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| Page 1 of 1 | Previous | Next | THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG JUNE 9, 2011  Top ten B2B marketing challenges Given the volume of opinion I thought I’d help the digestion process by creating a word cloud. Holger Schulze, Marketing Director at SafeNet, recently posted a great question to the 9,040 members of LinkedIn’s B2B Marketing group. Can you use ONE WORD to describe the biggest challenge facing B2B Marketing today?”. love this question for two reasons. One, it forces a focussed answer. | THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG JANUARY 13, 2012 The seven R’s of thought leadership Not “I want to tell you about me…” but “I’d like to share something that could really help you…”. Thought leadership content gives you fuel for social media activity and helps form relationships early in the buying cycle. Thought leadership. Everyone’s claiming it but, by very definition, only a handful ever delivers. So how do you ensure that your content marketing strategy positions you as one of the few? . Follow the seven R’s – Resonant, Rare, Road Mapped, Robust, Rounded, Rooted and Re-used. Five reasons to develop a thought leadership strategy. It’s a showcase. | | | | | |
| THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG MAY 18, 2011 SME marketing channel preferences revealed And there are six specific learnings – outlined below – which will help ensure marcoms have the best chances of breaking through. There are 1.3 million of them, they generate half of the UK’s GDP and employ 60 per cent of the private sector workforce. Moreover, they’re big buyers of B2B products and services. Just ask Sage who’s built a £1.4 billion business on the back of them. SMEs are a potentially significant opportunity for many B2B marketers then, but how best to open a conversation? Their answers provide clear guidance on where best to target marketing resources. An overview. | THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG MARCH 16, 2012 Who owns your brand? B2B brand perceptions research After all, they’re often responsible for delivering the brand experience so understanding their perceptions helps make brand aspirations a reality. Your organisation doesn’t own its brand. It can shape it, manage it, but never own it. That’s because a brand is not what an organisation says it is. It’s what the market believes it to be. It’s a perception developed through the sum of an individual’s experience. Through every encounter they’ve had with your organisation, your employees or products. Through what they hear from you and about you. So what should we measure? | THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG JULY 27, 2011 Three reasons B2B marketers should care about sustainability In both of these examples clients are looking to us for help. They want us to challenge them and ourselves, they often want us to advise them, but above all they want us to be their trusted partner who will help them deliver on the sustainability challenges that we all share. . In the latest in my series of interviews with today’s leading business thinkers I spoke with Thomas Jelley, Corporate Citizenship Manager at support services giant Sodexo. But why, you may wonder, is a B2B marketing research agency like Circle talking about sustainability. Well, no. How do you define it? | THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG JANUARY 25, 2012 Measuring the service experience I’ll just call the operator’s help desk and get back online. Does your business have a service element? Do you measure customer perceptions of the experience? If so, you might want to take a quick look under the bonnet. Let me share a story. It sounds far-fetched, but is true. Recently I took a holiday. Not one to ever fully turn off though, I needed my smartphone. Sadly, it too had decided to take a vacation. No calls. No emails. No problem” I thought. Inevitably it wasn’t that simple although soon I was back in action. . Just a formality really and the score to give is ten”. | | | | | | | |
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THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2011 An interview with Jaakko Alanko: MD, Alanko Consulting
It’s whatever enhances your understanding of these and helps you get into true insight, which then drives the operation creatively and strategically and tactically. That’s But I also want to help companies service and look after their customers better with appropriate offerings, better sales people and the right behaviours. Every month David Willan interviews leading experts from the world of marketing and B2B. This month David spoke with Jaakko Alanko, one of the true doyens of B2B communications. What are the biggest? Technology enables us to do this. . Yes, there are several. MORE >> -
THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2011 Better B2B segmentation: Four steps and a case study
At this point, firmographic variables like company size and industry sector become relevant again as each segment can then be profiled on this basis to help targeting. Last week I was invited to join The Network of Aspiring Woman, Birmingham Group. I was tempted. After all, “ it’s where networking feels like a party ”. However, I declined for two reasons. I live in London. I’m a man. Clearly the Network’s execution fell short, but their strategy seems smart. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, they’ve segmented the market and targeted a niche group. The result? MORE >> -
THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011  Not how you fly, but how you serve
What does the power of national identification bring to the airline in each market it serves, and how could that knowledge be leveraged to help position the airline and its service to best effect? Many years ago now, whilst I was working at, newly privatised, British Airways, our research team was challenged to understand what it meant to be “branded British” in each of its key markets. It was a great project and I’ve written about it elsewhere (read the original conference paper here: branding and national stereotypes ). An interesting advertising tack! MORE >> -
THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2011 An interview with Stephen Cheliotis: CEO, Centre for Brand Analysis
It’s vital for not only helping to secure consumer trust, it’s also vital to other stakeholder groups too. Every month David Willan interviews leading experts in from the world of marketing and B2B. This month David interviews Stephen Cheliotis, Chairman of the Superbrands Expert Councils and Chief Executive of The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). Stephen offers some fascinating insights into the world of B2B brands. Stephen, in your experience are brands becoming more important in B2B? So in summary, I think we’re winning the battle, it’s not won, but we’re getting there. Absolutely. MORE >> -
THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 Are B2B marketers neglecting their brands?
It helps drive customer loyalty. Every so often it’s healthy to reflect. To identify learnings in success and take a pat on the back; to re-classify disappointments as valuable experience; then to focus on future ambitions with renewed energy. In doing so it’s sometimes useful to have a catalyst which supports the thought process. That’s why in early 2009 Circle Research, in conjunction with ABBA and The IDM, launched The B2B Barometer. . A ‘state of the nation’ survey amongst B2B marketers which gauges economic confidence, benchmarks marketing activity and explores key trends. MORE >>
- The Ministry of Happiness THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2011
- How to create a Customer Happiness Index THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011
- Air Cargo News: Interview with Circle’s Andy Booth THE B2B RESEARCH BLOG | THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011
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