Business Marketing Online (BMON): Google AdWords Management » B2B Marketing

Nobody has ever gone out to look for a measurement solution

Chris Rand — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:00:28 +0000

Yet another good article on the B2B Marketing Blog discusses the problem of writing for audiences which have little in common, and when it's preferable to avoid doing this. In B2B content marketing: when target audiences clash, we see that when writing for two audiences which have certain things in common, we can either aim for the common ground, or try to tell both stories, or create separate pieces. But what we should never do is to use generic language which somehow skates over the differences between the two, and in doing so creates boring content for both of them. This is something I see all of the time: you might provide sensors for some customers, controls for others and displays for the rest, so to bring them all together, you decide to market your company as providing "measurement solutions". The problem is, nobody has ever gone out to look for a measurement solution, and if you could get away with that in the past, you certainly can't in this age of search marketing.

Nobody has ever gone out to look for a measurement solution

Getting into your prospects' mindsets

Chris Rand — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:00:52 +0000

A nice article called ZMOT, and what it means to Marketers on Velocity's B2B Marketing blog talks about the idea of the "Zero Moment of Truth", or ZMOT. There's a good eBook from Google on the subject too. "FMOT" is the "first moment of truth", the point where you buy something. "ZMOT" is the research you do before that. Sure, it's all marketing acronyms, but it's well worth thinking about. "Basically, you need to find out when people start researching the kinds of solutions you’re selling and what questions they key in to Google’s search field. This is marketing’s first lesson, applied to the digital age. At ZMOT, it’s not your story; it’s their story. You’d better make sure you fit in there."

Getting into your prospects' mindsets

Are we human? Or are we marketer?

Chris Rand — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:04 +0000

I love companies which aren't afraid to be human. Companies whose philosophy is to try to make people happy, rather than trying to avoid making any unhappy. I'd rather have 50 customers who loved me than 100 who didn't have any opinion, because I'm sure I could sell them more in the long run.

You may work for a more conservative organisation. If you come up with a marketing initiative which could divide opinion, your first thought might be to reject it because it could put a few people off, rather than to use it because it could turn a few people on. Fair enough; it's a legitimate school of sports coaching which says: "don't even think about the attack until you've got the defence right". But don't let your creativity and inspiration be stifled too much by the formality of business culture. This little story might inspire you.

Are we human? Or are we marketer?

Which important marketing prospects never buy your stuff?

Chris Rand — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:00:35 +0000

A long article in B2B Marketing recently addressed a subject which is being increasingly discussed – marketing to people who influence buying decisions, rather than the ones who sign the order. You probably have your own idea of who your prospects' influencers might be, but as The power of influencer marketing points out, there are a lot of potential candidates out there, including "journalists, consultants, academics, authors, sourcing advisors, management gurus, procurement advisors, systems integrators, regulators, government executives, standards setters, industry associations, resellers, lobbyists, events, forums and bloggers".

With people reading so much more communications nowadays, the ability of influencers to get their opinions over must surely be greater than ever. That's one reason why I'm steadily warming to the power of "social media" like blogs, Twitter and business forums, because the more you talk about yourself, or get others to talk about you, the more likely it is you'll be influencing the influencers, even if you don't know them. But it's quite possible to go through the list above and see if any individuals spring to mind; then you need to ask yourself: "am I actively marketing to these people?" You should be.

Which important marketing prospects never buy your stuff?

Turn customer complaints into loyal business

Chris Rand — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:00:52 +0000

There'll always be a place in this blog for articles about wider marketing issues. And here's a classic issue: how to handle customer complaints. In Learn to love negative feedback on B2B Marketing it reminds us that if things go wrong, the best and cheapest way to resolve complaints is to ask the customer what would make things right, as they'll usually want less than they'd settle for if things got as far as negotiation. And critically, it's been argued that customers who have had a problem which was successfully resolved become more loyal than those that have never had a problem at all! So stop worrying about people who might be trying to rip you off – your fears are probably unfounded – and never be too proud to say sorry.

Turn customer complaints into loyal business