|
|
|
Subscribe to Advertising & Marketing Review!
Contact Ken Custer at 303-277-9840.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The New Role of PR in B2B Marketing
by Heather Lindemann, BRW LeGrand
The news rocked the marketing world. Comdex--THE show to debut technologies and leadership teams, the keynotes that separated the men from the boys-- was cancelled! Six figure budgets bought real estate and mindshare at the show with as much glitz and stunts as Cirque de Soleil. And then, CFOs scrutinized those six figures, and CMOs started asking ROI questions. Was all this money for showmanship really necessary to build effective brands?
Caught up in its own PR, believing its panache could never fade, Comdex took its high-wire act to mass marketers, leaving its roots in technology far behind. When influential buying customers stopped going, the annual Comdex budget got the axe from accountability minded marketers. (Last year, the booth for one of my tech clients was not-so-strategically positioned next to a mattress company.)
This lesson makes one thing perfectly clear- strategies in the marketing mix must be quantified, compared and validated against other options to escape budget cuts. Since customer-facing activities are mission-critical to the B2B marketing plan, only data can prove their readership, attendance or influence.
Forget everything you’ve heard about PR being hard to measure. It’s just not true. Before and after perception data, unaided recall, brand consideration and intent to purchase metrics, and influencers in behavior and choice are all measurable deliverables that PR can and should produce.
Let’s keep it simple. So you think you’re perceived as a price player without a quality product. Research validates that 60 percent of the customer base thinks that the quality is poor, and that 30 percent of those would purchase if quality improvements were known. So PR dusts off all those great quality improvements that R&D, Customer Service or Tech support delivers and a PR campaign goes out to tell that story in a variety of ways - speaking engagements, case studies, reviews and blogs. The next time you survey the customer base, 60 percent perceive the product quality to be high, and more intend/would consider purchasing from the company. How much more direct and accountable can you get? Let’s give it another look.
Your CRM system has proven that exactly five touch points with the customer are required by sales and marketing before a contract lands. The touch points statistically proven to garner the results are: direct mail, seminars, channel promotions and phone calls. Now, insert specific PR tactics into the mix of touch points - it might be “read product review," “referred by customer," "mailed a news release," “analyst recommended," and you find that the touch points required to close a sale reduce to two, the cost per lead is reduced by 40 percent and every marketing dollar can be spent more effectively with PR’s insertion into the marketing model.
PR lets B2B marketers go where the customer is - physically, mentally, strategically, and financially. An educational news article on the benefits of a certain supply chain solution lets the customer become knowledgeable on their own noninvasive terms. By giving them access to data when they need it, rather than forcing it on them when they don’t, the marketer earns more trust in the company and a proven influence on the “intent to purchase” metric.
It’s not easy to reach a business buyer- they have the least time, their careers are at stake, and they do not appreciate interruptions. PR is the polite way to invite them in to learn, grow their business, and establish relationships of lasting value. Since business customers do their homework, scrutinize, read reviews, ask peers, and test value propositions, the new B2C customer is starting to look quite similar. We’re finding that most of the tried and true practices in B2B PR are extremely effective in the B2C mix. Product performance reviews, third party endorsements, channel relationships, case studies, and learning environments are now critical, given the growing mistrust of advertising and marketing.
C-level executives continue to focus on the marketing ROI because it’s standard practice for them to focus on improving returns to their shareholders. Smart companies weigh options and continue to watch and fund what’s working. What worked well in the dot-com boom is likely to be ineffective for companies wanting to succeed in a more modest, strategically focused market.
Traditional marketing and advertising techniques have lost their thunder- CPMs are higher than ever with audience and readership numbers going down. And engendering trust is a strategic imperative for every business in the business of having customers, but particularly in B2B, where the average transaction is higher and the sales cycle longer.
Public relations is far more than writing and pitching press releases. PR builds trusted relationships, educates, and wins credibility. The following are a few highly influential business audiences and the engines of a dynamic PR campaign that influences them.
Market Analysts, Technical experts, Researchers and reviewers:
The reputation of a company or product can rest with a market analyst community that is an exclusive, high caliber “club” that predicts future market trends and winners. A handful of eight people can control the destiny of company. Unlike financial analysts who keep an eye predominantly on Wall Street, a market analyst brings a holistic picture to a specific industry. Because marketing analysts are fully entrenched in a target market, they can be a great sounding board for new messaging, an advocate for a new product or industry and a wealth of knowledge regarding future marketing trends.
Employees:
So, how’s a customer going to believe you’re committed to customer service if CSR’s don’t know what the brand promise is? Honest employee relations can turn an employee base into a movement with untouchable strategic advantage. Southwest Airlines and the Container Store cannot be rocked by competitors’ products or prices because their value proposition is in the company’s DNA. You engineer that DNA first with visionary leadership, but not without public relations programs that listen, engage, educate, remind and reward employees who get it.
Channel/Resellers:
If a business model relies on the channel or reseller to deliver value to the customer, they deserve the time and attention of employees. As the “face” of your company, their opinion of the partnership is a massive controller of market share and they do not forget a promise. A well researched and consistent channel program can make or break B2B brands. Early stage companies in particular seem to mismanage this audience, forget to tier and segment the channel, bite off more than they can distribute and lose face that can be expensive and sometimes impossible to recover from.
Media:
In B2B PR, however, a tiered media approach is strategically matched to the customer’s ability and authority to buy. SRDS will tell you exactly how much buying clout a circulation has and breaks out circulation by job title and industry SIC code as well. And no, advertising and editorial in the credible publications are least likely to be linked. Don’t even go there—if you’re the news, they’re obligated to cover it.
Stakeholders:
Don’t ever forget to sell the company, not just the product. People buy from people and every company has a business obligation to proactively inform the people whose lives or livelihoods are affected by the company’s moves. Catering to the information needs of company stakeholders in the broadest sense makes them “owners” in the success of a brand. Such stakeholders include the city the company pays taxes to, the families of employees, the schools they recruit from, the industry they represent, the vendors who support them, and of course, board members and owners or shareholders.
For the first time in our nation’s history, the consumer/buyer has as much or more information than the company/seller. The communications requirements in this dynamic are unprecedented - a customer can and will find out what they need to know in order to make informed decisions. PR has always known this requirement, and B2B taught us all that marketing is about being in partnership with customers. PR will win the trusted advisor role by positioning the marketer as informant, advisor and leader in the industry they represent.
Heather Lindemann is a Director at BRW LeGrand, where she heads the company’s Business-to-Business practice. Heather has worked with various clients in the corporate technology and consumer arenas. Past client experience includes Sun Microsystems, Gateway, eBags.com, the Mile High City Marathon, Terabeam Networks and Motorola.
For more advertising and marketing help, news, resources and information visit our Home Page.
Back to top
|
|
|
