You can’t go anywhere or strike up a conversation with anyone without the topic turning to the economy. Invariably the question I ask or is asked of me is, “How’s business?”

We’ve been through this before and weathered the storm. So have our clients. Typically, the knee-jerk reaction is to cut budgets, reallocate funds and tighten the marketing and advertising belt. We have a white paper titled, “Why Branding Becomes More Important In Uncertain Times” written by Ken Jones. You can download this white paper here.

Today’s customers in the B2B market are increasingly savvy and have high expectations. They will not tolerate negative experiences or inconsistencies across channels. Successful B2B marketers need to understand that it's no longer about simply pushing the products they produce, but also outwardly addressing their customer’s needs at the center of the buying experience.

So how do you “pull” instead of “push”?  You need to understand and capture the customer’s needs and preferences – valid research and utilizing a hyper-integrated method of marketing throughout the buying cycle is a must. The customer’s experience must be optimized for the specific need at that specific moment, on their progression toward purchase. B2B marketers need to listen, gather feedback, and adjust to each changing phase.
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I’ve been in the B2B marcom business for 3 decades, always working for or with technically oriented companies. Often times I felt I was the lone voice of marketing and marketing communications.

Very early in my career, I heard retailer John Wanamaker’s famous quip -- “I know that half of my advertising dollars are wasted, I just don’t know what half.” If I recall correctly it came from the mouth of a division VP/GM who was a chemist by training. He was a non-believer in the power of marcom.

For me and other members of my generation of marcom professionals the constant mention of this quote and similar ones put us on a mission. I wanted to be able to answer the questions: How much is invested? How much is wasted? I wanted to know what was working and what wasn’t. I wanted to show that the work we do contributes to the success of business.
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