Marketing Archives -

Are You Signal or Noise? The 5 Questions That Determine Who Wins in B2B

By Sue Barrett / 29/05/2026 / Digital Social Selling, Marketing, Prospecting

In 30 seconds

The Problem: More than 60% of B2B buying decisions are shaped before a buyer ever calls you. We assessed 229 organisations. Three in four presented as noise. Their communication stated capability, not value. The shortlist closed without them.

The Shift: Marketing as brand stewardship is dead. Cold calling as the sole prospecting method is dead – younger buyers are not answering their phones. The old “us vs them” between marketing and sales creates a seam where trust should form.

The Solution: Engage, communicate and sell better. It is a sequence, not a slogan. The C-suite sets the commercial language. Marketing deploys it. Sales embodies it. Same language. No handoff. Just integration.

Are You Signal or Noise? The 5 Questions That Determine Who Wins in B2B Read Post »

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LinkedIn Promises Visibility. So Why Does Its Ad Model Make SMEs Invisible?

By Sue Barrett / 22/05/2026 / Business Growth, Digital Social Selling, Marketing, Sales Relationships

In 30 seconds

The Problem SMEs are paying tech giants for visibility and getting ghost leads in return. LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards large budgets and starves small ones – producing leads that look acceptable but never convert. The same structural penalty runs across Facebook and Instagram.

The Shift Stop broadcasting. Start occupying. Strategic commenting, genuine DMs, and direct conversation build more real visibility than paid campaigns ever will.

The Solution Move people to owned media – email, Substack, podcast. Use LinkedIn to bring people in, then give them somewhere the algorithm cannot touch.

LinkedIn Promises Visibility. So Why Does Its Ad Model Make SMEs Invisible? Read Post »

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Trend 4 – Sales AND Marketing

By Sue Barrett / 31/05/2024 / Blog, Marketing, Sales Results, Sales Trends, Selling Better

This is Trend 7 from Barrett’s 12 Business and Sales Trends for 2024. You can download the full report here.

In 30 seconds

Recognising the symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing is crucial for business success. While their emphasis may vary depending on the product or service, both functions are interdependent. Marketing understands the market, generates leads, builds the brand, provides content, nurtures customers, and offers data insights. Sales relies on marketing for leads and tools to close deals and provides valuable customer feedback to refine marketing strategies. This collaboration is essential for achieving sustainable growth …

Trend 4 – Sales AND Marketing Read Post »

The Race to Zero

By Ben Peacock / 05/04/2022 / Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Brand & Reputation, Decarbonising, Environment & Sustainability, Innovation, Marketing, Sales Trends, Sustainability & Environment

In Sales Trend 4 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2022 guest author Ben Peacock from Republic of Everyone explains what brands are doing to lower their climate impact and why it’s crucial that they do so.

By guest author Ben Peacock – Founder, Republic of Everyone

You might be too young to remember, but sometime in 2009 Cascade launched a beer called Cascade Green.

The bottle was green, the billboards were green, made of real plants growing where usually only ads would be, the beer was green – 100% carbon neutral – and it …

The Race to Zero Read Post »

Welcome to the age where less is more

By Ben Peacock / 08/04/2021 / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Attitudes & Behaviours, Blog, Brand & Reputation, covid-19, Environment & Sustainability, Marketing, Sales Trends, Selling Better, Sustainability & Environment

Sales trend 4 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2021 is about the unexpected changes that COVID brought about in relation to brands.

By guest author Ben Peacock, Founder of Australia’s sustainability and brand purpose specialists, Republic of Everyone.

Meh.

Everything was going so well. Survey after survey was showing people’s concern for the environment was finally translating to sales of products that promised to help do something about it.

Recycled rubber sneakers, carbon neutral phone plans, cafes run by street kids…sustainability was seeing a boom the likes it had never seen before. …

Welcome to the age where less is more Read Post »

The Unsung Heroes of Brand Success

By Sue Barrett / 15/05/2020 / Blog, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales Training, Success

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the greatest of them all?”

The majority would cry Brand of course – brand maketh the company. This includes brand aesthetics, logos and messaging (branding and promises), product design, marketing activities (advertising, social media, etc.), brand recognition, and so on.

When we talk about famous successful brands such as Apple, we know that they have big – read huge – marketing budgets. They have invested heavily to make it just right. Those most successful, like Apple, have also managed to create a large loyal following base which makes them the greatest of them all.

The power …

The Unsung Heroes of Brand Success Read Post »

The role of marketing in developing trust

By Sue Barrett / 04/12/2019 / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Brand & Reputation, Collaboration, Marketing, Sales Trends, Trust

Sales trend 12 from the Barrett 12 Sales Trends report 2019 looks at the key things that marketing teams in B2B environments need to do to help their businesses win back the trust of their customers.

The endeavour of building and maintaining a trusted B2B brand is far more complex than it used to be since the advent of omni-channel marketing both locally and around the world.

While some CMOs (chief marketing officers) have been successful in this new omni-channel world, many have failed – failed to take action, failed to adapt, and failure to engage their sales …

The role of marketing in developing trust Read Post »

The key differences between B2C & B2B Sales Market Segmentation

By Sue Barrett / 15/11/2019 / Collaboration, Education in Sales, Marketing, Sales Market Segmentation, Sales Strategy, Success

A word of caution, this topic can be very tricky as there are various schools of thought around what is a segment and how to segment, with Marketing Segmentation being the most well known in business circles. However, for the purposes of this article, I want to focus on an area that is less well known but equally important – Sales Market Segmentation with a particular emphasis on B2B sales.

At Barrett, we do a lot of work with B2B sales and marketing teams in helping them define their sales market segments so they are very clear …

The key differences between B2C & B2B Sales Market Segmentation Read Post »

Brand and Purpose Come Together

By Michel Hogan / 18/07/2019 / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Brand & Reputation, Ethics & Values, Marketing, Vision, Mission & Purpose

Sales Trend 7 of the Barrett 12 Sales Trends Report for 2019 is about how purpose, employee and customer experience, and the promises you make contribute to the brand result.

By guest author, Michel Hogan, Brand Counsel.

While the general thinking about brand remains dominated by marketing tropes of visual identity and high-profile campaigns, among the logo makeovers and high-profile ad campaigns a shift is happening to a broader and more encompassing view.

The evolving nature of brand will continue in 2019, and both organisations and individuals will need to grapple with the move beyond markers of …

Brand and Purpose Come Together Read Post »

Sales Trend 10 – Storytelling, taking sales teams beyond features and benefits

By Rishad Sukhia / 17/10/2018 / 12 Sales Trends Pages Category, Brand & Reputation, Communication, Marketing

Guest Author: Rishad Sukhia, CEO, Creative Agency Brightlabs, Melbourne, Australia

Sales trend 10 from our 12 Sales Trends Report for 2018 is about storytelling.

We all grew up hearing and sharing stories through childhood and adulthood – they help us learn, develop and, above all, they entertain and inspire us. Brands today are increasingly incorporating storytelling into their sales and marketing strategies in order to resonate with their customers.

This sales trend is focused on the increasing importance of the art and science of storytelling in sales and marketing, taking our sales teams beyond presenting features and benefits.

What is brand storytelling?

Whilst the terms …

Sales Trend 10 – Storytelling, taking sales teams beyond features and benefits Read Post »

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Trend 4 – Sales AND Marketing

This is Trend 7 from Barrett’s 12 Business and Sales Trends for 2024. You can download the full report here.

In 30 seconds

The Race to Zero

Welcome to the age where less is more

The Unsung Heroes of Brand Success

The role of marketing in developing trust

The key differences between B2C & B2B Sales Market Segmentation

Brand and Purpose Come Together

While the general thinking about brand remains dominated by marketing tropes of visual identity and high-profile campaigns, among the logo makeovers and high-profile ad campaigns a shift is happening to a broader and more encompassing view.

Sales Trend 10 – Storytelling, taking sales teams beyond features and benefits

What is brand storytelling?

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