“Can we use the term, COVID-19, in our marketing?” “Will people think we’re trying to take advantage of the situation?” “Is it OK to mention COVID-19 when our products don’t protect or help cure people?” – does this sound like you?
COVID-19, for some businesses, has become the disease whose name must not be mentioned in the context of commercial gain. But could this be doing more harm than good?
Continue reading
When the CEO of all too many B2B companies sits down to decide on the three- or five-year strategy, a select group of executives are typically asked to front up with factual data and strategic opinions: The Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Commercial Officer and the Chief Operations Officer. Equipped with their inputs, the CEO usually feels he or she has enough information to formulate the strategy (perhaps supplemented with external advice). Then, and only then, the strategy is explained to the CMO. Continue reading
Standing in the center of the B2B marketing universe, you can be forgiven for having the distinct feeling that the job of the B2B marketer, already large and complex enough, is expanding at an alarming rate. Core skills and disciples, once easy enough to grasp and maintain, are moving further away from you at an accelerating rate, on their way, like the distant galaxies in Stephen Hawking’s famous Big Bang theory, to one day disappear completely from sight. Continue reading
It’s not that hard to write a blog post, a Tweet or an article, right?
All you have to do is think about what you want to say, structure it, then start tapping away at the keyboard. At least, that’s pretty much true if you’re a good writer and English is your native language!
Our Danish-based B2B clients, on the other hand, have an added challenge in comparison with competitors from English-speaking regions: producing high-quality English texts when English is their second (or even third) language.
Recently, while visiting one of our customers in the UK, I saw a fascinating sign on a building next door to the customer’s own offices. I was struck by the boldness of the claim – particularly given how unimpressive the sign’s visual idea and execution was. The effect, in my mind, was to create something academics call cognitive dissonance. And that’s a certain something many B2B companies do all too often.
Company magazines continue to consume a significant proportion of many B2B marketing budgets. Understandably so, as magazines can be a great way to profile the company’s achievements, internally and externally. But many companies have a long way to go before their content can easily be found and consumed online – that is, read, watched, listened to, or clicked on. No wonder it’s easy to question the business case for a magazine. Is it worth applying so much time and budget to a magazine if its long-term reach and impact is limited? Continue reading
Mark Hanley, president of Massachusetts-based consulting house I.T. Strategies, recently asked me for my opinion on the state of the market for printed brochures. Do printed sales materials have a future or are they on their way out? It’s a great question, and one which is brought up time and time again by marketers in meetings I attend.
Offshore wind energy installation and service leader A2SEA takes a strategic approach to its integrated marketing communications, drawing upon tried-and-tested knowhow to arrive at its communication strategy. Part of that approach involves the use of “Must-win Initiatives”. Continue reading
How has one company installed over 60% of the world’s offshore wind turbines? The difference is knowhow – but something had to be done to make sure the market truly recognized and valued that difference. Continue reading
If you have been a returning reader you will know that we are big on the ongoing changes in B2B buyer behavior and how most B2B companies have yet to follow suit and create a communication strategy to match the changes. But how can you actually do that? One way is by establishing a respected and credible Voice of Industry. Continue reading