Are b-2-b marketers engaged in social media?

How are b-2-b marketers exploiting social media opportunities?

Many of our b-2-b clients were late adopters of web sites. Now of course the web site is probably their most important marketing tool. But at the time they saw no need for a web site, not that is until they realised that suddenly their competitors had them and what we had been telling them for years was indeed happening. It is a familiar story of the reluctance, even hostility to embrace new technology. Back in the 19th century it was the Luddites who challenged the industrial revolution as machinery took over the work of artisans. But early adopters are not always right either. Some technologies do not fulfill their promise and in hindsight were expensive mistakes. The technology opportunity that b-2-b companies are faced with for marketing communications is the second era of the Internet, web 2.0. Web 2.0 allows interaction and has made its mark most tellingly in social media - Twitter, YouTube, Blogging and Facebook, plus several hundred less familiar names. Once again b-2-b companies have been slow to become involved because social media brings new challenges to the status quo, it takes businesses and the individual out side their comfort zone.

Previously the only communication by businesses to their customers has been controlled by the company through advertising, mail shots and press releases - all checked and approved before issue. In fact a lot of smaller companies don't even do that much, rarely if ever issuing a press release. But a key feature of social media is the so called 'conversation' that provides for comment, feedback, opinions. If not properly managed, there is an opportunity for disenchanted customers to not only complain, but to do so in a public forum where other customers and prospects can be exposed to a hitherto secret process. The challenge here is what to do about it. Failing to monitor what is being said about your company, if anything, is one issue and becomes a problem once a subject gains traction.  This sort of thing has already caught some out due to their ignorance of the original problem. At the very least 'alerts' should be set up to monitor what is being said about your business on the Internet, so you are immediately aware of problems and can respond rapidly before a small irritation becomes a crisis. There needs to be an agreed process already in place to respond quickly, effectively and positively to nip the problem in the bud. Customers are realistic enough to know that things go wrong, what interests them most is how well the supplier fixes the problem.

The next matter to address is how businesses proactively use social media. Setting up a blog or Facebook page needs to be carefully thought about. In particular how to share information, what to share and who to authorise to do this. Some high profile CEOs write blogs for example, something that will probably shock many SME business owners particularly where they have traditionally played their cards close to their chest and barely communicated with their own employees let alone their customers. Actually more enlightened businesses work closely with their PR agencies and it is they who actually contribute much of the input.

Finally despite all the hype about the millions of people signed up for Facebook or followers on Twitter - are your customers and prospects at these places. In the next few blogs we will look at this in more detail and talk about specific social media channels.

Do you have a strategy for today's diversity of media?

When there was just print media there were a few ways to go, but  online media is bringing a diversity of communication opportunities that calls for a review of marketing strategy.

In our recent series of blogs discussing budgets we noted how traditional display advertising was still a big ticket item, if not the biggest, for many b-2-b marketing budgets. Similarly exhibitions continue as a major call on budget and resources, although there is a noticeable trend away from printed brochures, preferring short runs, digital print or simply offering PDFs for download. Typically everything to do with online media is lumped together with the web site budget. But this budget line is actually concealing a rapidly expanding sector and new ways to reach your target audience.

The traditional approach to b-2-b advertising is to identify the leading journals for the sector that reach the target audience most effectively and book display ads. A lot of people still do. But there are now  several different ways to go. Banner advertising is probably the nearest to display advertising and apart from providing visibility on relevant sites additionally offers a link to click through to the advertiser's web site or landing page. However it is argued that click through rates have fallen and are now 0.2% to 0.3% and banners are ignored anyway. But then again are readers responding to display ads as much as they did in trade journals?  Adwords work in a different way and are displayed when chosen keywords are triggered by a search and require time, effort and expertise to run a successful campaign. Social media sites display advertising relevant to user profiles and location. So three different approaches to paid for online advertising to consider - display banners placed on sites prospects visit such as industry portals, Adwords displayed in response to keyword search terms and advertisements displayed to social media users who match the target audience profile. In reviewing media plans it makes sense to bring the online media into the advertising planning and budget rather than tucked away as a web site expense.

Similarly PR has changed as discussed in a recent blog. With traditional print the editor chose whether or not to use your press release, although in many trade magazines you can pay to get it printed by buying the editorial space. Now however you can be the publisher. An online news office allows you to publish all your company's formal announcements without editorial rejection. Social media offers the opportunity for informal communications, the chance to engage in conversations with customers and prospects. Blogs are good for a more personal style of communications and offer the opportunity for readers to comment on your blog and provide feedback. Twitter lends itself to headline communications and short links to a blog or other content. YouTube is great for actually showing product, but the real dilemma for b-2-b is the much discussed Facebook. More traditional clients shudder at the idea of associating their brand with Facebook while others enthuse - does the 'status' of an engineering company really interest users?

There are other examples such as traditional print mail shots v html email, eNews v printed newsletters - it all adds up to a game changer. Whether we are witnessing a gradual transition from print to online, or a  greater diversity of advertising, publishing and communication opportunities it makes sense to consider the communications techniques as a whole and decide what mix and balance there should be between print and online.

How are press releases evolving?

The traditional press release has moved on as news publication platforms proliferate.

The traditional press release, usually accompanied by a 5" x 7" glossy print and mailed to the editorial desk is presumably no more. Maybe some traditional agencies continue to issue double spaced stories typed on client headed press release paper and avoiding paper clips that might scratch the glossy photo in transit and render it unsuitable to scan. The double spacing was to give space for the editor to scribble notes and changes on material selected for publication. There has been a gradual move away from postal delivery to e-mail often now to a news desk address rather than the editor. It was once quite a big deal developing a press release, researching the story which may have involved an onsite interview at a location where the client had installed product, all accompanied by a professional photographer - it all added up to a substantial fee and took some time before the client signed off on a final copy and the release was ready to go.

Today it is rare to visit a location for a story, interviews are more typically by email or telephone and everyone has a digital camera or phone to take some pictures and e-mail them across - mainly because clients don't want to pay much for it. But with the immediacy of the Internet and new publishing opportunities the demand for content is growing. Not from the printed trade press where editorial pages are shrinking and publication intervals extending due to the relatively high costs of putting together, printing and mailing a magazine, but from blogs, Twitter, Facebook and online news sites. When the trade journals were the only show in town getting stories published was vital, but now print media is just one route to reach customers and prospects. Indeed for many trade journals one that can be bought just the same as space for display and classified advertising.

Savvy companies are investing marketing pounds in not just news creation, but in publication and with that building readership and a following amongst their target audiences. But the news piece itself no longer needs to fit the old formula of say 150 to 200 words. It can be a headline piece published on Twitter which typically will include a short link to a more expansive story that might be on a blog. Or go to more detail on the company web site, or a White Paper that sets the whole scene. All this information provides valuable research material for prospective buyers who are now far better informed when they are ready to buy than ever before. It is not just text, but good use of photographs and videos are becoming more and more important influencers in that decision making process that leads to making a purchase.

The ability to editorially control the publishing platform allows the tone of voice to be more conversational and less formal than before and give a personality to brands previously mainly communicated by logos and icons.

Do headlines tell their own story?

In today's quick consumption, time deficient world, headlines are becoming the story.

Sensational headlines on news vendors' placards are traditionally written to capture attention, introduce a story and sell a newspaper, but today thanks to the 140 character limitation of Twitter, the headline is becoming the story. Twitter is particularly interesting as the established news organisations frequently attribute Twitter as a news source and invite readers to participate through the medium. Journalists are apparently fond of using Twitter and refer to announcements made by "celebrities" issued as Tweets which seems to be an increasingly popular way of communicating with the press. Of course skimming headlines in  a newspaper, magazine or web site helps readers make a choice of which stories to read in more detail, if any are read at all. Apart from Twitter, headlines come in other forms too - RSS news feeds and email subject lines for example - but increasingly in the age of texting and social media there isn't much more content. Encapsulating the main issues of an announcement into a few well crafted words therefore takes on even greater importance for marketers.

This trend to short communications extends to reports upon which major investment and purchase decisions are made. It seems not uncommon for decision makers to have a short attention span, one that may extend to reading a one page proposal, but not a 70 page document that provides background information, research, rationale, numbers and facts. However it may not be that new - just becoming more commonly encountered. It is reported that Ronald Regan, Winston Churchill and Dwight D Eisenhower all insisted on one page decision making memos. "Regan required officials and staff to boil down the issues into a one page format with the following four elements: the issue, the facts, reasoning and recommendations."


Conversely time seems to be out of proportion to the  importance or value of the decision. Writing a humorous piece  in The Economist as long ago as 1955, Cyril Northcote Parkinson observed in what became known as 'Parkinson's Law' that 'work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion' and in a subsequent essay described a management meeting agenda with three items requiring a decision. Discussion over a multi-million pound investment in a nuclear power plant merited a mere ten minutes discussion with experts not even called in to provide detailed advice. Review of quotations for repairs to the roof of the cycle shed a matter of a few hundred pounds took rather more time, while the decision to raise the price of tea in the works canteen by one penny went on for hours.

There are also plenty examples where decisions are made on the basis that the project should include some pet feature insisted upon by the MD while a detailed specification is ignored. Time spent on planning pays off in the long run but marketers need to gain attention in the first case to provide a hook and and for the prospect  to swallow the bait. So succinct, to the point headlines, reports that get to the point quickly are important, but in depth analysis in the form of White Papers and detailed product specifications are equally vital to answer all the questions the MD may ask anyway but can't be bothered to read. And of course having relevant unique content on your web site will help with Google as well.

Talking about marketing strategy

The purpose of a marketing strategy is to help a company deliver its business objectives.

It follows that first of all there should be a business plan that sets out what these objectives are accompanied by a strategy for achieving them. In many companies the business plan can often be dominated by financial projections including revenue forecasts and investment in capital expenditure.  Both revenue and capital expenditure is relevant to marketing. Sometimes the business objectives are purely financial such as to achieve percentage growth target  and hit profit goals.  Although companies put a lot of effort into forecasting and budgeting it is still easy to be too optimistic in forecasting high revenue, then spending as though that forecast revenue is actually being achieved when often it isn't. The impact of new product introductions can also be  over estimated, particularly as they have usually been developed with the expectation of rapid market uptake which if the marketing is wrong may not be achieved.

There are two important elements to the marketing plan - new product development and marketing communications. New product development is an essential part of the marketing plan that will incur investment in both R&D resource and in production equipment such as custom tooling to develop and manufacture the product. New products will typically require independent testing and authentication against standards and there may also be intellectual property costs such as patents and trademarks to consider as well. Product management of both new development and product maintenance of the total  portfolio will strategically aim to maintain a competitive market position. Competitive factors will include the specification and performance of the product, its price and availability.

Communicating product messages will work together using a range of integrated marketing communications techniques in a comprehensive and 'joined up ' plan . The 'marcoms' part of the marketing plan should describe the rationale for the methods being deployed, identify on-going issues such as developing brand values and awareness, specific campaigns such as new product launches, events such as exhibitions and include media schedules and timescales. Supporting the marketing communications plan should be a budget which will in turn be a component of the company budget.

It is this attention to strategic planning and detail  that distinguishes marketing from sales. Sales will have a focus on more immediate matters resulting in the closure of a sale and achieving targets. Indeed the personalities of people in sales and marketing can be quite different as well.

Talking about technical marketing

Why is it consumers will pay a premium price for a product far in excess of its intrinsic cost? The answer is that the product bears a logo representing a brand that is desirable to the consumer. They are not just purchasing a product – they are investing in a life style choice, ownership of that product is aspirational and makes a powerful statement to their friends and associates about their own values and status. Of course the brand owner has invested serious money to create that desire and positioning of their brand intended to convey instant recognition and comprehension.

So do the same marketing techniques work for the less glamorous world of business-to-business marketing, where budgets are considerably less? The answer is that the general principles of marketing still apply – the challenge is how they are applied. People buying business products and services are also consumers who experience the world of consumer marketing every day, but in their professional capacity will be less influenced by emotional appeals. When buying or specifying b-2-b products the process is not characterized by a spontaneous desire for instant gratification. It is a process of evaluation and consideration which may be quite lengthy. But what might ultimately differentiate one similar product from another is the reputation of the brand of the supplier. Although price will always be important, quality, reliability, technology, availability, post sales support and many other factors may figure in the final purchase decision. Building that reputation for a brand is where marketing performs a vital role in creating an environment where purchasers will ultimately demonstrate a preference for one product over another.

Marketing should not be confused with sales. It is far more to do with planning for the future, with strategy to keep ahead of fast moving trends, the routes to market, and the means of promotion and delivery that provide the essential environment in which selling can be successful. When marketing technical products, there are many facets to the marketing role. Technical marketing will typically embrace new product development, marketing communications and protection of intellectual property. Instead of the emotional appeal of consumer marketing we recognize that in the marketing space we address of industrial, technical and entertainment technology products, we are more typically engaged with engineers. Accordingly we have introduced an engineering approach to marketing. Engineering brings discipline to marketing, a discipline much needed in controlling the flights of fancy of the creative media types in getting the i's dotted and t's crossed, keeping feet firmly on the ground and keeping sight of the purpose of marketing a product - not in winning design awards. And if bringing engineering into marketing might seem a strange notion, unless marketing is properly controlled and brought in on budget then it will be a disaster. Engineering projects are as much about planning, adherence to schedules and budgets as they are about technology. In fact engineers are increasingly being employed in some surprising areas including many types of management consulting even in the financial sector. 

Technical marketing brings the same engineering methodology and thinking to marketing - introducing staffing structures, building the team, setting objectives through the marketing plan, formalising budgets, introducing financial controls, defining schedules and setting specifications for creative projects. Too often companies launch into building a web site, designing a brochure, booking an exhibition stand or commissioning an advertisement without first deciding on what they need to achieve. Design led agencies naturally play to their strengths - a flare for creative designs - and wow clients with exciting images. Arguably engineering marketing, or as we call it technical marketing, lacks some of that wow factor, but what we have discovered is that clients recognise the benefits that our approach can bring to the bottom line. We supply the rationale. And with the increasing importance of the Internet in marketing, a technical competence and comprehension of what works online too.  Of course there is a need for professional creativity, but it requires purpose and direction - in short planning, organisation, discipline and control. So engineering marketing solutions works - our clients testify to that.

Common to successful engineering projects and successful marketing is the importance of planning and testing first. Our technical marketing philosophy helps engineer marketing solutions that support and aid delivery of company objectives. Starting at the beginning of the planning process is the marketing plan. Very few companies actually seem to have one any more than they have a formal business plan. There is too often the impression conveyed that the only marketing plan is to repeat last year's pattern of expenditure - usually the last several years - which makes it difficult to find budget for new concepts. All at a time when marketing is rapidly evolving. The usual reason given for not having a formal marketing plan is lack of time. But what is the point in spending money without knowing why or having any benchmark to measure whether it is successful? We recommend not only reviewing the marketing plan at least annually, but also setting the budget that will help deliver the results and company objectives. 

Planning needs to be followed by effective implementation. This is an important part of our client involvement – working as part of the team to actually implement the plan at an operational level. By working in partnership with our clients, changing circumstances can be easily accommodated in the plan. We bring experience in a range of marketing disciplines from traditional to evolving online techniques and can handle some or all of these to an agreed plan. The mix will differ according to each client’s own specific needs and resources. Most of our clients now regard Technical Marketing Ltd as part of their team thanks to long standing business relationships.

If you market technical products and think your business could benefit from working with us then get in touch. If you are just interested in what we do then sign up for our e-mail newsletter or just follow us on Twitter or any of the other options offered on the web site. We are here to help businesses succeed.

Time for b-2-b companies to review the marketing budget

 Investment in marketing  should deliver valid returns just the same as for investment in other business assets. Accordingly there should be a Marketing Plan that is designed to help the company achieve its business objectives and an essential part of that plan is the Marketing Budget.

Recent blogs have asked some searching questions about the value of investment in the most commonly used marketing communications methods in a rapidly changing environment. We began with the marketing mix and suggested that it may be time to review the balance. Despite the dominance of digital marketing methods and user preference for information online, many companies continue to commit large proportions of their budgets to traditional media. Why? Because they keep updating last year’s budget.

As the initiative shifts from print to online media many b-2-b marketers remain stubbornly committed to traditional display advertising. Exhibitions seem more popular  with exhibitors than with visitors and do the total costs really get considered?. Meanwhile new media opportunities are emerging online which call for a share of a marketing budget that is already under pressure. These blogs have now been brought together in a PDF version that can be downloaded from the Technical Marketing web site.

Marketing in difficult economic times will pay dividends for those businesses that invest by gaining share at the expense of rivals who cut their budgets. But that investment should be carefully made - not just last year plus or minus x%.   

Creating the marketing budget

A simple spreadsheet can provide a useful tool for creating and controlling the marketing budget. 

The most important thing is to both have a budget and to monitor expenditure against plan throughout the year. The budget is the financial expression of the Marketing Plan which provides the strategic vision, rationale and implementation programme. The budget also helps impose a discipline and control for the marketing team and is usually approved by management as the authority to invest in the marketing programme.

Some may find it helpful to include detail work sheets that feed summated figures into a summary page. Comment boxes can also prove useful to add explanation to the individual figures without adding line items for each. Of course larger operations may have sophisticated software to record and measure all transaction but it remains important to remember marketing is not accounting, so the budget tool should be an aid not an end in itself.

There are 2 ways of creating the budget:- 1) to ‘cost the need’ or 2) to invest what can be afforded. Cost the need is unlikely to be affordable to the typical b-2-b company so it comes down to a percentage of sales budget. There are no hard and fast rules as to what this figure should be. However some companies apply the percentage to product lines so well established products enjoy larger budgets than new products which actually need more support to gain traction.

Establishing actual costs can come from suppliers or past experience to build up the budget required to support the marketing plan. And finally include a sum for contingencies - the unforseen costs or even commitments made on behalf of the company in a weak moment by the MD! 

Recent blogs have looked at some of the big ticket items in many typical b-2-b budgets and suggested it is time to re-think the marketing mix rather than simply revamp the previous year's budget. Take a look at the index for related articles.

Influencing the great and the good

Prospective buyers can base their buying decisions on what you tell them about your product, what users say about the product and what people they trust for their expertise say about your product.

Product information can be presented at various levels of detail, from a brief overview to detailed specifications and operating instructions. User experience is traditionally in some form of endorsement such as a testimonial or case study and increasingly feedback online in the form of reviews. Thirdly opinion leaders can prove to be important influencers so putting resources into creating favourable support is a worthy marketing task. Opinion leaders can be instrumental in encouraging early adopters to buy new products as well as more generally giving credibility to a brand. In order to get opinion leaders onside the company message needs to be credible and verifiable. To achieve positive recognition the company needs to be perceived as being more than just a supplier of product and to exhibit in depth knowledge of the market applications and needs, the technology and wider legislative and operating environment.

Opinion leaders can be respected gurus within their area of expertise, leading publications, web sites and news channels in the sector, professional bodies, important consultants, conference speakers or respected companies using the product. Recommendations, referrals, specifications and word of mouth support from opinion leaders are essential to cultivate so identifying who these people are, how to engage with then and providing the resource is another important budget consideration,

Does direct mail still work?

Although e-mail has many benefits there is still a space for carefully designed and well executed mailings.

email promotions have  many benefits over mail for b-2-b campaigns - especially postage costs for high volume distribution. Creating a mailing piece, inserting in an envelope, producing address labels and franking soon racks up the cost, so for general promotional messages email will probably be cheaper and achieve higher open rates as well. It can also be linked directly to a landing page offering a seamless 'call to action'. But this does not mean that mailing should be ignored. Using direct mail for carefully targeted campaigns, using novel mailing pieces and including QR codes can be very effective.



A well constructed database should allow the selection of some quite specific target audiences which for many b-2-b companies may be relatively small numbers. This list might be augmented by profiling the target group against the total population and bringing new prospects into the campaign. The mailing piece itself can be quite creative - it doesn't have to be a letter of leaflet. 3D objects are often more memorable that sheets of paper and far more likely to be opened than regular mail. This is where a creative agency can add value to the campaign. The campaign could in fact be  a short series of mailing pieces that build into a complete story. Now with QR codes smart phone users can link directly to a landing page or video, but a follow up telephone call can be very effective  if made soon after the mailing while the visual impact of the mailing piece is still fresh in the recipient's mind. This sort of campaign can work well for introducing the company to prospective clients and setting up meetings.

So when reviewing marketing communications budgets, remember to include some resource for selective direct mail campaigns, but plan these thoroughly right through from getting the target audience right, being creative in the execution to following up and establishing the level of lead.

Putting it to the test

It is rare to find a budget line for market research for b-2-b companies and yet they will invest heavily in new product development and marketing campaigns without testing the market.

Arguably market research should be another high ticket item, but generally it isn't. Typically b-2-b companies regard MR as expensive, they do not traditionally do it and anyway think they already understand the market. A formal MR project can indeed cost several tens of thousands of pounds, but then an R&D project might cost hundreds of thousands so investment in developing and testing the concept first could prove good value compared to a major new product failure. When it comes to marketing communications how many b-2-b companies test the concepts before investing in an expensive advertising campaign or new web site? In fact the brief to the advertising agency should be informed by research in the first place and then the execution of the concepts tested to see if they work before committing to a big media spend. Even if formal and statistically substantiated market research is beyond the scope of the budget, testing and trials with small samples can often provide valuable insight that can influence the marketing communications programme.

A simple telephone questionnaire can often check if your assumptions are on the right track. Even calling a random sample of just a dozen prospects can flag up an issue that may not have been considered or not thought important. For example one company planing a major product launch aimed at encouraging stocking by electrical wholesalers exposed serious delivery problems with existing products over a period of time that needed to be solved first. An online survey can also provide useful information. One company typically spent the biggest share of their marcoms budget on display advertising. But the survey indicated that less than 20% read the market journals at all, with 80% going to web sites for information.

When reviewing the marketing communications budget include some allocation for at least some market research because it can often save wasting investment in other areas.

If a picture speaks a thousand words - how about video?

When it comes to showcasing products, moving images can be very powerful.

The facility to produce and publish videos online is a major step forward from the video cassette or DVD that companies once sent out to customers to promote the company and its products. The big problem then was not producing the video but persuading recipients to actually view it. Twenty or thirty years ago smaller b-2-b companies did not have a television or video player in the work place and most people had just one television and VCR at home. Persuading the family to give up watching their favourite soap and watch a company extolling the virtues of it s new product, or even worse the latest changes on VAT from Her Majesty's Tax and Revenue were hardly compelling alternatives. So the expensively produced videos gathered dust on a shelf or sat in a desk drawer. Consequently allocating a line for video production dropped out of the typical b-2-b marketing budget.

But now with YouTube it is not only easy to publish video online, but due to YouTube's high ranking as a search resource, video is now a must do. So why do so few b-2-b companies actually offer video presentations? Again it is a matter of reviewing the balance of the marketing budget. Video can be used in many ways - to demonstrate what products do and how they work, for PR to interview customers and provide testimonial endorsements and for post sales and service support. Videos should be short, to the point and professionally filmed. Using 'voice-overs' allows other language options to be added with relative ease.

When reviewing marketing budgets, look at the high tickets items such as display advertising, exhibitions and print, for many b-2-b companies there will be plenty of scope for saving that can be reallocated to video production and other new media opportunities.

Do you have lots of unused literature?

Delivering sales messages, specifications and documentation can generate of stack of print - but is print still the most appropriate medium?

Traditionally company, product and service information has been delivered as  printed documents. But even in its hay day piles of unused print stacked up in marketing offices and in the boots of reps cars. As more and more information is being delivered and consumed online, it makes sense to review the print budget. Firstly it is important to distinguish between the different process elements involved in producing a piece of print. Three main elements are 1) researching, writing, photographing and collating content, 2) design and 3) artwork for print - or for other media. Lets just consider these three items. Accurate and timely content is vital whatever the final form of delivery and so is design. Quality design is important as it subconsciously conveys an impression of the company itself that even people untutored in such matters will notice. But not all collateral now needs to be printed and even if designed for print might actually be delivered as a PDF for customers and prospects to download and choose whether or not to print at the point of delivery.  You might opt for digital print on demand which has the benefit of not just avoiding producing   surplus print, but allows for regular updates and customization. A newsletter or company magazine will typically have a known circulation perhaps with a bonus exhibition quantity. Other material however may be best integrated with web site content.

Traditionally there has been a hierarchy of print requirements that can be quite extensive and accordingly the 'print' or 'literature' budget can be a significant part of the marketing communications budget. A 'print' hierarchy could include:-

• Corporate brochure introducing the company and establishing credibility with new prospects.
• Sales literature introducing the benefits of the company products and differentiating them from competitors. These too might have a hierarchy from product ranges or families to individual products.
• White Papers and user guides placing products within a market and technology context.
• Product data and specifications providing performance and specification information.
• User, operation and installation manuals and documentation.

The list could be far more extensive and in reviewing budgets it is worth creating a hierarchy of information then deciding on how it will be used. For example is it important to control the quality to impress prospects in the early part of the sales process, in which case print could be the best option? Is technical data that is accurate and up to date what counts most, in which case a downloadable PDF might be the best option. Or is it an instruction leaflet packed wit the product where a simple black and white sheet perhaps with QR link to a video instruction or downloadable manual could be a preferred option?

As with other big ticket budget items such as advertising and exhibitions, it is time to review and reconstruct the print and literature budget as well.  

Is your database effective?

For too many b-2-b companies the database is an aging record of customers spread across different lists.


Databases can be an extremely useful marketing tool, but the reality is that customer and prospect data is often spread across a number of mailing lists and records from sales to accounts and 'one off' lists such as for mailings of newsletters and Christmas cards. Apart from duplicate entries in these different lists, typically vital data is out of date and it is also surprising how quickly data ages. Contact names change, so do company names, customers relocate and even if they don't, address details can change. On some updates we typically found that for 25% of records parts of the information had changed in a year. Add to this e-mail contacts on e-mail only lists and social media followers and it is soon evident that developing and maintaining current information requires allocating budget resource.


The situation is compounded by use of proprietary customer management software that few people in the company can actually use or have adequate training in. Then records get messy because there is no consistency in data entry, typically address fields are used differently by different people, some use upper case, data is spelled incorrectly and quite rapidly the database becomes a muddle. This is often exacerbated by inputting customer data while processing a sales call, so both parties are anxious to complete this part of the call quickly and tend to skip bits and make input errors. Many companies recognise that their database is in poor shape but do not allocate resource to 'clean' lists and keep it up to date. 


With a well planned and maintained database marketers can learn useful insights into customer behaviour and data mining but in many cases we come across, the 'sales' package somebody bought is totally disconnected from the software package that 'accounts' use so marketers cannot track enquiries through to sales and relate to other information such as web analytics or e-mail tracking. From a marketing perspective there are further issues. Marketing is also interested in prospects, possibly people with similar profiles to current customers along with competitors customers who make up the total population of the market sector - not just the people you know.


When reviewing the marketing budget alocate sufficient resource for database software whether custom built or off the shelf, for training to use it effectively and for cleaning data.  

Is the trade press losing its power?

Not so long ago, the trade press was the most important communication channel for industrial and technology b-2-b companies.

Getting news published in the trade press gave an impression of independent endorsement even though the piece originated from a PR agency or was even commissioned by the journal from an expert in a company. Yes - magazines actually paid good money for product managers like me to write an authoritative article. Today it is typically the manufacturer who pays for news inclusion in what are generally much slimmed down publications. The industrial sector has been in the vanguard of selling editorial as their display advertising sales have declined, pages per issue reduced and in several cases the number of issues per year reduced too as combined monthly versions become more common.

But news consumption is still popular. It has shifted to more immediate online media and new platforms where the company can now be a publisher. The better journals have recognised that monthly publications can offer a more reflective role with researched, balanced, in-depth articles rather than as a conduit for breaking news. Although most that include paid for news have slowly added an online dimension, they are no longer the only act in town. Many companies have themselves to embrace the new reality in their marketing budgets and PR is often viewed with at best curiosity and at worse suspicion and hostility.

The online value of news resides not just in the promotional value of the content itself, but in the links and positive impact on search engine rankings as it grows into a body of relevant information about your company. And it is not just text that gets indexed, pictures and video news are increasingly important. Add to this that news is not just viewed in the work place on a static PC, but increasingly on the move via smart phones and similar mobile devices. Marketing communications budgets now need to recognise the need to utilise a whole range of communication tools that should include a Virtual News Office, eNews (news by email), RSS, mobile and social media. This will also involve working closely with a suitable agency to build and operate news delivery systems and maintain a flow of quality content.

The company web site - is it time for an overhaul?

Today the web site is at the hub of marketing communications but is it being regularly reviewed and updated?

In previous blogs we talked about the inertia that keeps traditional display advertising and exhibitions as such high ticket budget items. But because there is no need to build a new web site each year there is a tendency to consider them a 'one off' investment and merely budget for maintenance. For many b-2-b companies the web site does not offer an e-commerce facility, but it is still the shop window for the business which can form a view amongst potential customers and specifiers as whether to step inside and ultimately buy. It is a two way interaction with prospects, providing both a conduit for enquiries and dispensing information, guidance and documentation

There are three important messages about its business a company web site can usefully communicate:-

1. Provide information that prospects need about products and services.
2. Provide endorsement and testimonials from customers who have bought and used the product and can offer useful experience and observation.
3. Provide expert views from respected opinion-formers - industry gurus, technology experts, editorial etc. - that endorse the products directly or indirectly.

One convenient way to provide new information, endorsement and expert opinion is through a well organised press relations programme. Adding a Virtual News Office provides the means to publish that news. This can be integrated with the company web site and not only provide great, relevant content, but also a resource for the media to access and search archives. The VNO system pioneered by Technical Marketing Ltd does all this and can automatically generate news feeds and press releases and integrate with social media.

So instead of leaving the web site to age and allocate a small budget for maintenance, budget to keep developing and publishing new content. And by trimming back the big display advertising and exhibition budgets it can be funded within existing resources.

Last week in marketing

Suddenly QR codes - Quick Response - are everywhere providing a handy way of linking print, particularly display advertising to the Internet and generally to video footage. Writing in Marketing Week Lara O'Reilly points out that 'most people are unaware of how to use them in the first place" requiring a smart phone with Internet and an app to access the information locked up in the geometric patterns. QR codes are not new having originated in the manufacturing world in the mid 90s and don't add billable value to agencies, so their recent and rapid take up in advertising is interesting.

Despite the rise and rise of the Internet outdoor advertising remains steady and last week saw the Outdoor Hall of Fame recognising the top 10 posters from the past century. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the iconic Lord Kitchener recruitment poster from the First World War.

Travelling by train gives several interesting opportunities to note what is going on. The free Metro newspaper seems more popular on the morning train ride to London than the free Evening Standard on the return trip. In a distinctly un-scientific sample, more people in the evening were peering at Blackberries and iPhones - one guy had even fallen asleep clutching his Kindle. At least few people seem to conduct loud telephone conversations these days which is to be commended. I discovered that my battery had died so searched for a public phone to request collection from the station. It must be years since I used such a facility and back then we carried phone cards. I discovered that the minimum amount of cash to make a call now is 60p. In the post war days of being instructed to push either button A of button B, it was two old pence.

The pay phone experience pushed me to upgrade to an iPhone4 which thanks to the Apple philosophy is more intuitive than any phone I have had before and has the promise of being a useful productivity tool helpfully synchronising with my iMac.

Spent a lot of time chasing voucher copies of magazines to have proof our client's advertisements had actually been published. The administration of advertising campaigns gets more time consuming while agency margins decline.

And finally why were the whole accounts department of one company wearing high visibility jackets? Health and Safety apparently - their office is near a warehouse.

Time to assess the value of trade shows

When off budget costs are factored in, then trade shows are easily one of the top expense items on the marketing budget.

Just like display advertising many SMEs continue to support their industry trade shows even though for most they don't generate anywhere like the enquiries a web site does. Most exhibitions are expensive enough anyway given the 'arms race' mentality to out do (out spend) competitors. How often does the MD complain the sign is not big enough, so stands get topped out by giant banners or have them expensively 'flown' in from the roof so he can spot the stand location the moment he enters the exhibition hall. So apart from space costs, stand design and construction, electrical power, furnishings, free gifts, entry in the show catalogue and trucking which should merit lines in the marketing budget what about those costs charged elsewhere. Travel, hotels and entertaining can lump in a whole lot more, not to mention expenses where there is not much change out of a tenner for a daily styrene cup of coffee and a sandwich in a triangular plastic box. Then what about the products on display, they will probably be signed to a demonstration stock account somewhere and of course if there are over- lapping shows then you need twice as much stock, another stand, more staff. There is the more difficult-to-assess 'opportunity' cost of lost time from stand staff being away from their regular work, quite often actually booking orders from real customers who stayed in the office. Then there are all the incidentals to pay off from photographers to florists, union electricians and stocking up the hospitality bar of course. With so many companies needing to address a global market most industries can feel the need to exhibit at multiple shows around the world and many countries may helpfully offer more than one show. It is easy to see why exhibitions are both a big call on marketing budgets but also on time for planning, attending and breaking down shows.

So who goes? Well most trade show organisers will claim 'record numbers' but reality suggests that the share of the total population of the market sector is relatively small and many busy specifiers - busy because they have a lot of work on - can ill afford the time to attend. Exhibitors meanwhile have developed a club mentality thanks to plenty of opportunity for socialising in exhibitor lounges with the same people they meet in London, Las Vegas, Berlin, Dubai and the rest and are loathe to pull out for fear of negative perceptions and anyway quite like all the global travel. The big questions are how much does a lead from an exhibition actually cost and are there clear and measurable marketing objectives set for each show?

Thinking about b-2-b display advertising

For many companies operating in industrial, technical and scientific sectors display advertising in trade journals has been a popular marketing technique for decades. But is it still valid?

It is not uncommon for display advertising to be the biggest single item in the marketing mix because to run a campaign costs a lot of money. First there is the expense of design. To create a successful advertisement calls for more than putting a few words and nice pictures together – a good ad. needs a concept. The concept is what a creative director comes up with to ‘sell’ the product. It may also need original and creative photography, a snappy headline and succinct, to-the-point body copy. It is the originality and creativity that a good advertising agency brings that produces a successful advertisement and of course this doesn’t come cheap. Many companies have long since moved to graphic design agencies who lack the insight and perception of an advertising agency and simply churn out some artwork, albeit for a more modest fee. Then there is developing a media plan, negotiating and booking space rates, supplying artwork copy and of course handling payment of invoices. Not to mention fielding telephone calls from space salesmen. Unfortunately many companies who save money on creating the ad in the first place fail to produce a compelling proposition that will get noticed or a ‘call to action’ to generate response.

Even a modest campaign in the trade press will cost thousands that could buy a lot of other marketing. Many b-2-b companies spend tens of thousands on display advertising that is why it is such a high ticket item absorbing a big share of the marketing budget. At one time journals supplied sales leads from advertising generated enquiries, now I suspect few companies attempt any serious measure of response. Most seem content to carry on doing the same thing they have always done as a great and probably misplaced act of faith. At the very least display ads should provide a great call to action that is measurable, such as promoting a landing page specific to the advertisement or requesting specific information such as a white paper or guide.

Why not drop a couple of ads from the schedule and use that budget for trials of other forms of advertising such as Adwords and compare response. Oddly enough the same people who stick with display advertising expect better analysis from other, newer communications but quite like seeing their own ads published anyway. On the other hand one client mentioned they had discontinued subscriptions to all trade publications except one, as a cost cutting measure. What if a significant percentage of their target audience has done the same thing? And finally how often do people reach for a directory to search for a supplier? Exactly – so why advertise in directories that at best sit on a book-shelf when the first place to search is the Internet?

In summary it is time to totally overhaul the display advertising campaign. What is the display ad for and is it working? Is response being measured? Can online media deliver better results?

The marketing mix - should it change?

Successful b-2-b marketing uses a combination of marketing techniques that working together produce results. But do companies have the right mix? Are they bringing new online methods into the mix? Are they clinging on to old methods that no longer make an impact? In the next few blogs we will examine what methods companies are using, or could use and ask some challenging questions to evaluate present day suitability.

Because there are a growing number of marketing techniques that could be deployed, it does not mean they must all be used. The marketing mix is not a checklist that has to be completed. It is the skilful use of the right combination of techniques that are right for an individual company.

With marketing budgets under pressure our experience suggests that rather than re-think the whole budget most companies apply a percentage cut across the board and continue to allocate resource in the same mix as before. Many marketing communications budgets still have the same two high ticket items at the top of the list – ‘display advertising’ and ‘exhibitions’ – but are light on new online methods. Much evidence suggests that display advertising is in decline in the b-2-b sector. Consider the trends in the industrial media for example – card rates are heavily discounted, editorial pages are shrinking and filled with paid for advertorial from press releases, while publication intervals are increasing. Fortnightly publications are moving to monthly, monthly publications are producing amalgamated January/February issues and so on throughout the year. Meanwhile surveys suggest that fewer people look to magazines for information and recommendation or even read magazines, but turn to the Internet instead. This is reflected in sales lead analysis where few enquiries are attributed to publications as a source. Despite this, display advertising typically remains the top budget item.

Exhibitions might actually cost even more if the ‘off budget items’ were included - travel costs, hotels, entertaining, opportunity cost of staff away from their regular duties. Despite the claims of exhibition promoters, customers and prospects find it increasingly difficult to justify the time away from the office when they can discover all the information they need on the Internet and if they need a product demonstration then the exhibition environment is distracting at the best. But exhibitors have evolved a ‘club’ mentality as they migrate around the country and world, seeing the same familiar faces of people that are actually their competitors not prospects. Exhibitor lounges contribute to the club mentality and re-enforce the concern that dropping out of a trade show leaves the field open to competitors to benefit. Again sales lead analysis for exhibition-generated enquiries is at best disappointing.

Because the traditional promotional methods take up so much of the marketing budget it is difficult for new opportunities to get a look in. The next few blogs will put some of the sacred cows of marketing communication up for examination.

The changing role of data sheets

Product Data Sheets should provide factual product information, stripped of the excesses or over enthusiastic claims that sales brochures and advertising use to generate interest, excitement and aspirations to want the product. Their role tends to come into play once the specifier, customer or installer is already pre-disposed to recommend, buy or install the product. But if the technical and practical information contained fails to match the expectation raised by the promotional information that led to considering the product in the first place, then they can just as easily kill the sale.

For many companies Product Data Sheets now only exist as PDFs that visitors download from the company web site. So increasingly consumers of this information may have completely by-passed the type of material that promotes the product benefits, differentiates it from competitive offers and instead cuts straight to the details. In short the downloaded PDF may become a 'stand alone' item that together with the reputation of the company is instrumental in influencing the purchase decision.

Rather than lump all the Data Sheets together in a "Download Zone' it is helpful to provide some guidance to web site visitors to narrow the options down to a short list of products that will meet their specific needs. At one time this was done by using indexed ring-back folders for the company suite of data sheets, so users could use the filing tags to get to the appropriate section. Within this would be a range of data sheets for products suitable for that application or need, arranged in some logical order - say from a simple entry level product right through a range of product options to the top of the range, total capability version.

It is also helpful to provide a consistency in layout and scope of content to make it easy for users to make comparisons and know where to look for particular pieces of data between data sheets.

Finally, remember to brand the data sheet so that once downloaded from the web site viewers still know which company is actually marketing the product and of course ensure that it includes all the necessary contact information so that the sale can actually be closed.

Have marketers lost control of the message?

Controlling the message and protecting the brand has long been of paramount importance to marketers. But with the phenomenal rise of social media messaging it is being suggested that marketers have now lost control of the message and it is in the hands, or perhaps more accurately fingers and thumbs, of tweeters, bloggers and facebookers.

Some years back talking to the editor of the leading journal in the market served by a recently acquired client who had advertised in that publication for years, I was surprised at the question. "Of course I am very familiar with the brand, but tell me what does your client do?" Of course we addressed this to ensure that all marketing communications associated the brand name with a message or messages that positioned and differentiated the brand. Now it is being said that control and authority for communicating messages about your product is being handed to users. I have always suspected that most contributors to Trip Advisor who give negative reviews have had a poor experience and the web site offers a platform to express that dissatisfaction. Others enthuse extravagantly - in short the middle ground of people who were merely satisfied and found the experience OK seem less motivated to write a review. Many suppliers are now routinely inviting reviews of products, but can still retain control over what appears on their site as customer endorsements.

Social media detaches comment about the company from that control and they may not even see what people are telling each other about their products, so decide to join the conversation and at least be able to respond. One surprising statistic I have seen recently claims 75% of b-2-b brands Twitter compared to just 49% b-2-c brands. Our b-2-b clients range from enthusiasts to join this great new 'conversation' to those steadfastly clinging to the dated notion of guarding every scrap of product information they can reasonably hang on to. But for the adopters there is not much comment, more people busily promoting their own messages with the client's facebook a convenient medium to publish them.

What does seem to be emerging is the importance of using a mixture of channels to communicate the customers and prospects and social media is something else to add to the list.

What's that for then?

It is easy to forget the purpose of a product or system when people become focussed on a single issue that appears more compelling.

There are examples everywhere. Political groups formed for a single agenda item such as a ban on hunting, green issues, changing daylight hours, planning issues etc can focus all their attention on making a strong case for their political cause. They rarely succeed at an election because the electorate appreciates that there are not just two sides to an argument, but there are plenty of other matters that also demand attention and resource and the 'hot heads' are unlikely to possess the right skills to deliver a programme that a majority can endorse.

Back in 1991 Intel launched a global campaign directed not at a select band of engineers with the specification authority to embody Intel microprocessors into a new product development programme, but to end users of PCs. The 'Intel Inside' campaign addressed the general public that in the main had absolutely no idea what made an electronic product work, but could understand a simple concept of looking for a label that apparently benchmarked the product as good or bad. Although the marketing campaign was in partnership with OEM PC makers it was also reported that buyers of lighting controls were asking the same question - does it use an Intel 486 processor? This possibly unintentional spin off from the campaign would not immediately lead to lighting control manufacturers simply switching processors - too much R&D - but prompted a return to marketing the product explaining what it did. That is it controlled lighting, but crucially it did so when required, not after watching some little egg timer spin around for 30 seconds or so before enacting the control command as most PCs did at the time.

Recently we have experienced a new take on this theme driven by Search Engineering Optimisation specialists re-working web site content in pursuit of improved SEO. Again, clients have come to believe that SEO is the holy grail for web sites and seem to be blissfully prepared to trade functionality in furtherance of that goal. They have absolutely no comprehension of html code, java script or cascading style sheets but can grasp the concept of being number one in search results. That the proponents of SEO do not actually know the rules and algorithms used by Google, that they regularly change and it is a constant evolution is not questioned. The single issue brigade have struck suitable terror into their victims. We have to explain that one of our products - Virtual News Office - is actually a fully functional Press and PR system with all the functionality to not just post press releases on site, but deliver news, generate news feeds and provide press resources such as high resolution images, press packs and contact details. By focussing just on one aspect - how the press release is worded and put online - the SEO boys loose sight of the purpose of what it is there for in the first place and end up with a product that doesn't work. Even if this does propel the site high up in the search results why would visitors use the site if the information they went there for does not work or even exist?

The art of Imperfection

Why is it that some marketing projects fly through to completion and others get ground down to dust before limping home? It is better to sign off a marketing initiative and move on to the next, than to seek perfection and miss the point. Accuracy and truth are demanded and expected in all things marketing, especially in the b-2-b arena, but the sequence of checking, correcting and proofing isn't always the reason why some initiatives take so long to reach fruition. Indecision can be a killer to creativity and success.

Every marketing initiative – be it an advertisement, press release, technical data sheet or website page – needs a champion, someone who can specify, agree and take responsibility for the result. There are times when we seem to have lost the benefits of decision making we enjoyed in the pre-electronic network days. Remember when people met in a room to receive a pitch and make a choice there and then, or the time when one person was given, and accepted, responsibility for a marketing decision? Now it seems that material sent for client approval has to be distributed far and wide for comment, usually with time-consuming and unwanted consequences.

Successful marketing campaigns rarely rely on a single initiative. The elements of a 'marketing mix' should combine to magnify the stimulus to buy a product or service. Don't be afraid of giving a green light to a piece of copy or a graphic design; asking 'n' others will usually result in 'n-1' different responses. Many people think they have to find something to criticise or else they will be seen as an ineffective non-team player. The resulting task of assessing all the responses and different views and trying to walk a middle path, will inevitably annoy n/2 colleagues while delaying the process, diluting the result and costing more in creative time.

To misquote the Duke of Wellington, as long as it's not misleading or illegal, "print and be damned"and get onto the next marketing initiative - because that's the only way your well-prepared marketing plan will be effective.

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Is social media diluting communication channels?

The marketing chatter on the Internet is dominated by the growing importance of social media as a marketing tool. The suspicion, based on knowledge of client experience, is that for most b-2-b companies it isn't yet dominating the marketing budget. Traditional marcoms such as display advertising, exhibitions and print continue to take the lion's share of the marketing budget. Despite the considerable importance, almost dominance of the Internet, clients continue to spend a significant portion of their budget on display advertising.

The 'Social Media B2B' web site has researched what it bills as 28 Awesome B2B social media statistics, the first of the 28 claims 86% of B2B companies are using social media. On the other hand 46% of another survey considered social media irrelevant to their business.

Not surprisingly the B2B companies ranked most successful on Twitter are large global enterprises with Cisco ranked at No.6 with 48,000 followers and Intel at No. 10 with 35,000. To put this in context, Barack Obama has 6,588,000, Stephen Fry 2,205,00 and Cheryl Cole 157,000! Philips Lighting has 2,200 and step down the scale to SMEs and a couple of hundred followers seems to be quite a respectable number.

Perhaps for now companies will need to recognise that the growth of social media has opened up new and diverse communications channels of which Twitter and Facebook are just 2 of dozens of others and add these to give customers and prospects a choice. Let them decide how they want to receive information from you and how to interact if they want to do so at all. Oh and you can follow Technical Marketing on Twittter @technicalmarket

Three things influencing buyers

There are three important things that help form a conviction to buy. What a product does, expert evaluation of the products and the experience of customers using the product.

This type of information can be provided in different ways and inter related. It is becoming more common on web sites to solicit user feedback on product pages, but the more traditional method is to present third party endorsements. This can be in the form of testimonials or case studies and increasingly as a video testimony. Research consistently rates recommendations highly and of course there is the importance of 'word of mouth' product endorsement based on the experience of ownership.

Other trusted sources can be the opinions of respected experts in the field, industry gurus and influential journals. Getting informative articles published and positive product reviews by opinion formers is always a good marketing tactic.

Finally the product information should be well presented. Buyers are more influenced by benefits - what the product will do for them - not a list of features they don't understand. Products should have clear differentiation and suitable applications suggested. And of course if you want your product specified, a full specification.