Gen Z failing B2B marketing because of social

The most common argument I have with young marketers in B2B is around positioning and tone of voice.

The whole info space with viral X threads, engaging TikToks, $19 playbooks and GPT prompts (or $199 “get rich quick” copywriting courses) shape some narrow-minded, “echo chamber” limited beliefs in the young generation.

I often relate to new managers who sit on the other side of the hiring table for the first time.

Or seasoned trainers/teachers during their first class.

Sitting in someone else’s shoes is far from trivial for 20-25-year-olds with limited experience interacting (or working) with senior executives.

High AOV B2B deals require a COMPLETELY different funnel than what a regular Russell Brunson funnel playbook would state.

More importantly, suited executives in their 40s and 50s don’t say “snap up”, “fuel expansion”, “bustling sea of pitches”, “discern quality over noise”, “time is currency”, “maximize each moment”, “life’s rich tapestry” – actual picks out of two sentences in a sample blurb I got in my inbox the other day.

Healthcare, ERP, finance, and accounting dashboards look outdated and conservative for a reason. A modern, hip, new age design mimicking a Webflow template is not what the procurement team in a hospital relates to.

Being surprised that B2B executives are not buying courses on Instagram is my favorite…

Walking in your ICP’s shoes is far from easy, but absolutely imperative to be a proper B2B marketer. It’s a transformational shift in an endless sea of vendors, freelancers, agencies, and FTEs who talk like clonings from the Matrix, but having learned the lingo of targeting 18yo freelancers and solopreneurs or 20yo girls thrift shopping online.

As you step up in B2B, forget everything you’ve ever known. High net worth individuals operate differently. Financial culture, informational selection, filtering the noise, vetting contacts are what online marketing courses are not teaching you how to target or incorporate.

To sell in B2B, different GTM motions come to play – B2B deals take 6-48 months, dozens of calls are inevitable, and facetime is more common than not.

If this isn’t your realm, great.

But if you’re aiming to target this cohort, ignore all and any best practices freely and publicly available from solopreneurs and marketers selling DTC, low ticket, and straight to other young and inexperienced entrepreneurs.