By Tim Hazlehurst, N.E. Chairman IAS b2b Marketing Now that the B2B marketing chips are down, it is easy for Marketers to be drawn into tempting but subjective routes that are offering sales salvation when the board is desperate for results. A lot of people (Bob Lauterborn, Jack Trout and Michael Treacy etc.) spent a lot of time researching, identifying and highlighting certain fundamental rules.Rules about the marketing process. Rules that can be accelerated but not ignored!  Technological and tactical advances can lead you astray I’ve seen communication tactics evolve from the commercial traveler with the Bell and Howell presentation, through video...

A recurring theme within these pages seems to be creativity in B2B marketing… or more specifically, the lack of it, writes Joel Harrison. The ‘big idea’ is all too often conspicuous by its absence in B2B campaigns, and real cutting edge creative thinking is almost an endangered species. As my fellow commentator Scot McKee would most likely explain, this is largely due to a ‘lack of balls’ on the parts of brands and agencies (I’m paraphrasing here)… but the migration to a more ROI-centric and lead-focused approach has hardly helped. Suffice to say, the situation is petty dire, and both...

RM: those three little letters have been the cause of so much pain for so many marketers. Given the many and varied examples of CRM catastrophies from the 90s, it’s really no wonder that many marketers still run for cover when they hear that particular TLA. Of course, CRM’s fundamental premise (a centralised approach to customer data and contact) was sound, and remains so. However, the problem came – arguably – once this philosophy had become confused with technology. CRM solutions became an end rather than a means, with many implementations failing because they were either too complex, or because...

Leaving just one customer dissatisfied could damage your brand's reputation more than you might think I used to drive BMWs. It's reasonable to say I was your archetypal BMW 'brand evangelist.' I walked into a BMW showroom a couple of months ago and tried to buy a new one. I was ready to pay the cash equivalent of a small neighbourhood in certain parts of Manchester, but the salesman just wanted me to have a test drive. I had no need of testing, so I left. No big deal. But then the 'tapakata, pakata' noise started, swiftly accompanied by coloured...

YES - Focus on consolidation and you could emerge stronger as a result Nick Washbourne, business development manager, Market Location The last two years have been difficult for the majority of businesses, and there are challenging times ahead. Good business sense points towards a proactive approach to shoring up an organisation, so it can not only weather a still turbulent market, but also be best placed to capitalise on a return to more buoyant times. With budgets tight, and little room for error, I'd suggest that consolidation is a more worthwhile approach than excessive innovation. However, the term 'consolidation' tends...

By Marc Munier, Commercial Director at Pure360 I don’t know about you but I tend to get the feeling that a lot of marketing and branding messages are a little “Me, Me, Me”? A lot of consumers and B2B purchasers are getting turned off by this approach and in order to maintain effective communication with our target market we need to develop what we do from traditional marketing to dialogue marketing. ‘Dialogue marketing’ is the future, we can no longer rely on “tradigital” to achieve our goals – which is using old style thinking in new media channels so blasting...

What's the most efficient and effective way of building a marketing database from scratch? What factors should marketers consider?...

What’s a magic notion? You already know. You already know because everything you know – from the ideas and beliefs you cherish to the products and services you use every day… all of these things were originally the product of magic notions. I believe a magic notion really is magic. It appears, seemingly, from out of nowhere. It transforms the world around it. It turns our preconceptions on their heads. And it opens up new, previously unimagined ways of thinking, being and doing. It is destructive, but also creative. It is subversive, sometimes even threatening, but it is also liberating....

I hope I am starting or at least being a part of something, a revolution of sorts. On the 20th October this year I tweeted “People who complain about receiving too many emails. Opt Out from the ones you don't read, instead of deleting them” http://twitter.com/edweatherall/status/5020730534 I also then started telling people at events “ http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/blogs/in-business-blog/make-more-time-your-life-unsubscribe-spam “ Today I got a tweet about a Return Path blog http://savvyb2bmarketing.com/blog/entry/346771/how-to-improve-the-unsubscribe-process-yes-this-is-something-to-think-about Too often people sit with their BlackBerry or iPhone in hand saying “I hate email as it rules my life, I get so many messages”, to which I respond, “Opt Out it's your inbox, or get...

It’s with definite mixed feelings that I read the news of the demise of two more marketing-related print-based publications. According to the Guardian, Media Week is to disappear altogether, whilst Revolution is to become a quarterly supplement within Marketing magazine. Although the name may live on, if it can no longer stand alone as a viable product, then to my mind it is effectively dead. These are latest titles to join the ranks of Haymarket Publishing stable-mates Marketing Direct, Direct Response and Promotions & Incentives, all of which ceased to be produced as print products in the last 12...

Attended the 50th Marketing Society Conference yesterday, 'Marketing: the next 50 years'.  Held in the spectacular Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House.  Fantastic venue, some brilliant speakers and, despite its primarily consumer focus, was some really excellent food for thought.  Oh, and a star turn by Boris Johnson.    So what can B2B marketers take out?   How do marketers need to change?      ·         “Get back to being obsessive about products and services.  Forget about the gloss, just do good stuff.” Jeremy Bullmore  - always worth listening to.   ·         “If you’re not serving the customer, you’d...

If marketing is so great why is it the first budget to be cut when the going gets tough?...

These days, consumers have more choice than ever before, through more diverse channels - from storefront to mail order to online. Expectation is higher than ever. Companies that fail to live up to that expectation find customers leaving without comment - the majority of dissatisfied customers will not complain, they will simply change suppliers. Those businesses that introduce an exceptional level of customer service are differentiating themselves from the competition in an increasingly saturated marketplace. Which is why it is so surprising that business, to a large extent, is still failing to address the issue of customer service. According to...

By Adam Sharp, director, Clevertouch I recently visited a highly successful UK based IT company, a leader in their field with over 150 blue chip clients, including Microsoft, Debenhams, bmi, and Avis among them. We were discussing their sales pipeline and marketing funnel and how to make it more larger and more efficient. Their challenge was that, despite their 10 year history in their UK marketplace and a great reputation amongst their existing customers, they still found it hard to get in front of IT Directors and CIOs and they themselves considered their own awareness as a thought leader much lower...

Great news that Twitter and LinkedIn have finally enabled update sharing – what took them so long? Finally this innovation provides a means of updating the two primary business-focused social media platforms in one go. Goddamit, it might event get me tweeting again!As Twitter founder Biz Stone (great name) says, "it's like bringin' the peanut butter and chocolate together!"Quite.LinkedIn is also promising further integration down in the next few months – is B2B social media finally coming of age?...

I’ve lead a number of workshops over the past few months with b2b organisations looking to create an identity for themselves and are not quite sure how to go about it. They have a couple of things in common   a)     a broad base of external stakeholders with whom they need to communicate b)  very scientific in their approach, often using technical terms that are only understood       internally   Helping companies communicate a relatively complicated value proposition, that resonates with a number of b2b audiences with differing agendas is the sort of task that good consultancies relish.   Approaching...

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks in the media with both the Jan Moir article in the Daily Mail and Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time creating public outcry and debate rarely seen these days.  Social media certainly played its part in facilitating and spreading the debate and the Moir article resulted in the withdrawal of advertising from companies such as Marks and Spencer.    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir-complaints   It made me question whether we have a moral responsibility as marketers. Businesses certainly have more of a Corporate Responsibility agenda now than they did in the Twentieth Century and as Marketers...

Attended the Financial Services Forum Conference on Tuesday.  As usual an high calibre event with an impressive turnout of senior bods and some good speakers.  For those of you who specialise in Financial Services it's well worth being a member.  http://www.thefsforum.co.uk/ .  Although the subject was the changing nature of brands, many of the conversations turned to the importance of customer service.  Or the lack of it.  'Nobody manages to provide an outstanding customer experience', according to Mark Choueke, editor of Marketing Week. Which begs a question.  Are brands now more about what you do, rather than what you say?...

If you’re still trying to create marketing campaigns that are built on solid logic, sound value propositions and robust customer testimonials, then you are missing the point! The rules have changed. You have to be interesting first and then relevant! Being interesting starts conversations, content get shared around the web and your marketing campaign becomes something that lives and breathes. Think about it. If a direct mail piece lands on your desk with a solid and logical headline; “Save millions with our new business software”, “listen to what our customers have to say”, “download our amazing white paper”. What do...

Imagine a future (and we are talking two years max) where social networks will be more powerful than corporate web sites and internal CRM systems. If you don’t believe me, stump up $499 and read the Forrester report entitled “Future of the SocialWeb”. We all know the marketing landscape is changing at a rapid pace. We can see it first hand in the way we are consuming social media in our work and private lives; the odd blog, the Facebook update, the occasional tweet, the increasing usage of Linked In. Wherever you are right now on the social media curve,...