Before I give you my reason why fighting in hockey reminds me of B2B marketing, let me tell you about a hockey fight last week when the Toronto Maple Leafs played the Montreal Canadiens in their 2013/14 NHL league opener.
Not only does hockey still have fighting, the only sport in the world that allows it, except for boxing and ultimate fighting, actual fighting matches; but now every hockey team in the NHL has an enforcer. The job of the enforcer is to fight the enforcer on the opposing team, so that his teammates will be protected.
And this is a fairly new phenomenon, within the past 10 to 15 years. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous in your life?
Well, in last week’s opener, the two enforcers went at each other. And during the fight, one enforcer (The Maple Leaf) fell backward while he had a hold of the other enforcer’s (Montreal) jersey. As he fell, he pulled the Montreal enforcer down to the ice. The Montreal enforcer was unable to break the fall with his hands or arms, and he hit his head, chin first, and was out like a light immediately. He was diagnosed afterward with a severe concussion.
Fighting has always been in hockey, and so that is the reason that everyone says it has to stay. We used to watch TV with rabbit ears, but we progressed.
As a Canadian who has played hockey, and watched it all of my life, I think fighting needs to go. And this is from a guy whose Dad told me, that if I was ever in another hockey fight, he was going to pull me from hockey. But some of us do grow up, except the morons that run the NHL.
Every other sport has changed dramatically over the past number of years. Football players used to play both ways. Now they have a specialist for each position. Most teams carry three kickers.
Fighting in hockey is so anachronistic. Especially when you know that three retired enforcers died from brain injuries over the past two years. One of these guys was in his 20’s and the other two were in their 30’s. Shameful & idiotic!
So what does fighting in hockey have to do with B2B marketing?
Well, just like hockey fights are archaic and dumb in today’s age, I believe most B2B companies also live in the past when it comes to their marketing. The marketing of most B2B companies is also anachronistic; IE: outdated.
Most B2B companies, especially SMB’s, still seem to believe that hiring a so called sales person to cold call is the best (some believe only) way to get new clients. And we all know that cold calling is anachronistic.
Please see my blog post on this, In B2B sales, is the hunter role dead?
As I find hockey fights outdated, so is the way most B2B companies market their products and services. And what I find ironic about this is that many of these B2B companies are technology companies, and yet they won’t adapt to the new technologies of marketing.
Of course these technologies include a website which almost all companies have. But B2B marketing should also include the use of blogs, videos, Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitter, PPC, email marketing, etc. to their utmost. And yet very few companies use these effectively. Many B2B companies don’t use them at all
These Internet platforms need to be used extensively now, because that is where B2B clients are. They are looking for the products and services B2B companies sell.
They do Google searches. They check out LinkedIn profiles. They research you and your company on Twitter. They like watching demos and product and marketing videos. And they like to know what others are saying about specific products and services that you sell.
Research tells us that 80% of B2B buyers search for the products and services they want before contacting a supplier. And over 90% of B2B buyers research a company before they will talk to them.
You need to be using all of these technologies in your marketing, if you want to succeed. You need to step out of the past, and into the present, and use contemporary marketing to fuel the growth of your business.
However, a real problem is that these technologies seem to change every day. So it is very difficult, for SMB’s especially, to have enough staff to keep up with these changes. They need to hire outside resources to help them.
If you want to know how you can effectively grow your business using social media and other Internet platforms, please contact me and let me show you, for free, some of the ways you can grow your business, using these tools.
BTW, I certainly hope hockey fighting stops soon, so we can all enjoy the greatest game on earth, even more.
Kind regards,
Ian Dainty
416.277.4537
ian@b2bbusinesscoach.com
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