Conscious Consumerism: The thinking behind movements like “know your farmer,” “slow money,” and “made in the USA” will gain greater traction in the B2B sector. Fact-based buying and sustainable procurement practices are attracting top talent to an area of the business once viewed as milquetoast. Links in the supply chain are tightly integrated as firms share responsibility for amazing clients and customers and cementing loyalty.
Conscious Capitalism: Last year we highlighted a study by the Corporate Executive Board citing shared values as the primary motivation behind a purchase decision. Of 7,000 decision makers interviewed 64% said shared values were the primary reason for choosing one brand over another. “A shared value is a belief that both the brand and consumer have about a brand’s higher purpose or broad philosophy.” As a result, smart business leaders will carefully think through their organization’s purpose and values and position its product and service offerings accordingly. Consistency across the organization is essential.
Organic Growth: In many sectors mergers and acquisitions or outside investment are driving growth, not sustainable revenue generation models. In the end, leaders must flip the business or sell-off assets in order to make money. Organic growth, which takes more time (slow money), requires more effort (you actually have to think about and focus resources and energy on the client or customer), and is usually more costly, is the solution. The long-term benefits are obvious, so be patient and precise. More importantly, enjoy the journey—it’s your life’s work.
Simplified Process: We took part in a meeting recently where an executive from a Fortune 25 company walked us through a very complex process for getting a digital ad to market. And here we thought digital was supposed to make things easier and less complicated. I haven’t been that dizzy and nauseous since my children conned me into going on the Jimmy Neutron ride at Universal Studios. The need for simplifying the processes around message targeting, development, and execution is spawning a number of other trends, especially the next three on our list: Converged Software, Commoditized Media, and Meaningful Messaging. Simplification is hard work but it pays off handsomely in the end.
Converged Software: One area ripe for merger and acquisition activity is marketing technology. At present automating marketing processes is a never-ending endeavor. Install a CRM system and soon you discover a host of complementary applications and expensive customization are needed to do what you previously accomplished with pen and paper and a few spreadsheets. The further splintering of media (forget about fragmentation) makes matters worse. Hence, Salesforce.com’s incorporation of Pardot. The dashboard visibility and metrics of automation offer an organization exceptional value and efficiency, so look for software solution providers to focus on developing an end-to-end solution that provides profiling, targeting, programmatic media planning, campaign analysis, and content platforms in one package.
Commoditized Media: Back in the olden days (the early 1990s to be precise) Fran Perdisatt of WGN television fame prophesied a time when media would be traded on an open market in the same way commodities and options were swapped at the Chicago Board of Trade. That day is upon us, and it is about to explode. As new players enter the program development, production, and distribution arena media options are expanding at an increasing rate. Which means audiences will grow smaller and move beyond fragmented to splintered. Savvy investors will purchase and resell inventory auction style as programmatic buying solutions proliferate. The lines between what most call “traditional” and “digital” media will blur. Media truly is the message. Those that understand the distinction will crush their competitors.
Meaningful Messaging: Like Proctor & Gambles Global Brand Officer Marc Pritchard, we loathe the term “content marketing”. Your clients and prospects deserve better. It’s right up there with “verbiage” and “mouse jockey” as far as respect for the craft of persuasive copy writing, effective visual communication, and strategic marketing goes. The good news is that business leaders are taking notice. Who can afford not to? If your audience is splintered, more demanding, and better informed (most will have thoroughly researched buying options well before your first sales contact with them), your messaging must be direct, on target, timely, and clearly communicate a compelling reason why you are different. Moreover, your messaging must align with the media that conveys it. Former P&G Chairman Edwin Artzt taught brand managers to “base the marketing of a product on quality positioning and interact with continuous bubbles of advertising and support to attract trial and cement loyalty to the product.” His words still ring true. So make every word or visual cue count.
B2B e-Commerce: E-commerce and the Internet of Things are EDI on steroids in the B2B space. Forrester projected that B2B e-commerce would outpace B2C, despite all of the latter’s highly publicized success stories, by nearly double by the end of 2013: $559B compared to $252B. The study predicts increases from 2014’s actual U.S. e-commerce sales of $692B to over $1.1T (Trillion) by 2020. That represents a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.7% between 2015 and 2020, so your timing is right for engaging in e-commerce if you have not yet done so. Of course effective e-commerce involves more than a corporate website. Your e-commerce roadmap should include an online catalog, online store, client portal, sales portal, customer service portal, marketing portal, and a means for both self-service and associated-assisted order entry. Quote to contract and quote to cash components should also be top-of-mind.
Data Enablement: Now that we are all familiar with the term Big Data and the value it offers the organization it’s time we do something about it. Data Enablement is your internal process for collecting, aggregating, storing, accessing, and leveraging data—so you can transform raw data into workable insights and information that drive continuous improvement. Our website provides in-depth models and processes for establishing a data-driven culture (mindmeldmarketing.com).
Ubiquitous Presence: Are you where your clients and customers want or need you to be? Is your presence consistent across all touch-points? The client experience associated with your products and services must be consistent whether it involves a website visit, online store, bricks and mortar store, interaction with sales or customer service representatives or a third party call center. That means you must precisely define and communicate vision, purpose, values, operating principles, and strategy. Moreover, look for firms to expand their presence outside of traditional boundaries, especially in retail. Last year we developed and implemented a “banking store” for a client where average foot traffic went from 10 to 20 people a day to thousands. That kind of transformation requires a whole new of thinking about and serving your clients as well hiring, training, and equipping talent. But it’s what is required in today’s business climate.
About MindMeld: Our vision is that your business will grow, prosper, and make a positive and lasting impact on the world. We accomplish this by helping you discover and communicate the inherent value of your products and services and capitalize on that value in lasting, meaningful ways. To learn more please contact me at doug.knuth@mindmeldmarketing.com.