Content takes center stage with Web 2.0

Through our research on Web 2.0 tools, B2B marketers are deploying these tools equally to target customers and prospects. The cost of entry is practically nothing. Most tools are free or next to free.

With the widespread adoption of Web 2.0 tools, it's interesting to juxtapose Web 2.0 to direct mail. You may remember hearing the debates on the key success factors for direct mail. Most experts speak of the 40:40:20 rule. The success of a direct mail program is based on 40% list, 40% offer and 20% creative.

For Web 2.0 media, the formula for success is very different: 100% content. You could also argue that SEO (Search Engine Optimization or Organic Search) is critical to your audience finding you, so a strong linking strategy is vital. Content creation has now been turned on its head. With direct mail, the creation of copy and offer is mostly outsourced to professional copywriters.

Not so with Web 2.0 as the content creation is the domain of amateurs (i.e. blogs are usually not ghost-written).

For those B2B marketers with a need to stretch their budgets and a do-it-yourself attitude, Web 2.0 provides a golden opportunity.

P.S. Please join Paul Dunay and me at the Marketing Profs BtoB Forum in Chicago Oct. 1 - 2, 2007 for a presentation on Leveraging New Channels to Create Marketing Buzz. We will present how to include these new channels into your marketing mix along with insight from our research. To save $200 on the registration, use promo code ESPK07.

B2B marketers ahead of B2C on New Media Adoption

On August 13, BtoB Magazine announced the results of their research on new media conducted with the Association of National Advertisers.

In June, BtoB and the ANA interviewed 326 B2B and B2C marketers from their respective house files.

The research confirmed a number of tiers of new media tools. The top tier includes proprietary Web sites, e-mail marketing, online ads, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and webinars. The middle tier includes blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and video on demand. The bottom tier consists of wikis, mobile, viral video, social networks and Second Life.

It was found that B2B marketers allocate a significantly higher proportion of their budget to new media than B2C marketers. While B2C marketers view new media as best suited for brand building, B2B marketers look to new media for demand generation.

As far as I see it, the irony for B2B marketers is that although their solutions require extensive communication (often through a sales force), the budgets and tools at their disposal for marketing are often inadequate. The opposite is true for B2C: humongous budgets to communicate simple messages.

With new media tools and in particular Web 2.0 tools, B2B marketers are bolstered by tools where the cost of entry is the development of content, rather than price of the tools or cost of the marketing medium.

For more details and a PowerPoint summary of the BtoB/ANA research, follow this link to the BtoB website.