Reproduced from a conversation originally recorded in February of 2021

In Canada, small business is big business. Marketing from business to small business (B2SB ®) requires a different strategy, Miki Velemirovich maintains. As President of B2SB (business to small business) specialist agency Cargo, Miki joins John Wiltshire for a conversation about how big brands can connect and engage with the decision makers behind small businesses. He shares how marketing the Mercedes Benz Sprinter van spurred him to find, engage and motivate small business owners (SBOs) to achieve leading market share – and how big brands can do the same.

Here's some of what they discuss:

1. Why people buy what they buy (1:25)

This question prompted Miki to think about consumer behaviour, to try and understand the emotional connection between the business owner and the way a brand makes them feel.

2. The state of mind of SBOs (6:41)

Despite the impact of the pandemic, 82% of SBOs are optimistic about the future. Rather than look at the negative, they're changing their business model through the digitization of their sales channels, business operations and innovation.

3. How to target your messaging (9:19)

SBOs are fuelled by optimism and enthusiasm, so you need to tailor your messaging accordingly. Understanding their personas (Crusaders vs Artisans) will help you shift your messaging from sympathy to empowerment. Another differentiator is how different industries will recover (high-touch models like events and hospitality have a slower speed of recovery), which makes a targeted approach necessary.

4.The value of purpose-driven experiences (15:32)

"Be authentic and do what you say you're going to do", Miki advises. Through a study conducted by his agency, Cargo, he discovered that brand purpose was a strong driver of affiliation for millenials. By tying all your products and services into one ecosystem that's less about a feature than it is about what it can do for them, you'll be solving a problem and helping SBOs.

5. The difference between working for an SMB and a big brand (23:34)

Young marketers who work for an SMB instead of a big brand will learn various components of the business much faster. When you work in an SMB, you learn to be okay with ambiguity and lack of defined structure. This often leads to the kind of accelerated innovation and agility that young marketers would rarely find in traditional organizations.

To hear more about how to market to SBOs and turn them into fans and brand ambassadors 🎧 tune in to CMA Connect🎧.

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