1934 – Exploring Digital Marketing Trends and Strategies for Audience Engagement with KAYBE’s Kris Britton

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1:05With us right now, Chris Britton. Chris, you are the founder of KB Mega Marketing. And you're found on the web. I love the name, Mega Marketing. Your website is kb.co.uk. That's K-A-Y-B-E.co.uk. It's great to have you, Chris. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much, Josh. It's great to be here. Yeah. Well, give us an overview of what you do with KB Mega Marketing. So every time I say mega now, I have to say it with some emphasis. Exactly. Well, we are, as our website says, we're marketing, but mega. So we're a very, very passionate team of people. And that is one of the things that makes us unique.

1:47And what is one of the things when I started the agency is I wanted to make sure that we turned a typical agency on its head. So we just don't want to just do something for the sake of doing it. We're very passionate about the results that we get and making sure that we're able to effectively put scores on the doors and make sure that we're able to say this is the quantifiable result that we got from this activity effectively. So we're a very passionate team of people who are all about working with inspiration and inspirational marketing techniques that we can always drive curiosity and get some good results.

2:19Yeah. What types of companies do you work with? Oh, a huge range of companies. And this is one of my favorite questions, actually, because a lot of people say, well, you're too big for me or are we too small for you? So we work with anyone who's even like pouring candles from their kitchen table. Zero staff. They're not even employed themselves or taking a salary right the way through to huge enterprise businesses. So we work with brands such as IBM, Dell, Oracle, Microsoft, huge enterprise and SaaS businesses, and really teeny, teeny, tiny companies that have just started up and all of those in between as well.

2:52Our main gig is B2B, but we also have really strong roots in B2C as well. So we do cover both areas. Yeah, no doubt. Again, just in case anyone missed that, VMware, IBM, Dell, Microsoft, a pretty robust client list. So what do companies like that like about you in terms of your superpowers, in terms of the outcomes you're co-creating? That's interesting. So I think I would say one of the things that we focus on is our very unique approach to digital marketing. What we don't do is just run ads to a landing page. The unique thing about us and that we get an awful lot of praise for from all of our customers across the board is the quality of our data.

3:38And I think that's the bedrock, the core foundations of what's made KB really, really successful is that we've been able to have really reliable data. And that reliable data is what's able to help us acquire really strong, credible leads that we can then pass over and pass over as marketing qualified leads to go on and then convert. So our core foundation and what makes us unique is our data. And that's what people keep coming back to us for and the way that we cultivate that. Yeah. So, Chris, let's talk about what's working right now. And, you know, if we think about, you know, online marketing, what do you see working really well?

4:16And is there anything that comes to mind that you think that has fallen out of favor over the past couple of years? Oh, well, I actually put a post on LinkedIn about this today. So this will give a clue to everyone when this was recorded, if they look at my LinkedIn. But one of the posts on LinkedIn is AI. And while that's really massively taken off, and I love the AI and what it's capable of doing, I think people's application of it is starting to have people fall out of love with it. So when AI first came out, a lot of people were like, oh, gosh, is ChatGPT going to take my job? Am I at risk of losing my job?

4:51These types of things. And what I see so much on LinkedIn is posts that are very, very obviously written by ChatGPT or other kind of large language models as well. So for me, it's using the tools that you've got that are available to you, but to help you to do things rather than replace them. So help the content writers to expedite their research in what they're crafting content on rather than having content writers just put in a query, copy and paste that back out and whack that into an email or into a post that then goes out the door. So I think the thing that people are falling out of touch with is ensuring that they are in touch with the end user that they're trying to communicate with and not necessarily posting content for content's sake.

5:29Because that's definitely something in the last year that you're seeing more and more of and that seems to be accelerating and snowballing. And unfortunately, until people start to see that the results are starting to lack, that snowball is not going to slow down. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, but, but, but meanwhile, I think there is like, so if we are to, what would you say, like talking to leaders here? So they may not be doing the work themselves. They may be delegating this. They might be hiring somebody that promises, you know, some content management, you know, content production strategy involving a lot of AI.

6:03What warnings would you give or best practices would you recommend in terms of like, right, cool, use AI, but make sure you pay attention to ABC. What comes to mind for you? Exactly. So I think I engage with a lot of business owners on a day-to-day basis, and we're talking about how to be able to get them those results or how to be able to help them to achieve whatever it is they're looking to achieve, to sell their product, to penetrate the market, whatever that might be. So for me, I think it's looking for the very obvious, typical signs of AI being used in some of the content that's being produced and making sure that you don't lose touch with, again, going back to my point just now of what the audience is doing.

6:45So I spot check all the time. I'm going to take this white paper. Let's have a read of it. Does it resonate with the user? Does it resonate with the audience? And I trust in everyone and all of the content they're producing and all the work they're doing, the creators. I don't need to be that hands-on that I'm micromanaging, but I do randomly go and download as a user and enroll myself into workflows and go, how is a user receiving this? Just because I'm leading a business doesn't mean I don't care about the results. So I still want to see, and I'll use my own personal email and just see what kind of emails I then get through, what the follow-up looks like, and make sure that I'm keeping touch with effectively what we're putting out into market.

7:20Even though it's not my product, it's still my customer and I care about what they're doing and what the results are. So same again. So we will enroll directors, for example, business leaders, movers and shakers in that business into their own workflow. So they get a copy and a flavor of exactly what we're doing and how we're pushing it out to market. So we will make sure they receive email communications, LinkedIn messaging, make sure that they're built within the ad campaign. So they see the ads that are going out to market and they too can experience what their end users and their prospects are experiencing as well.

7:48Yeah. So very specifically, Chris, I know one of the areas that you provide some thought leadership on and services around is going to be lead generation. On that front, I have seen, I'd say some evolution and de-evolution. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I think there are a lot of things, at least in our work and full disclosure, I mean, this is kind of the space that we operate in, but I hear from a lot of VPs of sales that there are certainly tactics that maybe worked exceptionally well four or five years ago that are just not working anymore. What do you see is not working and working well, specific to lead generation itself?

8:36I think things have evolved. What we do look at is now more automation, for sure. So we look at building workflows that can automate certain circumstances. If you send this email, this email bounces, then try to connect with them via LinkedIn, these types of workflows. So that's definitely evolved. Let's try and work smarter, not harder, from that point of view. And we put something in place that allows us to free up our time to then optimize the campaigns that we're running. But something I've definitely seen a real shift in is email marketing. Back in the day, wind the clock back five years for the example that you just gave, a lot of image heavy emails would be sent out.

9:12And those emails that would go out would quite often land in focused and unfocused inboxes as people start separating out their inboxes as that was very new. nowadays we're having to be smarter so we send very text um heavy or just literally no html in email at all in order to make sure we're getting cut through yeah because email marketing is still very effective but i think the key thing that's missing there is the personalization so we try to keep them very short very sweet get a reply then you can start deep diving on the prospect before you start the conversation and that's a real shift there's no more of this big imagery and and sponsored imagery, et cetera, especially when you're going into corporate enterprise level.

9:52Spray and pray. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I just, in fact, I just posted about that too. And I see, you know, if I were to stereotype here, I would see a lot of newer amateur marketers just kind of blasting their sales message to everyone and thinking that that's the filter. Whereas I see a lot of leaders are trying to just be very thoughtful and tactical about that. Like don't waste your sales breath on someone that's not in market and to truly, really try to form that relationship first and honoring the relationship where it is rather than being that what I call a me monster, you know, and just slapping business cards in people's hand and then just immediately going into a pitch on them.

10:34We wouldn't do that in real life. Don't do that in your marketing either. Exactly, exactly. And I think one of the key things there is when you do send a message out, you want to be that we have shifted into emotional marketing, right? So we, one of our messages that we have in our only generation is you wouldn't start a dog walking business without great leads. So why would you have your business not generating great leads as it is at the moment? So we want to tap into people who have got dogs or people who any kind of subtle emotional marketing that gives us a good starting point. That's what gets the conversation going because it's haha.

11:07Well done. Thank you. That was quite interesting. Or I like that approach in your email and it starts a conversation from there. So for us, it's not just go in hard sell. Where are you at with this quarter? Let's help you generate more leads. We want to talk about, OK, what's the impact to them? How can we make you look great in your business? How can we help you stand out as a marketing director or a managing director? How can we help you achieve your quarterly goals, for example? Or how far off are you? What's the gap that you're looking to close effectively? Yeah. For someone that is thinking very, very top of the funnel, what do you generally like?

11:38What's that first awareness that does kind of lead to now a relationship via email? I think it goes even further. Let's go above the funnel a second. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the key things. I like the way you think already. Yeah. Let's take one more step back. So one of the strategies that I created years ago, and I've used it for years and years and years, is I speak to so many businesses and I say to the business owners, what's your business gap? And gap stands for grow, attract and protect. So do you want to grow your existing share of wallet with your current customers? Do you want to attract new prospects into your business and new customers into your business?

12:20Or do you need to protect your existing customers from leaving you? what is your issue so do you have a churn issue are you trying to attract new customers what is it that you're trying to achieve and so many people go i don't know i want all three so actually that's not going to help you achieve anything what we want to do is help those individuals take a step back and go right what are the key messages because we can create and devise a funnel for each so above the funnel you're going to have different messages for each pot before you even work out what your core marketing messages and start going out to market with email that's where you need to be starting is what's the key thing that I want to achieve?

12:52Am I looking at customer acquisition? Am I increasing share of wallet with existing customers? What kind of message can I be putting out into market? Have I got enough trust signals and case studies and customer testimonials and quotes and things like that for me to be using? That's an ultimate goal. Excellent. All right, Chris, let's talk about where someone goes from here and, you know, they've really enjoyed our conversation. Looks like you've got some great resources. Where should people go from here? come and take a look at the KB website. I think that's a really good starting point. We've got all sorts of assets, resources, materials to help individuals really get underway.

13:28We're not a hard pressure sales business at all. So we're here to help a lot of individuals. Just like doing this now, I personally absolutely love networking. So you can check out kb.co.uk. You can also check out my own LinkedIn as well. So Chris with a K, so K-R-I-S, Britain. And that would be a really great starting point. And I love connecting with people. After I do a podcast on so many occasions, I strike a conversation and we just start talking through instant message. Whether that leads to something or not, that's totally different. But I want to be able to help you and help other individuals who come forward to be able to achieve something great.

14:02And if I can just inspire a few people and they don't necessarily have to be buying from us, I've achieved what I want to achieve. Yeah. And so, Chris, for someone that maybe they're found this episode because they're doing some due diligence and they'd love to have a conversation. What do you typically talk about in that first call? First discovery call, there's so many different angles that we can go down. I think ultimately it's what's the pain points and why are we having this conversation? Are we trying to address a situation here where you're not generating enough leads? You're not generating, you've got a very, very hungry salespeople who have got a real passion.

14:38They're real hunters and they want to be able to go and achieve great results, but you're not feeding them enough or have we actually got a problem where you're not getting the traction you're not getting the people to your site or is the problem that you've got great site loads of traffic but completely the wrong messaging and no one actually understands what you do so ultimately in a discovery call we address what the core issue is and why we're even having this conversation and what it is they want to achieve have they got really ambitious growth targets have they got an exit strategy and they want to make the business look really great over the next couple of years so obviously if it's part of a long-term plan we need to know what that long-term plan is so we can help them achieve those results.

15:13Yeah. Chris Britton, again, founder of KB Mega Marketing. Your website is kb.co.uk. Chris, it's been great having you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Josh. Thanks, everyone.

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