From my end, social marketing is becoming an important part of my marketing arsenal. I see it as a valueable part of the sales cycle (reminds me, I have to update a graphic on my website). In the marketing toolkit this ads a whole new dimension - the ability to connect directly with your audience. Let me know how important social media is to your plans and how you plan to incorporate it.
B2B Social Media Spending
Great article on B2B websites, from the Marketing Interactions blog. Check it out.
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The challenge for most b-to-b companies is to elevate and transform the brand into a true competitive advantage. In developing a strategy for b-to-b brand building, there are five key steps to keep in mind:
- Structure your brand for a clear, unified expression. Many companies allow far too many departments, such as human resources, investor relations, public relations and marketing, to express their brands. The result is inconsistent, conflicting expressions of a brand that muddle the competitive landscape. To avoid the noise and confusion and to create a disciplined, broad approach to brand building, coordinate its expression through an on-staff brand champion. This person’s task is to make sure all the company’s uses and expressions of a brand agree, generating an unstoppable cumulative impact and a clear difference in customers’ minds.
- Strip away confusing elements in your brand. Over time, a brand’s external impression can sprout new benefits and features tacked on by individual sales representatives. You need to take a hard look at the impression your brand makes, decide on one or two things to stand for, and throw the others out.
- Find a meaningful difference, not demands that a clear, simple differentiation be articulated. Brands that stand for something have a huge advantage in attention and conversion.
- Mine your current customer base. Let your most committed customers show you what that essential differentiation is. Effective b-to-b branding demands that you capture what’s setting you apart for them. Get close to them, pick their brains and research the causes of a high level of satisfaction. You will identify assets you never knew you had that are working hard for you every day; all you have to do is find inspiring ways to communicate them.
- Embrace the future of your brand. Each massive change in the b-to-b sales environment creates unprecedented opportunities.