B2B Marketing Blog
Recently by James Farmer

Traditional marketing is dead, long live cheap digital marketing - not that old chestnut again!

September 22, 2009 5:51 PM | By James Farmer
I was just on our B2B Marketing LinkedIn Group (a plug already!) and I read a response to a question I have heard a lot lately. “Where do I put my marketing spend in 2010?” Do I keep a good mix or bin traditional marketing in favour of digital, as it’s cheaper. The thing is, in today’s market I think this general talk of shifting away from traditional spend to digital is already outdated. “Digital” is not new anymore, I know we’re not yet hanging out with Star Trek's Captain Picard but come on; we’re online most of the day...
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Who'd be a marketer in 2009?

November 24, 2008 9:10 AM | By James Farmer
What on earth is the future for marketers in the upcoming year? With budgets being cut, resulting in dumb-down beans on toast emails; jacket potato newsletters; and strategic vegetable soup ... and for a country with more Michelin Stars than the French it could be a culinary disaster!   But will it be all that bad? Have the hard hitting headlines of our day-in day-out mixed-messaging "Armageddon" crying general media got it wrong – “Inflation rising - Armageddon”; “Inflation falling – Armageddon”? Well, I fear, between the lines of the self-flagellating press, we must live up to the reality; next...
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Can marketing beat the economic slowdown?

September 22, 2008 11:50 AM | By James Farmer
Well, it has been a while since my last blog, which (a) is completely against the spirit of blogging and (b) completely against the advice we publish within B2B Marketing, that is, if you are going to blog keep it up, otherwise lose momentum. Well, I have scored a double own goal.   So where have I been? … on holiday, getting over being on holiday, planning in 2009 (already!) and spending a great deal of energy avoiding our cousins the National Press. Doom-and-gloom. Day-in, day-out. They really have been gunning for a recession and now it seems likely they...
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Sales people know better than marketers - about marketing!?

May 21, 2008 10:14 AM | By James Farmer
Can it be true what the title beholds? Do sales people really know more than marketers about marketing? Well, obviously I don’t think so, but I met a couple of regional sales reps yesterday, on the Piccadilly Line, that truly did.   I guess the most frightening admission was that I approached two strangers on the tube and started talking to them. Yes, I must have looked like a lunatic. I felt like one.   In short, I was on the Piccadilly Line, late morning, on my way to a client meeting. During one unscheduled stop [in a tunnel], I...
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The IDM B2B Marketing conference - worth a day out of the office?

April 14, 2008 3:44 PM | By James Farmer
I had hoped to write a few words about the IDM B2B Marketing Conference 2008 the day after the event [8 April 2008]. However, my hangover did not permit it – post event drinks are a must! Now it is Monday, I am feeling fresh and ready to share my thoughts…   We are big fans of the IDM. Over the past few years, they have made a great effort to cater for the needs of the B2B marketer. Not only do they run specific B2B marketing courses, but they also run this quality annual B2B Marketing conference.   It...
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Can I speak to the person who deals with

March 7, 2008 1:45 PM | By James Farmer
I generally respond well to telemarketing but I cannot stand getting cold calls from businesses, who’s opening line is “Can I speak to the person who deals with [office stationary, or, recruitment, or, couriers etc]”. I’ve just had another one this morning, which has led me to write this Blog.   Lets get this straight, I pick up the phone and it turns out the sales person calling does not even know who they have called, then presume to ask me to put them in touch with the correct person, in my company, so they can sell to them. I am...
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Vertical or industry recognition ... why bother being a B2B marketer?

February 4, 2008 2:27 PM | By James Farmer
It seems that I am regressing back to the beginnings of time asking what is B2B marketing all about, or more precisely what is a B2B marketer all about? I have my own views, but more importantly, do practitioners actually see themselves as B2B Marketers in the first place and are there any benefit to it at all?   I am in a fortunate position, as publisher of B2B Marketing, to meet many marketing practitioners each year and invariably ask the question. Many say that B2B marketing is a collective term of all those working in marketing with either a...
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Where are you going to spend your money this year?

January 10, 2008 12:09 PM | By James Farmer
We’ve just started 2008, so what does it have instore for the earnest marketer? What channels will the market be investing in and what will suffer. I’m going to have a quick stab at a couple of forecasts… prepare yourself to be shouted down Farmer!   Up to this point, email marketing has never been utilised so much as an immediate and cost effective tool in lead generation and direct sales. However, I see the worm turning in 08. Not that all email marketing will end, or should, but with everybody on the bandwagon, email is becoming swamped! Marketing emails...
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