GDMI Corporate Blog

After a handful of months focusing on micro blogging, it has become evident that there remains much to be discussed beyond 140 character limitations which answers the question ‘What are you doing?’

A client recently reminded me that there are in fact still around 91 – 92% of Americans employed. He shared that he felt that as citizens we’ve become obsessed with the unemployment rate (and rightfully so) but that as marketers and business owners there remains a large majority of the population which although may be pulling in the reigns, are still out there shopping and buying.

With a tumultuous start to the year which followed a strained holiday retail season, here we now sit 90+ days into the new year with the common thread of uncertainty which remains. ‘Stimulus’, ‘bailout’ and ‘recovery’ are the new advertising buzzwords, already becoming overused and tired.

And while some have begun to profess that the bottom is near, we may be finding solace in believing ‘flat is the new up’, ‘long term planning is 90 days’ and frugality is now en vogue. Even businesses which would otherwise reward employees with earned bonuses and trips are opting for less visible means of compensation to avoid public scrutiny.

Panic nor paralysis are business strategies, I recently posted on Twitter. And while space didn’t allow for an explanation; businesses and consumers alike will be better served with an eye to the future inasmuch as the eye on the hand in front of them. Short-term decision making is undeniably critical in these times – for some it means ultimate survival. And shoring up resources, prioritizing necessities and re evaluating investments (both financial and strategic) all provide opportunity to take control of that which is controllable while planning for what may lie ahead.

With a more than 80% loss in profitability, a new client has begun to recognize how vital online brand protection and building is now to their business. Once relying solely on client referrals yet another new client is now beginning to give her success story its due with a soon to be blog launch.  E-commerce marketers in acknowledgement of customer retention and relationship building are exploring longer term strategies for reaching and communicating with their customer base, now and in the future. Amidst a seemingly perpetual flow of negative economic news, these businesses have all stopped, taken stock and charted a new course towards the future.

The first quarter of 2009 has already become one for the history books, to be analyzed for years to come. At the risk of the ethereal, perhaps at the center of this storm is a calm of reflection: of a company’s mission, its identity, its relationships and where it is headed when the storm subsides.

When marketing B2B offerings, there is often a temptation to take the path of least resistance; namely to throw up a few landing pages and drive some paid search to them in an effort to generate leads quickly. While this may be effective in generating a number of responses in relatively short order, it is likely to be ineffective over the medium to long term. This is a result of the unique challenges of the B2B environment:

• The B2B industry is often a niche market. As such, the focus must be narrower than the wide net that is cast in B2C marketing.
• Within the B2B niche, the target audience is even smaller (for example, C-Suite decision making executives). The key is to market in a way that focuses on this relatively small universe of prospects.
• The sales process with many B2B marketers is often much longer than that enjoyed by B2C marketers. A B2B sales process can often last weeks or months, even years. A B2B marketing program has to take this into account and be designed to engage the prospect at regular intervals during the course of this long process.

These are the reasons that preclude a simple paid search campaign as the most effective approach in B2B marketing. For these marketers, a branding strategy is the most effective long term approach. Branding is effective in B2B marketing for the following reasons:

• When executed properly, it is by its nature strategic. This in turn implies an eye to the medium to long term.
• With a relatively small universe of potential prospects, the focus is on making the strongest possible first impression. This leaves a powerful impression of the brand in the consciousness of the prospect that can last a long time.
• By defining the brand early and continuously reinforcing this brand over time, it allows the marketer to build a narrative around this brand that engenders an emotional connection.

The final point is particularly pertinent in the B2B sales process. While we like to consider ourselves logical and dispassionate decision makers, the truth is that on a sub-concious level our decision making is driven by emotional triggers.

This begs the question; how do you generate an emotional connection when you operate in a deeply unglamorous industry (for example, manufacturing)? The best answer and example I have ever seen is the series of television ads produced by Dow Chemical. If you have a few spare moments, I urge you to go over to YouTube and watch their ads (the one titled ‘The Human Element’ is a personal favorite). These ads have the audacity to take a chemical company (very unglamorous) and produce a brand that is lyrical, poetic and a thing of some beauty. It is an impression that lasts deep in the consciousness and triggers those emotions that guide our decision making process.

The folks at Dow Chemical understood that clever branding is an elementary factor in B2B marketing. Once this brand is identified and built, the B2B marketer is then in a position to promote it using paid and natural search as well as social (Web 2.0) media.

The most important factor in all this is that before the message is broadcast, the heavy lifting is done, with the brand carrying the B2B marketer to success.