Appointment Events: the Next Big b2b Thing?

Trade shows may be taking a hit this year, but one kind of events programming could prove resilient, even robust, in a recessionary environment—“appointment events.” As practiced by companies like Questex-owned McLean Events, these custom gatherings host up to 100 buyers in a given industry (all paid for by sponsoring suppliers) who “speed date” with the suppliers and conduct prearranged appointments. “Appointment-based events are to trade shows as digital is to print,” says Kerry Gumas, president and CEO, Questex Media Group, which purchased McLean in early 2007. “There is a clear, measurable return on investment when you are guaranteed appointments with 20 buyers.”

A typical appointment event occurs at a luxury venue away from the typical trade show and exhibit atmosphere. Buyer and seller profiles are posted weeks before the event and specific appointments are arranged at the venue with the companies the buyers choose. In the McLean model, the second day of the event includes a speed-dating session where buyers can meet suppliers who were not on their meeting docket.

Gumas says that appointment events is one of the fastest-growing parts of his company, which publishes a range of titles in the hotel and spa verticals as well as the newly acquired FierceMarkets line of e-newsletters. As the sponsorship of trade events softens, interest in this model seems to increase, he says. “They are doing extremely well. It is purely back to ROI and performance. Compared to a large-scale trade show exhibit, a marketer can take a smaller budget and get guaranteed appointments. It is a very efficient business mode, we have found.”

“[When we purchased McLean Events two years ago,] we saw it as an event format that would do well in a down economy,” says Gumas. This is proving true, and so Questex plans to roll out the model across its portfolio of vertical publishing markets in 2009.

Questex was among the few b2b publishing companies to show overall growth in ad pages across titles in 2008, according to IMS. For more of our interview with Gumas and Questex’s recession strategy, see next week's issue of min's b2b.

Source: http://www.minonline.com/

B2B sees growth, despite global downturn

ASIA-PACIFIC - Business-to-business spending in Asia-Pacific has seen significant growth in 2008 despite the global downturn, bolstered by initiatives taken to secure market share as economies began downgrading, according to a report by Business Strategies Group.

Among the region’s most prominent B2B players is Alibaba, Global Sources and CMP Asia, and each have displayed year-on-year revenue growth ranging of 39 per cent, 14 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively.

According to the report, measures including a focus on entering new markets and streamlining operations for lower production costs contributed to these companies’ success. Alibaba and Global Sources both sought to make a push into India throughout the year, the report notes, and Alibaba also launched a global campaign to bolster its brand in the West.

Allocations made toward conventions, tourism and business development have also positively impacted Asia’s B2B sector, as millions from governments in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand have been traded through businesses.

“2009 will undoubtedly be a down year for the exhibition business, but the impact on the B2B online sector is still an unknown,” said BSG principal Paul Woodward in a release. “Global Sources’ 2008 online revenues increased by 24 per cent and Alibaba.com’s by 39 per cent, but the key question is: how will their revamped online products will hold up this year.”

Source: http://www.brandrepublic.asia/

B2B marketers ‘failing to capitalize on leads’

A new report has highlighted key marketing mistakes to avoid during the recession, and highlighted the need for stronger accountability and metrics during the economic downturn.

The report, published by marketing automation firm Eloqua, outlines key strategies for B2B marketers to emerge stronger after a recession.

Titled ‘The Springboard Effect’ the report highlights key pitfalls made by marketers failing to capitalise on leads, and outlines strategies to help maximise opportunities and increase sales in a downturn.

Eloqua outlines the importance of analysing the economics of the sales and marketing funnel and how simply measuring click through and website visits is no longer a strong enough measure of marketing effectiveness.

Marketers instead need to look at how to optimise conversion rates throughout the marketing and sales pipeline, improving the rate at which current leads are qualified, routed, accepted by sales teams, included in forecasts and ultimately closed.

According to Eloqua’s report, on average B2B organisations convert fewer than 60 per cent of marketing leads into sales leads. By integrating sales and marketing databases and employing lead management and routing processes to improve lead handoff, businesses can boost this rate significantly.

The report highlights the importance of generating high volumes of responses, and while increasing inquiries by only one or two percent can have a significant impact on final revenue, greater emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring these leads are qualified and rated according to importance.

According to industry research firm Aberdeen Group, companies with the best lead prioritisation and scoring systems have a 192 per cent higher average lead qualification rate than those that do not.

By implementing lead profile scoring systems to rank respondents according to interest and deploying advanced marketing techniques such as segmentation, personalisation and event triggered automation, businesses can significantly increase the number of qualified leads sent to a sales team.

Commenting on the report, Stuart Wheldon, Director of Client Services, EMEA & APAC for Eloqua said: “In today’s economic climate it is increasingly important that marketers adapt strategies to help sales teams identify, prioritise and respond to revenue opportunities. Marketers are heavily involved in revenue creation – not only do they help drive leads to the top of the sales funnel, but also help provide content and market intelligence to keep new prospects interested.”

“The report highlights the need for B2B organisations to adopt a more intelligent approach and ensure that the right information is with the right team at the right time to best capitalise leads. Customers are increasingly demanding a more personalised approach and it is therefore vital that organisations understand prospect’s wants and needs, building strategies that not only help grow in a recession but also strive ahead of competitors and create a springboard effect when the market recovers.”

Source: http://www.netimperative.com/

focusing on business-to-business deals

LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - Online gaming firm 888 (888.L) said it was in talks with over 50 potential strategic partners on Monday as it looked to expand its business-to-business activities to offset tougher trading in its consumer division.

888 reported better-than-expected 2008 results but said first-quarter revenue was expected to be slightly lower than the fourth quarter as the broader economic climate remained challenging, sending its shares lower.

Chief Executive Gigi Levy told Reuters the company is focusing on the expansion of its business-to-business division, which takes 888's existing software and infrastructure and provides those services to third parties.

"If you're just doing business-to-consumer in a recession, that's going to be challenging. The business-to-business side gives us the ability to grow market share even if the overall market doesn't grow," CEO Gigi Levy told Reuters.

Levy expects the company to announce more agreements in the second quarter and to exceed the 14 business-to-business deals agreed in 2008 in the current year.

"We have a pipeline of more than 50 additional deals. A few of them are household names and a few are prominent players in online gaming that are using somebody else's services today.

"There are a few deals out there that could mean immediately a few million dollars to the bottom line. It's not transformational but it's very enhancing," Levy said.

888 announced a deal with Britain's biggest horseracing publication, the Racing Post, on Monday, its fourth strategic partnership agreement so far this year.

The company will provide the Racing Post with an online gaming operation, including customer support and payment processing services and Levy said he expects the transaction to be earnings enhancing this year.

BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED EARNINGS

888 reported a 23 percent rise in 2008 earnings before interest, tax, and depreciation (EBITDA) to $55.7 million.

That was ahead of the consensus market forecast which had stood at $53.7 million, according to a poll of seven analysts supplied by the company.

Shares in 888, which have lost over a quarter of their value over the last six months, had fallen by 6.4 percent to 105.25 pence at 1225 GMT.

Daniel Stewart analyst James Hollins said current trading was behind its expectations, raising questions over trading in the consumer division. He also said the full year dividend of 2.9 cents was below his 4.3 cents forecast.

Levy said 888 was also in discussions over possible acquisitions and expected to complete a purchase during 2009.

"The prices used to be very high around a year ago and now they're willing to sell for very low multiples. We're definitely going to take advantage of this. I would very much hope to see a deal done in the remainder of the year," he said.

Levy said 888 has cash of around $65 million, excluding customer money, and could spend around half of that on an acquisition if the right opportunity arose.

The company remains in discussions with the Department of Justice over a possible settlement in relation to its activities in the United States prior to legislation being passed in October 2006 effectively outlawing the industry.

"We want to be in a good position to take some of the U.S. market back if it re-opens," said Levy.

source: http://www.reuters.com/

B2B International invests in Confirmit Horizons software

LONDON - Business-to-business research agency B2B International has adopted the Confirmit Horizons platform to support all its web and telephone interviews, claiming to be the first industry organization to do so.

Confirmit Horizons is an on-demand market research platform for customer and employee feedback.

B2B International will use the new platform to support its telephone and web research through its on-demand delivery model, removing the need to install software.

Confirmit Horizons' software-as-a-service (Saas) model was a key factor in choosing it as the best platform for B2B International, said director Nick Hague, because it lowers costs and ensures security.

The Confirmit Reportal module enables the agency to carry out analysis and reporting of its combined web and telephone survey results, presenting detailed information to its clients in a variety of formats, including dashboard reports.

The Saas model also provides instant scalability to B2B International via the internet.

Once up and running with the platform at its UK operation, the agency plans to roll out the system to its staff and field workers in China and the US.

Hague said: "Many of the projects we run combine web and telephone interviewing activities. Confirmit Horizons removes the need for us to duplicate work for our telephone and web project.

"This will not only save us time and effort in the creation and delivery of surveys, but will also speed up our service to clients."

source: http://www.brandrepublic.com/

Offering side-by-side ranking

THE websites of paid and controlled circulation magazines and newspapers will be ranked side by side in a proposed new web auditing service being offered by the Audit Bureaux of Australia.

The move is expected to open new online advertising opportunities for business-to-business (B2B) publishers, whose sites may attract a lot of traffic in particular markets, such as information technology, but whose print publications are not ranked alongside paid circulation magazines in print audit reports.

B2B publishers have been among the first to see the advantages of having their website audiences audited, according to ABA chief executive Gordon Towell.

He said last week that the ABA was launching an internet auditing service based on Nielsen Online's Market Intelligence data.

He said it would be launched in May and the first verified audience figures would be available from June.

"We are going to publish ABA web audited tables for CAB (controlled circulation) and ABC (paid circulation) titles," Mr Towell said.

"My view is they're indistinguishable when you are talking about web traffic."

The ABA will issue reports allowing media buyers and publishers to see the top-ranked audited websites in particular categories, as well as providing audit certificates with print and online data side by side.

New forms of online media, such as interactive virtual versions of printed publications, may also be audited under the system.

B2B publisher Westwick-Farrow chief executive Adrian Farrow said he expected the web audit would be quite revolutionary in some niche markets because it would alert media buyers to sites outside big networks such as Ninemsn.

"It doesn't matter whether you are business or consumer (focused), your magazine might not be the highest-selling magazine but you might rank very well on your website," Mr Farrow said.

"That's a powerful sales tool. We're going to have all our websites audited as soon as it becomes available."

Some online publishers expressed the view privately last week that the audit indicated the print industry was trying to put its stamp of authority on internet publishers.

But media agency MediaCom chief executive Anne Parsons said online would benefit from being able to be evaluated in the same way other media were evaluated.

"You have to have a credible source for audience measurement," she said.

Mr Towell said online-only publishers would also benefit from having their audiences verified, giving media buyers confidence they were comparing like traffic with like across rival sites.

The Interactive Bureau of Australia is supporting the web audit.

IBA chief executive Paul Fisher said last week that verification would be the final piece of the puzzle for online publishers seeking to reassure advertisers their traffic numbers were reliable.

The internet industry's so-called hybrid audience measurement system, which will use Market Intelligence tag-based data in combination with information from a user panel, will be in place later this year and aims to provide more accurate audience numbers that may then be audited by the ABA.

Source: http://www.australianit.news.com.au/