B2B marketing. You Don’t Have To Be The Poor Relation.

If you’re reading this blog as a B2B client, some of it might be very familiar – or some might be a bit of a shock. Either way, there are some real home truths here – written by someone who knows, having had a lifetime of exposure to clients of all types in international agency groups as well as smaller businesses. Here, we have anticipated some of the questions that you might ask about LAW Creative (LAW) and B2B Marketing.

First, why is LAW writing about B2B? That’s not really what you do, is it?
OK, let’s start by considering what LAW is, rather than what it is not. Our client list is primarily consumer-based and has a focus on guest, leisure and hospitality accounts. So we work with InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the biggest hotel group in the world, as well as a whole clutch of household names from that sector, from Mecca to Butlin’s to Caesars Entertainment. Now, the thing about this experience is that it is in a business area that depends massively upon digital – from data handling, social, content, web, SEO, analytics and importantly the detailed strategic planning that runs the whole show, utilising both digital and more traditional forms of marketing. So we combine the 9 million e-mails a month that we send from our AMP system with press, film, advertising and POS, in a totally integrated way.

A bad reputation in the digital world for leisure clients (poor peer reviews on Trip Advisor for instance) can lead to substantial loss of business. It’s a world that we are fully immersed in. And every day we work hard at assisting clients in the provision of positive content and superior customer engagement.

Good for you. What’s in it for me?
Primarily, the skills that we have developed to become the leading agency that we are.

In the B2B world, digital disruption can make a huge impact on your business. Now, we would argue that if you are running your B2B marketing through a dedicated B2B agency, it is unlikely that they will have been as exposed to, and accountable for, the kind of digital success that LAW can provide. This might seem like a sweeping statement, but we actually know, through talking to some B2B clients, (and winning them – more about that later) that they have not been kept as fully up to date as they could be from a digital perspective in particular. For example, recent research of B2B Marketing Directors reveals that although for some 60% of them video spending is rising, only 19% regard ‘conversion’ as an objective: but we know that video on a landing page can, in some cases, increase conversion by 80%!

Digital may be disruptive, but I rely on a lot of traditional work
Again, there are benefits in working with a consumer-based creative director and creative teams, planners and account handlers. We can’t get away with just a picture of a product on a page – we have to have ideas which stand out with high impact. And we have to work within tight brand standards, which build cumulative impact, as well as developing more subtle aspects of the creative art, such as giving brands that we are responsible for a distinctive tone of voice, so that the character and values provide a competitive edge and an insight into what kind of company is behind the brand.

I think that you are talking about small B2B agencies, but we’re a global company who generally work with big agencies.That’s good – it means that some of the aspects that we have covered above will be taken care of and that you agree with our general premise. But if you are already with a global player how important are you to your agency? If you’re a big B2B player, spending upwards of $5m globally, your spend will be fragmented and, in some markets, will probably be small compared to the other multi-national accounts that your agency handle. When it comes to allocating resource and skill to your $250,000 annual spend in China, compared to a huge cosmetic company account spending that every week, who do you think the agency worries about most? Our personal experience of having worked in and run multinational groups is that this is a very real issue. Often, it means exposure to junior account handlers (with the odd call from the account director), little in the way of ‘local’ strategic planning and work provided by the most inexpensive creative resource. Don’t forget, the agency has to make money and this is how they will make your budget yield revenue for themselves.

So what’s your pitch?
Put simply, at LAW, we can provide international lead-agency skills based on the latest tools and knowledge, working within carefully defined guidelines, and make sure that only the best people handle your account, because we’ll care about it. We’re not huge, or a multi-national, but we supply the international planning and creative frameworks for a number of global clients and manage local adaptations and local co-ordination activity on our clients’ behalf, to whatever extent they want. You get the ability to have consumer thinking and skills applied to your B2B account, including a regular strategic refresh and trends and a future view provided by our internal ‘Future Trend’ people.

Who has been convinced by this approach?
We recently won the global lead agency role for TRW, the largest Automotive Safety Equipment OE supplier in the world, working for the aftermarket division, which is based near Frankfurt. In their business, the existing distribution models are being affected by the digital effect to an increasing extent. Some of their various agency thinking may not have been as current as required in an ever competitive market. In the 4 way pitch, we were the only consumer based agency presenting and the client feedback was that both strategically, creatively and digitally the difference really showed.

Since winning the account, we have been responsible for marketing on an international basis, running campaigns everywhere in the world, tightly controlled to reflect the brand positioning, and added massively to the ability of the company to maintain a digital lead.

In fact, let’s be honest, it was this win that suggested to us that this was a good route for our own business to head down, as it became apparent that we could add much more value than is typically available in a B2B agency, or in a multi-national agency that sees your budget as small and difficult to make a profit from.

We have also attracted 2 other non-competing automotive aftermarket accounts, both operating internationally. It is a market we know and understand well, from manufacturer to fitter.

If your approach is really different, how are you going to differentiate your offer?
We’re going to redefine the B2B sector. In fact, we’re not even going to use the B2B term. To our way of thinking, trade marketing, in its fullest sense, is as complex and demanding, competitive and challenging as any consumer brand and maybe more so in some cases. And despite the ‘B2B’ tag that is now bandied about, to us, the category deserves to be called something that recognises the difference that we can bring. So welcome to ‘Trade Plus’.

If you want to find out more about how we can really help to deliver results from your trade marketing in whatever format it takes, get in touch. And to tempt you, we’ll throw in a couple of days to meet with you and write a strategic overview of your marketing and how we might improve it.

After all, we’re all in the same business. And that’s getting more of it.

TRADE Plus. Redefining B2B Marketing.

 

 

 

For more information on redefining your business to business marketing please contact; brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk or keith.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk.