So, what happened in January 2021? Well, Propolis was born – a B2B Marketing community that allows marketers to do just that.
And whilst it’s still early days, the community has been quickly growing, and ideas firing around like neurons in a great, vibrant B2B brain.
Dale Welch, senior manager, demand generation, Autodesk, is one such member. Speaking on Propolis, he said: “Joining a community of other marketers is such an effective way of learning from others’ experiences. It is easy to become consumed by your own immediate environment, including acronyms, rules and expectations, so a community like Propolis helps to really keep the finger on the pulse in the market and most importantly challenge your own biases.”
Catherine Dutton, vice president, marketing, financial services & insurance, Atos, added: “A community of your peers, new insight and training can be a very powerful thing. We realised that, in order to drive our business and global marketing team forward that we would benefit from an international professional membership, which Propolis with B2B Marketing gives us. Now more than ever, the need to come together as a community of B2B marketers seemed not just relevant, but necessary. I am personally looking forward to seeing our global marketing team really exploit this membership and gain new perspectives as a result.”
Propolis – if you haven’t been brushing up on your ancient Greek lately – translates into English as ‘first community’. More generally, it’s an aromatic glue produced by honeybees in their hive.
With this in mind, we decided to segment the eight pillars of B2B marketing into ‘Hives’. Each Hive is a sub-space within Propolis, where members can really zero in on issues relevant to specific disciplines.
As a friendly reminder, the Hives are:
- Strategy and evolution
- Data strategy, insight and intelligence
- Teams, resourcing and D&I
- Brand and content strategy
- Growth
- Marketing operations and process
- CX
- Execution and campaigns.
And life in the CX Hive is looking great already. Dean Lindsay, 8×8, had this to say on one CX Hive session: “I thought it was very good, insightful and I thought Barbara [Propolis CX Hive Expert] was excellent in her knowledge, delivery and igniting discussion in the group. I thought that Sam was very good knowledgeable too. It was also good to discuss with peers on best practice and learnings. I really enjoyed it!”
Jenny Honey, Scottish Enterprise, added: “I joined the CX catch-up this morning, and found it extremely useful.”
Under the Growth Hive, meanwhile, Aileen, Thoughtworks, had this to say: “It was a nice first chat and I’m looking forward to exchanging more with the group! Nothing to add from my side at the moment. I really liked the way the conversation was moderated and that they paid attention to the fact that everyone contributes and says something. Very nice!”
So, B2B Marketing’s ‘first community’ is underway and thriving. Of course, it’s still young, and the best is yet to come. But it’s certainly fascinating to see the B2B world come together in one central hub for the first time.
Kate Sinclair, partner, business development and marketing, LCP, had some poignant words that I’ll borrow to conclude this news piece: “It’s easy to get lost in a cycle of ‘we do it this way because…’. A wider network is extremely valuable for the team and the business. I see it as massively important for the team to go out and get new ideas, new thinking, and hear how other people are approaching their challenges.”
So, what are you waiting for? To find out more about Propolis, follow the link below.
