How will content be consumed in future?

In the last few days there have been a number of related announcements from different sources  that in their different ways point to a new future for content  and how it will be read. Who can have failed to notice the UK launch of the Apple iPad splashed across billboards, on TV and in the press - a device designed for online consumption of content from books and news to Internet and e-mail. 

This week Technical Marketing client, print giant Polestar Group plc announced, "Polestar is launching a service to enable its customers to publish their printed publications on the new Apple iPad, iPhone and online. Polestar Digital Editions – powered by award-winning YUDU technology – enables files received by Polestar for print purposes to be converted to online publication simultaneously across all platforms." In the same week, trade journal Automation sent their 'voucher copy' not by post, but by e-mail using this very technology. Meanwhile in Management Today in an article titled 'Yesterday's News, Today's new hope' the whole issue of charging v free content is examined.

Whatever the future - the devices, the software, free or subscription it is content itself that is essential. For b-2-b  enterprises anxious to keep their name in the news then a partner like Technical Marketing Ltd will become even more essential as this new future unfolds.

The importance of a clear and concise brief

Marketing is most successful when there is a clearly established client brief. Starting out on a vaguely defined project such as "we need a web site", or "we need a new brochure" is to court disappointment. It is the planning and research that goes into developing a brief that helps ensure that the resulting collateral is on target. That is why starting with a Marketing Plan is such a good idea, because individual projects will themselves be components within an agreed framework. Of course this takes work and effort in the first place, but the value of a marketing plan that can be shared with the rest of the company is realised during the year as individual campaigns, projects and material is rolled out. The rationale for that new web site or brochure will have been determined, objectives set, target audiences and target markets known and budget allocated. But it is still important to have a clear, concise brief that a designer can work to. Each element in a campaign that itself is part of an overall plan needs to be detailed and the usual format for this is a Design Brief.

The Design Brief should allow the designer to be creative, but focussed into delivering a piece of work that positively promotes and communicates your marketing message. Without a brief there is the risk the designer will allow creative imagination to dominate and run riot rather than deliver a message that hits the target. And it is important to use a professionally trained creative rather than having assembled all the information be tempted to carry on and do the brochure yourself. The reason is your time does actually cost money and however pleased you are with achieving the task, your customers will notice the difference between professional work and sub consciously this will be a judgement on your company, your products and services. 

Race for Life - supporting Natalie

David's daughter Natalie is running in support of Cancer Research. Donations can be made online.

Natalie writes,

"5K on Sunday 6th June 2010 at Campbell Park in Milton Keynes. Start 10.45hrs.

For anyone who doesn't know, all the money raised will go to cancer research. 

I will be running in memory of 'Bill Fisher', my father in law who sadly lost his battle with cancer in 2006.

Please can you help me reach my target of £50 (anything more will be a bonus). If there are any of you local please feel free to come along and support me.

I have set up my own site for the race, and you can sponsor me on there. Please follow this link http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/nataliefisher2 

Please do NOT forget to tick the Gift Aid box when donating.

Thank you in advance for all your support 

 

Nat x"

Small businesses need marketing too

According to the Office of National Statistics there are 2.16 million businesses registered for VAT and PAYE in the UK. Of these just 0.4% employ more than 250 people, 98.1% employ less than 50 and 89% less than 10. Adding in those below the VAT threshold and one man businesses it is clear that in terms of numbers, most UK companies are very small businesses. Look at another statistic 17.4% are less than 2 years old and 32.6% under 4 years old. A large number of small businesses that could benefit from marketing in growing their business. You might expect that the demand for marketing services would be strong from the large group of small, new businesses but small new enterprises typically have little to invest in marketing.

The reality is that it is the established companies that recognise the value of marketing most and allow some budget for the purpose. Many of these are classified as SMEs and are cautious in adopting new ideas so put most of their marketing investment into traditional communications such as directories, trade magazines and literature. As a broad statement both small new businesses and established businesses are slow to fully leverage online marketing methods that are both affordable and effective. For the price of a couple of full page display advertisements in a trade journal, a company could have a Virtual News Office up and running. Add in a press release or two each month and you have an on-going campaign that publicises the business and thanks to in-bound links from the press release archive, improves search engine ranking too - all for a fraction of a print based display advertising campaign. The news stories can additionally be fed into social media campaigns too. If an affordable marketing campaign seems like a good investment, the get in touch with Technical Marketing who can help you achieve this.

 

Advertising business to business

The term advertising is often confused with the whole marketing process itself. Our use of the word is confined to ‘paid for’ media space. In business-to-business communication this is mainly the trade press and  web sites. Advertising has been described as the persuasive force that utilises mass communications to make changes in customer attitudes, behaviour and actions towards products and services in a direction favourable to the advertiser. 

Advertising is cost effective in reaching large groups of customers and prospects with a shared defined profile, hence the proliferation of special interest and industry specific magazines that can deliver an audience relevant to the needs of the advertiser. Media selection must therefore seek to match your target audience and readership profiles. Advertising’s key aims are to progress the target audience through a series of stages by first turning possible unawareness of the product, into awareness, a comprehension of the proposition, a conviction that the product is both relevant and of benefit and finally a ‘call to action’ to convert the prospect into a potential customer. As individuals we are subjected to hundreds of advertising messages each day, so to arrest attention the advertisement has to stand out from the others. This may be by use of compelling images, headlines or a combination of both, that stops the browser just long enough to take in the proposition.  Once ‘hooked’ a few telling words must explain the benefits of the proposition succinctly, then offer a ‘call to action’ where the prospect can find more detail. Today typically a web site, but the ‘call to action’ could be incentivised by the promise of a useful or attractive offer to enhance response rates. Advertising is a key marketing tool, to raise awareness, build brand recognition and communicate a simple or top-level message, but needs repetition to ensure that message is seen and acted upon. Other communication means such as PR and direct marketing will be called into play for a fully integrated campaign. 

Should companies do essential market research?

Surprisingly few b-2-b companies conduct any sort of market research. In  my experience over many years in marketing,  it is rare to be presented with any of market research results by clients at the start of a project. 

Of course formal and rigorous primary market research can run into tens of thousands - a big investment for SMEs. Yet often, much larger sums are invested in product development and marketing communications without the valuable, indeed essential insight into the market. However there is secondary research data available that can provide useful information in more general terms about an industry and markets. Starting a marketing project or campaign with only the client's view of the market, which may lack the objectivity of a third party and result in loading a product with features users do not see as benefits, or setting the wrong tone or delivering an off target message for a campaign. A simple market appraisal conducted by calling a few people in the target market can yield vital information which may prompt the need for further research. For example, one client had given us a brief to launch a new product that would be sold through electrical wholesalers. But speaking to just 10 or 12 wholesalers brought up a serious issue which was related to non deliveries of the company's products in general and until these issues were resolved no new products would be ordered. So a campaign without rectifying this problem would have been a poor investment. More frequently market appraisals tend to confirm a client brief but may help clarify and re-order priorities.

Armed with some fundamental market research campaigns can then be planned with better awareness of the target market's views.

 

How to work 10 days more each year

Travelling into London by train it is impossible not to be aware of the current fad for e-mailing via Blackberry mobile devices. There is definitely a category of Blackberry users just as there is a group of iPod addicts identifiable by the the white wires trailing from each ear. At least emailing and facebook communication are silent activities unlike the very loud and public phone calls that invariably start, "I am on the train ..." delivered just before the train plunges into Primrose Hill Tunnel. So it comes as no surprise that recent research from Nectar Business reveals that thanks to mobile communications technology the British are "working on average an extra 10 days a year."

Some of the main findings are:-

• a fifth of people keep work phones on over weekends;
• 79 per cent of workers haven't met half the people with whom they do business;
• one in 20 people get over 100 emails a day;
• twenty-four per cent of people feel stressed by this constant state of being on call;
• 42 per cent of people say they meet colleagues less regularly due to email dependence;
• 60 per cent  now say they prefer to communicate by email than face to face.

In my travels I have also observed how many people seem to be frequently consulting at least two different mobile devices. A lot of time is spent using different communication channels.

 Why mention this at all? Well communication channels are vital to distributing  marketing messages and the suggestion that people are accessible longer and using a range of communication channels and devices implies marketers must consider all options. If 20 years ago train travellers were engrossed in the morning newspaper then that was a prime communication channel. Today the indications are that people may be even greater consumers of content, but want it more personalised and available through channels and at times they chose. Developing great content has become even more important and is an area where we at Technical Marketing Ltd are adding value to our clients' marketing programmes.

Has the Internet changed the traditional sales process?

An article posted on a blog dedicated to demand generation, proposes that the internet has swept away the old way of selling - old being the way we "sold back in the 70's and 80's even 90's". Five 'assumptions' about the way companies sell are lined up to be shot down by 'realities'. The article suggests that "so many things we did in the past — that worked well — no longer work." One reality claim is "7 out of 10 buyers say they start their buying process at vendor sites, not Google." Another "Over 9 out of 10 buyers consumed content on their way to purchase — especially white papers, eBooks, webinars, podcasts, and more and more, video clips." Although not making such specific numeric claims our experience suggests there is truth in both these 'realities'.

Although a review of Google Analytics for various web sites we monitor shows Google as the number 1 source of visitor traffic, there is other evidence from keywords that Google is used as a tool to quickly locate the web site of a company the user already knows. The combination of brand name and product type in the top search terms helps support the notion that visitors arriving at the site already have an idea of the supplier and product they are looking for. What the article suggests is that 70% start at the vendor site rather than a generic search for a product category. In a previous blog we asked, 'do offline channels drive search?' so this could be evidence that old fashioned marketing methods such as display advertising , PR and direct marketing still work to raise brand awareness and associate that with products or services the buyer is seeking. Using Google, or other search engines, to find the company site is often easier than accurately typing in the URL.

That 9 out of 10 consume 'content' on the way to purchase is no surprise as this is what the web site is good at doing - providing essential background and detailed information so that vendors are more often dealing with informed buyers. As an aside, my doctor observed that thanks to the Internet many of his patients had thoroughly researched their symptoms before a consultation. What the Internet offers buyers is the same opportunity to evaluate a vendors product, to see who has bought and recommended that product, to judge how knowledgeable the company is, how they handle after sales service - all without the pressure of a salesman controlling the process. And when they are ready the customer will call up the vendor. In short much of the sales process will have taken place without the company directly engaged. That is why companies should spend more time ensuring their brand is associated in buyer's minds with the products they are seeking to buy and the content is informative and relevant to the buyer. If 7 out of 10 customers start the buying process with the vendors web site, it makes sense to put most effort into content that will drive the sale than technical issues and SEO that will only influence at most 30%. And creating the right content is where Technical Marketing Ltd can help b-2-b companies get it right.  

How should the marketing budget be apportioned?

Marketing budgets are under pressure, but what share should go on the various communications methods?

Most marketers would advocate a broad range of marketing tools both offline and online. Some experts suggest headline rules such as you must be doing at least 8 marketing activities to succeed. One guru draws a circle, divides it into 3 equal sectors then propose one third of the budget goes on the web site, another third on advertising and the remaining third on everything else. An agency I worked for  advocated two ways of establishing a budget. The first, 'to cost the need' was the idealistic method of dominating the media, the other to set a figure  based on a percentage of turnover then adjust the level of activity accordingly.

 Rarely do companies have a proper marketing budget when we become involved. A marketing plan, budget corporate identity and delegation of authority to marketing to implement the plan and invest the budget are all important things to have in place. Usually the budget is reverse engineered from actual expenditure and once established tends to act as a benchmark for future years. Often there are two big ticket items that stand out - advertising and exhibitions. The latter usually understated merely recording the actual costs of space and stand design. If the true costs were accounted for - product, time, travel, hotels, entertaining - then it might seem a lot more expensive than it appears. How many companies relate enquiries to attendee numbers to the total population of their market? The ratios are probably depressing. A small percentage of the total market population will attend, not all these will visit the stand and a small percentage will lodge a useful enquiry. So why do companies like exhibitions? Exhibition space must be some of the highest real estate square footage in the world, yet the cost is rarely queried or negotiated. Yes, it provides face to face meeting opportunities, but once the tyre kickers are eliminated that personal contact might have been less expensively achieved with a good lunch.

Traditional display advertising remains equally popular and sacrosanct although if an advertising agency is involved at least the space cost is negotiated. The fact is that advertising and exhibitions absorb typically more than half the budget. So everything else has to be funded from the residue. Perhaps rather than tweaking budgets year to year it is time for a radical overhaul.

Will your PDFs sell products?

In the previous blog we discussed the importance of offline marketing activity to drive traffic to the company  web site, where visitors can discover all the information they require. It raises an important question of how that information is presented, in what format and how convenient is that to the user. In the days when all information was printed and mailed out or distributed by company representatives, it was relatively straightforward. There was a hierarchy of literature from the glossy brochures introducing the company its products and services through data sheets to instruction and operating manuals and ranging from colour to black and white. For consultants these would be presented in impressive ring binders and regularly updated. Print runs were generally large, although a significant quantity of any print run could be found stacked on literature room shelves or in the back of rep's cars. The distribution from receipt of request to sending out literature was often leisurely until the users became more urgent in their request, demanding information be faxed immediately. Often the most convenient style of literature for faxing was the data sheet and this was most legible if designed in black and white rather than using subtle colours lost in the faxing process. Today I suspect that a great deal of literature designed for print does not progress beyond the PDF stage and where printed it is as a short digital print run. Certainly clients indicate a reduced demand for printed literature, once a major part of any marketing programme, in some cases it is now delegated to the margins. 

The emphasis has shifted to the user to now do the work of locating the right PDF, downloading and if required printing a copy for reference. With this development,  control over presentation has been surrendered too. An ink jet printed copy on standard printer paper lacks the impact of quality print but this may now have become how your offering is judged. It means the PDF has to do a lot of work to impress, the question now is, 'do your PDFs do your product justice?'

Do offline channels drive online search?

Press Release authors love numbered lists - example "1o things you should know about marketing", or "8 marketing tools you must use".  By putting an exact figure to any subject there is an implication that if you follow that advice, then success is ensured. We advocate the use of an appropriate mix of marketing methods integrated into a coherent marketing plan, not a list to  simply be ticked off as done. This includes a mix of offline channels as well as online activity. Writing about market research is another fertile source for PR people too, so it was interesting that Marketing News Flash, an e-mail newsletter published by Industrial Technology, selected a statistic from some previous research to support the value of advertising in magazines. Print advertising  rather than being in terminal decline, according to the research is the stimulus that prompts 30% of all online searches. The magazine's own research found that "76% of readers prefer magazines to keep up to date with new products and information relevant to their job. 66% also find out more information from a supplier after seeing an advertisement in the magazine".

However looking at the market research conducted in America in June 2007 by iProspect and Jupiter Research, further interesting figures emerge demonstrating the importance of offline marketing channels in prompting further search online. Television advertising at 37% was in top spot, but hot on its heels at 36% was word of mouth recommendation by a friend or acquaintance, then indeed 30% due to print advertising in newspapers and magazines. Perhaps of equal interest was that the company name or brand at 68% was the most commonly used keyword.

Although clients typically report that most of their sales leads come from their web site, what is very important is that more than two thirds are searching for a company or brand rather than a generic product category and most of them will have discovered their awareness of the brand offline. So perhaps it is premature to move all marketing investment to the Internet. Customers are still strongly influenced by the offline world and turn to the Internet as a convenient tool to learn more. At Technical Marketing Ltd, we help businesses put together and implement marketing plans that develop the brand message, raise top of the mind awareness and develop compelling content that provides the information your prospects are searching for. Informed people then make enquiries. 

Image: iProspect.

Are ordinary user recommendations more powerful than opinion leader endorsement?

Although the company web site is today probably  the primary source of enquiries and sales leads, there still needs to be some stimulus for prospects to take this route in the first case. They need to have at least an interest in the product or service you offer. This could be prompted either by need or recommendation by a trusted source. The recommendation format provides a personal endorsement that has long been used in marketing. This could be in the form of testimonials and case studies  typically given by recognised and respected opinion leaders.  Of course the recommendation could be more formally expressed in terms of a written specification issued by a consultant. Most marketing programmes recognise the need for favorable reviews and work hard to ensure influential people are on message.  But now just as the Internet offers the promise of a level playing field for small companies, so there is an opportunity for users of products to comment on their experiences. In fact some intermediary sales sites like Amazon invite users to write a review and Trip Advisor has become an important resource for travellers to benefit from the perspective of ordinary people who tend to be less glowing in their reviews than professional travel writers.

Social marketing sites allow companies to conduct a 'conversation' with users who now have the opportunity to comment and indeed exchange views. This has the potential to be a powerful new marketing tool but demands both a level of engagement and commitment of resources that few b-2-b companies have yet recognised.

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Market leadership credibility

Information has never been more universally accessible than now, in the Internet era. Turning to the Internet as a rich source of all knowledge has become the preferred starting point in the purchase cycle to research product/service options and to become better informed before entering into actual price negotiations. With the old business model  an enquiry would be followed by a sales call where the salesman had the upper hand due to superior and jealously guarded product knowledge. However the reluctance to share important information that can influence that final purchase decision is still kept back, at least on many company web sites. Yet that information, that unique knowledge or insight,  is probably what differentiates one company from its rivals. It is what establishes the company's credibility. The authority it commands within its specialist sector. A typical web site will show the company products and offer detailed technical specifications that can be downloaded, but then so do all the competitors. There is nothing to differentiate one product from another other than price!

What too few companies make use of is the White Paper. A document which can provide the essential background information that sets the product in context to the situation where it will be used. Not only can a White Paper be a valuable briefing document for the prospect, but it also establishes the company as an expert in that market, lends credibility to them as preferred suppliers and potentially, as a valuable business partner. Prospective customers will see beyond the headline price to a company that can also provide useful guidance and advice based on knowledge and practical experience. White Papers can provide checklists of what to ask for in a product, which specification points are essential, which are not and lead the prospect towards a product requirement that they are best placed to meet.  This may mean disclosing information that traditionally been withheld, but may also be the critical differentiator that wins a new  customer.

News bearing web sites

Several years ago it became apparent to the team at Technical Marketing Ltd that much of the content for a company web site was pretty much static. The products, services and stuff about the company itself, didn't really change that much, or that often. What did change was news. 

News can be about company results, investments, acquisitions, appointments, contract wins and  projects.  Or new product announcements, exhibitions, events, market research findings and comment on industry issues. The problem we recognised is that the PR people who were schooled in copy deadlines, embargo dates and other timing issues didn't run the web site. The IT guys did web sites and often it was pretty low on their priority list as well. If they had to fix payroll software then it could be a couple of weeks before they got round to posting news items if they bothered at all. 

All that changed, for our clients at least, when we rolled out the Virtual News Office. With a VNO, stories could be published online as soon as they were ready to go. In fact every story can be published rather than end up in some editor's waste bin. Although our goal at the time was to provide a service that got company news accessible through the company web site we soon realised it was also getting indexed by search engines and because the news story actually resides on the VNO server it was creating relevant links to the company web site, in turn improving ranking of that site.

I have written before on the inevitable shift of emphasis from print to Internet as the place where news is published and consumed. The print business model based on advertising revenue and free distribution is under threat and many publications now charge for news publication and in doing so forfeit editorial control over the news pages. Not only does this degrade quality, but some magazines now resemble a notice-board patchwork of press releases. Whatever journals do they cannot match the immediacy of the Internet. However the sustainable business model for online aggregated news sites is taking time to emerge, as generally these sites offer free news and have no subscription revenue. Interestingly, in the industrial and engineering sectors, industry web sites that are mainly news oriented, or as someone called it today - 'news bearing' - are emerging as important resources for enquiries for engineers or architects. 

Because such industry sites contain so much relevant content about a product category an engineer searching for a component will most likely find the that site higher up the search results than any one manufacturer of that component. So what he reads initially is a press release that in turn provides links to the supplier. And online aggregated new sites are becoming more selective, only publishing interesting news and carefully monitoring how many hits each attracts. The most popular news suppliers find their news items featured and fed to Google News and other participating sites. So this trend once again emphasises the importance of news creation and news delivery and increasingly as a direct source of sales leads.   

Marketing to a budget or on a budget?

In these times of economic gloom sound marketing advice, based on research, is to maintain the marketing activity while the financial management tendency, based on prudence, is to cut marketing expenditure. 

Research by Harvard Business School has shown that it is essential to maintain marketing spending, even more so in a recession and to emphasise core values. “It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times. Uncertain customers need the reassurance of known brands.”

In the last blog I talked about the importance of a Marketing Plan and closely linked to the plan is the Marketing Budget. As with the marketing plan - a statement of intent, a manifesto and plan of action - time should be spent on carefully building the accompanying marketing budget. Companies without a budget seem to be more easily tempted to buy special advertising offers and buy into all kinds of special deals than companies who have planned ahead and purchased at more advantageous series rates for marketing services that are core to the plan. Not only are the bargains not always appropriate but it is amazing how quickly the costs mount up and without apparent benefit. 

I have frequently referred to the engineering philosophy behind technical marketing. Take the case of purchasing a new machine or piece of equipment. It is regarded as an investment that will be justified on the benefits it will bring - lower costs, improved productivity, better quality. We look at marketing as an investment, an investment that should deliver valid returns. Just because there is often a significant creative element does not devalue the investment benefit. Equally there should be benchmarks and goals set that are measurable.

Another more subtle way of cutting the marketing budget is to cut quality. Where marketing is not valued by a company, then purchasing marketing services cheaply can be tempting. The problem with this interpretation of budget is that the downgrade in quality that usually accompanies becomes apparent to customers. They start to perceive the company as a 'budget' brand and lower their expectation of both the quality and value of that company's product accordingly. Interestingly people buying marketing services at a budget price might think otherwise in their day to day lives. They would probably opt for experience rather than trainees or amateurs and recognise that experience may appear more expensive but is actually the safe option. The same people that wouldn't let a student do their hair or fix their teeth will happily let a relative or man they met in a pub have a bash at their web site, design a brochure or photograph products. Although professional marketing advice might come at a higher hourly rate it can prove a wise investment in doing things right and helping the company build credibility.

Engineering marketing plans

When major engineering projects go wrong it is usually very public and serious. Bridges that oscillate, high speed trains that fail in snow, cars recalled for brake failure; problems where rectification can often be lengthy and expensive. What happens when marketing goes wrong may be less dramatic although there have certainly been some very public campaign failures, but the more likely outcome is damage to the reputation of a brand, customers going elsewhere and sometimes the problems are difficult to fix once the damage is done. 

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. 

Research shows e-mail still popular with buyers

Although a  much older marketing tool than social networking sites, recent market research by Marketing Sherpa found that "32% of buyers said email was their favored method for receiving product/services information, compared to 20% of marketers who believed email was a buyer’s favored method."  The research was conducted by asking a group of buyers and a group of marketers the same questions and discovering a gap between buyer behaviour and what the marketers believed it was. 

e-mail is  very cost effective marketing tool (particularly when numbers are high) compared with postal mailings, although these still have their place, . To some extent e-mails can be tracked to see who opened them and response action can then be picked up if they clicked through to a landing page. However there are a lot of factors involved so it is usually best to regard the figures as indicative not absolute. Experience shows that with a compelling offer people take action on receipt of an e-mail. So what can be done to boost that response rate? 

Well, the research yielded 4 main insights:

1. Buyers rely on e-mail more than marketers think.
   
2. Provide offers that direct readers to take the next step.
   
3. Personalised sender information can increase engagement
   
4. Appeal to buyers, personal not just organisational motivations.
   

Of course e-mail is not the whole answer, but used as part of an integrated marketing communications strategy it remains an important method for not just communicating sales offers but also explaining news ideas. Third most important motivator for opening an e-mail cited by buyers was "An area I want to learn about."

Who sold you this then?

Asked about his dislikes,  a person being interviewed on the radio this morning answered without hesitation, 'any company that offers a telephone menu'. 

I am sure we all have horror stories of calling Mumbai to try to sort out an account query and being faced with a series of options read out by a disinterested recorded voice, probably after you have already listened to some stuff about calls being recorded for training purposes. At this point you don't have any idea how many menu items there might be, or if the next one might be more relevant to your enquiry. So you repeat the list and opt for the most hopeful option. Unless you are hands free, this often involves removing the phone from your ear to access the key pad. Then you might get a sub menu - and even more levels - before another recording announces that 'we are experiencing very heavy traffic today and you are in a queue'. Some might helpfully add you are number 43, with occasional updates in between bursts of tinny music. And you may even be invited to key in a 15 digit account number before they will talk to you. By the time you reach a robotic sounding agent you are already irritated, more so when they usually are not empowered to resolve your enquiry, before brightly asking, 'is there anything else I can help you with today?' implying they have already been of some assistance. Worse still, increasingly a text message arrives shortly after inviting you to provide feedback on the call.

Today's questions are - who decides to buy and install these systems and does marketing have a say? Does anyone care what the customer wants? Oh and why so much interest in recording calls for training purposes?

It is very likely the customer would prefer to be connected to a contact, someone with both  a christian name and surname, who can answer questions or find out the answer and call back if it requires some research. Someone that is more interested in what the customer wants and not totally absorbed with post codes and first line of address before deigning to talk at all. Research shows that customer retention is far more cost effective than recruiting new customers. So why instal systems that show total disregard to building and nurturing customer relations? Creating a rapport with customers builds trust, confidence and opens the opportunity to pitch products that could be of benefit to the customer. Repeat customers who have a good service experience can be useful advocates for your business - word of mouth recommendation is a powerful marketing tool. It makes sense to make it easy for customers to talk to you - not introduce barriers to communication that give a poor experience.

Are your readers switched on?

Website content discussions have been pervading the internet marketing blogs recently. The use of video clips on websites is becoming more common and research in the USA is showing a trend towards greater response rates for sites enhanced with video clips. Video has been used for years very successfully for educational purposes; teaching computer programs, how to service technical equipment, how to prepare and bake apple pie. 

But video clips on websites, albeit more visionbite than expensive TV advertising featurette, are gaining converts – partly because of small, very cheap handheld hi-res digital cameras and YouTube links. However, as targeting marketers, rather than getting swept away with the latest web techniques and gizmos, we also have to consider our audience. There are many people who positively despise any movement on screen – even simple animated gifs can make their blood pressure rise – so they meticulously switch off all browser support for anything other than basic text, and with it your message. 

The sexy flash-driven websites with super smooth image transitions are works of art on suitably advanced browsers, but if you need to grab a supplier’s telephone number from their website en route using your mobile phone, a Flash site will simply suggest you download the latest FlashPlayer (unless there’s another basic site living behind it and a savvy server). Even time-honoured HTML marketing emails can get short shrift from those with options switched off in the dungeon of their mailer’s preference files. 

So although there are many exciting marketing resources available in internet-land, it is vital that both the message and its delivery method are matched to the needs, and ability to receive, of your target audience. 

B-2-B slow to change marketing priorities

This morning I was prompted by an e-mail article on business blogs  to look back at some of the early blogs from the time when this Technical Marketing Diary started in August 2006. Our blog was launched without fanfare, more as an experiment over 3 years ago, which already seems a long time in the life of the Internet. We discussed RSS which we had already been using for more than 2 years, but Twitter and Facebook were yet to make their mark. So it is not surprising that  blogs frequently discussed change - the arrival of new marketing opportunities and equally the possible decline of other more established technologies, such as print. Accompanying the Internet developments came an increasing number of niche disciplines and experts ready to advise and consult on the intricacies of everything from search engine optimisation and usability testing to social media marketing. 

But despite an avalanche of advice from the collective experts that the Internet is the place to be and the marketing task is no longer to stand out from the crowd in busy media, but now to get visitors to your web site and retain their interest, anecdotal evidence suggests for many b-2-b companies this is not the case. Display advertising in the traditional printed media is still likely to attract the biggest portion of the marketing budget, possibly followed by exhibitions.

 As a generalisation it can be said b-2-b marketing has been slow to appreciate the business benefits of these new Internet based opportunities and continued to support the established and traditional communication tools. As long as companies warily watch their competitors and continue to advertise in the same media and exhibit at the same trade shows as each other, the media owners and exhibition promoters have an on-going revenue stream fueled by the fear of not being there, rather than a realistic marketing analysis.