“Don't say the old lady screamed—bring her on and let her scream.” In his advice on storytelling, Mark Twain’s timeless wit and wisdom holds true in the discussion of online video. Thanks to advances in Internet technology and increased bandwidth over the last few years, online video has emerged as the fastest growing media platform with an estimated 72% of Web users watching online video clips. In the next three years, Web video consumption is projected to double. The message to marketers? Visitors expect a rich experience when they come to your site. As one of the most powerful tools in the marketer’s arsenal, online video offers a wealth of opportunity for rich storytelling, differentiation, brand building and traffic-generation.

The resurgence of video in storytelling
In the 90’s, corporate capabilities videos were commonplace, but distribution was limited to VHS and DVD.
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A recent Business Week article reports that AOL plans to create the "newsroom of the future" by using high-powered technology to revolutionize the business of gathering and presenting news.

At a time when print giants like former AOL sister company Time magazine and virtually every major daily in the U.S. are struggling to cope with the new media landscape, AOL has hired more than 500 full-time journalists and buys contributions from more than 3,000 freelancers.

Quoting CEO Tim Armstrong, the article goes on to say that AOL is using advanced analytics to measure reader interest and engagement in stories those journalists create, and may even share profits with writers whose stories earn the most page views.
As a former journalist, I understand how earth-shattering that approach really is.
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Thought leadership has always been an important element of B2B marketing communications strategy. The reason is simple: most B2B products and services are considered purchases. The selling cycle is normally months or even years, and requires that the customer be educated in the technology or other issues.

Most B2B marketers we talk with understand the need and have some area where they can be thought leaders. In the past, much of the burden for presenting a B2B marketer’s thought leadership message fell on the shoulders of the sales person. However, a host of factors have changed the rules for delivering these messages. Sales reps no longer have the time they once had with customers, let alone prospects. Buying committees have sometimes separated the reps from the real decision makers. And more buyers are doing their preliminary product research online. So you’re increasingly faced with the need to deliver the message when you’re not in the room.
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Almost a year ago, I posted about how B2B marketers can use social media. Since then, 2009 social media growth has been exponential. Case studies of leading companies effectively using corporate social media, and the high adoption rates of business professionals using social media in the workplace, have helped squelch questions of whether B2B marketers should participate in social media. The challenge now is defining what their company’s social media strategy should be.
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I've been hearing rumors of a very disturbing trend of B2B publishers dropping their BPA Audits. Take a look at almost any trade publication and you can't help but notice the issues are thinner than they were a year ago. I understand that trade publishers, just like many other industries, need to lower operating expenses to survive this economic downturn. However, media professionals rely on third party audits when researching a publication's circulation. Circulation is a big part of what publishers are selling, and the only way I have to be sure that a magazine reaches who I'm trying to reach is through third party audit statements like the BPA.

Without an audit a publication is telling me "BUYER BEWARE". And with tight media budgets that will be the reality during the economy recovery, recommending an unaudited publication is just too risky.
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Identifying upgrades and additions to your web site is a critical part of 2010 planning. Perhaps you are considering a complete re-design, or you’ve been told you need a “Web 2.0” version of your web site. If you’ve already added engagement and sharing elements to your b2b site and are participating in social media, you may be wondering what the rumblings about Web 3.0 (a highly debated term) mean to b2b marketers.

I don’t believe in web site “versioning,” but if you are uncertain as to which tools, technologies, and buzzwords fall under each label, here’s a brief overview of a huge topic with a range of opinions and theories.

Web 1.0 - One way information flow
Web 1.0 was the Web as an information portal. Content was owned. Everyone had their own little personal corner in cyberspace.
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If you know any architects you’ll probably agree that they can be fiercely loyal to certain brands, especially those that define their sense of style and good taste. Windows, doors, flooring, office furniture – especially chairs – right down to their brand of paint. 

So, when my neighbor, the architect, said that she and her husband were going to drive 40 miles for ice cream one evening I wasn’t too surprised. I just figured, it's a brand thing – Häagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry’s.

The irony is that there's a great little café two blocks down the street that has wonderful ice cream. They offer a dozen different flavors and they're made right here in Lancaster, PA.

I didn’t know how much our neighbors spent on these junkets, but I assumed that they were doing their part to fuel the recovery. I'm sure that driving their SUV 40 miles cost as much as a couple cones at the local café. 

The
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I have been neglecting my blog. I’m not the only one. About 95% of blogs are abandoned—a number from Technorati based on the fact that only 7.4 million of the 133 million blogs have been updated in the past 120 days. But I have been tweeting. Not because the media has hyped it up or because everyone else is (not true actually, as the top 10% of Twitter users account for over 90% of tweets) but because in order to advise b2b clients on microblogging service, I had to experience it firsthand. After committing to it, I honestly see its value as a part of a b-to-b marketing communications strategy.

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Tired of Twitter talk yet? Wondering why the micro-blogging service with a 140 character limit is getting so much text? The latest Twitter Talley shows there’s good reason b-to-b marketers are twittering. Twitter is the fastest growing member-based community site on the Web.

• As of February 2009, there were 7,038,000 Twitter users—an increase of 1,381%, up from 475,000 the previous year. (According to Nielson NetView.)
• The reported figures from Compete are higher, with over 14 million unique users in March 2009.
• In the blogsphere, talk about Twitter has
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While B-to-B blogs are prevalent, a lot of well-intentioned business leaders have yet to take the plunge for one reason or another. If that is the case with you, here are some things to consider when you’re ready to create your own B-to-B blog. 

1. Choose someone to be responsible for your company blog.

Your company blog is not a marketing tool, it’s a communications tool. For it to be useful, choose someone to over see it who understands your brand footprint, your products and or services and has the ability to communicate those company attributes. Let them be responsible for maintaining the blog. A blog is about being timely and current, so choose someone who has the interest to stay on top of what it is that your company is doing. Choose someone who has the same enthusiasm as you do for your company to succeed.

2. A name, is a name, is a name.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.
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