You must be living in a vacuum if aren’t aware of the buzz surrounding the latest Old Spice videos that have gone viral. Earlier this week on Facebook, I responded to a question posed by Social Fresh about whether or not the viral ads will sell more Old Spice.
Will the Old Spice viral video campaign sell more Old Spice? Yes or No?
Here was my response:
Of course it will. As consumers we may not realize it consciously.
But, when standing in the aisle in front of all the brands – even if you are loyal to another brand – you will see Old Spice. Don’t think for a second that this is not a coordinated retail effort.
Pay close attention to product placement in the next few weeks – Is there more end cap placements for Old Spice, more Signage, etc. What may seem like a social only event – is certainly tied to a set of specific retailing strategies at the store level. The brand owner of OLD Spice is a former Proctor and Gamble exec. More will be sold. Lots more. ·
Correction: At the time, I posted the comment, I failed to remember that OLD Spice is a Proctor and Gamble brand. – So better said:
Remember, the brand of owner of Old Spice IS a Proctor and Gamble executive. What does P&G do? BUILD BRANDS.
is much more thought through than the blogosphere is giving Old Spice credit for. This is a well planned, coordinated, measured effort to increase revenue.
There are a lot of super smart, creative, innovative and intelligent marketers in this world. Nothing that is happening with Old Spice brand right now is happening by chance. Nothing. Market share, and more importantly, MIND share is be gained every day.
In a few short months, we will see the same come true in B2B marketing. My bet is that SAP has some super things in the works. Have you seen SAP’s Facebook Friend Optimizer? I bet they have much more on the way. Watch them. Here is an interesting interview with William Robb, Director, Social Media Marketing for SAP. SAP will be a B2B brand that continues making waves in the social web.
Remember, the recession slowed everything down. The creative juices are following everywhere. I am excited for the future of B2B marketing, are you?
In nearly every introduction to content marketing, you have come across phrases like “you are now the media,” and “think like a publisher”. But one key thing publishers have always focused on that B2B marketers traditionally have not is the profitable creation and distribution of massive amounts of content. So how do you begin to find or create the content you will need to succeed?
In Part 1 of How To Think And Act Like A Publisher, we focused on defining your core objective (Profit), the importance of both editorial quality and variety (Editorial), and the systematic creation and production of your content (Production).
In Part 2, our focus shifts to building and growing readership (Circulation), getting the editorial content into the hands of your readership (Distribution), and seeking the next opportunity. Understanding and defining who your content is meant for (Circulation) and getting it to them (Distribution) are the core elements of the publisher’s mindset that marketers need to adopt.
These posts are for marketers interested in learning how publishers think and act. It’s a mindset that, when applied to your B2B content marketing strategy, will open up a whole new world of ideas and possibilities.
A side note before jumping in: this is an introductory article intended to provide marketers some insight into the discipline and business of publishing. It offers suggestions on how to think and act like a publisher and how to apply that thinking to your content marketing. It is by no means exhaustive or all inclusive. Publishers do much more than what is presented here.
Circulation
Circulation is readership.
As a publisher, when it comes to readership, the main objective is to acquire and sustain a population of people that a target advertiser will be willing to pay a premium to get in front of. Therefore from a circulation standpoint, the publisher’s mind is always focused on achieving the following two outcomes:
driving growth (i.e., increasing the number of readers) and
retention (i.e., keeping readers loyal).
But before starting either one of those activities, the first place a publisher must start is with the definition of the optimal target prospect for their advertisers. As without a qualified circulation, a publisher has little hopes of generating revenue.
Sound familiar? Where should you start your content marketing strategy? That’s right, with defining your ideal buyers. Enter Buyer Personas. Buyer personas define your optimal buyer(s) – the human beings, (the people with emotions) for whom your products and services are intended.
Once armed with the definition of the readership, publishers set out to create a marketing strategy to continuously acquire, grow, and maintain that readership. Publishers invest significant time, resources, and capital to ensure that their readership can support the growth of the publication.
Actions:
Start your content marketing strategy by creating buyer personas. You must have a clear understanding of who you are trying to attract for your readership.
Review your registration and opt-in forms. Are they simple, easy to use? Do they have good calls to action? How many steps does it take to complete the process? Whether it be your e-mail marketing list, your newsletter, or your blog RSS feed, pay careful attention to simplicity, ease of use, and placement.
Be mindful of the *age* of your subscribers (length of time subscribed) and their level of activity (or inactivity). If you have old, inactive subscribers, make one attempt to reach them, and if you receive no response, dare I say it, remove them. And then acquire new ones.
Create a way to track and monitor the growth of your readership. A simple spreadsheet will do.
Distribution
Distribution, from a publishing standpoint, deals with getting the editorial product into the hands of the readers. The focus is on understanding and utilizing all of the channels through which content can be delivered and consumed, then working to spread the product as widely as necessary (to existing and potential readership) to achieve the publisher’s circulation goals and deliver value to their advertisers.
This is accomplished in a variety of ways: snail mail, digital magazines, the publication’s web site, newsstands, grocery store lines, events and trade shows, syndication, strategic alliances, and on and on. You see, the goal is to spread your content as far as possible, though in a very targeted way, based on where and how the defined readership interacts with the content.
Enter the social web, and your readership is just as capable of distributing the content for you.
Actions:
Look for external destinations to distribute your existing content. For blogs feeds, consider Alltop.com and Technorati. For blog articles, of course Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, but look for other niche destinations too – BusinessWeek Exchange is great for B2B.
Seek places to contribute content – distributing your “thought leadership” in the form of contributed articles.
With every piece of content you create, you must answer the question, “have I made it easy for my readership to share it?” (and that means in all channels, on and offline. Email, Twitter, events, etc.)
You have time, but begin thinking about the answer to the following question: “How do we make our content more touchable?” (Think: iPad)
A side note: Two of the most exciting things happening right now relative to distribution in publishing happen to be related to the iPad. The first just launched: Flipboard. [note: possibly link to their site or Twitter feed?] (It makes an iPad imminent for me.) The second, “Adobe plans to make the tools used to create the Wired Magazine App for iPad generally available late this summer. Exciting news for publishers and B2B marketers.
Seeking the next opportunity
To be honest, most publishers were not very good at this. If they had been, the industry would have fared much better over the past 10 years. Prior to the internet, publishers basically printed money. When it came along, there wasn’t any urgency to act because their pockets were full. Wham! Enter the recession, open source publishing platforms, and the next thing you know everyone is a publisher, and it seemed no one was spending money on print advertising.
So publishers had to adapt, and the good ones have. And with the lesson of the past ten years learned, keeping an eye on the horizon and seeking the next opportunity are musts for long term sustainability and vitality.
Action (just one):
Adapt and Think Bigger. Embrace the times in which we live and seek ways to utilize the new technologies available to you.
Recap
The six core areas:
Profit – define your core objective and have a laser focus on it
Editorial – focus on the importance of both editorial quality and variety
Production – having a system for content creation using schedules, deadlines, and the right people to manage the process
Circulation – defining readership, and driving the growth and retention of those individuals
Distribution –getting the editorial product into the hands of the readership
Seeking the next opportunity – always keeping one eye on the horizon
When listed together (and thought of in this way), these six areas provide you with a framework to begin thinking and acting strategically with a publisher’s mindset, and it becomes easy to see how thinking and acting like a publisher translates directly to acting and thinking as a B2B marketer today.
There is a direct correlation between structuring your marketing department in a way that enables you to systematically create targeted helpful, useful content on an ongoing basis and influencing your buyers in a way that generates demand for your products and services.
Our purpose at Make Good Media is to help you accomplish that goal.
While hindsight tells us that publishers as a whole could have done more to embrace and adapt to the changing media landscape, we can still learn so much from publishers and the way they run their businesses. Tapping into a publisher-worthy understanding of your readership (your customers and potential customers) will help you get into the mindset that is driving the shift to content marketing, web content strategy, and ongoing content creation.
Conclusion
We are at a pivotal time in history, where we are not only experiencing the convergence of print, digital, and social media, but also a transition in the way content is created, packaged, and consumed.
We are all publishers now. And as publishers (and B2B marketers) it is important to understand how to think and act like to attract, nurture, engage, convert, and love our customers.
At both B2Bbloggers.com and Make Good Media, it is our purpose to help you become the marketers shaping the future of B2B marketing. I hope you found this two-part article useful.
Thanks for your time, and I look forward to you sharing your comments.
Editor’s Note: Please join Andrew, Ksenia and I as we welcome Anol Bhattacharya (@B2Bbento) as a new co-moderator to #B2BChat. Anol is one of the leading B2B marketers in Asia and serves as the CEO of GetIT in Singapore. We look forward to his international perspective and leadership on our moderating team. Anol takes Kent’s place who plans to be joining us frequently each Thursday, but has stepped away to focus on other exciting endeavors like,Social Media Marketing (SMM) Magazine.
Recipes for Great Viral B2B Videos
Social media is littered with countless “close encounters of the viral kind”, with most of these encounters being videos that transcend cultural barriers and achieve both cult and pop status. B2C businesses have exploited this for several years now and reaped mostly positive results.
Which leads us to ask, can B2B video achieve the same impact as their B2C counterparts? And if so, then how can we make our videos go on to become viral hits – the Old Spice man being the most recent wild success?
In this week’s #B2BChat, we will attempt to answer those questions and more. Our conversation will delve into why B2C videos go viral and how can we adapt these aspects to our B2B content.
Here are some snapshots of our topics at hand:
When and where to use video for B2B marketing?
The pros and cons of in-house development versus out-sourcing
Are there any “secret recipes” that fuel successful B2B content?
Tools and techniques for pre and post production
Tapping the right distribution channels: answering “where” and “why”
Bring your opinions, experiences and questions for a lively discussion with other B2B marketers.
Join us for this week’s #B2Bchat on B2B Podcasting and Video, Thursday, July 22nd, at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger:Anol Bhattacharya (@B2Bento) is CEO of GetIT Comms, a marketing and communications consultancy for hi-tech and telco’s, where he helps clients (Cisco Systems Inc, IBM, IDC Asia Pacific, HP, Datacraft etc) in the field of B2B marketing, demand generation, lead nurturing, social media strategy & implementation, interactive digital media for marketing initiatives and user experience design.
Anol is one of the key contributors at B2Bento.com and has had his articles published in various media in the region.
What does the move to mobile mean for B2B marketing?
You’ve heard the anticipation for years: mobile will take over the Web and transform the Internet experience as we know it. Although the days of change haven’t come as soon as some predicted, the shift appears to now be in full flight.
How does this shift towards mobile affect the way businesses connect with business customers? Here are some of the questions we want to address in this week’s #B2Bchat:
Q. How relevant is mobile marketing for B2B and how do you know if it’s relevant to you?
Q. To what extent do your customers use mobile devices, e.g. smart phones, in business?
Q. What about location-based services such as Foursquare? Are they applicable in a B2B environment?
Q. Have you advertised / considered advertising on a mobile ad network? ~
Q. Have you considered developing a smart phone app?
Q. What opportunities does the mobile Internet present for B2B marketers?
Q. Does your company have/intent to have a mobile version of your website?
Q. Do you have a mobile marketing strategy?
Q. How you measure the ROI?
Q. Your experience with mobile marketing: What worked, and what didn’t?
Q. What’s next in B2B Mobile Marketing?
Join us this Thursday, July 15 at 8:00pm Eastern for our latest episode of #B2Bchat. Bring your ideas and experiences surrounding mobile and B2B marketing!
About the B2Bblogger: Andrew Spoeth is an independent marketing consultant who specializes in B2B demand generation. He most recently worked as the marketing director at Enquiro, one of North America’s leading search marketing agencies. You’ll also find Andrew speaking at industry events, co-moderating the weekly #B2Bchat series on Twitter, and blogging at MarketingFinger.com. You can follow him on Twitter at@andrewspoeth.
We are all faced with growing responsibility/client load, and not enough resources. Or having the resources, but not feeling that you are getting the best bang for your buck. It’s all about setting expectations and tracking results.
In today’s #B2Bchat, we’ll tackle the tricky issues of resource management and utilizing outside contractors and agencies.
If you are looking for job/projects now, what skills are most in demand? What are the best ways to find new business/job?
What does it mean to be a great client? A great agency?
Have you parted ways with an agency? What is the best way to go about that?
On the agency side, have you ever ‘fired’ a client? What are the reasons to do so?
What are the benefits of using contractors vs agencies? Employees vs interns?
What is the best use for a marketing intern? What’s the balance of learning vs getting the results?
What tools have you found useful to manage workloads and teams?
Join fellow B2B marketers for a discussion on B2B Marketing Resource Management.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
Mayday – a distress signal used to signify an emergency and need for help
Caffeine – something I use to give myself a boost quite regularly
Seem like harmless words that have nothing in the world to do with B2B social media and content marketing, right? Think again.
In recent weeks, Google completed two rather significant changes; one, Mayday, is related to how Google handles search queries and the other, Caffeine, deals with how Google indexes the web. If you are outside the world of search engines, the only Google changes you may have noticed over the past couple of weeks were either the Google Pacman doodle or the day Google choose to be like Bing.
However, Mayday and Caffeine have meaningful impacts on search results, both from a relevance and real-time perspective that in my mind further solidify the need for you to begin participating in B2B social media and content marketing.
Without getting technical, I’ll do my best to highlight the changes and why this is important to you as a B2B marketer, who may be either struggling with the B2B social media decision yourself, or working to gain executive buy-in for your B2B social media strategy.
MAYDAY
Think; search quality. Think; provide users a better search experience by improving results through better matching of websites with user’s search queries.
The project was completed by Google’s search quality team and is independent of Caffeine. A wee bit of technical talk – it is a change to Google’s algorithm – i.e. the code that determines the relevance and ranking of a page. It was rolled out April 28th – May 3rd (around May 1st – hence the name – credit to Webmasterworld).
It’s been tested, and there is no turning back. This is a permanent change.
Here’s Google’s Matt Cutts with an explanation:
CAFFIENE
Think; search timeliness.Think; provide users a better search experience by improving results through providing the freshest, most recently published content about the user’s search query.
Source: The Official Google Blog
This project was completed in an effort to better enable Google to handle the increasing amount of content (video, images, news, blog posts, etc) that is being published every minute and make more of it available as close to possible when it is published.
Today, we’re announcing the completion of a new web indexing system called Caffeine. Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than our last index, and it’s the largest collection of web content we’ve offered. Whether it’s a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now find links to relevant content much sooner after it is published than was possible ever before.
Why it matters to you as a B2B marketer
Mayday and Caffeine is Google’s way of telling us that quality, relevant, real-time content is what matters to their users (and your buyers) and content published today is far more meaningful to their users (and your buyers) then content published months if not years ago.
Kinda makes you think about your static HTML website that was last updated a few years ago, no? Adds a bunch of weight to the need to be producing regular, ongoing content too, right?
If or When
That’s the question. I think you know my answer, what’s yours?
You’ve just been handed the job of setting your company’s B2B Social Media Strategy and gaining executive buy-in across the leadership team. The job is often handed to the PR pros, online marketing executives, customer service managers, or anyone who recognized the power of social media early on.
Early on you saw the potential power of social media through direct engagement with customers – and now you’re tasked with setting the social strategy and direction for your company. After all, who else can lead your company down the path to social media success but you?
The good news is that you are not alone! There are numerous articles and tips out there to help you. In this post, I will try to break it all down to help you get started with a step-by-step approach.
Step 1: Help them see the new reality.
The world has changed – almost overnight. Social media is powerful in its numbers, influential in its reach, and has gone beyond the so-called “Tipping Point” according to this latest eMarketer report.
Executives like hard numbers and facts but they also like to be entertained. Show them the popular video Socialnomics: The Social Media Revolution, now in its 2nd release.
Are they still unconvinced? According to this Hitwise Intelligence report, social media is now bigger than search. And according to Morgan Stanley, social media users surpassed email users in July of 2009 but social media usage surpassed email in November of 2007 (based on time spent). Bottom line message: social media is important, is here to stay, and your company risks falling behind.
Step 2: Demonstrate that social media is influencing business decisions.
The discussion should not be about the technologies or the tools. It is about relationships. And because of the connections they are making online, your customers are using social media now more than ever to make business decisions, according to this report from Forrester. Or you can check out this report Inside the Mind of the B2B Tech Buyer from Chris Herbert, B2B Specialist & Founder of Marketing Integration firm Mi6. In the report, Chris condenses research from Forrester, IDG, and others on the influence of social media on B2B buyers.
Step 3: Be ready to answer the hard questions.
A good pitchman is ready for the standard objections: “Yeah but where’s the ROI?” is usually the first. You can see my answer to this and more in The 7 Burning Social Media Questions but don’t take my word for it. Show this B2B example: How IBM Uncovers “Millions of Dollars” Worth of Sales Leads with Social Media. It is important to convey that the opportunity cost of not participating in social media is real, but the bottom line value is in what can be gained from customer interaction and engagement.
Listen – Report the news by monitoring the conversations as they are happening on social channels.
Respond – Be prepared to mitigate brand risk and employ crisis management, resolve customer complaints, or even deliver on a request for a proposal.
Amplify – Gear up your internal teams to share good news, success stories, or customer passion about your brand.
Engage – When ready, begin to orchestrate across all departments to incorporate social media into the fabric of all customer outreach in campaigns, events, sales, and support.
Step 5: Social media adoption.
The biggest leap of all may be convincing your executive team to not only embrace the power of B2B Social Media, but to use it themselves to bring a more open and authentic image to your company and brand. You can cite Altimeter Group’s founder Charlene Li who has recently written a book on the subject called Open Leadership expertly reviewed by Jeremy Victor. Or better yet, invite Charlene or Jeremy to work with your company. Nothing can humanize your brand more than getting the top leaders of your company to speak in an authentic way straight to your customers.
With executive buy-in of your b2b social media strategy, you are now on your way to becoming a social media rock star.
You will certainly have many more questions along the way. So for additional support, I have included some of my favorite experts’ tips in the links below:
About the B2Bblogger: Michael Brenner is the author of the B2B Marketing Insider blog and serves as Regional Director of Online and Social Media Marketing for SAP, the worldwide leader in enterprise software. Michael has been working in marketing and sales for over 16 years in various roles with companies such as the Nielsen Company, software start-up FullTilt, and International Communications Research (ICR). Michael’s sales, product development, online, search and social media marketing expertise provide him with the unique perspectives that today’s market requires.
This post is brought to you through a partnership between B2Bbloggers.com and the B2B Search Strategy Summit.
Well this week’s #B2Bchat on print advertising and where it fits into today’s marketing mix was a lively discussion. Based on the conversation and what you will read below, from a B2B perspective print advertising (publications and direct mail) has a place and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.
That’s good news for publishers, and as you will read, marketers are using both channels, print and online, to compliment one another.
Enjoy the read and special thanks go to @KentHuffman for moderating this week for me.
Where should print advertising fit into today’s B2B marketing mix?
@NathanRKing: Print advertising should be there along side of the digital elements – everything should work cohesively.
@lewiswebs: Still finding some old-school thought that print is necessary in the marketing mix.
@b2bento: Nowhere! Without exceptional creative use (like augmented reality, QR) – print advertising is dead.
@fearlesscomp: Print should be in the mix for one simple reason. The mail box is empty today.
@NathanRKing I see @fearlesscomp’s point – less clutter in the mailbox = more visibility for direct mail.
@kseniacoffman: I treat print as a way to support the pubs in our space; sad I know. Though research @chuckmartin1 shared today suggests 66% of b2b buyers rely on trade press for information – http://bit.ly/d2JKr3.
@joezuc: Print remains important as one of several media available to marketers that can be optimized for a particular opportunity. With variable print publishing, the same level of personalization that goes in web based communications can now be in print.
@mentormarketing: I have seen @Vocus use Print to drive Social Media to some success [from my outside perspective].
@anetah: Understand your customers/prospects preferred marcom channels … Print may or may not be a right fit. Must know your audience.
@MikeTek: Depends on your market. Some are best reached online. Print has its place, but its shrinking.
@evoklarry: Print advertising is not dead. Many choose to reach industry professionals through their trade publications.
@BrennerMichael: Print will always be part of integrated mix but influence is down for sure.
@martinehunter: Print not dead. Trade pubs still relevant to many b2b buyers, should be in the cohesive mix.
@ChuckMartin1 Anyone look at the thinness of the B-B pubs lately? Not sure there is a strong print fit.
How have your expectations from print advertising changed?
@lewiswebs: Never expected much from print – such a low conversion rate – wouldn’t expect that to improve now.
@fearlesscomp: Print should be part of the mix, but a small part. Buyer personas should drive media selection. Again, buyer personas should drive media selection. Go where buyers go.
@joezuc: Once again, with variable print publishing, we can have higher expectations again. Anyone here get a postcard with a PURL on it?
@anetah: Must be relevant w/ print advertising… Targeting, personalization, geo targeting…RELEVANCY is key.
Will the percentage of spending in print advertising increase or decrease in the next 12 months? Why?
@Karimacatherine: It will decrease but I see print become more relevant because they are competing with so many other media.
@NathanRKing: Less advertisers could mean better placement in publications for the same cost. Better visibility.
@Renbor: Stay about the same if you consider pubs and direct mail.
@fearlesscomp: Print is declining and will continue to decline. I recommend we develop personas and allow users to set preferences. Want print – ok. Want Twitter-OK, want email-OK
@joezuc: I believe it will decrease, but the money that remains in print will be optimized as it is integrated with online campaigns.
@EVOKLarry: Print medium doesn’t allow for the same level of creativity as interactive, nor immediacy of return.
@NathanRKing: @evoklarry but keep in mind that good print has such high visibility, thus better brand recognition.
@BrennerMichael: Down for certain! Not dead. I still read print and I have a budget!
What is the main benefit you get today from print advertising?
@ToniGoSaintsRou: The value of print ads is not always in immediate sales, but more in reputation & trust building.
@lewiswebs: Reaching that lead you haven’t reached otherwise, but that’s fading fast.
@janetdmiller: Print helps establish brand. As a search marketer, without traditional media, it’s tough to get brand searches.
@NathanRKing: Print is still reaching customers and allows you to target by location (local pubs) & interests (industry/trade mags). Print also allows businesses to reach consumers who aren’t that into social media. (not everyone checks facebook daily).
@EVOKLarry: Prints biggest benefit may be the targeted approach.
@mentormarketing: I see the benefit in the shelf life of a print piece which exceeds the tweet lifecycle just started tracking.
@ckburgess: Longer attention span for print! Longer shelf life.
@ cuferg: Print increases brand awareness if done well and into targeted trade pubs.
@EeeGeee You can’t click the escape button… Print is visually friendly, but the downfall is its price efficiency.
What drives the continued decision to advertise in print? Safety? Target Audience? Results?
@lewiswebs: Target audience should dictate using print and should drive the results you want.
@EVOKLarry: Clients who invest in their brands, invest in print. Those who are willing to forgo long tail for short gain don’t.
@ChuckMartin1: Well-accepted measurements (BPA audits, etc.) and habits.
@ Karimacatherine: What drives print advertiser is known territory. they’ve been doing it for ages.
@phylliskhare: For my clients still using print – it’s about age demographics
How do you define the success of a print campaign?
@Renbor: Success is always defined in terms of sales and/or new customers.
@janetdmiller: Tough to measure offline (print) to online, but I like to try to measure via offers and online signup.
@cuferg: Most print, the results are nearly impossible to track. WOM results play into it, target audience readership most certainly.
@lewiswebs: All roads lead to lead gen – did it bring the prospects we expected.
@fearlesscomp: Measure results against business goals.
What ways do print and online advertising work best together?
@lewiswebs: Integrated approach with consistent message and branding is best
@eeegeee: As mentioned before, direction to website & also print ads can have promotions and benefits (as well as special online promos)
@NathanRKing: Print can work brand awareness, digital can help close the sale.
@b2bspecialist: Print & online will work well if they are integrated. Ad in print goes to ad on site/ Article in print goes to article on site
@janetdmiller: I think print (and other traditional media) do a nice job at driving awareness and brand searches.
@SUPPORT2point0: Q9: Print and digital like PB&J. Can’t make a quality sandwich with half.
Has the introduction the iPad had any impact of your thinking?
@Renbor: It will enhance print ads as more people read traditional print on iPad.
@fredmcclimans: Yes, the iPad has me rethinking the way that journalism is created (melding of medias). Can’t wait til the markets full of iPads, dPads (droid pads) & mPads (msft pads). New energy for publishers!
@NathanRKing: iPad will allow for more interactive ads in digital publications.
@jeremyvictor: It certainly has impacted my thought process relative to contributing content to publications – more interested now.
As I said, it was a lively discussion, and a lot of good thoughts were shared. Thanks to all who participated. Join us for next week’s #B2Bchat on LinkedIn, Thursday, June 10th at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific) by following the hashtag #B2Bchat! Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
Thanks to everyone who participated last week in our discussion on “Effective Lead Generation Tool or Glorified Sales Pitches?” Proving yet again, sharing experiences [even in 140 characters or less] can be both fun and educational.
#B2BChat is our new weekly twitter conversation for B2B marketers.
The objective is to bring the B2B marketing community on Twitter together while discussing topics relevant to us as B2B marketers.
So Mark Your Calendars ForThursday March 18th at 8:oo PM EST.
In this week’s #B2BChat, we take on the topic of B2B Content Strategy and attempt to answer the question, “What’s a content strategy in the first place? Why should you have one?”
There is a tremendous amount of discussion on content marketing and many of us are learning the ropes. Let’s discuss the questions below and learn from each other what it is, how it works, and why have one.
What’s a content strategy in the first place? Why should you have one?
What are the best practices to developing one?
How do you get client/audience input for your content strategy?
Content strategy planning process: an evolution w. incremental changes? or all at once, annual plan?
Any tools that are useful?
How do you know your strategy is working?
How does it tie in into your lead gen activities, other things in your marketing mix?
Join us for a live conversation with other B2B marketers who face the same challenges that you do.
Follow @B2B_chat for updates and join us this Thursday, March 18, at 8 pm Eastern as we tackle B2B Content Strategy.
A couple of weeks ago, I identified three recurring b2b marketing trends and I shared them with you in this post, Three B2B Marketing Trends (To Avoid). Today, I introduce you to something you are more than likely already intimately familiar with, I am calling it, The B2B Marketers Dilemma. Here it is.
Am I right? Pretty close I bet. Quite frankly, if you are a B2B marketer, I think you have the most difficult job in the organization right now. You are likely championing your company’s B2B social media marketing efforts, while at the same time thinking the best approach would be for the entire organization to be asking itself, “how do we become a social business?” Not just, “how do we set up a Facebook Fan page?” If the former were the case, you could spend your time in a more meaningful way than convincing everyone a negative comment on a blog won’t kill you.
The reality is though, you are having to fight that fight, and to me that is just one of the reasons why your job as a B2B marketer is so challenging. But moving beyond those discussions, your most important work is in solving this dilemma for your organization. It’s vital to your success not only as a company, but also as a B2B social media and content marketing professional.
So how do you do it? Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Reassess all your spending from a buyer persona perspective versus “target audience” – When you have well developed buyer personas for the people involved in your buying process (notice I am not saying sales cycle), you know them intimately. You know their online habits, their daily struggles, their education level and much more. Once you get this close to your buyers, you find an entirely different point of view to assess where and how you are spending your marketing and advertising budgets to reach them.
Evaluate the structure and roles of your marketing department – When marketing is changing as rapidly and radically as it is today, new thinking in required. Now, I’m not talking about “new thinking” in the sense that you need to come up with some new breakthrough, magical formula. I simply mean looking at the old way of doing things with a 2010 mindset. Apply critical thinking and develop better methods to serve your needs now and in the future. This covers not only evaluating the skill sets of the people working for you, but also their job descriptions and operational responsibilities. Build your department to support ongoing content creation.
Talent matters, it’s time to evaluate yours – Gone are the days when you leave someone on your team, “because they have been with the company for so long,” or whatever other reason you may be making for an under performer. In the new world of B2B social media and content marketing, each and every person on your team needs to contribute, every day. If they have the talent, but not the skills, invest in training and help them grow professionally.
Outsource – I’ve long been a proponent of outsourcing because of its ability to allow an organization to stay focused on its core competency. The same benefits hold true for B2B social media and content marketing. So whether it be outsourcing the creation of a video, white paper, or hiring a writer or editor for your blog, these are sound business decisions and one you should consider if you are understaffed.
There you have it, a few suggestions to get you started solving the B2B marketers dilemma. Ultimately though, what lies ahead in solving this dilemma is transformation, renewal, and hard work (lots of it). But don’t let that prevent you from pressing on. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor will your b2b social media and content marketing strategy and execution.
Kindly share some of your ideas in the comments on how we can help each other solve The B2B Marketers Dilemma.
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Hi, I'm @jeremyvictor, the founder of Make Good Media and Editor In Chief of B2Bbloggers.com.
B2Bbloggers.com is an online magazine for B2B marketers. Our goal is to engage, educate, and make it easier for B2B marketers to find the information they care about to do their jobs successfully.
As a publisher and new media marketing agency, Make Good Media advises businesses how to integrate social media and content marketing with traditional marketing tactics to attract, nurture, engage, and convert customers in the brave new B2B world of the social, mobile web. How can we help you Make Good Media?
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