Rethinking B2B Marketing: Shawn Busse on Culture, Recruiting, and Brand Positioning

Shawn Busse details Kinesis' evolution from a brand design shop to a comprehensive business strategy firm. He highlights the disconnect between traditional marketing education and small business needs, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches for B2B companies. Sean stresses the significance of brand positioning, company culture, and employee engagement in driving business success, sharing examples of how these focus areas have dramatically improved client outcomes in retention and recruitment.

The conversation explores the changing digital marketing landscape, including SEO's declining effectiveness and the shift towards owned media and community building. Sean advocates for a marketing ecosystem that balances digital strategies with face-to-face interactions, noting the crucial role of personal connections in high-value B2B transactions.

Throughout, Sean underscores the need for a holistic approach to business growth, integrating marketing, culture, and business strategy. He illustrates this with case studies, including an automation engineering firm that grew from 8 to 32 employees in four years without recruiting fees, purely through brand and social employee marketing. Sean also discusses the importance of creating unique, engaging content to differentiate businesses in crowded markets, and the value of building owned communities and events to foster deeper customer relationships.

Episode Highlights:

[02:21] Sean’s Background and the Evolution of Kinesis
[08:47] The Disconnect Between Marketing Education and Small Business Needs
[17:15] The Importance of Brand Positioning and Company Culture in B2B Marketing
[25:29] Case Study: Growing an Automation Engineering Firm Through Brand and Culture
[35:03] The Changing Landscape of SEO and Digital Marketing
[44:43] Building a Marketing Ecosystem: From Digital to Face-To-Face Interactions
[51:53] The Future of B2B Marketing and Community Building

Quotes:

"We had a website, I don't know if profanity is allowed on this podcast or not. OK. It literally said uh [expletive] marketing like on the home page and we were a marketing firm... that was one of our most successful websites we've ever built."
"I realized this massive disconnect between what is being taught as marketing and what is being needed as marketing, especially in B2B in service based businesses. Huge Gulf."
"We took them from eight employees to 32 employees in four years and we paid $0 in recruiters like no recruiting fees. And we did that all with brand, social employee marketing."
"I think to do that with employee engagement actually takes a lot more work than people think, I think they think, well, I'll just give that to the hr person and she'll do it."
"I think if listeners get anything out of this, I think that's a really good insight that, you know, it's not like I'm saying, like, run away, leave the algorithms, you know, like they do have value... But like conversion to a customer and then long term value means you got to build something that you own."

Episode Resources: