However times have changed since those ‘MadMen’ days of the 1960s when product based brands often had less than a minute window on a television commercial in order to develop their mascot’s character potential. With technological innovations nowadays, virtual services can easily create virtual brand mascots. Through platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube brands have essentially allowed unlimited space and time to develop, integrate and evolve characters. The openness and the shared based nature of these digital platforms gives the character a much LOUDER voice and open the doors for a two way conversation with the consumer. As brands naturally exploit these platforms to develop a more integrated branded communications approach they often couple the viral online campaign with more traditional television and radio slots; this encourages watchers to want to engage and learn more online about their favourite mascots.

So what are the advantages of having a brand mascot? Many online services lack the ‘touchable’ feeling a product based brand enjoys. This digital character approach allows marketeers to provide a personified face and voice for their brands, bringing it much closer to the user’s heart. Ultimately this makes the brand much more accessible by humanising their products. Consumers would much rather interact online with a cute and cuddly character than they would with a faceless corporation.

This process seems to work remarkably well typically in the grey boring faceless industries such as insurance. Across the pond motor insurance company Progressive is currently seeing a significant impact within the social media buzz through their brand mascot Flo. The quirky sales rep debuted in the company’s television commercials in 2008. Recently she has been involved in YouTube videos and social games on Facebook. Her page was initially created by a fan, though when they realised that she was attracting more attention than the company itself they quickly took over the reins. Currently on Facebook, Progressive the company has 43,000 likes – Flo, on the other hand is pushing nearly 4 million. It seems in the case of Flo that clearly people would much rather interact with this endearing woman from the TV instead of a random grey suited exec from Progressive. When it comes to social media marketing techniques, this seems a great way to engage with customers and grow new business opportunities. Over in the UK insurers also seem to be following a similar pattern with variations of similar humorous and memorable mascots. Compare the Market uses a Meerkat to great comedy effect though Go Compare have chosen a slightly different route with the frankly annoying and abrasive operatic Gio Compare – you know who I’m talking about.

What this shows us is that Facebook consumers want to actively bond with the character rather than simply interacting through the more traditional company page pumping out corporate company and product news. The characters offer a softer way to sell a product, which is essential nowadays as the more savvy consumer doesn’t like blatant selling or promotion. Mascots are also the gift that keeps on giving, they never get in trouble with the law, don’t negotiate their fees and allow digital marketing techniques to spin out a potentially endless ‘timeline’ story that was simply not possible in the past.

It instils this process when you look directly at one of the principle forums for this new type of digital communication. Twitter itself uses its famous little blue bird “Larry” to great effect. Their strategy in my opinion goes beyond being simply cute and cuddly. Larry the little blue birdy is a central theme to Twitters overall global brand campaign, with his subtle silhouette on every website link, logo and re-tweet button. A little bird is cleverly much more appealing than a plain simple company logo and it also helps increase brand awareness.

But much like when meeting an influential movie or rock star, do brands run the risk of lessening their mascot’s carefully cultured mystique and disappointing fans by finally opening their mouths in a public forum? Never before has the personality of a character had to match with the much larger overall brand direction and identity.

Here at Alchemis we don’t have any brand mascots; we certainly have a few characters though and this creative approach allows us to do what we do successfully for the last 25 years. We rely upon effective communication and intelligent targeting in order to convey a message and work hard to win our clients new business.

Does your brand need a mascot to be successful in social media? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

When the world economy plummets, it is easy to become self centred and focus on what is best for you, or for your business. We all have mouths to feed and bills to pay.

In all honesty, it seems like a fantastic idea at first, but, in terms of growing your business often it is better to be more generous when it comes to business, than following our natural instincts to think of Number One.

Your customers or potential customers have no reason to engage with you or your business, your products or services unless you have built trust and engaged with them.

Consider this:-

1. A customer’s first instinct is to be selfish and think of themselves

2. Other businesses base instinct is to be selfish and think of themselves

Therefore….

If you are generous and offer to be generous with your service, your offering and your time and think about others, they are more inclined to engage with you and your business!

‘In the world of business, the gift I give almost always benefits me more than it benefits you’

So does this mean free gifts for all?

A lot of businesses aim to pick up new customers and clients with the offering of a free gift. How many ‘Car Tool Kits’ ‘Free skin cream with the mascara’ ‘Free PAYG sim card’ do you actually need?

The reality is that free gifts cost both money to you as a business and don’t always encourage sales. Giving someone something for free doesn’t earn you trust. It buys you a little bit of short term confidence.

The only true way to gain trust with someone is to engage. The only way you will truly engage with someone as a business is to give them something to think about and the best way to do this is through sharing knowledge and ideas.

Heinz Tomato sauce and HP Tomato Sauce

So I use Heinz Tomato Ketchup and I have all my life. I’m on the way to buy some sauce from the local supermarket. HP Sauce is BOGOF or… Buy one HP Tomato Sauce and get a brown sauce free.

Which one do I buy? Heinz of course…

Why? Because I trust Heinz. No give away is going to take me away from a product I trust. The only way that I will get into HP is if they build trust and trust can’t be bought.

The Gift of Knowledge

It doesn’t matter whether you supply a product or a service, all firms have a gift of knowledge. A story to tell. A tale worth sharing. Some hints or tips that have lead to more business for you or one of your customers.

Most businesses are keen to find out how to engage with their customer and get more business. By sharing knowledge, you are providing your potential customers with much more than a free gift they can use once, like a bottle of ketchup. You are giving them something which they can use time and time again to grow their firm.

‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you give him a fishing rod, you feed him for a lifetime’

How about a new perspective on this proverb.

‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach him how to fish, you can sell him a fishing rod!’

Guest blog – business development through knowledge sharing is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

As a central theme to their most recent marketing campaign they will be offering discounts on the cost of premium economy seats with the airline. These discounts will only be available to loyal ‘fans’ of the brand who use social media sites such as Facebook to recommend Air New Zealand to their friends. This strategy is known as ‘fandistribution’ and is a relatively new phenomenon within the industry, but it is growing. Through this process ‘fans’ can therefore share brand marketing directly to an audience that trusts them and also crucially values their opinion. A new form of direct and digital peer to peer communication.

The campaign has been launched by a UK based digital marketing company called digitalanimal. Their core product and process ‘fandistribution’ is currently the market leading fan management and recommendation platform. Companies like it because it allows them to engage and interact with their customers through social media, generating brand awareness and ultimately new business. It is also often used by brands to gauge the demand for a new product or service. Consumers like the process because it incentivises them directly, offering discounts simply by allowing companies access to their own personal social network.

Already 71% of people claim reviews or opinions from family members or friends exert a ‘great deal’ of influence over them when looking to purchase a product. Social networks such as Facebook provide a virtual version of this process. For instance on Facebook currently people regularly recommend viral videos and films to each other in a process that is wholly organic, simply due to the fundamental principle that people love to share. Facebook currently has in excess of 350 million active users globally, with over 50% of these users logging into their account at least every 24 hours. As with many forms of digital marketing methods ‘fandistribution’ is easy to integrate (with a couple of simple lines of code), quick to market and will swiftly increase both the awareness of your product and brand. Used by a number of high profile clients, it is the direct-to-consumer solution for modern social media engaged advertisers.

However let’s be honest. As we all know, one-shot deals and blockbuster sales will always cheapen a brand. If done too much you actually condition loyal customers or ‘fans’ to hold off spending money with you until you offer them another ‘deal’. On the other hand it could also be viewed as a useful tool to integrate, involve, and ultimately influence users within an existing network. It is increasingly becoming essential for brands to ensure that they have an interactive presence within social media networks. The pure distribution benefits of the process are obvious when you apply the multiplier effect. On average a single Facebook user has 130 ‘friends’. The process is viral so if the user recommends the brand or service to only 4 of their friends and these 4 friends pass it on to another 4 friends then by the 8th stage of the process you’re looking at a potential audience of 66,536 users – all with exposure to the brand from a trusted ‘friend’.

Here at Alchemis we work with a broad range digital marketing agencies to win them new business clients. We welcome any comments you have about this blog or any others, I doubt we will be flying to New Zealand anytime soon.

Business development through Fandistribution is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

First and foremost because he was my guy in the sweepstake – and that’s about the fifth year in a row my candidate has not made it into the second half of the series; secondly because it was nice to see a bit of honesty in the boardroom for a change.

Dignified Duane accepted responsibility for his ideas without passing the buck, even though they ultimately cost his team the task, and it was the first time I can remember in ages that the three unlucky candidates who were brought back into the boardroom didn’t all shout over each other like a gaggle of squawking geese.

Regardless of whether Duane was ever likely to win the show, he had a lot of ideas during his five week stint and always seemed to fully immerse himself in the tasks with great enthusiasm and energy.

Now, you might wonder why I’m writing a blog about The Apprentice. Or why I have mentioned football in the title. What’s that got to do with new business or marketing (aside from the aspects of the weekly tasks that involve these disciplines)?

Well, it was because Duane said something to Dara O’Briain when he was being interviewed on You’re Fired afterwards and it struck a chord with me:

“Being an entrepreneur isn’t about being the one man at the front, it’s about how good the team works and how good the team can pull together.”

This is my tenth year at Alchemis and I know that above anything else our single biggest asset is our team. However good our data is, however sophisticated our bespoke contact management software is and however expensive the coffee we have here is (OK, I’m exaggerating about this last one, although it is pretty nice), all of it is secondary to the ability of our new business managers to actually just get on and do their job – which is ultimately ensuring our clients get a decent return on investment from attending high quality new business meetings.

Hand on heart I can say that if the skillset, dedication, motivation, camaraderie and drive between the management and staff could be transposed to a football team then they would be winning the Champions League each year.

Oh yeah, and they’d also have state of the art training facilities to hone their skills!

If Alchemis did football teams… is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Rio Ferdinand and Katie Price have attracted a couple of complaints from Twitter users regarding the fact that they were advertising Snickers with their tweets – but this wasn’t obvious until the fifth in a series of tweets sent out which contained the tag SnickersUK.

I love a good old fashioned teaser ad campaign (for this is what it is) but for anyone surprised about celebrities endorsing products in an underhand (or sometimes an obviously blatant) way, let’s remember it really is nothing new. Who can forget Anthea Turner’s wedding chocolate bar pictures that were probably the biggest PR gaffe of her career? She made herself a national figure of ridicule.

Let me just re-iterate the gist of what I have said in my previous blog. Some people have nothing to say and they are saying it too loudly with the help of the ever increasing social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Other people (notably celebrities) will be paid/sponsored/whatever to endorse products by any means necessary.

Their audience will ultimately decide whether these messages bring any value to their lives and generate new business for the brands in question – but on the occasions when it does backfire it is often the celebrity that sees their image tarnished far worse than the brand.

Is Twitter getting its Snickers in a twist? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The negative publicity about Tripadvisor shook me to my very core. I very rarely book any hotel ever without feverishly reading the reviews and analysing the stats on Tripadvisor first. I’m what Alan Sugar would describe as a “Steady Eddie” – I’m risk averse. If I’m going to be spending money on a holiday and staying in a hotel then I need to be reassured that it is clean, comfortable, safe and conveniently located.

The reason that I was so distressed by the news is because I regularly leave impartial, factual reviews on the site myself. I like to think that somewhere out there, a Cautious Carole is booking her room safe in the knowledge that my words have put her mind at rest and that’s one less thing to worry about with the whole traumatic experience of travelling.

But if recent reports in the media are to be taken with the hysteria they demand, then nearly every review is either written (in one underhand way or another) by the hotel owners themselves or, on the flipside, by somebody with a grudge that wants to destroy a hotel’s good name simply because they weren’t given a free upgrade to a honeymoon suite. Or it could just be a rival hotelier trying to put his competitors out of business.

The difficulty facing social media is that the more people are using it, the more potential it has to bring in (or take away) new business for brands and therefore the higher the stake for the brand owners and the higher the temptation to influence what is being said about them in a clandestine way.

If genuine users start to suspect that a site is too heavily influenced with fake reviews they will eventually vote with their feet and look for an alternative that has not yet been compromised.

Personally, my experience of Tripadvisor has been very good to date so it is still in my list of “trusted brands” – unlike certain orange-themed “budget” airlines I could mention. If my reviews are genuine I like to believe that the majority of others are too – although it’s probably fair to say you are more likely to leave a review if you have either a fantastic or an awful experience and less likely to if it was just run of the mill.

Now onto Twitter: I have to confess I still don’t really get it.

Loads of my friends use it and preach its brilliance. Maybe I’m just a Luddite, but I really don’t feel the need to know that Cheryl Cole is going to the shops. Or not having a fling with MC Harvey.

There must be benefits – otherwise millions of people wouldn’t be using it. I’m pretty sure that when this blog is posted a tweet is set to automatically go out from WordPress to notify people, so I suppose that could be useful if anyone is actually interested in reading it. But being more of a glass half empty kind of person I’m always more aware of the pitfalls. Stewart Lee, the comedian, demonstrated one of these in a monologue a few years ago when he spoke about Ironik, the rapper:

“He was a tweeter and one Saturday last November, he twatted, which is the past tense of tweet. Ironik twatted that he’d bought a new diamond necklace and he twatted that he was on his way to Southend to do a gig, and then he twatted that he was on his way back to London, and then he got mugged outside his house. And now Ironik understands the meaning – if not the spelling - of his name.”

More recently, there was a case in the news last week about a guy called Leigh Van Bryan who inadvertently spoilt his (and his travelling companion’s) holiday to Hollywood before it had even begun when he was arrested at LAX and subsequently denied access to the USA. He was considered a potential threat by the Department of Homeland Security when he posted a tweet to his friends saying he was going to “dig up Marilyn Monroe and destroy America”… which, of course, he clearly wasn’t.

In the old days it was just so much more effort to be stopped from flying or barred from entering America. You had to literally walk up to a security official at an airport and joke with them you were carrying a bomb or something. Now though, when you share a tweet with your mates you better beware of the fallout, because the powers that be are watching and they don’t always have a sense of humour.

I’ll finish with some stats I read in Friday’s Metro:

Tweeters say that only 36 per cent of the tweets they receive are of any interest, about 25 per cent are actively disliked and the rest are instantly forgotten.

There are a few points of advice for tweeters here. I, however, will be choosing to ignore them altogether. I feel so much safer that way.

At what point does social media get an ASBO? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

British advertisers are clearly missing a trick, as last week I read that in Germany you can sponsor weather fronts in a scheme that the meteorological institute has been running since 2002 called “Adopt a Vortex”.

Unfortunately, the problem with weather systems is that they can sometimes be slightly more temperamental than you initially anticipated – as BMW recently found out.  “Cold Front Cooper”, which advertising agency Sassenbach named after the open-air Mini Cooper (citing it as a “wind- and weather-proof idea”), has been blamed for hundreds of deaths throughout Europe – and shows no sign of letting up.

Perhaps if the Mini Cooper’s target market was geared slightly more towards gun-totting, bad-ass gangsters it would seem more appropriate – but I think it’s unlikely that they are going to be winning too much new business from people who are aspiring to be “The New Ronnie Kray” – or maybe even just Derek Branning from Eastenders.

However, it gave me a brainwave for other new untapped marketing opportunities:  why not sponsor disasters – both natural and manmade? The amount of media coverage generated by these can be phenomenal. Here are a few ideas for brands wanting to win new business in the face of human misery:

• Hurricane Topseal Roof Replacement
• Flood Wetline Eco Dinghy
• Drought Evian
• BAE Systems Gulf War

I’m off to the patents office to register my idea now. Next stop Dragon’s Den.

Turning disaster into new business…or not is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

My role as a New Business Manager has taught me a great deal about how we are marketed to. From research, to strategy, through to delivery of marketing campaigns, and more importantly the depths to which brands will go to tap into our emotions.

Over the past 5 years I have seen a growing interest in “emotional advertising” with recent trends in brands looking at things like behavioural economics at the research stage, which includes looking at the emotional factors in the consumer’s buying decisions.

Music has long been a huge factor in guiding emotional decisions in advertising, and these days it’s almost impossible to turn on the TV and not witness the marriage of music and commerce.

There have been many studies and theories on the emotional effect music has on our purchasing decisions, but perhaps one of the most popular papers on the the effects of music in advertising was Gerald J. Gorn’s experiment (Gorn, 1982). He paired a light blue or a beige coloured pen (neutral stimulus) with both well-liked and disliked music (unconditioned stimulus). 79% of the subjects chose the pen with music they liked – a conditioned reaction.

Music also enhances the recall for a product, even if the emotion evoked by the advert is hatred. Take Go Compare for example, it drives me insane but the brand is burned into my brain whether I like it or not.

Equally, a massive number of car advertisements we now see are 90% music. An inspiring piece of music is sometimes all it takes to stimulate us to feel something toward a car and associate it with a better way of life. An American advert for Honda Odyssey I came across does just that, and although I don’t have a driving license nor in fact any kids to need a people carrier, I can see how this ad would evoke a positive emotion with parents wanting life to be this serene when driving their kids about.

The emotional stimulus aside, products advertised are identified much quicker with a certain piece of music. In some cases it’s the music alone that makes the brand identifiable. Take Bach’s Air on a G String for example… Cigar?

Influence of music in consumer advertising is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

The following statistics and many more like them are readily available on the web and point to the fact that we as consumers are using handheld devices more and more in order to do what we used to do on a PC or laptop; shop, compare prices, access social networks, view product reviews, book tickets, give opinions, the list goes on and on.

• The number of mobile subscribers is going to double in the next year
• Predictions suggest that mobile internet usage will outpace desktop by 2015 – Google believe that this could happen by the end of 2012
• 85% of the world’s population has wireless access
• There are currently 23 million UK mobile internet users
• 15% of the UK population only have a mobile phone at home
• 68% of mobile phone users use their mobile in retail stores
• 24% of mobile users intentionally carry their mobile phone for in-store price comparison
• 79% of online advertisers don’t have a mobile optimised site
• 28% of people who see a mobile ad take action
• Amazon has already recorded four billion mobile sales
• A third of flowers sold on Mother’s Day were through mobile devices
• Around 12% of traffic within the online travel and finance industries is through mobile devices
• Facebook pages drive 80% of newsletter sign-up’s through mobiles

 The key for brands and retailers who want to tap in to this huge opportunity is to realise that mobile shouldn’t be viewed as separate from other parts of their overall marketing plans. Instead, it should be integrated into a broader digital strategy that marries great user experience with fantastic visual design. An app that looks pretty but doesn’t allow you buy what you want to buy is as bad as walking into a bricks and mortar shop and finding out there’s no staff to serve you at the till.

As an agency, whether a mobile specialist or one that operates in the broader digital space, the key to winning new business is getting in front of the right people in the right companies and demonstrating that you understand how to make mobile part of the bigger picture.

We’ve been doing this successfully on behalf of agencies for several years now, so if you want the benefit of our experience in this ever-changing marketplace give us a call….

2012 – The Year of Mobile? is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

There are lots of reasons why a Marketing Director will dedicate an hour of his time to finding out what an agency that he’s never heard of before can do for him.

One of the key differentiating factors between the many “sales calls” that will be rejected as a “waste of time”, and the rare “interesting call with an agency worth meeting with”, is the ability of the person who is calling to have an intelligent conversation – i.e. a conversation that focuses on something that is relevant, that makes good business sense, and that is with someone you enjoy talking to.

There’s no big secret:　

• be clear about why you are calling and what you want to get out of the conversation
• be curious
• ask relevant questions (get the prospect to open-up and focus on relevant issues)
• have a genuine interest in the person you are talking to
• listen
• listen
• listen
• resist the urge to tell the prospect everything about what you do and why you are the best thing since sliced bread
• listen
• listen
• listen
• make sure you understand what the prospect is telling you
• let him know you can help
• ask for the meeting!

Although you don’t need to be an “expert” in everything you are talking about (other people are there to sort out any technical details after all), it’s important to know what’s happening in the market/sector that you are targeting, understand the issues that prospects are faced with and be able to demonstrate how your client can help with their priorities.

Which is why it takes a special breed of people to make the kind of calls that will stand out.

Nobody wants to receive a call which is scripted and goes over a list of services offered; that’s just “another bloody cold call”!

Any agency that wants to seriously stand out and win new business needs sales people who can think on their feet and can engage prospects in an intelligent fashion and on a personal level.

Winning new business is not rocket science; it’s hard work, but it can often be fun and interesting if you have the right attitude!

Making intelligent new business calls is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

We had a great start to the year with 2 of our clients confirming decent sized wins in the first 2 days back, so long may that continue.

I’m personally looking forward to 2012; firstly, I’m one of the lucky few with tickets for the Olympics (the diving no less, so I’m getting ready to cheer Tom Daley and the rest of the team on) but I’m also going to keep my eyes open for more tickets – so if anyone knows anyone…

On a business level, I remain confident about this year. I know we’ve probably not seen the worst of it yet, there’s a double dip coming etc but this isn’t like the early 1990s recession when everyone stopped spending on Marketing. In this competitive marketplace, brands and companies will almost certainly die a death if they DON’T spend, albeit wisely and in a well researched and planned/ targeted manner and increasingly on digital and social media.

According to the latest research from the AAR the number of new business pitches in 2011 declined by 13% .

However, Kerry Glazer said that there are a few encouraging signs, that the decline in advertising appears to have bottomed out for example, which could be grounds for future optimism.

Also of note is the fact that the trend for large clients to hold integrated pitches disappeared in 2011.

Most of our clients prefer us to get them ‘under the radar’ to start a relationship rather than chase pitches, so these facts will not have much impact on our core business, but we do keep an eye on any trend in the marketplace as forewarned is always forearmed.

Hello 2012 is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

We know personally of several agencies who have had to shut their doors this year, never good news, particularly when staff have been laid off.

Interestingly, most of the agencies we know who’ve gone under have blamed themselves rather than ‘the market’. They attribute their demise to leaving it too late to respond to the changing needs of clients and their marketing budgets. Examples include:

• not developing a serious digital offer whether through acquisition or partnership
• not having a clear offer and/or targeting strategy for business development
• a lack of investment in proactively looking for new clients and/or markets

On the other side of the coin, we’ve added over 600 new agencies to our already extensive agency database and more of our clients have won business this year than for the last 5 years.

Out of interest, here is a breakdown of client wins by discipline:

• Research: 19%
• Digital: 17%
• Full service/integrated: 17%
• Design/branding/packaging/corporate com: 17%
• BTL, PR and media planning &buying: 30%

As a glass half full kind of person, I always look forward to the forthcoming year with the hope of more and better! I wish this to all my readers!

Goodbye 2011 is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

As a pro-active new business agency, Alchemis generates leads and qualified appointments through intelligent conversations. Much has been reported about how the rise of digital communications has/will impact on the business-to-business (B2B) sales process, but our strongly held belief is that communication needs to include a good level of human interaction (i.e. phone calls and meetings).

Alchemis works specifically with marketing services agencies so we undertook research into our client base, examining key successes over 2011. We also investigated wider and more generic research into all B2B markets in order to quantify the significance of personal contact in the sales cycle and how best that should be deployed.

Our key findings were:

• Human Interaction remains vital, both for activating a lead and nurturing it through to business conversion. The key benefits of personal contact include:
  • The ability to identify a true need
  • Enabling an opportunity to be accurately evaluated to see if it is right for your business
  • Ensuring opportunities are not missed
  • Increasing conversion from opportunities
• The value of the ultimate sale does not dictate the frequency of human interaction required to convert business
• Email and digital tools are useful, but suit some industries more than others. However, a general trend indicates effectiveness is declining (research from Marketing Sherpa taken from a survey of 1745 marketers, showed SEO and email saw a 50% decline in their overall effectiveness in 2011 versus 2010)

All of these points are covered in more detail throughout this document.

It is worth highlighting that the report is based on identifying the importance of human interaction. Whilst we compare other B2B marketing and sales techniques, to evaluate each area in detail would be a much larger undertaking.

We have looked at the frequency of interaction and how best to manage that contact. We hope that this report proves useful and insightful in demonstrating how human interaction allows you to get a true picture of YOUR target market and how it is central in selling your product or service effectively.

The Report

Approaches to B2B sales are varied and the spread of digital media shows no sign of slowing down – but have they really changed the psyche of the purchaser and how much influence do digital (or other) communications really have in buying decisions?

This report seeks to establish the key routes to market for B2B companies, through the examination of various research papers cross-referenced against our own data.

It also crucially examines if personal contact and interaction remain an important part of the business development process or if new, online and digital techniques are taking over.

Figure 1 below illustrates how B2B spend has been spread across all channels in 2011.

Figure 1 – B2B Marketing Expenditure:

Source: Marketing Sherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey

A recent paper by the SCi Sales Group investigates the influence of digital techniques on the B2B sales cycle versus that of human interaction and the Marketing Sherpa Benchmark Report examines current patterns and trends within B2B marketing as well as making forecasts on future activity.

Both papers cover generic B2B sales techniques and processes in many different markets. Our data is based solely on marketing agencies and it is interesting to compare this specific market against the wider SCi and Marketing Sherpa findings.

Figure 2 – B2B marketing challenges versus priorities:

Source: Marketing Sherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey

To break down the whole process and examine every facet of the sales cycle would be too involved, but there are two key areas to look at based on the challenge versus priority graph above:

1. Lead generation and establishing initial contact with a prospect
2. Nurturing and converting a prospect from initial contact to sale

Figure 2 highlights that lead generation is a key priority for most companies, but that conversion to business remains the biggest challenge.

Initial Contact/Lead Generation:

It is clear from the graph above that lead generation is both a high priority for B2B marketers as well as a big challenge.

As a small business owner, I know how we as an organisation make decisions on new products or services based on the following simple criteria:

• Requirement either to replace an existing or to invest in a new product/service
• Cost
• Upheaval and risk factor of change

But, how does a company engage with myself and my fellow owners of Alchemis and establish our interest in the first instance?

As highlighted above, the primary routes taken in B2B sales to establish initial contact include:

The SCi research reports the findings of B2B Marketing Magazine, who asked 211 executives their thoughts on each channel. The most interesting points from a human interaction perspective were that, despite the difference in spend in each area:

• 8% cited email as the least effective
• Only 1% highlighted telemarketing as the least effective

As these figures are across all industries, an element of caution needs to be taken. Each approach will differ in its effectiveness depending on the market within which it is being deployed.

What the statistics do not show is the reasoning behind the choice. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses.

• Email is cheap, but is becoming increasingly competitive and crowded
• Events are a good way to meet face-to-face, but a) there is no guarantee you will meet the decision maker and b) at an exhibition, the prospect is more interested in selling themselves, rather than listening to you sell yourself
• SEO/PPC gives you volume of traffic, but can you guarantee the quality?
• Direct mail is expensive
• Telemarketing is comparatively expensive, but it allows you to establish a direct interest quickly. It identifies buying signals and allows you to drive the conversation

Hence, it is worth viewing this from a different perspective. i.e. which approach makes the prospect feel most valued?

The SCi report breaks “value” down in a human way – at the end of the day, B2B sales are based on communicating to humans. It asks, if it were your birthday, what action from your friends would make you feel more valued?

1. A text message
2. An email
3. A card
4. A phone call
5. A visit/meeting

The answer is obvious, so when 100 managers were asked which marketing channel made them feel most valued, face-to-face meetings and telemarketing came top with 81% between them.

Within the marketing industry, adding perceived value versus your competitors or the incumbent is a crucial element in any sale, so as an industry it is suited to the more personal approach. It is often very difficult to identify genuine USPs or points of difference from agency to agency, so in terms of developing new business, the initial contact to establish an interest is vital. Ultimately, agency experience (and therefore agency personnel) will be a major reason for selecting a partner and that initial call needs to reflect that agency personality effectively.

Human contact allows you to do this in a way that email, websites and direct mail never will.

A survey of our clients found that approx 65% have used email marketing as a tool. The main reasons cited being:

• It’s cheap
• It can be tailored to specific customers
• It’s traceable and therefore measurable
• It’s a good way to remain in touch with prospects

However, the main reason for engaging a new business agency has often been as a result of poor responses and conversions from either sporadic or regular emailing campaigns.

Prospect Nurture:

Once contact and interest have been established, communication will be via telephone, email or face-to-face meetings (inclusive of online video meetings).

SCi researched a group of buyers across a wide range of markets and the group were asked if they had either had a telephone conversation or meeting with a company before placing orders on their last 3 purchases.

The result was that 70% of buyers had received either a call or had a meeting prior to purchase, aside of how the initial lead had been generated.

Alchemis cross-referenced the SCi findings against our own over the course of 2011 to see if there are any patterns that may help our clients develop new business.

Our data examines a broad mix of clients across different marketing disciplines in order to establish trends. We have examined where and why clients have won business and surveyed each conversion to establish frequency, type and timescale of communication/touch points from initial contact through to conversion to business.

Size/budget of new business win is a key factor in how much personal contact is required with any given prospect.

The SCi findings were that:

• Average order value with human interaction was £22,734
• Average order value without human interaction was £1,242

However, these figures covered repeat and new orders. The key was that 100% of new purchases required human interaction, even as low as £300.

Within Alchemis’ client base, 100% of all conversions arise as a result of at least an initial telephone call to generate interest and in almost all cases, further face-to-face meetings have been required in order to secure the business. We do have a handful of cases where business has been won over the phone from conference calls or online demonstrations of a product or service, but this is very much the minority.

More important is the frequency of contact with any given prospect once the initial call has been made.

Whilst some clients have converted business from just one meeting and subsequent calls and emails and others have attended 5 face-to-face meetings, on average clients are being required to meet the prospect face-to-face at least twice before the contract is signed.

The table below shows the number of actual face-to-face meetings required to convert business, based on the value of the opportunity.

It is clear that the number of meetings required don’t differ wildly based on the budget of any given project. There are anomalies where business of £70k plus has been won purely through email and phone correspondence and indeed, comparatively low value wins have taken 60 weeks and 5 meetings.

So what does all this mean?

It appears to be a common theme that a lot of new business is lost as people give up on the process after 4 or 5 points of contact (email, phone and face-to-face). From the statistics above, this means that potential opportunities are being lost. There is no doubt that the most successful of our clients are those who are prepared to follow each step in the right way and at the right time.

It is hard work!

This is highlighted by the example mentioned above, citing 5 meetings required for conversion. The full process was:

• 12 calls in total
• 5 face-to-face meetings
• 9 emails

The end result was a win with a value of £30,000.

The reality is that the company has the potential to be an agency changing client and this is just an initial foot in the door project, but it does highlight the dedication to business development any marketing agency needs to have.

Another area is the time frame from initial contact to securing the business. This differs depending on the timing of the initial contact. If your timing is right and there is an opportunity on the table, the lead-time may be much shorter. However, based on our client conversions, that does not always mean less interaction. It just means it is squeezed into a shorter timeframe.

Whilst not covered by either the SCi or Marketing Sherpa data, it is worth looking at target universe coverage. On face value, email allows you to cheaply cover a vast number of new business prospects and advertising and PR will get you coverage, but the reality is none of these can guarantee:

• Direct interaction
• Prospect qualification
• Prospect nurture

Ultimately, the initial contact with telephone calls can take longer, but a call does allow you to cover all of these areas. It allows you to eliminate the non-interested and focus on those that have a requirement and to agree the best contact strategy directly with the prospect, which may be a combination of calls, meetings and emails.

Often our clients may have a defined number of target prospects. A key reason for using Alchemis is to:

• Identify key decision makers
• Establish contact and interest (eliminate if not interested)
• Create a contact strategy

Once interested parties are identified, we will build a strong rapport with a prospect over the phone and arrange meetings when appropriate. Often prospects will be spoken to 10+ times over a long period before any appointment or opportunity is identified.

To highlight this, it is worth looking at a case study from a client who commissioned Alchemis in January 2009. From a list of 279 companies, we have:

• Identified decision makers and had conversations within 251 of the companies (89.9% coverage)
• Had 943 conversations with the target audience
• Arranged 121 meetings
• Created 13 new business wins

The conversions/wins are shown to demonstrate how effective telephone marketing campaigns can be, but the important part is that we now have a direct relationship with almost 90% of their target audience, that we understand their current situation and requirements and that we have established a contact strategy with all of them. That will include further calls, but will also include emails.

No other approach would allow you to do that.

Conclusions:

Every business is different and all B2B marketing and sales techniques have a role to play. However, within the digital field I do believe that they have led to an element of complacency and laziness in proactive prospecting. Certainly within the marketing agency space, they are, all too often, being used as the easy (but not necessarily the right) approach and often in isolation, without follow up and to little effect.

Building relationships is key and human interaction through the telephone call or meetings is crucial. As covered in the initial summary, telemarketing and subsequent meetings allow you to:

• Identify a need
• Make the buyer feel valued
• Accurately evaluate an opportunity
• Fully explain a proposition with no chance of misinterpretation (a common problem with emails)
• Build rapport
• Handle objections and barriers
• Enhance client/customer service
• Identify areas for cross/upselling

Email and digital communications suit companies and industries with huge target audiences and specific (usually product based) offers. They are a great way of remaining in touch with prospects and keeping “on the radar” once initial contact has been established and often we/our clients use them to good effect in this manner.

Research by BrandScience in 2010 suggests that using 3 channels in a campaign may enhance ROI by 700%. The reality is you need to do what is right for your company in the context of the industry you are in. This may well include more than one approach and a good new business campaign will often use a blend of channels, but don’t under estimate the value of human interaction.

Why personal interaction is vital in generating new business is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Running from the 29th November through to the 3rd December, it will be held at The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea Park. Admission is free to the general public, but any donations to the charity will be most welcome.

The opening night will be Monday 28th November from 6.00pm onwards and there will be an auction night on Friday 2nd December from 6:30pm - with none other than yours truly as the auctioneer- where some celebrity phoneography along with top work from the exhibition will be sold to raise money for Kids Company.

If you would like to attend either of these nights please send an email to info@createhive.org with subject header – “Auction night” or “Opening night” (or both if you can make it) along with your name and company name.

It’s in support of an amazing charity reaching 14,000 children across London providing practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people, in particular those with severe emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, resulting from significant experiences of trauma and neglect.

Please feel free to bring along friends and partners and do forward this invite on to everyone and anyone, the more support the better!

Thanks, and I hope to see you there!

 For further details on the exhibition please click here.

Pixel This – A phoneography charity auction for Kids Company is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog

Entitled ‘Add value, don’t give away your thinking for free’ it will focus on how to reclaim the high ground in client relationships and abandon free pitching.

The series this year has delivered some hard-hitting truths and insights into business development and client relationships from a design agency perspective – if you missed any of them, they will be available online from January 2012.

Designers Breakfast on Thursday 24th November is a post from the Alchemis New Business Blog