The 9th IDM Business Marketing Conference: New world, new values, new customer rules

The role of marketing in driving the business, and the need to have nailed down a robust and well thought out business strategy to underpin your marketing, has never been greater. To achieve results and demonstrate their impact on the bottom line, business marketers need to embrace new and innovative strategies and tactics to engage with their customers (and stakeholders) and integrate them into their existing approaches.

Technological developments and economic challenges have fundamentally changed the way business marketers do business and the shift in power to the consumer has had a profound impact on moving from a push to listen/nurture/respond approach.

Nick Hague, Managing Director of B2B International has been confirmed as a speaker to talk about “Taking account of global cultural differences and understanding the complexities of international expansion”. On the day, Nick will be joined with other speakers including:

• Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mubaloo

• Chief Marketing Officer, Psion

• Marketing Director, Reed Business Information

• Head of B2B Marketing, KLM

• UK and Ireland Brand Manager, IBM

• Head of SME Business Marketing, 02UK

To understand what the new b2b world looks like in 2012, the new values that hold true and the new customer rules in b2b marketing come along on the 24th May 2012 at the Commonwealth Club in London.

For more information visit: http://www.theidm.com/marketing-events/b2b-conference/

In our next Business Surgery, Nick Hague discusses how the world of market research is changing.

Market research is dead! Or at least it may be in its traditional sense. Times they are a-changing. For a long time at B2B International we have argued that delivering strategic insights is the key reason why companies commission market research in the first place; not for the sake of providing even more data. This is even more important in today’s world where data explosion has rendered marketeers paralysed.

Think of a ‘typical’ market researcher and in your mind you may conjure up a picture of either a back office fact finder or a lady with a clip board in the street wanting to find out what cereal you had for breakfast this morning. Of course, business-to-business research is very different to consumer research and we, at B2B International, would like to think we have broken the mould and bridged the gap between market researchers and consultants. However, whether carrying out consumer research or business-to-business research, a market researcher in the modern world needs to be a data analyst who can synthesize the myriad of datafeeds that are open to us today but more importantly pull out the key action points from a study to clearly inform a client what it all means and what the next steps should be.

Kevin Lonnie in his latest article, ‘The Limiting Adjective of “Marketing” Research’, talks about a changing market research world:

Even the AMA has dropped the word “Marketing” to promote their annual research conference. After 30+ years the “Marketing Research Conference” is no more; the event is now being called the AMA Research and Strategy Summit. When even the American Marketing Association is running away from the word “marketing” how many more hints does it take before we realize that the times are a changing?

With the increasing use of social media and a greater use of buzzwords like innovate, ideate, insight, collaborate and crowdsource being used; is this not a sign that the industry needs to act and become more like consultants:

While marketing research is and remains part of who we are, it no longer confines and defines us. Rather, we need to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We need to reclaim our rightful role as conduit to the customer and the guardian of rigorous scientific principles. But we also need to seize the moment and become strategists integral to our clients’ success.

Kevin argues that it is time for a name change for the industry: “a new descriptor for our industry, one that respects our past, but speaks to our present and our future”. Maybe, but I would argue that actions speak louder than words and in this modern world, the winners will be those that can walk the walk (rather than just brand labeling) and add value whilst delivering action to more readily meet the needs of client’s customers and deliver growth and differentiation for their organisation.

To read ‘The Limiting Adjective of “Marketing” Research’ visit click on the link.

The teams have arrived, the horses are ready and everything is well underway at the 2011 Polocrosse World Cup!

B2B International, shirt sponsor of the USA polocrosse team, was there to cheer them on over the weekend. After beating the UK on Friday but losing heavily to the South Africans on Saturday, the US team needed a win against Ireland to keep their World Cup dreams alive. Their game against Ireland didn’t disappoint and was a close run thing, with the US winning 17-16 thanks to a golden goal in extra time.

This means that the teams that have made it through to the semi-finals next weekend are: USA, Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Who will win? Not long till we all find out… See you there!

Arguably the most important tool for any b2b company is an up-to-date database of its customers. Most b2b companies have just a few thousand (and sometimes just a few hundred) current and potential customers. And yet, if you asked to see a list of these companies with all the required contact information, you would be surprised how many would fail this acid test.

This list is the most important vehicle for talking to customers. It drives communications through newsletters, product launches, company announcements, price increases, and more. It is the starting point for a more sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Why is it so difficult to prepare this simple tool? There are a number of reasons:

1. Salespeople are extremely protective of their accounts. They believe that knowledge is power and they seek to keep their contacts close to their chest.

2. The customer contacts are a moving feast with a constant churn which is hard to track.

3. The task of keeping the database up to date is often considered trivial and boring; beyond the responsibility of anyone in a position of seniority. Indeed it is sometimes delegated to an intern as something to keep them occupied.

Keeping an up-to-date database of customers and potential customers is an ongoing effort. Yet, it is one of the most critical tasks in growing any business.