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Down to B to BBy Grant A. Johnson, Johnson Direct Marketers now spend more to reach businesses than consumers.According to the Direct Marketing Association, direct marketing represents the biggest share of business-to-business advertising budgets this year. Take a closer look at the recent developments in the business-to-business marketplace. |
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Xerox Corp. probably isn't the first blue-chip brand that comes to mind when an executive thinks about networking. But the company whose name is synonymous with copiers is trying to change all that by communicating its networking capabilities to several business constituencies, particularly IT executives. The company decided its best approach was to send highly targeted messages to each of its three main audiences of decision-makers and purchase influencers. So an initial mail drop, sent to 35,000 executives the week of Feb. 17, had three separate versions of copy. Existing IT customers received a message touting Xerox as a "trusted source to provide affordable systems" and encouraging them to do more business with the company. A different message went to IT prospects, and a third version targeted procurement executives and department heads. "You get a 3-to-1 ratio lift in response if you can talk vertically," said Holly Pavlika, executive creative director at Grey Direct. "Everyone has different reasons for why they would choose a particular product. In most companies, no one is the single decision-maker." Most of the pieces (80%) were mailed to customers and prospects in Xerox's in-house database. Grey worked with Xerox to profile and segment that list and advised the company on which outside lists to rent. Source: Ad copy is key in Xerox campaign, BtoBOnline, March 10, 2003 Accurate data must be at the heart of any effort to reach b-to-b customers and prospects. But 70.8% of all business people change one or more elements on their business cards each year, according to a recent study by the Sales and Marketing Institute, so the challenge of maintaining accurate data can be daunting, even for the most savvy direct marketers. "It's probably the single most important factor in marketing products and services to a particular population," said Bernice Grossman, president of database marketing consultancy DMRS Group Inc. and chairman of the Direct Marketing Association's B-to-B Council. Industry observers say data-quality techniques are gaining the spotlight and may have overshadowed expensive customer relationship management projects for now. The two major data-quality processes are "data hygiene" and "data appending." Data hygiene refers to cleaning and standardizing customer information using software that flags errors, inconsistencies, typos and incorrect postal coding. Data appending gives marketers more information about their customers by tapping into third-party databases. Source: Making clean data a clear priority, BtoBOnline, July 15, 2002
Michelle Feit, president of e-mail marketing company e-PostDirect in Pearl River, NY, takes on the business-to-business issues of the day. DIRECT: What's happening on the business-to-business side? Source: Down to Business-to-Business, Direct Magazine, January 1, 2003 Dave Smith, the DMA's senior VP-marketing and business development, recently discussed the organization's new b-to-b initiatives. BtoB: The latest DMA e-commerce report showed that a growing number of
companies are starting to define themselves as hybrids, targeting both
the b-to-b and business-to-consumer markets. Are we entering an era where
the terms "b-to-b" and "b-to-c" don't mean as much
as they once did? Smith: More b-to-c companies are getting into the b-to-b market to enhance their revenue streams. And, to a lesser degree, b-to-b companies are trying to sell direct to the consumer. Lands' End is a great example of a consumer company targeting b-to-b companies [by producing embroidered corporate logo shirts]. Staples is an example of a company going the other way, whereby they're directly targeting the consumer/ SOHO [small office-home office] marketplace, as opposed to selling direct to larger enterprises. Source: DMA enhancing b-to-b services, BtoBOnline, May 6, 2002 It's a rare concept in selling hair color to professional stylists: No glamour girls with long locks dripping in vibrant colors. No swirling heads splaying rivers of hair across print ads. Just the image of a slim paintbrush set on a stark background with a colorful butterfly or blossom bursting from the tip. That image is featured in an aggressive new multichannel marketing campaign for Clairol Professional. Boosted by an influx of cash and interest from parent Procter & Gamble, the effort features direct mail, e-mail, direct response space advertising and a new magazine. The architect of the campaign, New York-based Wunderman, tried to appeal to stylists' creativity and re-establish Clairol as a hair color expert. Source: Clairol Expands B-to-B Efforts, Direct Magazine, February 27,
2003 Dave Smith, the DMA's senior VP-marketing and business development, recently discussed the organization's new b-to-b initiatives. BtoB: A recent DMA study shows companies are investing more in lead generation
than, say, advertising or Web development. Does this mean that b-to-b
marketing campaigns will be getting shorter shrift in the future? What
is the state of integrated campaigns in the current climate? Smith: Integrated campaigns-whether it's an ad with an 800 number or a free white paper on a relevant topic or a CD-ROM with product information-are the best way to generate leads. A lot of what I've been hearing is "back to basics" in marketing, and not what's the latest, hottest craze. It's still a matter of testing to find out what works, rolling it out and following up to make sure it's done correctly. It's not rocket science. Source: DMA enhancing b-to-b services, BtoBOnline, May 6, 2002 B to B direct marketing brings its own set of challenges. Mail is screened by the mailroom. It's even more aggressively screened by secretaries and administrative assistants, people the pieces were never crafted for. And finally, BTB often requires multiple contacts to multiple people before any business gets done (The typical business executive gets 175 mail pieces a week). Your B to B creative must be smart to get read and responded to. One of the first places you can inject smart thinking is in your formats. What your piece looks like can have a huge effect on whether it reaches your intended recipient and whether that recipient engages with it. Here are 13 smart-format options worth considering: Source: 13 Tips to Get Your Mail Piece Read, DM News, May 22, 2003 By exploring so many sites, NetBtoB.com feels confident in making some generalizations about how b-to-b companies are using the Web to their advantage-or detriment. The good news from the judges is that, overall, companies have made a serious commitment to their online presence. And these companies' Web designs have gotten better-for instance, the judges saw fewer unnecessary splash pages, and better use of audio and video (particularly in investor information sections, with streamed earnings reports and executive speeches). The bad news is that many sites are still too cluttered. Worse, navigation is often more difficult than it should be; for example, the judges frequently found that to move to a different section of a site they had to return to the home page. And, unfortunately, too many sites still make finding a phone number or other contact information too difficult. The best sites in the 2002 list go beyond product and service information, giving visitors a chance to experience the brand, interact with helpful information or online tools, and conduct business. Source: The 2002 NetMarketing 100: Best B-To-B Web Sites, NetB2B.com, August 12, 2002 Back to Today's Dealing Direct e-Zine |
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For more information, contact Johnson Direct toll-free
at (800) 710-2750 or visit www.johnsondirect.com.
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