Digital, online, internet, “new” marketing. It’s picking up pace
I read this on the MarketingProfs website: Marketing in Accelerated Culture: "The Economist recently reported that Google 'is now equal to the combined worth of Walt Disney, News Corp., and Viacom,' "
On the surface this may not seem to be very relevant to small and medium business marketing, (unless you have Google shares of course) but it is.
It means that anyone who does not believe that internet marketing is relevant to their business should think again. Google has made its money essentially from matching ads with what you are looking for on the internet. You may argue that your customers don't look for you on the internet; they come through referrals.
Well, that may be true, but what if on top of your referrals you started to get enquiries from people who are looking for your services on the internet?
It's not the only channel, and it will never be as long as we are living, walking, breathing, talking individuals that make purchasing decisions. But then effective marketing is always a mix, not one-solution, isn't it.
Murder communication with a thousand buzzwords
I read an article on a site called Marketingtoday.com which caught my eye; it was about the use of meaningless buzz words and management speak in communications. I love this stuff, and it will only get worse I'm sure.
We (and our customers) are comstantly bombarded with communications through an increasing number of channels; email, print, blogs, your mobile phone. So what is the impact of using meaningless words, and why do people use them?
* They use them because it is easy; words like "solutions" and "synergies" are so generic and meaningless that you can stick them in a text willy-nilly and it won't make any difference.Now thinking about what you actually mean takes a lot more effort.
* They believe that using these words make them sound professional, as if they know what they are doing. Wrong. It makes you sound like everyone else.
Buzzwords, management speak, marketing speak essentially do two things: they make you sound like everyone else and they make your readers switch off in boredom. And that is the exact opposite of what a marketer wants to achieve; i.e. stand out and excite.
Have a look at this page on the BBC website and scroll down to find contributions from readers...it's a worry...
"Marketing departments tend be real experts in this area - if anyone can put a pig in a dress and call it grandma, they can! For example, Private Eye magazine runs a series called "Solutions" containing gems like "inter-paper fastening solutions" (staplers)."
I think you get the picture.
One picture telling a thousand words
Understanding how you can use new technologies in your marketing efforts is really hard, especially if marketing is just one of many responsibilities.
From my experience, most SME's are still miles away from even using web technology that has been around for years to its potential. (Even better than that, there are still a whole lot of business people who will tell you they don't need a website, because their clients wouldn't look for them online.)
So let's get to the point: Steve Rubel from micropersuasion.com (a respected writer on this subject)posted this really good map outlining not only what these new technologies are, but more importantly to what effect they are used.
Handy reference.
In B2B, online is still just one cog in the wheel
According to a recent Australian study, "The Australian online advertising market grew nearly 50% in 2005 with $605m in revenues and this is expected to increase significantly to more than $1.5bn by 2009."
Frost & Sullivan also predicts that Australian online advertising revenues will exceed magazine advertising (which accounts for around 7% or $700m of the total advertising market) in 2006 and radio advertising in 2007.
That's significant of course, but the reality is that these dollars are spent by the big consumer brands.Business to Business SME's have never been big advertisers; referral business, direct marketing and personal selling is where it's at.
Most SME's already struggle with the plethora of choices to spend their promotional dollar. More often than not they end up doing whatever is sold to them most effectively. And not very often as part of a more structured campaign or strategy.
Yellow Pages is still a big favourite, even if the results they get are doubtful at best. Why? Because customers get something tangible, in a format they understand.
Unless we, as marketing professionals can make it easier to create effective, multi-channel strategies I think that it will remain like that for quite a while to come.
Turning Customers Into Evangelists
Going to Florida for a seminar is not really on the books yet, but after having read a fair few articles on the Word of Mouth Associations website it would have been nice.
Although the article itself is not revolutionary, it does focus the attention on something that I think is so often forgotten; turning customers into fans starts with the product.
9 times out of 10 the expectations of marketing are squarly focused on promotions and sales. It would be interesting to calculate the ROI on general promotional activities versus money invested in turning a customer into an advocate.
No, even better, let's see how much business has been generated from customer referrals and other word of mouth promotion, and how much from general advertising, trade shows etc.
In b2b marketing, I don't think there is a question about what comes up trumps.
So why don't we do more with it?
Here are three reasons I can think of:
1. It takes long term thinking; the results pay off in the long term
2. It's not as visible; no new website, ads or brochures to flash around
3. Based on the two factors above, it is a higher risk strategy for a marketing person.
Solution? Get support from the top first; it's not a hard sell once you have the numbers.
Word of Mouth Basic Training: Day 2: Turning Customers Into Evangelists
Are we really more critical, and cynical as customer?
There is a lot of argument online about the growing sophistication of customers, and how that impacts the way we should be marketing to them.
I just wonder how pervasive, and what evidence actually exists for this argument?
It's a very logical argument to say that because we are marketed to so heavily we have turned off from traditional marketing messages, but the reality is that the vast majority of products and services are still sold with these traditional messages...
So what does that mean? Maybe it means that this more sophisticated consumer is really only a very small (but very vocal) group that is largely present online...
it could also mean that the market has changed and that traditional marketers are missing out by not tuning there message and channels to this shift.
But what proof is there of either? This is something I'd love to have some comment on.
Campaigns versus impulse
Campaigns versus impulse – get mileage out of your marketing activities.
It is very easy to fall into the “opportunity trap”, i.e. spending your marketing dollars on whatever opportunity looks great at the time it is being offered to you. Don’t. You wouldn’t (hopefully) spend your money like that in any other business area. Creating a small campaign is not very hard to do, and the results are almost certain many times what an impulse activity will pay off.
Here are four simple steps to follow:
Set an objective – that means that you look at who you want to promote what to, and that you set a specific (numerical) goal to achieve it. Numbers are magic. Once you have committed yourself and your partners/staff to it, it really focuses you.
Set a budget – however small or large, a budget is part of your commitment to make it work. Clearly, if you are going to spend money, you want to get meaningful results.
Step out an action plan – sounds silly, but a simple timeline with who will do what will ensure that things get done. It also helps communicate internally, and externally with potential partners that you are serious about what you are doing.
Track the results – accountability is not something that is often associated with marketing. I believe it is the essence, so develop a simple method of tracking the results of your activities. There are many different ways for many different programs, but any identification of the offer will help you track the outcomes of your program.
Try it. It works!
White Papers – 38.5% say they pay more attention to white paper offers than…
According to Marketing Sherpa (a leading marketing e-zine) white papers are still by far the preferred communication over any other b2b ad. It makes sense, as consumers are filtering out more and more advertising and look for added value in communications.
"How to Use eBook Offers to Stand Out in a Sea of White Papers."
As of this moment, roughly 48,000 white papers are being promoted online by business-to-business marketers. The good news is, prospects are still interested -- 38.5% say they pay more attention to white paper offers than any other type of B-to-B ad.The bad news is ... 48,000. How can your offer stand out in the sea of white papers?
Check out our new Case Study on a marketer who's testing ebook offers instead. Includes white paper versus ebook click and conversion data for ads and emailed offers:http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3100(Open access until Oct 29th) "
The business case for RSS marketing
If you are interested in Internet and email marketing, have a read. - A concise summing up of the challenges in email marketing, as well as a really useful explanation of where things are going. Even if you are not a tech person, you'll find this whitepaper a really clear outline of the problems internet and email marketing face. 28 pages is a bit much, but even if you just read the first couple of pages; you'll get something out of it.
"RSS marketing - the business case"
http://www.johnlawlor.com/rok-report/rss_marketing_the_business_case.pdf
“Marketing to IT professionals” in b2b Magazine
"Marketing to IT professionals" in b2b Magazine - The SMB market for IT is set to grow exponentially, IT buyers can no longer be lumpted together as one big group, there are changes in spending; all and all an interesting read from a good source.Breaking through to IT professionals.
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