Pick and mix isn’t just for kids… and other things we learned at B2B Marketing Expo

Last week, several members of Team Pod travelled down to London for the B2B Marketing Expo, and we’re certainly glad we did. The number of fascinating conversations we had and new people we met over the two days made it a truly worthwhile experience, and one we hope to repeat. Here’s a little look back at some of our event highlights, from our newest Podster Kerrie…

The B2B Expo was a great event for us to be involved in; a lively and bustling show that was visited by people who are genuinely passionate about new approaches to marketing in the B2B world. As an agency, we put so much effort into activities for client projects that we rarely make time to focus on The Pod, so it was great to connect with fellow B2B marketers; especially as there was a strong sense of collaboration, rather than competition, running through the show.

We were overwhelmed by the response to our stand, as so many people approached us to tell us how much they liked it. Credit for that goes to our amazing designer Zoe, who has been working hard to refresh the Pod brand over recent weeks. Our eye catching design certainly drew in the crowds – and the self-serve pick and mix didn’t hurt either!

Pick and mix marketing services

The pick and mix sweets on our B2B Expo stand didn’t just serve as a conversation starter (and help to maintain our energy levels!); each sweet represented a different one of our services, including: events, social media, content and PR, strategy and planning, and design. We found that it was a really useful way to explain exactly what we do, and answer a question that we heard many times over the course of the event: “So what is a fully integrated agency?”. As delegates chose their favourite sweets, we were able to explain that we can provide our clients with the full range of marketing activities that were labelled on the dispensers. You see, as a Pod client there is the option to use us as a “full service” agency, or just select the specific areas of marketing that are missing from your existing capability. From a single event, through to a full refresh of your marketing strategy and creation of new collateral – on a project or retainer basis – we’re flexible enough to work in the way that best suits each individual client.

Let’s talk about content

Jenny and Jodie’s seminar, ‘Reaching your target audience through content they’ll care about’, fitted well with the tone of the B2B event. Our Pod founders enjoyed the experience to share their expertise in writing content for B2B audiences, and to explain the importance of timely, relevant and interesting content. ‘Content marketing’ is a real buzz word in the industry at the moment, but Jenny and Jodie demonstrated how good content can live up to the hype. By following the action plan they outlined (you’ll find it in our Content Guide*), businesses can:

- Increase brand awareness
- Move people through the sales funnel
- Improve their prospect knowledge
- Increase their engagement with their target audience

The seminar achieved such a good turnout that there weren’t enough seats, and everyone wanted one of our content guides!

When did manage to get a few minutes to walk around the event, we caught some really insightful talks from our fellow B2B marketers. Pod intern Connor found ‘B2B Sales for Humans’, a talk from Retriever’s Mark Young, particularly useful; as he gained lots of information that he can take back to his final year at university. The fact that several of the other speakers also spoke about the importance of content reaffirmed our belief that the creation of compelling content is just as important in B2B communications as it is in B2C.

*If you’d like your own guide to creating a content plan, you can download one here.

We came away from the B2B Expo with some new connections and plenty of great feedback on our work – including the award for Best Branding Product or Service, which really rounded off the event nicely for us! We can’t wait to start working with some new clients as a result – watch this space!