I recently had the opportunity to be part of a panel on this subject at a meeting of the American Marketing Association’s, Houston Chapter’s B2B Special Interest Group.

Here’s a brief recap of what was discussed:

The overall message of the meeting was that successful B2B marketers view these as times of opportunity. A period that requires an "uncertain times" strategy with the brand and protecting the brand is the driver. It is a critically opportune time to make sure your brand message is integrated into all communications associated with your brand.

Michelle Reed, Vice President Strategic Marketing,
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"Every Honeywell employee is a brand ambassador. With every customer contact and whenever we represent Honeywell, we have the opportunity either to strengthen the Honeywell brand or to cause it to lose some of its luster and prestige."

I have also seen it used to describe celebrities that are hired as spokespeople. For example, that same search gave me these results:

"Toyota has roped in actor Aamir Khan as its Brand Ambassador for its utility vehicle Innova."

"TAG Heuer today announced Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt and Uma Thurman as brand ambassadors."

In the Web 2.0 world we are engaging new technologies to communicate with our prospects and customers.
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Experiment - and it will lead you to the light.

The apple on the top of the tree is never too high to achieve.

So take an example from Eve.

Experiment - be curious.

Though interfering friends may frown.

Get furious, at each attempt to hold you down.

If this advice you always employ, the future can offer you infinite joy, and merriment.

Experiment - and you'll see.

Are you beginning to think about 2008 planning and budgeting? What portion of your marketing communications budget is allocated to experimentation? We have a multitude of new channels available to us as business-to-business marketers to attract, interact and engage prospects and customers.
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A We Media-Zogby Interactive survey released earlier this year indicates that:

• 72% of adults are dissatisfied with the quality of American journalism
• 55% of the survey respondents feel that bloggers are important to the future of American journalism
• 74% felt that citizen journalism will play a vital role in the future of American journalism

I wonder if these sentiments about journalists are being translated to the B2B world.
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Between a recent morning commute and my daily reading of trade publications it occurred to me that a new wave of B2B brand positioning/sloganeering is going on.

It wasn’t that long ago that everybody wanted to be a “solutions” company. Now it seems, thanks in part to Larry the Cable Guy’s ubiquitous “Git R Done” that “solutions” are out and “action” is in. During my drive I heard two B2B marketers’ radio commercials use a variation of Larry’s catch phrase. A construction equipment rental company is using “Consider it Done”, and a construction supply distributor is using “For Those That Get it Done”. Later that day I saw a print ad for a manufacturer in the same market space using “We make it happen”. I hope that Larry is getting some residuals.

I’ve always believed that brand positioning is about creating a difference.
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During a conversation the other day with an experienced B2B professional the comment was made that the branding craze was ebbing. The situation wasn’t appropriate to engage in a debate. But boy did I want to comment! It is my belief and the belief of Godfrey that branding is perhaps more critical in the B2B world today than ever before.

To support this belief let me share you with some of the results of a recent survey of our B2B clients. When asked about the importance of branding to their management, 78% of respondents considered branding  “very important” or “critical to success” and more than 50% of those that responded we’re using or considering using social media tactics such as RSS feeds, blogs, podcasts in their business-to-business programs. These folks are telling us that branding is important and at the same time they are beginning to use media in which they have the potential to lose control of the brand message.
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I’ve been spending more time lately thinking about reaching another “C” suite. This one is the thousands of contractors – plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, etc. that make brand decisions for the products that they use and influence those decisions for the products that they install. They are a powerful force in the buying and selling of products, making them an exclusive audience.

And they are also elusive. How do you deliver a product message to them? With the changing landscape of media, I am very interested in how this “C” suite
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If you are present in this business today there is absolutely no way that you could make this statement. The evolution of how B2B audiences are choosing to get their information and thus how B2B marketers must deliver it is moving at a faster and faster pace. For some the adaptation that we are making is painful. If Jay was still in the business I am sure he would be stressed.

I personally believe much of the stress is self-induced. Induced by a case of media myopia. If your perspective is that you tell your story to suspects, prospects and customers only through belly-to-belly connections made by your sales force and attending tradeshows, or your
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We’ve recently produced a series of thought leadership papers on ROI. To give the discussion meaningful context, we used the principle of AIDA. The timeless idea that all prospects move through a 4 stage process -- awareness, interest, desire, action.

It has been a great exercise to match a timeless concept with the new wave tools we have available to us. The results are very interesting, if you aren’t on our mailing list you can get PDFs if them by clicking here.

The development of these pieces has me pondering something. In any marketing communication effort – a complete program, an individual ad, a direct mailer, a website, an e-mail newsletter, and especially a sales presentation - we take someone through this process.
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