The silver lining of the B2B media buying cloud
Right now, B2B media owners have got it tough. No point pretending otherwise. Ad revenue is down, publications are suffering, and many ad sales people are fearing for their jobs.
Luckily for you, you are probably not a media owner. But as a B2B marketer, you have your own problems and getting the most out of your (shrinking) budgets isn't easy. There are opportunities for media buyers - you just have to look closely...
Continue reading The silver lining of the B2B media buying cloud.
The Biggest Cocktail Party In The World...
Someone once described social media as ‘the biggest cocktail party in the world’. For me, this description tells us less about what it is and more how we should all behave once we’re there. Having seen the subject of etiquette spring up time and time again recently online, I thought it was maybe time for a quick summary. Follow these dos and don’ts and you will be the belle of the ball. Ignore the etiquette and no one will talk to you. Here are the 6 golden rules…
Continue reading The Biggest Cocktail Party In The World....
Let your people go: the great social media in the workplace debate
EMPLOYEE: (indignantly) I am an individual; let me speak for myself!
EMPLOYER: (blusteringly) I pay your wages! I make the rules!
It's a funny situation. According to the third annual Deloitte LLP Ethics & Workplace survey, 60 percent of business executives believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organizations in online social networks. However, employees disagree, as more than half (53 percent) say that employers have no business monitoring their online activity.
Fascinating research, but I think we might be overlooking something here...
Continue reading Let your people go: the great social media in the workplace debate.
Good old-fashioned direct mail + social media = wow!
Social media marketing is new and exciting.
Direct mail is outdated and dull.
An easy conclusion to reach these days, but wrong. Not only are they both effective in their own ways, but put the two together and you get something fantastic - and you won't see a better example than the DM campaign above and the reaction it gained when it went out last week...
Continue reading Good old-fashioned direct mail + social media = wow!.
A new economic morality for b2b?
In this very
compelling and thought-provoking presentation, Umair Haque presents an
alternative perspective on the current economic situation.
Part economic
treatise, part manifesto, he first discusses how the situation we find
ourselves - the bankruptcy of the western economic model - was fuelled by the
pursuit of what he calls 'thin value': not real value at all, but about
creating perceived value out of nothing in a self-centred and unsustainable way,
and not benefiting the greater-good at all. The
result of this he calls is the 'Zombieconomy' - industries and corporations now
worth nothing. Great phrase.
Interestingly, he then
argues that for the economy to grow we need to re-conceive value creation, and it
needs to be based upon providing real value all the way through the economic
chain. To be based more upon
principles than strategy. It's
certainly and interesting perspective on where we find ourselves now and
definitely worth 20 minutes of your time to view it yourself. He has some interesting examples.
To me it seems for B2B
brands, taking up the positions of leadership, stewardship and trusteeship Umair
talks about could provide the potential to become truly different and to grow
sustainably out of the current crisis.
Offhand, I can't think
of many in b2b who are really taking this kind of approach right now. Do we think that the up-turn will come and we'll be back to
how it was before? View the
presentation and let me know your thoughts.
Is it social media or just multimedia?
As you know, good examples of B2B social media marketing are thin on the ground at the moment. And they are all the harder to find when many B2B companies seem to confuse social media with multimedia. You know the kind of thing: people who believe that posting a few corporate videos to YouTube counts as 'social media marketing'. Now don't get me wrong - using video is not to be discouraged as a medium, but unless you have true interaction you still have one-way communication. It's really little more than advertising messages delivered by a new and funky channel.
But this week I found how easy it is to jump to conclusions...
Continue reading Is it social media or just multimedia?.
Where would we be in a world without marketing communications?
If we stop and think about the trends we have seen, and continue to see, in how buyers find, investigate and choose potential suppliers the future isn't too bright for any of us. Marketing agencies and marketing professionals in general could well become extinct unless we adapt and evolve.
The death of marketing communications as we know it may well be a pessimistic view of the future, or there again it could be the beginning of something new and exciting. All the research we see indicates a slow but sure move of budgets from outbound communications to inbound marketing, from shouting about your brand to get your buyers' attention to delivering compelling experiences that create online conservations much more influential than any trade ad campaign. But where could it all lead?
Continue reading Where would we be in a world without marketing communications?.
Twitter, Common Decency and the Corinthian Spirit
When the penalty kick rule was first introduced to English football in the late 1880s, it was greeted with horror by the Corinthians, the dominant team of the day. So engrained were principles of honour and decency in these ex-public schoolboys that they would not accept that an opponent might deliberately break the rules to gain an advantage. Their response was to refuse to score from a penalty on the grounds that it was ungentlemanly. Disadvantaged in this way, Corinthians began a decline as they struggled to compete against the more ruthless professional clubs that were emerging.
Now I'm wondering: does a similar fate lie in store for decent Twitter users like you and me?
Continue reading Twitter, Common Decency and the Corinthian Spirit.
Who is the social media voice for your business?
You don't often hear phrases like "305% ROI" attached to discussions about social media, so I was delighted to read, via Kipp Bodnar, about Forrester's recent research into "live chat" as a sales tool. Now, live chat is arguably a small subset of the wider social media sphere, but when it attracts serious figures from a serious researcher like Forrester, companies are going to sit up and take notice (if they haven't already). Basically, the point of the research was to show that having a "live" person manning the chatroom, fielding enquiries from prospects, is a sound investment for 'big-ticket' B2B sales.
Continue reading Who is the social media voice for your business?.
Why editors are running scared...
An astonishing email exchange yesterday confirmed to me that many editors are running scared at the prospect of user-generated content making their role redundant.
I'll share the contents of the email with you. It is an email I received when I simply suggested to the editor of a well-known marketing publication that it might be useful to be able to comment on his editorial, a link to which had come to me in the magazine's weekly summary.
John,
We are a magazine, not a blog. I don't share your view that the point is to get a conversation going - what outcome do you expect from that? A change in my opinion? A shift in coverage? That way I'd stop being an editor and would end up just acting like a traffic warden.
What outcome would I expect? Well, how about a more complete, balanced and therefore useful information resource? And, in turn, more satisfied readers? It doesn't surprise me that editors are feeling defensive. Don't get me wrong: the originator of this email knows his industry and is far better placed than most others (including me) to make a judgment on it. And I appreciate that an editorial is, traditionally, a one-way expression of opinion.
But is he so sure of himself that, in this age of user power, he should stand by his editorial position without regard for what his readers think? He doesn't have to change opinion, but he does need to give his readers the best chance of forming their own. With this attitude, no wonder subscription numbers are falling, magazines are going out of business, and the role of the editor is in jeopardy.
Or is it? The industry's more forward-thinking publishers are using the surge in user-generated comment and content to make their brand more valuable, not less. In an example where I am pleased to be able to name names, we see B2B Marketing Magazine going from a glossy print edition when it was first launched to a multi-media, interactive, news and opinion channel that is growing in popularity, not shrinking. Editor Joel Harrison tells me how delighted he is at being able to provide a platform for a wider range of voices. The magazine has gone well beyond the traditional magazine format, and is now complemented by a vibrant, two-way web portal, featuring blogs, comments, webcasts and the like. Joel's approach to information gathering, management and presentation has made it an invaluable resource for B2B marketers.
Editors like this are welcoming the new information channels. They are simultaneously creators and moderators of content that the readers want to read. They are not running scared, they are staying put - and chairing the debate.
Continue reading Why editors are running scared....
Real rain. Real good marketing.
This morning, in our little corner of south west London, it’s raining. But looking for an umbrella as I left the house, I was reminded of how effective a really good promotional item can be. When everyone’s talking about social media, the Buyersphere and the web generation, it’s heart-warming to know that the real, tangible side of marketing is still alive, well and that there are people going beyond the usual ‘giveaway’ fare we are all so used to.
Continue reading Real rain. Real good marketing..
Brand Sleaze and the Buyersphere
Watching the story of Damian McBride and the smear email scandal unfold, I was delighted - as I'm sure you were - to see the Westminster spin merchants get a taste of their own medicine. But it's a salutary tale for us all.
You see, in this digital age, the truth will out. And whether you are dealing with political rumour or your own brand reputation, the sheer democracy of the internet makes it difficult to pull the wool over anyone's eyes - whether customer or constituent.
There was a time when the only people with a political soapbox were the journalists. And they were of course employed by large, established media groups with strong financial reasons for distributing certain messages. Similarly, in the good old days before the Buyersphere, the only place for a B2B buyer to get information about a brand was from the brand owner, or affiliated spokespeople, usually in the form of advertising.
But now everyone gets a chance. Guido Fawkes is just a blogger, but he was still able to blow the whistle on Mr McBride's dirty secrets. And there are so many people making their views known on the web that no secret is safe (and in the great online meritocracy, it is the blogs that are most consistently believable that are the most read and therefore the most powerful).
So if there is a weakness in your brand, admit it and show you are willing to do something about it. Don't try to pretend there is not a problem by repeatedly telling a lie. In the Buyersphere, spin doesn't work.
Continue reading Brand Sleaze and the Buyersphere.
Skills cloud T-shirt adopted by future technologists!
It's great when an idea is picked-up all around this world. So I was pleased to see this use of our very own Beyond Idea for CWJobs the skills cloud t-shirt featured during a fantastic and mind blowing presentation for TED by Pattie Mae ... Worth a look!
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
Augmented Response
I've been reading about Augmented Reality, which no doubt offers the most incredible new way to prompt a response from DM, or on page ads, or any other printed materials.
To see what I mean, read about this trailblazing campaign for Mini in Germany. Now, imagine that's your DM piece in their hands.
OK, not everyone has a webcam on the computer right now, but in 3 years they will. Now's the time for the creative minds of the B2B world to start flexing in preparation.
I really respect Mini for being brave enough to invest and test in these techniques. OK, a lot of people may not have the ability to respond - but I bet they were intrigued. And the publicity Mini receive for doing this will only help an already stellar brand (can you tell I'm a fan?).
Language economy: recession sparks jargon cutbacks
Global recession - that's what it takes to make people say what they mean, clearly and concisely. At least, that's what prompted UK Council leaders to ban a long list of expressions deemed jargon from their offices."During the recession, it is vital that we explain to people in plain English how to get access to the 800 different services that local government provides with taxpayers' money', says Local Government Association chair Margaret Eaton. So after the recession they can go back to utterly confusing everyone with coterminosity and potentialities?
I checked out the full list of banned words and saw some familiar arch-enemies:
- blue-sky thinking
- thinking outside the box
- synergies
- utilise
- step change
- going forward
- best practice
- transparency
Continue reading Language economy: recession sparks jargon cutbacks.
Enter the Buyersphere™
There’s been a lot of talk about social media recently. It’s certainly a hot topic, but we can’t help thinking that it’s really just a symptom of something bigger. Social media tools - from the ostensibly trivial Facebook and Twitter to the weightier LinkedIn - are getting all the headlines, but we shouldn’t let this vogue distract us from what is really going on. What is really happening is that we, as marketers, are losing control of how our brands appear on the web.
But it’s not about web technology, it’s about buyer behaviour on the web. The truth is that buyers get more information online from other buyers than they have ever done. OK, this has been enabled by technology, but what we have to deal with is the fact that there is a place out there where marketers are no longer in control. We call it the Buyersphere, and it consists of every point of contact online between the buyer and the brand. Every place where a prospective buyer picks up information about a brand - whether via a formal network like LinkedIn, or a serendipitous search. It is the sum total of millions of buyers collecting and sharing information online. It is the total universe of online content that influences buyer behaviour (it doesn’t just influence brand preference because what buyers read might also inspire them to inspire others and so on in the now-classic viral distribution pattern).
The Buyersphere had to be defined because it is more than influencer marketing, it is more than online reputation management, and it is a mind-shift away from conventional brand management.
As marketers, we have to be aware of it. It’s there, we have to deal with it. And the brands that thrive in the Buyersphere are the ones that recognize how to harness this buyer behaviour. After all, these days we’re not building the brands, they are.
It's all about you
No, this is not about McFly and their 2005 Comic Relief single - despite what you may have heard about my taste in music. Some exciting developments here in Teddington focus on the most important people we know - you.
At this precise moment that means web users (unless you've found a way to transfer thoughts directly from my mind into yours, which is a bit disturbing) as this is web content and you're reading it.
Continue reading It's all about you.
Talking brands and Johnnie Boden
It’s not often that you get inspiration from a car park, but I couldn’t help sharing with you the charming way that those nice people at Boden extend their brand well beyond the walls of their London store.
Boden is a bright, contemporary brand. Not particularly edgy or ‘street’ (I shop there for goodness’ sake), but it has a freshness about it - lots of flowery patterns, stripey shirts, and models who are more wholesome than chic. So, as a brand enthusiast and copywriter, I was delighted to see the same values came through in something as humble as their car park signage, as shown below.
They deserve credit because it is something we can all learn from in B2B. Not just that all writing should reflect the values behind the company brand, but that we should use every opportunity to ‘live’ the brand. It costs nothing and, if the brand has been accurately defined, it should be pretty natural anyway.
2-step inspiration shuffle
1. Put your ipod, mp3 player, or digital music library on shuffle or random mode.
2. Resist hitting the fast-forward button for a whole hour's worth of play.
Easy? Or not so much?
Whatever music you have in your library, it's something you once wanted. Something you were open to. But how many of us skip anything that didn't settle into our top picks the first time?
Why is it so hard to make the most of what you've got, as my copywriting comrade JB urged us to do with brand assets recently?
What does it take to make us revisit the mental playlist of ideas and methods?
How do you make sure you're getting the full value of what you accumulate from so many sources: email, RSS feeds, Favourites, webcasts, roundtables, internal sessions, colleagues, trade press...
Why revisit anything that once caught your imagination, but failed your greatest hits filter the first time?
Because everything changes.
Because what you filed away back then may be useful to you now.
Because maybe some of those filter-failers scared you - or at least unsettled you a bit. That's always worth exploring.
Go random with a little thing or link (already) in your life.
Tell us if you find a hidden gem. Me, I didn't even know I had any KT Tunstall. Now she's top of my workout playlist.
Let It Snow? Contrived Recession Analogy #21
The 'unprecedented' snowfall of the last 36 hours has demonstrated many things about us in the UK, some more revealing than others. We always knew that our kids would rather play in the snow than go to school. We always knew our Government would fail to plan adequately. And we always knew that people would phone their local radio station to complain about it.
But when I looked own our street this morning, at the row of cars - most still covered with 8 inches of undisturbed snow, but among them the occasional shiny, recently driven vehicle - you can see who bothered getting out and about yesterday. And it made me wonder if there is a way of seeing which companies are working their way out of a recession.
Continue reading Let It Snow? Contrived Recession Analogy #21.
Agency Drama
No, that's not our Tom and Dave having artistic differences (they're quite chummy, thankyou), it's a scene from the new TNT series Trust Me, set in a fictional modern-day ad agency. Given the success of Mad Men (agency drama set in the early '60s), we had to know a contemporary glamourisation of the advertising life wasn't far behind.
TNT is the network that brought us ER and X-Files - make of that what you will. More encouraging, perhaps, is that the show was created by two former ad agency inmates. So why does the show rate a mention on Beyond?
'One of the things we wanted to hit on with the show is how the business is changing and how some people are more successful at changing with those times than others.' - Hunt Baldwin, Trust Me creator, in this rather entertaining interview
Would be interesting to see how the show wrestles with that...this video sneak peek only highlights some of the typical frustrations that have been present in agencies for time out of mind:
A big surprise at IAB Talks B2B
Just got back from talking at the IAB's (Internet Advertising Bureau) first B2B Forum feeling surprised.
Pleasantly surprised at the number of attendees. We were aiming for 40, and more than 60 attended with about an equal mix between clients and agencies.
Also, pleasantly surprised at the level of engagement. Three main areas were covered - Attract, Convert and Retain - and throughout, the hunger to learn was very evident.
Continue reading A big surprise at IAB Talks B2B.
Some think "Beyond", others don't
OK, this is not strictly a B2B post, it's more an observation about people but I would argue it is still relevant.
Listening to Radio 5 this week there was a phone-in and the subject was "Are the UK's High Streets dying"? And, given the recent demise of such favorites as Woolies, Zavvi, Whittards etc, I wasn't surprised to hear that everyone that rang in, without exception, said that it was. But they didn't just blame the "Credit Crunch", they said it was the fault of the Supermarket giants and online shopping. To a man they called for the banning of both so that our High Streets could return as the true centres of our communities.
Continue reading Some think "Beyond", others don't.
Short story: Can WOM go too far?
"But to talk to people and secretly be trying to sell them something--isn't that, I don't know, unethical? Surely you agree that it's completely out of order."
"He didn't ask us to buy anything. He gave us free drinks."
"I know, but the point was to get us to buy something later on. That particular brand. We generate buzz. We recommend it to our friends, it becomes hip, blah-blah-blah."
"He should have given me image approval. Look at my chin! I'm going to have words next time I see him."
From the short story 'Raj, Bohemian', by Hari Kunzru. It's not often you get social commentary, marketing issues, and literary value blending quite so well in one piece.
Kunzru puts us right into the head of someone who suddenly realises all his social interactions, even the most intimate, have been infiltrated by WOM. And before long, he just can't take it anymore.
I can't help but sympathise with the narrator, whose name we never learn (let me know if you find a reference to it). All that 'power' I have to customise and choose and sell products and services can sometimes just make me feel like a tool.
'But there must come a time when you're allowed to stop being a consumer. There has to be some respite from all that choosing, a time, well, just to be.'What implications these musings have for B2B is unclear. If we B2B folk participate in or draw others into a WOM campaign, everyone's well aware of the business implications/context.
Or are they? Is it possible for us to overstep a personal boundary in the midst of all the networking and social media interfacing, or is everyone fair game as a potential WOM conscript?
Anyway, Hari Kunzru is a major British writer you may quite enjoy, and you can read the whole story for free on The New Yorker website. I think the ending is...realistic.
PS: Big Phony is a singer-songwriter who can be found here.