What all business brands can steal from VC’s marketing
These days it’s extremely rare to find a business in any B2B sector that isn’t ‘thinking like a publisher’ and pushing out content on their own channels and social. The problem is that there’s loads of it and increasingly it’s not delivering value for the time that it asks of the intended audience. “Thought leadership”’ is often anything but.
We recently analysed the marketing output of a diverse range of (mainly) UK-based VCs. The reason being that for the past decade VC firms have been among the most sophisticated and innovative users of content marketing and we have seen them leading the way in the growing ‘Community Economy’ too. So as content becomes ‘table stakes’ what have VCs done to stand-out, cut-through and build reach, fame & dealflow - and what are the ideas that all business brands should steal?
The VC as media company era
Back in 2013 Forbes described VCs as being late to the content marketing party. But as is often the case in this sector, innovation in Silicon Valley quickly defined the rules of engagement for businesses worldwide. Big names like Andreessen Horowitz / A16Z and First Round Capital started investing in journalistic talent and owned media platforms to show potential investors and investments what they are all about, their point of view and point of difference.
By 2017, former A16Z partner Benedict Evans was describing his former firm as a ‘Media company that monetises through VC.” And in 2021 the business seemed to prove his point by launching ‘Future’ - a standalone tech media platform that would be ‘optimistic about tech’ and designed to win an audience from the mainstream media. The pitch seemed to be that the audience would value the opinions of authors with skin in the game over the thoughts of journalists who simply wrote about business… And yet, by the end of 2022 Future was (quietly) shut down.
(And anyway, there’s an irony in framing a VC firm as a media company in that companies seeking investment tend to avoid using the word ‘media’ positioning instead as a tech play in pursuit of higher valuations…).
VCs as community builders
And so the “VC as community” era was born, possibly driven by the investments by VCs in the platforms and tools of the growing community economy. Accelerated by technology, the ongoing ‘consumerisation of B2B’ and then the pandemic, we saw widespread adoption and practice of virtual and hybrid community building by VCs across their entire ecosystems of partners, investors, portfolio companies and potential investments.
The dynamic shifted from an old-school, top-down, one-to-many media-style engagement and communication model to a modern, community-driven approach with the VC creating opportunity for people with common cause to connect, becoming host, provocateur and connector to build relationships and grow.
VCs as creators
The initial excitement and projected growth of the ‘Creator Economy’ (much of it driven by VC investment) hasn’t really panned out. In theory it’s never been easier for anyone to create and distribute content but the fabled ‘creator middle class’ has yet to emerge - in either B2C or B2B - with the vast majority of market value and revenue staying in the hands of a few breakout stars, and those with existing capital and influence.
Which, of course, is good news for the VC sector. Maybe the core idea behind A16Z future was a good one, but the execution just wasn't right any more. By adopting a creator-led mindset and operating model instead of a media / publishing / approach perhaps Future would still be here as a platform for A16Z’s people and partners to share their thinking, insights, knowledge and expertise as individuals in public, building an audience for the firm along the way.
In short, publishing mindset says - develop, create in private, polish then publish, invest in (buying) an audience…
…creator mindset says - invest time and money enabling your people to create in public so their audience finds them, adapt & polish your approach with the direct input of that audience, grow your community, become a destination over time.
Forward Parters, Octopus Ventures and Balderton are all good examples of this in practice.
Shifting the focus of content and comms from a company-brand / corporate point of view to personal-brand / experience led approach shouldn’t really be a surprise for any business brand; everyone knows that people do business with people, the data show that personal social posts invariably way-outperform corporate posts, and of course all those person-to-person podcasts are part of the trend too..
So instead of organising like a media company or a ‘newsroom’ (very 2010…) business brands should stop trying to become thought leaders and instead focus on enabling their people to act like creators - promoting and harnessing the power of their connections, profile and expertise, helping them to grow their influence and their personal brands which can, in turn, grow fame, relationships and revenue for the firm.