Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

« Previous Entries   Next Entries »

B2B In 2011

With a new year upon us, we’re all wondering what surprises 2011 has in store. BtoB magazine makes its own predictions for the top trends this year. For more of their predictions, visit BtoB’s 2011 Outlook: Marketing Priorities and Plans survey.

• BUDGETS SHIFT MORE HEAVILY TO ONLINE

This has been happening gradually over the last several years but the pace is increasing as marketers have been seeking lower-cost, more measurable ways to reach their audiences during the recession. This shift is aided by improvements in technology. According to BtoB’s 2011 Outlook: Marketing Priorities and Plans survey, 78.5% of B2B marketers plan to increase their online budgets this year.

• MORE EMOTIONAL, PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS

As marketers strive to connect with business execs at work and at home, they are getting much more personal and emotional. In other words, the line between B2B and B2C is becoming less distinct, reflected by TV, print and online ads that have much more of a consumer feel.

• DATABASE-DRIVEN MARKETING AND NEW CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE METRICS

B2B marketers will get much more sophisticated at mining customer data and making that information the focal point of their communications.

As marketing techniques and data-mining programmes get more sophisticated and personal, so do the metrics used to evaluate these efforts.

• OPTIMISING SOCIAL MEDIA

Despite arguments to the contrary, social media is becoming an integral part of marketing for b2b companies: 62.6% of marketers plan to increase their spending on such channels this year, according to the Outlook survey.

• FEEDING THE CONTENT MACHINE

B2B marketers must continuously create and maintain content used for marketing purposes – from social media networks to landing pages, blogs to thought leadership events.

Posted in Communication, Marketing, Online Marketing |
Comments: None Yet »

Who wants a better mousetrap?

In this Thursday night insight Paul Hague looks at the phenomenon of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and argues that “product” isn’t everything.

Have you read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo? It’s a great story, there’s no doubt about it, but the story of how the book became a bestseller is even more incredible. Written in his spare time as a hard-working journalist, Stieg Larsson first called it Men Who Hate Women. Having finished his whopping manuscript and without publishing it, he began his second book. When this was finished he wrote his third. And then he had a heart attack and died. Only after his death were the books published.

The publishing of his books is another incredible story. The rights to the books in the UK, where it began its huge success, were bought by Quercus, a small and unknown backstreet publisher. The owner of Quercus became so desperate to shift copies he gave them away to people in parks and he planted dozens on the back seats of taxis and on tube trains. Today Quercus has moved to luxurious offices in Bloomsbury Square, and its revenues trebled to £15m in the first six months of 2010 on the back of the Larsson phenomenon.

So what can we learn from this? It seems to me there are at least five lessons:

1. What you call something is critically important. There is no doubt that sales were lifted by the intriguing and catchy label of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. When Marks & Spencer first launched its Vichyssoise soup, it didn’t sell. The name of the selfsame product was changed to Leek And Potato Soup and it flew off the shelves. We shouldn’t underestimate the names of our products. They are our brands, they carry a connotation, and they can positively or negatively affect sales to a dramatic degree.
2. The route to market is key. In the case of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo it may well have helped that the publisher was small. The desperation to move the books may not have existed with a more prosperous and less hungry company.
3. Success requires critical momentum. Giving the books away in the first instance had a big cost but it kick-started growth. Somebody has to start reading and talking about the book and the sooner the better. Like a plane trundling down the runway, products gain height quickly once the wheels leave the ground.
4. Find a good PR story because it costs nothing. Undoubtedly the strange story of Larsson’s life and death captured the imagination of the media. It resulted in acres of newsprint which cost nothing and awakened the interest of the general public.
5. The product is important, but it isn’t everything. Larsson isn’t Dickens and he isn’t Shakespeare. However, his books have been published in 44 countries and have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide so far. They are a great read, there is no doubt about it but a product doesn’t have to be the best in the world to achieve the highest sales in the world. The debate still rages on as to which is best, a Mac or a PC . I won’t join that one but I will point out that Mac’s have less than a 10% market share and this in no way reflects the performance of the excellent product.

My insight today is that we should always take care to put as much emphasis on the other parts of the marketing mix as the product itself. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that, If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbour, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door. I am not so sure that The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo would have had such a large path beaten to its door without a little bit of marketing help.

Posted in Marketing, Paul Hague, Product Development, Routes To Market, Thursday Night Insight |
Comments: None Yet »

B2B Association Continues Rapid Expansion

The Association of Business to Business Agencies (ABBA) has experienced a significant growth in membership in the past three months as many B2B agencies and associated companies realise the benefit of a dedicated B2B forum in what has become one of the most significant growth areas in the marketing sector.

The latest agencies to sign up are:

B2B International: A specialist business-to-business market research consultancy operating in Manchester, London, Beijing, Shanghai and New York www.b2binternational.com

Cyance: Proven B2B Marketing experts. www.cyance.com

JMP Partnerhsip: Specialising in the pharmaceutical sector is a proven, successful partner to businesses that operate on a local and global scale. www.jmp-partnership.co.uk

Platform Marketing: An award winning Marketing agency specialising in Promotional Marketing, Digital, Creative Communication, Conference and Events www.platform-marketing.com

Pomegranate: A fully integrated design agency, specialising in Branding, Print etc. and part of the Pomegranate Group www.pomegranate.co.uk

ABBA Chairman, Chris Wilson, said, “Now that client speakers are a regular feature at member events, Agency members gain an unparalleled insight into the issues that really matter for marketing budget holders. This, together with our successful debate series, has helped us significantly grow the membership this year.”

If you feel you would like to be part of this rapidly growing, highly influential group, then please visit the ABBA website at www.abba.co.uk

Posted in B2B News, Marketing |
Comments: None Yet »

Business Optimism Grows for B2B Marketers

Figures from the B2B Barometer¹ show that the economic situation for B2B marketers looks optimistic for the future:

Business optimism gradually returning amongst B2B marketers

On the client side:

• Three fifths (60%) anticipate economic recovery within the next 12 months
• Two thirds (66%) expect their own organisation to grow in the next 12 months (up from 50%)
• Three quarters (73%) expect marketing spend to increase; up from one half (48%) last wave.

Agencies are more optimistic, with four fifths (79%) anticipating that they will grow over the next 12 months. For many agencies this represents a significant turnaround in their fortunes; 45% report that revenues have declined in the last 12 months. For others it represents a continuation of an existing trend; 34% report growth in the last 12 months.

Newer media continue to increase share of wallet

Client-side marketers continue to allocate a significant proportion of their budgets to three channels; trade shows (16%), direct mail (13%) and email marketing (16%). ‘Newer’ media channels continue their rise and now account for 41% of total marketing spend (up from 39% last wave).

Increased focus on measuring ROMI

There is a noticeable trend towards measuring the Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)
from this spend. Two thirds of client-side marketers (65%) now measure return compared
with one half (49%) last wave. Unsurprisingly given this focus on accountability, two fifths
(39%) of agencies report that some or all of their clients measure agency performance using
ROMI measures.

Social media relevant …but B2B marketers lack understanding

Two trends have received extensive coverage in the B2B press in recent months:

• The alignment of marketing with sales
• Social media in a B2B context.

The B2B Barometer sought to explore each area in some depth and has brought fact to an
area where opinion dominated:

• Sales and marketing are becoming more closely aligned. Although 50% of client side and agency side marketers believe marketing still plays a secondary role to sales in B2B organisations, three quarters (70%) of clients report that the two functions are actually effectively aligned. Marketing may play second fiddle but it supports sales well
• Social media is perceived to be relevant in a B2B context. Three fifths (60%) of client-side marketers feel it is relevant to them and two thirds (66%) of agencies feel it is relevant to their clients. And social media is not a fad. Approximately three quarters of both clients and agencies disagree that social media in a B2B context is a passing phase
• However social media is still an area which puzzles many marketers. Two thirds of client-side marketers (63%) have no social media strategy in place; two fifths (41%) cite ‘insufficient understanding’ as the reason for this

For more information visit http://www.abba.co.uk/

 
 
¹The B2B Barometer is compiled by the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM), the Association of B2B Agencies (ABBA) and Circle Research

Posted in B2B Marketing, Business, Business To Business, Marketing, Social Networking |
Comments: None Yet »

Online Marketing Survey

With online marketing seemingly growing in importance all the time, we found it interesting to assess how much this really is the case. Emedia recently published results of its 2010 Online Marketing Strategy Survey conducted among marketers and digital marketers, some of the key findings of which are published below:

• 48% of respondents dedicate a minimal amount (i.e. less than 25%) of their marketing spend to online activity; only 12% allocate more than half of their budget to online activity. However, interestingly, the higher the commitment to online marketing activity, the lower the overall marketing spend. However, online marketing is generally considered much more ‘cost effective’ – or simply ‘cheaper’ depending on your point of view – than many other forms of marketing, and therefore offers a good solution to those with limited marketing budgets.
• 66% consider email marketing to be the most important aspect of online promotion, followed closely by organic search engine traffic and SEO strategies. Social networking, with a score of 41%, was also quite highly regarded. Paid search strategies ranked lowest in the findings.
• 40% already value using thought leadership collateral to engage more fully with their target audience.
• 57% of respondents have an internal sales team wanting marketing to provide new leads, and 33% have aggressive new business lead generation targets. Just 16% remain focused on their existing customers to grow their revenue streams.

Posted in Marketing, Online Marketing |
Comments: None Yet »

« Previous Entries Next Entries »