B-to-B Marketing is an Endangered Species

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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 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.