B2Blog

Five nails in the Trade Pub coffin

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Here is another voice putting to words the paradigm shifts we have been witnessing in the last few years. But the important point is noting that things HAVE changed, and that we need to act accordingly.

Tom Pick at WebMarketCentral Blog asks rhetorically Will Content Marketing Kill Trade Publications?:

"The challenges faced by trade publications go far beyond the current economic slowdown. Trade pubs traditionally flourished due to five conditions which simply no longer exist."

Audience
Authority and independence
Expertise
Advertising
Aggregation

For each of these bullets, he basically explains how we can do it (or are doing it) ourselves, without the trade publication's help. So please go read Tom's post for the detail.

Wow, he just made my job harder. Now I need to be a writer and publisher of content, bypassing the trade publications.

In truth, my niche marketplace moved me away from trade publications as soon as the web became viable for lead generation. But I haven't worked the content part as a strategic approach to attracting my own audience.

Some new words, and one surprisingly 'old' word

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:33:00 +0000

The InfoCommerce Group just wrapped up their annual "Data Content" conference. In their weekly email, a list of new key words for the online database industry was offered up:

Embedment
Aggregation
Good Enough
Curation
Platforms
Humans

At the end of that list was this zinger:

"There are other keywords that came out of DC09, but, surprisingly, one keyword was barely heard at all:

Google.

While anything but irrelevant, Google has ceased to be an existential threat to the industry. Data publishers have largely made their peace with Google, and it doesn't dominate their thoughts the way it once did. Google is a tool that can be profitably leveraged, and Google is no longer the enemy. This is likely due in no small part to Google maturing as a business enterprise, and its recent focus on opportunities far less threatening to those of us in the data business."

It's been four years since I was at InfoCommerce's event as a speaker, with the talk Google Rules, Directories Drool. So the data/content world has adjusted to the scary monster that Google was then. Now, the relationship is more symbiotic.

What does this mean to B2B marketers?
Now we, as clients of data/content/directory services, should be looking beyond the threat to these services posed by Google, and be looking on how they might be delivering on those new key words I started this post with:

Embedment-are they a part of our way of doing business.
Aggregation- how deep is their info, how specialized?
Good Enough- data is hard to keep current, how well are they doing?
Curation- are they avoiding overloading their audience?
Platforms- are they leveraging popular platforms (google, salesforce, facebook, etc.)
Humans- are they using people to ensure quality content?

It's a new ruler for the database people. How well are your suppliers doing?

Good shows make lively marketplaces, even in suffering industries

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:50:00 +0000

Last week we were at an trade show for automotive test market. Sounds like a scary place to be in 2009. Or more likely, a scary place to be spending your marketing money. The show floor was probably 20-25% smaller, and our booth became the last booth in the far corner. And who wants to be in the far corner of the show?

And nothing can be as scary for a marketing manager as pulling into an show site and NOT having to wait to park.

But it was a great event to be at. I told several people that if this was my first time at the show, despite the very weak automotive industry, I would re-sign for 2010 in a heart-beat.

Here are some random observations:

I brought out our box of Bic pens for give-aways. And my guess was right ... on an off year, even those would be popular for visitors to grab. We were cleaned out by 2pm the second day. (And for you nay-sayers, it also encouraged them to stop and talk ... awesome results for 58 cents.)
Certain automotive companies were at the event in force. These are companies I'd bet are going to recover from the recession stronger. And we need to be prepared to market to them.
A lot of attendees were asking about solutions for testing the up-and-coming technologies. Now I have a better gauge of how strong certain needs are.

But mostly, the human element was the most powerful at the event. Customers dropped by the booth. Salespeople were actively engaged. Relationships between 'players' in our industry were strengthened. Sure there were slow points, but it never felt 'dead'. Some would say we had too many people at the show, but it only added to the value of the event, and the buzz for our company.

Most important, we were acting as a market leader and being treated as such. That's a vibe you can't get on a Google search results, or even in a normal sales situation. The right show is truly a marketplace!

Guest post: A marketer's advice for job hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Wow, seven years of B2Blog.com, and my first guest post!

One of my regular readers, Adam Oakley, was recently downsized out of his B2B marketing position. As much as I was concerned for him, I was also curious as to his experience looking for a new job. Now he has a new job marketing software, a big jump from nuts & bolts (really!). Like you, as a reader of B2Blog, he has demonstrated his smarts and savvy and bridged the gap from job to job and landed on his feet. I'll let him introduce himself:

I recently found myself without regular employment. In response to economic pressures the company I was working for cut marketing efforts and my position was eliminated. It was good company with a great group of people and I enjoy the seven years I worked there. Even though the decision was a shock it did not put our family in any tragic financial position. In fact it has given us a chance to look at our future and decide the best direction. Here are five steps you can take right now if you are or suspect you might be job hunting soon.

Five Things to do While Looking for a Job

Talk

It's clear that the most effective way to find new employment is through personal relationships. Ask for introductions to other individuals who might be of assistance to find new work. It is important to be clear how your network can help. Build a list of possible contacts and start getting in touch. Have coffee or go out lunch. Do whatever it takes to get in front of people.

Evaluate

One common theme I have noticed while going through the process of finding a new job, there are very few "exact fits" when it comes to new job opportunities. This is especially true for marketing professionals. It is unlikely you will take a role at a new company doing the same as your previous employer. This may sound obvious, but it creates unique challenges to address while exploring possible jobs. It is crucial to clearly identify the specific skills you excel in, back them up with past accomplishments, and find the best way to communicate it. Are you a traditional marketer, digital strategist, or a SEO expert? Do you enjoy sales, analysis, or creative thinking? All these factor into what type of job to target and how you pitch yourself to prospective employers.

Update

One habit that helped me tremendously was keeping a list of achievements or completed projects that I would update weekly. I was able to review this list to quickly identify accomplishments while updating my resume. It is also important to keep LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks updated with the most current version of your career path.

Learn

As marketers, you most likely have a tendency to desire to be up to date on latest trends, best practices, and emerging platforms. If you're like me then you've probably focused on the day-to-day tasks of your specific role. It's easy to get into a routine and forget the importance of learning. This time of transition is a great chance to brush up on Photoshop, become an AdWords professional, or sign-up for a writing class at your local community college. Be careful though, it's easy to use continuing education as a crutch and ignore your search.

Perspective

Searching for a new job can be hard. It can take its toll mentally and physically. A healthy balance of work and relaxation is necessary. Take it seriously, but don't try to put a square peg into a circular hole. That's a good way to find the wrong job and be back at this process sooner than you want. Have fun, go to the gym, try to get some fresh air. There are only so many job postings, networking groups, or emails you can send in a day. Set goals and stick to them, but don't obsess over the process.

Resources

The amount of information on the web regarding the best way to find a job is daunting. I would certainly recommend talking to people in your area and see what they've found helpful. In some places, Craigslist might have the best postings, others it could be the (gasp!) newspaper. In the end, I've found the best resource - is your personal network. Trusted friends, have the best insight and knowledge to help guide you the along.

Social

Twitter - Update your followers on yourcurrent status, connect, and get help. Some of my most productive connections have come from DMs on Twitter.
LinkedIn - Be sure to use this to highlight accomplishments, tap your connections, and look for opportunities.
Facebook - I've this is the best place to communicate with my personal group friends.

Job Search Engines

Indeed - This site allows you toset wide keyword parameters and apply to all job sites.
The Ladders- Billed as place to find $100k+ jobs, it really is a paid (~$25/month) job site with good information, resume editing, and filtered lists of jobs and recruiters for positions $75,000 and up.

Bonus Tip:
One last reminder. Don't wait to create your network, be fostering those relationships today--it will be the best investment you can make in your future.

Seth, fill THIS out!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Seth was swinging his guru-hammer awfully close to me today: Seth's Blog: Promiscuous dispersal of your email address:

"I just went through the hassle of trying to get some B2B firms the details needed to give me an informed quote on a project.

I visited eight sites. Six of them hide their email address. They use forms of one sort of another. ...

Email contact is like a first date. If you show up with a clipboard and a questionnaire, it's not going to go well, I'm afraid. The object is to earn permission to respond."

Sure, we B2B companies hide behind registration forms instead of a very public email address. And as a guru, Seth has a right to question why.

The most direct response is that it IS a lot like a first date. (I've actually blogged on that before.) But if I act like a slut, and let any prospect contact me nilly-willy, it only lowers expectations and makes for poor starting relationship. And a risk of wasting my salespeople's time trying to clarify the prospects requirements (and figuring out who they really are).

In the end, B2B marketing is about the niches. There is a higher loss-factor in putting up a form to fill out. But that is a necessary filter to help keep you within that niche.

I've made it very easy for my site's visitors to find what they want. That helps qualify them. And by that time they are willing to fill out the form. More than willing. They even call us, which is even better than an email or form-filling.

Marketing automation? Shoot yourself in the foot?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:29:00 +0000

There are two new technologies that professional marketing types are all a-buzz about:

1. Social media
2. Marketing automation

Social media is something you can experience for yourself and decide where you fit in.

Marketing automation is a bit more vague. What am I automating? How does this replace what I already do? Or is it a whole new strategy? And most importantly, why would I try it?

Tom Pick over at the WebMarketCentral blog posts a helpful review of the whys, titled: Marketing Automation: Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight :

"Those are the types of questions marketing automation / demand generation software vendors seek to address with their offerings. They apply technology to a difficult process. For b2b companies who are able to use such software effectively, the competitive advantage is akin to Indiana Jones taking on his would-be assassin in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

(Go to Tom's full blog post to see the video, if you can't remember the scene where Indiana wins a challenge with a sword-wielding assassin.)

The challenge for b2b marketers in adopting marketing automation / demand gen systems isn't with the technology, which is stable and reasonably easy to use. It's with internal processes, office politics and other issues. In the scene above, although Indy clearly had the technology advantage, if he'd been a lousy shot, or didn't have his gun loaded properly, he'd have ended up as shredded professor in a hurry."

His bullet points:

"Marketing automation" is a misleading term.
The buying process has fundamentally changed. Many marketers are starting to get this. Most sales people still don't.
Customers are those who've advanced from email service providers (ESPs).
Building the logic behind the nurturing process is the hard part.
It won't work if the processes and incentives between sales and marketing aren't aligned.
There is a crying need for this.

#4 seems to be the especially difficult step: what can the marketing automation tool be used to do to make it effective?

Like my efforts creating product-videos earlier this year, marketing automation takes a lot of work, especially because you are developing new skills and processes.

But to those who take it on, I think there is going to be a distinct competitive advantage. They just need to be careful in making sure it is communicating with customers & prospects properly, otherwise they'll just be shooting themselves in the foot.

Have you switched to marketing automation? What do you think?

Two new web services from my inbox

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Maybe these are useful to some readers:

1. Trade your contacts with others with the Reach Lead Network ala Jigsaw. Cool feature is that they can resolve 'social media' contacts (i.e. Twitter followers) into real contact info.

2. If you are looking for new product/brand/company names to trademark, searching out conflicts is a pain. Well, until you've used Trademarkia. Very fast, slick, and loaded with data. Looks like they want to monetize Trademarks the way some folks do with domain names.

If you use these, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Can shady stats sucker B2B marketers?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:35:00 +0000

I've found that certain words can garner Google-gold.

Having trouble with your computer? Be sure to add the word 'problem' to your search.
Have a cold-caller on the line, add the word 'scam' to your search of their company.

Here's an experience with a directory-service company...

Second run-in:
Two months ago I received a call to renew my vendor-directory listing with a major industry association. $395 to renew. And I'm pretty sure I actually said yes to this the first time, so I didn't flinch, but wanted to look at results.

The telemarketer sent me the following stats per their records:

Results Page Views	Landing Page Views	Website Clicks
6,902	642	1,059

So I looked at my Google Analytic stats and saw ... 16 click-thrus ... for the year!

I declined a renewal, and figured it was just poor traffic and poor data collection.

Today, a new call:
Today I received another call for for a different trade association, one I hadn't dealt with in ten years. It's then that I googled the now-obvious 3rd-party directory service and the word 'scam'.

I came up with this post by a former employee of the directory service: Rip Off Report: MultiView Mislead advertisers. Here is just one snip of a very rational and seemingly factual report:

"After talking to a few people in the company about the difference, I learned that our tracking software counts any click to their listing. I found out that search engines routinely visit the online buyers guides and spider through the listings. Each time a search engine spiders a listing, it counts as a hit in our tracking software. The other tracking software packages including Googel Analytics only count the actualy clicks that a human performs to open a Website."

Wow, that explains why the stats were so far off--spiders generate hits, not page-views or click-thrus. I learned that in 1997--most marketing managers know that by now, too. So, obviously my cut/paste of the stats I received, shown above, didn't tell the truth.

While my experience dealing with their salespeople makes me want to avoid calling the company a 'scam', using that term helped me turn up this crucial info to help me make a decision.

Almost certainly the value of what they have to sell is very low. The associations they work with have little incentive to drive traffic to the directories Multiview develops on their behalf, but with only 10% of the listing-revenue, it certainly won't be a priority to them. But to the directory company, it is apparently worth lying about.

Ditch the pricing on your website!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:54:00 +0000

Okay, I keep coming back to the discussion about whether it is advantageous to have pricing on your website. High-minded folks say you should because that is the #1 thing visitors are looking for, and will leave if they don't find it.

But what would really happen? Brendon Sinclair, in the latest Sitepoint Tribune newsletter, tells his tale:

"In my efforts to improve the quality of the leads being generated I had the client approve a new Fees page. The page now documented the different price points, with an explanation of what a customer could expect to receive.

My reasoning was that this would result in far better qualified leads because the prospect would be aware of the price and value before they called. This would, I believed, result in higher-quality prospects in terms of likelihood to purchase and a greater conversion rate.

What happened is this: nothing. Absolutely nothing. No calls, no emails. Nothing."

No, tell us how you really feel ...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:38:00 +0000

Some of my posts slowly collect comments over time. A number of those regard certain companies and scams. I let them live as dialogs for those who are interested in those things.

Somehow, the comment someone posted earlier today on one of my posts from 2007 gets the lucky distinction of being linked back-to by me. It's probably not good protocol to do this for an anonymous poster, but I don't think they are posting with any vendetta. Its written as an advertiser (well, someone who is told to advertise with TN).

Basically they are questioning the value of ThomasNet in 2009. Here is a snip:

"They are now a cookie-cutter-web-'development' company who simply CANNOT compete against the INTERNET. PERIOD. So, what am I to do? Ever since the massive set of 'GREEN BOOKS' arrived each year and the internet was considered a child's toy- Thomas was the creme de la creme- they had a lock on the 'yellow pages' of industry. No longer."

Maybe they got me nostalgic for the green books. Boy, those were the days. And then the days when they showed up and you never took them out of the boxes.

Anyway, you can read their riff and let me know what you think ... about what they have to say, or whether I should be highlighting it.

More B2B blogs than you can shake an RSS feed at

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:54:00 +0000

2009 Big List of B2B Marketing and Sales Blogs by Galen De Young & Mike Marn

"It�s been more than two years since anyone had tried to pull together a list of B2B marketing and sales blogs. Jon Miller of Marketo did it in early 2007. When we reviewed that list, we found a lot of those blogs were no longer active.

So we went searching�
And we found some really great B2B blogs. More than 200 of them. Hats off to all who made the list! Thanks for your continuing contribution."

The list includes 28 blogs that start with 'B2B', which, alphabetically, all precede mine. I do like that the list has given the 'sniff test' to the blogs to make sure they are active and relevant.

A great list to fill up a new RSS feed-reader account like Bloglines. (Yes, I still use Bloglines.)

Oh, yea, if you want to see my Bloglines account/blogroll go ahead. It's also tucked away in the sidebar of the blog. Lots of non-B2B in there, but certainly some gems.

Optimize your site: Make it faster

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:14:00 +0000

I remember the early dial-up days of the web. I used to carefully study each product picture in a file-size optimizer program. Did the 16K image look good enough compared to the 18 or 24K image?

Broadband effectively killed such attention to file size and page load speeds.

But Google and Yahoo have brought back the issue of speed. They have introduced code analyzers Page Speed and Yslow. Yslow has been around a while, but Google's strategic discussion about why we webmasters need to revisit speed optimization.

The faster the site, the better the experience, the happier the visitor. And a happier overall internet experience for everyone. Makes sense.

So I asked my developer, Mike Boyink, to take a look at our website. He took about three hours to make some recommended tweaks. (Not all noticably helped.) Here are the results:

Before:
3.12 secs after clearing local cache before doing anything
2.758 seconds reloading cached locally

After
2.16 seconds after clearing local cache
1.118 seconds after tweaking server side caching

So a second, or a second-and-half were shaved off the load times. Doesn't sound like a big deal.

But seeing my pages now is impressive ... because the page loads differently, it seems to pop into view almost immediately.

While the visitor may not notice the speed like I do, they certainly aren't going to be groaning 'come on' while they watch their browser load my pages. And you certainly don't want your future prospect's first experience of your brand to cause groaning.

Closing the sale: Incentive or bribe?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:38:00 +0000

It's no surprise when I say business is slow this year. We've tried a couple 'special offers' as incentives for inducing a buy-now urge in our clients.

But the offer I saw another company offering this morning shocked me. (I'll leave the actual company out of this.)

A $300 gift card with purchase.

I'd guess the purchase would run in the range of $5K. The landing page for the offer was the product registration page.

Wow, $300 in my pocket if I submit an order for their equipment. Is that ethical? Is that a bribe?

Somehow the directness of the offer makes me unnerved. Sure they could spend that same amount of money on a golf outing and it wouldn't seem so wrong.

What do you think?

Are your visitors looking for prices? Prove it!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:16:00 +0000

Are your website's visitors looking for prices? Choose one:

Duh. Of course they want prices.

Okay ... prove it!

If you're the marketing guy, you choose #1. If you are the CEO, you'll choose #2.

Dale Underwood at his B2B Conversations Now Blog has an easy plan to 'prove it': Publish B2B Pricing? Test the traction without actually doing it.

"In a previous post I discussed how the old rules of holding back budgetary pricing has put companies at a disadvantage with self-service oriented prospects doing research for solutions.

At the end of that post I posed a way to test the effect of offering budgetary pricing, not publishing it. It struck a chord with several readers saying they might try it and it gave me the idea to expand on how to test it�safely."

So you basically take your 'contact us' page and duplicate it, but call it 'pricing'. Then look at the traffic (as well as differences in submissions).

Dale's company, EchoQuote has a unique tool that enables quick/easy budget quoting for your website. Because he thinks you might need his help after you finish this test. At the very least you'll have a better conversion rate. And maybe the fodder to show management how much is being left 'on the table'.

Telecom Purchase Saga - Let me sum up

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Our company needs to renew our telecom/internet services this year, and I'll be working with our Controller to do so. I thought it might make a good case study in B2B sales & marketing. And my blog would make a good place to vent about the experience.

Unfortunately, rather than a case-study, it already feels like a saga. We're two months into it and it's nothing but a chore. Our existing contract is with the #1 player in the field. In the past we've had limited options due to our factory-in-a-cornfield location.

Two real alternatives I looked at:

My first look was at microwave-wireless service, which promises more bandwidth at less cost. But without any savings in phone service, it isn't enough. I really liked this choice otherwise.
My second look was at VOIP phone system, which would save telco costs and add cool & helpful features. But the price tag on buying new phones is a sticking point. The VOIP dealer also proposed their own telecom service.

Then the existing-vendor (we'll call AAA) game started:

The direct-rep called and told me he was now independent. He emailed me a pretty reasonable quote for VOIP service that didn't require new phones and added bandwidth.
An AAA appointment setter cold-called me and said they would connect me with a new rep.
The AAA guy visited for an hour with his tech guy, who wore a bluetooth earpiece the whole time. He seemed especially excited to help us limit internet usage of our staff. They left in their shiny BMW.
Several requests to the AAA guy failed to get us a summary of our existing usage. It appears to me his primary goal is face-to-face meetings.
I've probably heard from three other AAA independent reps in the meantime. And AAA appointment setter re-called me about a month later.
All that and I still haven't heard from the rep who sold us our current contract.

Now I've been cold-called by a communciations consultant service. Maybe I can turn this ugliness over to them? But the caller is just an appointment setter so I can talk to their sales manager in a week-and-a-half. Sheesh. Qualify me now, send me some literature, or have a decent website, please.

My core problem is that I don't have a record of long-distance minutes used over the last year. So I can't judge the proposals accurately. Our bill just shows a cost, without showing minutes used. A separate call-records report is something we haven't been getting. And AAA's customer service wasn't too helpful in getting this info. Blah.

I update you here as more drama and stupidity of the telecom saga continues.

A trade pub's ugly home page

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Let's assume that digital is the future of Trade Publications. If you want to ponder how much work its going to take to get there, take a gander at this publication's home page:

click for full-view

Since it's cut-off at the bottom (the page is 3800 px tall), let me tell you that there are 53 links in the left-hand navigation, plus they are repeated across the bottom of the page as a sitemap.

Of course there is a pop-up asking you to subscribe when you first land on the page.

But it is the 30 separate content areas in the main section of the home page that worries me (and each of those may have multiple items). What a cluttered, unfocused home page!

We'll say that this is just a visual symptom of the internal challenge truly 'going digital' is going to require. Starting from scratch doesn't look like such a bad idea.

Skype for customer service? Why not?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:16:00 +0000

This post is inspired by a promotional email that I'm not sure why I received, or why I opened. The subject line was 'Customer Service'.

The email was from an Italian company promoting availability of product support via Skype.

Hmmm. Not a bad idea.

Today, our customers are working more globally, and more likely to use Skype to connect with their associates. So why not meet them where they are and let them use a tool they already like using?

Heck, we are already using it ourselves to communicate with our overseas agents.

I imagine for a European company, the country-to-country differences in phone service makes such a choice all the more compelling.

I'm glad I opened that email!

SpendMatters discusses four types of directory sites

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:39:00 +0000

I think at one time I looked up some blogs from the other side of the fence...you know, the buyers. Professional buyers.

Well the announced closing of ThomasGlobal.com led me to a very readable purchasing/sourcing blog called SpendMatters. Jason Busch responded to this news by posting The Future of Supplier Directories and Supplier Search. Its a great review of the current status of directory services, which he groups into four categories.

"But is Thomas Global's closing -- and the general downsizing of Thomas over the years since the big green book -- indicative of the beginning of the end of supplier directories (including online directories) or does it just signal a more general shift in the direction of the market? At this stage of my investigation, I'd probably argue the latter. And that's because companies are now gaining access to supplier information primarily through four types of online directories and information sources."

Be sure to read the comments for further discussion, thankfully without any borish anti-Thomas posters.

Unlearning means being Authentic

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Okay, I wanted to wrap up my thoughts about what I "Unlearned" at the BMA conference. In my last post, I highlighted this tweet of mine: "Sessions at #bma09 feel like a twitter stream about social media."

Yes, the repeated chatter pushed the 'social media' agenda. Unfortunately, for industrial marketers like myself, 'social media' itself is in the someday/maybe pile. Hard to implement, and with limited direct benefit.

But lets not throw the social media baby out with the bathwater.

Authenticity is needed
The first challenge in approaching social media is also what one NEEDS to approach in marketing today. Social media tactics require authenticity. AND they need to align with your existing marketing/brand. THEREFORE we need to make sure our marketing/brand is authentic.

So our marketing needs to be authentic as a minimum standard to be up-to-date. Then we stand ready to move toward social media (if/when we choose) without having alignment issues.

Those industrial marketers that talk in third-person, arms-length language about being 'an industry leader' with additional non-specific marketing-speak, are not only looking dated, but are becoming irrelevant. No one is listening. A possible advantage of social media is the chance to find an authentic voice.

"Real Real"
In fact, one presenter, Joe Pine (link to Amazon), said that we need to render authenticity. Much like how we would control how our logo is used by other departments, we need to control the tone of our outbound communications to assure authenticity. Of course, this is much easier if the culture and in-house communications uses the same authentic tone.

Joe laid out a chart of authenticity, and I think industrial marketers have no choice but to be in the 'real real' quadrant--where the customer's experience matches with the real company behind their product. Its as simple as 'do what you say you will do' (Joe calls this the Polonius test: "to thine own self be true.")

Unfortunately, this is bigger than a marketing problem, it becomes a systematic, cultural, and management challenge. Lucky for me that I work in a very flat organization that has no choice but to be authentic, but for others with top-down bureaucracy and a detached C-suite, authenticity is going to be a struggle. (Reference the challenges of Twitterer @comcastcares.)

Functional Bonus:
Authenticity requires meeting, listening, and connecting to the marketplace, which enhances the quality of our communications. Great. But there is a greater value

Being connected to the market, along with the instant access social media provides, enables us to launch incomplete campaigns and tune them on-the-fly, based on response. In the past you had to have everything ready to go at launch, because you didn't have that chance to fix things.

Starting points:
I'd look at the written content you are using. Is the tone and message authentic? Websites are the best place to work on this. If it is just cut/paste from a brochure, you've got work to do. Outbound emails and blogs, too.

Start Unlearning now, or I truly think you will find yourself behind the eight-ball very quickly. (I'll talk more about that eight-ball soon.)

UnLearning: The Twitter Stream

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:20:00 +0000

Snips from my Twitter stream while at the #BMA09 conference last Thursday (edited for blog-reading clarity):

Does Linked-In benefit companies like mine? No. Me personally? Could.
@Thor_Harris Linked-In ... Maybe for local sales reps, I'll consider that.
I wonder ... Industrial marketing = business marketing?
For B2B Experience Economy, I think we have to target the "real-real" place.
Google presentation: search usage much more pervasive ... web content has to be efficient, then let face-to-face work efficiently.
Sessions at #bma09 feel like a twitter stream about social media.
@lrh actually most people in the room have 'company blogs', but not many admitted they suck.
The web-presence session undersold the message from Getty Images about adding visual content. How do we look authentic?
@amylillard Outlaw marketing! Management lesson most actionable so far today!
Social-community session scares me about the top-down use of blogging. It's about numbers- users, posts, $$. Ugh.
@jaymce Will social media "automation" just pollute? Each site/media has a different context.
@b2bcommunicate glad my vibe came thru. At #bma09 authenticity repeatedly came up. Johnny Cash is certainly a great example! (cues iTunes.)

What's it all mean? Well that's part of the fun of Twitter. Big hint in bold above. Hopefully I can discuss here at length later this week.

This was my first event using Twitter. It was fun to see what others thought or observed, and gave a reason to meet people in person. Beats whispering to the person sitting next to you.

(More Twitter and actual session summaries are posted by the BMA.)

Meet me in Chicago, Margo (this week!)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:43:00 +0000

For any readers out there going to the BMA Conference in Chicago this week who'd like to meet-up with me:

I'll be at the awards banquet Wednesday night.
My panel discussion starts at 11am Thursday.
I'll be attending the BizBash event Thursday night.
I'll tape a B2Blog logo on my attendee badge.

I'll be using Twitter @b2btw to post anything worthwhile, or to communicate with attendees. Drop me a line if you'll be there, or when you are there.

Business blog example 3: It doesn't have to be hard

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

My last business-blog example before heading off to BMA Conference in Chicago this week.

A likely excuse for not blogging about your business may be 'my product is too boring. Who wants to read a blog about it?'

Actually I probably fall into that camp. And it's probably a poor excuse.

Well, in the rather boring-sounding market of material handling (conveyors, warehouse racks), QC Industries has been blogging along rather well. With a mix of product info, company news, and application discussions, their blog strikes a good balance of readability for the folks who are interested.

I think what makes it work is that you get a sense that there is a human, and company insider, posting on the blog�Chris Thompson and Chris Round are the guys. And his activity commenting on blogs like mine, and posting regularly at Twitter (@QCIndustries) gets that vibe across, as well.

Here's a sample post talking about an upcoming show, ATX East - NY �Excited and nervous�:

"I asked Albert Sabbah, Group Sales Manager for Canon Communications, for his thoughts. �Excited and nervous� were his two quick words of choice. �Since the show is wide spread through many industries from medical to automation to green, really many of the companies are having good years.� Albert was quick to show the numbers as well and they are up and down, depending on the show. I quickly summarized and noticed medical (MD&M), packaging (EastPack), and automation (ATX) are good; plastics industry, questionable."

The net result is a sense of scope, direction, and activity at QC Industries. And that this is a brand with an authentic voice.

While I don't expect their blog has a ton of followers, I do think that prospects involved in considering their QC can look at their blog, and get a sense of the brand. While many smaller B2B companies struggle to communicate their brand at all, or just throw money at ads and PR hoping it helps, I think a blog like this shows an alternate way of building a brand efficiently and effectively.

It doesn't have to be hard, just a willingness to communicate.

Claim your Google listing, now!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:22:00 +0000

I saw someone last week on Twitter complaining that getting their new site listed on DMOZ was taking forever.

Um, DMOZ was slow to list, and basically useless, ten years ago. Except for a little link-love, I don't see the point.

Now here is something useful: From a post at Bumblebee Marketing's "Notes from the Hive": Protect and Promote

"Well, for safety reasons go to the Google local business add page and make doubly sure that your business is listed and if it is, start the claim process. If it is not listed, start the claim process! It is easy and fast and if you are a single practitioner of yoga or a multi-million dollar tech firm, you should still take this step. And if you have multiple locations, don�t stop at your headquarters, do this for each and every location."

Doesn't matter if you are a 'local' business or not. People are going to Google you, or Google-Map you to get basic contact info, ala Yellow Pages.

As a consumer, I just used this data-feature today on my iPod Touch to find out the hours of a local appliance-parts dealer via Google Maps. Slick!

I claimed & updated my company's listing, uploaded a picture of our building, a link to my YouTube video, and added our office hours. I need to go back and figure out what to do about two other listings for our company that are erroneous--if I link those, will they go away, or can I fix them? (They call your main phone number and give you a PIN number to confirm ownership, so warn your receptionist.)

As Mardy says to end that post: "So stop whatever it is that you are doing, spend 5 minutes and protect and promote yourself. This is a critical step in securing your Google listing and promoting your company and web site search engine ranking improvements."

Yellow Pages finally dead? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Business blog example 2: Be a consultant

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:22:00 +0000

There are a frustrating amount of blogs by consultants out there.

Frustrating because they outnumber us 'in the trenches' marketers. And because they all do the same thing ... give out tips on how to do marketing right.

Consultants are smart, and they are used to telling others the best way to do something. This doesn't always work in a blog.

Maybe this works for their target audience. Maybe its good enough to help someone googling for answers to a marketing problem.

But I don't think it's enough to develop a following.

I'm a manager. I got here because I already know the basics. I'm looking for what's new on the radar, and for meaningful discourse on the gray-areas of decisions. Or something fun.

So, of all the consultants' blogs that I read, I'm going to single out Jim Logan's B2B Rainmaker blog as one done right. There are a couple others getting close, but I find myself drawn to commenting on posts over and over at Jim's blog. That means he's engaging me.

Here is a good example of a typical Rainmaker post titled Patel Leads: "No one is responsible to generate leads - Incredibly, every company I�ve worked for had this problem."

Look at that, a gray area--responsibility for leads! I've gotta read this post!

Interestingly, Jim himself helped point to the reason his blog is engaging with his latest post: The obvious answer to who is the smartest kid in school

"But is it the answers we have or the questions we ask that truly demonstrate our intelligence and understanding? ...
The answer is obvious, it�s the questions we ask - not the answers we give - that define our level of understanding and earn greater respect. The smartest kid in school is the one that asks the best questions."

(And that Marketing-LOLcat, its an inside joke, or sorts. Another way of engaging readers.)

Two questions for Gary Slack ... Q2

noreply@blogger.com (Dave J.) — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Here's my second question to Gary Slack about the BMA Conference (PDF brochure)

B2Blog:
What's the scoop about BMA's theme of UNlearning? The conference's banner shows a voltmeter at zero, does this mean we have to wipe out everything we know? What are we supposed to be relearning?

Gary Slack:
Dave, the entire conference is going to be one hell of a discussion on these questions, with many opinions to be shared.

Ralph Oliva, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, our profession�s �think tank� or �research department,� will kick off the conference with 30 minutes of scene-setting remarks on certain things he believes b-to-b marketers have learned and take to the bank, some things we may need to relearn and some things he feels we need to unlearn.

I don�t want to steal Ralph�s thunder (nor could I copy his thunderous voice), but I will offer up one thing I personally think b-to-b marketers may need to relearn�and that is the importance of investing in early-stage marketplace familiarity with your company, brand, and products and services.

That�s the message, of course, of McGraw-Hill�s classic �Man-in-the-Chair ad (click for jpeg), created in 1958, where the gruff buyer responds to a hapless (and unseen) sales person by saying in so many words, �I don�t know who in the hell you or your company area.�

This message is important to relearn, as, in my opinion, we�re in an era in which way too many marketers (or the c-level execs they report to) think they can go from no or low awareness to a sale in just a few touches or sometimes even one, only to see their demand generation efforts under-perform or fail miserably trying to do the impossible.

With McGraw-Hill�s permission, we�re actually going to bring the �Man in the Chair� to life on stage during Ralph�s kickoff remarks on Wednesday, June 10. Without letting the entire cat out of the bag, don�t be surprised if there isn�t a second, modern-day but equally gruff buyer who might just say something (again to a hapless sales person) about how he Googled the sales person and his company in advance.

Sounds like the kick-in-the-pants us marketers, isolated from the day-to-day struggle of our salespeople, need. I submit my behind for some sorely needed kicking. :)

Well, based on their ad campaign for the conference, It looks like brains are what is going to get zapped. I'm a little less sure about being UNlearned, now!

What do you think? Are we too focused on the low-hanging, response-driven leads, and giving up on that early nurturing Gary thinks we need to tend to?