Observing, commenting on, and working hard in the B2B Marcom arena.
Rick is Indium Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communication. Learn more about Rick Short
On Veteran's Day I want to stop and say "Thank You" to every veteran.
Please join me by commenting.
Can you imagine me on an EMS007 video, or walking the halls of SMTAI wearing this tattoo?
According to an e-newsletter that I just received from WOMMA.org:
Kiwi-Flavored Tattoos
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Billboards, magazines, television-there's no shortage of advertising options in the marketing toolkit. But what about bald heads? Air New Zealand is launching an innovative new campaign. It will hold a casting call to select 30 adults (18+) to serve as walking billboards for 10 days. The selected billboards will have their heads shaved and branded with a temporary henna tattoo. The tattoo will be visible for approximately 10 days (with one reapplication after five days) and read "Need a change? Head down to New Zealand. www.airnewzealand.com". The message reflects Air New Zealand's current "Depart a Californian. Return a Kiwi." advertising campaign communicating the potential for a life-change.
As a "bald head", I'm not so sure that this would work in our B2B Marcom advertising arena.
What do you think?
After a week or so of detailed discussions on the role (in my company) of MY B2B Marcom practice I came up with this simple phrase to describe our mission:
Sales enablement: from "find" to "face to face".
No, we don't ALWAYS require a face to face sales experience, but we are most effective there. And I can stretch the term to include being "face to face" with our e-commerce site, our exhibit, our online knowledgebase, an email from our sales person, etc. The point is, we have to create the "find", the "face to face", and all things in between - enabling the sales process to work faster, more easily, and more effectively. Heck, a little more fun wouldn't kill us, either, so let's throw that in, too.
Is this a big revelation? Heck no. But the simple statement is becoming a bit of an elevator speech for me and my team. It just makes it easier to help others understand our role.
Wordle Word Cloud for Rick Short's B2B Marcom Blog
A Wordle Word Cloud of this posting
Wordle offers a neat and free tool that helps you see what your communications look like (in one unique way). Using their online tool, I submitted Rick Short's B2B Marcom blog and got this word cloud.
It got me wondering what my other forms of communication look like. I considered inputting the copy from:
Then, I wondered if such a cloud could substitute for an abstract or outline ... or if it could replace my entire presentation or paper or press release, or would it make for a better posting? So I wordle'd this posting and pasted the results here as well.
I'm only half-serious about using a Wordle word cloud for a real press release, but, if it works like I think it should (weighing words at the top higher than words at the bottom, weighing repeated words more than words that appear only once, etc.) <UPDATE: it doesn't -see my comment> then Wordle could be a good tool to check our communications.
What do you think about wordle and word clouds?
Image 1: Wordle.net
Image 2: Wordle.net
Findability Flower
According to a report from SocialMediaRelease.org,
"To stay competitive in the tech industry today you have to be:
• Findable
• Believable
• Credible
• Prove Value
… just to get into consideration for the complex sale."
The report is from Brian Solis and quotes Steve Kayser.
It all starts with "findability".
Image: Findability Flower
According to MarketingSherpa's MarketingYak podcast:
Stefan Tornquist, Research Director, MarketingSherpa, talks about some of the profound shifts in spending that show up in a September 2009 survey of B-to-B and consumer marketers. Overall, 25 budgets are being cut for every spending plan getting a boost at larger companies – with the average decrease around 20%.
That said, lower-cost promotional tactics like emails and search engine marketing are less affected while higher-cost tactics (like trade events) are most affected. Outsourcing is predicted to trump adding marketing staff.
Taking a step forward in the down economy are the "aggressive marketers". These small- to mid-size companies are planning to take advantage of the opportunities presented in the economy.
The podcast is just shy of 9 minutes and worth the time. Listen to MarketingSherpa's MarketingYak podcast on 2009 Marketing Budgets.
COMMENT on how the economy is affecting YOUR budget.
I enjoyed this quote in today's American Marketing Association e-letter:
"Knowledge comes by taking things apart: analysis. But wisdom comes by putting things together."
It got me thinking of the people I've known in my B2B Marcom career - and what they've taught me.
KNOWLEDGE:
Many people enjoy "taking things apart". It can serve as a very informative process and reveal much interesting data. But, when people lose sight of their goals and use this process to become merely critical, much is lost. It is important to remain focused on the gaining of enriching and useful information in this part of the process. And it is important to remember that, while the amassing of knowledge is critical, it is not the end game.
WISDOM:
The creative process of synthesizing data, information, experiences, and knowledge is what builds wisdom. And wisdom enables a person to more creatively and effectively weave these elements into elegant solutions and creations. It's a virtuous cycle that should be cultivated and developed. After all, isn't this what we are seeking in our B2B Marcom practices? Who gets paid to be average?
So, how do we go beyond gathering knowledge and embrace the quest for wisdom? For that I turned to another quote:
"Be an explorer ... read, surf the internet, visit customers, enjoy arts, watch children play ... do anything to prevent yourself from becoming a prisoner of your knowledge, experience, and current view of the world."
-Charles 'Chic' Thompson (What a Great Idea)
Be an explorer, today.
Image: discover-science website.
A few of my colleagues and I have been kicking around social media tools and how they relate to our business to business marcom endeavors.
We were listing the social networking sites that we belong to or are considering, including sites that aggregate such sites - and then wondering how it all might work together ... and even help our B2B efforts.
During my research I encountered a very interesting tool, the CONVERSATION PRISM. Based on work previously done by Robert Scoble and Darren Barefoot, this tool relates online social media tools and other online conversation platforms. The men who pulled this together are Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas. People are commenting on it on Brian's blog and on his Flickr site.
It can't be perfect, and the evolution of tools and activities on the internet will quickly require that this graphic be updated. That said, this is excellent work - something that prompts some serious thinking and encourages exploration - fueling creativity.
UPDATE: More info on the Conversation Prism on WikiSpaces.
Image: briansolis.com
Knowing that I am a stickler for proper punctuation, a colleague shared with me a link to NationalPunctuationDay.com. How fortunate that the message arrived on National Punctuation Day!
I like this site. I don't particularly like the "cutesy" nature (though I understand they are trying to appeal to a certain demographic). What I do like is their passion and their recommendations, rules, and guidance.
One key issue with my B2B Marcom practice is complexity. Our technological messages often include both sophisticated terms, lists, and process step discussions. Things can get confusing - comprehension can be affected. Therefore, I am a staunch advocate of the "serial comma". Guess what? NationalPunctuationDay.com boldly endorses the serial comma! Yay!
Site manager, Jeff Rubin (aka "Punctuation Man") offers, "Punctuation counts. A misplaced comma can alter the meaning of a sentence." I add that, when dealing with complicated messages, it is critical to make the reading as easy as possible for the audience. Of course, this means a great amont of effort must be spent in the construction phase - to design simplicity and clarity into the sentence. Still, any and every tool that further adds to the ease of reading is valuable. This is especially true when communications is your business.
This site lists the 13 punctuation marks (see image), defines each, provides examples of use, and extols the value of each. There are even links, provided for each punctuation mark, to style books and other resources.
For example:
ELLIPSIS
The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks.
The omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words understandable from the context that would complete or clarify the construction. A mark to indicate the omission of letters or words. The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech.
This site is fun AND practical. For my B2B Marcom practice it will serve as a point of reference. But here's the real application (for me). Since content is king, and since I have many individuals generating and delivering content to our target audience, I need to be sure that we, as a company, look professional and that our target audience gets the message clearly. So, I plan to use this website to augment the education and practice of all the people who create tech papers, blog postings, case studies, presentations, presentations, etc.
Image: nationalpunctuationday.com
This counterintuitive notion truly works with news websites. Does it work in the B2B Marcom world? I don't know, but I am intrigued with the Publishing2.0 article titled, "Drudge Report: News Site That Sends Readers Away With Links Has Highest Engagement".
The article concludes with an awesome question: "... what news site wouldn’t want to be open in a reader’s browser being refreshed all day, instead of hoping for drive-by referrals from aggregators?"
I ask, what B2B web site wouldn't want to be ...? This article is VERY interesting.
Want to read more? Browse the archive of past entries.
(resume, cv)
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This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License:
The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of Rick Short. Content published here is not read or approved by the Indium Corporation and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the company. In addition, they are not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up-to-date. By using this blog site you understand that any information or advice is of a general nature and may not apply to your specific situation. It is the reader’s responsibility to confirm and verify all information prior to implementing any endeavors based on the information. This blog/website should not be used as a substitute for competent personal advice from a trusted professional.
