Consequently, many B2B marketers continue to procrastinate as to whether they or not they should become engaged in social networking.  And while they continue to procrastinate, these same companies are well aware of the fact that every single day millions of business professionals are reaching no further than their computer for the answers and information they need most.  Furthermore, research shows that buyers in the B2B sector are one of the largest groups participating in online social networks.  They use it to look for information, to find other business professionals and to identify companies they can trust to help with their company. 

 So how do marketers gain the confidence to move forward with social media?  The path should begin with a thorough understanding and belief that social media is not meant to replace other media.  In fact, the key to success is the development of strategies that take into consideration a seamless blend of both traditional offline and new online social marketing.  It’s this blend that is going to help companies build effective multi-channel marketing programs that work to build communities of brand advocates.

When done properly, traditional marketing – vis a vie telemarketing – can help jumpstart social networking strategies.   How?  If your company is actively using live B2B telemarketing reps to support your lead generation and nurturing efforts, consider using that same telemarketing contact to inquire and identify which blogs and/or social media networking sites your B2B prospects and customers find most informative, useful and relevant to their job.  This can easily be achieved during your telemarketing conversations.  All you have to do is adjust your scripts so that the reps ask a couple of brief and relevant questions centered on the participation and opinion of social networking sites and other social media.  

And, because many marketers are hesitant to start a social strategy simply because they are unsure of where to start, the information obtained during this conversation can help companies better understand where they should focus on establishing their social presence.

Likewise, the combined effect of both social media and telemarketing can have a positive impact on B2B lead generation and nurturing efforts.  Certain facets of your social media mix can be used during your telemarketing calls to provide not yet sales-ready prospects with useful information as a logical next step.  So instead of just asking generic questions you are working with the call center to build relationships based on meaningful dialogue.   And the call center is also there to address the needs of those who had their interest piqued, via social marketing, and decided they learned enough to take the next step and qualify themselves via the call center. 

Alternatively, social media can be used as a reason to reach out to prospects.   For example, “based on our previous conversation, I thought you would be interested in our newly launched social networking community…”  Needless to say, the recommendation of highly pertinent information will help establish the trust and credibility required to move prospects to the top of the sales funnel.

Exploring Multi-Channel Marketing:
New methods of marketing are emerging that seek to more effectively use prospect and customer data to filter target lists, construct personalization rules and produce and execute marketing campaigns across and among the full range of media channels available. The most successful campaigns reach consumers in a sequenced and consistent manner. This creates an indirect benefit of enforcing and enhancing corporate branding. Therefore, organizations that can harness the power of other marketing channels and produce more personalized communications could put themselves in a good position to capture market share from those that don’t.

There are two critical components to effective multi-channel marketing:
1) Creating relevant offers via personalization
2) Coordination and management of multiple marketing channels

In a multi-channel marketing context, personalization means using what is known about the recipient to create
the offer, customize the messaging and deliver it to them in the format requested. For channels other than telemarketing, this can include personalized greetings, relevant messages based on demographics and compelling
graphics. A survey completed by YesMail in July 2002 revealed that response rates increase dramatically with an
increase in the number of personalization elements. As the number of personalization elements increases from one
to seven, the click- through rate more than triples, increasing from 4.7% to 14.8%.

The other critical element lies in the design and execution of campaigns that coordinate among the full breadth of channels available to reach prospective buyers. Much like personalization, this requires strategic and tactical planning. When marketers can sequence communications and “hit” prospective customers with consistent communications through various media channels, the effectiveness of campaigns increases greatly.

Will One Channel Steal from Another?
Many executives fear that one channel will take business away from another. The Web site will steal from the catalog, for example. The truth is that customers who interact with your company over multiple channels are more loyal and profitable than single-channel customers. To become a successful multi-channel marketer, you first need to understand your customers and their preferences, then communicate effectively through the desired channels.

Source: Banta Corporation Whitepaper

After the initial shock wore off I decided to take stock of the situation.  I knew I was excellent at my craft and that I had a passion that never seemed to wane.  It was then that I decided that (gulp) at 48 I had to either re-invent myself or accept the consequences without even trying. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not one to give up without a fight.  And I’m not one to lie down and just let life me pass me by.  I truly believe that you reap what you sow, garbage in is really garbage out and that life isn’t about finding yourself; life is about creating yourself.

With this in mind I decided to pursue a lifelong dream and open my own agency.  Many people thought I was nuts doing this in the middle of what is often considered one of the worst economies since the Great Depression.  I thought differently.  I thought that I had to try and that I could not let fear and/or excuses get in the way.  Moreover, I thought this would be a great challenge!  If I could make this work now then just think what I could do when things turned around.  So I hung up the shingle, rolled up my sleeves and went to work.  

That was almost a year ago and I am happy to say that things are going well.  I was fortunate enough to have clients who worked with me in the past join me in my new endeavor.  They believed in me just as much as I believed in me.  And together we found cost effective, innovative and measureable strategies to grow their business today and well into the future. 

Call me naïve but to me business should not be about price gouging or building in the maximum amount of profit you can without raising the clients eyebrow.  Rather, it’s about providing a good, fair and ethical service each and every day.  It’s about genuinely caring about what you do and putting some skin in the game.  And, it’s my opinion that when you conduct yourself this way the business will follow, referrals will be had, success will be measured and the outcome will speak for itself.

Some people think that the rah-rah cheerleading, never say no attitude is nauseating.  I disagree.  I think that attitude – combined with experience and knowledge – is everything and that when you give 150% you will get 100%.   I believe that if you don’t get the desired outcome today try again later or tomorrow… just keep on trying. 

How lucky am I to wake up and do something every day that I love and am passionate about?   How great is it to have clients who are with you for the long haul because they know you have their best interests at heart and will do everything possible to help their programs succeed.  And what a gift it is to work with people who are equally motivated and ethical and where we are all working with the same common goal… the success of our clients.

To all my clients, thank you for your business and to all of my prospects, thank you for your consideration.

Maternity Patients Influenced by Social Media

One of the main reasons why this age group was so heavily influenced is because nearly 30% of their hospital visits are maternity-related, Ad-ology said. Of social media types, forums and discussion boards had a significant influence on 20% of 25-to-34 year olds who recently made a visit for maternity reasons. This according to Ad-ology, suggests that hospitals should target this group with an online space where these parents-to-be can interact.

Direct Mail, Newspapers Influence Older Age Groups

At the other end of the age spectrum, respondents ages 55+ had the highest percentage of recent hospital or urgent care center visits and reported significant influence from direct mail and newspaper advertising, the research found. The most important factors for this age group were quality of care, availability of specialized services, and out-of-pocket costs.

Other key survey findings:

• Women accounted for approximately 60% of those who researched family doctors online.
• Quality of care ranks the highest among patients as the most important factor when choosing a hospital or urgent care center.
• Hospital/urgent care websites had the most influence on 18-to-24-year old patients (53.8%).
• Of traditional media, TV had the most influence on all respondents (22.3%), followed by newspapers (21.9%).

“Progressive hospitals are already participating in social media through specific micro-sites, social networking, online communities, and targeted online marketing,” said C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “Urgent care and maternity provide excellent opportunities to connect with younger consumers, and social media is the way to engage this group,” Smith said.

About the survey: The Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey is conducted throughout the year by Ad-ology Research to study online, traditional, and social media influence on buying decisions. For this study, Ad-ology Research surveyed an online consumer panel of 1,213 adults from January 5-8, 2009.

Social Media in Plain English

Millennial Media has released its first Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting – or SMART for short.

By focusing on key metrics such as impressions, reach, engagement, targeting and handset information, Millennial Media is enabling advertisers to better understand the value and scale of the mobile medium.

“Mobile is real, has attractive reach, and is delivering the most cost-effective engagement in the digital advertising space,” said Paul Palmieri, president and CEO, Millennial Media.

Millennial Media generated 10 billion mobile ad impressions in the U.S. during Q1 09, with 3.39 billion impressions in March alone. Its network now reaches 31 million of the country’s 56 million Nielsen-identified mobile Internet users.

Other key findings from the SMART include:

·         The top 20 mobile handsets account for 43% of all mobile web traffic on Millennial Media’s networks

·         58% of campaigns implement some level of geo-targeting

·         Ten of the top 20 U.S. mobile designated market area by ad requests were in three states:

1         California

2         Texas

3         Florida

·         42% of campaigns utilize frequency capping

·         The average number of ad requests per page view is 1.09

This article was written by Helen Leggatt.

Social Media in Plain English