BtoB articles from September 2008

BtoB archives from September 2008

The 10 great web sites.(NetMarketing: 10 Great Web Sites)
September 15, 2008... Adobe URL: www.adobe.com Target audience: Developers, creative professionals, knowledge workers, IT professionals Key Web executive: Andy Young, VP-Web marketing No. of employees who work on the site: N/A Last major redesign: December...

Btobonline.com.(Opinion)
September 15, 2008... Survey says! Recent BtoB webcast audience poll results: What is the biggest obstacle to running successful integrated campaigns? Coordination of channels: 28% Budget: 28% Knowledge: 28% Staffing: 16% Poll taken during...

Google tackles RSS.(Tools & Metrics)(Google Inc.)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Last month, Google began rolling out two new important programs that could push RSS even further into the mainstream: 1. Blogger/Google Reader RSS Integration Blogs written using Google's popular Blogger service will now offer the...

Making a headline do the hard work.(Chasers)(United States. Postal Service)
September 15, 2008... Good headlines can both tell and sell. Some headlines pose questions and some play on words. There's a time and a place for both of those types, but there's usually nothing more effective than the headline that manages to say it all. ...

Behavioral targeting comes under fire.(News)(United States. Federal Trade Commission)
September 15, 2008... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD While privacy advocates express concerns, regulators weigh legislation vs. self-policing Behavioral targeting, a technique used by online publishers and advertisers alike to deliver content and marketing...

'BusinessWeek' bolsters brand; Year of dramatic changes culminates in social media site for businesspeople.(Business Media)( BusinessWeek.com )
September 15, 2008... Byline: MARIE GRIFFIN Change has been the one constant at BusinessWeek over the past year. * In October, the magazine unveiled a new design that updated the look and incorporated more Web-like features, including a Links section that...

Hosford joins 'BtoB' editorial staff.(News)(Christopher Hosford)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Christopher Hosford, an award-winning business and financial writer and editor, has joined BtoB as a senior reporter. A former editor in chief of Sales & Marketing Management, Hosford will be responsible for BtoB's direct marketing coverage,...

Weak economy forces revised ad forecasts.(News)
September 15, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Researchers predict marketing budgets will shrink as companies slash expenses As the economy falters, several major research and media companies have lowered their ad forecasts for the year, bringing them closer in...

media notes.(Business Media)(briefs)(BPA Worldwide)(Nielsen Online)(ABM/FIPP World Conference 2008)(Light Reading)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... BPA adds auditing service for Web sites BPA Worldwide, in partnership with Nielsen Online, will offer monitoring of e-products for its current members, with no additional dues or fees. Glenn Hanson, president-CEO of BPA Worldwide, announced...

Quick Hits.(News)(briefs)
September 15, 2008... ANA opposes Google/Yahoo partnership In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Association of National Advertisers said it opposes the planned search advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo that is now under review by the...

Speak to all involved in the purchasing process; industry outlook.(Vertical Insight: Marketing to IT)(dialogue with Marilous Barsam)(Interview)
September 15, 2008... Byline: Mary E. Morrison As senior VP-client consulting and corporate marketing for IT media company TechTarget Inc., Marilous Barsam works closely with marketers to determine the best campaign strategy and media options for reaching...

How to green your booth.(Events)
September 15, 2008... Byline: ERIN BIBA Tips for marketers on building and showcasing eco-friendly exhibits Events are following trends set by nearly every other industry in the world and going green. Trade show attendees are starting to expect the events...

indirect.(Direct & Database)(briefs)(Catalogs)(Demandbase)(AdGooroo)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... DMA survey: Catalogs still the top channel Catalogs are still the primary medium for multichannel merchants, according to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association for its 16th annual "State of the Catalog Industry Report.''...

Agenda.(News)(Calendar)
September 15, 2008... Sept. 18 BtoB's NetMarketing Breakfast, Denver BtoB magazine Marriott City Center BtoBonline.com/breakfasts Sept. 18-19 OMMA Global New York Media Post New York Marriott Marquis ...

Panel addresses need to overcome business publishing's novelty in some parts of the world.(News)(ABM/FIPP World Conference 2008)
September 15, 2008... Byline: ELLIS BOOKER Working on different continents, with different target audiences and different local issues, the five publishing executives at this month's ABM/FIPP World Conference 2008 session titled "Making Magazines Hotter Than...

Getting the basics right keeps sites useful, effective.(NetMarketing: 10 Great Web Sites)
September 15, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN Each year, BtoB highlights 10 business-to-business Web sites that are particularly good examples of how companies can use the Web to communicate with customers. These sites turn out to be ones that do an...

Online content never dies; New Channels.(Viewpoint essay)
September 15, 2008... Byline: Paul Gillin A marketing manager at one b-to-b technology client has come up with a clever way to repackage and reuse corporate knowledge. His executives are too busy to spend hours creating white papers, so he snags them for...

USPS promotes green credentials; The Postal Service's `Environmailist' campaign encourages direct marketers to conserve.(Direct & Database)
September 15, 2008... Byline: AMY SYRACUSE For the United States Postal Service, going green isn't just about conserving natural resources and preserving the health of the planet. It's also about sustaining the postal mail business itself. After all, what would...

IDC: Tech marketing spending slowing.(News)(Survey)
September 15, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Tech marketers will increase their marketing budgets this year, although at a slower pace than last year as the economy lags, according to IDC's 2008 Tech Marketing Benchmark study. According to the study, based on...

How network-based targeting works.(News)
September 15, 2008... Byline: RICHARD KARPINSKI Most marketers understand such Web-based ad-targeting technologies as cookies, browsing history and contextual ads. But network-based targeting is something altogether new. This kind of targeting, which is...

Nortel TV ads take on Cisco.(Advertising)
September 15, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Success of `energy efficiency' campaign prompts new strategy Building on the success of its "Cisco Energy Tax'' print and online campaign that debuted in May, Nortel Networks kicked off a new TV campaign Sept. 2,...

Customizing the future of publishing.(Opinion)
September 15, 2008... Byline: Ellis Booker Our page 1 headline-''Weak economy forces revised ad forecasts''-shouldn't come as a surprise. The story, by Senior Reporter Kate Maddox, cites among other studies a reduced global forecast by media agency Carat, which...

Methodology.(Special Report: Top B-to-B Advertisers)(business to business )(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Totals for the Top 100 B-to-B Advertisers in 2007 are based on BtoB's exclusive analysis of data from TNS Media Intelligence. TNS tracks ad spending from a variety of media, including b-to-b publications and consumer media such as TV,...

Company raises its profile with integrated marketing campaign.(Vertical Insight: Marketing to IT)(Sonicwall Inc. acquired MailFrontier)
September 15, 2008... Byline: MARY E. MORRISON SonicWALL Inc. is a provider of network security, secure remote access, Web and e-mail security, backup and recovery, and policy and management solutions. In January 2006, the company acquired e-mail security...

Top-secret memo err, search engine repair and Phelps fanfare; Beyond the biz.(News)(Carat ICG)
September 15, 2008... Struggling media agency Carat is planning a major restructurinG of its U.S. operations, including an undetermined number of layoffs-news it accidentally released earlier this month via a memo the agency's top New York-based HR executive...

Moving past the culture of blame; Ongoing disconnect hampers cooperation of sales and marketing.(News)(Survey)
September 15, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Driven by pressure to improve sales and boost the bottom line, b-to-b marketers are working to close the gap that often exists between sales and marketing organizations. A recent study by the Chief Marketing Officer...

Link up with Influential IT; Social media allows marketers to affordably reach technology pros.(Vertical Insight: Marketing to IT)(information technology)
September 15, 2008... Byline: MARY E. MORRISON Businesses selling their products or services to information technology executives face a potentially lucrative-but very complex-market. As IT's influence on all aspects of business expands, opportunities for...

Beyond niches, RSS awareness just beginning; ask the expert.(Tools & Metrics)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Darren Rowse is one of the Internet's foremost blogging and RSS experts. As the chief blogger at ProBlogger.net and one of the founders of blog content network b5media, Darren has been advising individual bloggers and companies on how to use...

Success metrics evolve with RSS; Marketers finally beginning to find ways to monetize feeds and measure results.(Tools & Metrics)(Really Simple Syndication)
September 15, 2008... Byline: RICHARD KARPINSKI Few technologies have simultaneously been as popular and as confusing as RSS, the simple yet-still-far-from-mainstream platform for syndicating blog and other Web site content. It's hard to imagine a blog...

Top 100 b-to-b advertisers cut ad spending 1.9% in '07.(Special Report: Top B-to-B Advertisers)(Business to business )(Statistical data)(Company rankings)
September 15, 2008... Byline: KATE MADDOX Reflecting the weak economy, the top 100 b-to-b advertisers spent an estimated $6.05 billion on b-to-b advertising last year, down 1.9% from $6.17 billion in 2006, according to a BtoB analysis of ad spending data from...

Goat or gloat; A quick comparison of recent work by competing advertisers.(Chasers)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Company: Delta Dental of Illinois, Lisle, Ill. Agency: N/A Market: Human resources executives Quick chase: The man with the toothy grin has been tapped to alert the audience that Delta Dental is more than just a provider of dental health...

Cut to the chase.(Chasers)(N/A Market)(briefs)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Company: Visa Business, San Francisco Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles Market: Small business Quick chase: On an empty stomach, this ad for Visa Business is impossible to ignore. Even sated, the oversized image of a four-story dessert of...

new campaigns.(Advertising)(Nicholson Kovac)(Doremus Hong Kong)(briefs)(Brief article)
September 15, 2008... Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies "MoistureShield Composite Decking'' Agency: Nicholson Kovac, Kansas City, Mo. Target audience: Professional deck builders, lumber dealers Campaign objective: Increase awareness of...

Economy stokes trend toward short-term marketing hires.(News)(Editorial)
September 15, 2008... Byline: JACK NEFF The hard times facing the marketing industry may be only temporary, but so, it turns out, are a lot of the jobs. With an increasing number of companies looking to reduce the full-time head counts in their marketing...

Events industry M&A activity booming.(News)(mergers and acquisitions)
September 15, 2008... Byline: CHRISTOPHER HOSFORD The trade show and conferences industry is experiencing a surge in mergers and acquisitions, driven by continued strong growth and high profitability in the sector, according to a new study, "The Events...

Focus in on video vitals; Avoid these seven common pitfalls when delivering effective online content.(Multimedia)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN Are you making the most of your video assets? An April comScore report showed that U.S. Internet viewers watched more than 10 billion online videos in February, a year-over-year increase of 66%. Marketers looking to...

E-mail marketers grapple with reach, relevance.(Strategy)
September 29, 2008... E-mail marketers grapple with reach, relevance While e-mail marketers continue to wrestle with important, practical issues such as how often to contact customers, which customer segments should receive particular messages and how to make...

Ariba creates controls for who sends marketing e-mails when.(Strategy)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN How ariba took controls of duplicate e-mails Objective: Ariba needed a way to keep customers and prospects from receiving duplicate e-mails from within the organization. It also wanted to increase brand...

What to measure? Analyzing Web 2.0's granular data poses new challenges.(Analytics)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN In a February 2007 report called "Measuring Rich Internet Applications,'' Forrester Research Analyst Megan Burns found that Web site owners were rushing to add rich Internet applications and Web 2.0 technologies to...

Mix e-mail with online ad efforts; Display ads can help prepare potential customers for a focused campaign.(Integration)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN Few marketers would dispute the importance of e-mail marketing or banner ads. Unfortunately, though, most companies still keep the planning and execution of these media channels separate-even if both are created...

GIVE YOUR E-MAIL MARKETING NEW LIFE; Get past the routine of `set and forget' with tactics that will increase customer response.(Strategy)(Armstrong)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN Since 2004, flooring manufacturer Armstrong has executed an e-mail marketing program designed to increase its brand awareness among commercial suppliers and specifiers. Earlier this year, its e-mail service...

LivePerson cleans up e-mail efforts integrating with CRM.(List Management)(customer relationship management)(electronic)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN LivePerson provides online engagement and customer service solutions to both large enterprises and small businesses. It offers customers a free trial of its service, and about 120 companies take advantage of the...

NorthStar Systems doubles revenue with e-mails, 'telenetworking'.(Integration)(electronic)
September 29, 2008... Byline: MARY E. MORRISON Last year, NorthStar Systems International, a provider of software solutions to financial services institutions, set out to increase brand awareness and generate sales leads among its audience of wealth management...

The challenges of measuring new media; Marketers mastering basic analytics now must deal with Web 2.0.(Analytics)
September 29, 2008... Byline: RICH KARPINSKI Web analytics guru Eric Peterson, analyst and author of Web Analytics Demystified (Celio Group Media and Cafe Press, 2004), likes to point out that most businesses haven't mastered the basics of first-generation Web...

RADirect uses Web analytics to improve online video success.(Analytics)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN how RADirect boosted image with video Objective: RADirect, in a bid to appear "less stuffy,'' decided to add video to its Web site. The company needed a way to figure out what video format would work best. It...

So, Can you read me now? Marketers develop new ways to ensure their content appears on a variety of mobile devices.(Deliverability)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN An e-mail read on a BlackBerry might look very different than it would on an Apple iPhone or a Palm Treo. This is because the world of mobile e-mail is like the Wild West: There are few rules; anything goes. The...

E-mail marketing includes placing ads when needed; Here's how advertising in other companies' e-newsletters can help reach an audience of receptive prospects.(Strategy)(electronic)
September 29, 2008... Byline: KAREN J. BANNAN Sending out your own e-mail newsletters and promotions can be highly effective, but it's not the only form of e-mail marketing. Marketers looking for a comprehensive online marketing program must also consider how...

E-mail segmentation grows Sony's IT sales.(Strategy)
September 29, 2008... Byline: Karen J. Bannan When Sony Electronics decided in October 2005 to shift from a combination of direct and channel sales to channel only, it needed a way to get the word out to its resellers as well as boost their loyalty. It also...

How to Fight e-mail fatigue; Experts say analytics, greater personalization help keep lines of communication open.(Strategy)(electronic)
September 29, 2008... Byline: Karen J. Bannan E-mail fatigue is getting people down. A typical company may send multiple e-mails to a single customer in just one week. "Monday you send out a note about a webinar. Tuesday you send out a product-centered e-mail....

Balancing need to send with need to suspend.(Editorial)
September 29, 2008... Byline: Ellis Booker A conundrum for e-mail marketers these days involves balancing two competing agendas: The desire to use e-mail, which remains a huge component of their online marketing strategies, and a wish to respect their customers...

Engage prospects while guiding them through buying process.(Strategy)
September 29, 2008... Byline: Joel Book ***** Correction: In "2008 E-mail Marketer Insight Guide'' (page 13), incorrect contact information was given for Premiere Global Services. The company is based in Atlanta and can be reached at (404) 262-8400. ...

Dealing with the advertising competition in e-newsletter ads.(Strategy)
September 29, 2008... Byline: Jeanniey Mullen Question: What's the best way to place e-mail newsletter ads with the competition in mind? Answer: Placing ads in e-mail newsletters is one of those areas where thinking out of the box pays off. In the b-to-b...