Buzz Marketing for Technology

Could AT&T kill the iPhone Brand?

According to a study conducted by Gartner, the first quarter of 2010 witnessed a whopping 707 percent increase in Android sales. As a result, the sales of the Google Android OS-based smartphones have surpassed the sales of the Microsoft Windows Mobile-based handsets around the world.

And this month I saw a stat that said the sales of Google Android phones in the U.S. are rising so quickly, that they have outsold Apple handsets for the first time on record and it got me thinking. Could Apple’s decision to sell exclusively through AT&T be the very decision that kills there brand?

Hear me out …

Currently you really have 4 major operating systems in the mobile space (in order of market share trajectory): Blackberry 33% and declining, Android 27% and rising, Apple 23% and declining, and Microsoft 11% and declining (see graphic). So clearly Android has just vaulted its way into 2nd place over Apple and gaining on Blackberry. Ultimately, I predict you will see Android reach the top spot before the end of the year based on this trajectory. (humm Will 2010 be the Android Christmas?)

But as 4 time owner of the Apple iPhone I still don’t see a reason to switch. Yes I have seen the iPhone4 vs HTC Evo video (hat tip to my life long buddy Steve Schnoll at SuccessFactors for making me watch it!) which cost a Best Buy employee his job for posting it. But I don’t care either.

My advice to Google and the brand group at Android is this – stop advertising the phone and start creating exclusive apps that only are available on the Android platform. Ok I know they already have exclusive apps on the Android platform but I meant ones that I would care about. Call this the Howard Stern theory like when he moved exclusively to Sirius Satellite Radio. Why didn’t FIFA World Cup have an exclusive app that was only available on Andriod – that would get people to start switching to their platform!

AT&T has seen a 50 fold increase in the amount of data flowing over their network but I still don’t feel confident that they can keep up. As a brand manager I would feel constrained by the AT&T brand and be lobbing internally at Apple to set the iPhone free before it’s too late.

Social Media – is it really mainstream in B2B Marketing?

So I ran across some interesting stats last week when I picked up a tweet from Jeff Bullas on the 15 essential social media facts and figures for B2B Marketing.

Seems as if more B2B Marketers are engaged in Social Media then B2C marketers (actually data point from the article – 81 % of B2B companies have accounts on social media sites compared to 67% of B2C) which leads me to think Social Media has gone mainstream in B2B. That’s a good thing yes but I don’t feel like we are there yet.

Let me explain …

I don’t know how you feel but I certainly feel like everything I read about Social Media is the same old thing just a rehash of something else I read before. There doesn’t seem to be anything really new. Sure Facebook changes its platform every Tuesday but I mean something more like groundbreaking ideas using social. Maybe that’s because we are entering a stage where we are all including social in everything we do. It’s no longer a social science experiment by a bunch of early adopters – it’s just part of our everyday approach!

Also I am not seeing anyone really “killing it” with or in social media (sans Mark Zuckerberg of course). There seems to be tons of Social Media consultants and Directors of Social Media but will that party last? (see my post on Fire your Director of Social Media).

Furthermore everyone seems to have a book out on Social Media – heck I have 3 books on social media (2 out there and 1 on the way!) It’s amazing to see so much written on this topic which leads me to believe the party is over.

So where do we go from here?

I guess we head back to the core of what we do as B2B Marketers and take these lessons learned in Social Media back with us and see if we can innovate. I once heard that innovation happens when people get bored with a technology – perhaps we are at that point now in social.

Facebook Advertising for Dummies (Wiley)

Whether you’re on the Facebook home page, reading comments on a friends’ Walls, or playing your favorite Facebook game, you have probably noticed at least one advertisement running on the right hand side on the page. These ads are available to anyone with an advertising budget, from $1 to $1 billion. And many large advertisers, such as Pepsi, Proctor & Gamble, and Wal-Mart are running ads on Facebook, but so are many small businesses.

These ads like any other include a headline, an image and body copy. But increasingly, Facebook Ads are also including ways to engage in a social action, such as “Liking a Page,” or “RSVPing to an Event”. Ads that include a social action are referred to as “Social Ads” or “Engagement Ads.” And according to a study by Neilsen on Facebook Ads there is much better awareness, ad recall and best of all purchase intent when your friend “likes” or mentions a company to you via Facebook.

So as a natural follow up act to last years Facebook Marketing for Dummies (Wiley 2009) which is now going on its 2nd Edition (after 4 printings of the book), I have once again teamed up with college buddy and CEO of AboutFaceDigital, Rich Krueger and writer Joel Elad (of LinkedIn for Dummies fame and other tech books) to bring you Facebook Advertising for Dummies which will be published by Wiley this fall and is available for preorder now on Amazon.

Our hypothesis is that Facebook Ads will become a strong component in every marketers toolkit much the same way as Google AdWords is today. Although fundamentally different in nature – the targeting and efficiency of Facebook Ads will make it irresistible to marketers over the long term plus the increase in brand awareness and purchase intent doesn’t hurt either. We hope you agree!

B2B Marketing needs to Curate a Vibrant Community

B2B Marketing needs to Curate a Vibrant Community If you ask the members of my leadership team – they will tell you I keep talking about how I think we have B2B Marketing backward.

Let me explain …

We focus a lot of energy on the acquisition part of marketing looking for new customers and getting them up the awareness to consideration to purchase cycle. The results being most of the time we get ambivalent buyers into the top of our funnel and we have to work hard to close them in order to prove value to the organization and contribute to growth.

But what if we focused on those buyers who have already purchased from us? Those already predisposed to buying our products and create a level of service and differentiation for them that is commensurate with their buying habits?

I think we owe it to our organizations to really take care of them. If you look at the interview I did with Sean Geehan – he talked about the typical number of customers in B2C versus B2B and the high concentration we have in B2B that account for the most of the revenues.

My suggestion would be to create a vibrant community with them – one which is both online and offline, one where you can get instant feedback, one where their ideas matter to your research and development groups, one where they co-author thought leadership with you and one that rewards them for their loyalty to your firm.

This is something I am working on for FY11 and will be more than just a social network for our best customers. Stay tuned as I begin to launch this for next year.

Closed Loop Marketing – still a long way to go

Closed Loop Marketing - Still a long way to go Ok I know we all talk a good game about Closed Loop Marketing and I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble here but frankly we aren’t there yet.

Yes we forced the loop to close with some great technologies over the last few years. CRM systems, MRM systems, Lead Nurturing systems and the list goes on. But do we really have an all in one Closed Loop market system that does it all?

In my last post I talked about the shadow pipeline created by sales teams who don’t act in real time. The software may be real time but the sales people aren’t. How about your partner community and the leads you have given over to them. Are they reporting back to you in real time? Doubt it.

That’s on the business impact side. How about on the front end with your budget and invoicing? Are those invoices rolling in real time? Probably not. And can you optimize across all media? – no – with the fragmentation of media because of social.

Add in webinars and in person events, calling plans, telesales, SEO, PPC campaigns, promos, price incentives, spifs for the sales force and you have a recipe for leakage in the system that is hard to account for. But wait there’s more! Even if you had all that at your finger tips would you be able to optimize across all those angles?

Here is where the true art for marketing will come in to play – when we are finally able to optimize our portfolio of investments like a hedge fund manager. Seeing and getting data in real time, with a closed loop return on marketing dollars invested system.

We may have come a long way over the last few years in this area but there is still a long uphill climb from here. Let’s keep working toward getting to the summit!

Shadow Pipeline – accounting for the missing dollars

Shadow Pipeline – accounting for the missing dollars Well its summertime, a time when we turn down the volume of campaigns and look at the business impact we were able to drive. It’s my favorite time of year to reassess based on our stated strategy and tweak our tactics to match. But can you really get a good handle on the business impact in real time? Not really.

Just because you decided to throw an event at the beginning of the year doesn’t mean anyone wanted to buy your solution or even had the funding to buy your solution. Budget cycles dictate this ebb and flow. You get your budget in January and the decision to fund the typical roster of technology projects at your client was decided upon in December. I always tried to “front load” my budget to get the most impact in the first quarter for 2 reasons: to get a jump on the competition but also to stuff the pipeline early so your impact would be recognized in this calendar year rather than the next year when no one remembers your campaign.

It’s a fallacy to think we as marketers can understand the business impact of our programs in a mere 6 month period – after all we are in B2B marketing not B2C. There are no impulse purchases in Technology or Consulting Services. It’s a highly considered purchase.

There are dollars sitting in your pipeline just waiting to show your marketing impact – what I like to call the shadow pipeline. Projecting those dollars that are showing up in proposal volume as a possible percentage of wins (based on historical win rates) is one way to account for this year’s impact.

There are other shadow dollars that are harder to account for that haven’t shown up yet in the pipeline – you know those projects that magically appear once they get to proposal stage! Depending on your sales force and their comfort with your CRM system you may see some of these “fly in” proposals.

My advice is to use this time of year not just to readjust the current tactics in your marketing plan but to also go back over last years plan to see how much impact your team had. You will be surprised but the results but it will also give you a better sense for how you are doing so far this year.

An Interview with Sean Geehan, CEO and Founder Geehan Group

Interview with Sean Geehad I met Sean at a recent ITSMA Marketing Leadership forum. Many of his ideas really hit home for me so I wanted to share these with you. He has a forthcoming book that I am also really looking forward to reading called the B2B Executive Playbook where he will be talking about how to create sustainable and predictable growth.

Q. So tell me about the typical concentration of B2B customers versus B2C customers?

A: In the B2B world, the actual number of customers is microscopic when compared to B2C. B2B executives are truly addressing a much smaller pool of customers. A B2C company like Starbucks, whose revenues are approximately $10 billion, has a huge number of customers, 70,000,000. Compare that to a $7 Billion B2B company like Celestica for example, which has only 100 customers.

Even more daunting is that most B2B companies’ top 10-20% or their customers account for 90% of their revenue. For Celestica, just 10 customers account for 90% of their revenue (over $6 billion). Conversely at Starbucks, $6 Billion of their sales comes from approximately 11,000,000 customers.

No matter how many venti, nonfat, cinnamon-sprinkled, decaf lattes Starbucks’ top one thousand customers bought, it wouldn’t dent Starbucks’ performance if all those customers decided to switch to McLattes from McDonald’s. If only two of the top 10 left Celestica, they’re revenue could be down 15-20% (about $1 billion).

The harsh reality with most B2Bs, regardless of the company’s size is the fate of a B2B company lies in the hands of just a few customers. How marketers address this is the difference, which leads to either dominant, mediocre or disastrous results.

Q. Where can B2B Marketers begin to improve their results?

A: Here are two quick ways to boost marketing efforts:

1. Target current customers. Any organization’s best, least expensive and quickest profitability payback opportunity is within their current customer base. This is what the greatest companies do, including large, mid and small alike. Oracle, Wells Fargo (commercial group), HCL, and Intesource to name a few. They also recognize the more customers buy from you, the less likely they are to leave you…so yes, hugging and TLC is highly recommended.

2. Target Decision makers at prospective target accounts. Having them champion and drive the buying process increases close rates, accelerates the speed of contract signing and increases the margins and deal size.

Q. Do you typically see B2B marketing spend allocations that are not aligned with business goals?

A: Too often we get hung up on the latest “hot thing” in marketing: the jingle, the tag line, telemarketing, direct mail, CRM, brand management, websites, SEO, Social media, etc. And while they are important (given the right situation), effective, etc., they are tools, systems and programs…the means to an end, not the end. Right now the “hot thing” is social media, and as powerful as social media is, it still needs to be balanced and integrated into the overall marketing plan.

Start with making sure the ROI of each program supports the business goals. Then balance the marketing mix to align to these goals and maximize the impact your marketing dollars have on the business goals. This ensures marketing budgets and activities are aligned with your business goals. The more they are aligned the greater predictability in the results and keeping and growing your budgets.

Q. Why do B2B marketers spend more on acquisition than retention?

A: It’s simple. Everyone gets excited when a new customer is signed. There’s a celebration. The bell is rung. Lots of recognition and rewards are handed out.

How much celebration is there when a long-standing customer renews for the 6th straight year? Forget that they haven’t bid out the work in 3 years (no competition=greater margin) and they are already in your system (low cost of support, faster payment = greater cash flow). There’s clearly an imbalance here.

Now the reality: It costs 3-5x more to acquire vs. retain a customer. If your current customer buys more stuff from you, it’s harder for them to leave you (increased switching costs). If current customers are much less likely to bid out your work (increasing profitability), shouldn’t you evaluate how/where you’re spending your marketing dollars?

Marketers need to challenge how they think. If new revenue is easier, less costly and more profitable with current customers, shouldn’t we start there?…The great ones do.

Q. What’s one place where you would recommend B2B Marketers focus for the rest of this year?

A: Engaging decision makers from your top accounts – in a group setting, have them share problems they had and how they solved them (many of which your company most likely helped to solve). This can be as simple as a private event on the front end of an industry event.

It accomplishes many objectives that drive deal flow:
•   It enhances relationships, trust and loyalty for your company.
•   It gives you an opportunity to better understand their needs (current and long-term).
•   It helps marketing build more effective value propositions, messages and lead generation programs.
•   Finally, it enables them to better understand who you are and the scope of your capability (short term revenue).

For example, customer A may be buying a certain set of services from you, but when customer B shares how you helped address something else, another opportunity has just been uncovered. And yes, you’ve just generated a qualified lead for your sales organization. This is always the low hanging fruit.

Just three weeks ago a $220 Million division of a company brought 10 top European customers together to meet with their peers. Through the discussions over $18 million dollars of additional opportunities were uncovered that the host supplier was unaware existed. Verbal commitments have been given for over $12 million. The host expects this single event to increase total 2010 sales by 5-12%.

Please note while I am not a customer of his firm the Geehan Group I am in discussions with them about having them consult for us here at Avaya.

Getting a customer is not the end goal it’s the middle

In a recent speech by Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research at the ITSMA Marketing Leadership forum it occurred to me that customer acquisition is no longer an “end state” for marketers its somewhere in the middle. Let me explain …

Many marketers focus their efforts on the customer acquisition angle which has the benefit of measurability and thus the accountability for ROI. This is great in a world of tightening budgets and ROI on every campaign but getting the customer up the scale from Awareness to Consideration to Purchase is just part of the deal now that social media has arrived.

I would argue (and so did Josh) that the real work comes on Day 2 of the customers purchase. It’s the experience they had with your company over the entire sales cycle and the ongoing relationship they will have with your company when it comes to long term support. This end of the spectrum pales in comparison to the time frame it took to sell the customer (dare I say 12-18 months). If they have committed to your technology or software as a service they most likely will be with you for twice as long unless you do something horribly wrong.

B2B Marketers need to examine and invest in this area of the spectrum – the customer retention area. Why? Because unlike our B2C Marketing cousins we sell to very few customers comparatively – so a top priority should be for you to retain as many of your existing customers as possible!

Think of your budget as a B2B Marketer and just do a back of the napkin examination of your spending on Acquisition vs Retention.

Are you over weight in Acquisition?

It’s not uncommon that this would be the case – the question is what to do about it. One great spot to invest in is Social Support. Social Media is hot and I can guarantee someone is out there talking about your product or service right now. Perhaps it’s a new customer telling of their experience with your company or perhaps it’s an old customer longing for the good old days with your company – either way you need to be sure you are listening and ready to engage with them if they have an issue. Just letting them know you are out there to help is always a good idea as well.

The role of the B2B Marketer has changed over the last 10 years but what hasn’t is the need to be sure you are retaining those customers your sales team fought hard to land from your acquisition efforts.

OFF TOPIC: Follow Team Terrapin on our race from Newport to Bermuda

Follow Team Terrapin on our race from Newport to Bermuda By now I am sure you have heard of the movie Bucket List. In real life we all have one and some bucket lists may be longer than others. On my list (for those of you who know me well) are many opportunities and ideas enabled by my love for sailing. So naturally sailing in a race from Newport RI to Bermuda is on my list.

So this year I decided to join in one of the world’s classic ocean race. Starting on June 18th, 2010 will mark the start of the 104th anniversary of this challenging event. The race begins in Newport, Rhode Island where conditions are usually cold and windy and ending at the island of Bermuda in the sweltering heat. It’s a lot of endurance during these conditions across 635 nautical miles in the open ocean.

My son Philip and I created a Facebook Page (you expect anything less from me) for the team of 9 other guys I will be joining on the race to Bermuda. You can follow us if you are interested in hearing updates daily on our position and the conditions we are finding ourselves in.

I look forward to a much needed break where cell phones and email cant possibly reach us (we are making updates to the Facebook page via text message from a satellite phone so don’t even think of calling me . I cant wait to return with stories and sorted tales of a great adventure!

Do you need to be an Extrovert to be in Social Media Marketing?

Great question which I found myself asking last night after I reviewed my recent Myers Briggs score. I found it interesting that my score came in as ENTJ.

For those of you who aren’t aware of the Myers Briggs test it asks you a bunch of questions from multiple angles to rate you on 4 basic scales: your Favorite World (Introvert/Extrovert), Information (Sensing/Institution), Decisions (Thinking/Feeling) and Structure (Judging or Perceiving). The result is a 4 letter score such as mine – ENTJ – which means a person who prefers being an Extrovert rather than an Introvert who prefers Institutional Information over Sensing, that prefers Thinking rather than Feeling when it comes to making Decisions and prefer to Judge Structure rather than perceiving it.

But focusing on the Extrovert angle for a second, I began to wonder if you need to be an extrovert to be in social media. Certainly internally in your organization you need to be an extrovert if you want to organize a Tribe or movement in your company to take on social media. And for sure you need to be an extrovert if you plan on becoming a proclaimed social media expert or guru. But I never thought of myself as an Extrovert, even though I know the test is very consistent (yes I have taken it before and gotten the same score – even before Social Media existed).

I wonder if this spectrum from Introvert to Extrovert will play it’s way out on Social Media. Meaning if the 1-9-90 rule (see link to my post) will actually change over time. The 1-9-90 theory that says out of every hundred people who join a community or network – 1% actively contribute – 9% contribute from time to time – and 90% are lurkers. Perhaps as more people get comfortable being extroverted and live completely transparently then we will see a shift in that law to a ratio that resembles more of the online population.