Whether you’re a flinty skeptic or an unabashed believer, few of us can resist finding at least a little meaning in our personal horoscopes. So why not explore how the stars may be aligning to create new business opportunities for your company? Our guest writer Allison Yeh shares insights on how marketers can make the most of the current astrological era.
So, we’ve made it out of Mercury Retrograde—a time of uncertainty, poor decision making, and haywire living, according to the astrologers. Whew. If you found yourself out of sorts, take a deep breath, because we’ve now reached Jupiter Retrograde. Now, let that breath out.
From April 10 to August 11, 2019, Jupiter Retrograde will call for reflection, say the stars. Take these next few months to gaze deep inside your B2B marketing strategies, recenter your team, and regroup about successes, failures, and progress made in Q1. Here are three steps for recharging as you conquer the next two quarters.
1. Recall your origin story.
It’s hard to keep up with the overwhelming amount of new advice, apps, and strategies that are posted, published, and tweeted every waking minute. But before you ditch the old and usher in the new, channel this Jupiter Retrograde and look from within.
Ask your team:
- What was your founding mission?
- What makes this company unique?
- Why this b2b service or product, and why now?
Reigniting your founder’s mission will help energize your new b2b marketing. Knowing where you’re going comes from a clear understanding of who you are.
2. Verify relationship statuses. Check the data.
Before you dive into daunting spreadsheets of data, first re-identify your target audience. Who are you expecting to sell to? Whether looking at business sales or social media analytics, view the data through the lens of who your real customers are. Who is engaging with your product and your content? And do these companies differ?
Taking a cue from this Jupiter Retrograde (which has an emphasis on romance), your B2B marketing strategy should start by recognizing long-term relationships, forgoing unrequited loves, and perhaps flirting with the idea of a new kind of engagement. Review the data, see what worked, what didn’t work, and assess next steps from there.
3. Have you expired?
When we get comfortable in a routine, it’s easy to let the dust build up behind you. Given your data check, now is the time to reframe your marketing approaches. Are you posting too much? Too little? Just because you’re leaning into long term relationships doesn’t mean you have to become stale. Small changes can remind those loyal companies who rely on you why they love you, while bringing more awareness to companies who don’t yet know who you are.
Here are some tips for staying fresh:
- Change up the language. Freshen up the way you talk about what you do, and people will definitely take notice. Try new phrases, more colorful descriptors, and more vibrant verbs. And definitely make sure you don’t sound like the competition. Most of all, instill your copy with energy. Tell a joke, perhaps?
- Try out a new platform. Maybe you have a hidden audience on WhatsApp, and you don’t even know it.
- Get personal. It’s good to know and advertise your own origin story, but don’t forget to listen to other businesses’ backgrounds too!
- List your failures. Nothing stings more than admitting errors, yet healing occurs faster when the wound is acknowledged. Take inventory of your company’s history of failed exchanges, fizzled out leads, and poor management. Going back in the timeline and sitting with the losses faced will reveal whether or not you have recovered from this failure. How were you able to move forward? How has this failure, or other, affected your company? And most importantly, how will you be able to prevent it from happening again? This admittance of defeats might have you facing tough situations the company has been avoiding – such as downsizing, cleaning your database, or updating your use of technology.
- List your successes. Now look back at the company’s history and pinpoint accomplishments. By tracking what your company achieved, you can analyze the stimulants that helped you reach a goal, seal a lead, or boost online engagement. Is the new blog you set up last month getting tons of shares? Maybe your customers feel more connected to your business through its unique content, utilize that. As mindfulness brings itself into Jupiter Retrograde, take the time to listen to your team, accounting for what methods brought you success and what moments you found failure. Self-awareness will help you step back, then spring forward with more confidence.
- Find your orbital period. How long will it take you to reach your next goal? Make a calendar. Claim a date that has meaning: your company’s anniversary, a big client’s anniversary, or perhaps the end of Jupiter Retrograde (August 11th). Choosing time goals that bear significance make reaching that goal all the more memorable.
Even if you are an astrology skeptic, there’s always a time in the year where inner evaluation needs to happen in order to see growth and move forward with intention. If astrology applied to B2B marketing isn’t in your realm, maybe try venture capital.
And if you want help crafting out-of-this-world copy to manifest your next phase of growth and prosperity—get in touch with us today.
