Strategic Outreach

Category: B-toB Advertising

  • Taking a New Approach to Reaching the Real Buying Influences

    Just when you think you fully understand the buying influences and the right messages, think again. One thing that I’ve learned during my career is to routinely take a second or third look, after you think you’ve got a market all figured out. BtoB buying influences can easily allude the marketer or PR pro who…

  • Application Stories Fueled B2B Manufacturing-Tech Leadership

    Early in my career in the years “B.I” (Before Internet), I began experiencing first-hand the marketing power of pumping out useful, insightful content to the marketplace.  My colleagues and I proved that we could magnify the perception of a very small company as a leader, by demonstrating what they know. Our Detroit-area agency did the…

  • “Will It Blend” is the Ultimate Demo

    Take a close look at what time-lapse could do for you – whether it be actual video footage or graphics.

  • Borrow Best B2C Campaign Themes for B2B Messaging

    My workday adrenaline is fueled by the fact that business innovations are exciting, new technology enthralling.  Likewise, B2B marcomm messaging should tap into new and engaging energies, rather than reverting to hyperbole and braggadocio.  And why do we need to always be as serious as a funeral home? So, here’s my first in a series…

  • Have You Laughed at Chelsea Lately?

    Authenticity is growing as a guideline on business websites, but it’s getting rarer on TV these days. I recently went to a taping of Chelsea Lately, the rude, shallow but amusing gossip/talk show on the E network. I expected that an under-employed comedian would be warming up the small studio audience prior to the taping…

  • Exposing Business Cliche Over-Exposure

    Business cliches and over-used phrases are discussed in the new edition of David Meerman Scott’s business bestseller The New Rules of Marketing an PR.

  • B2B Marketer’s Challenge: Cutting Through the Clutter to Persuade Top Management

    I am now in the 4th stage of my career.  This post begins a series on these stages, with some insights I have gained along the way.  Stage  I (below) was my “heavy-duty” period. The struggle of manufacturers during this deep recession to get support from banks for investments in new technology and capital improvements…

  • Let Engineers Tell their Stories

    During the late 1980s and 90s, I spent a great deal of time writing case studies on behalf of manufacturing technology specialists, the companies that innovated new controls, automation and processes used to make durable goods.   The work took me to plants throughout North America and parts of Europe. There were numerous obstacles.  General Motors…

  • Industry Origins are Popular as Business Stories

    Although my focus is on the B-to-B world, I summarized three of my favorite B-to-C stories that are well known to many business people, and asked colleagues and cohorts to vote on the one they thought was the most significant to them. My thanks to the thirty pros who responded.  Looks like the oldest story…