Alberta Business Marketing

In the last two years, cloud computing has strengthened its hold on the imaginations of even the most conservative C-suites. The financial and operational benefits of implementing cloud-based solutions have become too dramatic to postpone. In fact, according to a study released by Microsoft last month, over 40% of Canadian businesses (of up to 250 employees) will soon be investing in cloud computing. And, given that larger enterprises can quickly achieve exponential benefits because of their size and scale, they too are jumping onto the cloud.

As a result of this surge, over the last several months I have spoken with leaders in marketing cloud-based products/services and carefully sifted through analysts' insights in order to distil a set of principles for any marketer who finds themselves marketing in this dynamic field. Here is a quick summary of the essentials when marketing cloud-based software-as-a-service (and infrastructure-as-a-service) offerings:

Your Targeted Audience. The key decision-makers and influencers include the CIO, the CTO, Director of Technology, Senior Technology Infrastructure Manager, and technology infrastructure procurement professionals. While your offerings target a core business benefit (i.e. reducing cost), the bottom line is that the CEO is likely neither a decision-maker nor an influencer in this arena.

Your Most Effective Strategy. Strategies that have successfully attracted the attention of technology-purchasing influencers and decision-makers include those that shift from campaign-centric communication to two-way dialogues -- around key industry issues. As a result, you should initiate and increase on-going engagement with clients and prospects. This will include creating and maintaining customer-centric destinations that help prospects and clients share their insights, best practices and identify new products/services. You should use highly personalized email, issues-focused webinars, search marketing, online customer-focused forums, conferences and virtual events to drive participation.

Your Most Effective Communication Channels. In general, senior I.T. professionals gravitate to virtual trade shows, rich Internet applications, tech support forums, discussion groups, ratings and review sites such as Digg, delicious and StumbleUpon, interactive/3D demonstrations, podcasts and wikis. However, there are some additional considerations if you're targeting specific industries. For example, if your cloud solution is aimed at technology professionals in the media industry, tap into their preferred channels which include blogs, ratings and review sites. And, if you are trying to connect with technology buyers in the retail and wholesale industries, use private and online community sites.

Your Most Powerful Messages. Messages that have resonated with B2B technology decision-makers and purchasers have focused on the short-term, mid-term and long-term benefits of adopting cloud technologies (e.g. SaaS and IaaS solutions). High-level messages that you should emphasize include: (i) the fast time-to-value by leveraging the immediate availability of cloud computing services without making capital commitments; (ii) the improved balance sheet positioning by shifting fixed technology-related costs to variable costs; and (iii) the improved business flexibility by matching computing resources to current business needs as a method to fund revenue generating initiatives and stay ahead of competitors.

Your Most Difficult Challenges. While cloud computing is being widely adopted, there still remains "cloud confusion". In other words, many of your would-be clients/customers, advocates and partners are just now getting their heads around what defines "cloud". This suggests that you will need to adopt an authoritative educator stance --- evangelizing and reinforcing messages that address the most common concerns about using pay-per-use hosting, including: security/privacy (i.e. data protection, network vulnerability), service availability, potential personnel issues with providers, belief that current total costs are cheaper, the complexity involved in integration and insecurity around regulatory restrictions.

Cloud-based solutions are here to stay. Using these guidelines will help your marketing and sales initiatives find the silver lining.

For examples of great Canadian cloud-based success stories, check out Ceryx (www.Ceryx.com) and/or listen to an interview with Tenzing Managed I.T. Services' President Founder and CEO, Brian Shepard.

Andrew Brown

Tags: social media, Strategy, technology
Posted in B2B | | Comments Off

One need only observe the arc of human history to see that as new technologies and approaches emerge to address age-old problems and opportunities, people with new skills are needed. As hunters and gatherers settled, farming skills became essential. As farming villages evolved into urban centers, building and engineering skills were highly valued. The past five years have seen rapid changes in b-to-b demand creation, with widespread adoption of marketing automation platforms (MAPs), business intelligence (BI) tools, inbound marketing, lead nurturing and Web site conversion optimization (WCO). In this post, we describe new demand creation roles that are emerging as a result, and explain why they will become a standard part of successful b-to-b marketing organizations.

One: Content Strategist
Content strategists are usually found in marketing groups that have realized success from a variety of newer approaches (e.g. inbound marketing, lead nurturing and WCO) that require large quantities of targeted content. As more and more organizations seek improved results from these content strategies, companies will quickly come to realize the need for a role that’s both accountable and empowered to make content creation and management more strategic.
When? As more b-to-b marketers move beyond one-and-done tactics, next generation content creation will be a requirement. We expect it to become commonplace in the next couple of years (2011-12).

Two: Inbound Marketer
Inbound marketing has emerged largely due to deeper understanding of buyer behaviors and the declining effectiveness of standalone outbound tactics (e.g. email, direct mail). Many organizations are now applying inbound tactics in a disjointed manner; those that are best in class are far more sophisticated in terms of integrating and applying inbound strategies into broad campaigns.
When? More than any other new approach, inbound marketing is rapidly becoming a standard part of the current marketing mix; expect continued growth in importance as more organizations find success applying it. For this reason, SiriusDecisions expects the inbound marketer to become a fixture in the majority of b-to-b marketing organizations in the next one to two years (2011-12).

Three: Pipeline Acceleration Specialist
Although improved quality and volume of lead delivery to sales reps over the last several years has resulted in more opportunities, this means there are more deals slowing or stalling in middle and late pipeline stages. Demand creation marketers are often tasked to support this need while still responsible for optimizing the flow of new leads, often resulting in overwhelmed staff and diminished quality of both jobs. Leading organizations identifying this trend have begun dedicating staff to the development of pipeline acceleration programs.
When? Leading organizations already have noted the damaging effects of asking too much of existing demand creation marketing resources, and are beginning to prove that marketing can positively impact deals in the pipeline when dedicated resources are allocated properly. As the need for improved pipeline dynamics increases and acceleration programs become more sophisticated, we expect to see pipeline acceleration specialists become common over the next two to three years (2011-13).

Four: Lead Nurturing Specialist
There are multiple lead nurturing strategies that a b-to-b organization can employ, all of which require different tactics and techniques. Because it is more complex, relies on prospect activity-based triggers, and requires a clear view of lead disposition throughout the demand creation process, lead nurturing has been driven by marketing MAPs integrated with a sales force automation platform.
When? Many organizations are executing rudimentary forms of nurturing, and realizing powerful results that are driving a commitment to significantly increase budget and resource allocation. While nurturing specialists may not become commonplace as quickly as inbound marketers, expect them to become a fixture in the next two to three years (2011-13).

Five: Web Developer
One of the foundational elements of successful WCO is a shift in Web site ownership to a partnership between corporate marketing and the demand center, with oversight from the chief marketing officer. In these organizations, IT takes a supporting role managing key systems, with Web development resources moving into marketing. The result is marketing teams that are focused, engaged and nimble enough to make the continuous site adjustments and improvements necessary for effective WCO.
When? True WCO is becoming an area of increased focus for many organizations; however, most are still in early stages. As organizations realize increased conversion rates and other benefits, demand for IT resources will increase and more Web development roles will find their logical home in marketing. We expect this trend to take hold and become more widely adopted in the next three to five years (2011-15).

While this post explains why we settled on five emerging demand creation roles as the ones to watch over the next one to five years, there were two that were purposely omitted. The first is the marketing automation expert, as this role is already well established in most b-to-b organizations. The second role is that of the mobile marketer; with the overall newness of mobile marketing in b-to-b, the role is just too rare at this time for inclusion. In the future, look for many of these roles to become the norm, and a new set to slide right into their place.

Ally Motz

Posted in B2B | | Comments Off

One of the most talked about events in the B2B world so far this year is a speech given by Rick Segal worldwide president of GyroHSR – a prominent B2B agency (that has been named top B-to-B agency in Europe and the U.S. 19 times in the past 15 years by various organizations).

Mr. Segal garnered much attention as a result of his controversial comments on the current state of B2B marketing:

“I really very much believe that a paradigm has shifted, that b-to-b marketing is not only obsolete but it may well be very much dead...we no longer contact places of businesses we contact individual people, I think it is fundamentally changing the idea of b-to-b marketing".

These thoughts were driven by the success of mobile technology such as iPads and smartphones – which have apparently blurred the line between places of business and places of residence (work and home) "causing the barriers between work and personal life to fall down and collapse...and has rendered the practice of business-to-business marketing totally obsolete”.

Mr. Segal has captured the essence of the times – the changing character of both work and home life is changing which has huge implications for B2B marketing and communications:

• People do have more choices than ever – with respect to the capabilities of communication media. And marketers are forced to take these into account.
• Marketing communications has also become more complicated and there are many more media options.
• Consumers and buyers are more mobile and more de-centralized than ever -- they can be anywhere at any time. Rick Segal concludes: “Being at work is no longer a place, it is a state of mind...we no longer contact places of business, we contact people
• If B2B marketing has to become more “people-focused” and it is concluded that the merging of the business and the consumer worlds will force B2B marketing to become more personal and more emotional.

Same Old, Same Old. At least once every five years the B2B community laments the demise of B2B marketing. Which requires a bit of a reality check:

• The “essence” of business marketing has not changed – there is still a need for unique insight into what motivates business purchase decisions (versus consumer decisions).
• Business communications must be more focused than ever on reaching the right target audiences (i.e. organizations through individuals). But that does not mean the endgame will change – business decisions should not suddenly focus on “personal” gains and benefits at the expense of the “corporate” agenda.
• B2B communications will have to be very focused – especially on key message communication. And especially with respect to matching appropriate and relevant messages with the appropriate audience.
• Mobile technology will provide new platforms for delivering these messages – but the array of options is also more distracting.
• There is no point concluding that inserting some emotion into B2B communications and advertising is some kind of capitulation to the “dark” consumer side. It is just a way of reaching, targeting and touching the relevant audiences. And adding a bit of creativity.

Ruth Lukaweski

Posted in B2B | | Comments Off

Through the ages, advertising has moved from cave paintings to town criers, newspapers, radio and television, and ultimately, the Web. Our most current benchmark data indicates typical b-to-b organizations spend roughly 5% of their marketing budget on online advertising; unfortunately, nearly all of them struggle to demonstrate any meaningful ROI from these precious funds. It is the pervasiveness of banner ads, popups and other Web messages that has vastly diluted their impact; the average clickthrough rate (CTR) of online ads is currently running only 0.3%. In this post, we discuss how differentiation and creativity separate an online ad effort that genuinely builds awareness and attracts potential buyers vs. one that fails to make an impact.

In the beginning there was the banner ad, unfurled across the top of countless Web pages and aimed at no one in particular. However, with advances in Web site optimization and progressive profiling, online advertising can now play a part (albeit small) within a portfolio marketing approach. For companies that choose to invest in this tactic, best practices to maximize results include:

Target the buying cycle. Web users have endless information sources to choose from, so only prospects who see the right ads at the right time will respond. Whichever online site you choose to advertise on (e.g. search sites, content portals, social sites), pay attention to the buying cycle stage of targeted prospects you’re trying to reach. Most online ads target the education phase of the buying cycle, but organizations should also consider targeting buyers in the solution and vendor selection phases by using the progressive profiling capabilities of online advertising platforms.

Leverage social advertising. The emergence of social outlets has given organizations additional advertising opportunities, although social advertising runs the risk of alienating users. In addition to advertising on a targeted blog or community, sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn have ad optimization capabilities built into their platforms. Both include tools that analyze results and measure performance; use these to ensure ads are performing, as our research shows that social sites display as many untargeted ads as other sites.

Generate awareness. Instead of treating online ads as a component of demand creation programs, focus primarily on their use to drive awareness – for example, the launch of a new product, entering a new market, or a new and differentiating feature/benefit of an established offering. Ads should be highly contextual so that they align with the content topics on the Web page that attracted an audience to view it. Always place online advertising on sites that attract the company’s target audience in significant numbers and offer powerful profiling and targeting capabilities. When creating ads, also consider that many users now use mobile or tablet devices and may require special formats.

Integrate into inbound efforts. From a demand creation perspective, weave online ads into larger inbound programs on sites that prospects may visit based on search. While the ads themselves may increase traffic to a site, this doesn’t guarantee anything else; further action is dependent on the content’s relevance to make prospects take the next step. Newer technologies are helping to optimize ad development and distribution by enabling companies to update messages and ads across multiple sites and formats from a central content repository.

Measure the results. If ads are meant to drive an action (e.g. downloading content, completing a form) or a transactional sale and contain a discount or coupon code, clickthrough conversions can be compared with actual sales. For organizations with longer sales cycles, tracking ad performance within an overall tactic portfolio is critical to gauge impact, although this approach has its own pitfalls. On the awareness side, a sample of individuals who click the ad can be tracked to reveal their place within the buying cycle or any other insights into personas that might be gained. In addition, some marketing automation platforms can create and track ads within the overall program mix.

Given the abysmal ROI that online ads deliver, only relying on them to create demand is ill advised. While advances in targeting and progressive profiling can heighten ad effectiveness, don’t expect miracles, especially through newer social channels. Testing should play a prominent part in any advertising program to define success and determine if better results can be gained; it helps determine not only the effectiveness of ad content and targets, but also design and outlet effectiveness.

Ally Motz

Posted in B2B | | Comments Off

The second most high profile source of business marketing trends (in North America at least) is BtoB Magazine’s annual “Outlook 2011 – Marketing Priorities and Plans.”

According to B2B Magazine:

Marketers say they are entering a new world of marketing in which all things are driven by data, insight and engagement with their target audiences.

The magazine concludes that two overall trends will set the pace—the changing role of B2B and social optimization (still not sure what that means).

The Tactical Perspective on B2B Trends

These trends reflect mostly what industry thought leaders have observed in their day-to-day practices:

#1Trend – budgets shift more heavily to online – a trend driven by: cost efficiencies; the need for more accountability; improvements in online technologies.

#2 Trend – the changing nature of B2B – this trend is based on the emergence of new digital technologies and new opportunities for marketers to engage with their customers. What is less evident is the specific impact of these digital technologies: some see huge opportunities; others (like Rick Segal) have stated that B2B marketing has no future (and, is in fact, obsolete).

#3 Trend – more emotional, personal communications – it is thought that as digital technologies becomes more prevalent and marketers have access to business executives “anywhere” this will somehow change their perspective on ...what exactly? Their business interests? Their decision-making? Marketers will have to rev up the sizzle - with more emotional appeals.“The distinction between b-to-b and b-to-c companies artificial - at the end of the day it’s all about business-to-people” is one conclusion.

#4 Trend – database-driven marketing – some think that “it’s all about the data”. The focus is on mining customer data and making this the focal point of communications. To mine the data and increase our ability to have “conversations and interactions and insights about our customers. “Marketing itself is becoming so data-driven and empirical”.

#5 Trend – new customer intelligence metrics – clearly related to trend #4. The key here is the availability of new metrics and analytics across multiple platforms – bringing in performance metrics from touch points such as call centres and post direct response data.

#6 Trend – optimizing social media – the new buzzword is social media optimization (CMO). Social media has become an integral part of marketing for B2B companies and making it a mainstream part of B2B marketing programs.

#7 Trend –feeding the content machine – as the number of marketing channels increases B2B marketers must increase the content for blogs, websites, thought leadership events. According to one recent study 51% of B2B marketers said they will increase their content marketing with this aspect expected to account for 25% of marketing budgets.

#8 Trend – expanded partnerships with media – again this is part of a thrust to access more content (linked to Trend #7).

#9 Trend – growth of mobile apps -- the launch of the iPad (both versions) is credited with heating up the demand for mobile applications. Mobile ad spending along is expected to increase by 48% .

#10 Trend – immediacy of search results – last year Google rolled out Google Instant which uses predictive technology to make more frequent targeted content updates to display search results. BtoB Magazine and Business.com report survey results indicate that 57% of B2B marketers said improving search results is a key goal of their social media efforts. This trend also reflects the increased emphasis on the need to “develop, distribute, track and optimize the huge amount of content going out across multiple channels”.

Posted in B2B | | Comments Off