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Virtually as Good as a Trade Show

Monday, July 12th, 2010

As a B2B marketing person I’ve always loved trade shows. Where else do all the trade press and your competitors and customers converge in one place—all with common interests? People who are looking to buy are all in the same room with people who are looking to sell. Trackable sales leads are flowing like a river from an identifiable source. Gotta love it.

But according to a Forbes article, trade show revenue in the U.S.—about $12 billion annually—was expected to contract nearly 7 percent last year. Trade shows require significant investment—booth space, exhibit design, videos, collateral materials, and most expensive of all—travel and expenses for the sales team. No wonder people don’t think they can afford trade shows.

There is, of course, a cost for not participating—lost opportunity. You can’t get sales leads from trade shows if you’re not there. But now, with virtual trade shows, you don’t have to be physically there. You can “man” your booth from your office computer, or, well, any computer anywhere. That saves a bundle in T&E. Other things are cheaper, too, in the virtual world. Entry fees, exhibit design and build. All you need is one representative from your company to be on deck to instant message visitors to your virtual booth.

I do still like the visual, physical, meet-and-greet trade show. There’s no substitute for seeing faces, talking to actual people in person. But if it’s a luxury your company can’t afford, check out the virtual shows.

Tags: accountability, B2B advertising, B2B branding, marketing, marketing ROI, sales leads, trade shows
Posted in marketing | 2 Comments »

50+ Years Later, Brand Basics Remain

Monday, June 21st, 2010

There’s an iconic B2B ad by McGraw-Hill Publishing from 1958 that’s been played and replayed over the years. I first saw it in the ‘80s, and now it’s been reprinted in the current issue of B2B magazine. It’s a fabulous photo of a grumpy businessman sitting in his office chair on a white background, glowering at the reader. Here’s the copy:

“I don’t know who you are.

I don’t know your company.

I don’t know your company’s product.

I don’t know what your company stands for.

I don’t know your company’s customers.

I don’t know your company’s record.

I don’t know your company’s reputation.

Now—what was it you wanted to sell me?”

It’s a classic ad, as true in 1958 as it is today. Yes, things have changed significantly, but it’s still important to build your brand, maintain your reputation and be memorable in the marketplace. It’s still important to pre-sell your audience, regardless of the vehicle you use. Of course, in 1958 there was only one practical vehicle, and hence the final line of copy in the ad:

MORAL: Sales start before your salesman calls—with business magazine advertising.

Now sales start with web sites, e-mail campaigns, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and so much more. But the fundamental concepts haven’t changed a bit.

Tags: B2B branding, marketing, Marketing Communications, reputation, trust
Posted in Branding | 2 Comments »

EMS Outsourcing and Trust

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Circuits Assembly recently had a couple blogs with some interesting topics:

1) Nokia is outsourcing again after a year of pulling the work in-house. This can only be good news for our business.

2) Some opine that it’s best to manufacture electronic products in the region into which the product will be sold.

And what about outsourcing in the region in which electronic products will be manufactured? Isn’t that a good idea?

With all the talk about globalization, do things just come down to the fact that people like to do business with their neighbor? Is there some kind of comfort level we have when we deal with people in our own region? Is there greater trust?

Because, in fact, trust is everything when you’re doing business. Recently some financial and petroleum companies, among others, have seen trust in them erode. It would be interesting to determine how lack of trust has affected their bottom lines on a case-by-case basis. Because surely it has to some degree. I’d like to see how much.

Then we could quantify the importance of trust and reputation. And then we’d have an idea of the value of maintaining that reputation. Which would make all of us in PR breathe easier.

Tags: EMS, marketing, metrics, reputation, reputation management, trust
Posted in Branding | No Comments »

Chicken or Egg Metrics

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Which came first, easily measured marketing or a mandate for metrics? It seems there IS more measurement just because there is more online marketing, where every transaction or event is trackable.

What has always worried me is that people are not necessarily engaging in the best integrated mix of marketing tactics, but rather, are skewing their mix toward online marketing because it’s easily measurable. At least it was easily measurable before social media.

But in fact, I think people are skewing toward online marketing because it’s comparatively cheap. And that’s not all bad. Every indication is that traditional print and broadcast advertising—and also collateral material—is declining significantly as a percentage of marketing budgets. These are historically high-ticket items that are also difficult to measure.

But even though online marketing is trackable, it’s still not that easy to collect pertinent data, analyze that data and apply that analysis to helping you achieving your objectives. In other words, using data to help you move the needle. Because data, we got. Lots of it.

But do we have it for social media as well as web sites and e-mail campaigns? Can we identify useful data and discard the rest? Do we know how to use data to integrate our picture across all online channels? And if we can get that picture, just how do we make it work for us?

If we can get those answers, it probably doesn’t matter which came first, the chicken or the egg.

Tags: accountability, marketing, metrics
Posted in marketing | 1 Comment »

Be Desirable

Monday, March 29th, 2010

The Business Marketing Institute (BMI), which is all about measurement and building sales leads, publishes something called Tuesday Marketing Notes that I find in my e-mail in-box every week. It’s usually pretty good info, so if you don’t subscribe now, give it a shot.

This week, they’re telling me that it’s not enough to have great content in your marketing communications. You have to be recognized as unique, different and desirable. Sounds like eHarmony.com.

BMI is right, of course. They ask readers to look at three tag lines, all of which basically say save money and improve performance. Then they say that the content isn’t differentiated enough. The trouble is, when you’re buying any B2B service or product, isn’t that just about always what you want—money and performance?

Well, maybe not. Maybe potential customers want to deal with really pleasant people, or maybe they want to be dazzled with bells and whistles, or maybe they want you to paint your widget magenta.

The old adage is true—you’ve gotta know your customers inside and out. Then you’ve gotta make sure that what you have to offer is what they want. And then you’ve gotta tell them what you have in a way that makes you recognized as unique, different and desirable.

If you can do all that, you’re probably not paid enough.

Tags: marketing, Marketing Communications, sales leads
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

A Contrarian Proposal for Print Media

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Last week I bemoaned the fact that trade publications, and, indeed, all print periodicals, are endangered. As vehicles for B2B advertising, this is not the end of the world because we have direct mail, trade shows, the Internet—and more, if we use our creativity.

But I still weep for the death of print pubs. They’re resources that have been declining in quality for decades now. I think many of them—especially newspapers—are tightening their belts, laying off reporters and cutting costs on quality to save their skins.

Let me propose that they should do just the opposite.

Embrace the Internet with new business models. Make people pay for quality, up-to-the-minute content. Hire tippy top-notch reporters, editors and researchers. Get real, on-the-scene stories that are not outsourced to India where it’s cheaper to interview (even long distance) by phone. Pay for actual face-to-face reporting. And then charge for it.

How much would people pay for excellence on the Internet? Information that they know is reliable, credible, correct. Articles that are thorough, documented, well written. I’m sure it depends on the audience, the type of publication and a whole host of other things. And maybe it wouldn’t work.

But what’s happening now—publications are withering away—isn’t working either. Maybe it’s worth a shot. What do you think?

Tags: B2B advertising, internet, marketing, Print Media, Trade Publications
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

Content Marketing v. Trade Pubs

Monday, March 15th, 2010

I have long been bellyaching about the decline of the printed periodical. Mostly I’ve been bemoaning shrinking newspapers, and especially the lack of reporters paid to cover issues in-depth. Seems like all anyone can afford is taking whatever’s on the Internet and posting it. Trade publications are also declining and who knows how they get their content these days.

There was a time when you knew you were dealing with a quality publication when you had to woo the editor over a liquid lunch with a substantive story idea. Time was when the advertising and the editorial people existed on different planets. The editorial guys actually did not know if you were a regular advertiser. Those were the days when advertising in a book did not mean you had an automatic right to an article about your new plant/widget/equipment.

But now, well, even formerly reputable pubs are having hard times, and it’s not clear how often advertorial lines are crossed and re-crossed.

David Jung comments in his BtoBlog about the problem, mentioning a post at Content Marketing Today. Basically, the advertising/publishing trade-pub is dying a slow death while grassroots content marketing by B2B manufacturers is burgeoning.

Is this a chicken and egg question? Are the trade-pubs declining because of the growth of online content developed by B2B marketers? Or is it the other way around?

Back in the ‘90s, I published a magazine for a client called The Railcar Business Quarterly. I was able to get my foot in all kinds of fascinating doors in the industry and in Washington D.C. Based on primary research, we published original material that readers really appreciated, and by extension, they appreciated my client. I liked to think of my client as an ally to readers in an age of information.

It was a successful publication in every way. But one of the existing trade publications in the industry began to think of us as the competition, with one editor petulantly wondering if we were trying to put them out of business. No, we weren’t. We were just trying to give our constituents useful, timely, interesting information.

The trouble is, it seems very few publications can afford to get that kind of in-depth, primary reporting anymore. And I’m not sure what kind of standards B2B manufacturers have for their content on the Internet. But the fact is this: manufacturers are becoming the suppliers of content as well as widgets. Is it a change for the better? Maybe not.

Tags: content marketing, contract manufacturing, marketing
Posted in marketing | 1 Comment »

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