We hope you had a great week! Let’s cap it off by chatting about B2B marketing:

• When and how to launch a new marketing channel. The recent launch of Thread has millions of marketers asking themselves if their company should join the latest social media platform. Here’s how to think about new marketing channels and decide whether to jump on them or take a pass.

• Don’t try and sound smart. Most B2B content is too hard to read. Why that’s so bad and how to fix it.

🚀 When and how to launch a new marketing channel.

The newest social media channel, Threads, just launched. And with it, millions of marketers asking themselves, “Wait, do I need to get a company profile up and running on this?”

It can be difficult for marketers, especially B2B marketers, to decide which channels and platforms are worth using.

(If we had a nickel every time a B2B company asked us if they should be on TikTok, we’d be rich!!)

How can you know when to jump on the bandwagon and join a new channel? Start by asking yourself these important questions.

Questions to ask yourself:

What are my goals? Will this channel help me reach them or get closer?

If being on the platform doesn’t move your business forward in some way, then skip it!

What’s my timeline?

Some channels take longer to see results than others. If you need fast results, spending time on a channel that takes years to get traction is a horrible idea.

Who’s my ideal customer? Do they spend time on the channel, OR will they shortly?

If a channel’s users don’t fit your ICP, it doesn’t make sense for you to be on it. This is why you don’t see ads for arthritis medication on Tumblr or K-pop memes on CNN and Fox News.

Do I have time/money to invest in this platform?

There is always a learning curve to using a new platform. You’ll need to test things and learn through trial and error. If you don’t have the resources to dedicate to this learning process, don’t start.

What is the likelihood of success?

Are there many people who’ve succeeded on the platform on just a handful? Are the other successful users similar to you in some way?

If success is a long shot, consider spending your energy on other channels.

Do I (or someone on my team) have the skills necessary to run this account?

To succeed on a channel, you must create high-quality content.

You probably shouldn’t be on TikTok if you can't edit videos. If you can’t make your point in concise written form, you probably shouldn’t be on Twitter or Threads.

If you don’t have the skills the channel requires, then you’ll never find success on it.

If you think through these questions and decide it still makes sense to try out a new channel, the next step is to start testing.

When to test.

A common mistake marketers make is trying too many channels at a time. It’s the marketing version of shiny object syndrome. Splitting your focus between too many areas usually means none of them are fully leveraged.

What’s better is to optimize the channels you’re already on before moving on to anything new.

But, if you’re in one of these three scenarios, then it’s ok to move forward with launching on a new channel ASAP:

1) Your other channels are firing on all cylinders, and you’re looking for the next win to add to the mix.

2) A channel that used to be successful has stopped working. You’ve tried everything to get it back, but no improvement. So, now it’s time to move on.

3) None of the channels you’re trying are working, and you need radical improvement quickly.

Launching a new marketing channel

Now it’s time to take action. If you want to have a successful launch, do this:

Become a student.

Study what’s working for others on the platform. Copy that.

Commit for at least 3 months (but ideally 6 months).

Be patient. You won't see results overnight. Make sure you don’t quit too early.

Dedicate proper resources.

Give the new channel the time and budget required to be successful.

Test, test, test.

Whenever you try something new, you’ll be bad at it in the beginning. Accept this and commit to making small improvements every week.

Run many tests as quickly as you can. Study the results. Then make tweaks and try again until you find a formula that works.

📰 In the news this week.

❌ YouTube threatens to cut off ad blocker.

🧵 Threads app hits 100 million users.

⬇️ ChatGPT traffic dropped almost 10% in June.

💸  TikTok dominates in-app spending.

🤖 Top 5 XR and AI marketing trends in 2023.

👨‍🏫 Don’t try and sound smart.

The biggest epidemic in B2B content marketing is trying to sound too smart.

Every day we see B2B articles, case studies, ebooks, and white papers, that sound like they were written for a Harvard Ph.D. Not for a normal reader on the internet.

This is a major miss. Why? Because people will not work hard to read your content. If something is difficult to read, they won’t absorb your message or will say screw it and click the back button.

The best content has A+ ideas communicated with C- writing.

The point of written content is to communicate ideas. Don’t get caught up trying to use flowery prose. Do this instead:

• Use short words. The fewer syllables, the better.

• Keep sentences to 25 words or less.

• Make paragraphs 2-4 sentences.

• Skip adverbs (words that end in ly). “He walks slow” is better than “he is walking slowly.”

• Don’t use passive voice. “Jeff ate six pieces of pizza at dinner” is clearer than “At dinner, six pieces of pizza were eaten by Jeff.”

• Write like you’re talking to a friend or coworker.

• If you can use a picture instead of words, do it.

• Avoid all buzzwords and jargon.

Use the Flesch-Kincaid scale to check yourself. This measures the reading grade level of text.

Aim for a score of 70-80 at the lowest. That’s an 8th grade reading level. Meaning it should be easy for the average adult to read.

And don’t worry; we practice what we preach — readability score for this week’s newsletter: 78.3 (7th grade).

😂 Marketing meme of the week.

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