Today I am attending a virtual conference for B2B Marketers – Market Profs B2B-2.0 Expo. First presenter of the day, David Meerman Scott, provided an information-packed presentation called “Tuned in to Extraordinary Opportunities – New Rules for B2B Marketers”.
Some notes on that session…
David suggests that marketing on the Internet is marketing to buyer personas not to nameless, faceless prospects. He suggests that each company develop detailed persona profiles for each of its client types. Then create different content geared toward each of the personas – using their lingo and referencing things of interest to them. He even suggests dumping the copywriters and hiring journalists because journalists know how to write for different personas.
Today’s online marketing is about “idea spreading and solving problems” and not about begging and paying for attention as was done in the past.
David asserts that “You are what you publish” on the web, and suggests producing eBooks and allowing FREE downloads, creating and consistently stocking your company’s online media section (.e. what’s new, news), and providing opportunities for people to talk about you and make your content viral (viral marketing). He cautioned that with the viral marketing campaigns, expect to fail, and move on to the next campaign.
David’s message really hit home for me. I have been introducing similar ideas to my clients for a while now. David’s presentation gave me ideas about how I might be able to get the stragglers to follow. I’ve downloaded his eBook “The New Rules of VIRAL MARKETING: How word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free” to provide inspiration, and indeed, a reminder to get clients producing more content.