Rick Short's B2B Marcom Blog

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

• "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?

Let's use an analogy to discuss virtual trade shows in business to business (B2B) Marketing Communications.

In the old days, if you wanted to meet several vendors, meet industry movers and shakers, and kick a few tires, you had one option: go to a trade show (exhibition).  Analagous to that ... in the old days, if you wanted to speak with someone far away, you had to use the phone. No other choice.

These awards really seem to be about magazines building and retaining a customer base at the expense of editorial integrity. For years I've tried to see the value in them, but I've come to the conclusion that the only value is for magazine publishers.

Why would a true technology leader pay a fee for an awards entry when winners are predetermined by a magazine's customer base? If you're a sales and marketing professional, these awards might mean something to your marketing effort. But, if you're an engineer, do you really care which AOI vendor takes home a magazine's trumped-up technology or service award?

"Trumped-up" too strong a term for you? Well look at this: One magazine's service award explains, "Online responses are collected from a list of customers you provide to determine your company's level of customer satisfaction in various categories." You provide? Why not ask a random group of customers? If I were entering, I'd submit my best and happiest customers to ensure a great chance of victory. And, then, I'd buy an ad to ensure I'd win a tie, but that's just me.

Another publication blows my mind with its awards. It charges applicants $500 per category to submit applications to "independent judges" who remain nameless on their Web site. Don't applicants deserve to know who is judging them? What's worse, year after year the list of winners is dominated by companies whose PR is handled by--believe it or not--the publisher's wife! What kind of message does that send to the industry? And are readers aware of this as they read press release after press release about winning a supposedly prestigious award?

Don't take my word for it--check out the applications on various magazine sites. A $500 fee per entry seems to be the standard to join the game. And check out the paperwork--one magazine asks you to download a form that's not unlike a college scholarship application: "How does this product/service meet a significant industry challenge?" And here's the kicker, "Products introduced or significantly upgraded/changed in the last 36 months are eligible..."The last three years? That's the best we can do when awarding visionary products?

Being employed by a leading industry publication, I'd be an idiot to imply trade magazines fail to play an important role in our industry. But I've held my tongue for years as magazines increase their revenue streams with awards that are mainly meaningless. I would hope our publication could, one day, come up with an industry award that raises the bar (which is why we haven't been "me too" on award presentations). It has to be something of value to readers--not advertisers.

While I know award producers and winners might not be thrilled with my opinion, I'd really like to hear from engineers for your perspective on these awards. Because, in the end,  you deliver awards whenever you sign a purchase order.

Editor's Note: Since publishing this opinion piece, it has been brought to my attention that judges are kept anonymous to keep entrants from contacting them. While I agree this decreases lobbying judges beforehand, perhaps it would be enlightening for both entrants and readers to learn the identities of the judges after the awards are given.

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• Huge eastern North America snowstorm days before Christmas 2009.
• Travel disrupted.
• Thousands of flights canceled.
• Ground transportation interrupted.
• United Airlines unleashes a torrent of informative, helpful, linked, insightful, knowledge-based tweets that surely changed plugged-in travelers' experiences.

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."

I have been emphasizing the convergence of search and social media in my business to business marcom (btob, b2b) practice for a long time. I just received more affirmation from a person I highly respect, Erik Qualman.

In a very concise self-interview on searchenginewatch.com, Erik delivers several nuggets regarding his thoughts on social media. This one is germane to what I call searchal media:

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

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

"Didn't you get my tweet?"

"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

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.
 

• "The energy in your company is noticeable"
• "it was easy to see the companies that have negative energy"
  
• "the positive companies had a much better show"

This is a guest blog posting, filed by a career-long friend of mine, Nancy Pattarini, President & CEO, Paige Marketing Communications Group, Inc. The Indium Corporation and The Paige Group have been doing B2B Marcom business together for about 30 years (longer than I've been at Indium, ~26 years). Whenever I have questions I turn to them for their sound advice. This issue is no different. Here are Nancy's thoughts:

Q: Should one maintain separate personal and professional identities in the social media environment?

Nancy: After study, discussions with colleagues, working on a few client initiatives, and an initial personal experiment, I’m convinced that separate identities are a must. And it is best captured in Rick Short’s own philosophy – "begin at the end". If one starts with the premise that our first responsibility is protecting and advancing the corporate brand, then we must avoid any blurring or distraction and create every possible opportunity to promote a unique value proposition and point of view.

Social media is just the latest of many cluttered environments that marketing communications professionals have wrestled with for decades.

Except trickier. Here are certain truths I ascribe to:

• People who say social media is not a proper environment for corporate communication are wrong. No business has the luxury of ignoring new avenues.
• Social media is the (latest) toughest environment for a business to apply properly because it started at the personal level. (A colleague of mine aptly refers to Social Media as “So Me.”)

When we mix personal and corporate identities in, for example, one Facebook account, I think the corporate info can enhance the personal profile but the personal can distract from the corporate. And I don’t mean just the things we choose to post about ourselves.

My experiment was to start a Facebook page with content that was entirely business-oriented with the goal of carefully friending and networking to keep the focus where I wanted it. But, true to the roots of social media, I’ve been getting deluged with family, friends and tons of network-seekers who (respectfully) have little relevance to my goal for a Facebook business presence. So, I’m in the process of setting up a separate personal account and am advising my clients to do same. I will have to gracefully transfer some family members and a few others and then commit to managing it, as Rick points out in his commentary.

To sum, businesses should not be afraid to wade into the waters, but a good social media strategy will have a specific, intentional goal and communication plan. I think it’s an exciting challenge to our ability as communications experts to manage our brand.