Content marketing

Many companies will have gone through several iterations of their web site over the years, but how many have really revisited the content? Too often it is the same material in a new wrapper. In the Internet era so much has changed, much of it in the favour of b-2-b companies  and away from traditional media owners. Company information pre-Internet took a number of well established routes to reach customers and prospects - advertising, press releases, exhibitions, mail shots and brochures - and still does. Pretty much all of this can now be done online, although arguably not the face-to-face experience of exhibitions in quite the same way. Companies used advertising in publications to reach their target audience by selecting magazines with the relevant readership profile because this was the only way. The magazines built the readership by providing fresh content each month through a mix of reporting, features and by editing press announcements. Generally both traditional media publishers and company marketing people have been slow to recognise that everyone can be a publisher now. Think about the most common question customers ask when you see them on an exhibition stand or when making a sales call - "tell me what is new."  Showing a new product or service is what salesmen use to get an appointment, it is a door opener. Now think about the company web site. Does this highlight what is new? Many do not. Just as customers are reluctant to see a salesmen without something new to say, so web sites need to be constantly evolving to retain the interest of returning visitors. You may not always have new products, but you can have something new to say about them and visitors need to know this once they reach your site. Little details such as displaying the current date rather than saying last updated 2007 are simple clues that the site is regularly maintained and the product information is likely to be up to date as well. That is why we advocate putting news right there on the entry page. Not only does it show there is content that they have not seen before and is worth looking at, but indicates the site is being kept current. You would not pick up a magazine you had read before would you? So marketing content is essential these days.  A simple answer is to add a Virtual News Office linked to your site with RSS feeds and teleprinter style headlines on the home page.

Who owns news content?

With the means of publishing news shifting from print to the Internet there are new challenges to copyright, no doubt ultimately motivated by the value attributed to content and how access is charged or funded. But while few b-2-b businesses will  be selling news through their own newspapers, magazines or web sites, legal rulings on copyright could still have an impact on what they can do. While major organisations challenge copyright laws to publish books online, copying news published about the company itself, providing links, headlines and extracts is also coming under the scrutiny of organisations seeking to extract  a licensing fee.

 Related to this is the concept of subscribing to news resources. We have become used to free access to news online and the rise of free newspapers. Recently the London Evening Standard decided to become a free newspaper with the result that the existing free circulation evening papers folded. Meanwhile reacting to declining advertising revenues News International outlined proposals to charge for access to their news web sites. So the business models are being revisited. The issues surrounding copyright of news has also recently been highlighted by the aggressive sales methods adopted by an organisation operating on behalf of newspapers publishers and pursuing b-2-b companies to take up licenses.

From the other end of the news process consider how most businesses create news. In short the news item is written by the company itself, or by a PR agency acting on their behalf and issued as press releases or articles that are submitted to journals for consideration to publish. Few trade journals actually employ journalists to write content, but use managing editors who fill a large part of the editorial content selected from press releases. So the company or PR agency may feel they retain ownership of the copyright especially if they pay for publication, which is increasingly the case. Providing copies of published news as a service to clients might therefore seem entirely reasonable. But it is in this very area where demands for a license to do so are being made. The Newspaper Licensing Agency  advises that PR agencies providing press clippings to their client require a license to do this. Furthermore access via web links appears to fall within the scope as well. Not surprisingly this has given rise to debate within the PR and indeed wider web community, right up to the likes of search engines that pick up and publish extracts from online news in the search results and also of course provide links. Expect to hear more about this complex subject.

Green marketing industrial products

Green marketing suddenly arrived on the agenda for some clients this week. But what does green marketing mean in the b-2-b space?

Industrial Technology magazine has just invited editorial submissions for a special issue 'dedicated to "green" technologies' scheduled for January. Bidding for government or public sector work may require compliance with ISO 14001 and the ability to demonstrate compliance with various 'green' issues for one client. Another client  released news of its 'green credentials' last week. So what is 'green marketing'? 'According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe.' 

The thing is 'green' issues can embrace a whole gamut of activities and there is plenty of confusion with environmental issues, sustainability, renewables, carbon footprints, energy-saving, recycling, eco issues, organic and other socially responsible activities.

 

Of course  many of these initiatives are not new but collectively they do seem to be progressing up the marketing agenda. So how should b-2-b businesses present green issues? The presumption is that green marketing is a good thing, but as with any other marketing initiative it has to be based on factual information. Just climbing on the green bandwagon and declaring products and processes green will be perceived as  spin and undermine trust and confidence in the company. It is a no good using marketing to disguise the reality if there is not a real and demonstrable process in place, any more than over stating the case for poor products.

First impressions count

When a new visitor reaches your web site what will be the first impressions they receive? There are just seconds to convince them that your web site is relevant to their search and that your company  could be a potential supplier, before they bounce out to review your competitors' sites. A professionally designed site is indicative of a professional company. Even the untrained eye can quickly distinguish between professional design and an amateur effort which subliminally conveys the impression that the company has cut corners and what does that say about your products? The other important  test is to convince the new site visitor that you can provide the product or service that he is looking for. Text that quickly gets to the point in describing your nature of business will be picked up by the search engine and will influence the decision to even go to your site at all. But having created a good first impression and established relevance and credibility, what will persuade your visitor to not only explore further, but to make an enquiry or place an order? 

We have identified five important areas of content:-

1. Explain clearly the products and services you offer and provide specifications and downloads where appropriate.
   
2. Provide reference to satisfied users through the use of third party endorsement and case studies that build confidence in your product.
   
3. Cite influencers - recognised opinion leaders in your field - who can provide expert testimony to your products and impart their credibility to your product.
4. Offer an 'impartial' guide to the market sector that establishes your expertise.
5. Provide calls to action that make it easy for visitors to contact you directly.

For many b-2-b companies products are not impulse purchases that are for immediate sale, but subject to specification processes, so it can be helpful to also provide information updates that both keep your prospects informed of new developments and keep your company name on their agenda for the time when they are ready to buy. News releases are a good way to do this and there are quite a number of options including eNews, RSS and blogs to name just three and at the heart of this strategy can be a Virtual News Office.

Does social media deliver for small businesses?

A recent survey reported by emarketer points up a gap between social media usage and effectiveness in creating sales leads for small businesses. The report also highlights an issue previously noted of the resource needed to operate blogs, tweets and facebook to mention just 3 from a rapidly expanding stable of social media sites. Previously we noted some possible b-2-b uses that some companies had found not only useful but effective - but to make it work needs a commitment and manpower resource. As a means for presenting a company's public face this is not an easy call when some 63% of respondents surveyed found social media 'not helpful at all' for lead generation and a further 13% thought it 'not very helpful'. By contrast just 3% considered it 'very helpful' and 9% 'somewhat helpful'.  On the other hand these are early days for small b-2-b companies  in the big social media pond, they will typically not be big brands individuals will rush to 'follow' either so both a reticence to invest time and disappointing response are not surprising .   Perhaps the best way into social media is smart repurposing of PR material that can be provided from an existing resource to gain experience and build followers and monitor results.

Do consumer marketing methods work for B2B?

There are probably far more similarities than differences between consumer and business-to-business marketing methods. One big difference is the size of marketing budget, so when new and inexpensive communication means are adopted in the consumer marketing space it is well worth taking note. It is often remarked that the Internet has enabled small businesses, through access to the same media as major global brands, to be on a 'level playing field'.  Whether small businesses enjoy the same visibility as their big spending competitors is another matter. So when consumer companies start claiming success with social media maybe it is time to discover what is working for them. Where web sites once caused businesses to clarify and detail more carefully exactly what they were selling, so the very nature of social networking will demand more openness - probably much more than many are prepared to concede. Businesses already unwilling or too nervous to publicise any reference to customers, projects and business initiatives will probably find this a step too far. In traditional public relations it is still customary for a press release to be minutely scrutinised for accuracy, legal concerns and customer approval for example. This can take some time. But Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter require not only a quick response, but a non-corporate one if  'followers are to be kept interested. So what is the benefit of Twitter when communication is restricted to just 140 characters? Well it seems some editors are actually asking for news to be sent this way on the grounds that if a news story cannot be made sufficiently intriguing in 140 characters, then it is probably not of interest to them. Twitter certainly offers a useful way of issuing not only news headlines, but also links to the full story which can reside on a blog or a Virtual News Office. It offers a far faster route to news publication than through traditional print media.  It can also be used for exclusive offers, coupons, discounts and promotions - the success of which can be measured. Other companies are finding Twitter useful for proposing solutions to customer problems and offering demonstrations. It seems with the advent of real time search and inclusion in Google search results, Twitter may be a useful addition to the b2b marketing portfolio. 

Client and agency ethics under strain

Suppose you owned and had title to a valuable painting, maybe a work by Piccasso, Rembrandt, Turner or Constable, does that give you ownership of the copyright as well? What if you commissioned a talented artist to make a copy of this painting you owned, would that be OK? If you tried to sell the fake then the police would probably take an interest, so when is it OK to copy somebody else's work you have bought and when is it not right? Whatever the legal interpretation there is a question of ethics. Because you have instructed an agency to design you a brochure, an advertisement or a web site is it ethically right to then re-use or plagarise the design. And do you have a right to the work in progress files that were used to deliver the final result? For example the deliverable maybe a stack of print, or if the client opts to organise printing, then a high resolution PDF. But does the client have the right to demand the Quark files and image files too? This does seem to becoming a more common issue and smaller agencies are coerced into compliance at the risk of losing the client altogether. Before the advent of computer generated artwork this never happened, because there were too many stages in the arcane process of moving from design to print for a client to either want, or be able to get involved. Many clients fail to realise that these programs are tools for trained designers that require a skilled user if the original design is not to be downgraded. Sadly some neither notice or care. Would they be so indifferent about people reverse engineering their products? But how about ideas, how are these valued? For small businesses there are neither the funds or time to protect concepts especially in the fast moving world of the Internet. So what is to stop a client picking up an idea and setting underemployed staff to create an in-house solution? Well, not much really so it is always a fine balance between pitching an idea and explaining how it benefits the client without disclosing too much.