Although my focus is on the B-to-B world, I summarized three of my favorite B-to-C stories that are well known to many business people, and asked colleagues and cohorts to vote on the one they thought was the most significant to them. My thanks to the thirty pros who responded. Looks like the oldest story […]
Read more "Industry Origins are Popular as Business Stories"The value of storytelling goes back a long ways. Thousands of years. An unfolding story holds more interest than a mere stating of facts derived from it. In B-to-B marketing we are fond of saying that it allows a prospect to visualize himself or herself as a user of a given technology, imaging how the […]
Read more "The Value of Business Storytelling"I believe that Toyota’s TV commercial offering reassurance is an example of “too little, too soon.” This post is an addendum to the previous blog post and discussion on adding value to a brand through information-rich advertising. Due to expanding recalls and government-voiced allegations, Toyota is a brand under siege. The TV spot that has […]
Read more "No, Advertising Can’t Save a Brand Under Siege"Advertising, ye ‘old engine of capitalism, sure has been taking a pounding lately. Is it a victim of the “wild west” internet and the lovely chaos we’re all involved with? In the world of Web 2.0 marketing, value-add content (i.e. useful information) is king, and when everybody starts chatting, re-tweeting, and blogging about this valuable […]
Read more "Can Advertising Add Value to the Brand?"The overuse of the word “solutions” in BtoB marketing and publicity, and the reliance upon it in headlines and text, has had its fair share of attention. I did some surveying on this several years ago and blogged about it. But here’s a new way to look at it. You never see a company begin […]
Read more "Guess What, We Make Products."Letting your customers do the talking, endorsing you by describing their application of your product or service, is the best way to help prospects in your market to “visualize” themselves as a user of your technology, then start asking questions or participating in discussions on-line. The more complex the technology, and the more varied the […]
Read more "Letting Customers Explain Your Technology to the Marketplace: Red Hat Does it Well"A new survey confirms that B-to-B marketers are increasingly using home-grown content to build relationships with customers and prospects, while use of traditional media declines. Companies are writing their own stories (and their customer’s stories), and most importantly, the survey shows that the marketplace highly values the content and uses it as much as information […]
Read more "New Survey Shows that Use of Home-Grown Content Continues to Grow"