B2B Marketing Blog
Recently in Agency Life Category

Let creativity be the driver

August 25, 2010 10:50 AM | By Guest Blogger
Guest blog by Nick Ellis, creative director of Halo Media The economic downturn has meant that B2B marketers have faced inevitable cuts to their budgets. This means that achieving reach through traditional media is harder, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get lasting, meaningful results from your marketing. You just have to think bigger, bolder and more creatively. The marketing mix for brands has become sterile and staid. Brands have become used to the classic media plan of print, outdoor media, TV and radio and although more and more brands are embracing viral and online routes to market, this is...
0 comments | Full story

Tweet-sized B2B

July 14, 2010 10:39 AM | By Francesca Brosan
B2B marketing often faces being pigeonholed as the  ‘undefinable’ – or worse, the ‘boring’ – sibling to the glam of B2C marketing. But B2B is on the rise. As a group, we’ve embraced digital. Integrated social media, microsites, video, mobile and web apps have all become a big part of a lot more marketing mixes (of course, true to our nature, not without very careful consideration first, asking ourselves ‘is the investment worth it?’). But even though we’re rising up, it still seems we struggle for an accurate definition of the work we (as a whole) do. Last week, a...
7 comments | Full story

Having a Good Pitch

June 15, 2010 11:42 AM | By John Williams
  I love a good pitch - but then who doesn't?  I would guess that incumbent suppliers for a start must dread re-pitching for business.  It's always difficult to put forward new ways of doing things without inviting the question of ' why haven't you been proactive and suggested this before?'.  This is why I think pitches as a whole can sometimes be healthy for agency/client relationships since it can refocus both parties on strategic aims and working practices. It's been noted in other forums that in terms of effort and resource, pitching for business can cost an agency up to £50k not to mention the...
1 comments | Full story

Not another World Cup blog

June 14, 2010 12:00 PM | By Francesca Brosan
Anyone who’s listened to 'You and Yours' recently may have heard their spot on ‘the worst World Cup marketing ploys’, in which they read out press releases from unsuspecting PRs.  Hilarious.  My favourite so far is the law firm offering advice about how not to infringe copyright laws in their use of World Cup and FIFA promotional materials.  Masterful.  I can really see our local publican giving a stuff,  but perhaps there is someone in the local council with the specific responsibility of monitoring World Cup copyright infringements.  Or perhaps, given the state of the public purse, that’s one of...
0 comments | Full story

Re-evaluation brings rewards

June 2, 2010 10:12 AM | By Guest Blogger
New business development requires a relevant strategic plan, says Julia Haviland, director of Brittain Marketing.There is no doubt that direct communication with prospect companies is a proven route for businesses to engage with key decision makers. There is also solid evidence that such channels can assist in delivering your product and service propositions that in turn can help achieve growth plans. The deliberation however, a dilemma for many marketers and sales professionals, is how do they position themselves in today’s market? More importantly, how do they differentiate from their competitors in today’s market?All too often I have had businesses ask...
0 comments | Full story

Where’s the waste?

May 24, 2010 10:39 AM | By Francesca Brosan
So George Osborne is in the act of cutting £6bn of ‘waste’ out of the economy.  I like the idea that civil servants will have to give up 1st class rail travel (some of us did that long ago).  I like the idea that David Cameron is walking places rather than using his official car.  Until I wondered what that meant for the official car hire company.  Have they have taken a drop in earnings?  Is his official driver out of a job?   And there’s the rub.  What’s waste to some people is employment to others.  I read (over someone’s shoulder...
0 comments | Full story

A new era of coalition?

May 20, 2010 10:17 AM | By Guest Blogger
Guest blog by James Trezona, managing director at technology marketing agency Mason Zimbler You have to admit, don’t you, that the new coalition government is a great thing for UK marketers. I’m sure I do.  I think it will inspire marketers and marketing agencies to form their own coalitions.  As with politics, so with business, and the B2B marketing world is now mature enough to change the way of working. Agencies that currently work in a vacuum will have more confidence to form alliances with their competitors, and the overriding perspective will change from threat to opportunity for mutual benefit. In...
1 comments | Full story

Keep it brief

May 5, 2010 2:02 PM | By Guest Blogger
Marketers must be brave when writing briefs in order to avoid bland creative, urges guest blogger Drew Nicholson, joint managing director of DNX Twenty years ago, a planner I worked with left the agency I was at to go to Ogilvy. When I saw her a month later and asked her what was better about the new agency she said “the main difference is that the creative work is more interesting to look at than the briefs.” Oh dear. How that reminded me it was time to move on! Unfortunately, the agency I was at was not blessed with the...
0 comments | Full story

Twitter = "The Emperor's New Clothes"

April 28, 2010 12:06 PM | By Edward Weatherall
I am talking serious B2B here, you know when we have face-to-face meetings before deals are done. I am talking deals of five figures upwards, no shopping baskets in sight. I’m talking multiple meetings, wining and dining, a round of golf or tickets to lady’s day at Ascot. I’m talking months to do a deal not minutes. Now let’s look at what is currently going on in a lot of marketing teams – Twitter account set up, why? Facebook page done, why? LinkedIn profile and connections created, why? What I see is a parable based on the emperor’s new clothes....
16 comments | Full story

What’s the role of an agency in social media?

April 27, 2010 5:24 PM | By Francesca Brosan
'Disintermediation' is a term normally applied to the Financial Services industry when people talk about the demise of the IFA (greatly exaggerated in my view).  But last week I heard it applied to agencies.  The argument goes that if social media is taking over from traditional media as the marketing channel of choice, and it’s something that clients themselves are keen to manage internally, why do they need agencies? Typically, it's believed that the best people to blog are the customer service department or the CEO and the best people to Tweet are the marketing department or the logistics company. ...
1 comments | Full story
Main Index | Archives | Best practice Q&A »