Would Ebert and Roeper Give your Positioning a “Thumbs Up?”

Mike Marn | Positioning | July 29th, 2008

I saw a headline on CNN that made me laugh the other day. It said “Ebert and Roeper to leave ‘Ebert and Roeper.’” Boy, I’ll bet that show will never be the same!

Clearly, a B2B company isn’t a TV show. But this little news item might be a good excuse to do a little reviewing of your own. Exactly how deep does your company’s positioning really go? Is it a something everyone in the organization believes in and can recite on cue, or does it depend on the performance of the lead actors and a small supporting cast? It’s not uncommon for a B2B company to define itself by the personality and style of the executive(s) at the top. (more…)

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Why are B2B Companies so Anti-Social When it Comes to Social Media?

Mike Marn | B2B Social Media | July 28th, 2008

After all, it’s really just about relationships. The kind your salespeople brag about, and the kind you desperately hope to develop with customers so that price isn’t the only consideration. Heck, the kind that make barbecues more fun. Many companies preach the value of relationships constantly.

But disguise that relationship thing as “social media’ and they don’t even recognize it. Shun it. Or fear it. And as a result, they often do one of two things:

• Let their uneasiness keep them in their comfort zone, and out of the social media environment
• Barge onto the social media scene with a blatant selling agenda—exactly the kind of thing you wouldn’t dream of in those other settings.

Simple fact: social media fuel relationships. And relationships fuel sales. But you can’t jump from A to C. You need “B” in there along the way. And while you’re pursuing those virtual relationships, don’t focus on the sales value of each contact or on-line exchange, any more than you would stop and measure ROI after every stroke in a round of client golf.

Think of your social media efforts as sowing seeds. You never know which seeds will take root. But if you don’t sow any, you can count on a pretty sparse garden.

B2B folks, it’s time to get off the fence, and into the conversation.

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Green Marketing. How Associative Positioning Breaks All Ties.

Buzz Baker | Positioning | July 16th, 2008

Everyone has likely heard a few jokes starting with “A duck walks into a bar…”, and immediately become interested because of the unexpected imagery. Today, however, I walked into the office bathroom and was confronted with real imagery that also piqued interest. On top of the commode was a role of toilet paper fully packaged in white tissue with the word “green” depicted and underlined in green all over the package, and “office depot” in red, also underlined, but smaller and more subdued. Had it been Christmas time I might not have noticed. Everything is green and red then. But just after the 4th of July such packaging was unexpected. And inspired more contemplation than your average roll of toilet paper, which is rarely high on anyone’s “Wow! Look at that!” list. If ever. (more…)

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Profiling by B2B Job Function? At Your Own Risk.

Buzz Baker | B2B Selling | July 14th, 2008

Every July 4th my wife and I partake of the annual picnic at a lakeshore cottage association on Michigan’s West Coast. Same date, same time, same tent rising from the sandy beach beneath the dunes like something out of Ali Baba, same kinds of shared food (I didn’t know you could make potato salad eight different ways!) and mostly the same people. Including some sames who attended their first picnic there during the Coolidge administration. But every now and then a family extends a bit, and there are new members to meet and greet. We always try to take the first step. Because same is so…same…you know.

Last year a new family joined us and I had the opportunity to meet the father of three rowdy assembly line sons ages 5, 6, and not quite 8. A big guy he was, and soon we were talking sports. He’d played college ball himself, was a rabid fan of four pro teams, and coached his kids in a different sport each season. He had an aggressive, hand-enveloping handshake, laughed easily, shared a few anecdotes, and after our chat was complete he moved on to introduce himself to others as if he were the official greeter and everyone else had just arrived. I had to smile at his “knows no strangers” approach that was so refreshingly “un-same”. Later I remembered that I hadn’t asked what business he was in…although I really didn’t have to. I’ve met a lot of sales reps and managers in my time, and had no doubt I’d just met another. Quite likely a really good one, I thought. (more…)

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