B2B Print Advertising Lingers On

Print may be passé, but B2B marketers nonetheless spent $9.75 billion on print ads last year, according to MediaRadar. That's more than the GDP of many nations, including Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Oman and North Korea.

Ad dollars are no doubt shifting to digital, as B2B marketers devote more of their money each month to email, native ads, and video ads than print.

And 6 of 10 B2B marketers who spend money on digital advertising spend nothing on print.

The stalwarts who do are narrowing the list of magazines they place ads in, favoring industry-leading ones over niche ones.

B2B magazine publishers, of course, are scurrying to go digital and diversify their lead-gen offerings.

The Magnificient Seven

On her blog, B2B marketing maven Ruth Stevens ranks seven channels by their power to acquire customers. In order, the channels are:

SEM. "The hottest of the hot," because buyers head to Google first to solve problems. "Marketers can hardly find more targeted media," Stevens says. The key to success, of course, is to pick keywords buyers use.

Telemarketing. The "workhorse medium of B-to-B direct marketing" and "the closest thing to a face-to-face selling environment." Beside selling, telemarketing is ideal for lead discovery, qualification and nurturing.

Letters and postcards. "The ol’ reliable," direct mail delivers. Buyers want information to help them do their jobs, so postal pieces are likely to be read.

Dimensional mailers. "Lumpy” mailers gets past gatekeepers, so are even more likely to be read.

Trade shows. Face-to-face performs spectacularly—when the audience is qualified. Big "horizontal" shows can be wasteful.

PR. "Simply the best bang for the buck," PR delivers awareness with high credibility. Contributed articles and news “manufactured” by original research work well.

Your website. "Your own website is the tool that can provide the cheapest, and the most qualified, sales leads," Stevens says. To work for you, your site must feature an offer and a call to action. That offer can be as simple as a white paper or e-newsletter.

What channels aren't gang members?

Print advertising. "Solid direct response ads can work brilliantly for lead generation," Stevens says. "The problem is that most ad budgets are controlled by marketing communicators who are unschooled in direct marketing."

Broadcast advertising. With the sole exception of some radio buys, ads run on broadcast and cable outlets are expensive and wasteful.

Email. "Despite its promise, email has failed business marketers as a prospecting medium, due entirely to the scourge of spam," Stevens says. "We are seeing better cost-per-lead results using direct mail."

PS: Ruth Stevens is a featured speaker at DARE, next June in Baltimore. Don't miss her!

Goodly Predicts Corporate Magazines Will Make a Comeback

WASHINGTON, DC, October 2, 2017—Corporate magazines will make a roaring comeback in 2017, according to a prediction by Goodly.

The blog bases its prediction on an unflagging belief marketing obeys the law of eternal recurrence.

“Corporate America is on the verge of once more of embracing the print magazine," says Bob James, owner and chief storyteller.

Although entire in-house departments and outside design studios were dedicated to their production during much of the 20th century, corporate magazines fell from grace in the late 1980s.

"The time is right for their inevitable comeback," James says. "The universe can only stand so much digitalization before it lashes out in ink and paper."

In October's edition of Chief Content Officer, Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute, likens the brand-building power of print magazines to live events.

"We are in the experiences business," Pulizzi says. "We create those experiences through valuable, consistent content. While most of your competitors are focusing on digital experiences only, savvy brands see the opportunities offline."

Pulizzi notes that winning brands Red Bull, LEGO, Dell and Marriott all have splashy corporate magazines.

About Goodly

With 1,500 pageviews a week and climbing, Goodly is devoted to helping professionals express ideas precisely. Guest posts are welcome.

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Bezos Rekindles Old Paper

Amazon founder and newspaper owner Jeff Bezos' thumbprint continues to appear in the online version of The Washington Post.

Having trouble finishing long articles? You can now use a gadget to enter your email address at any point. The Post will send a URL that lets you pick it up later where you left off.

We can expect more Kindle-like add-ons to appear in The Post, as Bezos dabbles deeper in journalism. 

"The transformation may not be apparent on the surface, but the Internet billionaire has ripped up and revamped the technology underpinnings at The Post since buying the storied daily in 2013, while investing in the newsroom with more journalists, video offerings and tools for digital storytelling," AFP reported in January.

Bezos' investments might be paying off.

Last December, readership of The Post's website overtook that of The New York Times.