Out of the Fog Marketing

In a recent study, Enquiro and Business.com found that 58 percent of B2B customer prefer to make repeat purchases online. Yet only a small percentage of B2B companies provide e-commerce on their websites.



Could your business sell repeat product or services purchases online?

Labels: B2B, b2b online, b2bmarketing

Gartner added micro-blogging to its list of technologies that will transform business over the next two to five years, predicting that by 2011, business micro-blogging will be a standard feature of 80% of social software platforms. However, standard micro-blogging platforms, such as Twitter, don't make sense for technology and healthcare companies selling into niche markets.

Media Brains has launched "Business Chatter" which targets their niche directories such as electronic engineering, plastics, and manufacturing. You get one free post a month. However, for unlimited posts you have to pay $995 for a 12-month profile listing. So far, I don't see conversations happening on this platform, just blatant self-promotion. I think these platforms will have a tough time competing with niche discussion forms.

What do you think? Please post a comment if you know if any micro-blogging platforms that are effective for niche B2B marketing.

Labels: b2bmarketing, business chatter, gartner, microblogging, twitter

Cisco's marketing chief Marilyn Mersereau was recently quoted in B2B Marketing..

"Video changes everything on the Web. People stay longer on our sites when video is involved. Also, instead of publishing a spec sheet about our products, our program managers publish a video of themselves talking about their product. People have short attention spans today. "

I could not agree more - it's nice to see a tech giant validate what we have been espousing for over a year.

If you try and get frustrated with video or audio quality, check out our Web Video Best Practices guide for tips on making your own videos.

Labels: b2bmarketing, cisco, mersereau, web video

TechTarget and Google released an excellent report on how IT pros use search during the purchasing process. One data point is IT buyers use the internet to search for comparisons late in the buying cycle. So search phrases such as "product x vs. product y" or "server virtualization comparison" are popular with decision makers late in the purchase process. Our own campaigns backup this data.

However, be aware you'll get very high exit rates off comparison landing pages unless you provide useful objective information, testimonials and hard data. You just can't put up your product collateral and promotional materials.

Labels: ann arbor google, ann arbor marketing, b2bmarketing, it, it marketing, market research, marketing to it buyers, techtarget

OK I admit it. The digital age of "get it when I want it and that means now" has made me more impatient. I won't wait for coffee if there more than 3 people in line. And I dial the next company on my search engine page if the first home repair outfit doesn't pickup. However most consumers (including myself) will wait if your product or service is truly outstanding.
Take custom cakes at Cake Nouveau in Ann Arbor -their cake orders are booked through the summer. For my last birthday my husband went in looking for a "nice pretty" cake and came away with a custom kayak cake in tribute to my favorite hobby. That's over the top outstanding.
Even in business-to-business marketing we tout the benefits of differentiation. But are you REALLY differentiated? What has your company done that's out there or over-the-top whether it's PR, customer service or your latest product? People will wait for the best.

Labels: b2bmarketing, business to business, local business marketing. differentiation

Cisco and Facebook? Yes, folks they have a relationship. B2B Marketing recently reported on Cisco's use of social networking and Web 2.0 tactics to launch their Aggregation Services Router 1000 series. Usually stoic Cisco even has a Second Life property.

Research firm Universal McCann has a detailed report out with social media statistics. One of the more interesting stats is 36% of survey respondents thought more positively about companies with blogs. It's interesting blogging is becoming part of branding and corporate validation.

So does your company have a Facebook group, Squidoo site or Twitter page? In this new landscape the daring companies which try it will come out ahead I believe. We already see fabulous search engine ranking pages for Squidoo sites on niche topics and Twitter tweet pickup. So dive in...the water's fine.

Labels: b2bmarketing, better marketing presentations, cisco, facebook, Internet marketing, social media, social networking, squidoo, twitter, universal mccann, web 2.0

Read a great post and watch an associated video on social media strategies for business-to-business companies.
I agree that LinkedIn is a great place to start.

Labels: B2B, b2bmarketing, LinkedIn, social media, social networking

Many small to medium-sized companies often dismiss marketing guideline documents. Tech entrepreneurs are not big on formal marketing documentation and process. However it's a huge oversight not to have your rule book in place before you begin the marketing game.

Marketing, and especially advertising, can be a large part of your annual budget and expensive to design. Create a play book that defines your target audience, key messages, short company descriptions and logo usage will go a long way to avoid costly collateral rework and messaging errors.

Then be consistent. If you logo is purple in Canada and blue in the U.S. this does nothing to reinforce your brand. The presentation the CEO uses should have the same look at feel as the one the sales team has on its laptop. Everyone in the company should be able to describe in 30 seconds what value the company's products or services bring to its customers.

One of my favorite books on this topic is Harry Beckwith's Selling the Invisible. It now new, hip or trendy (it was first published in '97), but it contains solid, easily digested advice on consistently positioning your company and what it sells.

Labels: b2bmarketing, biotech marketing, guerilla marketing, marketing budget