How B2B Marketers Can Avoid Being Boring and Drive Growth

B2B Marketing Campaign Success

Eric Eden 0:00

Welcome to today's episode . Our guest today is Myrna . She is the CEO of LeapView Group . She works with brands on helping them with growth strategy and branding . She has helped Fortune 500 companies manage over $10 billion and she has a new book that's just come out . We'll talk a little bit about that today . Welcome to the show .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 0:27

Thank you so much , Eric , for having me . I'm glad to be here .

Eric Eden 0:32

Why don't you start by sharing a little bit about who you are and what you do ? So we have just a little bit of context before you share your remarkable marketing story today .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 0:43

Absolutely so . I've been in tech for the past 20 plus years working for companies such as Verizon , france Telecom , orange and Optimum across the globe , and I've been doing amazing marketing and product marketing and even product development for telecommunications and tech companies , so it's been an exciting journey , very nice .

Eric Eden 1:04

So let's jump an exciting journey . Very nice , so let's jump right in . You have a story for us about one of the remarkable B2B marketing campaigns you've done , I believe .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 1:15

Yes , yes , and actually when the question came in , I said wow , what a great way of showcasing and sharing stories . As marketers , we're storytellers , right .

Eric Eden 1:28

Absolutely .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 1:30

So I was the CMO back in 2018 for a big cable company here in the US , so I had nationwide I will say I was covering nationwide for this brand in the B2B business space and business to business you're always thinking about doing campaigns that are so sepia and so direct , and usually it's a lot of direct response . So we created a brief because we had a challenge of creating a campaign for security services for business internet connections . So , if you think about it for a minute , just what I said sounds like boring , right ? Okay , so how can I challenge the team to go like unconventional , Think outside the box on this one , and how can we create a more engaging campaign that could actually be remembered and how can we make that in a meaningful way that it will also get the point across ? So we created and my entire brief was around this campaign was around security . So I said , okay , let's create security as a must , not as a nice to have . So we turned the campaign around and first we named the product using like security built into the name . Then we developed creatives that were witty , playful and enjoyable by the audience , and we use a lot of everyday elements .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 3:03

Imagine it's a business-to-business commercial right . It's an ad that also had digital and had a complete 360 campaign , and one of them was around a pet shop and this pet shop was hacked and our service will come to the rescue . And this had a dog as the main character , which the codename for the campaign was Muffin , because that was the name of the dog . And then when they get hacked , like Muffin gets confused between actually a rabbit and the dog , and then the dog comes in and the owner and there is this great interaction just creating like this witty moment and also this great moment and hilarious dialogue , conversations between the two employees and the customer , but also highlighting how our service that was bringing security to this small business was saving the day . So we had another one on a diner . So all of this created this amazing campaign . That actually was a balance out between how witty can you be right In B2B versus how direct can you be ?

Eric Eden 4:20

The number one rule in B2B should be don't be boring .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 4:25

Don't be boring right .

Eric Eden 4:27

It sounds like you're able to accomplish that , that's great .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 4:32

Yes , yes , and it was hard balancing what we call direct response versus branded content . How can you make it enjoyable as a topic for the target audience but also get the point across ?

Eric Eden 4:48

Yeah , I think there's something too , including puppies or dogs in your campaign as well . That just melts the heart of most people and people like me who I have a French bulldog . I'll never shut up about my French bulldog . People who know me will tell you that it's a way to tap into people's hearts , for sure . So that's another .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 5:09

And we also have even a lizard in the commercial too . So it was just something like never done before to from a B2B perspective you had to be a little bit brave to do that right .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 5:23

Yes , absolutely . I'm someone that and that's what the book is about too , and you mentioned it at the top of the program . It's leap out of your lane just because why be boring ? Why do the same thing over and over again ? So I'm always challenging my teams and challenging myself how can we do this in a different way ? But not just to be different , it's also to create an impact that will take you to the next level . So that's also what my career , my life's been about .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 5:58

But there were a lot of challenges in making this happen . First , because we had to get the boring out of the equation . But also we actually filmed in LA , in Sweden , and parks were in Sweden and we have to make sure there were like elements from the Sweden side of things that were like authentic US representation . So it was balancing out that and , as I said , how much really do we want it to be in a B2B commercial about security ? So we had to get a point across . But you still have to be credible . You still have to be and look authentic and , at the same time , being entertaining enough is so you can catch actually the attention of the audience .

Eric Eden 6:47

It's a balancing act , right , because you don't want to take it too far , be too silly . I think cartoons and B2B take it a little bit too far . It doesn't quite seem professional enough as an example . Just my opinion . But I think you want to be fun , but you don't want to be too silly , that people can't really take it seriously . So I think there's a balancing act there that you had to strike . What was the impact of the campaign ?

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 7:13

Oh my gosh , this campaign was such a success . I think it was one that had the most positive reviews from the audience . But just to give you some numbers definitely awareness and consideration for the solution went up , really skyrocketed , and that created such a great impact in performance of the product and in just one year we sold more than 100,000 units and we were generating more than $20 million in revenue in those first 12 months . So it was an incredible impact .

Eric Eden 7:46

That sounds like a pretty remarkable campaign indeed . Congratulations on that , that's great .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 7:51

Thank you . Thank you , definitely one we're proud of .

Eric Eden 7:56

Tell us a little bit about your book and what you were trying to achieve by sharing the ideas in your book .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 8:06

Thank you for this opportunity and , first of all , the book . Again , remember a little bit of the concept leap out of your lane where you think about it . We're always told stay in your lane . You have to continue to grow in your career , in what you already know , and also , every time you hear the word change , it's something that triggers your brain right To say , okay , danger , this is like something is going on or I don't feel comfortable and it's because our brains are wired that way .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 8:37

So I'm in a mission to dismissify the negatives towards the word change . Mystify the negatives towards the word change . Like , my life and career journey has been a testament of taking leaps and make sure that I'm planning and executing . So you need to plan . It's not just a leap of faith . So the book also embraces a lot of a go with the unconventional , but doing it in a way like a magician that really plans their act really well . So you have to plan your life that way too , but it doesn't mean that you have to stay in the same lane or just grow over the parts that you already know .

Embrace Change for Growth

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 9:18

So it's inspiring entrepreneurs , the entrepreneur in you , the college student , the rising leader or someone that just got to the peak of their career . But now they're thinking you know what I've always wanted to do ? This other thing , how can I do that ? And how can I prepare myself to be able to manage change in a way that works for me ? And the expression that I'm using , eric , is use change as your currency . Instead of having change , manage and control your . Make sure that you're taking advantage of change in a way that could be currency for you . So that's what I've done my entire life and interviewed amazing executives that also had the same pattern and created this playbook with eight strategies that you can learn in the book to be able to embrace change as a catalyst for growth . And also part of that is how do you make this a blueprint to be able to create the life that you want .

Eric Eden 10:25

That's fantastic . I love that . Embrace change . To be a catalyst for growth , that's really great . So I don't know if people have called me a catalyst for growth . I've often been called a driver of growth and worked in demand generation on that side , and a funny story is I had one lady who worked for me who , she said , I can't work for you anymore . And I said , oh , why not ? This is terrible . And she said , because you're a purveyor of chaos . I might probably be on a list of growth instead of a purveyor of chaos . She said you move too fast , you're always accepting new things and I think people have anxiety about change . The reason I told that story is it's so hard for people to embrace change and to move at a fast pace , but I think that it is a key to success , as you point out . Right , it is . It is A key to success , as you point out right it is .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 11:16

It is , and you definitely are , what I call the definition of a leaper right . A leaper is someone that sees changes as opportunities and see new things and incorporating new things in your life in others also as that opportunity to create greater impact . So I do think that you are a leaper , eric .

Eric Eden 11:41

I'm happy to be a leaper . I was doing Zoom calls from home one day and my daughter was listening in on four hours of Zoom calls I was doing for work one day and I took a break and she looks up from her phone finally after four hours and she looks a break and she looks up from her phone finally after four hours and she looks at me and she just said , but you have a lot of problems . And I said they're not problems , they're opportunities .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 12:08

What a great . It's a shift of mindset . I love how you immediately reframe that for her , and that's what we have to do for our kids , for people that are around us . Let's reframe that Instead of looking at problems every time that something doesn't go as expected or there's so many things that life is throwing at you . If you shift , it's a mindset shift . Right , that's part of leaping out , being a leaper . It's a mindset shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset , and I'm just glad that you were able to immediately interject and help her get that perspective .

Eric Eden 12:48

Yeah , I think that's just part of what being a parent should be , but I've had the opportunity to work for venture capital and private equity-backed companies my entire career , and the goal of that is always hyper-growth , and so the question is , how do you get hyper-growth ? And so I think this is some great advice on how people can get that sort of growth . When people are investing a lot of money , they invest a lot in marketing and they expect this kind of result . So I think embracing change , being willing to test new things , moving fast , having a growth mindset these are all part of what it takes , right .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 13:29

Absolutely , absolutely , a hundred percent , and I'm just happy to share it with the world . And I'm just happy to share it with the world . And actually I have a surprise for your listeners too . I just love being here in the podcast and thank you again for inviting me . Everyone can go into leapoutofyourlandcom and if you subscribe and you said OK , I heard it in the show , in Eric's show .

Eric Eden 14:01

I will give you 20% discount on the book when it's released this spring 2024 . Amazing . Thank you so much for that offer . Appreciate it . Encourage everyone to share this episode with your friends so they can learn about these great concepts . Thank you for being with us today . We appreciate it .

Mirna Eusebio Lithgow 14:13

Thank you for having me .