Social media in B2B – who is reviewing your product?
January 6th, 2009If there is one thing unique about B2B purchasing, it is the time and resources people devote to evaluating a potential purchase.
Now imagine you are launching a new product. A good launch is one of those rare moments when you can get the media’s attention and a good launch will probably play a significant role in your products’ success. So you target the right media, you write compelling stories hoping they get picked up by those hard to reach technology writers. If you represent a big brand, you’re company may even advertise in the media you are hoping to get favourable reviews from them…
But of course they are not “the media” anymore. There are an increasing number of “other” media outlets. The people that create this “other” media tend to write out of passion or to demonstrate their thought leadership and generally share a couple of important characteristics:
- They don’t get paid by a media company that relies on advertising
- They are often very passionate
- They are often not generalist “technology” writers but people with a very narrow interest/specialization
They are free to write what they like, they are likely to know what they are talking about, and they probably have a narrow group of readers who are equally focused and who are looking for unbiased, knowledgeable critique.
A real world example
Here is an example of such a product review by Stephen Few, from Perceptual Edge, a consultancy assisting companies “design simple information displays for effective analysis and communication.”
The blog post is called “ Xcelsius Present – Fast Track to Nowhere“; a 1,700 word review of the latest version of Excelsius from Business Objects. Now, I have no idea if he is right or wrong, but this is a little piece of the conclusion:
“Business Objects is a leading business intelligence vendor (based on sales), but its products consistently demonstrate that they don’t understand analytics and haven’t a clue about data visualization. A vendor that claims to be the best, which Business Objects unabashedly claims (just like every other major BI vendor), should be ashamed of selling such moronic products.”
Ouch. Not exactly what you’re hoping for. But the difference with traditional media is that it doesn’t stop there. The conversation is about to start.
44 comments and a great discussion
There are 44 comments posted, and it is a lively discussion including an exchange with what appears to be a representative from Business Objects (although not identified as such). Either way, good on them for participating, as it provides potential buyers of the product not just one take on the product, but many.
Now Google “excelsius review, business objects”.
So just before you start to believe that social media is just about Twitter, (and I don’t blame you) it is the fragmentation of media and the increasing number of very narrow, niche blogs, wiki’s etc that increasingly will come to the top of the search results when potential customers do their product evaluation. Search “excelsius review, business objects” and the review by Stephen Few is on the first search page, just under ZDNet. If I was in the market to buy, I’d probably read it. Rightly or wrongly.
So what can you do?
Without pretending to write a strategy, here are a few simple things you could do.
- Know who the people are outside the “traditional media” that publish on your subject.
- Engage with them. Maybe give them an opportunity to preview your product and ask questions. It won’t mean you’ll get a positive review, but you might just be able to ensure there is no misunderstanding about your product (which there seems to in this particular example)
- Participate in the discussion, using not only the comment section of their blog, but also your own. (What do you mean, you’re company doesn’t have a blog?)
What else would you do?
Merry Christmas everyone, and a peaceful and safe 2009
December 24th, 2008There are always plenty of things to worry about, but for the next few days I hope you enjoy the simple pleasure of spending time with friends and/or family.
Let’s make it a cracking 2009. Merry Christmas.
“unsubscribe” - when we hit the “off” switch
November 9th, 2008
I just read a blog post by a well respected author making a couple of good points about email marketing and the importance of the subject line and signature.
Good information, but the post was 1,400 words long without sub-headings. So I thought I post a comment, generally supportive but making a point about the importance of being brief in email marketing and effective use of headings.
But I didn’t. I unsubscribed. Does that make sense, or was that the right thing to do? Probably not. He made a good point after all and I should have given him the feedback he deserved. Fact is, I don’t always do what is logical and right. Nor do our customers.
Age of Conversation 2 - The Rising Water Level of B2B Marketing
November 2nd, 2008Where we had 100 people collaborating on the first book, “The Age of Conversation”, the sequel, “The Age of Conversation - Why don’t they get it?” involved 237 people from around the world. My contribution this time around is called: “The rising water level of B2B Marketing”, looking at how B2B marketers will have to change to adept to a new environment.
The topics people have written on are broad ranging, so there is a nice mix.
- Manifestos
- Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
- Moving from Conversation to Action?
- The Accidental Marketer
- A New Brand of Creative
- My Marketing Tragedy
- Business Model Evolution
- Life in the Conversation Lane
I’ve chosen Business Model Evolution; here is a short bit of the intro:
In B2B, there is more often than not a lot of careful evaluation before any purchase decision is made. After all, a bad decision could potentially harm your career, or cost you your job. You look for recommendations through personal networks and word of mouth. Now, through social media, there is a network at your fingertips that is easier to access, and more powerful than anything you’ve ever seen. Suddenly, as a buyer you have more knowledge, more choice, more power and higher expectations.
All the proceeds are going to the Children’s charity, Variety. If that alone is not enough reason to buy a book, consider this:
The 237 people who have participated are all passionate about the changing face of marketing. Some of these people are now recognised by the wider business community as experts in the rapidly evolving field of digital marketing/pr, social media, whatever tag you like to use. Some are not, but maybe they should be.
So what do you get for your money?
For $US 12.50 you can buy the e-book here.
For US$ 19.95 you buy the soft cover here, or the pretty hardcover for US$29,95 here.
A great effort again by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton for organising this. An enormous effort for charity.
Check out the list of contributors:
Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G. Kofi Annan, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw and James G. Lindberg, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem
How much do you focus on competitors?
October 8th, 2008It’s an interesting question. After all, our customers see us both and make their decisions accordingly. But where do you stop? How much information is enough, and how much is too much? It’s quite easy to get a bit obsessive about competitors. If a competitor has a feature, you need it too. If the competitor enters a new market, you need to be there too. If they re-brand, we need to re-brand. If they drop their price, so should we.
Of course it is important to understand your competitors. After all, customers see you in this context and make their choices accordingly. You can’t position your brand or solution in a vacuum; you position your brand in relative terms to others.
On the other hand, there are some real risks in putting too much focus on it.
Time – you have only a limited amount of time which needs to be divvied up between a broad range of marketing/business activity. If you spend most of it analysing others, you won’t get much done.
Focus – you could end up following your competitors instead of leading the market, becoming a me-too provider and loosing the reason why people chose you in the first place.
Confidence – your customers don’t just buy features, facts and figures. They buy on trust and you are an advisor to them. If your head is full of reasons why your competitors could be better, you’ll lack conviction and confidence and people will pick up on that.
So what’s the right balance?
That depends on how competitive your market is, but the first rule is to track and review with a purpose. If your purpose is to ensure your product/service development is in tune with market developments, do a quarterly review of your competitors offering and vital business stats.
If your purpose is to sell more effectively, focus on the information that is most important to your customers. Stuff that is either important to position your brand, or make to the sale. For your main competitors, write down the key reasons why your customers choose you over them, so you have a clear picture how you are positioned against each one. Equally, write down three arguments they use against you, and have a solid response. Not having to think about it when a customer asks you is in itself a pretty powerful statement.
In the end, competitors will always have features you don’t have, but how often is that feature making or breaking the sale?
And how many brands do you know (and use) with products and services that may not be the best or the most complete, but you choose them anyway?
Accident or marketing strategy?
September 6th, 2008Google’s Chrome browser needs more polish - BizTech - Technology - theage.com.au
“The browser was released this week after Google accidentally sent a comic book explaining Chrome’s features to a blogger a day early.”
Really? accidentally? Some online marketing strategist would see “leaking” a release to a blogger as the most effective way to ensure that the rest of the blogosphere would jump on board. Instantly reaching a hard core of “amplifiers” who like nothing more than a scoop. I’m a little surprised that this journalist didn’t consider this scenario to be honest.
By the way, how smart is it to use a comic to explain utterly boring and dry stuff like Multi Process Architecture? How is that for an alternative to a press release and a brochure?
Read this blog on your mobile
August 18th, 2008
Ok, following closely in the footsteps of fellow Australian blogger Stan Lee from BrandDNA, you can now read this blog a little easier on your mobile: http://marketingandbranding.mofuse.mobi
Browse there from your mobile and save it as a favourite. Tell me if it is working for you!
Marketing peril - drawing conclusions based on your own bias
August 1st, 2008We’re all prone to it.
I give you an example; there is clear evidence that people are moving from watching television to spending more time online. No argument there. But then I read a post by Seth Godin yesterday, in which he drew a really tricky conclusion from this fact. His post essentially suggests that the enormous amount of work that has gone into building Wikipedia’s is the result of people switching off their television sets, in favour of contributing to worthwhile endeavours such as Wikipedia.
He said: “All those hours, all that work. Where did the time and effort come from?”
Here is my issue:
This thinking presumes that spending more time online changes people’s behaviour from entertainment seekers to contributors to worthwhile intellectual activity.
I think that the vast majority of people who used to watch Baywatch or cop shows now watch Youtube and play Warcraft or play a quiz on Facebook. Not contribute to Wikipedia.
The reason I raise this point is that I believe that Seth Godin fell prey to a fundamental marketing trap: he drew a conclusion about the world based on his own bias. Seth doesn’t watch TV. I actually believe that if there had been no TV he would probably have spent his nights reading books or writing another one. But that’s not what the majority of people would necessarily do.
Largely, people watch (or watched) television to be entertained. I’d argue that they now substitute watching TV by going online to be entertained. That’s not black and white of course; there will be people who have actually changed their behaviour and now contribute to Wikipedia or another worthwhile exchange of ideas. But in general terms, the internet has simply provided a richer, more diverse and more interactive substitute for television.
For me, it reminds me of the fact that it is easy to draw conclusions about people, their preferences and their behaviours based on your own bias, and the slippery slope it takes you on. Timely reminder for me, as I work to understand a new set of customers in my new role with Aconex.
PS:I’m not having a go at Seth here. His contribution to clear marketing thinking is second to none and I recommend anyone to read his blog/books.
Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneer blogs
June 13th, 2008Ok, I admit it. I was flattered when Julian Cole listed my blog as one of the Top 50 Australian Marketing Pioneers blogs. A lot of entries I don’t recognise, but Servant of Chaos, Brand DNA and Better Communication Results have been setting the standard for some time.
So why does it matter, beyond making me feel good?
It’s great to see someone make the effort and look around in his own backyard. We’re probably all passionate about the opportunities today’s web offers to share ideas and collaborate.
I’d like to see more Australian organisations get involved and take advantage of the fantastic opportunities today’s web offers.
To spread the word, we need to connect in the “real” world as much as online
The thing is that to spread the word to the people who are not participating, we often need to go”offline”, because that’s where the audience is. They’re conversations over a coffee, or a presentation, or articles in the print media or other traditional media.
that top 50 list of people are probably all doing exactly that. And that’s why local is important. We need to be on the ground, face to face or in the local media as much as online. So that’s the other reason I’m excited about this list. Thanks Julian.
See the full list here and check out some great blogs.
How web 2.0/social media is offering opportunities to B2B marketers
May 19th, 2008I subscribe to few newsletters these days, instead preferring RSS feeds, but the “Modern B2B Marketing” newsletter from Marketo is one that I like. Probably due to the easy lay out and great content. So the e-newsletter is not dead yet.
The discussion about social media/web 2.0 (I wish there was better terminology for this) tends to centre around consumer marketing, so this headline about B2B marketing got my attention.
It features Laura Ramos, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research (interviewed by Jon Miller from Marketo) who provides an interesting insight into how changes in the media environment (i.e. the fragmentation of media and the fact that we are all getting overloaded with communications) is starting to make B2B marketers look at other avenues beyond the traditional outbound marketing activities.
Engaging customers and prospects who are activly looking around for solutions to their problems with information and interaction that is relevant and valuable, seems to be a no-brainer. But how many organisations invest in this “pull” activity? With web 2.0/social media still in its infancy (especially in B2B marketing) there is a real opportunity to differentiate for those who take the lead.
Laura also offers specific examples of B2B marketers successfully using Web 2.0 tactics like rich media, blogging, RSS, and social networks. I’m not a great podcast consumer (because I’m impatient and want to scan for the good bits), but this was time well invested. Have a listen to this short, (10 minute?) podcast.
Using Digital, Web 2.0 Tactics to Boost B2B Marketing Results (Podcast)
