The biggest buzz in the advertising and marketing world this year is the invasion of social media, and how quickly social media has taken a dominant stance in the advertising world. We have seen some successful marketing campaigns centered on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, which have generated huge ROIs. I have engaged in many conversations about social media, and have been told, repeatedly,  that in the B2B marketing world, we simply can’t ride on the success of the social media as it is in the consumer world. Why is that?

“Because in this business, everyone knows everyone!” Many industries are operating in a small circle with very unique characteristics. In the particular industry that we are in, it is run by the old boys, who swear, smoke, drink and crack wise jokes. At least that is what I’ve heard. The images that pop into my head are the wise guys in “Goodfellas” and “Donnie Brasco”. How do I do business with these wise guys? The way Donnie Brasco did it, to become a wise guy myself.

In the past few decades, the way people do business with wise guys is through their sales force. They march to where the wise guys hangout and make a statement, so formal, so systematically trained, so bureaucratic, just like an army. Do you know what the wise guys are feeling about the army? “Army is about someone you don’t know sends you to whack someone you don’t know. It is not how wise guys do business, wise guys just hangout and have fun!”  So, if you want to do business, you better become a wise guy. How exactly did Donnie do it? Socializing! Laughing at their jokes and listening to what they wanted and giving it to them.

With the advent of social media, it is never been easier to know who these wise guys are, and what they want. Don’t be the one to march to their doors and make a statement, as wise guys resent it so much, they will whack your business on the spot and say “forget about it”. Have fun with them, laugh at their jokes, even if they were not funny. Today, you want to be introduced as, “he is alright, he is a friend of mine”, and tomorrow you want to be introduced as “he is a friend of ours, he is a good fella!” Why, because wise guys only do business with wise guys!

Have you talked to a wise guy today, my friend?

Relationships are critical in a B2B environment. It’s how we have and will continue to endure. We can never become complaisant or take them for granted as they are vital to our success. The way we initiate new opportunities and gain the trust of future clients is however changing and we need to keep pace with this evolution or face further revenue decline or extinction.

Since June of last year we have been fairly aggressive in promoting our company. We’ve issued press releases, had articles published in major magazines, used direct mail, poly bag insertions, e-mail campaigns, personal letters, testimonial campaigns, networked at industry functions, launched a new site, hired additional creative talent, cold called, implemented search engine marketing, utilized Google pay per click ads, put a video on Youtube, created this blog and networked through other available social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

We’ve done this so that we could knowledgeably recommend the most effective marketing methods to use for our B2B clientele. The answer is that in a cautious economic climate the results are not immediate. No single effort stands out as producing noticeably more results than another and patience is indeed a virtue.

What we have discovered is that through these initiatives we are increasingly staying top of mind with our market. We have been successful in getting asked to participate in more Requests for Proposals and have been successful in winning those requests. It has made us refine our capabilities presentation and dig deeper into what makes us a valuable resource for our customers. It has built our confidence. It has heightened the resulting service we can provide…all good things.

So today when a customer asks us to update their website and they see it as the sole answer to their lethargic sales we have to tell them “It’s just one more arrow in your quiver, one more spoke in your wheel, one more link in your chain.”

Although we truly believe the web is your number one marketing platform, today’s answer is an integrated approach across all media types. It’s being more customer centric and less chest pounding. It’s saying what we do best, what we stand for as an organization. It’s selling one idea at a time that resonates with your target and can be backed up and fully supported.

There are no short cuts or quick fixes. It’s being focused, deliberate and consistent with your message and your commitment to speak to the needs of your clients today. It’s knowing your business and your customers, so you can present solutions their current vendor or in-house experts couldn’t imagine. To quote the favourite line of our new senior creative, Sam Cockcroft, “…it’s blending out not blending in!”

Too many companies are still professing they are the one stop shop, or one call does it all, or the single source solution. We’re not buying it anymore and neither are your prospective customers. There is nothing unique, memorable or compelling about that message. And 99 times out of a hundred it’s just not believable, so you miss opportunity after opportunity…maybe without even knowing.

It’s still tough out there. We are all working harder than ever. Though it takes time to see the benefits, marketing can help. If you have the resources to advertise and you deliver the right message, you will rebound quicker doing it now then waiting till the economy fully recovers. History has proven it. It’s the approach we’re taking and the approach we recommend to our B2B clientele.

Social Media is not just a trend or a phase; it has grown exponentially and will continue to do so. If you have been under a rock for the past couple of years, Social Media is a way to spread the word of your company, build brand recognition and actually communicate with clients, prospects and people with some general interest in what you are doing through websites such as FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogs and many, many others.

Everybody always says: “Why should I bother?” “What is the ROI?” Or, “It’s not right for my business” and the list goes on. There is absolutely no way to promise a certain ROI, a certain number of viewers or a specific number of sales directly related to these outlets. It comes down to common sense; the larger the presence you have on the internet, the more people will notice your company; the greater the chances of one of these viewers utilizing your products or services. It’s always a numbers game and the more, the merrier.

It will take some time to get used to using the various media websites but after a while you will get the hang of it, and you will be able to keep it updated with minimal effort. There is no sense in getting overwhelmed by the thought of tackling all of this at once. Start with one until you’re able to fully understand how to keep it fresh without spending a lot of time. A company blog is a great start and allows anyone in the business to write about their specific fields, showcasing diversity and allowing visitors to understand all aspects of your business.

Another benefit to using Social Media is that it will eventually increase your page ranking on Google. Setting up a blog and writing original, informative articles that the internet community will not only read, but link to, is a great way to start with Social Media. Again, the more original and unique content your business has on the internet, the more Google will visit your pages and it will assume that your information is more important than the majority. It isn’t exactly easy though, it will take a lot of patience so don’t get discouraged if your pages aren’t getting a lot of hits right away. If you’re posting interesting and informative articles on a consistent basis, the people will come, so keep at it!

Please leave a comment or ask a question, we are happy to help!