B2B Marketing Networking Forum Event:

Date: Thursday July 15th

Location: London

Time: 5.30pm onwards
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As part of our mission to provide valuable content, best practice and case studies for the B2B Marketing Community, we are delighted to announce our first event for the B2B Marketing Forum.

The event is aimed at corporate B2B marketers. If there is interest from agency based, or freelance marketers, we will launch a separate group.

The first hour will feature case-study based best practice advice from those in the field at large technology companies.

Following that will be drinks and networking.

Full details will be released shortly, but I can hint that we have one the most well known technology companies presenting!

if you’d like to reserve a place, please do let me know by contacting me at info@icebluesky.com, otherwise, you will receive the invite shortly.

Many thanks,
Charlotte

B2B Marketing · Event · Technology

OK, so the title might be a little over dramatic, but recent events have reinforced my belief that for most marketing content/organisations/events B2B gets forgotten.

FMCG companies fare the best when it comes to marketing column (and web) inches, followed closely by retail. I suspect because a large proportion of us are exposed to these brands constantly, so they seem relevant.

However, when you’re trying to find case studies to support the latest B2B marketing proposal/idea/technology, it’s like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Mind you, if you think that’s challenging, try looking for useful information on the latest trend, that is not written by a vendor with a (more than) slight bias!

So, I am on a mission – by this time next year I want there to be 100% more content focused on B2B!

Being one to put my money where my mouth is, I have started with the Marketing Society – to cut a very (very) longstory short, I started a LinkedIn discussion in their group to see if anyone cared about B2B – as previously the MS focused on B2C pretty much exclusively. This languished for about a month or so, and then suddenly garnered about 30 comments and the attention of the CEO and Marketing Director of the MS. We had a great meeting last week, and we are launching a B2B Steering Committee next month with a view to driving B2B content and evets – hurrah!

Next target – the Institute of Directors – again, pretty much all their events that help businesses with marketing, focuses on B2C, or is very generalised. Most of the people I meet at the IOD are B2B, so it struck me that I can’t be the only one frustrated with the lack of knowledge and information. So, am in touch with one of the regional leaders and we are going to investigate the appetite. I did try LinkedIn with this one too, received a couple of replies, and one person helpfully moved the discussion to the jobs section?!

We (as in Ice Blue Sky) are also launching a B2B networking group – specifically for marketers and business leaders. We will scour the country for industry experts and relevant case studies to provide as much value as possible. First event likely to be June/July time.

So, watch this space, and if you want to join the crusade, let me know!

B2B · Institute of Directors · Marketing · Marketing Society · networking

What makes an effective cross channel campaign?

Integrated lead generation – sounds good? Practical tips below to help integrate digital into your campaigns, feel free to add your own!

1. Create a URL for your campaign, or use your standard one – and make sure you include it prominently in all your collateral (Ads, Emails, etc). The more memorable the URL the better (think short and sweet) – even if it’s a masked URL that goes to your standard site – you should see hit rates increase.

2. Find a term or keyword that relates to your campaign that can be optimised on Google. Include in your outreach (i.e. Google “IceBlueSky” – try this one to see what happens) to drive traffic to your site – this will also help your Google rankings

3. Include unique URL’s in campaign content so that you can track responses from each channel

4. Use your website as more than an information source – create a “learnings” element to your website to encourage people to visit. This needs to be relevant to your campaigns but can be highly effective when done well

5. Link your different channels with a series of activities – create a natural journey between channels and activities so that target contacts come into contact with all of them. Create a story and strengthen the emotional engagement.

6. Make sure your look and feel is consistent – sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how often this is sacrificed for “looking cool and creative”! You can still create a strong and effective individual identity whilst retaining common look and feel.

7. Use channels that are appropriate – Facebook is typically NOT appropriate for B2B – LinkedIn and Twitter work well for B2B, but make sure you have a proper strategy in place – and adjust internal expectations accordingly in terms of return. There are plenty of tools around that can help you leverage these channels without risking sacrificing your brand’s reputation. Keep personal and business social media firmly segregated.

B2B Marketing · Campaign Management · Cross Channel · Digital Marketing · Ice Blue Sky · Lead Generation · Personalised URL

Well, this week has been a mixed bag! With the snow staying away, business has actually been able to proceed!

We also visited the TFM&A Exhibition (along with Confex) – with a view to looking at exciting developments in technology to support marketing.

What did I learn?

I now know there are more CRM and automated emailing systems than you can shake a stick at.

I also discovered that “Marketing Automation” is the new buzz phrase.

I also learnt that while a lot of companies talk about Marketing Automation, what they actually mean is “automation of one part of the process” such as email sending for example.

Marketing Automation in itself is in its infancy – which I suspect is why many are talking about it, but still working out how to do it. What concerns me is that the term itself will become diluted as organisations jump into the sector, but have offerings that don’t stack up.

It was also interesting to see the divide in these systems when it comes to B2C  and B2B – while B2C platforms looked very robust, and talked about understanding B2B it was clear that the systems could not easily translate between the two. Not surprising in that the two disciplines require different approaches, processes and management – what is suprising is that the providers didn’t seem to want to specialise in one or the other.

Which brings me to my point (there is one) – ultimately, like any technology platform, unless the system is completely aligned to the goals of the user then it won’t do what’s needed.

In marketing, there is definitely a place for technology that enables the marketing process – but without the underlying expertise and process management, the success of campaigns managed through these technologies will be limited.

Take email platforms for instance – they have enabled a large increase in companies bringing email sending in-house (37% increase in 2009 according to the DMA), but this has been accompanied by a decline in the quality and effectiveness in email communications.

Why?

Imagine if you could bring TV-quality production in-house using a video camera and some fancy software – would the company be guaranteed to produce successful and good quality TV shows? Probably not. Some might, but most wouldn’t.

It’s the same with email – the DMA acknowledges this and found in its research that a large percentage of companies sending emails from their internally managed systems are ambivalent about the technology (which can impact how your reader sees the email in their email client), and worse, aren’t processing unsubscribes, and hard and soft bounces correctly.

I don’t want to pick on email, but it highlights that we probably need to wait to see a solid marketing automation platform that covers all the bases, and that we shouldn’t rely on the technology to ensure we do the right processes, but on our own disciplines – as technology sometimes lets us do things we shouldn’t!

B2B · Confex · CRM · Lead Generation · Marketing · Marketing Automation · TFM&A

I am often asked how to incorporate the customer base into the marketing outreach, and when I am asked that question I get very excited. For a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that the person asking the question understands that you need to consider your customer base in a slightly different way to that of your prospect base.

This doesn’t mean you can’t use the same marketing materials, you just need to apply strategic thinking to customer marketing and link that strategy to the profit and revenue goals of the organisation:

• How much revenue should come from the customer base?
• How should that be split by product and solution?
• How does the marketing strategy support that?
• How are you going to measure the results?

The exciting part is that you can generate significant revenue and profit increases by leveraging your customer base – and at the same time, you begin to improve your relationships with your customers as you increase communication and two-way knowledge.

The ideal goals from customer marketing should be:

• increased revenue
• increased profitability with each customer
• increased number of customer advocates
• improved links between customer stakeholder departments: sales, account management, marketing and professional services

The key is to be integrated, and disciplined about how you measure results.

B2B Marketing · Customer Marketing · Customer Strategy

We all know it’s far cheaper to sell to a customer than to a prospect – but what exactly are we trying to achieve?

What do you think of the relationships you have with your customers? If you’re in marketing – how much exposure do you have to your customers?How much of your business do your customers know? Are they constrained within the products or services they currently use?

What?

Marketing needs to develop relationships with the customer base – relationships generate profitable customers. Think about it. If you have a great relationship with someone, you are more likely to trust them, like what they say, and, importantly, act on recommendations. If you have a poor relationship – and poor can be defined by a lack of communication, attention and focus – then you know the rest.

How?

• understand your customer, know their challenges with you – turn those into positives by designing an experience that addresses those head on (think feedback forums for example)
• demonstrate how you innovate – involve them in product launches, marketing programmes, product development
• b2b can be experiential – don’t be afraid to emotionally engage your audience
• make it easy for your customers – create an immediate association or driver for your brandremember the customer journey:
  • Promise
  • Experience
  • Advocacy

Food for thought…would be interested in hearing war stories on either end of the b2b experience!

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It struck me recently that as a B2B marketer I have instant insight into what makes B2B buyers tick – based on my own experience. What some B2B marketers don’t always take into account is that B2B purchasing, whilst budget driven, can be as emotionally charged as consumer purchasing. Much B2B marketing material is fairly dry, extremely corporate and doesn’t seem to “emotionally” engage the individual you are targeting.

While of course it’s important to build credibility with your target audience, let’s not forget you are trying to appeal to people! I have a few general rules of thumb when it comes to B2B marketing:

1. Make it visually appealing – I’m a B2B buyer, I like visually interesting images and colours. If it’s a cool, relevant, interesting image I might pay a bit of extra attention and stop to read a bit more
2. Make it snappy – give me something that’s easy to digest – I don’t have a huge amount of time and 30 seconds should tell me what I need to know to be interested
3. Make it targeted – take the time to personalise – to me as an individual as well as the company I work for. This means content as well as salutations
4. Take your time – I’m not going to buy from you the first time I hear from you, woo me, save something for the second date
5. Respond -follow up,respond when I demonstrate interest – read my behaviour so you know what my interests are
6. Be interesting – don’t be bland, don’t overuse jargon, tell me interesting stories about what you’ve done. Benefits not features please!

I know we all know these things…just it sometimes help to remind ourselves that B2B is not an amorphous, anonymous lump – it’s made up of intelligent, vibrant individuals who want to be treated as such.

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In a crowded meeting place I recently overheard a very awkward conversation between a PR company and their client. The conversation went something like this:

PR company: We called this meeting as we are concerned that you haven’t paid your invoices for a few months

Client: that’s because for around six months we have not been happy. We haven’t seen any deliverables for that time. This is the first time we have had a meeting with you in that time.

Obviously this highlights a number of issues it illustrates that in a client/agency relationship it is extremely easy to fall into the trap of assuming:

1. What your clients want

2. How solid the relationship is

Reporting is important – but good communication is so much more than that. Someone in the senior team should always be accessible to a client, and the relationship should get as much attention at all points across time, not just at the beginning. Such as constantly suggesting ideas, having regular face to face planning sessions and being proactive. Sounds easy – but the above shows just how easy it is for things to get out of kilter…

 Food for thought!

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Marketing Profs in conjunction with Citrix Online recently released a report evaluating the results of a large survey of B2B marketers. They survey examined the effectiveness of lead generation and how using ROI can impact the lead generation quality and the marketing team’s relationships with the rest of the business.

The whole report can be viewed here: http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/EMEA-G2MC-WP-MProfs-S?ID=701000000005DfH

It makes interesting reading in the sense that there are really no surprises (such as those companies that focused on qualitative not quantitative reporting were more successful) – but some great data to help justify the focus on ROI and improving the working relationship between sales and marketing.

Overall it supports the very sensible idea that leads should be more effectively qualified before handing over to sales, and that this improves overall conversions. However, until those that measure marketers accept lower lead numbers but higher quality, my fear is that this will remain a best practice for a few organisations brave enough to try it. 

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A recent article in B2B marketing magazine gets across perfectly why it’s important to not only measure email results – but to actually use those results to dynamically charge your marketing campaigns.

Email metrics are so much more than opens and click throughs when it comes to integrated marketing – you have to use the information around reponses to your emails to determine well recevied content. You can look at conversions to understand if there is an issue with messaging, or with your data.

You can even take a lesson from the B2C community – automated email triggers based on behaviour ensures that nothing slips through the net and your clients and prospects feel engaged with.

You can use email marketing to really assess and learn about your customer and prospect base – their behaviour, preferences and areas of interest. It’s always good to use the information you are collecting.

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