B-to-B Marketing is an Endangered Species

OK. I admit it. There are days I know I've reach my daily allowance of hearing any combination of the following words: social media, SEO, PPC, RSS, Twitter, tweet, re-tweet, LinkedIn, Facebook, inbound, link score, landing page, and of course...(wait for it)...blog. If you haven't done this in awhile, stop and say it with me: blog. A frumpy little word if there ever there was, no?

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Patrick, you're a b-to-b marketer in the 21^st century. What's your problem? Do you need a vacation? Would you rather be doing something else? You should be eating this stuff up."

While a trip back to the Willamette Valley sans kids would be nice, the answer is no. I love what I do and couldn't imagine doing anything else, especially today, especially right now. If you don't know what I'm referring to, read Groundswell, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, Inbound Marketing. 

If you're a marketing, advertising or public relations professional worth your salt, you know the score, and I'm sure you all agree. The way we do business has already changed dramatically; it's constantly evolving and it's very exciting. But that has nothing and at the same time everything to do with this post.

The enormous focus that has been placed on these new marketing 2.0 practices seems to be greatly overshadowing the other tried and true (if only for now) disciplines that are still being successfully utilized. They are the "outbound" or "push" tactics that you would think are no longer being practiced based on peer-to-peer chatter. 

The fact is that many of our business-to-business clients continue to allocate more (if not all) of their marketing dollars to outbound programs whether they involve print advertising, direct mail, sales collateral, point-of-sale, tradeshows...you get the idea. This is because many of their customers and prospects still go to tradeshows, they still read the trade rags, they still open their mail and they still physically go somewhere to conduct business.

The point is that there's no match for knowing exactly who you're trying to reach and the best ways to reach them, even if the best way to reach them is seemingly going the way of the Dodo.

So, who's with me? What other brave soul out there is going to join me in writing about an integrated sales promotion involving direct mail, banner ads, landing pages and telemarketing?

 

Patrick Maness is a Director, Strategy with B-to-B marketing agency MLT Creative and heads their Rhode Island office.  

Known as the Idea Launch Pad^TM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.

Remembering a super ad, agency and guy

Every year around Super Bowl time, I recall the '84 championship and the debut of the now famous Apple Macintosh ad "Why 1984 won't be like 1984." That year, I was huddled with friends and coworkers rooting for the LA Raiders and anticipating the ad that would change Super Bowl advertising forever.

Back then I was a junior member of the print production department of Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, the ad agency that produced the campaign that introduced the Macintosh. Our leaders, the brilliant creative team of Jay Chiat, Guy Day, Lee Clow, along with a host of gifted innovative visionaries, pre-screened the 60-second spot to a dropped jawed, round-eyed and howling staff. We were all so proud and somehow knew we were witnesses and participants to advertising history.

We weren't strangers to the burgeoning, way-out-there creativity that came out of our shop. The marathon brainstorm sessions, shouting matches and "meetings" on the fire escape birthed award winning campaigns year after year. To work at Chiat/Day you had to work long and hard. A t-shirt emblazoned with "Chiat/Day & Night" was my first uniform. We were expected to embody the shirt's adage physically and mentally. A later t-shirt said "Good enough is not enough," a challenge Lee Clow demanded of the entire staff every single day. That maxim is embedded in my DNA.

In the ‘80s the Chiat/Day offices were housed on the second floor of the classic marble and brass downtown Biltmore Hotel. Leading up to the ‘84 Los Angeles Olympic Games the International Olympic Committee coincidentally selected the hotel for its temporary headquarters and demanded fingerprinting and background checks of all employees and permanent residents for security. Knowing the proclivities of some of its prized creative staff, our leaders knew this could not happen. In a legendary and infamous showdown, Jay, Guy, and Lee confronted the IOC and came up with a compromise. The leaders personally vouched for our staff and would have us clearly identified. We all received numbered badges with our names that read "Don't shoot. I work at Chiat/Day." In a jibe to the official IOC officials, the back of the badge read:

Additionally Lee, in an even bolder stance, handed out camouflage colored t-shirts with the same "Don't Shoot" message. Because of the military presence (with combat boots, high powered rifles and all) I was too chicken to wear the t-shirt when the IOC moved into the Biltmore, but I wore my badge proudly every day of the Games. It is one of my most cherished keepsakes of my years at Chiat/Day, a super place to work.

All these years later, I still recollect with fondness my experiences and dearly miss the friends I made at Chiat/Day. So, I was saddened to hear about the passing of Chiat/Day's co-founder Guy Day last month. I remember him as the quiet force within the creative leadership team. Guy wore the suit and tie, Jay wore the open collar and loafers, and Lee wore jeans and Birkenstocks. As the agency president Guy Day was a major force in winning new business, and win we did. He was a super guy.

/mh

 

Martine Hunter is the creative director of eMedia with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. She holds the Inbound Marketing professional certification. 

 

 

 

 

A New Curve in the B2B Marketing Loop

There was a great article on Huffington Post last week that the "M" of MLT Creative passed along to me (thanks @billymitchell1!) called "Marketing in Today's Digital Culture." The author, Patricia Martin, writes from a B2C perspective, but much of what she explains is relevant to B2B marketing as well. This section in particular hit home for me:

"Marketing and consumer services are becoming the same thing. Finding ways to help people live more meaningful, efficient, happier lives is becoming more important to brands than advertising - thereby linking the marketing department to operations."

Or the B2B translation:

"B2B Marketing and the buyer experience are becoming the same thing. Finding ways to help businesses become more profitable, efficient and satisfied with their purchases is becoming more important to brands than advertising - thereby linking the marketing department to operations."

This assertion holds just as true in B2B marketing. Bridging the great divide between sales and marketing doesn't fully complete the closed loop marketing model. B2B marketers must  listen to their marketplace, and ensure that operationally, their business is keeping the promises they make - or else, any well-planned strategic communications will lose credibility and ring hollow.

Kelly Pires is B2B marketer and an account executive at MLT Creative, an Atlanta-based B2B advertising agency. 

 

The secret ingredient for great coffee

As I watched a preview last night for the new show "Undercover Boss," which debuts this Sunday on CBS, one storyline really got my attention, because it reinforced a practice we've seen to be a success many times here at MLT Creative: Excellent service sells. It's as simple as that. Addictive service brings customers back.

The preview featured Joe DePinto, the man-in-charge at 7-Eleven®, going undercover on the opposite end of the corporate ladder to work various positions within his company. One location he was particularly interested to visit, in Shirley, N.Y., sells more coffee each day than any other 7-Eleven location. Joe wanted to learn their secret, and once he got there, he quickly figured it out: It wasn't that the coffee was different, or even better tasting than other locations. It was their secret ingredient - Delores. She's been the "coffee queen" at that location for 18 years, and knows most of her customers by name. And in the clip, as people came and went, Delores was always there with a smile, a kind comment and a helping hand. Joe quickly decided that 7-Eleven needed more of Delores' secret ingredient.

Do you have your customers coming back for more?

Examine your customer interactions and ask yourself, "Are we doing everything we can to offer addictive service?" Trust me, from our experience, this builds bonds and personal relationships that withstand economic downturns and strengthen brand loyalties.

Glenn Taylor is a partner and senior creative director of Atlanta-based B2B marketing firm MLT Creative. Located on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, Taylor co-founded MLT Creative in 1984 along with partners Billy Mitchell and Craig Lindberg.

Known as the Idea Launch PadTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.

3 Marketing Lessons We Can Learn From Cheese and Pepperoni

As an account executive at a B2B marketing agency, I’m always taking notice (and critiquing) advertisements and messages that companies send out to their audiences. Suffice it to say, the volume of messages I encounter each day can keep me pretty busy sometimes. As a result, it can be tough for a company to break through the clutter and grab my attention – especially in my free time. So when one actually does (and does it well!), I take notice.

Example: Domino’s Pizza. 
In their bold new campaign, called “The Pizza Turnaround,” the first thing Domino’s did right was going out and asking their customers what they actually thought of the product, and how it could be improved. (Now, they may have done this due to declining sales, I don’t know; but obviously I would normally recommend doing this along the way, rather than using it as a crisis management tool.)

Then, they not only listened to these focus groups, but actually used them to rethink their own product from the crust up. And it’s a good thing they did, because let me tell you, the feedback was not good. In fact, some of it was downright embarrassing. But Domino’s didn’t shy away from the ugly truth. Instead they owned up to it, warts and all, by featuring the actual focus groups in their ads – essentially telling America they’d been accused of having tomato sauce that tasted like ketchup (Ouch!). This bold move allowed them to reposition themselves as agents of change, centering the campaign on their mission to improve.   

In addition to this outward marketing campaign, Domino’s also created an inward campaign (which they also show on the commercials) where signs emblazoned with some of the harshest customer critiques were placed inside the kitchens of every location to remind employees what not to sink back into.

Subsequent ads featured Domino’s higher-ups going door-to-door to revisit members of the original focus groups, this time with the revamped-recipe pizza in hand. The result? The people liked it.  Now THAT, my friends, is effective advertising.

Lessons to learn:

1. Listen to your customers. Ask them what they think. Don’t wait until it’s too late – but even if you do, OWN UP TO IT. Be honest. We all make mistakes, and the public will forgive you.
2. Include an internal portion of your campaigns that reminds employees about your message. They are the ones who either are or are not making sure that message remains truthful – so be sure they know what that message is.
3. Remember testimonials! Domino’s had to go back to people who said poor things about their product and got a “retraction” testimonial, which was great, but it also isn’t the only way to do it.  Again, don’t end up in crisis management mode. If you’re talking to your customers already, gather as many testimonials as you can, because these can be effective in giving validity to your product (or service, or whatever you’re promoting.)

Bottom line? Domino’s messed up, fessed up, and even created their own campaign about it – and this was a great way to approach it from their situation. But furthermore, and even MORE importantly, they might not have had to create this campaign in the first place had they been listening to their customers all along. So remember – engage with your customers (Blogs? Phone calls? Email? Anything!) and listen to them. They’re the ones who know about your product more than anyone, because they’re the ones who are (or ARE NOT!) buying it. So listen to them.  As for me, I’m gonna be ordering myself some Domino’s tonight, baby! And hey, maybe after tonight they can use me as a testimonial!  

 

Vann Morris is an account executive with the Atlanta advertising agency MLT Creative which specializes in business-to-business marketing.

 

 

 

Save the Date: Atl B2B Marketing Association Happenings - Feb '10

The changing nature of our industry compels us to stay on top of the latest trends. Meeting and learning from other professionals helps us do our jobs better. Here's what's on tap for marketing industry events for February.

 

Tuesday, February 2 | 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

aima - Will 2010 be the year of mobile? Mobile SIG Luncheon at Maggiano's Buckhead

Thursday, February 4 | 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

AMA Atlanta - Market Tech SIG - Educational Session 1
THE DIGITAL MARKETING EDUCATIONAL SERIES® LEARNING THE BASICS of INTERACTIVE MEDIA (trends, local skew, strategies, research)

Thursday, February 4 | 6:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Atlanta Ad Club - 2010 Atlanta Addy Award Show at the Georgia Aquarium
Atlanta Addys 2010 represents the best creative thinking from the Southeast in the advertising industry. Buy your tickets now for this premier event whose sole purpose is to recognize original ideas and fresh thinking with Gold and Silver awards, preparing the winners to advance to the national Addy Awards.

Thursday, February 11 | 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

PRSA - Independent Counselors SIG - Building a Social Media Plan, from A to Z

Thursday, February 11 | 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

BMA Atlanta - 6th Annual Chocolate Tasting Fundraiser
Join BMA Atlanta and your marketing colleagues for our signature event, the annual chocolate tasting.

Tuesday, February 16 | 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

AMA Atlanta - February AMA Signature Luncheon with Margaret DeFrancisco, CEO, Georgia Lottery
WHAT MAKES THIS LUNCHEON EVEN MORE BENEFICIAL is the special breakout session after the luncheon panel concludes. From 1-3pm, sit with our panelists at small tables and discuss your questions and thoughts. Network and mingle!

Thursday, February 18 | 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

DMA-Atlanta - Razorfish-Central Region President-Shannon Denton - Luncheon @ Maggiano's Perimeter

Friday, February 19 | 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

AMA Atlanta - 24th Annual AMA Collegiate Conference & Career Fair
The AMA Collegiate Conference & Career Fair is the southeast's premier recruiting and learning event specifically for up-and-coming Marketers.

Tuesday, February 23 | 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

PRSA - Tech SIG - Using Digital, Social and Multimedia Technologies to Help Georgia and its Corporations Become a Future Media(sm) Powerhouse

Wednesday February 24 | 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

aima - Monthly Marketing Forum - Search Marketing
Come learn about the importance of organic search in modern business from two industry leaders, Joshua Palau and Vanessa Fox.

Sarah E. Young is an account executive with the Atlanta advertising agency MLT Creative which specializes in business-to-business marketing.

 

 

Build B2B Marketing Skills with the BMA

For business professionals who market from one business to another, no organization has more skill-building programs, events and networking opportunities than the Business Marketing Association (BMA). Members regularly leave a meeting with actionable ideas and several new contacts in the B2B marketing field. These regular encounters enhance and broaden the knowledge, skills and abilities of the B2B marketing professional.

As an organization, BMA seeks to "connect members with the kind of knowledge, people and programs that make achieving their companies' objectives more efficient and effective." Headquartered in Chicago, the BMA has chapters in most metropolitan areas to serve the B2B marketing community. The BMA asserts that members can expand their knowledge and B2B connections by networking at regularly scheduled luncheons and programs. The speakers represent local businesses as well as national organizations.

With members who hail from corporate marketing departments in industries such as technology, manufacturing, health care, telecommunications and other professional services, a BMA membership would provide exposure to the top-level thought leaders in marketing. The knowledge acquired from an annual membership could be worth more than years of traditional classroom knowledge.

For less formal interaction, the organization also holds purely social events where freewheeling networking is encouraged. For agency marketing professionals, these sessions yield opportunities to build new alliances and meet potential clients. For client-side marketers, the powerful networking provides access to veteran marketing leadership. 

Regular attendance at BMA functions can expose a B2B marketing professional to a wide range of topical subjects, and help marketers meet the daily challenges of sustaining business awareness and profitability. With each meeting, attendees can achieve professional development and enhancement as a marketer.

Often at BMA meetings and luncheons, members exchange ideas about the most current and cutting edge processes. At a typical table, the CMO of a building products manufacturer seeking new lead generation ideas for his newly downsized sales force might find himself sitting opposite a recent MBA graduate who's just finished a research paper on closed-loop inbound marketing. This free-flowing marketplace of ideas is a constant characteristic of a BMA luncheon.

Upcoming for BMA Atlanta:

February 11, 2010 - Annual Chocolate Tasting Event

/mh

 

Martine Hunter is the creative director of eMedia with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. She is a member of the board of directors for the BMA Atlanta chapter.

 

 

 

A New Year, A New B2B Blogger

Hello, readers!

For longer than I care to document here, the Digital Citizens at MLT Creative have been tirelessly encouraging everyone else on staff to start blogging regularly. We've even gone so far as to officially declare blogging to be MLT Creative's collective New Year's Resolution.

I've delayed jumping into it, though, mostly because of the inevitable time restrictions, but also because once you start, it's really obvious when you stop. But I will take Martine's blogging basics to heart, and try my best to shoehorn some blogging into my workdays.

I'm counting on you all to keep me honest! If you haven't seen a blog from me in awhile, call me out on Twitter. There's nothing like a little public shame to keep me motivated.

Thanks in advance for reading! I'm looking forward to your comments and feedback.

Stay tuned for my first installment...

 

Kelly Pires is an account executive at MLT Creative, an Atlanta-based advertising agency specializing in business-to-business marketing.

 

Character Study: The Michelin Man

Poor Michelin Man. No matter how much he exercises, he'll never get rid of that spare tire. He's also getting up there in years. Created by French artist O'Galop way, way back in 1894, he's actually one of the first known advertising characters in the world, and ranks among the likes of the Quaker Oats Pilgrim and Aunt Jemima as one of the oldest still in use.

Did you know he has a name? It's Bib. He started out as Bibendum, and in his first incarnation he looked more like a mummy with a monacle than a husky stack of tires. (In 1894, the Michelin brothers primarily sold bicycle tires — hence the thinner-looking rings.) In those days — and this is something Michelin would probably like to forget — he was a cheerful, wine-guzzling fellow who had a way with women and was known as... The Road Drunkard. (Yes, really.)

During the rise of the automobile, Bib got a motorcar-tire makeover and ditched the drinking, as well as the bourgeoisie eyewear. Now, after more than a century of dedicated service, the Michelin Man is one of the world's most recognized brand mascots, representing the tire manufacturer in more than 150 countries.

Character Study is an ongoing series featuring background trivia on the classic advertising characters from the private collection of MLT Creative.

 

Chase Mitchell is a copywriter at MLT Creative, an Atlanta-based advertising agency specializing in business-to-business marketing.

Digital Citizen's Arrest! Digital Citizen's Arrest!!

As someone who used to be a Digital Tourist, I am now encouraging everyone at our B2B marketing agency, as well as our clients to become engaged and enlightend Digital Citizens.

Chapter 12 of the book Inbound Marketing describes a Digital Citizen as "a person that is very familiar with the web and speaks web fluently." Some people are practically born with this citizenship and it comes to them naturally. Others, like me, have to work at it.

When testing your staff and/or prospective employees, for Digital Citizenship.There are a few questions the authors of the book recommend you ask:

• What RSS reader do you use? Can you show it to me?

• What blogs do you read?

• Do you rank first for your name in Google?

• Do you use Delicious? Can you show it to me?

• Do you have a blog? Can you show it to me?

• Do you use Facebook or LinkedIn? When was the last time you updated your profile?

• Do you use Twitter? Can you show it to me?

• Do you have a channel on YouTube? Can you show it to me?
  

If this sounds foreign to you, don't worry.

If I'd taken this test a year ago, I would have failed it miserably. You don't have to be a born braniac to develop the skills and knowledge you need to pass inspection and start lifting your marketing results.

I am a true believer in inbound marketing, especially if it's implemented strategically along with more conventional outbound marketing efforts and centered around a dynamic business website at the hub.

Ask anyone at MLT Creative and they'll tell you how adamant I am that they actively practice what we preach to our clients. I encourage them to stay active across multiple social media, contribute to our blog and to follow and engage with other experts in the field of B2B marketing.

I think we all should keep learning--and that means you too.

Whether on the client side or agency side of things, if you're in marketing and want to outthink and outperform your competition, you need to know all you can about inbound marketing. It's not easy to keep up. But it can be fun.

Lately, I've had a good time declaring a "Digital Citizen's Arrest!" on any employee who's been inactive on social media or blogging. I publicly shame them via email, a Twitter post, or maybe even call them out in a creative swirl session in front of everyone.

I'm not sure if anyone here finds this is as funny as I do, but hopefully you get the point.

This is the most exciting time ever to be in marketing, and it's no time to pull an illegal U-turn like Barney Fife.

 

Here's some ideas from two of the B2B braniacs and maniacs I learn from.

Recently B2B creative Doug Kessler of Velocity Partners asked and answered the question, "How often do you need to publish content to do content marketing right?"

B2B copywriter Joan Damico posted another article advocating a great idea: Create a customized B2B Marcom Tool she calls your Conversation Calendar.

 

What are you doing new to drive your marketing efforts this year?

Are you being a good Digital Citizen?

 

Billy Mitchell is the president and senior creative director of Atlanta-based B2B marketing firm MLT Creative. Located on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, Mitchell co-founded MLT Creative in 1984 along with partners Craig Lindberg and Glenn Taylor.

Known as the Idea Launch PadTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.