Is the End in Sight for the Book and Magazine?

Recent news of Amazon’s impending launch of electronic book technology strengthens the notion that the future of marketing public relations is online, or more precisely, on screen.

Amazon.com’s Kindle is geared to debut in October and will be able to wirelessly connect to e-book stores on Amazon’s site. Busy executives on the road will be able to use the device to access books and periodicals without connecting to a computer. An interactive device, the Kindle will also allow users to take notes on content they read or search the Internet for additional information.

Advances like this and others in Internet and mobile communications technology are making it easier for the public to get information on the go, anytime, anywhere. Online vehicles are quickly becoming the preferred sources for information and more and more trade and business magazines are producing online versions. The Kindle and other technologies are simply making it easier to access this content from the road.

From a marketing public relations standpoint, as more and more people turn to the Internet for news, the need for online publicity will continue to soar. Businesses must continue to populate the World Wide Web with company news and key messaging to boost brand awareness, build a path to their websites and spur sales-building interaction with prospects.

Read the NY Times article [Link]

Unique Retail Environments

The site thecoolhunter.com has an entire section on retail environments. They range from chic shoe stores to an ice cream shop in Baghdad. All of the examples support the perspective that we are NOT living in a commodity world. B2B companies are constantly fighting a perception in the marketplace that low costs build business. These examples show that in a wide variety of markets spanning geographies and product, investment in quality and innovation ultimately drive consumer sales.

(Link)

Packaging and the Cola Brand Wars

We all know packaging can play an enormous role in attracting consumers’ attention and selling products. But in a country of 1.3 billion with a booming economy, the competition for market share has just been taken to a whole new level.  Pepsi is selling its product in red cans, traditionally Coke’s color.  The move touted as a support for the Olympic games, but The Wall Street Journal points out that it may be an iconoclastic move to prevent Coke from securing the legendary status it has in the US.

Read more in at WSJ.com China’s Pepsi Drinkers Are Seeing Red… Cans (Link)

Show Me the Leads!

Providing mechanisms to measure results has traditionally been a bane of marketing and public relations departments and agencies. Managers and salespeople alike demand proof that investments in marketing are paying off.

“Show us the leads,” they say.

And Omniture and Salesforce are trying to do just that for the business-to-business marketplace.

In North America, B2B firms spend about $80 billion on marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association. Yet many do not have a clear idea as to how effective that spending really is in generating sales. Current tools simply track how leads are captured and then the documentation process drops off.

The integration of Ominture’s SiteCatalyst and the Salesforce.com CRM system will allow B2B marketers to have, on a real-time basis, more detailed information about customer behavior and response to specific campaigns. Basically, all customer touch-points can be recorded, providing the entire picture as to how a lead was captured and, more importantly, detailed information about how the lead was subsequently won. This will enable marketers to more effectively tailor marketing campaigns to have a bigger impact on sales.

Will this spur the end of the Marketing vs. Sales battle? Probably not. But it will be better at giving credit where credit is due. And both sides will benefit from value-added information to better steer efforts.

CBR Online Coverage of story (Link)

Ominture’s website (Link)

Salesforce.com (Link)

MFG.com “Disrupting” B2B Sales Environment

Managing disruption is a key to succeeding in business. An article in Business 2.0 entitled “The Next Disruptors” identified 15 businesses “with the potential to rewrite the rules of existing industries or open up entirely new markets.”

Of note for the B2B industry is the inclusion of MFG.com on this list. Termed the “eBay of Manufacturing,” this site facilities the sourcing and selling of manufacturing components and is anticipated to change the criticality of the roles of manufacturers’ representatives, parts brokers and trading houses.

And sites like this are popping up in numerous markets. For example, ScientistSolutions.com enables life sciences companies to post information on their products and services (for a fee). Website visitors can (and do) search the database and are able to comment on various products. Although this particular site does not directly facilitate the exchange of goods online, it aims to create a one-stop resource for information on laboratory supplies.

What’s clear is that more and more B2B purchases will be made online. Staying in the loop and participating in similar Internet portals will be essential for market leadership.

More info here

B2B Portales Buys Brazilian Publisher

B2B markets in Latin America are growing rapidly. More importantly, perhaps, these markets are also becoming more integrated. Carvajal just purchased Grupo Lund adding to its large publishing holdings.

The Carvajal Organization, a Latin American multinational that operates in 18 countries, has just completed negotiations to acquire a majority shareholding in the Grupo Lund de Editoras Asociadas (Lund Publishing Group) of Brazil. The association will take place through the B2Bportales Company, which is part of the Grupo Editorial Norma, a member of the Carvajal Organization.

Link to the press release

Link to Lund’s website