Just what do marketing people really do?

By Steve Fodor

Do a Google search on “bringing marketing and sales together” and you’ll get a plethora of content. Sales and marketing working in sync seems to be on the minds of a lot of folks these days, begging the question, just what do marketing people really do?

Forrester Research conducted a study of B2B companies recently and found that only eight percent reported “tight alignment” between sales and marketing. Forrester Research noted that “too often, marketing does not have a deep enough understanding of the buyer’s needs because they don’t have enough interaction with buyers themselves.”

Having spent most of the past 20 years of my life in the agency business working for clients looking to create stronger brand connections with customers, I have to say these findings about sales and marketing do not surprise me. I have on a number of occasions tried to get insights into why customers buy or don’t buy by going through marketing only to hear, “we’re too busy to get out in the field and learn about our customers.” On another occasion, when working as a district sales manager for a safety products company and attending a sales meeting, I was flabbergasted when the marketing director said during her presentation that she “wasn’t aware” of a new marketing communications campaign that was launched by a primary competitor (at that moment, I could see the gap between sales and marketing getting even bigger).

I’ve always been of the opinion that marketing starts with understanding the customer. If marketing people are not out in the field talking with customers about how they get information, how they would like to get information, and what type of information they find most useful, what’s the point of marketing? We call the process of understanding how B2B customers make purchasing decisions and how they would like and need to be communicated with Sales Diagnostics ^TM. There’s nothing “magical” about it. Sales Diagnostics is the process of getting out into the field to meet with end-users and channel members to uncover their needs, and then develop sales and communications strategies to meet those needs. Yet, apparently, from all the recent uproar over the disconnect between sales and marketing, it sounds as though a lot of marketing departments are not partaking in this seemingly simple task. It seems more like a lot of marketing people are staying busy in meetings talking about everything except customers’ needs.

Agree? Have a different point of view on how to bring sales and marketing together? Let us know.

Flickr Photo Credit: HIRAOKA, Yasunobu

An “education” in developing a marketing message.

By Steve Fodor

In a posting about a year ago, I said that I don’t believe in focus groups as a research methodology for developing a marketing message strategy. And I still don’t. Focus groups are great for learning about opinions, but are often of little value for finding that emotional “hook” for a message that will connect with your target audience.

For finding and developing a message strategy that will connect with customers, we utilize a technique we call Benefit Galvanizing ^TM. It takes place in a one-on-one setting where a subject is presented with various benefit “statements” that cover a gamut of topics and potential message approaches. Respondents are asked to “react” to each statement (an emotional response) and then rank each statement from most favorable to least favorable (a rational processing of information). That’s precisely how the brain processes information, and it’s why the most effective and memorable marketing messages connect first on an emotional level and then present rational reasons (support).

Recently, we got to practice what we preach. Our local United Way in Marion County, Ohio came to us for help in developing a marketing message to promote education in our community. Though we specialize in business-to-business marketing communications, we’ve been more than glad to help the United Way of Marion County on many occasions over our 25 years in business. Developing a marketing message to promote education is kind of a broad and ambiguous challenge. We needed to find that emotional “hook” that would make a marketing campaign get noticed and connect with students and parents on an emotional level. We’ve always heard things like, “If you don’t work hard at school, you’ll never get a good job.” Or, “If you want a big house and a cool car, you need to work hard in school.”

To some degree, there’s truth in these things we’ve always been told about education. Why, then, don’t more students and parents listen to this seemingly sage advice? Because they’re tuning it out. It’s not connecting. It’s lacking that emotional “hook.” What we found through our Benefit Galvanizing message research is that students and parents really see education as a possession that will provide value over the course of their lives. An education is something no one can ever take away. Education represents hope in an ever-increasingly uncertain world. It’s so much more than just getting “a good job” or obtaining personal possessions. Really, education is something that’s yours. For life.

We’re about to launch this campaign in Marion, Ohio. As far as we know, Marion, Ohio is the only community to combine both programmatic and marketing strategies to help improve educational performance. This is an incredibly worthy cause, and we’re proud to be associated with it.

Education. Yours. For Life. is copyright and logo is registered trademark of Badertscher Communications, Inc.

Marketing technical products is not necessarily “rocket science.”

By Steve Fodor

“You only have one chance to make a first impression.” I don’t know who originally said that, but it’s one of my favorite quotes because it’s true in life…and in marketing. Especially when marketing highly technical products.

As a marketing communications and public relations firm specializing in business-to-business message and content development, we work with clients who make and market highly technical products. Sometimes we have to “push back” a little when our clients get too wrapped up in their own products’ technological features. Will technological features alone really capture the attention of an engineer or buyer of technological products?

It is true that engineers will use three-or four-word long tail phrases when searching online for a product solution. Engineers (as a breed, if you will) are information junkies. They usually have a precise set of criteria in mind when they conduct a search. But, just because engineers are information junkies doesn’t mean they’re not people, too, with emotions like humor, empathy and intrigue. The temptation when creating content for marketing technical products is to create content that reads like a technical “white paper.” That may make you, the marketer, “feel good,” but not necessarily the buyer. Your first impression on a potential buyer is what they will remember and be captivated by, be it content presented in a blog, an online ad, online video or via social media. If you don’t captivate your audience with a memorable and interesting message presentation, all that technical data you’ve worked to create in the “technical library section” of your Web site may not even get seen by the engineering audience you’re trying to reach and motivate.

Even though the mediums for marketing communications have dramatically evolved and changed, the classic selling model for business-to-business marketing still holds true: interest from a buyer leads to a quest for more information, ultimately resulting in a feeling of trust which leads to a sale. Unfortunately, far too many marketers overlook that first and most critical step: create interest. If you don’t make an interesting and memorable first impression on your Web site or in any of your other content development and marketing communications strategies, you may never get to that second step with a buyer: the quest for more information. You do only have one chance to make a first impression when marketing technical products to engineers. Make it an interesting and memorable one.

Flickr PhotoCredit:cliff1066

It’s the Message, Not the Media. (Don’t Let Social Media Take Undue Credit)

by Brad Smith

Recent headline: “Egyptian Revolution takes just 18 days thanks to social media.”

True, but not entirely. If you take this at face value, you’re missing the big picture. Communication, not the conduit, is what’s to thank. The message delivered, not the media channel, is what made it all possible.

By way of example, think about the message that galvanized the American Revolution. It took years to come to fruition at a time when messages were passed on by word of mouth or printed on pamphlets (on scarce printing presses) and delivered by riders on horseback up and down the east coast…over and over again, for years on end. Imagine what Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Thomas Paine could have accomplished in short order if they’d been able to take their message to the majority of the colonists almost instantaneously. Imagine if their words, thoughts and ideas had been pushed out to friends and passed along on Facebook and Twitter. We’d have booted King George in weeks, not years. Because of the message, not the media.

Point is, it’s not social media that’s solely changing the world as we know it. Behind this new stardom is the real power – the power of communication. The power of capturing with clarity a compelling idea(s) and delivering it to a mass audience with the intent of spurring them on to action. Social media may get the message out a whole lot faster, but if the message isn’t poignant, it’s as moving as what Lady Gaga had for breakfast this morning.

But wait just a minute. Isn’t that message thing the essence of branding? Isn’t that what I’ve been doing my entire career? Isn’t that what I’ve been calling “marketing communications” all of these years?

So the essence of marketing really hasn’t changed. When you’re thinking about your own marcomm efforts, think message first, and media second. Or to paraphrase using today’s parlance, it’s the content that counts.

I used to think of “mass communications” as TV, radio and newspaper. Now it’s time to add one more. The new shining star in mass communications is called “social media.”

Feel free to use it – it’s practically free. But don’t forget the message – it’s more important than the media, no matter what the price.

Flickr Photo Credit: colindunn

Snow & Steady

By Steve Badertscher

While driving, um… make that “sliding” into work today, I was thinking “arrive alive” on more than one occasion. Today’s icy road conditions had me convinced I was actually auditioning for a role in an upcoming episode of Ice Road Truckers instead of making the commute to the office. While scanning through radio channels in an effort to catch a weather report, I heard an interesting statement. I’ll get back to that statement shortly.

But first, let me say driving in snow is something we Ohioans learn to do at an early age. We also learn to shovel sidewalks, scrape ice off of windshields, shovel driveways, etc. Don’t get me wrong, snow also provides us with the opportunity to learn how to do fun things such as building snow men, sled riding, snow skiing, etc. Depending on your outlook, and skill level, driving falls somewhere in the middle between pain and pleasure.

Learning to drive in snow takes patience and practice. There is plenty of practical advice available that is helpful, too. But it takes time to learn and memorize a set of detailed instructions that need to become second nature in quick order if you plan to spend winters driving in the Buckeye state.

For example, I found the following detailed information in an article titled “Driving in Snow and Ice” from The Weather Channel site, www.weather.com

Driving safely on icy roads

1. Decrease your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop. You should allow at least three times more space than usual between you and the car in front of you.
2. Brake gently to avoid skidding. If your wheels start to lock up, ease off the brake.
3. Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists.
4. Keep your lights and windshield clean.
5. Use low gears to keep traction, especially on hills.
6. Don't use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads.
7. Be especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently traveled roads, which will freeze first. Even at temperatures above freezing, if the conditions are wet, you might encounter ice in shady areas or on exposed roadways like bridges.
8. Don't pass snow plows and sanding trucks. The drivers have limited visibility, and you're likely to find the road in front of them worse than the road behind.
9. Don't assume your vehicle can handle all conditions. Even four-wheel and front-wheel drive vehicles can encounter trouble on winter roads.

If your rear wheels skid...

1. Take your foot off the accelerator.
2. Steer in the direction you want the front wheels to go. If your rear wheels are sliding left, steer left. If they're sliding right, steer right.
3. If your rear wheels start sliding the other way as you recover, ease the steering wheel toward that side. You might have to steer left and right a few times to get your vehicle completely under control.
4. If you have standard brakes, pump them gently.
5. If you have anti-lock brakes (ABS), do not pump the brakes. Apply steady pressure to the brakes. You will feel the brakes pulse — this is normal.

If your front wheels skid...

1. Take your foot off the gas and shift to neutral, but don't try to steer immediately.
2. As the wheels skid sideways, they will slow the vehicle and traction will return. As it does, steer in the direction you want to go. Then put the transmission in "drive" or release the clutch, and accelerate gently.

Some very good detailed advice indeed! Every point made is a good one. However, if I’m an inexperienced driver attempting to navigate through snow for the very first time, this check list might seem a bit overwhelming.

This brings me back to the statement I heard on the radio. It summed up the 16 detailed points made above in one memorable concept. It communicated all of that information in one sentence. And here it is:

“Drive like you have a cup of coffee sitting on your dashboard.”

Simple? Yes! More importantly, memorable? Absolutely!

It’s also a great example of the way you should look at your advertising messages. We still see way too many B2B marketers trying to list every detailed bullet point in their advertising at the expense of having their key message or selling proposition being missed or overlooked.

So sit back with a nice steaming hot cup ‘o joe today and think about how you might boil your complex advertising messages down into one simple, memorable concept. And if you need a hand in that, I’ll gladly put down the snow shovel to assist you!

Flickr Photo Credit: Melissa Gray

Why a blog strategy for vertical, business-to-business marketing?

by Steve Fodor

“Our markets are vertical. We know most of the prospect companies by name. Why should we bother with a blog strategy?”

As a marketing communications firm that specializes in business-to-business marketing, search engine optimization and public relations, we sometimes hear comments like these. Why, if you’re marketing to a well-defined, vertical segment, would you undertake a blog strategy? Three reasons come to mind.

First, for search engine optimization. Just because your market segment(s) may be relatively small does not mean you should discount the importance of search engine page rankings. Blogs help perform the critical function of improving organic page rankings. Blogs in tandem with other mediums and targeted user groups (like those found through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) add even more to search engine optimization.

Second, blogs provide a thought leadership position for your brand. Industrial marketers need to think like publishers and generate content (in written as well as video format) that customers and prospects are seeking. If requests from customers and prospects usually start with “give us a price bid,” you’re probably missing opportunities to explain through a blog strategy the true value you offer: intelligence about your product or category that makes your customers look like heroes.

And third, to become a curator of information for your market segment(s). The Internet continues to be populated with more and more content. So much content, in fact, that finding exactly what’s needed through a simple Google search can sometimes produce an overwhelming amount of information. Wouldn’t it be better for customers and prospects to think of your brand as the only place they need to go to get the answers they’re seeking?

Yet another reason for a implementing a blog strategy crosses over to direct sales. Do your sales efforts consist of continually following up with prospects while nurturing them from prospects to customers? If so, salespeople can e-mail prospects the links to relevant blogs as a way to continue the nurturing process and reinforce a thought leadership position.

If you’re marketing to vertical, business-to-business market segments, a blogging strategy presents a targeted, cost-efficient way to improve search engine optimization, nurture selling efforts and elevate the perceived value of your brand above just a “product offering at a price.” Of course, developing relevant content for a blogging strategy takes time and resources, some research, and an understanding of the unmet information needs of your target audience. And that’s exactly how we are helping business-to-business marketers today.

Flickr Photo Credit:digitalrob70

Web Sites and Reese's Cups

by Steve Fodor

Remember the old jingle for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? “Two great things that go great together.”

We’ve embarked on a new client relationship here at Badertscher Communications that has made that jingle run through my head (aside from making me crave the taste of peanut butter and chocolate together).

We have an assignment to develop a new Web site for a new client. So what, you may say. Well, the reason this assignment is particularly sweet is because we’re working in seamless collaboration with the client’s network administrator. It’s almost like he’s a part of our staff on this new assignment. We’re able to do what we do best – create and promote a new Web site design and brand presence for a client. And the client’s network administrator can do what he does best – build a Web site platform with the latest content management tools. The result will be a new Web site that allows our client to be a curator of information and content…with the benefits of cost and time savings.

The reason we’re so jazzed about this relationship is because we see it as a prime example of the way client-agency relationships are evolving for the better. Agencies are content developers. Or, said another way, agencies are expert at bringing a brand story to life with words, pictures, sounds and designs. Though most full-services agencies (ourselves included) have Web developers on staff, an agency’s culture is usually driven by creativity and content development. Many clients, on the other hand, have invested in information technology and in people that can manage all the technological “back end” stuff of Web sites and content management. When an agency can marry its talents and expertise with the talents and expertise of the client’s people, a working arrangement develops where brand stories can be developed and told with more creative excitement.

Economically, times are still tough. Many companies have put off updating their online presence or have deferred new content development strategies because of costs. But, when an agency and client can work closely together and focus on doing what each does best, something pretty sweet can develop. Actually, that’s exactly the way we like to work here.

Flickr Photo Credit: kimberlykv