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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Recent posts by Stacy Whisel and Jim Everhart provide good reasons WHY B2B marketers should consider adding social media to their marketing communications programs.

As we engage marketing people about B2B social media, the conversations usually starts with HOW, whether it's externally (the technologies and channels) or internally (the company policy that governs social media participation).

Both of these are important, but what tends to be a secondary conversation is WHAT should be communicated. Maybe that's assumed, although the "wild frontier" nature of social media brings with it a lack of focus, so we don't like to assume away the need for a solid messaging plan. It's an essential part of brand guardianship in the social media arena.

What's more, there isn't much conversation about how to ensure that core messaging is conveyed in an effective manner.
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Is it just my imagination or is the Social Media landscape expanding faster than global warming on the Arctic’s polar ice cap?

On the publishing side of Social Media, we’ve got key players such as Wikipedia and Digg. On the sharing front, it’s Web sites like YouTube and Flickr. In the social networking arena, the heavy hitters are Facebook and LinkedIn. And don’t forget Twitter, which has taken blogging – in this case, microblogging – to a whole new level.

At this stage of the game, B2B marketers probably feel like they need a scorecard to keep track of all the Social Media players, their positions, strengths and weaknesses. The question is, which player is paying its dues right now in the minor leagues, poised to make a dramatic leap to the big leagues?

I don’t have that answer, but I do know one thing: Social Media is here to stay. And here’s
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Ah yes, math. As a creative, my old nemesis and I have made up and become friends.

In this day and age, analytics is helping us understand our target audience like never before. Because we can measure—well, just about everything, we are able to see what is working, and what is not. Analytics is an essential part of ongoing improvement for everything we do at Godfrey. As an art director, I have to pay close attention to the feedback we receive (which often includes numbers and percentages) to understand what I need to change and improve on.

So, if you haven't embraced analytics, now is the time to introduce yourself and become the best of friends, because your new friend will help guide you to your end goal.

In addition, art directors and creative folks must have an understanding of search because the visual world is changing fast, in relationship to
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I’m a commuter so I have a couple of hours a day essentially by myself. I have become a big fan of satellite radio – lots of news shows and NPR. Lately the word count on recovery is up. Funny how reluctantly the word recession was muttered but saying recovery comes easily.

Yes, a recovery will eventually come. Sooner for some, later for others. If you are a B2B marketer you need to be thinking about when your markets are going to recover. Economic downturn/recovery history tells us that marketers that survived previous recessions generally had a recession marketing plan. I don’t know this for a fact but I can only imagine that they also had a recovery marketing plan. Have you drafted one yet?

Today might be a good time to start. But take heed, you can’t simply do a find and replace for dates in your pre-recession marcom plan. If you went quiet during this recession you will be surprised how much the B2B marketing landscape has shifted.
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A recent article in emarketer cites a study of senior-level search engine marketing executives who are not satisfied with how SEM is working for them. How about you?

As you plan for 2010, you should consider techniques and tactics that will help you get more and better B2B search results - organic, paid or both. You probably think I'm going to talk about landing pages, page URLs, meta descriptions, inbound links and other arcane tips. Nope. I will leave that to my colleagues, or at least to another time.

Today I want to urge you to use the "secret weapon" that will increase your search engine marketing results. It's called integrated marketing communications. Yes, boring, traditional marcom. Except that there is nothing traditional about web-centric, digital marketing communications the way we practice it.
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Finally, we're seeing some early positive indicators among the headlines about the economic situation. They remind us that, eventually, things will turn around. When, how much and how fast are anyone's guess. And there may be more bumps in the road, depending on your industry and company health.

But as we make our way through 2009 and prepare for 2010, it's time to change our thought process from "marketing in a downturn" to "marketing in the recovery." But it isn't just about remembering what to do with a real budget.

Things have changed.

This recession coincided with other changes in the B-to-B marketing landscape. We think it has accelerated some changes and that the marketing landscape in the recovery will not be the same as the one pre-recession.

• The media have changed. Some of the changes are jarring - some storied print properties have gone out of existence.
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B-to-B marketers are looking for the most efficient ways to use dwindling marketing dollars. As the economic situation worsens and marketing budget cuts continue, the tactics to survive are the ones that are highly measurable. And more importantly, show an ROI. It’s no surprise that search marketing and search engine optimization are still a part of b-to-b marketing plans.

In 2008, only online video ad spending grew faster than search. Recent reports show that search marketing spending is slowing, but still dominates marketing budgets. (U.S. search ad spending is predicted to grow 14.9% in 2009, compared with 21.4% in 2008.)

However, in this weakened economy, b-to-b markerters are still looking for ways to minimize their investment, even in search-related efforts.
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The challenge of every direct mail campaign is figuring out which lists are going to perform best. Where is your target audience? Sure, they might be hidden in the depths of a compiled database, however, you should be able to do better than that. 

Start with industry specific association lists. You may have to do some digging for availability, but I almost always get good results from a well targeted association list. Many direct mail brokers won’t go through the trouble of calling associations that do not advertise their member list. You may even find that as a member you are entitled to the list at a reduced rate or no cost at all. I’ve come across associations where the cost of membership was about the cost of renting the list as a non-member, so in addition to the list we received the added bonus of being listed in their online and print directories.
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So, you are getting ready for an old fashioned b-to-b direct mail campaign. Don’t be ashamed, according to BtoB Magazine’s 2009 Marketing Priorities and Plans survey, 74% of b-to-b marketers are planning to maintain or increase their direct marketing budget in 2009. Here are 5 tips to help you make the most of your campaign.

Use your Merge Purge Wisely - Most b-to-b rental lists are purchased with one-time use only, but when possible, be sure to use them completely. If your mail-house runs a merge purge for 10 rented lists and 30% are duplicates, that’s ok - you can mail the duplicates again. If the same name shows up on six rented lists, you’ve paid for the name six times and can use it six times. Just be sure that you are mailing the approved mail piece within the promised timeline.

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