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What is your Market Validation Plan?

This post is by Associate Peter Hanschke, an Ottawa-based product management specialist. Peter’s post is part of our continuing series about the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market. We welcome your comments.

FM Series banner headART 1 300x145 What is your Market Validation Plan?By Peter Hanschke

Here’s the situation: Your development team is busy creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). You have people off in all directions trying to secure some funding. But do you have a Market Validation Plan? Furthermore, are you executing this plan along with all the other activities? In other words, is this an activity that you are currently performing?

As the name suggests, a Market Validation Plan (another MVP for those who like TLAs) is about reaching out to your target market to determine whether:

  • The market likes your product or product concept
  • The market is willing to buy your product when you have it ready

“Like” is a bit of a weak word. But at this stage of development, the product may simply be an idea or a very early prototype. So “like” in this context is appropriate. As the development process advances and the product and concept solidify, you will require stronger validation. A vital aspect to validating the market is to determine if the market that you are targeting is willing to pay for your product. Are prospective customers willing to part with their cash either up-front or through a subscription model?

The three steps of an MVP

Step One: First, and probably most obvious, is to talk to people or companies directly in your target market. These, in fact, are your target customers. Many companies are reluctant to do this. They feel that they may lose a sale if they don’t have the product just right. It becomes a Catch-22 between sales and development. Sales says, “The product is not ready to sell,” while Development says, “We need to validate with potential customers to make sure the product is ready.” My philosophy is that it’s better to lose some of these early sales and learn what the product needs to be than to develop the product with no validation and lose every sale!

There are many ways to find out who is in your target market. If, for example, your target is the IT group within large companies, look locally for companies that have such a department (LinkedIn is a great resource to find local companies.) If your target is individual software developers, again look locally or ask your development staff about other companies. If your target is the consumer, reach out to your personal network (Facebook is a great resource here.) In addition to asking whether or not they will buy your product, understand their work process and other systems they use. No matter what you are building, you have to fit it into a prospective customer’s existing day; understanding all the potential touch points between your product and their process is key.

Step Two: Next is to find experts who target the same market as you but are not competing with you. They may sell a different product or service but are targeting the same market. For example, suppose you sell compilers to software developers. You may want to reach out to companies that build and sell integrated development environments to the same target, or provide developer training services to the same market. Also included in this group are analysts and well-respected domain experts.

Nowadays, blogging and leveraging social networks (Twitter for example) are critical in establishing thought leadership. In addition to your blog and your tweets, make a list of all the people that blog or tweet into your target market. Be diligent and read their blogs and tweets. Comment where there is a tie between what they say and what you do, making sure to include a link to your blog. The point here is to start and maintain a conversation with others who target the same market you do. Once you have started the conversation, reach out to them to get an opinion on your product, looking for them to link to your site.

Step Three: Reach out to people who used to work for companies that you are targeting. With today’s highly mobile workforce, and by levering tools such as LinkedIn, it is relatively easy to find people who worked for a company that is in your target. Generally speaking, people stay in the same department when they move (e.g. people in marketing tend to stay in marketing), but they may move to companies that are in an entirely different space (e.g. developer tools company to renewable energy company.) If you are targeting the company from which they left, then this person would be a good candidate to talk to.

In all cases make sure to get at least the following answered:

  • Whether the product solves problems that are pervasive in your target market
  • Whether or not target companies would buy it
  • What the overall workday process is

To summarize, an active Market Validation Plan is critical. You must find out if the market wants your product and is willing to pay for it. Reach out to people/companies who are directly in your target market, as well as those who were in your target market, and engage in a conversation with relevant domain experts.

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Peter Hanschke

Posted by: Peter Hanschke on March 29, 2011

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Posted in: Commercialization ecosystem, Marketing strategy, Product marketing, Social media, Startups, Technology marketing — 1 Comment

How influential is influence?

By Linda Forrestinfluence 300x150 How influential is influence?

Whenever the concept of influence comes up, I’m immediately confronted with a mental image of Will Farrell positing that he’s “kind of a big deal,” a memorable and oft-quoted line from the raunchy comedy Anchorman. The irony is that in the film, he is, as stated, kind of a big deal. The same is true of influencers, tastemakers, trendsetters or whatever term best describes people whose opinions and actions hold weight amongst your target market.

There is an entire discipline of marketing devoted to this concept called “influencer marketing.” Wikipedia describes it as:

a form of marketing that has emerged from a variety of recent practices and studies, in which focus is placed on specific key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers.

Influencers may be potential buyers themselves, or they may be third parties. These third parties exist either in the supply chain (retailers, manufacturers, etc.) or may be so-called value-added influencers (such as journalists, academics, industry analysts, professional advisers, and so on.)

A key takeaway is that influence is most effective when it’s not overtly used to deliver a specific result. Rather, influencers affect their markets without necessarily using certain tactics or well-defined parameters to do so. This distinction is what makes the concept of influence measurement so compelling.

In recent years, influence in the marketing realm has been a richly debated topic as our channels for communicating using social media expand into geolocation, microblogging and mobile. The degree to which one is influential online can be calculated using well recognized tools like Klout, which purports to consider 35 variables to determine reach, likelihood of amplification of one’s activities and a network score.

I would posit that those truly influential in their marketplaces are rarely, if ever, consciously working to up their Klout scores and those that do are probably trying too hard and therefore, by definition, not truly influential in their markets.

There are lesser known sites that use engines to determine a significantly less scientific figure to represent one’s influence online. Influnc, for example, is a joke site that uses random number generation to spit out a phoney influence figure, I’m assuming to demonstrate how silly its creators think this whole influence calculation business is.

The role influence plays in marketing technology

As marketers of technology, how do we recognize what role influencers play in our industry? We’re blessed with the fact that our wares attract “early adopters,” which identifies where in the sales cycle these tastemakers play the most crucial role.

Traditionally, early adopters of technology exhibit the following traits: they are eager to try out new technology (check out the lineup outside the Apple Store on iPad/iPhone launch day), they are not afraid to take risks (the first pancake is always a little misshapen, just ask owners of any first generation technology), they are only too happy to spread the word about what is good and what is bad about their newly acquired technology, they conduct extensive research (both before purchasing and once it’s in their possession) and they are status seekers. Many of these traits were highlighted in an Advertising Age article from last year.

Influencer relations is becoming a discipline in its own right as organizations determine who they need to reach and how. Before your technology company hires out the process, let’s determine what management of influence – and influencers – really means for your marketing.

The four main activities relating to influencer marketing are described by Wikipedia as follows:

  • Identifying influencers and ranking them in order of importance
  • Marketing to influencers to increase awareness of the firm within the influencer community
  • Marketing through influencers using influencers to increase market awareness of the firm amongst target markets
  • Marketing with influencers turning influencers into advocates of the firm

If your technology company has not yet identified and levered the marketing benefits of those people most influential in your marketplace, it’s time to do so. The most successful B2B companies are already onboard. Just this morning I came across a recent survey (thanks to Olivier Riviere) that highlights the budget differences between average B2B companies and exceptional B2B companies:

110218 geehan How influential is influence?

In this instance, influencer refers to those within the organization not directly responsible for purchasing decisions but whose opinions impact the decision making process. As you can see, the budget distribution is quite different between the two and in the “optimal” scenario the largest piece of the budget is devoted to influencers. What is your budget breakdown?

Image: Gapingvoid, Chart: MarketingProfs

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Posted by: Linda Forrest on March 22, 2011

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Posted in: Marketing strategy, Social media, Technology marketing — Leave a comment

Online communities: the value for startups

iStock 000013812390Medium1 267x300 Online communities: the value for startupsBy Alexandra Reid

As a community manager, I admit I am rather biased when it comes to explaining the value of online communities, so I promise to do my best to be both balanced and accurate as I weigh their merits and demerits. If you’re reading this post, you’ve likely already heard the hoopla about how bustling and engaged online communities can be valuable for businesses. What you may not know is how they can be specifically beneficial to you, the entrepreneur in the ever-crucial stages of developing a startup when budgets are low and time is precious.

A common misconception that many people have about social media is that it is free. Sure, the platforms on their own don’t cost a nickel. But if the intention is to use them for business, they require a considerable level of resources, especially human resources required to develop a strategy and then to carry out online activities. You need to have a crystal-clear understanding of your goals and the processes through which you will achieve those goals for your investment in social media to be worthwhile. Trust me, social media is no light undertaking to be considered in passing. Do not idly throw this position on someone who already has 10 other responsibilities just because he or she has a Twitter account. Someone with a firm grasp on how to plan social media activities to achieve business goals should be in charge of building online communities to ensure you do not waste your valuable time, energy, money and reputation on a trial-and-error approach.

Online communities can be astonishingly valuable once they have been properly built. I’ll save the specifics for another post but the essential starting point is finding where your audience congregates. Where are people talking about your stuff? Where are your competitors and prospects? Where are the people you can help? Once you find them, you can engage them. You should be honest, curious, interested and genuinely helpful in your approach. Lets move on to what you came here for:

How are online communities valuable for startups?

Community input

Startups are, at best, still in the fine-tuning stage of their products and services. People who participate in online communities are of a culture eager to offer input, ideas and answers to your questions. Pick their brains. Ask them questions, even if it’s, “Am I crazy to attempt this?” If they think you’re crazy, they’ll tell you so and offer solutions. If they think you’re trying to produce something of value, they’ll likely give you the approval, encouragement and support you need to move forward.

Community support

Building online communities before you launch is a great way to earn support before you need it. People will remember that you involved them through the tough stages of building your startup. You asked them questions and they contributed ideas. You acknowledged and appreciated their input. These supportive relationships could become invaluable further down the road when you are looking to further develop your company or seek VC or angel investments. Your online community can be an excellent resource to tap into whether you require a connection, some advice or even financial aid. Don’t underestimate their potential.

Reputation and awareness

Creating company accounts on multiple platforms is a great way to boost your online presence. For expert advice on how to put together a professional social media profile on each platform, I recommend visiting Chris Brogan’s blog. Participate in LinkedIn Groups and Answers related to your product or services. Search keywords on Twitter to find relevant people and engage them in conversation. Offer your opinions on blogs. Answer questions on Quora. The more you get your name and avatar out there, the more people will begin to recognize you as a thought leader in your area and seek out your company. Your online presence is far more interactive and interesting than brochure-ware. Use your personality to your advantage.

SEO

Creating social media accounts through which you distribute content and engaging on platforms can boost your search-engine rankings. The nature of the social web encourages participation such as sharing, voting, commenting and linking. Popular content gets exposure and traffic and can result in a substantial number of relevant inbound links. Blogs are an excellent way to produce unique, engaging and sharable content that will attract links to your site. To learn more, I covered SEO for startups in a previous post.

What are the challenges?

As mentioned previously, building an online community does not happen overnight. (Unless you’re Charlie Sheen, and I don’t recommend his personal branding approach for entrepreneurs who intend to be regarded as professional leaders in their space.) It requires a lot of time, dedication and proficiency. To successfully engage in social media for business purposes, you have to have a firm grasp on best practices for monitoring, measurement, management, SEO, professional engagement and content creation. Entrepreneurs of startups are typically already working 60-hour work weeks (or more!), so a clear strategy that defines goals and benchmarks indicating a progression of achievement of those goals is vital. Social media is for the long term, but if you work smart, it will be worth your while.

Did I miss any key points? Do you have any case studies of startups who were successful or unsuccessful at social media? Please, share your thoughts.

A special thanks to Rosemary O’Neill who contributed her perspective on Quora.

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Alexandra Reid

Posted by: Alexandra Reid on March 18, 2011

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Posted in: Social media, Startups — Leave a comment

Driving social media policy: how to avoid a PR disaster like Chrysler’s

By Linda ForrestChrysler Tweet Driving social media policy: how to avoid a PR disaster like Chryslers

Last week, Chrysler experienced a PR crisis when a Tweeter at its social media agency posted a Tweet that not only used an expletive, but was completely off-brand. From a marketing perspective, this came at a very bad time for the company, which had made a splash with its “Imported from Detroit” campaign launched at the SuperBowl. The company issued the requisite apology, which it later explained in more depth. The employee was fired from the agency, and the agency lost Chrysler’s business.

I’m loathe to suggest that this very public PR disaster will scare B2B marketers away from adopting social media, citing lack of control over market-facing messages and the potential for such a misstep as their reasons for not utilizing Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media channels. But I do fear that’s exactly the kind of response some B2B companies will have. To assuage the concerns of B2B companies either looking to ramp up their social media activities or taking their first steps into this realm, this post will outline the state of B2B social media and how companies can avoid these sorts of disasters by developing and enforcing a social media policy.

B2B social media: state of the union

I was pleasantly surprised when I began to research this post at some of the statistics I found. B2B has a reputation for being slow to adopt social media. This is not entirely true. The good news is that “86% of B2B firms are using social media, compared to 82% of B2C outfits.” The bad news is that “B2B firms aren’t as active in their social media activity with only 32% engaging on a daily basis compared with 52% of B2C firms.”

So, B2B companies are using these channels, just not very effectively. Those that are using Twitter effectively operate largely in the technology realm, according to a top 10 list compiled by Socialmediab2b.com in January 2011:

1. Hubspot (@Hubspot)
2. Forrester (@Forrester)
3. eMarketer (@eMarketer)
4. CME Group (@CMEGroup)
5. comScore (@comScore)
6. Cisco (@CiscoSystems)
7. Gartner (@Gartner_Inc)
8. Oracle (@Oracle)
9. radian6 (@radian6)
10. Intel (@Intel)

Read more: http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/01/b2b-top-10-companies-twitter-list/#ixzz1GgGMfri8

LinkedIn has been singled out in a recent study by HubSpot as being the most effective customer acquisition channel for B2B companies, with company blogs not far behind:

Driving social media policy: how to avoid a PR disaster like Chryslers

Now that we’ve established that B2B organizations are using social media and that it’s bringing them customers, let’s examine how companies can avoid PR disasters like that which befell Chrysler.

Myth: If I want social media done right, I have to do it myself

The real shame about the Chrysler example is that it can affirm the myth that social media must be done in house. SocialMediaToday did a well-constructed examination of in-house and outsourced social media that appeared on the site last fall. The piece contained the following, which sums the conversation up nicely:

A good agency that’s worth its salt will understand what works in your sector and can help jump start your creative process. Whatever you do, please be judicious in selecting your external partner (do your research, listen to social media word-of-mouth, ask your network). After selecting one, establish visibility into what they do and make sure you are tracking, measuring and course-correcting constantly.

There are aspects of social media best left to internal resources – customer support, for example – but as a rule, social media does not have to be done exclusively in-house or be outsourced in order to help your company meet its goals. (You do have goals, metrics and a social media policy in place, right?)

Social media policy

Whether your organization is officially engaged with its marketplace on social media or not, your employees, stakeholders, customers, partners, prospects, vendors, and every other affiliated body is using social media to some degree and thus has the ability to impact the reputation of your brand on these channels.

Therefore,  it’s integral that an organization have a social media policy that governs how the organization and its representatives represent the brand online. This needn’t be a complicated, long, complex legal document that nobody within your organization has the interest in reading fully. As Socialmediab2b outlines, it’s best if this policy covers three key areas:

  1. What your business will and will not do online
  2. What your employees can and cannot do online
  3. What the public can and cannot do with your content

In order to draft your policy, review existing policies that relate to communications, confidentiality and employment or any other existing policies that may play a role. Your policy should manage the online activities of internal and external resources responsible for official social media participation and influence that of employees and vendors as part of their contract.

Take a look at the social computing guidelines of IBM. It’s a regularly updated, easily understood, user-friendly, concise policy that leaves no room for interpretation. If IBM can produce an effective policy of this length, given the relative size of the organization, your policy should be brief.

There are plenty of good examples online from which you can draw inspiration, or barring that, there are even engines that will generate a policy for you! The quality of auto-generated policies is not something I’m going to comment on; just ensure that the result meets your needs.

Policy generation can be as simple as incorporating desired behaviour into employment agreements and covering guidelines in training, or as complex as posting and circulating an exacting policy, while doling out harsh punishments for those in breach. This is most definitely a scenario where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

SocialMediaB2B.com is an excellent resource on all things social media for B2B. If you’d like to examine this topic in more detail, it’s a valuable resource. Neither Francis Moran & Associates nor inmedia Public Relations is affiliated with the site.

Image: Marketing Pilgrim

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Posted by: Linda Forrest on March 15, 2011

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Posted in: Social media, Technology marketing — 2 Comments

February Roundup: It’s all about getting technology to market

istockphoto 14133424 february 2011 calendar series 300x300 February Roundup: Its all about getting technology to marketThank you for being with us for the first month of our new blog. In case you missed any posts, here is a recap, beginning with, in chronological order, our special report on getting technology to market, The Commercialization Ecosystem, which continues this month.

The Commercialization Ecosystem

Feb. 2 What does it take to bring technology to market? by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette

Feb. 8 The new risk capital reality: What’s happened to VC? by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette

Feb. 9 Flow-through shares for technology companies by Denzil Doyle

Feb. 15 The new risk capital reality: What now? by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette

Feb. 16: Top 12 lies angels tell by Frank Peters

Feb. 22 Do I need a minimum viable product? by Peter Hanschke

Feb. 23 How do you find, define and, most importantly, exploit ‘exploitable’ technology? by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette

And on a related note…

In addition to our series, our associates were also busy. Here are our other posts for February as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:

Feb. 10 Just let me pay for it by Alayne Martell

Feb. 16 Pitching in the new media world by Linda Forrest

Feb. 11 Creative, emotional, evocative: Getting the attention of overwhelmed consumers by Leo Valiquette

Feb. 3 Ignore your evolutionary history at your peril by Bob Bailly

Feb. 7 Why my pony tail ain’t my brand by Francis Moran

Feb. 18 ‘She’s just choking on the long tail’ by Francis Moran

Feb. 25 How startups can use social media to court angel investors by Alexandra Reid

Feb. 25 Making the SaaS model work for you as a vendor by Leo Valiquette

Feb. 14 Authenticity trumps cheap by Alexandra Reid

Feb. 24 B2B marketers need to budget more than just dollars and cents by Linda Forrest

Feb. 1 Great technology deserves great marketing by Francis Moran

Feb. 4 Discourse on diversification by Linda Forrest

Feb. 28 The media tablet ecosystem race by Phil Newman

Photo: iStockphoto

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Posted by: admin on March 1, 2011

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Posted in: Commercialization ecosystem, Financing and fundraising, Marketing strategy, Product marketing, Social media, Startups, Technology marketing — Leave a comment

How startups can use social media to court angel investors

By Alexandra Reid

Throughout his career, both in Canada and the U.K., Bryan J. Watson has been a champion of entrepreneurship as a vector for the commercialization of advanced technologies. As demonstrated by his concurrent roles as executive director of a number of non-profit emerging-growth venture-fostering organizations including the National Angel Capital Organization, CEO of Fusion and a director of Precarn Inc. and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, Bryan takes an active role in the entire entrepreneurial spectrum from idea-generation to financing to liquidity event.

bwatson2 How startups can use social media to court angel investorsHow are entrepreneurs currently using social media to get their startups noticed by angels?

In general, entrepreneurs are using social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for outreach both to angels and to the wider community. More specifically, they are using these channels to share information about their ventures and to generate buzz. Mostly, it is the web-based companies that are the early adopters of social media as an outreach tool, I find.

For startups, social media encompasses a wider range of online platforms, such as AngelList, Tech Crunch’s CrunchBase, and StartupIndex. These platforms are social in that they allow entrepreneurs to share information about their ventures with investors. On the investment-opportunity-intake side of things, sites like AngelSoft, unlike widely used social media platforms, are secured and closed systems involving only individuals in the angel capital community. Entrepreneurs and investors are using these platforms to share and receive business information and manage deal flow.

What grabs your attention when you review a startup’s social media accounts for business opportunities?

I expect web-based companies, which live and die by their traffic, to have a good grasp on social media best practices. To get a barometer of the strength of a company, I look at their social media presence, participation and aptitude. For example, I will look at the relevancy of their tweets, Facebook messages and how they are using the channels to engage their communities. If an online company isn’t using these tools effectively, it is a red flag for me that the business will not survive if they have a community-dependent business model.

What are your preferred social media platforms for engagement with entrepreneurs and why?

My favourite platform is AngelSoft, a secure system that helps angel groups manage deal flow and collaborate with other investors. Traditional social media platforms are great for getting messages down the pipeline and so should not be discounted. However, as most angels and angel groups receive masses of messages daily, it is far more effective from a time-management perspective to use more focused online social forums that uphold the value of referrals. Most angels and angel groups don’t like receiving unsolicited emails through platforms such as LinkedIn, for example. AngelSoft requires entrepreneurs to develop a profile, which is effective as an executive summary. Trusted reference sources are distinguished and entrepreneurs who garner a referral from trusted sources get noticed. This is a far more effective system for busy angels.

What are the best practices for entrepreneurs to engage with angels through social media?

My first piece of advice is that entrepreneurs should really spend time on their AngelSoft applications. Grammar and spelling count; it is not rocket science. Investor relationships can last longer than marriages, so approach your application like you would your first date. Make sure you are reflecting yourself and your company honestly and accurately. Lots of entrepreneurs look at applications as a tedious, boring and insignificant task. However, people like me send AngelSoft applications directly to appropriate angels who regard them as critically as executive summaries. Remember, you want to put your best foot forward and this application is generally that foot.

My second piece of advice is to always follow up with angel groups directly. Make sure the right people have your application and know what steps are next in the deal flow as steps can vary by group. Make sure your references are in order and your executive summary is accurate before you follow up. Persistence is key.

How far should a conversation between an entrepreneur and an angel go on social media before it is transferred to email and telephone?

Once the initial contact is made and reciprocated, with the information submitted through the channels the angel group prefers (like Angelsoft), I generally think that e-mails and telephone are fine, but this varies depending on the group. Certainly, if you have heard nothing from the group after submitting your application and a week has passed I would give them a call.

Do you have a case study of a startups’ exemplary use of social media for entrepreneurs to engage or secure angel capital with an Angel?

It is hard to say, though I have heard of some cases where entrepreneurs built up such a buzz on social media that it helped them raise capital – in other words they built a brand that investors believed in. I think the best examples are companies that have raised money using things like Angellist or Angelsoft. Almost all the funded companies I know of in Ontario, if not Canada, have an Angelsoft profile. Few have used things like Angellist, but examples are becoming more regular.

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Alexandra Reid

Posted by: Alexandra Reid on February 25, 2011

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Posted in: Social media, Startups — 5 Comments

B2B marketers need to budget more than just dollars and cents

By Linda Forrest

Francis kicked off the launch of this blog by listing to some of the more common objections made by technology companies about why they’re not investing in marketing. One of these straw man arguments, an all-too-common refrain, is a lack of budget. From that first post:

“Lack of budget is the next most common excuse for not engaging in marketing. This one has more legitimacy but it also betrays a failure by marketers. If we can’t get the funds we need to do the job we believe needs to be done, it’s because we have failed to adequately plot the line between cause and effect, between marketing outflow and revenue income. What rational person would decline to invest a second and third dollar into a marketing program that has proven that the first dollar actually produced the revenue we said it would?”

We’ve long said that marketing is an investment, rather than a cost centre, and that’s absolutely the case. A business that views marketing merely as an expenditure rather than a tool to increase market share and revenue is doomed to failure. Marketing requires investment of money, time and resources to be successful. To borrow a line from a Canadian bank’s advertising campaign, “you’re richer than you think” when it comes to having “budget” for marketing. And here’s why.

The financial investment in your marketing is just one part of the puzzle; the resources  you can devote to marketing may not represent a huge bump in your costs but may, ultimately, have substantial impact on your bottom line. Below, I’ll examine some of the trends shown in published reports about how B2B companies are spending their money, and how they’re investing their time and energy in the hopes of boosting revenues.

Let’s first look at finances.

Are marketing budgets constrained? Yes, they are. So, how marketing budgets are allocated is more important than ever. According to published research by MarketingSherpa about expected investment in 2011:

“The majority of B2B organizations are increasing marketing budgets for inbound marketing tactics, including social media, virtual events and webinars, SEO and PPC. When considering outbound marketing tactics such as telemarketing, direct mail and print advertising, the majority of B2B organizations are either not changing or decreasing budgets.

“The growing trend of utilizing inbound marketing tactics is a result of the cost effective reputations of these marketing channels, and when applied with established sales funnel processes that include a lead nurturing stage for non-sales-ready leads and lead scoring methodologies to determine when a lead is ready to be contacted by a salesperson, organizations are able to effectively generate a high volume of qualified leads for sales teams.”

Now, let’s examine the investments made in terms of time and human resources.

Not every company has significant marketing bones, either internally or externally, to implement marketing. And not every company needs to have an extensive marketing team in order to be effective. In the case of start-ups, the executive team, often by necessity, acts as proverbial chief, cook and bottle-washer, with marketing falling to the same person or people responsible for, among other things, product development, sales and even janitorial duties.

The great news for the modern entrepreneur is that we’re operating in a digital age where oftentimes you’ve got a direct line to your customer on digital channels. Make no mistake, these efforts take considerable time but they can be incorporated into the duties of executives at even the smallest of companies. The bad news is that social media is less effective as a means of brand building and demand generation than other marketing elements, according to research by MarketingSherpa.

b2b marketing impact 2011 B2B marketers need to budget more than just dollars and cents

Further research supports those findings. Forrester Research, a respected technology analyst firm, shared the following as its precis on its B2B Marketers 2010 Budget Trends report. It indicates that marketers last year were investing in areas that are effective. But, because of constrained budgets, they moved slowly to adapt to the new digital communications paradigm:

“Business-to-business (B2B) marketers place Web seminars, search marketing, the company Web site, and social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn high on their list of spending plans for 2010 campaigns. Yet sales support demands, fixed headcount, and traditional spending patterns keep B2B program budgets looking pretty much the same from year to year. To make B2B budget planning less habitual, Forrester admonishes business marketers to step up the digital transformation pace and shift budget dollars from designing outbound campaigns to fostering community interactions.”

In blogging about last year’s reports, the chief analyst who worked with MarketingProfs to survey B2B marketers to determine marketing mix and budget trends, noted that in 2009:

“B2B marketers clung to unimaginative spending habits. Instead of taking the digital plunge, most respondents hedged their bets in 2009 and simply cut spending across all the tactics they used. Marketing budget allocations for 2009 looked identical to 2008, with marketers spending less on trade shows, for example, by attending fewer of them. Yet physical events continued to gobble up an average of 20% of program spending. Sticking with old patterns, B2B marketers spent an average of between 10% and 13% of campaign budgets on traditional tactics like print ads, executive events, direct mail, and PR, while fully admitting these tactics did not help increase awareness or generate demand as much as they would have liked.

“What does all of this mean? That now is the time to rethink the marketing mix and take some bigger risks when allocating marketing dollars online. While digital and social media will not eclipse conventional outbound communications anytime soon, marketers can no longer ignore the fundamental change that customers’ working online has had on marketing strategy and campaign spending. To keep pace with the digital transformation, B2B marketers must shift from designing outbound campaigns to fostering community interactions.”

The good news is that the MarketingSherpa data from one year later indicated that B2B marketers were doing exactly that.

b2b marketing budget 2011 B2B marketers need to budget more than just dollars and cents

In summary, when it comes to modern B2B marketing, companies need to assess the return on investment not only for their marketing dollars, but their time and resources as well. Develop a cohesive and well-examined strategy and select tactics that are proven to drive revenue generation.  Then, measure the effectiveness of those tactics. Continue those that are generating leads and consider those that are increasing awareness and building your brand. Eliminate those that have proven ineffective. After all, it’s more than just dollars invested in these activities, it’s time and resources as well.

Images: Marketing Tech Blog

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Posted by: Linda Forrest on February 24, 2011

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Posted in: Marketing strategy, Product marketing, Social media, Technology marketing — 4 Comments

‘She’s just choking on the long tail’

PastedGraphic 21 300x198 Shes just choking on the long tailBy Francis Moran

Although I am utterly persuaded of the efficacy of new and social media as potent marketing, communications, outreach and customer service channels, I am also utterly persuaded that far too many so-called social media marketers are, quite simply, drowning in the Kool-Aid.

An early indication of this social media myopia became apparent in a conversation I had a year or so back with one of these self-styled new media gurus. She and I got into a discussion one evening about the value of social media channels. Her argument was that any and every new media channel trumped any and every so-called old media channel; that this new media model had completely disrupted the old media model.

It was well into the evening and I was tired so I probably got a little more heated than I might have under different circumstances. Finally I said, “So you think 100 followers on a blog is worth more than a story in the New York Times?” Unbelievably, she said yes. I rolled my eyes and walked away.

When I shared this tale a few days later with my pal Tony Lyons, who clearly draws more deeply on our shared Irish heritage and so has a wit far sharper than mine, he said, “Oh, she’s just choking on the long tail.” Boy, did he nail it.

As a marketing strategist, the trouble I’ve had in dealing with social media enthusiasts is their conviction that it’s a brave new world now in which everything has changed. Maybe it’s because I take a more strategic view of things or maybe it’s just that I’ve lived long enough to see more than one communications revolution come — They still used typewriters and triple-copy paper in the first city daily newsroom in which I worked so I’ve been around a long time — but this new social media stuff ain’t so different.

At our recent Zone5ive presentation, Kathryn Schwab and I dealt with the challenges PR people must now overcome in the face of suggestions that social media has trumped older tactics. The same strategic considerations apply. Do these new channels reach your intended audience? Do you have effective messaging that is suited for the particular attributes of these new channels? Will the resources necessary to succeed on these new channels deliver a return at least as good as the same resources spent elsewhere?

Far too often, choking on the long tail, social media Pollyannas can’t take the deep breaths necessary to ask these questions and wait for the answers.

And please do not let me leave the impression that all social media enthusiasts are drinking the Kool-Aid. One of the best presentations I’ve ever seen is by unchallenged social media maven Tara Hunt, someone who has built a sizable reputation navigating these uncharted new waters. While Tara is a huge fan of social networks and an enthusiastic user of them to promote both her personal brand and that of her company, she is also well aware that your social media strategy won’t save you.

Image: Hugh MacLeod, gapingvoid

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Posted by: Francis Moran on February 18, 2011

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Posted in: Marketing strategy, Social media — 6 Comments

Creative, emotional, evocative: Getting the attention of overwhelmed consumers

OCRI Zone5 137K 300x48 Creative, emotional, evocative: Getting the attention of overwhelmed consumersBy Leo Valiquette

Do you remember that Knorr commercial about how it had reduced sodium in its packaged side dishes?

Global advertising agency DDB Worldwide took a clever approach to promote a relatively humdrum message by portraying the perspective of that one individual unhappy about sodium reduction. It came up with an ad that features a despondent little salt shaker neglected at the family dinner table who trudges out of the house into a cold dark world.

Such creativity, says Jeff Swystun, is the most powerful force in business, especially in today’s world where technology has fuelled social interaction between consumers and the brands they use like never before. In this new reality, advertisers and marketers can no longer afford to focus on connecting people to brands. They must instead focus on connecting people to people.

Swystun, chief communications officer with DDB Worldwide, spoke at yesterday’s OCRI Zone5ive event about how changes in consumer habits, behaviour and social engagement via the Internet are driving fundamental shifts in how advertisers and marketers must approach what they do.

“Consumers and customers are getting more sophisticated, and yet we continue to treat them like children,” said Swystun.

In recent years, there has been a trend toward bombarding consumers and customers from every side, through every medium possible, with intrusive advertising. This 360-degree approach is costly and, ultimately, a big turn off for the target audience. Instead, brands today must focus on only six degrees — that is, the mere six degrees of separation that is said to exist between every individual on the planet.

The thinking behind this is, if you give people what they really want, when they really want it, and let them pass it on through their own human networks, it will drive a conversation in the marketplace that will secure substantial mind-share and provide invaluable intelligence that brand owners can use to make their product or service more appealing. This applies whether the product or service in question is for the B2B or B2C market.

“Branding will always be a democratic process that is about consumer choice,” Swystun said. “Our job is to help people make that choice without them feeling like they have been manipulated.”

But how can this be done in today’s environment, in which people have full freedom of choice to engage, or not engage, and are overwhelmed by the range of choices before them?

First:

Creativity must be aimed at changing people’s behaviour, and thinking, not just entertaining and informing. Swystun offered an excellent example of this with Volkswagen’s campaign to promote its BlueMotion Technologies intended to reduce the environmental impact of its vehicles without sacrificing performance. The challenge was to drum up consumer interest in buying vehicles with this technology. In other words, change their buying habits.

With a campaign that cost only about $120,000, DDB came up with The Fun Theory, intended to demonstrate through a series of experiments that the easiest way to change people’s behaviour is to make change fun. One of the most popular was encouraging people to use the stairs instead of the escalator by turning the steps into functional piano keys (it worked). The Youtube video for this experiment alone enjoyed more than a million views around the world.

For DDB, the campaign was a clear success, illustrated by the simple fact that this was the only marketing effort Volkswagen engaged in for BlueMotion and consumers responded in droves.

Second:

Ideas must appeal on an emotional, not a rational, level. Neuroscience studies show that rational arguments do not change people’s behaviour, emotional ones do. So tell a story that makes people smile, laugh or cry. This  applies even to B2B companies. Sure, tout the rational benefits of your product or service and its ROI, but package that message with some kind of emotional hook, such as sympathizing with the key pain points of your customers that you aim to address.

Watch this McDonald’s spot for a chuckle.

Third:

Share ideas people want to share. To promote Phillips’ new flat screen television, DDB came up with a campaign called Parallel Lines, in which five directors came up with their own short films based on the same five lines of dialogue. The premise was “There are millions of ways to tell a story. There’s only one way to watch one.” The campaign was so successful it sparked a competition for other directors to come up with a sixth film. The winner was Porcelain Unicorn.

What’s next?

Reluctant to be tagged as one of those prognosticators who make outlandish predictions for which they are seldom held accountable, Swystun nonetheless offered his thoughts on where the marketplace appears to be going in the next few years.

  • Collaboration: with the trend of six degrees, customers are playing a greater role in the marketing process to drive what marketers do next.
  • Product development: All the chatter and sharing between people through social media is adding value to the entire process of new product development and how brands should position themselves to remain relevant. What people are saying is invaluable feedback for improvement and enhancement.
  • More technological advances: In which direction technology will go way is anyone’s guess, but there is little doubt that more information will be dumped more quickly into the hands of consumers, who will struggle more and more to make sense of the onslaught.
  • Credibility, authenticity are key: With so much information coming at them, people will start to tune out those content streams and sources of content that don’t stand up as credible. Instead of following hundreds, if not thousands of people on Twitter, for example, Swystun believes consumers will scale that back to 100, 50, or even 20. It will, therefore, be vital for a brand to develop trust with its audience.
  • Choice vs. clutter: All of us will be challenged to wade through the range of choice before us. Brands that simplify people’s lives and that are perceived as credible will lead.
  • The process of creativity will have to change: This will be an inevitable result of the previous points.

Swystun finished by saying that one of the most important and powerful metrics over the next 10 years to guide advertising and marketing efforts will be how many messages consumers chose not to connect with.

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Posted by: Leo Valiquette on February 11, 2011

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Posted in: Marketing strategy, Product marketing, Social media, Technology marketing — Leave a comment

Wanted: Crystal clear online etiquette for employees

By Alexandra Reid

25459 clipart illustration of a group of smiling teasing laughing grinning and winking yellow emoticon faces 295x300 Wanted: Crystal clear online etiquette for employeesThere has been a lot of discussion about the blurring lines between personal and professional use of social media. Many questions have been asked and proposed solutions have been fiercely debated: Should employees be restricted on how they use social media both personally and professionally? Should there be restrictions on how they speak about their employers or places of employment? Should corporate social media accounts be used for personal interaction, and what determines if a conversation has become too personal? Should employees even be allowed to use social media during work hours? What should the ramifications, if any, be if an employee speaks ill of his or her employers or place of employment?

Some of us inmedianauts touched on the subject last week as we discussed how we use our personal Twitter accounts professionally and how our new company Twitter handle – @inmedia – should be managed. Because social media often blurs personal and professional lines and, subsequently, private and public lines, we think it is best to always uphold a professional etiquette in all circumstances where inmedia, and its clients, could be represented.

Whether they lay out specific orders or general guidelines, corporate social media policies are becoming conventional. And it’s not just conventional businesses that are setting standards for their employees’ online behaviour.

Just yesterday, the City of Calgary released a set of guidelines to govern its employees’ social media conduct. According to the Vancouver Sun, Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner warns, “employees writing dodgy comments about their workspace can’t necessarily expect privacy legislation to prevent their employer from using those remarks against them.” The guidelines are meant to instruct employees on how they should behave themselves on city-sponsored social media sites, but they also warn against personal online use. Although the city does not track personal social networking of employees (yet), the move illustrates the lack of any clear boundaries between personal and professional online use and a clear change in the way businesses, and government bodies, approach online behaviour.

As a frequent user and advisor of social media, I can see the tremendous benefits companies can receive by allowing their employees to socialize online, whether that’s through personal accounts on their own time or company accounts during work hours.

To try and bring some clarity to this muddy area, here is a summary of some excellent guidelines from Shift Communications that you can use to find a safe balance between personal and professional social media use:

  • Be transparent and state that you work at a company
  • Never represent yourself or your company in a false or misleading way
  • Post meaningful and respectful comments
  • Use common sense and common courtesy
  • Stick to your area of expertise and feel free to provide unique, individual perspectives on non-confrontational activities at your company
  • When disagreeing with others opinions, keep it appropriate and polite. If you find yourself in a situation online that looks like it is becoming antagonistic, do not get overly defensive and do not disengage from the conversation abruptly
  • If you want to write about the competition, make sure you behave diplomatically, have the facts straight and have the appropriate permissions
  • Never comment on anything related to legal matters, litigation, or any parties your company might be in litigation with
  • Never participate in social media when the topic being discussed may be considered a crisis situation. Even anonymous comments may be traced back to your company or your company’s IP address. Refer all social media activities around crisis topics to PR and/or Legal Affairs Director.
  • Be smart about protecting yourself, your privacy, and your company’s confidential information.

Do you agree or disagree with this list? Do you have any additions, or would you remove points from this list? Can you offer answers to the opening questions of this post? Lets discuss.

Photo from: Clipart Of

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Alexandra Reid

Posted by: Alexandra Reid on January 25, 2011

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Posted in: Social media, inmedia Public Relations — Leave a comment