Corporate Bro: How To Use Satire in Your Marketing

We don’t have to convince you, a B2B marketer, that S.A.D. (Sales Are Dope). You live, breathe, and dream in analytics, KPI’s, and conversion rates. You count impressions in your dreams instead of sheep. 

But you may actually be taking yourself too seriously. It’s time to have some fun with your work and use satire in your marketing.  

The irony, sarcasm, and parody of satire in your content, hits your target audience hard, and differentiates your content from the sea of corporate handshake stock photos and banality that B2B marketing materials usually consist of. 

On this episode of Remarkable, we’re binge-watching Corporate Bro videos on YouTube. Listen in as we show you why a portion of your marketing budget should be used to make world class edu-tainment content. 

We also cover how you can take a multi-channel, multi-format approach, and partner with a well-known content creator. So you can A.B.C. (Always Be Closing.)

About Corporate Bro

Corporate Bro is a sketch comedy character that satirizes corporate sales life. Ross Pomerantz is the mastermind behind the character. Ross is a content creator, corporate speaker and entrepreneur from Atlanta, Georgia. He writes, produces, and stars in the sketches. He started making 6-second videos on Vine in 2013 when he started his first tech sales job at Oracle. He has now performed for companies like Dropbox, Smartsheet and Salesforce. And his YouTube, which he started in 2016, has 25M subscribers. Ross holds an MBA from Stanford University, and his full-time day job is on the leadership team at Bravado (as of 2022).

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Corporate Bro: 

• Use a percentage of your marketing budget to make funny stuff. Comedy, edutainment, whatever you want to call it. Make something just to connect with your audience, and make them laugh. Because, Colin says, “You probably have some white papers, some webinars, et cetera, and that's fine. You should have all that. But there's also that angle of, ‘All right, let's put out some other content that's a little more entertaining and relatable and fun.’” Let’s face it - not many B2B companies are making their audience laugh. But there are cheeky ways to get your audience to crack a smile! The sales engagement company Sopro made a campaign called “We Love Our Clients.” The video shows a slew of clients making difficult requests, and ends with the phrase, “Sopro makes finding clients easy. You just have to deal with them.” This kind of satire creates impact and makes your brand stand out.
• Use a multi-channel, multi-format approach. Distribute content across multiple social media channels. Go where your audience is — whether that’s Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc. And do both short and long-form videos. A great example of a multi-channel, multi-format approach is how Scratch Pad created a podcast called Beyond Quota that they collaborate on with Corporate Bro, and share episodes both on podcast streaming platforms as well as on YouTube. So, no matter what platform your audience spends time on, they’ll see your content there. 
• Partner with a well-known content creator. No matter what industry you’re in, there’s a content creator for you. Find somebody whose messaging would resonate with your audience and create a campaign with them. Ian says, “There's a million examples of times where people just try to borrow a celebrity's audience and that doesn't work. It's not about that. It's about co-creating something with them that is unique and special.” A great example of content co-creation is when marketing automation company Klaviyo partnered with Eli Weiss, Senior Director of CX and Retention at Jones Road Beauty, on their Less Stalking, More Talking campaign. Weiss is not just a relevant and trusted name in e-commerce, but he also shares the same customer-first philosophy as Klaviyo, making him a perfect fit for the campaign. By working together, they’re leveraging both of their audiences, spreading brand awareness, building trust, and creating memorable content. It’s a win-win-win…win situation.

Quotes

*”What you can control as a marketer is [being] consistent and repeatable. That's what [Corporate Bro] has done for a decade and that is a pathway to winning.” - Ian Faison

*”What makes Corporate Bro so good is it connects with you in a way [that reminds you] not to take yourself too seriously when perhaps your job is on the line if you don't close this deal or if you don't have a good quarter.” - Colin Stamps

Time Stamps

[1:25] Tell me more about Corporate Bro

[3:02] Why are we covering Corporate Bro?

[6:09] What is satire? What's the psychology of satire?

[11:11] How do you run multi-channel, multi-format campaign? 

[13:38] What are examples of companies who have partnered with content creators?

[15:42] Why is it important for companies to make funny content?

Links

Watch Corporate Bro videos

Check out Corporate Bro’s website

Read about Corporate Bro in the press

Follow Ross Pomerantz aka Corporate Bro on Instagram

Connect with Corporate Bro on LinkedIn

Follow Corporate Bro on Twitter

Check out Beyond Quota podcast with Corporate Bro

Tune in to Sales Are Dope (S.A.D.)

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. 

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios), Dane Eckerle (Head of Development), Colin Stamps (Podcast Launch Manager), Anagha Das (B2B Content Marketing Manager), and Meredith O’Neil (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith O’Neil, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK. 

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.