solution
When you’ve tapped in to the emotions that motivate your audience, they’ll be interested to read more, and receptive to what you have to say.

So, what should you say?

• 61% of decision-makers say thought leadership demonstrates value better than product marketing
• 81% want an expert to challenge their assumptions 

Top tips for Greentech thought leadership

1. Keep the focus on the prospect
Your expertise is only as relevant as the outcomes it delivers.
Always clearly relate the topic to the problems a prospect faces.

2. Find out what your targets like to read
(e.g. articles, infographics, reports) Focus on the audience’s preference, but don’t be afraid to vary what you produce.

3. Be clear and reasonable about what you want the reader to do next
Capitalise on the excitement that you’ve created with a strong call-to-action, but bear in mind ‘buy now’ might be a bit premature.

4. Avoid jargon
People use industry-speak when they’re insecure. Be confident in your expertise to express things in terms that everyone understands.

SEO
83% of a buying journey happens before any interaction with a supplier. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can make sure buyers find you independently.

Are your targets actually searching for solutions?
There’s no point in appearing in searches that your targets aren’t making. However, if they are searching, an SEO strategy is vital.

Don’t be boring
A common mistake is to write for search engines, not people. If your content isn’t interesting, there’s no point optimising it.

Pick your battles
You have a brilliant opportunity to claim ‘territory’ on certain key words.