Have you ever thought about what makes B2B marketing special?
Because there is something about it, isn’t there? There’s a certain…feeling to B2B marketing that those of us who live in it day to day inherently understand.
We collaborated with MarketingProfs B2B Forum partner, TopRank Marketing, to explore that feeling with top experts in B2B marketing today.
Check out this special “Feeling B2B” series, hosted by TopRank Marketing co-founder Lee Odden.
First up, content marketing pro Pam Didner!
Lee Odden: Welcome to the Feeling B2B show, a limited interview series featuring conversations with some of the B2B marketing industry’s top voices brought to you by the fine folks at MarketingProfs B2B Forum. I’m your host, Leo Odden, and today we are speaking with a B2B marketing expert, consultant, author, keynote speaker, and presenter at the 2023 MarketingProfs B2B Forum conference. Her name of course is Pam Didner. Pam spent over 14 years in advancing B2B marketing roles at Intel before founding her consultancy. She’s the author of multiple books. She’s been an adjunct instructor at multiple universities, and because of her depth of actual B2B marketing experience and her continued effort to elevate the craft, we’ve interviewed her many times and are really super happy about welcoming her back. So welcome to Feeling B2B, Pam.
Pam Didner: Thank you so much for having me, and a great intro. Completely overrated. So if you listen, don’t worry about that.
Lee Odden: Well, I think folks will find that it’ll come true as we have our conversation today and when they come and see you at the B2B Forum in Boston. So let’s get started. So we’ve both been in the B2B marketing industry for a long time. It’s 2023 and we’re still here. I’m just curious, what is it that you love about B2B marketing?
Pam Didner: You know what Lee, I have two F words. All right, fun and frustrating. The fun part is that it’s a complicated and long purchase cycle. There’s always something to learn from SEO, influencer marketing, which you are very good at, down to AI and the interesting technology to help us do our jobs better. The frustrating part is that it’s complicated and it’s a long purchase cycle, and it can be overwhelming sometimes, but if that happens to you just take a deep breath, right? It’s that love and hate relationship. That’s what makes it fun.
Lee Odden: Yeah, I have to agree. It’s always changing. It’s always a challenge, and it seems that people like yourself who are satisfied by tackling a challenge and solving for it, seem to be the most successful. So I’m curious, there’s a lot of different dimensions, as you’ve mentioned in B2B marketing and experiences is a big theme, has been for a long time, right? Content experiences, marketing experiences. But what would you say is the importance of experience that drives emotion in B2B marketing?
Pam Didner: I kind of want to answer that question a little bit differently. And I was thinking about this and I would like to answer what is the most important experience as a B2B marketer, if that’s okay with you? And I have practiced yoga for years and several years ago, I saw a poster in my yoga studio and a well-known yoga guru from India was coming to the studio to teach three day, four hour yoga training. So I signed up, I was like, oh, this is great. And I showed up at the studio, it was completely packed. And the yoga master, this tiny little lady walked in all, and then she didn’t make a sound, and then she asked everybody, so why do you come into this training? And she has a deep voice, and I raised my hand. I say, oh, I want to learn the yoga postures better. And someone said, well, she wants to learn breathing better. And then another person said he wanted to be a better teacher, and this is what she said. She said, all those are great answers, but you guys are missing a point. And then she said, you do it because of joy. You do yoga because you love it and it’s joyful. So I found that profoundly liberating. The most important experience for us to do B2B marketing, or sometimes it’s because of the job, but even if it’s a job, can you find joy in B2B marketing and find joy in what you do? So I think that’s a very important emotion and experience when you do your job.
Lee Odden: And even creating joy for your customers, right? Creating joy through the marketing experience. So you’ve spoken at and attended MarketingProfs B2B Forum multiple times. And I’m wondering if you could share a moment from the event from the conference that really stands out to you.
Pam Didner: Honestly, where will you find so many B2B marketers in one place on this planet? And when you come and the more people you talk to, the more you will feel like, oh my God, I have that issue. Oh my God, I was using that system too and that system had this feature, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And if you actually have a lot of challenges in your job, and the more people you talk to, the more you will feel like I am not alone, which is the truth. You are not alone. A lot of issues. You run into all of us. I’m encountering that. So honestly, coming to B2B Forum is a therapy session on steroids in a good way.
Lee Odden: Yeah. Yeah. You’ll find your people there, right?
Pam Didner: Find your peeps, your tribe.
Lee Odden: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So Pam, I want to ask you what you’re looking most forward to at B2B Forum coming up here in Boston and online in the first week of October. But can you tell me a little bit about the topics, what you’re speaking about?
Pam Didner: Yeah, so I’m doing a workshop and I’m also doing a session. The workshop is about how to create a solid go-to market plan. So if you are working on a go-to market plan, come to my workshop. I’m making it fun. Trust me. We are going to actually read a couple books. We are going to watch a couple movies. Not kidding. And then for my session, it’s really about marketing ROI. And if you have a hard time demonstrating how you provide value to the companies, check out my session as well.
Lee Odden: Wow, your workshop and session are two reasons all by themselves people should register for the conference. I think that’s awesome.
Pam Didner: Thank you, Lee.
Lee Odden: So you can see and learn more from Pam at MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2023 in Boston or online. October 4th is when the workshop is happening. And then October 5th and 6th is when the main sessions are happening. And you can check out the full agenda, the list of other speakers and all the other fun things that are planned by the fun folks at MarketingProfs B2B Forum at mpb2b.marketingprofs.com. And of course, I’ll include a link to that in the show notes. Pam, you’re a super easy person to find, but I’m wondering where would you like people to go to learn more about you, to follow you, to connect with you?
Pam Didner: Great. pamdidner.com on my website, if you have any specific question about B2B marketing, send the email to me. I would be more than happy to address and answer them. You can also find me on all social media platforms except TikTok. I have not learned my dance moves. So I’m working on that. I’m working on that. Okay. So LinkedIn’s probably the best way to reach out to me.
Lee Odden: Come on, Pam, let’s dance together. Come on, we can do it. There we go. There. Alright. Awesome. Well thank you so much Pam, and I look forward to seeing you at B2B Forum!
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Published 9/20/23
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