Marketing from the bottom up?

In the new dynamic it has become fashionable to talk about conversational marketing – different from ‘word of mouth’ marketing – in so far as this is marketing not driven hierarchically by the company from the top down, but by their recently enfranchised customers connected by internet. A world of individual customers inhabiting the blogosphere, connected by hyperlinks and acting from the bottom up. On the other hand few marketers seem to have embraced blogging, suggested by some as a crucial forum for conversational marketing. The Cluetrain Manifesto attributed by some observers as an early starting point for the notion of conversational marketing offers this opinion – ‘Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.’ Certainly there has been a major movement towards the use of the Internet as a research tool to discover product information as a prelude to buying or specifying. In some industries users have long swapped information about experience with products and become a useful source of knowledge in identifying and fixing faults for example. What is suggested now is that this is no longer a one way street but indeed a conversation between company people and their customers. It implies greater transparency with companies opening up more information in return for greater customer loyalty and input of requirements but most importantly customers spreading the word about the company’s products in a positive way. Early days maybe, but could this be a glimpse of the future or merely a hopeful wish?

In the new dynamic it has become fashionable to talk about conversational marketing – different from ‘word of mouth’ marketing – in so far as this is marketing not driven hierarchically by the company from the top down, but by their recently enfranchised customers connected by internet. A world of individual customers inhabiting the blogosphere, connected by hyperlinks and acting from the bottom up. On the other hand few marketers seem to have embraced blogging, suggested by some as a crucial forum for conversational marketing.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Integrating print with online

Most marketing budgets still have a significant component for advertising in print, but although the web site URL is usually included, quite often it appears as part of the obligatory address block along with phone and fax details. Another school of thought is to use the URL as part of the response mechanism, then having brought visitors to the web site to make that visit relevant. Offering a ‘landing page’ that is specific to the message in the advertisement can both help continue the conversation and also offer a means of measurement of the effectiveness of the advertisement. In the b-2-b space the ‘call to action’ may not be to purchase a product - although we have clients where this is the case - but where there is more typically high involvement in the sales process the landing page can offer useful, relevant additional information to assist the visitor with the necessary research towards making a specification or purchase decision. Real in-depth information such as a White Paper or catalogue downloads can also be offered as well as a clear next step in the sales process remembering the brand offers the promise of providing a solution to the prospects needs. Visually it is important that the landing page continues the theme as well so it is obviously the right place. Of course integrating print and online marketing also requires effective management of both processes – in some businesses the marketing person does not have control over the web site and that is a problem.

Are White Papers a b-2-b soft sell?

A recent article by Michael Stelzner – ‘How White Papers can turbo-boost your sales lead campaign’ picked up on the white paper concept we mentioned back in August under the heading ‘Marketing in the engineering work space’. Then we offered the idea of White Papers as briefing documents to help educate the target audience to have a background understanding of the rationale behind our client’s products. When we think about it, we are often faced with an educational task for clients in technology and engineering businesses as part of an integrated marketing campaign. Then again we have had to also explain to some clients what a White Paper is. According to Stelzner, ‘New research shows that white papers are among the most compelling ways to attract leads.’ Apparently this research shows that 70% of US information technology professionals rely on white papers before making a purchasing decision. The informative nature is important as this influences buyers at an early stage in the sales cycle and can produce good quality sales leads. The key to a good white paper is the quality and content that deals with the issues rather than overtly promotes the products or services. Our view is that the ability to write such a document marks a company out from its competitors, it bestows authority on their expertise and allows them to command the moral high ground in their market. The only mention of products is by way of demonstration, where relevant, and the branding is the authorship. Our thinking is that if prospective buyers are ‘educated’ by our clients then the confidence to buy from that manufacturer is enhanced. One client finds that university engineering departments are particularly interested in white papers and getting them young can be no bad thing.

Do readers demand biased news?

A recent paper published by INSEAD reports, ‘Bias in the market for news is a well-documented phenomenon. Starting from the assumption that consumers want unbiased information, traditional economic theory cannot explain the existence of media bias in free societies, as it suggests that competition forces the media to be impartial.’ It goes on to report that, ‘Recent research in economics proposes an alternative theory which assumes that consumers want to read (or watch) news that is consistent with their tastes or prejudices, rather than to know the truth.’ May be bias is too strong a word, but people have traditionally purchased newspapers that reflected and re-enforced their own political views. It seems to me this is where the competition works, in choosing a paper where you relate to the editorial mission and perspective, so why the assumption that everyone actually wants unbiased news? What has changed in terms of the UK government’s treatment of news is the so called ‘spin’ more realistically called propaganda that seems to owe much to the Dr. Goebels school of reporting and is recognized as such by most people. Also TV reporters seem to have changed from reporting news to providing the interview themselves by answering questions posed by the studio based anchorman. What we actually get is what the reporter thinks is happening and perhaps that is actually worse. Breaking stories skim across news tickers often based on the flimsiest information while ‘experts’ are quick to pontificate, all without the benefit of any actual facts. Then there’s the campaigns, stories that run and run, but suddenly get dropped – I thought we would all have died of bird flu by now, but despite such dire warnings and doom and gloom it is no longer news. In our world of b-2-b communication the trade press is full of PR derived and increasingly paid for content, that blatantly promotes the benefits of the client’s products. I cannot recall an editor ever enquiring to check any facts, typically for a small financial consideration - traditionally but inaccurately known as a colour separation charge - they seem happy enough to print anything that is vaguely relevant to the publication’s title. For b-2-b marketers getting client ‘news’ into the editorial space of a publication offers the appearance of greater credibility and anyway without the manufacturers buying advertising space most trade journals would fold, few are remarkable enough to exist on cover sales or subscription revenue. But then I suspect most readers know this and it is a convenient means of finding out what is going on in their industry. They can check the facts out for themselves if the product sounds interesting and that after all is the real point – to stimulate interest. Apart from the trade press there are web sites which are even lees fussy about what is published and of course thanks to Virtual News Office companies can be their own publishers free of any editorial intervention at all.