B2B Buzz Marketing with Paul Dunay

B2B buzz marketing with Paul Dunay. I finally got my calendar sync’d up with Paul for this podcast interview. Paul is an award winning B2B marketing expert. He is Global Managing Director of Services and Social Marketing for Avaya, a global leader in enterprise communications, and co-author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley 2009).

A B2B Marketing Story

I asked Paul to describe Avaya’s social media strategy.  His response is this story…In 2009 budgets were tight across the board. Many brands experimented with social media. Actually, Avaya got the social media bug in 2009. They started diving into social media with many tactics but they were not well orchestrated under a cohesive strategy. They had launched social profiles in Facebook, Twitter, a company blog, wikis  and even launched internal social communication on Yammer. Paul was asked by the global CMO to advise and recommend a global social media strategy for Avaya. Even though Paul already had a full time job in a line of business role, he accepted the challenge of developing the social media strategy for Avaya. Now, Paul is a very smart guy. But, he knew he’d need help. So, he asked the early adopters of social media at Avaya to meet once a week to develop the strategy.

Mission Driven Social Media
Paul and his colleagues at Avaya defined the mission of all their social marketing to be: Powerful, Authentic, Personal Interaction. They defined several business objectives including demonstrating thought leadership, building brand awareness, increasing demand, and producing sales leads. Since Avaya had already started executing many tactics on the social web, they decided to consolidate their strategy across four platforms: The Avaya corporate blog, a customer forum, a few Twitter profiles and the Avaya Facebook Fan page.  The Avaya blog is the corporate voice. The forum is self help for customers. Avaya Twitter is short bursts of information as well as listening and monitoring what’s being said about their brand and competitors. In the Avaya Facebook fan page they cover events, company news, share photos, start discussions and enjoy interaction with their community.

Invite People to Your Facebook Fan Page
One objection I often hear from B2B marketers is they think their customers don’t have time or interest in Facebook. Paul asks “have you invited them to join your Facebook fan page?” He suggests you email people through Facebook to invite them to join your Facebook fan page. Paul shares my enthusiasm for Facebook because it has every form of media including video, audio, blog, photos, polls and many add-on applications. All of these functions are available from a Facebook fan page (for free). Paul suggests that the Facebook fan page is the communication innovation of the century.

In December 2007 during a keynote speech I gave, I predicted that Facebook was going to explode and become the most popular social network. I was right. BTW, I’ve made many predictions in the past that didn’t pan out. But, this one did.

Integrating Offline and Online
I asked Paul how Avaya integrates offline marketing with online marketing. He gave me a recent example. Avaya attended an industry conference where they organized an event around thought leadership. Customers were invited to attend and express their view of the future of the industry and related communication technologies.  They asked customers for their thoughts about the future of communications technology, and how they see it evolving in the coming years. Their responses were captured on video and still photos.  Immediately after the event the Avaya team wrote down four key take-aways from that event. They wrote a white paper about the trends they heard and anointed that paper the premium content from the event. They uploaded pictures, six videos, wrote four blog posts, and created content for the website, all stemming from this one customer event. They also did a webinar as a follow up. In the end, they leveraged a single event into more than one dozen pieces of content. The content that was created at the event had been multi purposed and shared with people that participated in the event and anyone who otherwise had interest in the content. Ultimately all the free content was used to drive people to download a premium content asset for a lead conversion.

The 4 Cs of B2B Marketing
Paul doesn’t believe the 4 Ps apply to directly B2B. So, he blogged about the four C’s of B2B marketing:  Content creation to attract people. Connect with people who consume your content.  Communicate on an ongoing basis. Conversion – nurture the leads with many touches to create conversions. Some people think that 4 Cs are a deep dive on the “promotion” P in the 4 Ps . I suggest that we’re all using the contemporary etiquette of the social web to create a conversion. When our content is good, and we connect with people in authentic ways, we earn the right to create conversions.

Facebook Marketing for Dummies
Paul co-authored Facebook Marketing for Dummies with his college buddy, Richard Krueger. When Paul was approached by Wiley to write Facebook Marketing for dummies he knew it would be a daunting task on top of his full time job at Avaya, so he asked Richard to help him write the book. I’ve read the book and enjoyed it very much. It’s filled with many useful tips for businesses who want to use Facebook to connect, engage and market their business using the wildly popular and free Facebook social network. Their next book is Facebook Advertising for Dummies. Paul shares my enthusiasm for the ability Facebook gives marketers to conduct highly targeted advertising based on many demographics attributes.

This podcast recording ran close to 30 minutes which is 10 minutes longer than most of my podcasts. We had so much to cover. I hope you’ll listen to the podcast where you’ll hear parts of the interview not summarized in this blog post. I invite you to post your comments on your own B2B marketing stories in the comments below.

You can connect with Paul Dunay at his blog or on Facebook or on Twitter.

How to Convert Old Media Marketing to New Media Marketing

In the marketing world there are several ways that people refer to new media marketing. There are phrases such as:

Inbound marketing
Internet marketing
Web marketing
Social media marketing
Online marketing
Digital marketing
E-marketing
Interactive marketing

The phrase which is probably the most hyped is new media marketing! But, is a marketing strategy that includes blogging, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flckr still new? It’s 2010 not 2007. New media, is not so new anymore!

Consider that some businesses are still in new media denial. There are still some businesses who think they can ignore new media. They believe that old media is still the way to market. So, they still use the telephone, the print ad, the tradeshow and direct mail as the sole way of marketing their business.

The old media examples just mentioned are not obsolete. They can still be effective, but they should be adapted to the new media mindset of your prospective buyers. Let’s look at each of these old media formats and how they can be converted to new media marketing.

Telephone
Rather than cold calling for sales prospects call people to conduct a survey on a relevant industry topic. Invite them to take a survey on the phone or online. If they prefer the online survey get their email address and send them a link to your online survey. Be sure to offer them a free copy of the survey results. Keep them informed by email in the future. Don’t sell anything in this phonecall. The person will remember the content experience about your brand and possibly buy from you when she is ready. Of course, the best use of the telephone is to call all the leads you develop through your inbound marketing strategy.

Print Advertising
Assuming you’re advertising in a relevant publication, make your call to action accessible online on a unique landing page that is attributable to the ad so you can measure it. If you have a phone number in the ad, be sure it’s unique so you can measure the results of the ad. In many cases, print advertising serves to build or strengthen your brand. Even if you have a good call to action, sometimes the best result is brand awareness. Nonetheless, be sure the reader can engage your brand online in a way that can be traced back to your ad.

Tradeshows
You can integrate your tradeshow marketing with your online strategy in several ways. Whether you are exhibiting or just attending a tradeshow you should always talk about the event online before, during and after the event. Use your blog, Facebook and Twitter channels to discuss your contribution to the event as well as the contribution of others. Use Flickr and YouTube to share your photos and video from the event. Connect online with the people you meet at the event to keep the relationships going after the event.

Direct Mail
Similar to print advertising be sure to have a measurable call to action. Consider linking the call to action to personalized URLs (PURLs) as landing pages. This will allow you to measure the results of your direct mail campaigns very clearly with online interaction attributable to your direct mail campaigns.

New Media Transitions
There are many businesses that continue to use old media marketing strategies very well by integrating them with new media channels. Ultimately, you can achieve great sales results by integrating your old media and new media plans by connecting and engaging people the way they want to be engaged.

Avoid using old media strategies in a vacuum. Similarly, avoid using new media tools in a vacuum especially as a megaphone to blast your sales message. Rather integrate your old media and new media channels into the marketing 2.0 mindset so your audience will want to connect with you and your brand to explore what you can do for them.

As I’ve said many times previously, brands who adopt the mindset of a content publisher and a relationship collaborator are the ones whose content marketing strategy delivers the best results. Even old media marketing can convert to new media marketing using an integrated approach.

Are you still using old media marketing? Start integrating it with new media. Tell your story below.

B2B Content Marketing for SMB Business

Kim Albee on B2B content marketing.

Kim Albee is founder and President of Genoo, a marketing automation software company serving B2B SMB companies mostly in the U.S. Genoo provides tools to build micro-sites, do lead nurturing, lead tracking and it integrates with Salesforce.com. I met Kim on LinkedIn when I was looking for case studies for my book. This podcast interview is an update to that case study.

Kim launched her Genoo product in June 2008 in beta. It became available to the public in Sept 2009. As an entrepreneur launching a new marketing automation software product with no marketing budget Kim got very creative. She started playing with social media tools, most notably LinkedIn. She joined some relevant groups in 2008. But, at that time LinkedIn didn’t offer the “discussion” feature, so there was no ability to create conversations in groups.

Kim wondered how she could find and engage people interested in B2B marketing. She didn’t find any B2B groups on LinkedIn, so she created a B2B Online Marketing group and invited others to join it. But, without a discussion feature, the group didn’t have much value. Then, Kim set up a free forum for conversations on B2B marketing. But, no one joined. By now, Kim was getting frustrated by her limited ability to engage with other B2B marketers online.  Then, it happened!  LinkedIn started offering discussions in groups and everything changed.

Kim created a LinkedIn group called B2B Online Marketing and she also created a dedicated website which shares and re-purposes content from the group.  BTW, do a Google search for “b2b online marketing” and you’ll find this website in the first 5 search results. Kim started discussions in this group on relevant topics such as lead generation, SEO, how to create great content, how to create and use micro-sites and other topics of interest to B2B marketers. Initially, Kim emailed the members of the group each time a new discussion was started using the email feature in Genoo. The group has grown to over 3,200 members and it’s still growing, fostering great conversations among B2B marketers.

Kim blazed a new trail with this approach. She was willing to experiment with something new. She was very persistent and resourceful. Her leadership is apparent as she created a new group and has been willing to maintain it with active interaction with the group members.

Some B2B Online Marketers Still Skeptical
Kim hears the same objection I often hear from B2B marketers. Many are simply skeptical that marketing online is effective for narrowly defined B2B niches. The truth is that most people search online when they need to find a product or service. B2B marketers must ask themselves, how do their websites perform in searches pertaining to their niche? Many B2B websites are just a “blow-horn” for their products and services with no meaningful calls to action, or limited opportunity to engage (if any). The reality is most B2B prospects want to get to know a business before they call them or fill out a form. They want to check you out first. And, the way to allow them to check you out is through great content!

Niche Marketers Take Notice
I’ve written before in my blog and in my book how marketers in any market segment should draw a circle with two concentric circles around it to define their target market. The smallest circle is the bulls-eye target market. The two outer circles contain demographics who reach and influence the bullseye. Marketers should target each of these groups through great content.

No matter what business you’re in you have a USP (unique selling proposition). There is  a story there. Share your story. Your target market may not currently be on Twitter or Facebook every day, but when you share your content there you will get better search results. SEO is all about the long-tail now. If you don’t start now, you won’t be there when your audience arrives.

Email Challenge
Kim met someone online who challenged her to write one email every day for 30 days on a relevant marketing topic. He offered to subscribe to her email list, in return for Kim subscribing to his. Kim agreed and sent her first email to her list of about 5000 people, many of whom she did not email frequently. She had low expectations but was willing to experiment. Remember, Kim is not afraid to take some risk. She started her first email with a cheesy email heading: “Hello Fellow Marketers.” She explained her plan to send one email each day for 30 days on a marketing topic. To her surprise, she got 218 people to sign up to get an email from Kim everyday for 30 days on relevant B2B marketing topics. After her final email, she did a survey which received a 38% open rate. Kim took some risk with this 30 day email challenge. And, the results were impressive.

Content Marketing & Relationship Building
I couldn’t have scripted this interview any better. In my book, Marketing 2.0 I boil everything down to having a terrific content marketing strategy and building relationships online. Kim’s daily email was great content, not to mention her B2B Online Marketing group on LinkedIn. Kim built relationships with her 218 subscribers through a personal response to replies she received which built relationships with her subscribers. After the 30 day experiment Kim got several new customers without ever once making a pitch for Genoo. Her great content was her marketing. How measurable is that?! Very!

Kim is a  terrific example of Marketing 2.0 in action. She is willing to take risks. She succeeds a lot more than she fails. But, if we don’t have some failures along the way we’re probably not trying hard enough. Kim is proof positive of this.

To engage with Kim (and why wouldn’t you want to), here are several ways:

Genoo Marketing Automation Software

Kim Albee on LinkdeIn

Kim Albee on Twitter

Marketing Automation Resources

If Kim Albee’s content marketing strategy story inspires you, please add your thoughts below.

Top 5 Reasons Your Social Media Strategy Can Fail in 2010

There are many reasons your social media strategy can fail in 2010. Here are just five of them…

No Top Down Support
It doesn’t matter how mainstream social media is without top management support you’re going to fail. Social media takes time. When the boss sees people Tweeting, blogging and Facebooking during business, if he’s not on board he’s not going to like it. Find examples of competitors or other companies in your industry doing an effective job of engaging community and brand building through social media to get the boss on board.

No Content Strategy
Just because your company has a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page doesn’t mean you have a strategy. You need a content hub and a content theme for an effective content marketing strategy. Define the “why” and the “what” of your content strategy. Develop content that delivers on the three E’s: Educate, Enlighten, Entertain. Use platforms like Twitter and Facebook to support your content strategy. But, put the horse in front of the cart, not the other way around.

No Consistency
You’ve developed your content marketing strategy and you have the boss on board. You plan out the first two months of content and you post. Then that big trade show comes up and you get super busy. Your consistency goes from daily, to weekly and before you know it your only consistency is being absent from your social media strategy. This is worse than not having a social media strategy. If you’re not consistently posting content and engaging community, you’ll never enjoy the benefits of social media marketing. You wouldn’t water a garden once or twice then walk away from it, would you? Consistency is not an option in social media marketing.

You’re Too Loud
If all you do is consistently deliver a sales message on social media, you may just as well go buy billboards and skip social media. For social media newbies, the temptation is sometimes to use the tools as megaphones to shout sales messages. Some brands can earn the right to offer deals and promotions on social media. But, even those brands must have a loyal audience. In most cases the loyalty must be earned through consistent content and authentic, creative engagement. Brands that engage their community through enjoyable experiences win.  Remember the three E’s.

You’re Not Human
Brands who hide behind a corporate facade with corporate speak and no human interaction don’t do as well as brands who engage human to human. Zappos and Ford Motor are good examples of large B2C brands that engage well human to human.  In B2B some relatively unknown names such as Indium Corp.

BatchBlue and HubSpot are successful at engaging human to human rather than hiding behind a brand. The people at each of these companies post content in their individual name, respond to comments and engage with people who engage with them. They recognize that the brand perception is what other people think it is. They don’t ignore anyone. They engage human to human and it’s very effective for them.

There are other reasons your social media strategy could fail in 2010. For additional reasons, you’ll find an entire chapter dedicated to it in my book, Marketing 2.0.

Add your comments below to join in the conversation.

Bernie Borges

Social Media Marketing in Large Enterprises

This is the year of engagement. When I blogged my predictions for the new decade, one of the points I made is that marketers will seek to engage their target customers more interactively. While I still believe that in this decade the phrase social media will fade away, at this time it’s still here and it’s hotter than it’s ever been.

Brands of all sizes are using social media to listen and to engage. Those brands that find ways to engage people authentically and in interesting ways are finding ways to monetize the engagement. And, isn’t that what all the critics have been waiting for?

Want proof that some of the biggest and most established brands have adopted social media with measurable success?

Marcy Shinder -American Express Open
Social media is an excellent customer listening tool and an up and coming customer acquisition tool.

Eduardo Conrado – Motorola
Uses social media pre and post trade shows to engage with customers. Also to integrate existing offline communities with online communities for year-long engagement with customer segments.

John Kennedy – IBM
Uses social media to gain new insights into customers. Gain a better understanding of how IBM is involved in these conversations.

Mark Wilson – Sybase
Having an authentic voice through customers and available product managers for organic growth. Customers are now advocates. Reaching the LongTail of their brand. People are now collaborators. More, faster innovation. More organic and empowering.

Tom Haas – Siemens
New private online community called 3-1-2-1. A social network to engage government customers on topics such as renewable energy.

Jeff  Hayzlett – Kodak
Uses social media for “pretty much everything.” Naming products through Twitter. Employ a Chief Listener looking for customer feedback and new product opportunities.

Michael Mendenhall – HP
Social media is an operational strategy. Used in three ways: Customer Service,  R&D, Marketing Communications. The amplication of word of mouth.

Paul Dunay – Avaya
Like it or not, Twitter is working. It has implications on product development and how Avaya supports existing products. Feedback through Twitter on existing products is very valuable. They’ve even measured some sales that have come from Twitter.

Do you have a testimonial about social media marketing in your business or organization? Please share it in the comments below.

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

Unconventional Marketing by Nadine M Rosin

Happy New Decade!

As I kick off a new year with my podcasts I want to reiterate the mission of my podcasts.

I seek to bring you interesting people that are doing interesting things in marketing in order to share their experiences with marketers around the world for education and inspiration.

My first podcast guest in the new decade is Nadine M. Rosin. Nadine is an unconventional person in several ways. It’s her unconventional approach to life and marketing that offers great inspiration. Nadine is a certified therapeutic body worker and a non-denominational minister who performs weddings in Tucson. Nadine is the author of a book titled The Healing Art of Pet Parenthood. The book was inspired by the loss of her dog Buttons. Buttons was diagnosed with cancer when she was 8 years old and was given just 6 weeks to live. That’s when Nadine got unconventional…

An Unconventional Person
Nadine is less likely than most people to accept the conventional way of doing things. She subscribes to the cliché “necessity is the mother of invention.” When the veterinarian gave her dog Buttons 6 weeks to live, Nadine sought and found the causes of the cancer. Rather than deal with the symptoms, Nadine took a holistic approach to Buttons’ cancer. Over the next four months Nadine cleared out all toxins in her home. Essentially, she cleansed Buttons’ environment inside and outside and strengthened her body nutritionally so her dog’s body would heal itself. It worked. Buttons lived another 11 years and died of natural causes at age 19.

The Marketing Lesson in Mourning
Nadine observed that people (especially in the U.S.) are encouraged to keep sorrowful emotions bottled up. She points out that it’s not healthy to hide these powerful emotions. It’s not how we heal. An example Nadine offers is how during President Reagan’s funeral the esteemed media praised Nancy Reagan for not showing her grief in public. It’s a normal human emotion to mourn over the death of a loved one. It’s authentic and healthy to grieve. Grieving gives us a healing process.

What does this have to do with marketing you ask? Good question. Keep reading…

Create Content About Which You’re Passionate
The experience Nadine had with her own pet coupled with the observations of how people need to grieve even after they lose a pet, inspired Nadine’s book. Her book helps “pet parents” to grieve and heal after the loss of their pets.

Nadine never had a budget to market her book. She doesn’t have a warehouse of books to send out for promotion. But, Nadine does have a warehouse full of passion. She started her marketing plan with a 3 minute video, which serves as a trailer about the book which she posted on YouTube. Then, she searched for videos on YouTube for “pet memorial” and found people offering tributes to a pet which had recently died. Nadine would leave a short, authentic and sympathetic comment in her handle: authorgirlpetparent with a link to her video. Many people would click on her video and find her book and buy it. Eventually, many people came back to her video to comment on how helpful the book was to them in their healing process over their pet loss.

Shoestring Marketing

Nadine designed her website herself with no prior experience. She just learned how to do it. She found and visited online pet social sites to find conversations with people about their pets and engaged them. Two such sites include Dogster and  DoggySpace. The people she encountered on these pet social sites actually speak in the persona of their pet.  She started making friends on all these social sites and establishing her brand in her own persona of Authorgirlpetparent. This marketing strategy cost no money. It did “cost” her about 6 hours each day after work, which she admits flies by because she is so passionate about the topic and her online relationship building. One such online connection got her an invitation to be flown to an event where she was the keynote speaker.

Nadine is very focused on the details of her online relationship details. She sends a personalized direct message (DM) to every new follower on Twitter and Facebook. She also gives free help to other pet parents who have holistic questions. She offers a 30-minute one-on-one consultation. No one is turned away who can’t afford one.

Marketing 2.0 at Work

Nadine’s content marketing and relationship building strategy is intuitively exactly as I wrote in my book, Marketing 2.0. Nadine has developed a content marketing strategy and prioritizes the connections she makes online with people on pet social sites and through Facebook and Twitter. Nadine also blogs regularly on her pet parenthood blog and accepts, speaking engagements where ever possible.

Experiential Marketing
Nadine is creating experiences with people when she connects with them. She shares her own personal experience through her story about her deceased dog Buttons. For example, someone on Facebook contacted Nadine about a friend who had just lost a pet. This person posted Nadine’s video on her friend’s profile. This person turned out to be Yvonne DiVita an active social media expert who supports women in business and pet owners (pet parents). Yvonne bought and read Nadine’s book.  She contacted Nadine to help her market it. She offered Nadine valuable social media advice to accelerate her social media marketing on Twitter and Facebook.

Results in Motion
When I asked Nadine how she measures results, I could tell she was a little uncomfortable with this topic. As an author of a book, I understand that conventional results measurement is all about measuring book sales. But, until Nadine’s book sales gets into in six figures, she won’t be excited measuring that result. So she ignores the numbers. Instead Nadine measures the results in motion, which includes:

What kind of emails is she getting from readers?
How much are other people trying to connect and help Nadine?
What’s the value of her new connections?
Do her connections offer value that can contribute to book sales in the future?

There Are Many Inches in a Mile
The unconventional path to book sales for Nadine wasn’t so unconventional after all. Nadine figured it out as she went along. Her passion and commitment combined with her authentic approach to connecting with people has allowed her to learn successful marketing strategies as she experimented with them.

Nadine is measuring milestones. As I state in my book, marketers can measure the outcome of relationships developed online. These milestones are stepping stones to end results. You don’t get from an inch to a mile in one step.  It’s ok to measure the inches you achieve on your way to the mile.

One small example of measuring inches for Nadine is the way we met. I found Nadine when she was featured in a newsletter article put out by our mutual publisher, Wheatmark Publishing. I was impressed by her story so I contacted her to to be a guest on my podcast. Who knows what doors may open from this podcast interview.

I hope Nadine’s story as a pet parent and as a marketer inspire you in some way. I invite you to learn more about Nadine and her book here. I’m sure Nadine would enjoy connecting with you, to share common interests in marketing or pet parenting.

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

P.S. To learn more about developing content marketing strategies like Nadine’s check out my book, Marketing 2.0.

Predictions for the 2010 Decade

As 2010 rolled in I reflected back on the decade which started in 2000. Social media didn’t exist. Names like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Delicious and dozens of others didn’t exist. As I look at the new decade it’s impossible to predict the names of new innovations and products that will be part of our lives.

I’m not much of a predictor. But, I enjoy looking at the forest’s treetops to make observations. My predictions on the new decade are based on human, cultural and technological factors. I offer my observations on how we may be running our businesses during the next decade.  I invite you to offer your thoughts and predictions.

Brand Definition
In the 00’ decade brands began to understand the shift in control to the customer. Progressive brands began to understand their limited influence on brand perception. As we enter the 10’ decade progressive brands are allowing their customers to shape their brand by focusing on quality products/services, quality customer service and quality communication. Brands who resist the evolution of brand control to the customer will suffer.

Product Development
In the second half of the 00’ decade product development began to shift from internal, demand centric processes to externally driven, distributed processes. Products like the iPhone, the Kindle and new services like Facebook and Twitter are examples from the 00’ decade of the new product development paradigm. None of these products had conventional demand from an existing customer base. Product development is leaving the enterprise and moving to the customer. Execution is left to the company through collaboration of resources without regard for geography and through effective communication strategies.

Customer Acquisition
This topic varies greatly by industry. Generally speaking customers have more choices than ever before. Conventional sales will always have its role. But, product innovation is a bigger factor than ever before. That requires outside the box thinking. In the 00’ decade we saw some surprising product choices like Google Docs vs. Microsoft Office compete for established market share. In this example, Microsoft didn’t consider Google a competitor for Office at the beginning of the 00’ decade. In the 10’ decade businesses must provide more compelling choice to their customers to maximize customer acquisition.

Customer Service
This is probably the second most important topic for any business to master in the 10′ decade. It’s one thing to win a new customer. It’s another to keep that customer. In the 00’ decade the company who became the poster child for customer service is Zappos. How many companies do you know invite you to call them and will help you find and buy a product even if it requires directing you to their competitor? Zappos creates a WOW experience that spreads among consumers. This new customer service mindset creates an experience and loyalty that spreads. This new level of customer service is difficult for many companies to embrace because it’s such a paradigm shift. Another factor in the 10’ decade is the mindset that customer service is a company-wide function. Employees who believe customer service is a department are sadly mistaken. Every employee is in customer service in the 10’ decade. Those who execute this strategy will win and keep more customers.

Marketing
The 00’ decade began the transition to the mantra “marketing is the enterprise.” In the 10’ decade marketing will be the most important factor in business success. No offense to sales-driven companies, but marketing is the central nervous system of the enterprise in the new decade. And, the cardiovascular system is communications. The marketing strategy is now all about the experience. Customers live in a digitally connected world at home, in the car, on the bus, at work, even at their kid’s soccer games. Brands who give their customers opportunities to experience their value proposition will win loyalty. Some B2C brands that do this already include Red Bull, Comcast and Ford Motor Company. Some B2B brands that do this already include Cisco, Indium Corp. and HubSpot. The secret sauce to creating an experience is to experiment with different communications that touch people through more than one sensory including sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. Yes, even B2B brands can do this.

Business Responsiveness
The 00’ decade introduced businesses to an accelerated pace of business responsiveness. Businesses who responded quickly to customer and marketplace feedback did well. Quick response was generally defined in days, not weeks, sometimes even within hours. In the 10’ decade we’ve already begun the transition from quick response to real-time response. Technology and culture has been the impetus for this evolution to real-time response. Consumers have come to expect it. Businesses that understand the importance of real-time responsiveness to day-to-day product issues will enjoy more customer loyalty.

Management
Business management has been the study of many famous authors and universities for decades. In the 00’ decade we began the transition from a top down hierarchy of management to a more flat org chart. In the 10’ decade look for org charts to get even flatter with new titles. We’ve already seen new titles emerge such as Chief Customer Officer. Businesses who focus on engaging their customer through culture, technology, great service and innovation will restructure their organization to meet the customer where she is in the way she wants to be engaged.

Innovation
In the 00’ decade we saw innovations that will likely continue to into the 10’ decade. New innovations will occur around customer adoption of new habits. More emotion will be factored into innovation as the lines continue to blur between business and personal behavior. Even the most technical B2B products are evaluated and purchased by humans with emotions. Innovation that meets current and future customer needs, delivered in multi-sensory communication channels will out-perform those that don’t.

Key Trends to Watch in the 10’ Decade

Multi Media
As we enter the 10’ decade most businesses are still single media. Some use video but most use it in a very limited manner. Businesses that communicate a consistent message across many media formats will be requisite. It won’t be enough to use video. Your message will need to be very clear and you’ll need to offer your customers many ways to consume your content and engage with you. Businesses across all industries will begin to adopt multi media channels to communicate. Consider the example of (now famous) blender manufacturer Blendtec and their (now famous) video strategy Will it Blend? If an unknown blender manufacturer can use multi media with outstanding results, any business can. And, many more will.

Younger CEOs
Tony Hsieh grew Zappos from $1.6M in 2000 to over $1B in 2008 before the age of 40. In 2009 he sold Zappos to Amazon for $847M. I hesitate to stereotype around age. But frankly, few CEOs over 40 have embraced the evolution of the new enterprise. In the 10’ decade, look for younger CEOs to emerge that have proven experience growing brands by building a strong culture around a strong product with great customer service (like Tony Hsieh).

The Unconventional Will Become Conventional
The successful enterprise of the 10’ decade may be a company of 10 employees located across multiple continents. Their rise may occur in 5 years or less, e.g., Facebook. The decades-old established brand may struggle or not survive if their product doesn’t maintain customer acceptance, e.g., General Motors. Companies like 37Signals will build a great product, share it with others at competitive price points and create customer evangelists who then tell others about it and beat out traditional competitors like Microsoft.

More Connected
We have become a globally connected society.  But, we’re just getting started. In the 10’ decade look for all consumers to be even more connected. The applications we use will be more integrated to converge email, video, photo, texting, instant messaging and more. The term social media will fade away. All software will be social. We’re already seeing these early developments through Google’s Docs and Wave offerings. This is just the beginning. Look for content and connections to be available at our hand held fingertips, desktops and media devices. This trend will have a significant impact how businesses communicate and build brand loyalty.

Premium Content
I predict the decade of 10’ will be the death of FREE content. This is likely the riskiest prediction I make.  Content producers will figure out ways to monetize their content. Look for businesses to create content at different price points ranging from the solo entrepreneur to large enterprises. You may soon subscribe to your local newspaper digitally at price points ranging from $5 per month to $50 per month depending on the package you select. Look for content producers to merge and partner for creative packages. You may choose the car you buy based on a bundled offer of digital content on a device integrated into your dashboard that doesn’t even exist at the time of this writing.

I believe the new decade will be filled with more paradigm shifts, innovation and surprises. I don’t know exactly what they will be. But, I do know for sure it will be a fun ride. Are you ready?

What are your predictions for the 10′ decade? Which of my predictions do agree with or disagree?

Happy New Decade!

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

Amazing Grace

It’s Christmas time and I don’t feel much like blogging about marketing. Somehow it seems to me that marketing is so much smaller than Christmas. Even if you don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus as I do at Christmas, it’s still a magical time of year. I remember growing up in New York City riding the buses and subways during Christmas time and the people were actually nicer to each other. Grace was in the air. The season has that affect on people.

Amazing Grace

Christmas is all about grace. It’s about appreciating everything you have and sharing it with others. It’s about giving people a reason to smile even if some things aren’t going your way. It’s about being happy even if you have no reason to be happy. It’s about bringing happiness to others. It’s about being a light.

When marketing extends grace, it doesn’t get any better than that. This video has been viewed by millions through the simple act of sharing it on the web.

Amazing Grace Techno – Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

May the majesty of the Christmas season and its grace be a light that shines in you every day of the year.

Bernie Borges
@berniebay

John Jantsch Duct Tape Marketing a Lesson in Branding

John Jantsch, calls himself a 25 year overnight success. After spending some time with him, I understand his point. John started his own marketing agency about 22 years ago which he started after spending some time working for one. The first few years his agency did typical marketing campaigns for companies. John really enjoys working with small businesses. He realizes their needs are very similar to larger companies but they don’t have the same resources.  He struggled with this challenge early in his agency’s life.  Eventually, John set out to create a turnkey, curriculum based approach to marketing for small businesses that could be delivered by other marketing professionals. As John says, it’s a marketing plan that explains to a small business “here’s what you need to do, here are the results you can expect and here’s how much it costs.” Most of his clients are services businesses, resellers and construction/home services. They all need marketing but struggle finding it from a traditional marketing agency largely because the traditional agency’s fees are often not palatable to a small business.  John has found a niche by turning marketing services into a product.

The Power of Duct Tape

In the early days of John’s marketing agency it was called Jantsch Communications. As he began to develop his turnkey marketing system, he realized it was time to rename it and develop a brand for it. He was looking for a name that would represent the value of his turnkey marketing program. His daughter gave him the inspiration he was looking for.  One night she had a few friends over and as teenagers sometimes do, a minor incident occurred to the family car. She tried to cover it up by using duct tape to repair a damaged bumper on the car.  It almost worked. But, she left the roll of duct tape out which is how John discovered the cover up. But, the light bulb went on for John that duct tape is very strong, so he re-branded his company to Duct Tape Marketing. When, I suggested to John that the meaning of Duct Tape Marketing is marketing that sticks, he said I am not the first to say that. Bummer…John has created a memorable brand thanks to his daughter’s cover up attempt. And, who said teenagers aren’t helpful!

Marketing That Scales

John was an early adopter of online marketing. His Duct Tape Marketing blog has received press coverage and even led to his Duct Tape Marketing book. His Duct Tape Marketing podcasts are also very popular. John’s passion for helping small businesses inspired him to duplicate his model so it would scale. His long term goal became the creation of a network of coaches that can install the Duct Tape Marketing system in small businesses, and giving other consultants the ability to have a brand they can embrace. At the time of this interview John has about 60 certified Duct Tape Marketing coaches in the U.S. and about a dozen coaches outside the U.S. John is optimistically expecting to triple the number of coaches in 2010.

Evolution of Duct Tape Marketing

While many fundamentals in marketing haven’t changed much, the platforms have evolved quite a bit and continue to. John provides an online component that is modular and allows coaches to deliver training/consulting efficiently. His coaches use the Duct Tape Marketing planning software with a client, plus a series of programs which a coach can use with an online component. The modular program approach gives a coach many ways to keep clients engaged in an ongoing relationship.

Earning the Right

Duct Tape Marketing teaches small business marketers to share great content which can build awareness of their expertise. When a marketer builds awareness, trust and credibility it’s perfectly acceptable to occasionally make an offer pertaining to their products or services. A recent study by Razorfish shows that many consumers are looking for deals from the brands they follow online in platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The key is for marketers to build a good relationship with their followers in order to be well received with online offers. The old adage applies here: people buy from brands they know, like and trust.

2010 Small Business Marketing Trends

More small businesses are embracing a blog as their approach to a website. A blog is a terrific SEO tool. It can create a hub of content, create awareness and build authority for any business. Smart small business marketers are starting to look at their online marketing as a way to enhance their offline marketing. It will not replace their face to face (offline) marketing, which is very important to a small business. Online tools allow small business marketers to complement their offline marketing. John predicts small marketers will continue to embrace Facebook as a platform to build their online presence. I like the fact that Facebook is both social and business. It’s a hybrid social media model that allows small businesses to be more human. John points out that even search optimization will be affected by the growth of social platforms like Facebook. I agree and I’ve blogged about this before. It won’t be long before Google will provide search results that include recommendations from people in your network. We both agree that Google Wave has a lot of potential but, at the time of this interview it’s too early to predict its adoption. But, it sure has a lot of potential.

Duct Tape Marketing is both a lesson in branding and a fine example of how small businesses can build very successful marketing plans with offline and online components using a proven approach that has become an overnight success in 25 years.

Social Media Results in Motion

The December 14th issue of BusinessWeek has an article entitled: Beware Social Media Snake Oil. The article is intended to be a balanced look at the lack of marketing success some companies are having with social media through industry consultants. I disagree that it’s balanced. I think the article is biased against the social media consulting industry. Here’s why…

As the owner of an inbound marketing agency helping clients get measurable marketing results through web marketing strategies which include social media, I take exception to the general characterization of “snake oil” to my entire industry. Sure, it’s hard. As Chris Brogan points out in the BusinessWeek article, social media marketing is still new. Many companies are still trying to figure out social media. And, some are doing it wrong. And, yes some may be getting bad advice from so called experts. But, that’s no excuse to call the entire industry a bunch of snake oils.

Historic Transition

We are in a period of transition in marketing history. As we close out 2009 there are still a mix of traditional marketing channels which allow marketers to deliver outbound messages through tried and true tactics including advertising, mail, events, contests, email, etc. But, as time passes some of these so called tried and true marketing tactics are becoming less and less effective. Ask yourself (as a consumer) how many advertisements you allow yourself to see or read? Better yet, ask yourself how many ads truly influence your purchase decisions? Now, ask yourself (as a consumer) where do you go to get information about products and services you’re considering? I’m not against advertising one iota.  But, I want marketers to ask yourself are you willing to ignore the connected consumer regardless of your industry? Are you willing to allow your competitors to engage your target market through social media while you ignore it?

Let the Experiments Begin

Most marketers are beginning to realize they don’t have a choice but to participate in social media. If some social media consultants irresponsibly lead you down a failed path ask yourself did he/she promise quick results?  Did he/she promise the tactics would work out of the gate? If he/she was one hundred percent honest he/she explained it will take time and the tactics you try may or may not work. A competent social media consultant will formulate a plan based on research and much dialogue with you to develop the plan. After the plan is developed, then let the experiments begin! That’s right – experiments!

Measuring Results

The BusinessWeek article is critical about the inability to measure results. There are numerous articles, books and blogs that have argued that measuring results in social media can be difficult. The issue is exacerbated by consultants counting Twitter followers as results. The only results that matter are tied to sales (or equivalent for non-profits). That said, there are many interim steps that lead to sales and a well planned social media strategy can facilitate those steps.  All marketers have the choice of implementing any combination of tactics to reach their consumer. The channels marketers use are a choice. It’s been said for decades by marketers: “Fifty percent of my marketing budget is wasted, I just don’t know which fifty percent.” This is no excuse for not measuring. The issue is how do we measure results? I’ve blogged about measuring results and written about it in my book, and so have many others more prominent than me such as Chris Brogan.

Results in Motion

All businesses want to get a return on their marketing. However, measurable results from a social media strategy may or may not look the same as they do in other channels.  And, they may or may not happen quickly. While there are many big brand examples of successful social media marketing including Dell, Comcast, IBM, Starbucks, Ford and  Zappos, there are also examples of smaller, unknown brands. I call these results in motion because they are a work in progress. Remember, social media is still new!

Consider how Utica, N.Y. based Indium Corp reaches a worldwide audience of engineers to educate them about their solder paste used in electronic assembly equipment. In this B2B example, Indium has 85 blogs staffed by 15 engineers. They also produce video content which is educational and sometimes humorous. Results: They produce contacts with engineers around the world, a portion of which become sales opportunities…Results in motion….

Consider how Toronto based Homemakers Magazine reaches Canadian women to engage them on topics such as cooking, health and life balance. They have a diversiied content strategy which gets delivered across various channels on the web. They measure the growth of their reach, which is a stepping stone to selling subscriptions and advertising…Results in motion.

Consider how Ford Motor Company developed their social media strategy as summarized in this slide deck:

Notice that the word “product” or “sales” is not in their social media strategy statement. But, look at their most recent sales results (below). I’m not suggesting that their social media strategy is entirely the reason for their positive sales performance. I believe strongly that Ford is an example of a big brand who is doing an effective job of integrating traditional marketing (e.g. television advertising) with social media through community centric events and activities which builds trust with the consumer and spreads through word of mouth, all under the leadership of Scott Monty, their head of social media.

These are just a few of many examples of businesses who recognize they must experiment with these new social media channels. In the process of experimenting they are willing to take some risk and learn lessons about what does and doesn’t work. They are measuring results that impact their brand, which impacts their ability to differentiate from competitors and compete for sales.

Choices?

Do marketers really have a choice but to experiment with social media? Remember the question I asked about where do you turn to gain insights about the products and services you buy? If your answer wasn’t the Internet are you being honest? When you turn to the Internet to search for products and services, do you rely on ads or do you  seek input from others and do you allow input from others to influence your decision?

I am a BusinessWeek subscriber and I have been for many years. I rely on BW to keep me informed on many business topics. I have seen BW do follow ups to stories in the past. For example, in May 2005 BW did a cover story on blogging and the impact on business. In May 2008 they did a follow up to that cover story called Beyond Blogs, which expanded the coverage to social media. While the social media snake oil story is not a cover story, I would like to see BW do a follow up story with favorable examples of companies (not limited to large brands like Ford) who are getting solid advice from consultants and who are achieving measurable results, even if those results are results in motion….

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