B2B: Connecting Interactively

Author:
Dinos Papanastasiou
Research Analyst

The Business-to-Consumer (B2C) industry has no worries tapping in on the myriad of online shoppers and their desire to purchase. Unfortunately for Business-to-Business (B2B) organizations, they have only a fraction of the overall Internet audience. Simply emmulating their B2C counterparts by using common advertising channels such as banner advertising and sweepstakes definitely will not win a solid rapport with grateful customers. As internet growth progresses, so does the demand to maintain a visible presence on the web that generates opportunities for success.

Enter lead generation tactics. According to MarketingSherpa's third annual Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide, the following approaches helps business visibility and overall business rapport immensely, beginning with the most influential:

1. Free trial demo or download – 54% of software marketers and ASPs ranked free demos as highly effective B2B lead generation tactics, compared to 28% of hardware marketers and 24% of those marketing services calling them 'very effective.'
2. Webcast or webinar – 41% of business software marketers and ASPs ranked webcasts as highly effective, compared to 31% of business-to-business hardware marketers and 33% of those marketing business services.
3. White papers -- All business technology marketers rated white papers as highly effective B2B lead generation tactics, with 35% of software marketers, 36% of hardware marketers, and 31% of those marketing services calling them 'very effective.'
4. Blogs -- 35% of business software marketers and ASPs as well as 33% of those marketing business services rated blogs as highly effective.However, just 19% of business-to-business hardware marketers felt that blogs were 'very effective.'This may be because business executives are more likely to read blogs than IT professionals.
5. Podcast -- Last year, the concept of podcasting was barely on the technology marketing map. By June 2006, 22% of software marketers and ASPs called podcasts highly effective B2B lead generation tactics.By comparison, 13% of hardware marketers and only 9% of those marketing services rated podcasts as 'very effective.'

The key to online marketing success in the B2B arena is through adaptive and innovative approaches. We note that early-adopters of new media technologies are now accepted as 'pioneers' - rather than 'rogues'. We can only wonder what new innovative strategies B2B marketers will come up with next?

Share Your Insight:
What new innovative marketing strategies should B2B organizations prioritize in 2007? Will B2B audiences continue to embrace these new media strategies?