BtoB Marcom

Ultimately, our business-to-business marcom skills, capabilities, execution, and growth boil down to people. When we're vibrant, progressive, and in tune, we rock! When we're complacent, bloated, lazy, and unimaginative, we fall to the middle, or back, of the pack. Remember, we don't get paid to be average!

Travis Stanton gets it! He is the editor of EXHIBITOR MAGAZINE, a publication that EVERY B2B Marcom professional reads, or ignores at their own peril. The message in his editorial (November 2011) is critical for us all to internalize: Invest in fresh, bright talent - then let them change you for the better.

What I love most about Travis' position, and message, is that he calls himself out on certain weaknesses, and takes action to address them. I love it when he says, "All you need to do is follow my initially clumsy lead and be truly open to new ideas and fresh perspectives." EXCELLENT! Admitting that you need to change, accepting that your transitions will not be smooth and perfect is the first step. Accepting, embracing, and dealing with the issues follows. At Indium Corporation we always talk about "failing forward" - same idea.

It is scary revealing our failures, weaknesses, past errors, confusion, uncertainties, fears, and thoughts to others. But, if we are not open with ourselves, and our marcom team, we can only hope to blend in with every other weak competitor we know. And we will be doomed to become a follower. To me, THAT is scary!

Honesty, bravery, self-confidence, self-respect, and wisdom are necessary to be comfortable following Travis' advice. The good news is that you don't need to score a 100% in each of these categories to launch. You just need to have enough - and a plan to get more.

When Travis' editorial is published online I will make the link here. Meanwhile, subscribe to EXHIBITOR MAGAZINE and learn.

Last week I read an excellent post on FREIGHT DAWG: The Logistics Blawg, written by Eric Joiner. The post, titled, "Pure Genius: Southwest Airlines Baggage Strategy" discusses the reasons behind SWA's recent promotional project titled, "At Southwest Airlines, We Love Your Bags!".

The post leads with a 30-second video commercial depicting SWA baggage handlers expressing their love (maybe 'obsession' is a better word) for our checked baggage. In the spot, these people simply can't understand why other airlines: a) don't LOVE our bags, and, b) charge us to ship our bags.

While the ad is VERY amusing - and while it truly makes a compelling statement - it is the ensuing discussion (comments) that is really valuable. The reason WHY the discussion is valuable is because it reveals some of the stuff BEHIND a differentiation campaign. It shows us how it is easy for smart people to get bogged down in all sorts of corporate gunk. It depicts how we, as business, and business to business marcom, people, can lose sight of the customer and their experiences, feelings, needs, fears, hopes, and desires.

As an MBA, I can appreciate the detailed thinking, the educated perspectives, and the keen analyses within each comment to that post. But, as a frequent flyer (consumer), I simply LOVE the fact that an airline expresses the same feelings that I do with regard to my luggage. I LOVE my baggage (why else do I struggle to schlep it with me all over the world?). I care about it. I don't want to pay for it to be mishandled, mangled, and misplaced. I want baggage handlers to care about my luggage and treat it with respect. This gets to human emotion - and THAT is powerful stuff.

I know that this ad doesn't reflect reality (no, SWA baggage handlers don't really wave at my bags and call out, "See you when you get home!")  ... and still .. the ad makes me want to fly with Southwest Airlines. This is simply because they are differentiating based on MY issues.

In essence, the SPIRIT of the campaign permeates both the consumers and the SWA staff. Now the baggage handlers know what is expected of them. The company is leveraging a capability against their customers' issues and telling everyone (employees and customers) what they strive to do.

When developing your BtoB marcom projects, never lose sight of your customers' issues. Address them and you will be hitting the hot buttons.

In the old days, business to business (BtoB, B2B) Marcom professionals would utilize the (relative to today) few media channels to talk TO their target audience(s). The customers had to comply (succumb) and follow the companies and media.

Today, things are shifting strongly. The customer is clearly in control. Modern Marcom professionals need to communicate with their customers on the CUSTOMER's terms. This means when and where the customer chooses.

This is why the Indium Corporation blogs are available in multiple places. You can follow our blogs in many simple ways:

1) within our Facebook fan page (the postings are interspersed with our other Facebook comments): http://www.facebook.com/indium
2) at our main blog website: http://www.indium.com/blogs
3) through Networked Blogs:http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/indium_corporation
4) via RSS subscription (available at http://www.indium.com/blogs/)
5) via email subscription (sent directly to the customer's email account) (available at http://www.indium.com/blogs/)

I 'll bet there are options that I am missing, and I'll add them as soon as I become aware of them.  The point is, the customer is now in control - and we have many options for supporting our customers' desires and preferences. The old school way doesn't cut it any longer.

Today I had a very rich discussion with a man who has the experience, wisdom, and intelligence to earn the respect of any B2B Marcom professional. While talking with John Favalo, Managing Partner - B2B - at Eric Mower & Associates, regarding the rate of change occurring in our practice, I brought up a topic that I have been ruminating on for many months. I call this topic, "The LEGO® EFFECT".

We Know: In today's blistering-fast world of newly-evolving software, hardware, tools, trends, topics, concepts, and practices, we are now unable to know of, experience, and master many new tools. There are simply too many. These days, we seize upon resources that offer promise, knowing that, while we take the time to learn these new tools, other potentially powerful tools will get past us. It's a given.

We Know: Our collection of resources does not likely match that of our competitors. We live knowing, while we are preparing to launch our next awesome salvo, that our competition may be unleashing something more powerful, using a tool that got past us.

We Know: Getting beaten is unacceptable. We don't get paid to be average - and we certainly don't get paid to get beaten.

So, what do we do?

We also Know: Rarely does a Marcom team do EVERYthing themselves. Most of us rely on consultants, vendors, and other topical experts from time to time.

With the increasingly abundant new tools, and the existence of highly skilled specialists, we need to become very comfortable adding and removing specialized consultants to and from our teams. Enter "The LEGO® EFFECT". You know, snap a piece in and enjoy what it does for you, then snap it out and replace it with something better.

Traditionally we've relied on long-established relationships with a small number of vendors (eg: an agency) who "got" us and who knew the (relative to today) simpler ropes. I contend that, in some cases, we now must feel very comfortable snapping in a highly capable specialist for a temporary, contracted assignment, then, upon completion, thanking them and moving on.

Good agencies still play a valuable role. I believe that retaining an overall agency may still be valid for most Marcom programs - especially if the agency is truly a leader in adopting effective skills. Even then, it is now increasingly necessary to snap in certain topical experts from time to time.

Step 1: Admit it. There is simply too much good stuff out there for any one person or team to master.

Step 2: Determine how you want to dominate your space - then find experts to snap into place, giving you the immediate expertise that you need. Work together using an achievement-specific contract.

Step 3: Be good to these specialists. Respect them and compensate them properly.

Step 4: Feel good when it is time to end the relationship and move on. It's the new way.

Thanks, John, for the thought-provoking discussion, and for keeping me on my toes.

"LEGO^® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site".

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Seth Godin has authored ANOTHER excellent post (when HASN'T HE?), titled, "Hunters and Farmers."  In it he posits that some people are "hunters" while others are "farmers." Each is good, valuable, and desired - but they are different from each other in important ways.

As business to business marcom practitioners, we are warned, in the post, to know which type of person we are targeting in our efforts. The wants, needs, and styles of each type of person is critical to the way they perceive input, and act on it (or don't).

Give it a read. It makes very good sense to me - hope it helps you.

Images:
Hunter: Mila Zinkova
Farm: Frank Vincentz

There is a lot of excellent discussion occurring these days regarding transparency in business to business (BtoB, B to B, B2B) social media. I particularly like the efforts being put forth by my friends Toby Bloomberg and John Cass. Their recent report on AGENCY transparency in social media offers 30+ diverse opinions on the  matter (Toby's report - John's report). I posted on this report yesterday. And speaking of transparency, I am proud to say that Toby is my (and Indium Corporation's) "blogmother", giving me my start back in 2004. THANKS, Toby!

Well, there is more to transparency than keeping agencies in line. WE, as B2B marcom professionals, have to keep ourselves in good order, as well. It gets complicated in social media, especially when you have blog posts feeding into Facebook posts and Facebook posts feeding into Tweets (and on and on). Looking at these posts from the customer's point of view, it can often appear "vague" as to who is the author.  At least two questions can arise:

• who, from the company, authored this?
• did ANYONE from the company author this, or is it ghost written?

I am very proud of the fact that all of the content published by our company is authored by our staff or by technology consultants hired expressly to create specific content on our behalf (working closely with our staff). We make every effort to clearly state the author and their position. My position is that this is the way it should be in a technology environment, and in today's social media climate. That said, there are cases where our social media program publishes items that have no author stated.

For example, every time one of our technologists posts a blog entry, that entry is automatically fed into our Indium Corporation Facebook page. The problem is that the blog post contains no author data since that info appears surrounding the post. Only the content gets sent over. If you follow the link from Facebook back to the post, it is all there. But, I always try to think like our customer - and they might not want to follow the link, might not notice the situation, might be too busy, etc. I feel it is my job to go out of my way to be transparent and make the authorship information clear and readily available.

To this goal I have just added this TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT to my Facebook page (see the section outlined in red in the image):


It may not be the perfect solution, but it clearly addresses my company's style, intentions, and respect for our readers. I believe I still have a long way to go to be as transparent and thorough as I'd like to be.

I hope to learn some helpful tips and get some advice from you. Please comment and share your views.

We BtoB Marcom practitioners keep a keen eye out for anything related to business communications. So, Apple's much-awaited release of their iPad (today) had plenty to offer.

I just viewed the Apple iPad promo video and was shocked at, in my opinion, what I believe are a handful of wrong marketing communications moves, including:

#1: Featuring a testimonial from an overly excited guy (he calms down eventually) spouting incredible (to him) superlatives. PS: He works for Apple, as do all the people in the video.

#2: Relying on awesome-sounding features that are old news. For example, the excited spokesperson attempts to blow us away with these state-of-the-art items:

• "You see something, you just reach out and ... tap it!" You mean like we did with our 1st-generation iPhone, years ago? PS: Apple - we're on the 3rd-gen of the iPhone at this time.
• "With a screen this large, you can just see MORE of the web." Funny, the monitor I'm using now is 17", and my netbook sports a 10.1". The iPad's screen is 9.7". I can see MORE of the web right where I am, thank you.
• "Take the New York Times, you can see ALL the top stories." Where CAN'T we see all the top stories on the New York Times?

These pseudo-claims cheapen the really good claims that are made elsewhere in the video.

My take-away is, when it's YOUR product, you want to be pumped about it. But, your customers are trained to be very measured, deliberate, and careful - especially in the business to business environment. It's literally THEIR JOB to evaluate you critically. Even if your product IS exceptional, you scare them when you get caught stretching the truth, exaggerating, and puffing. Then, they start doubting ALL your claims.

B2B Marcom people: temper your enthusiasm and excitement by seeing the product through your customers' eyes. Focus on benefits (I shouldn't have to remind you to make them actually REAL), and on the customers' needs and desires. Then, make your pitch in a way that resonates with (not scares) your target audience.

PS: Where is the iPad camera? Come on!

As business to business marcom practitioners, we occasionally sponsor events and may even hire a spokesperson to help us promote our products and services.  In hopes of improving our business we associate our brand with theirs.

So, what happens when we want to cut the connection (for whatever reason)? Sometimes it is a simple matter to let the relationship expire and disappear into the night. Other times it may not be that easy - or private.

Take the Tiger Woods situation. Here we have one man, several corporate partners, and several big, public decisions (as well as executions).  So, how is it being done? Here are two versions:

Version 1: ACCENTURE - aka "bridge burning"

In a statement Accenture said, "...given the circumstances of the last two weeks, after careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising."

Friend, fellow musician, and Online Strategist, Ryan Miller (Romanelli Communications) recently delivered an interesting and valuable set of advice to graduating Utica College Public Relations majors. He then summed it up in a blog post.

The post, titled "Read And Write Your Ass Off", is efficient and concise - a study in effective communications in itself. Take 60 seconds and make this message your own. As I read it I started nodding in agreement, thinking, "This is perfect advice for these students."

This whole topic rang true for me as I have recently been considering the skillset I would need in a potential new business to business marcom hire. I reminded myself of how unskilled and unproven many previous candidates have been. I have also been musing as to just how I would evaluate the candidates' claims and distinguish the best from the pack. This post brought things into focus for me.

Then, I started considering how this advice would apply to more experienced PR staff, and to marcom people in general, and to product managers, and to tech support staff ... and to all my bloggers and face-to-face-with-the-customer colleagues. CONCLUSION? Ryan's advice applies to us all - at all stages of our careers.

So, if you want insight into how you should prepare yourself for a job in B2B Marcom, how you can improve your role, or even how you should prepare yourself to evaluate and differentiate job candidates, read Ryan's post. Consider sharing it with your team.

Then, if you've got a minute to spare, listen to Ryan's music.

Image: The Hamster Factor

Q (Erik): What is the "next big thing" in social media marketing?

A (Erik): The merging of search and social.

In my b2b marcom practice, it is very clear that my target audience needs information and answers immediately - as issues develop. They turn to search for the information.

Additionally, the common and accepted social media tools are excellent at getting my information out onto the internet in a way that is easy for my target audience to find and retrieve.

Searchal media ... did I just coin a new term? Regardless, it's the practice (and results) that count.

"Researchers at New York University's interactive telecommunications program have come up with a device that allows plants to tell owners when they need water or if they've had too much via the social network blogging service Twitter."  Reuters

I absolutely LOVE IT when someone (especially, but rarely, me) takes something cool, applies it to something wildly peculiar (seemingly at the time) , and creates a whole new concept.  Interestingly, AFTER the concept is understood, it all seems so obvious.  Having read the opening quote, a co-worker and I immediately thought of applying the concept to thermometers applied to your child or your geriatric parent ... or to a scale that monitors the weight of something (stock on a shelf) ... or to a sensor that measures your lawn (grass) height on your distant property.

 

Applying cool existing concepts in an unusual way in (b2b, btob) business to business Marcom is also a ton of fun.

 

Image: i, Timmy

Admit it. We’ve all said it: “No one will care about this. It’s mundane and boring.”

Well, here’s a real sleeper: a company moved their offices. How could that POSSIBLY be interesting?

Let's take it even further down that path:

• same staff
• same equipment
• same software
• same skills
• same email addresses
• same twitter account
• same website
• same phone numbers
• same coffee maker

... are you convinced yet? This situation is barely worthy of a press release, right?

Funny thing is, they made it cool & compelling – and turned it into a way to influence their customers’ thinking - maybe even their actions.

How? I don't know the details, but it clearly involved a cadre of individuals that feels responsible for enhancing its company's brand and image. The project was clearly crafted by people who are pretty cool - and who want to be known as such. These professionals are obviously enthusiastic about their craft - and they applied creativity to tell their target audience of their news.

Ask yourself these questions: 

• Does Bars & Tone seem to be energized?
• Could they make YOUR next press release reverberate throughout your industry?
• Would your customers listen when they help you speak?
• Do you recall their competitions' last project?

Bottom line: don't talk yourself out of a potentially influential BtoB Marcom project by thinking that your news is boring. Instead, find yourself some committed, enthusiastic, creative, raving lunatics and ask them to impress you. They're out there - and you deserve it.

Props to the Slash Barshinger blog, "the shortest distance from b to b", for making me aware of this story.
 

Strong words!  Words penned by Kevin Carty in his Trade Shows blog recently.

The comments that follow are equally interesting.

After reading through it all, and considering my own BtoB Marcom experiences with regard to exhibition and trade show cost management, I conclude that it is simply a time to get back to transparency. That is assuming that we were there at one time.

The blog (which you owe it to yourself to read) discusses dubious techniques used to pad the revenue of trade show managers and venues.  Some people comment that, even with such practices, the total cost is still cheaper than making sales calls (What?!?!? Bad practices are OK as long as they are financially superior to the alternative?), others bemoan exorbitant fees, and others share that, in their lands, drayage doesn't even exist!

In the short term, what can we do?  I've radically adjusted our exhibit designs to sidestep most of these outrageous costs. The result? My team has become comfortable with our new look and feel. No one is screaming to go back to the old (more expensive) style.

Has the life already been strangled out of my (former) downstream exhibit vendors? Are they a dead man walking?

With all the promos regarding "back to school", I've been thnking about how we, as b2b marcom practitioners are ALWAYS learning.

Just like when buying school clothes and supplies, it pays to shop for trustworthy and useful BtoB marcom information from a reputable source. I can think of few sources as effective and helpful as MarketingSavant.

I received an email from them today, chock full of excellent opportunities to improve myself. Link to the MarketingSavant website e-newsletter, yourself, for your back to schoolin'.

Please stop back to let me know what you think.

I had the great fortune to be invited by Ellis Booker to participate in today's BtoB Magazine's (btobonline's) NetMarketing Breakfast in Manhattan. Sitting on the panel with me were three incredibly skilled, experienced, and successful business to business experts - each with a powerful story to share. Social media was the theme. I was taking notes like crazy! Sitting in the room were approximately 100 business to business practitioners from the greater New York City area.

BtoB covered the event excellently, so be sure to review their take here.  Now, for my highlights (I am intentionally avoiding topics covered in the BtoB article):

First up was Paul Dunay, Global Managing Director of Services and Social Marketing at Avaya. Paul mentioned that he utilizes many social media sites to further Avaya's goals, with Facebook as "the hub" and twitter as a "teaser" to float topics. Paul feels that "the future of media is contextual" and urged the audience to delve into that practice.

Next up was Rob DeRobertis, Director of Marketing for the GP DSP Division of Analog Devices.  Rob suggests that we map our customer's buying process, then understand the key influences at each step. He uses LinkedIn to target high-level individuals. Like most successful Marcom people I know, Rob is an artist (an accomplished photographer in his case). Check it out.

Gary Spangler (scroll to near-bottom), ebusiness Leader of DuPont Electronic & Communications Technologies shared some research indicating that 80% of engineers (remember, this was a BtoB Magazine event) prefer email or the web versus face-to-face when it comes to gathering information. Like any good engineer, he had tons of other stats in his presentation.

I shared my philosophy of "turning the company inside out". I recalled the old days, when all marketers relied on stock photos of incredibly-handsome people, pristine labs, and flawless facilities. We used these images to craft brochures that would be pressed upon our tecchie customers by slick sales people in 3-piece suits. We all chuckled when we thought of how wrong it feels, today, to expect extremely technical people (on a mission to find technical answers) to NOT be talking with the tech staff of our companies. In the old days, our tecchies were hidden behind a curtain because they were not "perfect" human beings (stock photo worthy - who is???). Today we all understand that transparency is the key, that our technical customers are most comfortable talking with equally-technical support staff, and that the people who design, build, and service our products clearly have a lot more to offer than "crafted" literature and talking suits. My single biggest contribution to my company (I've been here over 25 years), in my opinion, has been to turn it inside out - and put our tech staff face-to-face with the marketplace - especially in our blogging program. Don't get me wrong. Indium Corporation has had engineers on the phone, in the air, in customer facilities, and authoring/presenting tech papers for longer than I've been on board. Our founder was a Chem E. (back in 1934), and we've always been an engineering company (today our President is also a Chem E.). I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due (to our corporate DNA). I am only taking credit for taking the concept to the next level - when the tools availed themselves.

Anyway, Ellis did an excellent job of making us all feel comfortable (as if this seasoned group of B2B Marcom pros needed any help with that). We had a great time and learned a lot. I certainly plan on contacting my panel mates in the near future. They know a TON, and are responsible for some VERY impressive achievements.  You can listen to each of us in a 3+-minute video that Ellis captured just after the event wrapped up.

UPDATE: all four sets of PowerPoint presentations are now available.

Please comment and let us know what you think.

First of all, I am participating on a discussion panel ... THAT is always fun and enlightening.

Secondly, any gathering of like-minded people has promise. THIS group of people is wildly powerful and thrilling.

And then there's the "UNLearn" theme. Perfect!

The 2009 BMA Annual Conference looks to be absolutely awesome - if you're a B2B Marcom afficionado.  You can buy the full conference, you can buy a la carte, you can learn about the hottest topics, and you can meet some real leading-edge thinkers and doers. Chicago in June is a real bonus, for sure (I can't wait to plug into some live blues guitar music, and maybe a guitar store or two).  According to the conference's website:

Thirteen keynote and 12 breakout sessions will focus on newer, better, smarter and faster ways to get the job done. Al and Laura Ries. Joe Pine. David Meerman Scott. Andy Sernovitz. Scott Davis. Top marketing leaders from Siemens, Navistar, IBM, LinkedIn, Google, SAP and GE.

I'll add Dr. Ralph Oliva to the list of luminaries. He is a true Marcom Star. I ALWAYS learn something powerful and implementable from Ralph. He's on the roster. And I am hoping to run into BtoB Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Ellis Booker. We've chatted before - he is a wealth of information and insight.

I'll be on a panel with experts discussing:

Why B-to-B & Corporate Blogging Matters: Best Practices & Key Trends

When 500,000 people are going online every day for the first time in their lives, we are in a time of rapid change. Leaders are realizing that blogging and social media provide one of the most direct ways to build relationships and personalize their story. This expert panel, led by one of the most experienced corporate blogging professionals around, will examine how business marketers benefit when employees and executives blog, how to start and sustain blogging efforts, how to measure their value and lessons learned along the way.

 

Hope to see you in Chicago!

A few of my colleagues and I have been kicking around social media tools and how they relate to our business to business marcom endeavors.

We were listing the social networking sites that we belong to or are considering, including sites that aggregate such sites - and then wondering how it all might work together ... and even help our B2B efforts.

During my research I encountered a very interesting tool, the CONVERSATION PRISM. Based on work previously done by  Robert Scoble and Darren Barefoot, this tool relates online social media tools and other online conversation platforms. The men who pulled this together are Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas. People are commenting on it on Brian's blog and on his Flickr site.

It can't be perfect, and the evolution of tools and activities on the internet will quickly require that this graphic be updated. That said, this is excellent work - something that prompts some serious thinking and encourages exploration - fueling creativity.

 

UPDATE: More info on the Conversation Prism on WikiSpaces.

Image: briansolis.com

"It takes savvy marketing to break through to electronics engineers, a group that wants straightforward information and facts, not overblown marketing fluff."

 

If this quote turns you on, then you've got to read an article from BtoB Online. Written by Mary E. Morrison, the piece, titled, Facts, Not Fluff, Spark Interest, discusses the results of some research, and the opinions and thoughts of some experts - all regarding promoting technology products to a technical audience.

I have always believed that there is a special way to appeal to a tecchie audience, but this article is really going to help me share these concepts with my product and marketing managers. Here are some more pithy quotes:

• " the more complicated or layered the marketing message is, the more likely engineers are to "turn it off." "
• "a strong corporate Web site is an essential part of most manufacturers' marketing efforts."
• "marketers should be considering informational advertising that's in the context of what the audience is doing"

If you're nodding your head in agreement, I know you will read, and use, the article. If you are not sold yet, or if you think this is a little dubious, then you really SHOULD read the article.

 

Image: daylife.com

Direct marketing begat Direct mail which begat Spam - and it's all a part of B2B (BtoB) Marcom.  So beware of a new development in the Spam arena.

A recent email (not Spam) from MarketingProfs covers the recent action of the FTC. The email directed me to more detail at the WordToTheWise blog which said (among much):

The new rule provisions address four topics: (1) an e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender; (2) the definition of "sender" was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act's opt-out requirements; (3) a "sender" of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act's requirement that a commercial e-mail display a "valid physical postal address"; and (4) a definition of the term "person" was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM's obligations are not limited to natural persons.

It would behoove a well-heeled B2B Marcom professional to re-brush up on their CAN SPAM compliance at this time.

Image: Brett's Blog