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....

In the next few weeks I become a Dad. So, over the last few months I have spent a lot of time reading about what my wife can and can’t eat or drink, buggies that cost the same as a car, sleeping routines, leaving your baby in the garden with the foxes and a lot more – what did people do before the internet? You may think that, true to form, I am now going to go on a rant about something -  paternity and maternity leave as a business owner, perhaps? But no, I actually want to share with...

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...

I actually wrote this blog last year but was persuaded by my business partner, to just leave it. Now we are having exactly the same conversations, internally as well as with clients and I cannot be silenced anymore.   What is wrong with Happy Christmas?   My business partner says, “No, it’s Season’s Greetings, we don’t want to offend anyone.”   Who are we going to offend?   So the question is - would anyone be offended if a company card said “Have a Merry Christmas”? We are wishing good will to all. Every shop we walk past from as...

Occasionally someone reports a problem with the office loo. I grab my Fisher Price tools and wiggle a few nuts and washers, call in other directors to look at the problem and give their opinion, maybe even get someone to Google it. The time these clever people at Concep spend trying to solve the problem costs the company more in time and salary than if I had picked up the phone and called my brother in law, a plumber.  George would have charged me by the hour, fixed it and then left but I would never consider bringing him on...

I was thinking about writing my next blog for the boys at B2B.  Looking through the various blogs, I suddenly realized that it is just that - “The Boys”. So, is it just that the voices and faces of B2B agencies tend to be men? Are the women of the industry the quiet unsung heroes? The only tool I could find to measure this (and prove me right or wrong) was the Forrester Groundswell http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html  which profiles Social Media contributors. (Although the data is consumer) it does seem that, in the UK, men contribute more than women. In the US, women contribute more. A...

I think we have to take a bit of perspective on time critical events, when looking at email marketing.The time you send an email, does not guarantee when it will be opened, so if you are struggling to get content or creative signed off and you wanted to send it at 14 hundred hours, take a step back and a deep breath. There are a lot of factors that make 2pm not that important.  The other part of this crazy behaviour is if the message you are getting out there is so important why is it only sitting in one...

I have recently taken on the challenge of how Concep will successfully use social media within our own marketing strategy, I have even made a bet with Mark Power, our globetrotting CEO, that I will generate over £15,000 worth of revenue from new or existing clients within Professional Services by December - not a lot of money, but a start.   But anyone who thinks Social Media will replace email completely will need to help me win my bet 100 times over.   Let’s start with LinkedIn, the hot topic at the moment, it seems. It’s great that I...

I attended an industry event yesterday where an agency presenting talked about great view and click through rates. This is fine in a room full of marketers and agency folk who made approving noises, but would it have been enough for those outside of marketing who hold the purse strings? Are too many marketers obsessed with the percentages and numbers rather than the actual result? Is a 25% view and 8% click-through rate something that is going to make sure you have a job in 3 months time? Marketers out there need to get serious and understand the value of...

It seems that in a tough financial market, Marketing Directors have the ability to control their budgets, evaluate suppliers and manage business requirements, <>but can no longer be trusted to sign off any expenditure. I have spoken with some clients and they have seen signatory powers reduced to around 10%, so from £100,000 to £10,000. A professional services firm we are currently in the final stages of agreeing a contract with, has the proposal sitting on the Global CEO’s desk. 12 months ago it would have been signed in two weeks by the marketing director. The new process has resulted...