GM, welcome to Marketing Qualified. Here’s what’s on deck for you this week:

• 5 tools every B2B marketer should be using. Use these on the daily and you’ll be glad that you did. (And so will your boss)

• The best branding tactic for SMBs. Why clarity is the real secret weapon.

We have a small favor to ask. If you stay until the end, let us know what you thought of the content in this week’s newsletter by clicking one of the links in the feedback section. It only takes a second and we use this info to make future newsletters better. Thanks!

⚙️ 5 tools every B2B marketer should be using.

Marketers are kind of like Batman. We need to have a lot of tools in our utility belts to get the job done. Here are five tools that we use every day as B2B marketers. And we recommend you use them too!

1) HotJar

HotJar records all the visitor sessions on your website so that you can see how people are using it. You can set up heat maps and scroll maps that show you what readers are clicking and viewing on your pages.

It’s really easy to set up. Just add a line of code to your website and it’ll start recording all of your visitors for you.

2) Leadfeeder

Website visitors are usually anonymous, but Leadfeeder gives you the names of the companies that are already visiting your website. It gives you a lot of other information too like how many times that company has visited and the quality score of their traffic.

It integrates with all the major CRMs so you can send these leads through your marketing automations or directly to your sales team.

3) Similar Web

This helps you take your competitor research to the next level. It tells you a ton of information about them like their website metrics, engagement stats, and demographic info.

Be sure to download the Chrome extension so you can quickly get the info directly on whatever website you’re visiting.

4) Zapier

Zapier is an extremely powerful automation platform that lets you connect all your apps and services. You can set up workflows that take care of repetitive tasks without coding or relying on developers to build you a custom integration.

It works with 5,000+ web apps and is very easy to learn.

5) GoFullPage

This is a free Chrome extension that lets you take screenshots of your browser window and then automatically stitches them together into a seamless image. It only takes a few seconds and then you can download your image as a high-resolution PNG or PDF file.

Next time you need to capture a full landing page or email screenshot, save yourself the wasted time in Photoshop and try this tool instead.

In the news this week.

🤩  Five iconic B2B campaigns from the past 20 years.

📱  Building awareness with YouTube shorts.

🤖 Leaked Google memo admits defeat by open source AI.

💰 How B2B marketers are navigating budgets and priorities in 2023.

📉 Why B2B buyers are not as loyal as before.

🤔 The best branding tactic for SMBs.

How many times have you visited a website and read through the homepage only to realize, “Wait, I still have no idea what this business actually does.”

Unfortunately, this phenomenon is very common. But, why does this happen?

One of the most common reasons is that companies try to get too fancy. Especially SMBs. Many SMB owners and marketers think they need to sound larger and more established than they actually are.

They think that if they want to be like the titans of industry (think Apple, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Nike, etc.), then they need to talk like them. And do the same type of marketing and branding that those companies do.

To try and mimic these large companies, they end up using abstract and aspirational messaging on their website and marketing material. A big mistake.

Giant brands usually have many products and services. So using straightforward and specific messaging is hard. That’s why they use vague slogans like these:

SMBs are different. Usually, they only have a few products or services on offer. So instead SMBs should focus on being very direct in their messaging. No need to be fancy. Use plain language to tell potential customers what your product is and how it will make their life better.

Your message should be so clear that a 5th grader could read it and understand it in less than a minute.

As your company grows, then you can begin getting less specific and more aspirational with your marketing messages.

As an example, this is how a project management software company’s messaging might evolve as the business grows:

Marketing meme of the week.

How'd we do with this week's newsletter?

• 😍 Loved it

• 😐 Meh, do better

• 👎 You didn't bring the heat 

A READER’S REVIEW

Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to a friend to spread the love.

Want us to write about something specific? Submit a topic or idea.