What’s Working in B2B Marketing?
May 15th, 2007 by Bob Bly
When I got my first job in business-to-business marketing in 1979, the most important marcom tools were, in this order:
A. Product brochures.
B. Corporate capabilities brochure.
C. Product data sheets.
D. Bylined articles in trade journals.
E. Application briefs.
F. Case studies.
G. Ads in trade journals.
H. Trade show exhibits.
Today, A and B seem to have vanished, but C through F still exist — if not in print than at least online. G and H also exist, but seem diminished in importance and effectiveness.
If I were to attempt to compile a list of the most effective B2B marketing communications today, it might look something like this:
A. Company Web site.
B. Search engine optimization.
C. Online ads.
D. White papers.
Would you modify my list above? What am I missing? What REALLY works like gangbusters in your B2B marketing today?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 1:18 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Having started a new endeavor, search has been most productive at getting folks to my site. There, they download my white paper more than anything else. So, I’d vote for those to marketing strategies.
May 15th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I agree, but did you forgot bloggin’!
May 16th, 2007 at 1:56 am
I would add e-mail marketing!
May 16th, 2007 at 8:30 am
One of my clients, a company selling technical products for industry, is having good results from a quarterly newsletter that we produce in hard copy, in HTML version and post on their site. It gets mailed to key customers & prospects and is one of a few “leave-behind” items the sales people use. It has raised company morale and increased interest in the company by prospects. I believe that a variety of well-crafted materials is still needed to raise and keep a corporate profile. I don’t believe in one quick easy fix.
May 16th, 2007 at 11:04 am
In B2B, direct mail is still the king of prospecting. I would look at on-line ads only if my audience was difficult to profile precisely or too large to reach by mail.
Email has emerged as the choice for conversion, retention and reactivation.
Search engine optimization make sense in most cases, but if you market to a very small audience, it wouldn’t be my highest priority.
White papers make sense as do articles and speaking engagements.
Bob McCarthy
McCarthy & King Marketing
May 16th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
A, B, C & D above make sense but it really depends on the product and the market you’re selling into. One client for instance has a product that works in a new way compared to its competition. The product has to be demonstrated at trade shows for the prospects to understand the benefits and ease of use. Case studies and corporate capabilities brochures are most effective for a client selling highly specialized chemicals and services. Product brochures and data sheets worked well for a client selling a line extension for an established brand into supermarket chains.
May 16th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Here are my additions to the list:
– Lead gen letters (old-fashioned, but they work very well)
– Case studies
– Email (to an in-house opt-in list)
– Podcasts
– Webinars
– Articles (in ezines, mags, online pubs, etc.)
– Online press releases
– Short very targeted specialty brochures (sell sheets, application sheets, etc.). Usually one or two pages.
You already mentioned online ads but… direct-response ads in targeted ezines are also working very well.
And improving the copy on offer pages on websites can dramatically increase leads generated.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Opt-in list for a prolonged success you need to have a good email list
blogging
a good outsource for article submission save you time and money
May 17th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
The communications mix is changing, and I would add following as techniques that have been proven to work for us:
- Blogs
- Webinars (at least for image building & lead generation)
- Software tools & interactive animations (for technical marketing)
- Email marketing still works, but not as it used to
Application briefs remain very popular in our sector, as are case studies.
Technical articles in the trade press, and trade fairs are declining. For trade fairs, it’s probably worthwhile to distinguish between information trade fairs (rapidly declining) and networking/business trade fairs, of which some are thriving.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:27 am
Bob;
I might place white papers a bit higher on your list.
Here is a link to a new study on this topic:
http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2007/05/10/white-paper-registration/
Mike
May 24th, 2007 at 6:08 am
[...] What?s Working in B2B Marketing? When I got my first job in business-to-business marketing in 1979, the most important marcom tools were, in this order: A. Product brochures. B. Corporate capabilities brochure. C. Product data sheets. D. Bylined articles in trade journals. E. Application briefs. F. Case studies. G. Ads in trade journals. H. Trade show exhibits. Today, A and B seem to have vanished, but C through F […] [...]
June 13th, 2007 at 9:39 am
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August 21st, 2007 at 1:39 am
Online articles to places such as ezine articles and trifter, and more.
Press releases published in target market newspapers
Web site
Blog