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Marketing, circa 1982

Guest post by: Jeff Ogden

Article Overview: The world of B2B marketing has changed dramatically since the author was graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1982 with a degree in marketing. This article explores the change and what to do about it.

Marketing, circa 1982

B2B Demand Generation | How the World Has Changed by Jeff Ogden, President of the BtoB demand generation company Find New Customers

I was graduated from University of Notre Dame with a degree in marketing in 1982. I still love that school with all my heart – but they rejected my son. That was deeply disappointing.

The world was MUCH simpler then.

• We listened to 8-Track tapes. At the end of the year, a new media called Compact Discs is introduced in Japan.
• There were few TV channels. Dallas was the top rated show. No one had heard of cable TV.
• There was no Internet.
• There were no cell phones.
• There was no Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter.
• A brand new singer named John Cougar (now known as John Mellencamp) released “Jack and Diane”

If you wanted to sell stuff, you had only a few channels to consider:

1. Broadcast TV
2. Radio
3. Print (Newspapers and Magazines)
4. Yellow Pages
5. Billboards

If you wanted to get leads for sales, you spent on ads, print media or hosted events. The choices were very limited.

Fast forward to today. What was once scarce is now overwhelming. I cannot count the times business owners have said “We’ve tried almost everything and nothing works.” Sorry, but you’re doing it all wrong.

The media choices are endless today. So what is the marketer to do? No company except maybe Google and Microsoft can afford to advertise in every channel.

Here’s what I recommend for you. Think Outside In.

Stop thinking of taking your products to market. Instead, put yourself in the mind of buyers and work back to your products and services. The number of choices shrinks dramatically.

Instead of guessing what channel to use, ask your prospective customers which channels they trust. Instead of guessing what information they need, ask them. Only by gaining deep insights into buyers can you determine the best ways to work with them.

You’ll find customers only use a few channels. That’s where you need to be.

Here in a nutshell is B2B marketing, circa 2011:

1. Buyer personas
2. Search marketing
3. Content marketing
4. Mapping the buyer journey
5. Lead nurturing
6. Lead scoring
7. Metrics
8. Continuous improvement

At Find New Customers, we help companies adapt to the realities of today.

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Article Tags: b2b demand generation, b2b lead generation, btob demand generation, btob lead generation, demand generation companies, demand generation company, find new customers, lead generation companies, lead generation company, sales lead generation, sales leads



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