Effective video content for the B2B buyer journey

This blog post first appeared on the Publitek website. Read the whole post here.

Video is an effective way to engage buyers in tech B2B markets. B2B marketing and sales cycles typically depend on a lot of information over a period of time. The information is often difficult to understand quickly.

Through voice, images, titles, motion and sound, video excels at educating and compelling technical personnel looking for a new product or service. Publitek employs video at many steps along the B2B customer journey, and we’ve learned a few ways to get the most of the medium.

Building awareness through edutainment

At the very beginning of the customer journey, your customers need to know you have a product or service that may meet their needs. When they are searching for information, be there. But engineers don’t like sales pitches, they want to be informed. Popular topics will be well represented in major video channels. So build awareness, one approach we take is “edutainment” – providing education in an entertaining format that can be found and shared.

Mouser 2 Facts & A Fiction video example

Our most recent video series for Mouser leverages the fact that engineers and other technical people like to be challenged and to solve puzzles. So we adopted the familiar “Two Truths and a Lie” party game to create the “Two Facts and a Fiction” video series. In each episode, a viewer is introduced to a thriving area of technology, such as tech in agriculture and medical wearables. Then the viewer is asked which one of three statements is not true (the fiction). This simple idea makes the video more watchable and memorable, and gives the team plenty of opportunity to build intrigue on Mouser’s social channels, where audiences, and awareness of Mouser’s markets, continues to grow.

---

See the other three types of video in the Publitek blog post, How to create effective video content for the B2B customer journey.

How Can Design Thinking Improve B2B Communications

Design Thinking is not a new concept, yet it’s not widely applied to B2B communications. But if you really need to connect with highly technical audiences, you should get to know this flexible approach to innovation.

Why Design Thinking? Because engineers and other technical professionals recognize empty marketing in a heartbeat, and they hate to be marketed to. They will scan right past generic headlines, bland AI-generated copy, over-produced video or splashy graphics. They have questions and need answers, not ambiguity. Design Thinking is a process that helps you explore what your audience cares about and, working collaboratively with your team members, to connect with them.

The best part is you can start to apply Design Thinking principles in your B2B communications process right away. Start with the first step and adopt the process as you go.

So, let’s get started.

What is Design Thinking?

It’s not hard to adopt Design Thinking because it’s based on a straightforward idea: the important thing is not about what you want to communicate, it’s about what your audiences care to learn about and how they learn. Start your strategy with them in mind.

IDEO is a world-leading product design firm that advances this approach. Tim Brown, president and CEO, describes it this way:

“Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”

The five steps in Design Thinking

Typically, a Design Thinking practice will follow a five-stage model commonly associated with the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. The “d.school” defines the five stages of Design Thinking as these:

• Empathize: Work to fully understand the experience of the user through observation, interaction, and immersing yourself in their experiences.

• Define: Process and synthesize your findings to form a user point of view that you will address with your design.

• Ideate: Explore a wide variety of different solutions, so you can step beyond the obvious and consider a range of ideas.

• Prototype: Develop your best ideas so that you can experience and interact with them and, in the process, learn and develop more empathy.

• Test: Use observations and feedback to evaluate your solutions, learn more about the user, and refine your original point of view.

Don’t be concerned if this seems like more work than your traditional, more linear way of building a communications program. It is, but it is also a more flexible way to get to your best marketing results. And remember the famous quote attributed to John W. Bergman, retired Marine Corps officer and U.S. politician:

“We never have enough time to do it right the first time, but we always have time to do it over.”

Read the rest of this article in its original post on the Publitek website.

3 Reasons Why Sustainability is Now Fundamental to B2B Marketing of Technology

Marketing deep tech is hard enough, with its incessant innovation, bulwark of buzzwords, and morphing markets.

Why should we make room for sustainability?

The Union of Concerned Scientists puts the case well: the climate crisis “is upon us, and it’s causing a wide range of impacts that will affect virtually every human on Earth in increasingly severe ways. The range of impacts makes it one of the most urgent issues facing humanity today.”

That is reason enough.

But I ask tech B2B marketers to see sustainability as not just a moral imperative, but also a practical one. See my full post on Medium, with examples from my work helping ZincFive and ITRenew promote their technologies that make sense for their markets and our planet.

Read my sustainability in B2B marketing post on Medium.

Six Tips for Running Better Virtual Events

Just a year ago, February 2020, the team at Grid Forward was fresh off a rebrand and a successful event in Seattle, with a detailed plan to expand our impact across the western U.S. and Canada.

A month later, we threw that plan in the waste bin and started over.

I wrote in Medium about the lessons we learned at Grid Forward after a year of successfully engaging our community through virtual events. It was hard but with trial and error we were able to grow our membership, tackle tough issues like equity and resiliency, and help our utility members help their communities.

In October, we rolled out a virtual version of our flagship GridFWD 2020 event. We applied the lessons we learned along the way to making this event as relevant, entertaining and convenient as possible. Over 500 people participated in the event, and 98% said they’re very likely to attend our next GridFWD event.

It’s going to take time before large groups of people will feel comfortable gathering at conferences. But until then, these lessons that will help us keep our community engaged and moving forward with the critical work of modernizing our electric grid.

Please read the article in Medium.

Cities Prove We Can Lower Carbon Emissions Even as Populations and Economies Grow

Here’s some positive news for your day: 27 cities have proven that it’s possible to reduce carbon emissions even as populations and economies grow. That’s according to a C40 Cities study done with the University of Leeds (UK), the University of New South Wales (Australia), and Arup, which I read in this Global Action Climate Summit article.

The cities are: Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Milan, Montréal, New Orleans, New York City, Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Rome, San Francisco, Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver, Warsaw, Washington D.C. (Nice job, Portland).

Many scientists have calculated that global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2020 and then drop steeply, to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The 27 cities named in the report all peaked before 2012 and have continued to decrease emissions by an average of 2% per year since their peak, while populations grew by 1.4% per year, and their economies by 3% per year on average.

They attribute four primary ways that they are driving down carbon emissions:

1. Decarbonization of the electricity grid

2. Optimizing energy use in buildings

3. Providing cleaner, affordable alternatives to private cars and

4. Reducing waste and increasing recycling rates

While the outlook for curbing total carbon emissions is still scary, this is evidence that changes in energy, technology and behavior can together set us in the right direction.

Lessons from Havana: E-Mobility Sneaks up on Two Wheels

I was lucky enough to take a vacation with family in Havana, Cuba. To be honest, Cuba wasn't on the top of my "places to see" list, but once I was there, I was seduced by the balmy weather, sabroso food, local musicians, and very friendly people. I was also surprised how easy it was to travel to Havana, and to get around courtesy of the famous classic American cars now converted into taxis.

There is a downside to swarms of very old cars in Havana: the smell of gasoline and diesel in all of the more popular spots to visit. But as the week went by I had a revelation: for every perfectly restored Chevy in front of a popular restaurant, I saw an electric scooter passing us by or parked down the street. It reminded me that the future of e-mobility probably won't look just like a Tesla or Bolt. In the urban megacities around the world, it will roll on two wheels.

Read about my experience on Medium.

Amory Lovins: The Age Of Silicon Is “Harvesting The Breath And Radiance Of Heaven.”

It’s exciting to be involved in the energy industry transition to the smart grid and renewable energy.

It’s breathtaking to witness Amory Lovins pulling back the curtain on the enormity of the change we are experiencing.

Lovins, Chief Scientist + Co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, took questions at the Institute’s 35th anniversary on August 3, 2017. NY Times columnist Tom Friedman asked Lovins what the was “most exciting, new new thing out there.”

Source: Rocky Mountain Institute

He started his answer by pointing to the convergence of energy and information technology (look at about 33:00). Then he stepped back: “Let me put this in a bigger context.

“The energy transformation we are in the middle of… is not just fundamental, it’s elemental. We started with hundreds of years, or well over a millennia if you look at Chinese industry, of the age of carbon. We built our mightiest industries, our wealth, our military prowess, all of the elements of our power and success, by digging up and burning each year what’s now about four cubic miles of the rotted remains of primeval swamp goo. We are really, really good at it. It’s just incredible what these industries do for us.

“We are now, however, in a transition, from that increasingly obsolete and uncompetitive age of carbon to the age of silicon. Silicon microchips turn people from isolated to networked, systems from dumb to smart. Silicon power electronics make electricity precisely controllable and deliverable, so we can shift from firey molecules to obedient electrons.”

Here’s where Lovins blew my mind: “Silicon solar cells enable the ascent of energy from mining the fires of hell—it’s a pretty good theological analogy, that hot sulfurous stuff down there—to harvesting the breath and radiance of heaven."

That is an extraordinary perspective—our society lifting its energy vision from the depths to the skies.

I was introduced to Lovins and his practical, even-handed research on the clean energy economy in his book Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era. Lovins is not some firebrand enviro-terrorist, but a physicist, researcher and advisor to corporations and governments worldwide. His prescriptions are based in economics and business. So when he evokes a biblical metaphor, it’s worth your time to think about it.

It makes me think about the nature of the future energy grid. The original utility model was constructed to be highly centralized, with power flowing down from large generation plants through carefully controlled channels to passive consumers. It reminds me of how civilizations were initially organized, around chiefs and monarchs. And by depending on a few power sources and sprawling transmission lines, the original model is inherently brittle in the face of natural or man-made catastrophes.

With renewable energy becoming more economical than coal, gas or nuclear (and unlike fossil and nuclear choices, renewable costs will continue to go down for the foreseeable future), the electrical grid is evolving into a distributed generation model (think solar panels on homes and businesses) serving active “prosumers” who may buy and sell power with the utility and each other. This more democratic system creates a platform for a more resilient and sustainable energy grid. Even better, early indications suggest that it can drive down the cost of power as well, making it more accessible to all.

That's the right direction for our electrical grid, and for society in general. And it's one important outcome of ascendance of energy based not on dinosaurs from million of years in past, but photons that will keep lighting and warming the earth for millions of years to come. I believe!

Why an EV Should Be Your First Car

The EV community is scratching its collective head about why electric car sales are stalling, instead of accelerating. The Union of Concerned Scientists points fingers at the auto makers, saying they aren’t fielding enough models, and aren’t making EVs easy to find.

I suggest that part of the problem is a popular assertion that EVs are a great choice for a second car in the average urban household. For example, recently Michael Liebreich, advisory board chairman at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, talks about the electric vehicle as "already the perfect second car."

With due respect, that line of thinking is keeping EV adoption stuck in first gear.

An EV can and should be your first car.

The First Choice for Most Uses

Since 87% of your daily driving is within the range of an EV, you can hop in an electric vehicle or a gas-powered one for the vast majority of your car use. Here are the reasons why the EV is a better first choice:

• Owning an EV can save you $10,000 over five years, compared to a gas-powered car. 
• With instant, silent torque, an electric car brings a new dimension of fun to your drive.
• Those nine trips out of ten—when you hit the accelerator but burn no gas—you make another small step towards a more sustainable planet.
• The EV can even help you become more healthy and neighborly.

Considering all this, it does not make sense to use a more expensive, noisy, polluting and personally limiting option as your first choice for what will be the vast majority of your driving.

Own an EV, Share an ICE 

An internal combustion engine (ICE) car is the better alternative only for those 13% of trips beyond a convenient range for your EV. And if you're sorry to leave the advantages of your EV at home, here’s a tip: you can save even more money, make the trip more interesting, and further reduce your footprint using a car-sharing service.

• Save more money: the AAA estimates that owning a car costs you $8558 per year on average. Ouch. So for your second (gas powered) car, you sign up for Turo. You use a $40/day car once a week, and for two weeks of vacation, for a total annual cost of $2640 (66 days x $40). Add in another $1000 for gas, and you still save $5000 that you can put towards solar panels.
• Have more fun: rent a Honda, slide into a BMW, grab a pickup or a minivan… with car sharing, you can drive many different cars, and get the type of car you need for each trip.
• Shrink your footprint: the use of car-sharing services reduces traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.

So when you hear people say that an EV makes a good second car, set them straight. An electric car is the first, and perhaps the only, car you need to own.

6 Secret Reasons Why You'll Love Owning an EV

You've read the exposés in Forbes, Clean Fleet Report, VroomGirls and even a Fox affiliate. So you know.

EVs are cool. They're becoming affordable. They require practically no maintenance. Electricity is cheap fuel, even less than gas at $2 a gallon. Oh yeah, and no tailpipe emissions, so you're facing down global warming without sacrificing the convenience of a quick drive to Whole Foods for fair trade coffee.

Those are important reasons why you should consider an EV. But once you take the plunge, you discover six deeper truths why you and the rest of the EV clan live and breathe electric. 

Source: Geekologie

• You feel like Sulu on the Enterprise. Once you feel the torque in an EV, you're hooked. It's eerily still inside as the roadside starts to swish by, like stars past a spaceship in warp drive. You can hear a futuristic electric whine, if you have the windows down. Even better, and I'm aware this is childish, but I like knowing I can beat anything off the line.
• You become superior to Prius owners. Remember the feeling when you first saw a Prius? That confusing stew of repulsion and envy? As they proliferated, I felt environmentally sub-par in my Subaru, but I wasn't sure if I loved or hated the humpy hybrids. But now, at the helm of an EV, I am no longer conflicted. Each time I spot a Prius, I toss off comments like "fossil fuel freak" and "petrol junkie," much to my wife's bemusement. It feels good, even though I admit a few of my electrons are generated at a distant dinosaur-fueled power plant.
• You entertain your friends with lots of geeked-out factoids that they will suspect they should know. My Leaf's dashboard--now that I've had a year to decode its mysteries--inspires a stream of scientific insights to share with my unfortunate co-passengers. "What, you don't know the difference between energy density and power density? Let me explain..."
• You have a new ways to bond with your neighbors. As an EV owner, you enjoy new rituals at home. If you park outside, this is a chance to yell over the fence "Hi Jeff, how are you, just plugging in my electric car." Jeff will really enjoy all the little EV moments that you share, so do it frequently.
• Your health improves as you wean yourself off of Slim Jims. When you zip right by the Mobile MegaMart, you are no longer tempted by the bargain-size pork rinds and frozen coffee shakes that once made the weekly fill-up tolerable.
• You never, ever have to go through the SpiffyLube shakedown again. Face it, you KNOW when you go in for the $19.95 oil change that you will soon have to explain to the earnest mechanic why you (as an expert in automotive science) don't need that urgent $89 transmission fluid replacement. With an EV, there's no oil changes, no tune-ups, and no self-recrimination after forking over $25 to have a ten-cent light bulb replaced. I bet you're feeling relieved already.

So you see, owning an EV is as much about improving your daily life as it is doing good for your biosphere. If you're one of us, tell me more about your obsession with a comment below.

SIPS Awards Shine Light on Solar Power R&D

For a perspective on where photovoltaic (PV) R&D is focused, check out the Small Innovative Projects in Solar (SIPS), part of the U.S. Energy Department’s Photovoltaic Research and Development (PVRD) funding program. On July 28, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced funding for 16 projects under SIPS totaling nearly$11 million.

According to the Energy Department: “These first-of-their-kind, single-year projects in the SunShot Initiative’s PV R&D portfolio are designed to allow researchers to test a concept and, if successful, develop data to support further research. This approach allows researchers to take a year to demonstrate that their ideas merit greater investment in the future.”

The round of awards is one of the first to look beyond the government’s 2020 goals. It focuses on research that demonstrates potential to drive the industry towards levelized cost for solar energy of $0.02-0.03/kWh by 2030. Its small-scale projects cover thin-film III-V technology, perovskite cells, and optimizing PV manufacturing—plus a big bet on concentrated solar power. Read more here.