Archive for B2B
May 5 th
My 3 Wishes from the Marketing Genie
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Remember watching cartoons about Aladdin and the magic lamp? I always hoped I’d find a magic lamp on a beach somewhere and I’d be granted three wishes. Didn’t you wish you could have three wishes too?
Well today I’m setting aside my marketing hat, my BI hat, and my corporate sustainability hat. I’m putting on my customer hat and asking for three wishes I know your marketing team can grant me.
Here are my three wishes:
1. I want a real relationship with you. I want to know that you are real people. I want to know that your company values align with mine. I want to know you are passionate about what you offer. I want to know you understand my needs and that you care about my success. I want to know how you give back to society. I will look for clues in your blog posts, Twitter tweets, forums, and other forms of social media.
2. I want you to help me be successful. I need to fully understand my challenge, including the business impacts. I need to learn better ways to do things, including best practices. I want to know how others have been able to overcome challenges and be successful. I need you to help educate me with credible and objective information. I need you to help me justify my business case. I will look for this in your white papers, case studies, data sheets, articles, webinars, e-books, and other educational content and tools.
3. I want to be able to find you when I need you. I want to easily find the information I need. I want my questions answered quickly. I want you to communicate in ways relevant to my needs. I want you to know who I am when I call. I will look for a well-designed, organized, and complete website, regular newsletters, targeted e-mails, trade show presence, search engine results, and most of all: contact information that leads me to a real person.
Rather than standing in the middle of the marketing department and looking out, I encourage you to walk over and stand in your customer’s office and look out. How do they see you and your company? Does your brand personality show through? Are you approachable? Do you offer a variety of content to help meet their educational needs?
If the magic genie could grant you three wishes (not necessarily marketing or business related), what would they be?
April 14 th
Can B2B Marketing be Fun?
Posted by: | CommentsI was reading an interview with Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere on SmartData Collective the other day and what I read and saw was “FUN!”
Improv Everywhere says they create chaos and joy in public places. First they get your attention and then they make you smile. When is the last time you did something silly? Yahoo sponsored this Improv Everywhere event where hundreds of people listened to the same MP3 on their headphones and followed the goofy instructions. How about the largest game of Twister?
On a more deliberate marketing note, watch as my alma-matter T-Mobile, takes over the Liverpool Street Station. Initially, you see the typical moving crowds. As the music begins to play, a few of them start dancing, and then as it progresses, what looked like on-lookers are now joining the dance.
No doubt it was all choreographed, but to the hundreds of people watching at the LS Station and the millions who have now seen it on YouTube, it was captivating. You could see several people using their cell phones to video what they were seeing, which was exactly what T-Mobile wanted. The viral exposure has been phenomenal. It’s been viewed over 10 million times around the world!
So my question is can B2B marketing be fun? What can we do to be more viral? What good examples have you already seen?
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