BtoB Magazine reported that the popularity of B-to-B corporate blogging is waning, drawing on new information from Forrester Research’s report "How to Derive Value from B2B Blogging.”

Among those marketers surveyed, 53% said blogs were irrelevant or marginal in their current marketing strategy. The firm attributed this to a misalignment between the investment required and the expected returns.

This B-to-B marketing research report has generated a lot of press—enough with information gaps—that Forrester posted a clarification about the methodology.
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New technologies. Media fragmentation. The changing marketing landscape. B-to-B marketing professionals are dealing with them – in many cases struggling with them – as day-to-day realities of the way we “do” marketing today.

One of the consequences of the new marketing landscape is that, as you necessarily devote ourselves to learning new technologies and media channels, you can lose focus on the big picture. It takes time and attention to learn how to properly execute a search engine optimization program, and keep it going continuously. It takes time and attention to implement and constantly tweak a search engine marketing program for continuous improvement. And to know, understand and leverage the continuing stream of new media opportunities and techniques available to B-to-B marketers.

There are endless details and procedures involved in optimizing press materials
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Many b-to-b marketers are slow to add social media elements to their marketing techniques.

Maybe you aren’t sure how to integrate it. Or you’re afraid that your company might not buy into the idea. Perhaps you don’t yet understand why social media is important. Not only is it important, it’s an essential communication method that all b-to-b marketers need to be involved in. Those marketers who participate as early adopters in this new landscape will have the ability to lead—and succeed.

Social media isn’t about technology. Or some new buzzword, popular web site, or new blogging tool. It’s about sociology—how people interact, gather, and share information. The tools and distribution methods will continue to evolve. The most popular social networks, bookmarking sites, news aggregators, and media communities will change, and the ways to distribute content
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To add one additional thought to Russ Green's recent post on getting on board with social media, one possible source of hesitation might be that marketers aren't sure how or why to apply the new media. Here are a few thoughts about the ways the social media apply to the B-to-B environment:

• Networking: Many users find the new social media like blogs and social networking sites to be a great way to stay in touch with old coworkers or customers who move to another position. Losing a customer in one job may simply mean gaining a new customer, if you stay in touch. And beyond being able to wish people a happy birthday, social media may also assist your efforts to recruit top talent.
  
• Content management: Many companies have purchased global content management systems at huge expense, and still have not achieved their goal of involving more of their
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You may be reading this after clicking on our E-news item that 45% of integrated marketers in a recent study haven’t spent marketing dollars on emerging media like social networks, blogs, or word-of-mouth initiatives, but are interested in doing so. Of course, the other side of the coin is that 55% have implemented some kind of social media effort.

Why haven’t the 45% made the plunge…or at least stuck their toe in the water?

A new study by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony sheds some light on what we have found to be true through experience. The authors of the survey of 71 marketing professionals in the U.S., Canada, France and the U.K. say that many marketers, “particularly the slower-moving” ones (their words, not mine!), want “best practices” and “proven models.” That’s understandable,
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I’m back in the creative seat again. I volunteered to step in and head our creative staff after we agreed Jim Everhart, my predecessor, should spearhead our hyperintegration efforts.

I’m looking at things from a slightly different perspective now – a perspective of someone with a lead “creative” title and responsibilities. As I remove my account manager hat, something strikes me. We creative folks have more tools at our disposal – blogs, podcasts, email marketing, and the list goes on. Our primary function has always been to think of new and unique ways to tell our client’s story, demonstrate a benefit and craft compelling ways to reach out to a marketer’s various constituents – engineers, channel partners, integrators, other influencers and ultimately, end-users.

Sure, we still need to apply our traditional creative skills, but we now have these new, exciting tools at our disposal.
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For the past year, Godfrey has been educating and counseling clients about the “new wave” in public relations – Convergent PR.  If you’re not familiar with the term, here’s a brief definition: It’s a blending, or convergence, of traditional PR tactics (e.g., press releases, press kits and trade show support) with new social media PR techniques (e.g., blogs, podcasts, videocasts and social media press releases).

Some of our clients jumped on the Convergent PR bandwagon right away.  (We’re thrilled.)  Others are still trying to understand how Convergent PR works and how it can complement their “hyperintegrated” marketing communications programs.  (In this respect, we see ourselves as educators and advisors.)

Of course, Godfrey isn’t the only entity that sees a convergence of traditional (print) media and social (online) media. 
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The American Marketing Association recently released a new definition for the word “marketing’.  (http://www.marketingpower.com/content2653039.php)

The new definition reads:

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

The previous definition stated:

“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

I think the biggest addition to the definition is the word “exchanging”.  In this new media landscape of social networks, blogs, mobile and consumer generated
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There are many reputable companies that are both knowledgeable and ethical in marketing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies and services, but there are also a significant number of companies out there that will take advantage of buyers that are expecting honest value for their investment, but getting nothing in return. Case in point: after a major redesign, our client was extremely happy with the site, particularly with the enhanced administration capabilities which allowed them to keep the site content updated and fresh without incurring outside costs. And while it had improved significantly in search engine rankings, they still felt compelled to entertain a proposal from a well-known interactive company to optimize their site for search engines. I'll admit the proposal was impressive, lots of buzz words, IT lingo and statistics. The price tag was also impressive, about $30,000.
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As a creative agency, we have lots of ideas. Some we get paid for and others we don’t. But that never stops us from sharing our ideas.

A piece on NPR’s Morning Edition discussed the upcoming Simpsons Movie and the promotional tie-in which is converting 7-Eleven Stores into Kwik-E Marts. Bringing the Kwik E-Marts and Simpson products to life were the ideas of Twentieth Century Fox, 7-Eleven, and its advertising/marketing agency, FreshWorks. But another agency, who pitched the work several months ago, is claiming the original idea was theirs.

Debates over intellectual property aren’t new. But the piece got me thinking about how the new information age of user-generated content is changing the
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