B2B Marketers — Don’t Go Out Without Your Makeup.

It was 1995 when Newsweek had Bruce Willis on its cover in a t-shirt and jeans with a headline that read “Have We Become a Nation of Slobs?” We dressed pretty casually back then, but these days it’s a miracle if folks aren’t going to work in their pajamas on casual Fridays.

It’s a bit different in B2B marketing, especially for companies selling larger ticket items. When a B2B marketer shows the company’s “face” to prospects, that company needs to be wearing all the proper clothing and makeup.

This sounds like I’m talking about branding, but the brand is only one element of what prospective customers see when they are ready to make contact. Here are the other two critical foundations that must be in place before ANY other marketing is undertaken:

1.  Build a Web site that, in addition to supporting the brand, is a strong sales tool.

Here are the basic items that must be included:

• Strong story that quickly and clearly communicates what the company offers, who the product is meant for and the main benefits the product(s) delivers
• Opportunities for visitors to interact with the site, such as white paper downloads (both free and those requiring registration), a strong opt-in invitation, possibly an ROI calculator, videos and other similar interactive devices.
• Multiple contact options, including a “Please contact me” form, phone number, email address and, yes, even a fax.
• Navigation that lets visitors quickly and easily find the information they need.

Many prospects who are directed to Web site landing pages — whether in response to SEM ads, emails, direct mail or other communications — may still choose to visit the company’s Web site before accepting an offer. So the Web site must “sell.”

2.  Make sure inbound callers can easily reach a human being.

There are still prospects out there who prefer to pick up the phone and call a company for information. Providing an easy option for them to call and speak with a sales person or operator (who can direct the call) ensures that companies don’t miss easy opportunities for personal interaction with their prospects.

Without the proper makeup, B2B marketing efforts — regardless of the channel — cannot be as effective as they should be.

3 Great B2B Marketing Ideas I Read in (OMG) Print Media.

Yes, there is still print media out there, and it still has value for those of us that don’t yet own an iPad and like to sit on a lawn chair and read industry pubs. Here’s what I learned just this past weekend.

1. Over the top’ creative approaches can generate appointments with decision-makers. The July issue of the U.S. Postal Service’s publication Deliver® featured a story on Chris Newman. As the award-winning senior art director at Euro RSCG Chicago, Chris emphatically shows why B2B marketing doesn’t have to be dull.

He uses ‘over the top’ creative dimensional mailers that get decision makers to interact with the marketing and say yes to a face-to-face appointment with sales. As Chris observes, there’s something “powerful about being able to hold something in your hand and explore it on your own . . . it’s definitely a ‘real’ experience, as opposed to a virtual experience.” How does this work?

Here are two of his great (and productive) creations:

On behalf of Sprint, Euro RSCG sent decision-makers a Tackle Box, described as a “solution toolbox” with the clever teaser “Don’t let this one get away.” The box contained typical fishing paraphernalia plus a brochure promoting Sprint’s work grade communications and a business card from a Sprint Sales representative. Mailing to 500 decision-makers, this campaign generated a huge 5% response.

Looking for a “high-impact” way to promote Sprint’s Wireline Convergence Wireless Integration system, Chris and his team created a B2B direct mailer that included a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly, plus a gift card for high-quality steaks. The marketing message was “Not since PB&J has integration been so seamless.” Exceeding the marketing goal by over 300%, Sprint reported that their national account managers loved the concept so much that when they were scheduled to go to the appointments, they were actually bringing loaves of bread to go with the peanut butter and jelly.”

When the value of making a sale is high enough, these approaches are well worth the extra cost and effort. They produce interaction — and response — and make a strong brand impression at the same time.

To read the complete article, entitled “Alpha Mail,” just download a copy of this issue of Deliver.

2. Adding drama to subject lines and headlines produces better results. An article by Robert Lerose in the latest issue of Target Marketing Magazine effectively covers six ‘timeless’ “Strategies for a Great Headline.” When looking at his list, I realized how rarely I see the power of these six approaches used in B2B marketing.

Subject lines, headlines, and the title of the offer content, however, must be powerful enough to draw the prospect into the marketing message. How would these proven headline approaches affect B2B marketing?

Here are a few examples:

Acceptable Subject Line: Seamlessly integrate timesheets w/ invoicing
Dramatic Subject Line: Cut 50% off data entry time and costs

Acceptable Headline: Reduce on-the-job accidents with new innovative training tool.
Dramatic Headline: Build a lifetime of safe behavior in 20 minutes of fun.

Acceptable White Paper Title: How to Move or Expand Your Company’s Network Infrastructure.
Dramatic White Paper Title: IT Manager’s Survival Guide: 5 essential steps to a flawless installation, expansion or move of your company’s network infrastructure.

Robert’s other approaches to making headlines dramatic are all worth reading and considering. But remember, in this day of B2B marketing message overload, the headline can make or break the effectiveness of marketing.

3. Today’s technology buyers still want more savings and efficiency. The June 29 issue of Information Week has some good news, B2B marketers. Chris Murphy’s subhead in his “Return to Growth” article says “The belt tightening isn’t over, but companies are spending more of their IT dollars to drive revenue and gain customers.”

In the article, Chris compares the results of the “InformationWeek Analytics 2010 Global CIO Survey” with last year’s survey, providing the following insight that should guide our current messages for selling to this target:

Here is what 333 IT executives said about their “Innovation Plans for 2010.”

48% — Make business processes more efficient.
36% — Introduce new IT-led products and services for customers.
32% — Lower IT costs and business costs.
28% — Create a new business model and revenue stream for the company.

Looking at these results, I see “making business processes more efficient” to be strongly tied into “lowering IT costs and business costs.” So cost-cutting should probably remain a part of B2B marketing messages along with the growth that can come from new product introductions.

Why some B2B companies look lazy or careless.

Being a wordsmith, I am especially attracted to creative uses of words (puns, for example), books about proper grammar and punctuation (Eats Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is a favorite), histories of language, and more. That’s why you’ll find me recording and watching every Monday-night Jay Leno Tonight Show.

Monday is the night that includes the weekly feature “Headlines.” It shows endless examples, sent in by viewers, of amusing, but unplanned, language and spelling errors in newspapers, advertising, menus, and other printed materials.

On the Tonight Show, these errors are humorous. On a B2B Web site or in professional marketing materials, they are not funny at all. Spelling errors, punctuation errors, verb-usage errors, and others make the company being marketed look lazy or careless.

Who would want to do business with a company like that?

Professional B2B marketers who care about the image their company projects will make sure that every word that goes out from their company gets proofed before the material is posted or distributed.

If companies have an internal resource who is good at proofreading and has the time, that’s great. If not, proofreading how-tos and resources are everywhere online. For example, Virginia Tech and Purdue offer quick online guides to better proofreading. You can search and find dozens of professional services such as The Proofreaders. Marketers can ask for referrals to proofreaders. A colleague referred a freelance proofreader to me who reviews and corrects everything I write before it goes to my clients.

Proofreading is a very important step in the marketing process. Companies who care about their brand, their positioning, and their image will make sure all their company communications use proper grammar and correct spelling. They are as important as the message itself.

Advice to most B2B marketers: “Don’t sweat the big stuff”

Among the several dozen opt-in emails I got today was a warning from iMedia Connection. The email was an intro to a blog post by Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction, titled “5 Marketing Megatrends You Can’t Ignore.”

It’s true — I did not ignore his post. The implied warning is that marketers, including B2B marketers, must adapt to these overpowering market trends.

Actually, the post is an insightful, worldview of marketing — and it’s not wrong. Kleinberg talks convincingly of the opportunities available to those who are able to leverage these trends into their brand and their marketing practices. Here is his list:

• Megatrend 1: Mass collaboration is powering the new economy
• Megatrend 2: Constant connectivity in an on-demand world
• Megatrend 3: Globalization, making the world a smaller place
• Megatrend 4: Pervasive distrust in big corporations
• Megatrend 5: A global sense of urgency to fix the problems of a modern world

“These,” he says, are a “tsunami of change transforming society.”

However, if these trends are big enough to affect all marketers, then why did a fairly recent Sysomos study show that 75% of all Twitter traffic is generated by 5% of users? Why did a Forrester Research growth forecast for 2009 predict that online sales would make up only 7% of overall retail revenue, compared with 6% in 2008?

Marketers who are not using Twitter may be missing some of the population but not a majority of their market by a long shot. The share of Internet retailing is growing, but it’s still a small percentage of retail sales. There may be “pervasive distrust in big corporations,” but big corporations make up less than 2% of the companies in the United States. As of 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau found that out of the 25 million firms in the United States, only 5,104,331 have paid employees. Of those, 4,980,165 (98%) have fewer than 100 employees and 4,453,810 (87%) have fewer than 20.

So the trends are big. People and business buyers may be changing how they communicate, how they research information, how they collaborate, what public goals and causes they support, and more. But people haven’t changed.

B2B marketers and companies big enough to have the time, the personnel and the budget to take advantage of these trends should go for it. The remaining 98% of B2B marketers should know that these trends haven’t changed the market enough that they need to sweat it.

Is anything missing from your online B2B brand?

Last week I sat in on a great Webinar entitled “The Art of Findability” with Glenn Raines of Social Media Moves.

Hosted by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), this informative session covered how to build a personal and business brand online using such tools as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Profiles and other tools.

Glenn knows his stuff and, thanks to him, I’m just a little more savvy about the world of social media. But it got me thinking. In the B2B marketing world, if one is successful, all these connections and all this communication ultimately includes a visit to the company Web site.

Even if there’s been a connection with prospects via social media, those prospects will still check out your company’s Web site. What will they find there? It’s surprising how many companies selling excellent B2B products or services through a sales force have a Web site that doesn’t hold up its end of the integrated marketing objective.

Sometimes just a few critical fixes can help. Here are a few of the more critical dos and don’ts that will help you better support your marketing and sales process:

DO
* Provide one or more pieces of content (white papers, newsletters, Webcasts, demos, etc.) that have value to your market. Turn some of them into lead generators by requiring visitors to register to get them. These provide the opportunity to extend the relationship that may have started on social media.

* Put a strong call-to-action on every page. Tell visitors what you want them to do next from EVERY page. Make sure most pages encourage visitors to contact you. At the same time, give them an incentive to do so – such as a free assessment, personal demo, etc.

* Clearly present your product benefits in headlines, bullets — everywhere you can. Don’t assume that because your product does its job faster, that buyers will know what that means to them. Be sure to say “save time.”

* Put your contact information prominently on every page. Especially your phone number.

DON’T
* Use the word “we.” Buyers don’t care about what you think of yourself. They care about what you can do for them. Let case studies and testimonials tell how wonderful you are.

* Ask for prospects to fill out too many fields when signing up for newsletters, to access white papers or see demos. The fewer the better.

* Assume that because you’ve maintained your “visual” brand on your Web site that the site effectively supports your brand. Messaging that is too complex, too long or too self-serving ruins a great-looking site.

Social media is a powerful tool for making business connections. The company Web site is a part of the online brand. Make sure it does its job, too.

ADDED THOUGHTS

Yesterday I came across a post that covers this same subject of technology and other B2B companies having weak Web sites that do not play a productive role in the marketing and sales process. I thought I would share links to these two articles, as they provide insight into why this is so and how to avoid it. First is Tom Jacobs on TechMarketingBlog in his post “Technology Company Websites should not be driven by technology.” The second are comments by Bill Gadless on B2B Web Strategy in a post by the same name. My thanks to Tom and Bill for this insight. The conclusion, of course, is to let marketing control the creation and updates to the company Web site. That way you can make sure the site does its job.

Being a B2B marketing clod leads to a better bottom line.

A friend on Facebook recently posted this wonderful quote by Charles McCabe:

“Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.”

If we’re talking about religion or politics, I’m all for opinions. I have a few of my own. But if we’re talking about direct marketing, I’d rather be the clod with the facts.

Direct marketing (an approach that should be commanding the majority of B2B marketing budgets) is not an art. It is a discipline built on tested and proven tactics that, if followed properly, will increase the effectiveness and measurability of all marketing efforts — including email, Web sites, SEM, direct mail, content syndication, and telemarketing.

Believe it or not, I still come across marketing directors who do not understand what direct marketing is all about. Wikipedia gives a pretty accurate description; however, my standard explanation is as follows:

Advertising is designed to change attitude.

Direct Marketing is designed to change behavior. Getting people to respond to an offer, to call, to click through, to register — it’s all behavior-based marketing.

You creative folks out there are welcome to design breakthrough ads, branding messages, memorable imaging, and award-winning campaigns. The ONLY focus of direct marketers should be to use the techniques that have been proven to put more revenue on the bottom line.

I’m not saying that direct marketing can’t support the brand. But if the marketing approach puts the brand before the strategy, it’s not direct marketing, and it won’t maximize performance.

That’s why I’d rather be the clod. Because, in direct marketing, “having the facts” is everything.

Thoughts on branding for small B2B technology companies.

In 2001, while living in Austin, Texas, I had the pleasure of hearing a marketing director from Dell Computer speak at a Central Texas Direct Marketing Association meeting. Dell, of course, was built as a direct marketing company, selling to businesses and consumers through the mail. Their brand was established through the products they sold, the catalogs they sent out, and the referrals they got from one customer to another. In fact, our speaker made the statement that Dell didn’t spend a dime on branding until it was already a $50 million company.

Despite that, everyone knows that brand is important. Too many times have I heard the old mantra “no one ever got fired for buying IBM,” meaning, of course, that picking a known brand gets the decision-maker off the hook if the chosen solution doesn’t work out. Buying the leading brand is always the “safe” decision. This understanding explains the glory technology marketers revel in when their company is selected to appear on a Gartner Magic Quadrant. Then once the company makes the “leaders” quadrant, the brand has made it.

Unfortunately, branding is expensive. In slow economic times like these, it’s even harder to justify branding because every dollar needs to directly generate leads and sales. So how can you brand if you’re not yet the leader and times are slow? Here are three low-cost ways to support brand-building while you are filling your sales pipeline.

Maintain consistency in look and message — Establish and follow guidelines for your logo, Web site, emails, direct mails, brochures, and all material used for your company. Whenever a prospect sees anything about you, they get the same image and impression.

Develop a tag line and put it with your logo — If prospects see your logo and there is always a strong tag line with it, you will be building recognition of what your company does and/or how it differs from its competition. Between the company name and the tag or positioning line, you will be establishing your brand.

Here are some B2B tag lines that fit my criteria for telling people what a company does and/or why it’s better than the rest:

- AT&T — The world’s networking company.
- DuPont — Better living through chemistry.
- ZDNet — Where technology means business.
- Epicor — Global Software Solutions. Local Expertise
- Innotas — Powering the business of IT
- Salesforce.com — Success. Not Software.
- Webroot — The Best Security in an Unsecured World.

Watch this blog for a future discussion of what makes a great tag line and why I disagree with what many others have said are great.

Establish and support active PR through traditional means, social media, and partnerships — Issue press releases announcing product enhancements, new client acquisitions, and other company news to keep your name in front of your market and industry. Use social media for exposure and interaction with your industry and potential customers.  Participate in Webinars with partners on 3rd party venues.

These ideas by no means represent a full branding campaign. But they can help your company cost-effectively support and build brand while generating business.