Marketing|Demand Creation Blog: Thoughts on strategy, lead optimization, social media and the digital space

Monday, December 25, 2006

5 Tips for Shaking the Demand Creation Doldrums

Maybe it's fatigue induced by the diminished daylight hours, but of late I've just had a heck of a time bringing myself to write. No ideas, no energy, and no desire to change the pattern. It made me think — how often are marketers afraid or unwilling to change the demand creation methods they've relied on for fear of unknown territory?


Of course change is a necessary part of life. So too, for a business to stay healthy, we must embrace the new. How do we go about shaking off the "demand creation doldrums"? Make a New Year's resolution to try something different as 2007 looms large on the horizon:


1) Pilot a demand creation initiative incorporating streaming video. B-to-B users were big on web video in 2006 and it's an area that's sure to grow. A Knowledgestorm survey said 78% of b-to-b executives believe video makes online content more compelling.1


2) Consider mobile marketing. While still nascent in the business-to-business sector, tactics like video on phones are becoming more common: an October study by Horowitz Associates reported 8% of Internet users watching video on a handheld device at least once a month and 19% interested in service that provides streaming video on their mobile phone.2 Email, IM and other phone features open up new possibilities for marketing to business prospects.


3) Go Web 2.0: Test blogging, social media, wikis, customer/prospect advisory panels, whatever. Even if you're not sure how to measure them — just get started. Larry Weber, CEO of W2 Group says "The future of b-to-b marketing is about aggregating customers and potential customers to your community."3 I agree.


4) Measure something you've never measured before. Simply.


5) Pick six publications, blogs or e-zines from outside your industry and read them regularly for at least a few weeks. You'll probably find some new ideas and sources of inspiration you can apply to your sector.


1 "Emerging Media Series: Online Video, Social Networks and Wikis" Knowledgestorm. Nov 9, 2006.

2 Maddox, Kate. "Mobile Marketing Making a Move" BtoB Magazine. October 9, 2006. pg 1. Study by Horowitz Associates of over 1,000 Internet users.

3 Krol, Carol. "Web 2.0: Join the Revolution" BtoB Magazine. November 13, 2006. pg 34.



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Joseph Mann Monday, December 25, 2006 Permalink | 0 comments |



Sunday, December 03, 2006

Of Focus Groups, Marketing and Social Influence in B2B

illustration: artist's models - copyright (c) 2005 infed.org and its licensors. All rights reserved.I recently re-read a post on Paul Dunlay's Buzz Marketing for Technology blog about social media's impact on marketing. He cited a study in Science magazine by Columbia University1 on how 'social influence' — people reacting to the recommendations of others — can drive consumer demand. And the study suggests what you might expect — the most recommended products (in this case certain music bands and songs) continue to accumulate positive reviews to a degree because readers see the positive reviews of others and are influenced to skew their own perceptions to the positive as well.



On the business side this reminds me of the "group think" mentality that can creep into focus groups and cause their purpose to be corrupted: in group situations people tend to want to agree with the group, to get along, and may (consciously or un) change their responses to be more in line with what the group is saying. As a participant in focus groups in the past, and despite my desire to keep my responses as genuine as possible, I became aware that I, too, was falling into that trap. Perhaps it's just human nature as social animals to try not to "rock the boat." As far as focus groups go, though, it makes accepting group "conclusions" as rock-solid guidance potentially dangerous.



But the Columbia study was basically about consumer related social response. Does any of this apply in the business-to-business world? Maybe. But consider this: if I drop $US 17.00 (okay $9.99 on the iTunes Store) and get a crummy album because I believed a deluge of positive reviews, it's no life shattering event. In B2B, however, the stakes are higher. According to some studies "the average B2C transaction value is $75 [$US]; the average B2B transaction value is $75,000,"2 and in some industries reaches into the millions — especially IT services. Following bad advice could cost me and others their jobs. While I don't think this reality cuts social media and the phenomenon of social influence entirely out of the B2B world, I do think it will blunt its effect.



If social influence is to play any role in business-to-business purchasing, I think it will be in a controlled, step-by-step manner: the decision making process would begin with individual research into the available solutions to meet the business challenge at hand. Ideally, following this would be an outreach to known and trusted colleagues. Only later would the process expand outward to gather a wider perspective in potentially riskier waters, tapping business networks of unknown individuals such as connections through LinkedIn and other forms of social media with a business focus. And in many companies where big money is involved, once a short list of recommended solutions providers is completed, the final decision is not left to one individual anyway — it's up to a committee review (in 2005 an average of 3.5 people were required to make a typical purchasing decision3). Uh-oh. Now that sounds a lot like the makings of a focus group!


1 Matthew J. Salganik, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Duncan J. Watts. "Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market." SCIENCE. Feb 10, 2006. Vol. 311. no. 5762, pp. 854 - 856

2 Jalal Feghhi. "Trust in Business-to-Business Marketplaces." Addison Wesley Professional. Mar 30, 2001.

3 Allison Enright. "It Takes a Committee to Buy into B-to-B." Marketing News. Feb 15, 2006 p.11. Study by Sirius Decisions 2005.

Photo reproduced from the Encyclopaedia of Informal Education www.infed.org

Joseph Mann Sunday, December 03, 2006 Permalink | 1 comments |