LikeMinds 2010 Interview: B2B Marketing Lessons from Yann Gourvennec of Orange Business Services

The LikeMinds 2010 conference in Devon, England brought some of the sharpest marketing minds throughout Europe together in the ancient Roman city of Exeter. One bright mind there was Yann Gourvennec, who is the director of Internet and digital media for Orange Business Services. Orange is a pure B2B play who is investing into innovating through new media. He says, “social media is an enabler.” I had the opportunity to sit down and interview him at Bovey Castle in Devon, England.

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He makes several key observations:

1. Community: “We didn’t have a community. We had customers.” Having customers does not equate to having community. Neither does having tons of followers on Twitter or fans on a Facebook Fan Page. Yann keenly notes developing community is something distinct from gaining customers.
2. Internet: “The Internet is just a tool.” The important aspect of business is people, not the tools to reach and connect with people. “Business is people to people…that’s actually been in the genes of the Internet from day one.”
3. Bandwagon: “You shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon…this is really stupid…people should start doing digital rather than talking digital.” There’s an overwhelming level of talk about social media, new media, Internet marketing. Yann basically says, “Just do something and stop talking about doing something.” He advocates a development process characterized by learning by doing, learning from your mistakes.
4. Destination: “Know where you’re going.” A good question to ask is, where do you want to go? Don’t start by asking, “what can I do with social media?”
5. ROI: While you might convince a casual observer of your brilliance by asking, “what’s the ROI?” that’s precisely the wrong, dead wrong, first question to ask. “When the question comes up front, it’s just a red herring.”
6. B2B and B2C: “Overall, people exaggerate the distinction between B2B and B2c…it’s still people dealing with people…maybe the decision process travels down a different path, it’s still people to people.”
7. Opportunity: Huge opportunity for B2B to leverage B2B.
8. Hurdles: “It’s a change management issue.” A key hurdle is changing the prevailing focus on marketing efficiency—frequency and reach, for instance. To leverage emerging media, one must focus more on the people receiving the message than than mechanics of the message and it’s distribution.

Yann Gourvennec: Twitter | Web

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About The B2Bblogger: Trey Pennington (@treypennington) uses technology, marketing, and stories to connect businesses with the people they seek to serve. With an educational background in marketing, including an undergraduate degree in marketing management and an MBA, combined with a masters in education, Trey understands the need for businesses to discover and develop their core story and to engage their marketplace in making the story their own.

His book, Spitball Marketing: Using What You’ve Got to Get More of What You Want is due out in early 2010. You can read more from Trey now at his blog www.treypennington.com.

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