As it becomes increasingly difficult to engage with customers, B2B marketers are broadening their horizon when it comes to inspiration for new strategies. An on-demand media service might seem like the last place to look for that creative spark, yet B2B brands can learn a lot from online streaming giant – Netflix:
Personalisation
Netflix hasn’t become an online streaming global superpower by luck. It carries out meticulous analysis prior to green-lighting a show. Its decision to approve the now multi-award winning House of Cards was driven by a fastidious consumer data campaign, evaluating the browsing habits of 33 million viewers. By creating 10 different cuts of the pilot season trailer, Netflix was able to target a number of different audiences based on their past viewing behaviour. Viewers who regularly tuned into content featuring Kevin Spacey were treated to a protagonist heavy trailer, while users who predominately watched female-led shows and films enjoyed a similarly gender bias cut.
With 75% of CEOs desperate to become ROI focussed and 82% of enterprise marketers having no synchronised view of customer data, B2B brands can learn a lot from Netflix’s obsession with engagement metrics.
Encourage ‘binging’
Most B2B brands will admit to scheduled marketing, meaning individuals are drip-fed a small amount of content on a weekly basis. Because of this, only 7% will consume every piece of content put in front of them in the same session.
So what can B2B marketers learn from Netflix in order to increase prospect engagement? The answer lies in Netflix’s chief guilty pleasure – binge-watching. Some 61% of Netflix subscribers admit to regular binges, while a third of engaged prospects will binge on B2B content if it’s packaged in the right way, the infographic below reveals. Although 33% isn’t quite matching the lofty heights of Netflix binging standards, it’s certainly an impressive figure considering software solutions and data management aren’t quite as riveting as House of Cards and Breaking Bad.
In other words, you’re encouraging your audience to engage on their timeline, rather than forcing them on yours. The average viewer will tune into their favourite show on their traditional TV for 30-60 minutes per week, while Netflix subscribers consume 120 minutes per day. It’s not rocket science – clearly on-demand marketing has the potential to exponentially increase customer interaction.
If you’re a regular Netflix junkie, you’ll be familiar with its auto-play option, whereby the next episode in a series is automatically loaded once you’re finished with the previous one. It’s a simple technique to keep your customer engaged with your content, the advantage being engaged prospects will be twice as likely to return to your content if you can hold their attention for over three minutes compared to just one.
Own those platforms
Lastly, Netflix is available across a staggering number of platforms, over 900 in fact. In contrast, 78% of B2B customers are not exposed to a consistent experience across digital channels. B2B brands need to deliver the same quality content, regardless of the platform. This means achieving consistency across all levels and devices, from website access on a tablet, to major social media channels on a smartphone and so on.
More and more successful B2B marketers are moving away from the traditional scheduled content strategy, because if Netflix users can instantly access the next piece of content, why can’t yours?
