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.

Which way is the digital future headed?

Britons now spend 45% of their waking hours watching television or using mobile phones, computers and other communications technology, according to new figures from Ofcom. Meanwhile a survey of the 'Changing face of e-mail' by Marketing Week revealed the continuing popularity of e-mail as a marketing tool with over half planning to spend more on e-mail marketing this year. Emerging from these insights is the recognition of the advance in capabilities and use of new devices such as iPhones and the rise in popularity of new platforms such as Facebook. And then deciding whether these offer new marketing opportunities or threats.

As digital evolves so does user behaviour and user interest in receiving and consuming marketing communications. For example is visually interesting e-mail that works on a computer the right format for a smart phone? Or will some form of e-mailing perform better than text messages as more people view the Internet 'on the go'? The fact is the survey confirmed the continuing importance of e-mailing to marketing campaigns. Integration is now a growing issue. One perceived challenge is moving customers and prospects from an e-mail database to social media platforms. Perhaps the more pertinent question is whether this is even desirable.

Not so long ago marketing messages to a target audience were through a publisher that acted as an intermediary between suppliers and buyers. The publisher offered a product - in the b-2-b world - typically a trade journal with editorial interest that attracted a certain readership profile of interest to the supplier. Most commonly the business model evolved to a free, verified circulation so that publishers held the database, not the suppliers. Not surprising then that marketers having collated their own customer and prospect e-mail subscriber lists want to carry on using them. Not only is it cheap to send an e-mail campaign, but it bypasses the intermediary and the still relatively expensive cost of display advertising. The question might be are the Facebook and Twitter consumers the same people that have proved receptive to e-mail hence the interest in migrating them to social media platforms. Or are they a different group. Indeed are they even prospects for a b-2-b company?

Of course display advertising and publishers are also under fire from online advertising, particularly AdWords and on Facebook which is driven by user behaviours and profiles where the new media owners control a different set of end user data. So going that way may be passing the interface with prospects from an old media broker to a digital media broker. It makes sense to continue to build and own contact data for company to buyer communication, but in a form and on a platform the buyer prefers, users and trusts.