So... the following is a draft for a little page-or-so thing I'm writing in re: a position on the social web and its implications for B2B marketing. Warning! There are a few buzzwordy things in the below, and the voice is a lot more professional than I usually prefer. But from what I understand, you're supposed to write for your audience. It is influenced, as usual, by all of my online friends. Thanks for helping me be smart.
Status Quo: Outbound Communication
B2B marketing typically consists of a combination of one-to-many broadcasting--via trade advertising, PR placements, etc.--followed by a sales process that may or may not be enabled by the marketing department. This perspective has been translated to the web, where one-to-many broadcasting persists as the norm. Companies attempt to amass followers, fans and opt-ins to create meaningful audience sizes for marketing impact. With the socialization of media, the traditional outlook toward interactive marketing loses its impact.
New Paradigm: Inclusive B2B Communications
A new era of Inclusive Communications is here. Conspicuous by its absence in the previous sentence is the word "Marketing": while web users are generally accepting of brands interacting with them online, they are not willing to be obviously "marketed to" in social spaces.
Two guidelines should be considered for any brand hoping to effectively navigate the social web:
- Align with existing activities of your core audience. Today, almost any company's most profitable customers are likely working online; they are getting things done, networking, and completing tasks that are core to their job function via the internet. We recommend that B2B brands consistently offer to help their customers do those core activities better. This will result in the development of an extraordinarily valued asset in the networked economy: vocal, connected "fans" of an organization.
- Recognize the principle of Equal Online Influence: all web users are equal. While financial resources may differ, and established brand names carry their equity to the online space, three smart people in a garage are still able to create more compelling online experiences than large corporations. [Youtube vs. Bud TV] With this understanding, the imperative to help, share and enable becomes ever more important.
To-Do List
Commit to helping people reach the goals they've set for their day, week, month, career. In addition to understanding that brands play on the same level as individuals, B2B brands must also recognize that their customers are human and have aspirations. Perhaps the most effective way to design a social web experience is to help people achieve the unachievable. [Comcast, Service]
Collaborate with with your customers. No, really. Smaller, less established companies can quickly achieve significant online success by devoting a portion of their employees' most valued resource--time--to social efforts. For a larger corporation, social efforts may require structure changes of commensurate scale. Our recommendation for larger B2B operations is to offer to
- Help your existing customers work with you more smoothly or
- Help your best customers do something that was previously undoable or just plain difficult.
Enable the existing business activities of your core audience. Identify crucial business activities that may currently be a pain point for your best customers, and develop tools that help eliminate or mitigate that pain. These tools may not directly align with a company's business model, but they will supplement the core business by improving the customer experience and developing advocates.