Friedlein's Guild Teaches the Industry How To Leverage B2B Communities
Ashley Friedlein's Guild, the messaging platform for professional groups and networks, has launched a new guide on Community Based Marketing and its strategic role in B2B marketing today.
The ad-free platform lets professionals share expertise, teach and learn from each other, and exchange ideas and contacts, for mutual and societal benefit.
Guild has been a pioneer in the B2B industry in leveraging the power of community based marketing to grow its business and has now developed a guide for B2B marketers to follow.
Against the backdrop of remote working, rapid digital transformation and oversaturated B2B digital marketing channels, the in-depth guide:
defines Community Based Marketing (CBM)
shows where CBM sits in the marketing funnel
makes the business case for CBM
gives success factors for CBM
provides case studies of successful CBM in B2B marketing
Ashley Friedlein, CEO and Founder, Guild, said: “Community in B2B is back in fashion. When almost every B2B marketer follows the same playbook, it's time to develop a new play. And many are betting that a Community Based Marketing (CBM) strategy will be that play, so marketers need to be armed with the tools to make it a success.” The guide also highlights several catalysts which are pointing towards CBM being the newest and most effective component of a B2B marketing strategy. These include a rise in the ‘passion economy’ or micro-businesses with professional experts at the helm; a less hierarchical way of working in larger corporates; the impact of Coronavirus; and the fact that traditional marketing tactics are rising in cost but dwindling in effectiveness.
Friedlein continued: “As a result of COVID-19, online or digital communities have seen a resurgence. Events and networking in person are no longer feasible, and the human connection has been lost. Finding safe spaces to connect, not just personally, but professionally, has become more important than ever.” Although gaining considerable groundswell at present, Guild acknowledges that, in various guises, online communities stretch back to the 1970s. However, today, community building is being applied as a marketing strategy with ROI measured on a number of levels including retention, driving leads and market insight.
As well as detailing what a successful approach to CBM looks like, the guide includes a number of case studies and also features contributors from vendor, agency and client side experts in digital transformation, B2B marketing and communications. Friedlein concluded: “Community Based Marketing is set for rapid growth in 2020 because it turns stale and ineffective marketing tactics on their head. B2B marketers have a much better chance of gaining the attention, action, and the loyalty of their prospects and customers when they create a space where prospects and customers can forge an emotional bond and reciprocity between each other and the community founder.” You can download the guide to on Guild's website at https://guild.co/blog/community-based-marketing-strategy-guide