I seem to have done a lot of talking in the last few years. Talking, writing books, talking about the writing and then talking some more. I’ve talked about Waterloo Bridge and pastries a fair amount in that time, but mainly I’ve been advocating the new social imperative for B2B brands in a rapidly changing digital economy. I’m not the first of course and hopefully won’t be the last. Only recently the very delightful Jo Porritt at Crowd Media drew my attention to The Cluetrain Manifesto which said pretty much everything I believe in – 12 years ago.

Yet while the written word holds meaning, the spoken word appears to hold value. It’s a reflection of our increasing video consumption in the digital age that I’m being asked to wave my arms, shout and stamp my feet in front of a live audience. My ‘performance’ is recorded and distributed to a wider audience internally and/or externally. Some people, including my clients, recoil from video, “Ooooh, no, I’d never do that. I’d be terrified… you never know who might see it… does my bum look big in this…?” etc.

I see it as an opportunity. I can reach many instead of the few. I can communicate the passion and personality of the brand and maybe, just maybe, if the message is ‘real’ it won’t feel like I’m banging my head against a brick B2B wall quite so much. Oh, and I get paid, which is nice. I admit that wearing makeup is still a bit of a challenge…

The free shit is nice too. Because of my growing ‘social influence’, I’m apparently the right kind of guy to talk about stuff. I deliberately avoided the word ‘promote’ there, because I don’t get paid for it. If someone sends me crap, I put it in the trash and tell the world it’s crap. If it’s something relevant to me or my audience and it’s good – I want to tell the world. Some digital ‘gurus’ are constructing a whole career around that very model. In my mind however, it’s just human nature. We talk about stuff – good and bad – and people listen, or don’t.

Someone sent me an email the other day. It might have been relevant, I don’t know because I trashed it. I simply don’t read cold emails anymore. By contrast, someone at Trend Micro visited me to deliver, explain and install a product called SafeSync that he wanted my opinion on. I’m glad he did, because it’s bloody brilliant. SafeSync copies all your computer files to the cloud, automatically distributes them to all your mobile devices, secures them as back-up and keeps them all in Sync. It’s ridiculously easy to use, quicker than Dropbox and cheap as chips. Yes, there’s still iCloud, but maybe Apple shouldn’t rule the world completely. SafeSync is a very good product. There is an SMB offering that suits me just fine so I’ll be rolling it out across the business. The ‘free trial’ model is as old as the hills, but the guy at Trend specifically selected me as an ‘influencer’. He wanted me to write about the product, not simply buy it. Double whammy then – I’m writing about it and buying it.

And that is how business will proliferate in the social economy. People connected to networks and networks connected to other networks. The people make the decisions and their communities hold influence. Businesses can serve up their offerings, but they are no longer the sole authority. Business brands would do well to remember their audience – how to connect to it and how it operates in a connected world. Oh, and carry an eyeliner. Always carry your eyeliner.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 20 7323 6666
Twitter: @ScotMcKee
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scotmckee
Book: http://amzn.to/mOUKOH

I called the presentation, ‘Turdy Brown Trousers’. It was perhaps a little unconventional. But then again, the whole point was to demonstrate that conservative and traditional communications in B2B are failing, while the opportunities for digital and social development are huge. Doing nothing will surely be the death of many business brands. Hopefully, I gave the audience several reasons to consider the state of their trousers.

This audience has been warned before that it needs to change policies and practices. It’s the speed of change (or lack of it) that is the current cause for concern. I wanted to demonstrate that the social opportunity was… ‘real’. Other presentations on the day focussed on what has happened in the past. Or they asked the audience to participate in the present. My interest was the future potential for the audience. It was a high risk strategy – not something that B2B is exactly famous for, but hey, someone’s got to do it…

So I announced on stage that although I had a captive audience, my real interest was the extended B2B audience outside of the room – i.e. The rest of the B2B world. For my business message to carry any real weight I had to reach more interested people – and I was going to do it, live, as I gave my presentation. I unsheathed my iPhone and told the crowd I was going to take its picture and tweet it.

At the end of my 15 or 20 minute presentation, we’d have a look at how many people I’d been able to virtually draw into the room and we’d track progress thereafter. They shuffled nervously in their seats. Nevertheless, on the count of three I made them all wave their arms in the air and duly tweeted the photo.

15 minutes later, when I’d quite finished reigning brimstone down upon the audience, I asked the Editor of B2B Marketing to reveal how many people had viewed the photo. “Um… it’s 25,” he said. I was a little disappointed – I was hoping for 100. Then, a voice from the back of the auditorium shouted, “Hit the refresh button!” Joel duly refreshed his screen and said, “Oh yes, sorry, it’s 289.”

In 15 minutes, one photo put more engaged people in the room than the entire marketing activity to promote the conference. By the end of the day, the number of views had reached over 600. Less than a week later the views were over 1,000. The figures are still climbing if you’d like to check.

The market has changed. Your B2B social audience is real, engaged, fast, responsive and growing. I needn’t have worried about the risk of tweeting that photo. What was there to lose? Nothing – I believe in the crowd. By contrast, the brands that continue to ‘wait and see’ risk losing everything.

Below, you’ll find the slide deck and accompanying live audio recording from my presentation. Enjoy.

Turdy Brown Trousers | Scot Mckee | B2B Marketing Conference by Birddogb2b

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 20 7323 6666
Twitter: @ScotMcKee
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scotmckee
Book: http://amzn.to/mOUKOH

We were comparing notes on the B2B brand and digital developments in our respective geographic markets and there was a comforting degree of similarity in attitudes and beliefs considering they’re, well, you know, American for a start.

There has undoubtedly been a huge level of interest in digital development within the B2B space in the last couple of years on both sides of the Atlantic, but we seemed to experience the interest in different ways.

In Chicago and across the US according to my friend, the B2B market has been slow to change and reluctant to adopt new channels or platforms of communication. Nevertheless, the market was steadily growing, coming to terms with a digital future and becoming more focussed on digital strategies. He wondered whether his positioning of offering Integrated Branding services carried sufficient digital emphasis.

I explained how the B2B market in the UK was a little different in its intransigence. There had been a veritable frenzy of early interest before reverting to type and doing very little to adopt digital and social marketing practices. ‘Mmmm… interesting…’, is about as close to the digital revolution as the majority of the B2B market is prepared to venture in the short-term. Having said that, the outcome over here has broadly been the same as in the US – a steady growth but limited adoption of innovative digital strategies. I made the point that ‘Integrated Branding’ is actually a very strong position in a market sector that is notoriously slow to change. The ability to develop and interpret brand strategy and apply it across traditional and digital channels is certainly closer to the expectation and comfort zone of the market than, say for example, ‘Willy-Trembling Digital Revolutionary’.

There is still an abundance of indecision and inertia as B2B marketers weigh the risks of following their experience in traditional communications against the potential rewards of following their audience into digital and social spaces. The market will change. It’s inevitable, because the audience has already shifted. But by the time B2B is fully committed, the brand building opportunity may be lost. Have you noticed how, already, we’re no longer calling digital developments ‘new media’?

New technology holds no competitive advantage if it’s no longer ‘new’ by the time you get around to incorporating it into your marketing plan. It’s just ‘technology’. Everyone has technology. The opportunity to be ‘first’ or ‘better’ or ‘innovative’ or ‘different’ is lost every time you say, “Let’s wait and see. Maybe next time…” The result of a conservative digital adoption policy is undoubtedly low risk. It’s safer not to experiment than to hang your ass too far out of the window, but it’s also a tragic waste of opportunity. The science of the practical triumphs over the art of the possible. Again. You may not have noticed the gap widening between the traditional and social B2B brands yet. But you will. Mind the gap.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
Twitter: @ScotMcKee
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scotmckee
Book: http://amzn.to/mOUKOH

Naturally, I gave the Philippines the bum’s rush and asked him to explain why I might be a risk to his global multi-billion dollar enterprise. Lil’ ol’ me? Surely not. He said that in a recent meeting my name had been mentioned and, to his surprise (and secret delight I’m sure), everyone at the table had not only heard of me, but had a very firm opinion as to my suitability for the role of brand guardian to their business. “You’re a bit like Marmite,” he said. “Some thought you were a loose cannon, some thought you were full of shit and some thought you were a heaven-sent genius.”

I was of course flattered to be the subject of such polarity of opinion, but I would be lying to suggest that the perceived ‘risk’ associated to my engagement didn’t leave with a little bit of sick in my mouth. Had I gone too far? Were my opinions too extreme? Was my pathological need to drive creative change in B2B marketing limiting business opportunities? In short, was I just too risky to engage?

We discussed the matter of risk for a while. My friend pointed out that ‘vanilla’ is the nation’s favourite flavour of ice-cream and that ‘beige’ is the most popular colour. His role was to assess and reduce risk – his business decisions were made based on ‘least impact’ and I would do well to remember that.

“And that…,” I told him, “…is why we can never work together.” He looked a little upset – as if I should bow to the commercial imperative of corporate engagement and offer assurances of conformity.

“Low-risk, low-impact brands are everywhere. They’re the majority.” I said. “There are Marketing Directors who wrap their brands in a beige blanket and tuck them up safely every night. There are agencies that prosper on their perennial ability to deliver ‘meh’. Most of their brands will survive and even grow simply by being… benign. But where’s the satisfaction in that? Where’s the benefit? How does that make a difference?”

On my deathbed, and on principal, I’d like to think that my time had been spent searching for maximum impact (even if it’s not always achieved, or achievable). The prospect of a life spent in B2B marketing being ‘average’ is too depressing to contemplate. Every business brand should start with truly radical aspirations. You can always soften the position later, but if you start from a position of safety, when will you ever take the risk needed to make a real difference? So ‘Marmite’ is fine with me. As long as there is just one B2B brand seeking change, we’re in business.

And on that note, the heaven-sent genius wiped the milk-froth moustache from his top lip and left. Principles upheld. And still full of shit.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 20 7323 6666
Twitter: @ScotMcKee
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scotmckee
Book: http://amzn.to/mOUKOH

Klout, the questionable tool for measuring social and online influence that everyone loves to hate, released a new +K ‘thing’. Across the social web, you’ll now find people ‘giving +K’ to their network colleagues. Well, my ego was immediately beside itself with envy and demanded that I receive +K from absolutely everyone. I fleetingly considered that this new Klout function might offer brands a point of competitive advantage, but mainly, it was about me. Naturally I read everything there was to read about the subject – of which there was a LOT on the social web – and it turns out +K isn’t worth shit. It’s just a way to ‘like’ and reward people for providing good service. Klout co-founder Joe Fernandez said in an interview with Marc Schaefer that, “The +K award does not affect your Klout score”. WTF?!

Then there was the Google+ scandal. Currently by invitation only, Google has released its own social network version of TwitBookIn. It has something to do with ‘circles’. I can’t tell you much more than that because the scandal is, I haven’t been invited. You can just imagine how my ego responded to that one… ‘+’ is obviously the new ‘#’. We will presumably all end up communicating in keyboard shortcuts. At least the meetings will be shorter:

“+?”

“:-(“

“!?”

“…”

“#”

“Bye”

And finally, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg cleverly identified a day in the calendar where Apple wasn’t launching a sleek, new, swipey, clicky thing and took the opportunity to offer his vision of the future of the social web. From what I can understand, Facebook will own everything and everyone, but only if you keep on using it. If you decide to use something else though, don’t worry, Zuckerberg will just buy it. Actually, he said that the future is about sharing and connectivity – which is cool.

So I unleashed the full might of my impressive social consciousness at subsequent business meetings only to be met with blank stares and polite (albeit slightly nervous) smiles. “That’s all very interesting Scot, but if we could just get back to the agenda of the LinkedIn engagement strategy, the Twitter account analytics, the community management profiling and the engagement hub – you know the stuff you convinced us about a year ago that’s starting to work now…?”

And for a moment, just for a moment, I thought, FFS (because I even think in text-based acronyms now…) why do I bother? Why am I troubling myself with the art of the possible when no one wants to ‘do’ it. At my time of life I could just send emails, proclaim that the Royal Mail had it right all along and wait for the pension to kick-in…

Then it struck me that the clients who were reluctant to consider ‘social media’ as a viable B2B communication channel a year ago were the ones bringing my attention back to the sophisticated brand, digital and integrated social strategies that we were now delivering for them. A couple of years ago they’d never have bought that plan and even if it could have worked, I wouldn’t have been able to deliver it. A year from now, they’ll be ready for the next step. I thought of all the business brands who still haven’t put a serious foot on the social ladder, let out a big belly laugh in an evil mad scientist kind of a way (Mwahhhhhaaaaaahhaaaa…etc.) and everyone shifted uncomfortably in their chairs.

The moment of doubt had passed. Your bum looks fantastically big in that, but hey, you can fix that with the right avatar. You can fix anything. Get started.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.

+44 (0)20 7323 6666
Twitter: @ScotMcKee
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/scotmckee
Book: http://amzn.to/mOUKOH

We’ve heard a lot about social media in B2B and indeed dipped a toe into the social waters. But finding actual stories about ‘here’s what we did and here’s what happened,’ are somewhat thinner on the ground. All talk and no action. So I used a story of a project that I had just finished to help the delegates understand the audience engagement opportunity that social media is creating – in this case a blogging platform. It wasn’t the technology that was the subject of the story, it was the outcome.

I gambolled about the stage demonstrating how, with the right content, tone and audience, a community of thousands could be engaged almost instantly. In this particular case, 20k unique hits were recorded on the blog site in 10 days, attracting over 800 visitor comments, also in just 10 days. I was still suffering from sleep deprivation having become ‘a blogger’ for the 10 days, which, let me tell you, is very different from writing the occasional blog, but that’s another story.

There were some good messages in my presentation too (if I may be so bold). Don’t underestimate the speed at which messages spread through the network – thousands of hits in the first 24 hours are achievable (even if surprising). Don’t try to predict the response – but be prepared to respond. Don’t assume you know what the customer wants – adjust the channels and content in real time. All good stuff.

At the end of my presentation, after the cheering and rapturous applause had died down, I was introduced to one of the delegates waiting to speak to me.

“Hello, I’m Scot McKee.”
“Yes, I know – you’re the guy who does the ‘Waterloo Bridge Report’ on Twitter.”
“Oh, eh, yes I am. You’ve seen that?”
“It’s genius! I follow it every week. Brilliant!”
“Right. Good. Umm, thanks very much…”
We chatted for a while, but I had to rush off to my next pressing engagement at the bar.

The Waterloo Bridge Report (#WBR) is a piece of trivia I have been tweeting for a few months. Once a week, on a Friday morning, I post a single tweet (140 characters or less) relating to whatever I see on Waterloo Bridge as I walk to work. Sometimes I attach a photograph. After the first few weeks, people started asking when the next one would be posted so I kept going but thought little more about it. Until the comment at the B2B Marketing Forum.

As I propped up the bar and shared my iPhone charger with an orderly line of power-starved delegates, I checked the analytics for my Waterloo Bridge Reports. It turns out that every time I post a #WBR, hundreds of people check out the comment and photograph. Not a few, not a handful – hundreds. My social media audience was engaged and I didn’t even realise it. Not only that, but, whatever I think, the audience has decided to latch on to the most random piece of bollocks I happen to have conceived. There’s a lesson there for us all.

I am the Managing Director of a top B2B brand and digital agency. I am THE AUTHOR of a #1 bestselling B2B book. I am a legend in my own lunchtime. Trust me, I tweet a load of random bollocks, but the #WBR is the one my audience likes.

They like it enough to attend conferences and remind me. They tell me at meetings. And they tell me again when they issue the Purchase Order. To some, Social Media is, and will remain, random bollocks. But to the more forward thinking brands, audience engagement equates to revenue. Personally, I’m of the considered opinion that random bollocks can also equate to revenue. Consider this my ‘view from the bridge’.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
twitter: @ScotMcKee

Businesses that recognize the need, “to do something”, but have yet to commit to an integrated social media strategy need pointers. The world has changed. Audiences are no longer as accessible through traditional communications channels as they once were – they’re ‘social’. The CEO may not be as familiar with the social community as the audience itself, so it’s the executive audience that needs to understand and appreciate the new, social, marketing goals. Everyone talks about ‘why’ businesses need to engage audiences with social media, but the investment only happens when The Board understands ‘how’ a social media strategy will be systematically and methodically implemented to the benefit of the shareholders. Social media is not a radical new ‘panacea’ – it’s just another way to do business.

Here are Birddog’s 10 steps to systematically planning and delivering a social media strategy that Senior Executives understand and support:

Step 1. – Objectives/Approach
Agree objectives from the outset. Unless price discounting or using an alternative promotional model, social media will not ‘generate leads’ directly. Conversation, community and engagement will support the audience. In return, the audience will support the brand with referrals, recommendations and ultimately, customers. Awareness and advocacy, not ‘hard sell’.

Step 2. – Review B2B Social Channels
Review and discuss available types and channels for engagement. Less experienced socialites may be unaware of the tools and the possibilities. Identify the channels most likely to suit the business, the brand and the audience early in the planning process.

Step 3. – Social Research
Visibility of the existing social landscape is key to social understanding. Where (if anywhere) is the brand already active? Where are competitors active? Where is the audience active? Undertaking initial research and providing insight from the results identifies opportunities and creates benchmarks for future activities.

Step 4. – Creative Platform®
Social media does not exist in isolation. Creative development is required to effectively integrate social activities with existing brand and communications assets. Personality, tone and character, rarely exploited in traditional communications are crucial to developing content for social media. Workshop(s) and consultancy delivers the ‘right story’.

Step 5. – Channel Selection & Engagement Planning
By understanding the social landscape, the correct channel opportunities for the brand can be identified. Engagement planning starts with the internal audience. Social media is the responsibility of the organisation not the individual. Assessment of internal capabilities allows external planning, but not before a Social Media Policy (however simple/complex) is in place. Channels, engagement and policy need structuring before launch.

Step 6. – Social Media Implementation
Once the necessary channel assets have been created, work begins on Content Planning. Content doesn’t produce itself. Blogs, pictures, video, audio, online PR all have to come from somewhere – initially, the content plan is where structure and responsibilities will be scheduled and agreed to enable the Community Manager to activate the various channels.

Step 7. – Social Media Monitoring
It’s all measurable. Every click, every view, every new follower, every ‘re-tweet’. Measures of success will be benchmarked and tracked over time to assess performance. Analysis and reporting allows ongoing optimisation of channel activities and budgets in real time. Birddog currently has 25+ social measurement tools in use and/or on trial.

Step 8. – Social Media Skills Transfer
The business commitment to social media should not be static. Resources, budgets, channels and campaigns change continually and the Social Media Strategy needs to accommodate those changes. Internal Staff Training on each of the channels being used improves internal engagement and reduces external/outsourced costs over time.

Step 9. – Agency Engagement
The choice of a social media partner and terms of engagement (project and/or retainer) will be subject to competencies within each step of the social media strategy above. Many agencies talk about B2B social media, few have the clients, case studies and statistics to demonstrate proven experience. Learn from the mistakes of others.

Step 10. – Beyond Social
Social media is one component of a broader marketing strategy that incorporates digital and brand planning as well as offline communications. It’s important not to isolate social media as ‘separate’. Look for the commonality and overlap in order to integrate (thereby reducing costs and maximizing ROI for the business).

Funding is always easier to secure once there is understanding, engagement and a business case. Birddog’s ‘How to Produce a B2B Social Media Strategy’ delivers all three in methodical, manageable steps. The alternative is to say, “I clearly knew I had to do something and I failed to do it. I screwed up.” No one in the boardroom knows where the social revolution started, but they all remember the screw-ups…

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
Scot on Twitter

Everyone has a computer. Apart from the peasants, and naturally, in a civilised society, we don’t count the plebs. Almost everyone has a smartphone. An alarming number have a second smartphone because, well, actually, I don’t know why anyone would need a second mobile phone – presumably because they have more than one pocket. And in more recent times we have extended our societal civility into further portable technological advancements. The ‘app’ culture has arrived.  We have the iPad (two of them), Kindle e-readers and a stampede of me-too tablet lookee likees that entice us to appear on the cutting edge of society. Or perhaps we just look like twats with our iPads on the train? Either way, our ‘always on’ society demands that we accessorise accordingly.

Regrettably, this utopian techno-society is never going to work. Not, at least, with the shit wi-fi infrastructure we have in the UK. I have travelled the world and I am here to report that the very crux of our civilisation now relies, almost exclusively, on the availability of wi-fi. I can be even more specific. For western civilisation to avoid the calamitous fate of previously dominant societies including the Romans, the Egyptians and the Incas (and let’s remember, none of them were technophobes) wi-fi needs not only to be available, it needs to be free.

In the UK, we buy our data plans from our mobile service provider, we enable data roaming and we tweet, facebook, email and surf for the full 30 minutes or so per day that our batteries will allow. We then spend the rest of the day seeking outlets to fleetingly top-up our batteries. “Good morning Madam, I appreciate we’ve never met, but I was just passing and wondered if I could plug my phone in for a few minutes…?” It’s not really very civilised.

Switching off the ‘data roaming’ functionality on your phone and using available wi-fi hotspots undoubtedly prolongs battery life (thereby extending the pain, suffering and indignity) while keeping your phone switched on leaves you at the mercy of the service providers roaming charges. On my last sortie into the European wilderness, the roaming charges were enough to make me weep. I’m welling up again just thinking about it. There are only about 3 free wi-fi hotspots in Europe, and they’re all in Starbucks. That’s it. After that, if you want to conserve energy and avoid paying hefty charges, you have to switch off your mobile device. Not the ideal solution, for a civilised society.

In the US it’s different. I’ve just returned from America (LA baby) and having learnt my lesson in Europe, I had my roaming switched off the entire time. I expected to be blissfully incommunicado for the entire trip. Imagine my surprise when I discovered free wi-fi on almost every street corner. Here are just a few examples of where I raised an eyebrow at the free accessibility of the internet: every coffee shop, supermarkets, retail stores, every hotel, restaurants, the airport, the car rental office… even the beach. The important point is that the wi-fi access was free.

The US has reached a tipping point where digital access is simply expected and delivered. In the UK, it is possible to find free wi-fi access (there’s an app for that…) but it’s a struggle. It’s a small detail perhaps, but in my mind, our lack of infrastructure (without punitive charges) is illustrative of our wider inability to grasp the demand for and need to provide digital services for the digital economy. Wouldn’t business be so much easier and efficient if we could actually use the technology that we’re so attached to?

So I’ve taken the encryption off my home hub. When you come over to my house from now on, you’re connected. Well, it’s a start.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
twitter: @ScotMcKee

You know who they are. They know who they are. You may even be one of them. I certainly know who they are. They are the people who simply aren’t moving at the speed of digital yet. They’re the people who stand up at conferences (still) and proclaim that it’s now OK to use Twitter for B2B communications. We know that. We knew that a few years ago. Digital has passed these people by. When the God of Digital was handing out megablessings and terabytes, these people were sleeping on their etchings. So, in their minds, ‘digital’ means ‘website’.

That’s a bit of a problem. It means that they will never actually reach the end of any digital proposal. They only ever get as far as the word ‘online’ and then instinctively say, “Oh, it’s just another website then. We don’t want another website. We’ve already got one.”

Well, actually, no you haven’t. What you have is a lumbering repository of turd that no one wants to visit. You have the online equivalent of the Glastonbury Festival Portable Toilets. A thing so full of crap that only as the very last resort will people reach for your URL to polish their posterior. You can call it a website, but it’s just a big, steaming sewer of turd. And more importantly, I wasn’t even talking about a website. I was talking about delivering something sweet smelling and wonderful, but you’re NOT listening.

There is a self-evident truth that digital communications delivery will manifest itself on a screen. It might be your computer monitor or your laptop. Increasingly, it’s your mobile device. Alternatively, it may be a TV screen or even a standalone projection. Yes, it requires a screen. That’s how we read, view and listen to content. That doesn’t make it ‘just a website’. If you’re really clever, building a website doesn’t even result in a website any more. Digital does not equal website.

Now that that’s clear, maybe we can actually discuss what’s in the proposal? Digital delivery encompasses peer group influence, audience engagement, brand advocacy, sentiment analysis, predictive modelling, augmented reality… weird shit. We can actually deliver weird shit that was unheard of less than a year ago – conceive it, build it, deliver it. Phone apps, games, interactive e-commerce, blogging platforms, hashtag campaigning, social engagement, video based corporate awareness, hell, I’ve even seen a WordPress blog take 20,000 unique hits in 10 days and turn into a political pressure group with letters being written to MPs and everything. You could argue it was ‘just a website’, but you’d lose. It was a customer uprising that was channelled through the internet – because digital can do that.

Digital campaigns can be launched within hours. Not days, or weeks, or months. I recently shook hands at the end of a prospective client meeting and had the project live and broadcasting to the world four hours later. That was ‘just a website’ too. But it was fast. It was really fast. It left the client’s competitors in the dust – wondering what to do, how to respond. Competitive advantage is a rare commodity in a business world – it’s hard to find a good reason to pick one brand instead of another. Digital helps to provide several good reasons.

Digital delivery provides a welcome opportunity to improve the customer experience and serve up all kinds of brand differentiation across all kinds of channels, all at once. The integration between your brand strategy, its digital delivery, and your customer experience is no longer just talk, or just an idea, or just a website. If you are to engage with customers where and when they want to hear from you, it’s mandatory. Your website doesn’t do that. Your website never will. Your customers are looking for a compelling brand experience online and there’s more you can offer them than ‘just another website’. It’s time to read to the end of the proposal and start thinking beyond it.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
twitter: @ScotMcKee

Some progress has undoubtedly been made in the last six months or so within the B2B digital marketing space. The frenzy for dataficating everything and monitorization of funnels and tubes and pipelines and all things relating to grids and templates has mercifully eased off a bit. The dawning realisation that demand gen tools are exactly that, tools (like all the other tools that went before…), not a total panacea for digital marketing, is a blessed relief.

There’s more interest being expressed in brand strategy again, “How do we say this differently? What can we do to stand out from our competitors?” And there’s a growing recognition that between the brand strategy and the demand gen tools, there’s still a gap in the middle that needs to be filled. “Here’s our brand, check. Here’s our machine for processing stuff that will tell us what to do next, check. Umm… how do we join the two together?”

In the ‘olden days’, the gap would have been filled by design work. A graphic designer would have been expected to colour-in the gap, maybe with a Getty image or two. Tah-dah! A beautifully coloured picture with your message at the top and your badge at the bottom. Brilliant. Let’s go to the pub.

In the newfangled digital and social world however, colouring-in doesn’t fill the gap. The graphic design requirement for engaging in (for example) social monitoring, conversation and response is, let me think, oh I know – zero. There is still a need for design, but the real requirement (the gap) is for creativity. Not just Getty images creativity, but digital creativity – creative thinking based on digital understanding. The difference of course is that the very last person on earth that you should ask for digital creativity is the same person you ask for graphic design. That’s a tough one for clients and agencies to come to terms with. B2B clients barely recognised good traditional creativity when it bit them on the ass, so the transition to digital is like taking them on a trip to Mordor. Graphic designers craft breathtakingly beautiful work, which is next to useless in the context of most digital platforms.

The gap then, between B2B brand development and digital marketing delivery is creativity. Actually, creativity has always been the missing link in B2B marketing, but the opportunity is to provide creative solutions with and for digital challenges. So if the traditional Creative Director’s role has changed, where’s this elusive new digital creativity going to come from? The Planners, the Strategists, the Community Managers, the Info Architects, the UX testing…? ‘Yes’ – probably all of the above. But not many of the clients or the agencies are prepared to truly take the risk and make the change. If B2B is famous for anything, it’s for not changing. But the talking’s just about over now I think. We’ve talked a lot about B2B Social Media and B2B Digital Marketing. We’ve been sitting on our thumbs watching and referring to endless B2C examples. Now we have to deliver it in B2B, or not.

The focus for digital delivery in B2B needs to shift fundamentally, and it has done – certainly in my mind, and my business. But does that mean ‘ready for liftoff’ or ‘bullet in the head’? I don’t actually know. I guess that’s the next stage.

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.
+44 (0)20 7323 6666
twitter: @ScotMcKee