In B2B magazine"s December 10th issue, Kate Maddox outlined the top 10 marketing trends for 2008, based on interviews with marketers, ad agencies, media executives, analysts and other industry experts."

The interviewees include top tier marketers such as Boeing, Caterpillar, FedEx, GE, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Siemens and UPS. But what about the rest of us? (Okay, we"re an agency but we came from and still serve primarily non-top-tier B-to-B marketers. You know—the real world.)

We think the top 10 challenges are on target. They reflect the issues and opportunities we"ve addressed this year helping B-to-B marketers.

Going green

The article states, "Green marketing is not just a trendy buzzword. It has become an important marketing strategy for companies...." Time will tell about the trendiness. But a number of our clients are doing things to help improve the environment and be responsible corporate citizens. And we are helping them leverage their good works to differentiate themselves and drive sales. An example is our branding repositioning program for nora® Rubber Flooring, which brought business success to our client and also won "Best of Division" among "Total Communications Programs over $200,000" in the BMA's 2007 Pro-Comm Awards.

Globalization

These days, we don"t run across B-to-B companies who aren"t looking to expand globally. It's almost a prerequisite for success...or survival. The challenge comes when relatively small companies have to extend their marketing footprint over multiple continents, languages, and cultures, without the big budgets enjoyed by the big players. In 2007, we enhanced our own 20-year track record of international marketing by becoming a member of Worldwide Partners, the largest network of independent agencies in the world.

Budgets shift to online

We have been helping our clients manage the shift of their "media" budgets to online, while working hard to keep on the forefront of the explosion of online media channels, technologies and strategies. Our media channel planning approach has helped our clients leverage online media successfully. Most have gradually increased their allocations and are putting up to 35% of their media spending in online media in 2008. We agree that "2008 may be the year in which the bulk of budgets gets moved from traditional media...to digital channels."

The customer's in control

We have always advocated that "the customer is in control of content and marketing messages," but it isn"t always a popular message with some B-to-B company managements. It"s important for marketers to know what information is relevant to their customers and prospects, and to give it to them in whatever way they want. It"s too easy to go elsewhere if they don"t get it from you.

Embracing Web 2.0

For ourselves and our clients, we have incorporated web 2.0 marketing tactics including blogs, podcasts, social networks, and wikis. We are uniquely qualified to help B-to-B companies in our space to, as the article says, "take the plunge next year as they begin to fully integrate these technologies into their marketing programs."

Improving operations

The article quotes the CMO Council executive director as saying, "The No. 1 challenge for CMOs is fixing broken marketing organizations." It"s nice to see CMOs worrying about something other than justifying their lofty-sounding titles. We help B-to-B marketing organizations that are struggling to implement integrated marketing communications programs with the "hyperintegration" required today. Many are still staffed for the way marketing was done 5-10 years ago. B-to-B marketers have a tremendous opportunity to dramatically increase their role in the selling cycle and their contribution to ROI, but it takes a lot of new knowledge, capable resources (in-house or outsourced) and, more than anything, agility.

Targeted, personal events

In our experience, mid-sized B-to-B marketers have had this as part of their strategy for some time; maybe it"s a trend more for the large companies who had to break the "big booth at the big show" addiction. Smaller, or regional, or even one-company events are usually more productive than large trade shows, especially if the metric is qualitative and not simply booth leads or foot traffic. It"s easier for a small to medium sized company to come across as a thought or market niche leader in a smaller venue.

Integrating media platforms

In the article, this topic is mostly aimed at media companies who need to provide integrated platforms for their advertisers. We"ve been champions of this approach with B-to-B media companies for several years. A few are doing a great job. Some are doing an OK job. Some are in danger of losing their franchise with the B-to-B buyer and hence the B-to-B marketer. The article states that, "publishers and advertisers agree that despite budget shifts, print is still an integral part of the marketing mix." Publishers can focus on the second part of that sentence and bury their heads in the sand while the world changes around them. But the good ones are embracing change and strengthening their franchise as the enablers of B-to-B buying communities.

Going mobile

As a B-to-B specialist, we have many clients who need to reach contractors (people for whom mobile devices are an essential tool) and others who target IT professionals and senior management (the people who can"t tear themselves away from their Blackberries). As the business case evolves for mobile in the B-to-B space, we"re going to make it and help marketers use it as another way to connect with their audiences.

Blended search

We see this as a significant advancement technically, but for us it is simply another part of the "hyperintegration" outlook we bring to B-to-B marketing communications today. Combining search with video, maps, news, blog links, brochures, press releases and RSS only enhances an agile marketer"s ability to build a connection to the audience. And differentiate itself from slower-to-adapt competitors. That"s exciting for us.