cadenceblog

B2B Marketing Blogs and Resources

I wanted to mention a couple of resources to find other B2B blogs. There is Marketo's Big List of B2B Marketing Blogs which I've mentioned before. Also there is BtoB Blog Roundup, where you'll find a collection of top stories from the blogosphere, as well blog directory (at the bottom). Blogs are categorized by topic (B2B, Marketing, Selling etc.). I am listed under IT Marketing. I am happy to be listed there (though I feel that I need to write more specifically about IT). I am also happy because I am an avid reader of BtoB Magazine - The Magazine for Marketing Strategists. It is the only magazine that I know of that is dedicated to B2B Marketing. If you know of any others, let me know.

Aside from their directories, Marketo's blog, and BtoB Magazine's website are great resources for B2B marketers. BtoB often runs webinars, I have attended a few, and they were good. You can view the current schedule at their events calendar

Here's a summary of the resources I listed:

Marketo's Big List of B2B Marketing Blogs - a list of B2B blogs

Marketo's blog: Modern B2B Marketing -  great advice and articles

BtoB Blog Roundup - top stories from the blogosphere and a directory of blogs

BtoB Magazine - The Magazine for Marketing - print magazine dedicated to B2B Marketing

BtoB Magazine's Website - includes articles from their print magazine, B2B Resource Guide,  B2B webcasts, and more.

I am working on a B2B resource list of my own, I'll let you know when that is available.   

Marketing's Role with Strategic Accounts

In a previous post I mentioned my Top 6 List of B2B Sales & Marketing Resources.

One of them was Miller Heiman - a sales performance consulting company, they publish a well known sales best practices report, and also have a free newsletter.

My boss forwarded me another terrific Miller Heiman article called Choosing and Working with Strategic Accounts. I think a lot of B2B companies struggle with understanding their strategic accounts. How to choose them, how to keep them, and how to measure their success -- this article provides insight and answers into those questions.

Also in a previous post called Developing long-term trusted relationships with B2B customers, I mentioned an article, Becoming a Trusted Advisor. In the post I only talked about the first point - Customer Executive Briefings. The 2^nd point was Account-Management Teams and the article stated:

2. Account-Management Teams
When a customer knows that you have a dedicated account team just for them, it goes a long way toward establishing partnership and trust. Each account team typically consists of four functional roles:

· "A business contact from the solution-provider side (typically the account salesperson).

· A technical contact from the solution-provider side (lead senior engineer).

· An executive manager from the solution-provider side (typically the president/CEO).

· A representative from the customer side (a senior IT exec).

Keep in mind that one person can fill more than one role, and more than one person can fill a single role. The key to this approach is that it shows a deep commitment on the part of the solution provider toward the customer." 

 The Miller  Heiman article Choosing and Working with Strategic Accounts brings about this point as well:

“It’s a business initiative versus a sales initiative,” Johnson remarks. “You need organizational alignment, executive endorsement and metrics to assess your success.”

When you’re working with a non-strategic account, a strong account manager relationship can be enough, but when you’re working with a strategic account, a cross-functional team should be set up for communication at all levels. And, every person at every level—particularly those at the executive level—should be on the same page: The relationship should be perceived as a partnership. “If both organizations aren’t committed to the partnership, you shouldn’t move forward,” Johnson says.

So here you can see again the executive partnership theme.

However, how do you see yourself as a Marketer in terms of Strategic Accounts?

I view myself as an additional resource to those customers. One advantage that I have as an IT B2B Marketing is my technical background. I am comfortable to engage in some degree of technical discussions.  However, technical understanding is not enough. You also have to be aware of the business issues your customers face, especially the business issues that your offerings solve.

One year I was organizing a holiday event and we had low registration.  Sales didn’t have anymore time to promote the event and it was decided that I try to call customers myself. Prior to that, I did very little outbound calling. I actually did get through to some customers and because it was more of a relationship event, where I was inviting and encouraging them to come out (rather than a sales call), I had some pleasant conversations.

After that event, customers commented that they were very happy to hear from another person in the company.  This is when I first learned directly that it was important to customers to have other levels of contact, outside their direct sales rep.

I try to engage with customers at events as much as possible. Marketers try to get the right people to an event, but also try to create a professional and enjoyable experience for them. Sometimes, I feel that marketing people at events think that means being friendly, courteous, and professional. That is all very important…however I try to also remember faces and companies, and speak with them about their issues in a non-sales way. Also, since it is not always possible for sales to cover each person in the room, I look for gaps and try to fill them.

Over the years I have developed rapport with customers. Now when Imeet and greet them at events, it is beyond a trivial professionally friendliness. My role (beyond event organizer) is to understand their needs, make them aware of relevant solutions, and point them to resources that will hopefully advance their buying cycle. I believe some of this has contributed to the success of sustaining and growing strategic accounts.

My role is shifting from executing events to overall marketing strategy and planning. However I still look forward to face-to-face genuine interactions with customers and prospects. Not only to understand who I am marketing to, but also to help our company sustain and growth our valuable relationships.

In summary, here are the articles that relate to strategic account development:

Choosing and Working with Strategic Accounts – Miller Heiman

Becoming a Trusted Advisor – CRN and Var Business

Developing long-term trusted relationships with B2B customers – a previous cadenceblog post.

Internet Marketing Resources and How I Find Time to Listen to Podcasts

Firstly, I apologize for my month and half hiatus. I've been busy and also on vacation (to Montreal and Traverse City, Michigan, in case you were curious). Fortunately I found some time to catch up on reading, and listening to podcasts.

I wanted to share with you a few Internet Marketing resources:

5000+ Resources to Do Just About Anything Online - A friend of mine sent me this link, and it looks like it has a lot of resources especially for web 2.0.  (rss, podcasts, blogging).  The next time I need to do some research, I will be looking at this more carefully. I found some of the comments at the bottom humourous though. Users complained that there was too much information, or that they started browsing and had no time left to get things done. It reminded me of Getting Things Done (GTD).  I'd like to give GTD a better introduction, but I've recently been reading this book, and have started implementing the system using Thinking Rock.  So far I think  GTD and Thinking Rock is a terrific, and will work well for me. I will write more about my personal findings about GTD  (and resources) in another post.

Internet Marketing: Insider tips and advice for Online Marketing Podcasts
I recently listened to one of these podcasts (#26 Online PR), and really enjoyed it. The style is conversational but educational and they include a lot of tips and tools.  This particular podcast covered how companies can use online PR as part of their marketing mix, and track their PR efforts. I've added this to my podcast list.

There are a great many great podcasts out there, where people share their wealth of knowledge and experience.  I have a shortlist of relevant B2B podcasts on my Podroll, which you can find on the right column of my blog. The only podcast that may not  seem as relevant is Manager Tools. However I find Manager Tools to be very relevant for anyone in Business, whether you are manager or not.  I am a manager, and have found this to be an invaluable source of information, and highly recommend it.

I use iTunes to manage my podcasts, and listen to them on the computer. But mostly I listen to my podcasts on my iPod, during my walk/subway commute to and from work (as well as during longer travels by train or plane).  It seems like the perfect timeslot during a busy day to get ideas, and catch up on the industry. While I may listen to a one-off podcast on a specific topic, I generally look for ones to listen to frequently, as this is the true meaning of a podcast. There is only so much time to afford listening to podcasts, so I subscribe to certain podcasts on iTunes.  I sometimes hear about new podcasts, that I add to the list...but if I don't find them consistently interesting and relevant, they get knocked off. It sounds a bit like survival of the fittest, but that's life right, and the only way to optimize a finite resource - your time. On that note,  I'll end here, and let you get back to the things that matter to you the most. Have a "better than good" day as sales genius Zig Ziglar would say.