Dopamine Bankruptcy: Why Customers Are Tired of Points and Streaks
We collect virtual flames for opening an app. We spin a digital prize wheel to win a five-euro discount. Every other piece of software greets us after login with confetti and badges for hitting our “daily goal”. For the past decade, everything on the internet has tried to gamify us. The market has reached a […]
The Luxury of Disconnecting: Why Dumb Phones Became a Status Symbol
Replying to an email at eleven at night or constantly being the glowing “green dot” on your company Slack used to make you look like an important business shark. Today it makes you look like a slave with no boundaries who has no control over their own time. We’re witnessing a complete reversal in what […]
The Death of 5-Star Reviews: Why Buyers No Longer Trust Review Sites
Open the website of an average B2B company. Right on the homepage, a huge badge hits you in the face: “Rated 4.9 out of 5. Our customers love us!” Below it shine five perfectly written reviews from people who sound like they stepped out of an ad flyer. Five years ago, this worked. Today, it […]
Enshittification: Why Your Favorite Platforms Decay and How to Cope
You definitely know the feeling. You used to type a question into Google and instantly get a top-notch, relevant answer. Today you have to wade through four sponsored links, an inaccurate AI summary and ten SEO articles full of robotic filler before you find what you’re looking for. Your favorite social network used to show […]
Subscription Fatigue: How to Sell When People Refuse to Pay Monthly
Just a few years ago, every company had a clear goal: become the “Netflix” of its industry. The subscription model (SaaS) was the holy grail. We started paying a monthly fee for absolutely everything – software, coffee, meal-prep boxes, razors – and carmakers took it to such an absurd extreme that they wanted a monthly […]
The End of Full-Service Agencies: Fractional CMOs and Micro-Teams
If you’ve ever run a B2B company, you’ve probably been through this painful experience. You hired a big, prestigious full-service marketing agency. You paid a hefty retainer (monthly fee), expecting real pros to finally take over your marketing. And three months later you found out that the strategy for your complex software, industrial product or […]
The Death of the MQL: Why an E-book Download Isn’t Buying Intent
The standard B2B marketing process sounds almost like a religion. A visitor comes to your website and downloads a free PDF called “10 Trends in Logistics”. Your CRM ceremoniously awards them 50 points. The algorithm immediately tags them with the magic MQL label (marketing qualified lead – a contact that marketing considers qualified) and sends […]
Employee-Led Growth: How to Turn Your Team Into Micro-Influencers
When we recently looked at the phenomenon of founder-led marketing, we showed why a business owner has to become the main face of the brand. But there’s a catch. If your company’s entire marketing reach stands or falls on one person’s profile, you’re creating a huge bottleneck. When the CEO goes on a three-week vacation, […]
Ditch the PDF Case Study: Why Clients Want Behind-the-Scenes Stories
Let’s open a typical company website from a few years ago. You click on the “Case Studies” section and download a polished PDF. Page one: The Problem. Page two: Our Innovative Solution. Page three: The Perfect Result, next to a stock photo of a smiling manager. If you’re still doing this today, you’re throwing money […]
B2B Referral Programs on Autopilot: Leads Without Awkward Begging
Any experienced B2B salesperson will confirm one essential thing: the fastest and easiest deal to close is with a client who came to you through a personal recommendation from another happy customer. Trust is already built, the sales cycle is much shorter, and there’s almost no pressure on price. Even so, most companies rely on […]