I was interviewing a Key Account Manager for a large tech firm the other day, and was struck by her comment that she wanted the firm's marketing people to be much closer to her customer. This is a large global account we're talking about, with a big account team and numerous multi-million dollar deals worldwide. Sales people tend to be extremely protective of their accounts. They "own" the relationships; the stakes are huge, and they rarely want anyone else in the neighborhood (except when it comes to delivery, of course). The marketing folks certainly understand this. That's a no-no. MORE >>

B2B marketers focused on high value solutions know that customer evidence is like gold. Great products may sell themselves based on features or price. But when you're asking business buyers to invest serious money in a complex solution, typically involving a customized mix of products and services, they need to know you've done it before and that other customers have derived real business benefits. Not surprisingly, sales people selling solutions say that customer references are their most valuable tool. ITSMA has found this repeatedly in sales studies. Benchmarking the Best. MORE >>

 An article in MediaWeek on content mills like Demand Media and Seed.com got me thinking about the dangerous lure of cheap content in B2B marketing. The goal of the content mills is to crank out a huge volume of search-oriented content for the web as cheaply as possible and sell advertising against it. Large consumer brands including AT&T, Proctor and Gamble, and General Motors have taken the bait and the model seems to be working. Critics bemoan the implications on multiple levels, including the crowding out of quality editorial and the low wages paid to the freelancers who fill the mills.  MORE >>

 Yesterday I wrote about "marketing as media"  in B2B and the challenge of becoming a top source of information and ideas for your customers and prospects. It's critical for all the reasons you know: traditional marketing tactics don't work anymore, your potential buyers are actively looking for new ideas, and you'd better jump into the online conversations happening about your brand because they're going on with or without you. and 2008 was a pretty bad year! Photo credit: back_garage. MORE >>

Years ago, when I was a lowly graduate student at MIT, I learned an essential lesson about communications while taking a course on "framing" the news. The lesson, as my professor Bill Gamson so ably taught, was that he who frames the terms of the discussion is halfway home with a public debate before it even begins.  Politicians understand this the best. They (and their marketing consultants) spend lots of time crafting simple narratives with the goal of framing the debate. Most recently, it was the health care debate with dueling narratives about "government takeovers" and "universal coverage." MORE >>