The Top Line » social communities

What are your marketing priorities for 2010?

bbmarketingplus — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:15:53 +0000

A quick search on Google indicates that surveys about business-to-business (B2B) marketing priorities tend to concentrate on tactics–rather than strategy. They also tend to focus on investments in various types of promotional activities, rather than the greater marketing picture. As for strategy, at least one survey seems to indicate that in a tight economy, B2B companies rank demand generation first and then raising awareness.

What happened to the focus on the customer?

The irony is that gaining deeper insights into customer, or prospect needs, rarely shows up as a priority, let alone a high priority. Why not?

Is it because investments in gaining customer knowledge are not of interest to those doing the surveys? Or, do researchers assume that everyone knows all they need to know about customers?

Or, is the assumption that some form of marketing research, win/loss analysis, or customer data mining is an integral part of any marketing campaign–and therefore does not need singling out? Or, do researchers know from past experience, that while everyone realizes gaining customer insights is important, it’s not a primary focus or one in which companies invest heavily?

I don’t know the answer. I do know that while many companies do invest in learning more about their customers, others feel that they know enough–and/or cannot afford to learn more. The question is can any of us afford not to delve deeper into what matters most to those we depend on for revenues?

Isn’t customer knowledge power?

The devil is often in the details–and nuances in capabilities and/or messaging can make a tremendous difference. That’s why it’s not uncommon for consumer goods marketers, the messaging masters, to invest 10% of the anticipated cost of any marketing campaign in upfront marketing research.

Moreover, we all know of “first movers” that lost the race because they didn’t move down the learning curve. Instead, competitors pulled ahead by making slight, but significant modifications to the core offering or message.

Is everyone focused solely on lead gen?

From reading the marketing trade press, one gets the impression that a lot of companies do believe that deep customer insights drive sales. These companies are investing in:

Data mining tools that will help them pinpoint their most promising prospects and understand exactly what helped win their business
Social communities that help assess the desirability of products and marketing messages before committing to their delivery
Usability testing to find and remove product design elements that get in customers’ way
Social media listening tools that enable marketers to determine where audiences turn for information–and what communications resonate most with them–before jumping in the fray
Marketing campaign software that includes the ability to monitor conversions and determine what worked–and what didn’t
Sales enablement solutions that make it easy to create and test responses to alternative lists, messages, and offers

Gaining deep customer insights doesn’t need to be expensive

Investments in increasing customer intimacy are not limited to large companies. While many smaller companies may not have the financial or human resources to invest in the automated listening tools listed above, they have other options at their disposal.

Many of our clients gain deep insights by easy-to-administer programs such as:

Using free social media listening tools to monitor market trends, conversations about the need for the solutions their companies offer, and any mention of their name and/or their competition’s
Interviewing customers and prospects to learn about the steps these individuals took before making a recent purchase decision–and what triggered these actions
Developing case studies about the benefits that satisfied customers derived from their solutions
Following customers, and those who influence decisions about their products and services, on Twitter

The question, however, isn’t what others are doing, but what you’re doing. Will this be the year of the customer for your business?

Ready to start today? Test your customer IQ now!

Customer research makes gains in 2010

Use of Social Media for Marketing Medical Devices

bbmarketingplus — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:39:50 +0000

Last summer, Robert DeSimone of MediComm Consultants, Inc., a colleague from the Medical Development Group, mentioned that several of his clients had inquired about social media. Recognizing that medical device companies face special marketing challenges because they are regulated by the FDA, we decided to go right to the source. Here’s what we learned:

Is social media part of the medical device marketing mix?

Our primary objective was to learn whether and how medical device companies are using social media to communicate with prospects and customers, and the effect that FDA regulation or the lack thereof, is having on these activities.

Our methodology

We developed an online survey to learn more about what types of medical device companies are using social media, how they’re using it, what they hope to accomplish, and how they will measure success. We partnered with medical device trade associations and on-line social communities to distribute the survey and solicit participation.

Then, we conducted qualitative interviews with a subset of respondents to learn more about how their companies were using social media. This subset encompassed individuals working for an FDA-regulated concern that are using social media as a company.

The respondents

The sample was self-selected in that members of the groups that participated in the survey could opt whether or not to participate. The trade associations we partnered with are in California, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. We focused on these three areas due to the heavy representation of medical device companies within these geographies.

Most of the social communities were sponsored by LinkedIn and focus on the medical device industry. A couple of the groups are associated with the partner trade associations. We specifically excluded pharmaceutical concerns, as this segment, unlike the medical device industry, has traditionally been more aggressive in directly pursuing consumers.

251 people participated in the survey. Fifty-seven percent of the total respondents work for regulated medical device companies; and, of the regulated group, 67% work for companies with greater than 51 employees.

The individual participants work in a number of functions. Our report, however, focused on those whose jobs include communications with customers or prospects. Of these, only 11% work for companies that include social media in the marketing mix.

We conducted follow-up interviews with five survey respondents, all of whom work for FDA-regulated companies and use social media to communicate with customers and prospects.

How medical device professionals and medical device companies are using social media

Our analysis focused on respondents who work for FDA-regulated companies. Of these, 63% use social media for job-related activities, and only a subset, (16%), use social media to communicate with customers and prospects.

Of the FDA-regulated companies that use social media to communicate with customers and prospects, most have been using social media for less than six months. They are still in the early stages and are testing multiple social media venues.

In most of these companies, the Marketing Department initiated these communications. Only one company, among the 18 that use social media to communicate with customers or prospects, indicated that they have been able to quantify success. Nevertheless, all plan to continue funding at current levels or increase the funding for their social media programs.

Individual medical device marketers’ perspectives on social media

The responses to the follow-up qualitative interviews were relatively consistent with the quantitative findings. Everyone we interviewed had started using social media relatively recently and most were careful to limit posts to content previously approved for press releases, website, and/or print communications. All the respondents we interviewed said that Marketing had initiated the company’s foray into social media.

In one case, the marketing executive learned that their customers were active social media users from her customer advisory council. She decided to pursue social media marketing because she felt it was important that the company participate in the conversation.

In another case, the company’s agency recommended that they begin participating in social media. In the remaining cases, the companies began experimenting with social media because their competition was already actively involved. Most engaged the services of an agency to jump start the process.

Most of the respondents researched the market and the competition before jumping into social media. At least, one company also established social media guidelines. A couple reported the differences in participation levels they are seeing between consumers and clinicians; and even more interesting, that there are participation differences among clinicians in different roles and medical specialties.

The respondents told us they were listening as well as posting. The listening tools they use run the gamut from Google Alerts to one company’s decision to pay an agency to listen in their stead.

It was our sense, however, that the listening and the posting were somewhat independent, and not necessarily social conversations per se. That is, companies listened to learn what was important to their prospects and to determine where to post. Nevertheless, because they limited their posts to pre-approved content, outgoing communications were not necessarily in direct response to what others were saying.

As for measurement, most expressed the desire to do so, but didn’t believe they had a definitive approach. One pointed to retweets and the opportunity to discover, and congratulate a customer about a recent award as early indications of success. Perhaps due to their short social media tenure, and the restrictions they face as a regulated industry, most had relatively few followers.

Perhaps surprising, except in the case of one respondent, FDA restrictions were not the major concern about launching social media programs. It was our impression that these marketers had accepted the fact that medical devices are a regulated industry with a given set of constraints.

Instead, the respondents appeared more concerned about resource limitations. None had a dedicated social media resource, although several commented that their competitors did. One didn’t even have time to do much listening on a consistent basis.

Medical device companies believe they must participate in social media to remain competitive

The medical device companies that we interviewed are in the early stages of social media participation. Most are optimistic that social media will accelerate their marketing efforts, but few have enough data to measure success. Nevertheless, they feel they must participate to learn or risk being left behind. That said, medical device companies are likely to lag the competition, at least until the FDA clarifies the regulations governing the use of social media.