5 B-to-B Rules for New Media

5 B-to-B Rules For New Media

You don't need to reinvent the wheel when marketing to business audiences online: Just understand how to adapt the rules of traditional direct response media to the online world. Russell Kern, president, Kern Direct, shares five b-to-b rules that apply to both old and new media.

1. It all starts with campaign strategy. Marketers need to ask themselves: What's my target audience, who is my competition, and what are the financials required for success of this particular campaign?

2. The next step is understanding the motivators of human behavior and what makes people respond. These are the same basics of direct response: uncovering people's main concerns or business issues, as well as their pains, fears and desires.

You want to know what are they using now without your solution and why will your solution be better than what they already have in place. Here's where the basic principals of market research will help marketers to succeed. For instance, an online questionnaire could help separate prospects into categories based on how ready to buy they are (i.e., "I'm ready for an RFP"; "I'm exploring my options"; "I'm educating myself on these products").

3. Aim for zero-waste targeting. Even with low cost e-mail contacts, or low CPM (cost per thousand) banner advertising, targeting remains the central attribute of an effective program. Marketers often are pushed to make their numbers at the sacrifice of targeting strategies.

Take banner advertising for example. Response rates to banners on general sites have fallen to less than a half-percent response, whereas when a well-conceived banner ad is placed on a relevant site, that same banner can generate a 1 percent to a 3 percent response given the targeting.

4. Whether the offer is Web-based or hard copy, an effective offer is one that motivates immediate behavior; it must be exclusive, valuable, unique, helpful and relevant to the target.