May 21, 2001
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MarketingtoWebMarketers From MarketingSherpa.com
======================= May 21, 2001 - Vol. II, Issue 19
* Subscribe FREE at http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com *
NEWS:
- Marketers Bemoan High Prices for CRM technology
- Bigfoot Interactive CEO Touts "Last Mover Advantage"
CASE STUDY:
- PlaceWare Web Conferencing Wins 1,500 Clients By Dividing
Marketplace into Vertical Niches
Sponsor: Engage
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=====
NEWS
=====
* Marketers Bemoan High Prices for CRM technology
"CRM vendors shouldn't call me," says Rowland Hobbs Senior
Managing Director RFBinder Partners Inc. It's not that he
doesn't want to buy CRM tech to serve his firm's interactive
marketing clients, it's just that it's too darn expensive. Hobbs
says, "They shouldn't cost more than the campaign we implement
for the client. Most cost more than all the advertising we
bought for the campaign!"
Offline marketers now entering online marketing also bemoan CRM
solution price tags. Roger Jarman, just named the first-ever
Head of Internet Marketing for prolific event producer IQPC,
says, "I'd love to buy one of these systems, but in this economic
climate there's no way I ask headquarters for that kind of up-
front investment."
So, CRM tech providers are increasingly focusing their expensive
field sales forces on the supposedly deep pockets of the Fortune
2000. However, recently this marketplace has been questioning
price tags as well. Brandi Jasmine, freelance consultant (and
former head of marketing for TuCows) told us members of the
CAMWorld discussion list have challenged CRM sales reps, "Why are
you guys charging half a million dollars when this is common
software available in open source in bit and pieces that my tech
department could put together for about $20k?"
Jasmine believes the market is ripe for $199 solutions from a
major software player such as Adobe, Macromedia or Microsoft.
"This train is coming down the tracks," she says. To reach
Jasmine, email brandi@brandijasmine.com
http://www.rfbinder.com
http://www.iqpc.com
* Bigfoot Interactive CEO Claims "Last Mover Advantage" Will Make
His Firm Profitable
Bigfoot Interactive CEO Al Diguido, whose background includes 13
years launching products for Ziff Davis, says watching other
email shops fail has given his firm a "last mover advantage."
He says, "We're watching the other guys implode. They got into
this when it was the batch and blast game. They saw it as a
lettershop business. They overbuilt from a headcount and office
perspective - so their expenses were out of whack. And then they
started competing by lowering prices until there was no margin.
They were cutting their own throats."
Diguido eschews this lettershop-style email business in favor of
offering marketers ongoing email communications services. The
price tag is higher, but according to Diguido, marketers are more
than willing to pay it because their strategy has changed from
one-shot blasts to relationship building.
In a similar move, InBox Interactive, the email marketing agency
led by longtime ClickZ columnist Kim MacPherson, has just hired a
Marketing Technology Officer to focus 100% on retention marketing
campaigns. Like Diguido, this new Officer Jackie Gallogly, also
hails from a classic publishing background. And in the
publishing industry, renewals are key to profitability.
http://www.bigfootinteractive.com
http://www.inboxinteractive.com
==========
CASE STUDY: PlaceWare Web Conferencing Wins 1,500 Clients By
Dividing Marketplace into Vertical Niches
==========
Sponsored By: Personalization & Privacy 2001
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Balancing Personalization & Privacy 2001
Featuring case studies from American Airlines' Director of AA.com
Customer Experience and FleetBoston's Managing Director & Chief
Privacy Officer. June 13-14th 2001, San Francisco, CA
More info at http://www.worldrg.com/mk107
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHALLENGE
PlaceWare Web Conferencing has a classic marketing
problem: its product is something pretty much every marketer in
the universe could use. But, you can easily go broke marketing a
product for everyone to everyone.
PlaceWare Senior PR Manager Kathryn Romley told us how they
avoided that fate.
CAMPAIGN
First PlaceWare's marketing team researched the
potential client universe looking for "silos" -- vertical
marketplaces that were growing quickly and were known to be early
tech adopters. In the end they decided to focus almost 100% on
four distinct verticals:
1. B-to-B high technology -- Yes, this is pretty much a 'duh'
obvious target; but PlaceWare's implementation was anything but
duh. Instead of placing a bunch of general ads in high tech
magazines, PlaceWare first researched high tech companies needs
and desires.
They learned that they had two audiences at high tech firms who
needed to be pitched in different ways: marketers versus sales
managers. Romley explains, "For marketers it's a cost savings
message -- reduce your lead acquisition cost. For sales it's
about lining their pockets more quickly by reducing the sales
cycle time."
2. Pharmaceutical industry -- PlaceWare's marketers learned that
most pharmaceuticals only allow a new drug introduction three
years to turn a profit. So the Company targeted this
marketplace with messages explaining how Web conferencing could
speed time to market, more quickly educate doctors and shorten
sales cycles.
3. Financial Services -- PlaceWare targeted marketers in this
industry with three distinct messages. They told investment
relations (IR) professionals how Web conferencing could improve
an IPO by expanding road shows beyond the road; they told
marketers targeting "high rollers" how analysts could use Web
conferencing for private portfolio reviews; and they told
marketers targeting the general public how Web conferences could
help educate prospects about the, potentially confusing, plethora
of financial products available online today.
4. Big professional services firms such as Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu -- These firms' marketers care most about increasing
billable hours, so PlaceWare concentrated on messages explaining
how Web conferencing could help them do that.
Once the specific messages for each marketplace were chosen,
PlaceWare's marketers rolled out campaigns across a variety of
targeted media, including ads in vertical trade magazines and
email newsletter sponsorships. The offer was either a free
trial, or a ticket to attend a free Web conference on a marketing
topic. All leads fed into PlaceWare's marketing database. The
Company then rolled out ongoing marketing communications
campaigns, including email newsletters and more free conferences.
In fact currently PlaceWare puts on 4-5 Web conferences aimed at
educating marketers every week. Romley says, "We eat our own
dogfood."
RESULTS
PlaceWare has more than 1,500 corporate clients
including Microsoft, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and American Express.
The company is currently the dominant player in the Web
conferencing space.
Be jealous -- PlaceWare has collected a database of more than
100,000 corporate marketers and sales managers who've responded
to its offers and voluntarily joined its announcement lists.
Many repeatedly attend the Company's educational Web conferences.
What's worked? Romley says two tactics have really stood out in
terms of gathering highly qualified sales leads: email newsletter
sponsorships and keyword ads on Google.com. "We love Google!"
she says.
http://www.placeware.com
NOTE: Are you considering targeted niche marketing? Here's a
link to another Case Study we published about a vendor who became
much more successful using this divide and conquer tactic:
* Searchbutton Raises Sales by Dumping Business Magazine Ads in
Favor of Highly Targeted Marketing
http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1371
Also, here's a link to a Case Study we published about one of
PlaceWare's clients:
* Web Conferences Beat Road Shows in Terms of Cost, Attendees and
Sales Lead "Heat"
http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1371
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