Monday, November 30, 2009

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.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

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.

Monday, November 09, 2009

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 Associationgreen 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.