B2B Marketing Blog
Recently by John Williams

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...
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A top 10 of copy writing hates

April 7, 2010 11:09 AM | By John Williams
Compelling copy is at the heart of any successful creative execution.  So why do we see so many bad examples of copywriting when it comes to B2B marketing?  It's as if briefs come pre-stamped with 'please talk to me as a big corporate machine rather than a human being'. This got me thinking about the things that I hate seeing in copy.  All completely subjective - but it would be good to hear if others share my dislikes or have dislikes of their own.  So here goes - a top 10 of copy hates:   Exclamation marks - Sale!  Free!  Vomit!  This is one particular to my personal tastes. I...
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Labelling for Dummies?

March 3, 2010 4:55 PM | By John Williams
Labelling or sub-branding is something we come back to time and again in my business.  B2B marketing in a company that has such a dominant B2C brand can be a difficult task - particularly when trying to get cut through and show relevance to concerns that are particular to B2B audiences.   There are many ways of doing this.  Some brands choose to differentiate visually between their B2B and B2C communications.  Some have the same branding for both and others choose labelling, or sub branding - even going as far as creating a whole new brand for businesses.  But is all this necessary?  Are we underestimating the...
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Do Marketers need to be moral?

November 6, 2009 11:14 AM | By John Williams
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...
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Is Breast Always Best?

October 26, 2009 5:16 PM | By John Williams
That was indeed the question I mulled over when travelling home from the recent B2B Marketing conference on lead generation. It’s not often that I think about breasts, and that may have been the result of too much wine, but the parallels between lead nurturing and breast feeding suddenly struck me. You see, there is a line. Like breast feeding, you can nurture for too long and before you know it you’re the subject of a Channel 4 documentary with two seven year olds clamped limpet-like to your teats. You enjoy the contact, the interaction, the reliance and it makes...
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