B2B Presence » Disintermediation

A New Generation of Leads

Bill Rutledge — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:13:05 +0000

I’ve worked in a lot of different business media environments. Almost every organization that I’ve encountered is loathe to be associated with the “low class” function of lead generation. Traditionally, business media organizations, especially editors, want to be thought of as expert commentators on high-level issues of their day, and the iconic apex of their art form was the long form feature article–a linear, generalized, impersonal information experience that will eventually go the way of the radio play. The dirty mechanics of generating customers and sales always took place outside of the tent.
I’ve always been fascinated with the dirty mechanics, including lead gen, indexing functions (like directories or buyers guides), and community building (all building blocks for successful events, of course.) That’s why I was interested to read about RBI’s new focus, and apparent success in the area of lead gen, which they claim now accounts for one third of their online revenue.
We’re witnessing the ongoing disintermediation of business information (actually all information), and the collapse of traditional media. But we’re definitely not seeing the end of business marketing. If anything, we’re on the cusp of an explosion of new, personalized, targeted, real-time marketing tools and paradigms. The more I talk to media professionals, the more I’m convinced that great things are in the works.
I’m currently working on both online, live and hybrid media models with performance-based vendor participation. On one hand we sell networking opportunities; on the other hand we plan to sell lead-generation for vendors. So it’s important that we engage in a process of user-approved matchmaking, and avoid any perception that we reveal user data without permission. I’m interested in hearing about online approaches that turn lead-gen into high-quality networking. This issue could benefit from some serious academic investigation.

What I’ve Been Working On

Bill Rutledge — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:40:36 +0000

I‘ve tried hard to make B2BPresence at least a weekly part of my work. However, I’ve recently been very busy launching a new concept for business events at my company, Cnxtd Media Corp. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows of my fascination with all forms of “hybrid events.” Hybrid events combine both live and webcast components, occur in real time, and involve direct person-to-person contact.

I’ve felt, for a long time, that there are inefficiencies in the traditional trade show/conference model that can be remedied through a judicious use of technology (nothing cutting edge) and a business model that reduces participants risk, can scale rapidly, and accommodates user-generated content.

The platform, which we call “Connected Events,” was spec’d out last year and pushed into development. At the same time, we began developing partnerships with business media companies for the launch of new events. Then a funny thing happened: The Dow went from 12,000 to 7,000 and almost everyone we were speaking with was either sidelined or downsized.

We’re back on the path now, with two events scheduled. More announcements are forthcoming in a couple of months. I promise it will be very exciting. Stay tuned.

Business Event Media is Social Media

Bill Rutledge — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:45:01 +0000

In spite of the efforts of many conference and trade show organizers, conferences and trade shows are the primary form of social media in B2B. We event organizers can proudly say that our products were the original expression of the imperative need for social media in the business marketing mix. Unfortunately, our experience traps us in a box. We have focused a lifetime of effort on space sales, sponsorship schemes, and attendance brochures. The Zen approach would be to start from zero—obliterate the memory of past projects and say, “I have the Internet and these tools, I need to bring these people together–where shall I begin?”

With a Zen-like detachment from B2B markets (because the focus is B2C), this report from Aberdeen Group on The ROI on Social Media Marketing will be of benefit to event producers. There are several essential points made here that merit strong consideration for anyone developing a forum for professional networking.

First there are several brief case studies in customer “brand advocacy” wherein marketers have converters their customers into word of mouth advertising machines. These case studies are “incredible” (in the negative sense of the word: without credibility) and I’d be interested in seeing more information on how this might work. Google offers no leads. However, event organizers should consider two dimensions of this phenomenon: How do I get my clients to become my brand advocates? And: how do I get my clients to use my events to leverage their own brand advocacy?

Secondly this report emphasizes the importance of measuring social media marketing results. Key benchmarks are suggested: simple ROI, brand awareness, customer engagement, share of voice (negative vs. positive WoM), likelihood to recommend, level of influence. Word of mouth in general, and social media in particular is a diffuse and highly personal activity. However, we can measure inputs and outputs, make comparisons and draw conclusions. This would be a great “crowd sourcing” project for a small group of event organizers.

Finally a thought for Pope Benedict who, on the Vatican YouTube channel, praised digital media, but warned that obsession with certain technologies “may isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence, and reflection that are necessary for human development.”

I say, hey event media professionals, let’s do the Pope a solid: Let’s figure out how to turn isolating technologies into community-building tools.

Unassuming Unconferences

Bill Rutledge — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:38:38 +0000

Here’s a great example of user-driven content coming from inside the dynamic world of business media: Zucchini Dinners provides an intimate setting for media executives to sit directly with 10 key executives. They create their own content, and drive their own discussions. This is an invitation-only event–I just stumbled on this site, so I don’t think you’re even supposed to know about this.

Another great concept is Lunch 2.0 which started in Silicon Valley and has recently come to New York. Nerds gather for lunch, and nerd-seeking organizations play host–what could be more perfect?

What do these events have in common? Purposely weak central-organizing structure (disintermediation) and food (integration). Why does food count as integration? Because you have to eat, and these events leverage that unavoidable fact.

Meetup: Great Model, Untapped Potential

Bill Rutledge — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:03:26 +0000

Meetup is a great web service that allows average folks like you me to schedule a meeting, invite friends, and share comments. It’s essentially an enhanced e-vite, but the company has put some effort into develop communities of like-minded enthusiasts. They’ve got thousands of groups listed.

I belong to, and attend, the New York High Tech Meetup. This group was organized by the founder of Meetup, Scott Heiferman. It’s one of the larger, more dynamic groups on Meetup. I went to their monthly meeting which was held last night at the new IAC Building, a fantastic building designed by Frank Gehry. Each meeting includes 6-8 entrepreneurs making presentations about their startups. There are 6000 people in the New York High Tech Meetup group and about 400 were there last night. More would have been there if there was more space. This meetup always fills up quickly (online registration limits attendance). Used to be free, now they charge $10 to cut down on no-shows.

Anyway, Meetup has been successful in creating a tight business community that any B2B media company would be happy to have, but because they are a web services company they apparently don’t know how to leverage or monetize it. I don’t know how they make money, other than traffic on their site. The people I talk to at these meeting always discuss potential value added options for these events–things they would be willing to pay for. These ideas go nowhere because the event is essentially a voluntary effort. Business marketers should take a look at Meetup and see how this model can be adapted to a serious B2B effort.