Marketplace Media And Tangible Get Married

Marketplace Media And Tangible Get Married

Marketplace Media has moved in with Tangible Media in Grey Lynn.

“It’s a great marriage of talent and resources” said Marketplace Media Director, Simon Little.

“Our future lies with like-minded people focused on producing great magazines and we believe our titles, Wares, NZ Hardware Journal, and Outdoor Power Equipment, with the online offering we have planned, will continue to provide a full news and marketing solution for the consumer electronics, home improvement and building supply industries.”

Tangible Media General Manager, John Baker says; “We are delighted to be collaborating with the Marketplace team. B2b, like specialist consumer publishing is all about the intense relationship readers have with focussed editorial product, delivered in print, on-line and via events. We believe this is the future of publishing and what makes our advertising proposition so compelling”

Marketplace Media was formed last month by award-winning brother and sister duo, Simon and Andrea Little acquiring the titles from failed publishing company 3media Group.

Tangible Media, the publishing arm of The Image Centre Group, publishes Classic Driver, Driver, Dish, NZ Fishing World, NZ Rugby World, NZ Today, Real Groove, The Groove Guide, Habitat and NZ Retail.

The Image Centre Group also includes; Image Print, Ice Interactive and the recently acquired Boston Digital.

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz

Callcredit wins customer acquisition task for B2B directory Applegate

business directory Applegate to provide outbound customer acquisition in the UK.

Callcredit won the business following a competitive pitch between outsourcers last month.

Applegate’s directories cover a range of B2B subjects including plastics, textiles, engineering and the chemical and construction sectors. The outbound telesales campaign will aim to generate new directory advertisers.

A dedicated team of specialist agents based in Callcredit’s 500 seat call centre in Bristol. Training of contact centre staff is taking place this month and the full service will commence by the end of the month.

Jon Molyneux-Bracchi, CEO of Applegate, said: Our partnership with Callcredit Marketing Solutions reinforces our objective to continue to be the UK and Ireland’s number one online business to business directory.

Duncan Graham, Commercial Director, Callcredit Marketing Solutions, adds: This is a great win for us; B2B relationships are more important than ever in the current climate and this provides a fantastic chance for us to demonstrate our telemarketing skills across diverse market sectors.

Source: http://www.brandrepublic.com

Tigers Connect Travel Systems & Solutions to launch B2B online operations soon

Tigers Connect Travel Systems & Solutions Ltd., a Samvardhana Motherson Group Company, will soon start their full-fledged online B2B travel operations in the country. The company, which is currently offering their services to travel partners offline is in the process of developing a one-of-its-kind B2B travel portal with the assistance of the Group’s IT division – MothersonSumi Infotech & Designs Ltd. (MIND). According to Satwinder Singh, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Tigers Connect Travel Systems & Solutions Ltd, the company will start trial runs of the system this week. The system is being designed to provide services to all verticals of the travel, viz. air ticketing, hotel booking, holiday tickets, Indian railway, bus, charters etc.

“We will carry out various levels of testing before launching our online operations officially. We have done the internal testing already. This week, almost 500 developers will simultaneously test the system for two hours continuously. As a second step, we will ask over 7,000 employees of Motherson Group companies all over the world to test the system by booking tickets, vouchers etc. to know how the server responds to the assigned tasks. Once we get their feedback, we will try to incorporate whatever suggestions in the next ten days, before exposing the system to the trade partners,” Singh informed. The COO added that there is a lot of expectation in the market already about their product, and almost 150 travel agents have already registered and are waiting for the system to be launched. “We were also able to bring onboard some marketing partners/channel partners in the last eight months,” he said.

Speaking about the USP of Tigers Connect, Singh said that the benefits will be manifold for their partners. “Better commission, robust system, and maximum live services are unique to our system. All our services are available on a single interface. Agents need not to deposit money for different services at different partners any more,” he said.The Samvardhana Motherson Group already manages a travel company called MATA – Motherson Air Travel Agency, an IATA accredited agency. “Yes, the travel system is not new to us. But MATA was basically taking care of the internal travel needs of the group companies. By launching Tigers, we wanted to look at business on a larger scale,” he clarified. He informed that the company will target four models primarily – travel partner model (travel agents), corporate model (large companies looking for travel services), in-house model (serving the Motherson Group requirements), and finally for those who are looking to establish their own travel business.

Singh informed that the system will be launched in phases on a global platform. Initially, the services will be confined to partners in India, and in the second phase it will be expanded to serve the Asia-Pacific clientele. “Our ultimate aim is to cater to customers the world over. In India, their services will be available in almost all the states, except four or five which are far-flung. We don’t want to get into those places where we won’t be able to serve our partners properly,” he said.

Source: http://www.travelbizmonitor.com

Free B2B Content Marketing Workbook Published by Velocity

Velocity, the B2B marketing agency specialising in technology companies, today announced the publication of a free 49-page eBook called The B2B Content Marketing Workbook.

The eBook is available to download now from the Velocity website: www.velocitypartners.co.uk.

“In the era of information overload, Content Marketing is probably the single most important thing a B2B marketer can do,” says Stan Woods, Velocity MD, ” You can have lousy brochures. You can be a social media luddite. But if you get content marketing right, the world will beat a path to your door — and your sales guys will throw rose petals in your path (it’s embarrassing but feels kind of nice, too.).”

The Content Marketing Workbook covers topics like these:

* What Content Marketing and Thought Leadership are

* Why you need to get good at them (and fast)

* Why you’re perfectly placed to do it really, really well

* How to pick a topic prospects care about

* How to go beyond the dry, stale white paper

* What we think ‘good’ looks like — lots of examples

It’s free, it’s fun and it’s as fresh as new-baked bread plucked from a hot oven.

“This is the single best overview I’ve yet seen on strategic B2B content marketing”, says David Fideler, B2B marketing strategist and founder of the B2B Lead Nurturing group on Linked In, ” I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed by the ideas and value delivered.”

Source: http://www.pr.com

B2B marketplace tool targeted at SMEs

BANGALORE, INDIA: MyTradeBook.com has announced the launch of a free Web-based B2B marketplace tool that allows businesses to build networks, engage in interest groups, buy, sell and advertise products and services, recruit human resources and partner with organizations related to their business ecosystem.

The tool will be initially launched in India and United Kingdom followed by other English speaking countries.

Given the current economic scenario, this tool which is targeted at the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment offers Indian businesses a free online platform that helps create new markets and reach out to potential global customers.

Announcing the launch, Richard Tunstall, managing director, MyTradeBook.com said: "There are many SMBs that have products and services with global appeal, but are constrained with limited marketing budgets, which becomes even more pronounced in the current economic scenario. MyTradeBook.com is designed to cut through the clutter of the existing B2B marketplaces by offering users with effective ways to reach out, collaborate and showcase their products and services in a much more targeted fashion. What's more important is that they can do it for free."

Amalgamating the concepts of business networking and B2B marketplace, this unique tool allows users to join as well as create interest groups. This facilitates collaboration and discussion between users on their areas of interest opening up avenues for generation of new ideas and business leads.

Users can also advertise their products and services for free in the Trade Pages of the tool and these posted advertisements can be linked to various interest groups and can be viewed by other members offering users with an opportunity to target their ads at the most relevant people.

Apart from offering users with the ability to search Trade Page ads, crucially MyTradeBook.com, also allows users to share Trade Page posts with other social networking sites, creating viral marketing opportunities. Presents unique blend of B2B marketplace and social networking concepts.

Source: http://www.ciol.com

Beamups Launches Online News Marketplace For UK

The online news marketplace Beamups launches a UK version today, hoping to exploit the dire of state of the news industry by allowing producers to sell on unused and archive content. The site launched a beta for the Middle East in April and set up deals with broadcasters including the BBC, al Jazeera, ABC and Rtvi. For them, it’s an opportunity to make extra money from unused footage, while buyers get one source of global, professional material.

Beamups’ spokeswoman told me this is essentially a business-to-business service, and though they expect that some citizen journalism to make it onto the site it isn’t trying to do the same as sites Demotix, which focus very much on the amateur consumer market. Content is sold with a 40 percent commission to Beamups (fairly standard for B2B news content) and the seller decides the price. Terms can be for one-off use by multiple organisations or exclusively. Sellers get their own store and build up ratings much like eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) and don’t have to pay a subscription to join.

Beamups is fronted by former News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Europe senior vice president Dean Stewart, and was founded by two documentary cameramen, Boaz Eshtai and Yosi Romano - who grew tired of always having to hand over the rights to their work for the BBC, APTN, the Discovery (NSDQ: DISAB) Channel and National Geographic. Their most widely distributed work wouldn’t make them a proportionate amount of money, while some of their best work would sometimes not find a suitable slot at all.

“As freelance budgets and crew sizes are shrinking, we wanted to open up the news market to offer an international distribution model that gives professional journalists precious access to newsrooms around the world,” said Eshtai.

Source: http://www.paidcontent.co.uk

B2b Market Place for Wooden Handicrafts Launch of The Largest Online Hub for Wooden Handicrafts

Wooden Handicrafts, the B2b marketplace dedicated specifically to the handicrafts industry contains comprehensive information about the various ranges of wooden handicrafts available throughout the world. Browse through the website (http://www.wooden-handicrafts.com/) to get complete information on the suppliers, manufacturers and dealers of wooden manufacturers across the globe.

This is the one stop platform for all those who are looking for detailed knowledge of the various handicrafts associations along with wood crafts trade leads and wood craft publications. Some of the core areas of competencies include antique wood crafts, garden decoratives, wooden corporate gifts, wooden furniture, wooden kitchen accessories, wooden shutters and wooden toys and games.

Also find general information on the handicrafts with special emphasis on the industrial resources and industry overview with an insight on the various factors affecting the market growth of wooden handicrafts. The manufacturing regions, export import policies and production process has also been discussed at length. Here one can also find vivid collection of wood carvings, wood crafts and wood finishes.

The provision for receiving free quotes for wooden handicrafts also makes this B2B marketplace very palpable. You not only are capable to post buying or sourcing requirements for free but can also get multiple quotes directly from authentic wooden handicrafts manufacturers and suppliers. One can also send free request regarding the buying requirement along with other details to get responses from genuine globals sellers or suppliers, for free. Helpful tips related to the wooden handicrafts industry is also disseminated on a regular basis.

Exclusive range of wooden candle holders, wooden letters, wooden name plates, wooden bowls, wooden scoops and wooden planters along with their images, highlights and possible usage, have also been displayed on the website.

Source: http://www.enewswire.co.uk

B2B marketing moving dollars online

One of the trends coming out of the recession appears to be the shift to online marketing for many b2b companies with a recent report backing up that theory.

eMarketer reports that a joint study from MarketingProfs and Forrester Research finds that two-thirds of respondents say their budgets would stay the same or increase in 2009. However, while these companies are not decreasing their marketing spending, they are shifting where their dollars go.

The report finds that 47 percent of b2b companies said they plan to increase spending on search engine marketing (SEM) this year while 34 percent said they will increase spending on blogs, according to eMarketer.

In fact, blogs appear to be the biggest winner in this study with only 7 percent of b2b companies saying they plan to cut their budget allocations to blogs. By contrast, 55 percent said they will cut spending on print advertising - the largest percentage on the list.

A report earlier this month from Outsell found that 74 percent of small b2b advertisers will increase or maintain spending in 2009 with another 60 percent of large b2b advertisers expected to do the same. Much of these dollars will end up going to online marketing with the report finding that the category will see an 8.2 percent increase over 2008.

Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com

B2BTradeWorld.com: A Smart Business-to-Business Tool

The www.b2btradeworld.com is a business-to-business portal gives you a platform to improve your company’s productivity in both the factors of revenue and growth. B2b trade world is a creative and an online B2B portal from India. Our company was established in 2007 and has attained the position of India’s biggest online B2B portal. B2B trade world is a great platform with latest features, which carry out electronic business and manage significant parts of corporate business processes.

www.b2btradeworld.com is one of the India’s well-known and fast-growing B2B Trade Portal, perfect for suppliers and buyers from small and medium-sized businesses all over the India including manufacturers, importers, exporters, purchasing departments, procurement agents, trading companies, distributors, retailers etc. We are committed to providing effective and efficient services that meet or exceed the expectations of our members. Free memberships are available for buyers and suppliers, paid Premium Suppliers (Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum) are also available.

Our emphasis has always been on quality of visitors rather than quantity.

B2btradeworld.com contains unique database and rich information with databases of millions of buyers, sellers, agents, distributors, retailers and wholesalers.

SOME SPECIAL ADVANTAGES TO BE WITH US:

• Companies can reduce their costs by overcoming mediators.
• Cost of selling and marketing can also be reduced.
• Selling cycle is shortened.
• Through JIT (just in time) delivery the company can have the track of good as to which place it has reached with the help of electronic commerce.
• Companies can get an easy and instant access to thousands of prospective buyers and sellers. This gives the company an opportunity to expand its business by finding new customers and suppliers from this new community and thereby companies can get every chance to expand their business operations dramatically.
• Buyers can study, compare and research a product offered on a marketplace without leaving the marketplace. This ability gives key information necessary to make a faster purchasing decision helps.

UNIQUE SERVICES THAT WE PROVIDE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

• Business Directory (Exclusive database of manufacturers, suppliers and exporters worldwide)
• Trade offers (Post buying and selling offers)
• My B2B World (personalized virtual office of all services)
• Industry News (provides latest updates from niches market )
• Email Marketing
• SEO services (Search Engine Optimization)
• Reconstruction of present company’s website
• Offering feature of “lead on demand” for exports and imports
• Advertise with us (Brand Creation, Brand promotion and Brand Make over)

This is an online business where you can market your companies’ product online and offline. This provides you a link to the global market to sell and buy your product.

B2B Trade Links Pvt Ltd

F-8, Krishna Tower, Opp. Sachin Tower,

100 Ft. Ring Road, Satellite,

Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015, India

Phone: +91-79-40067776

Email: info@b2btradeworld.com

Website: http://www.b2btradeworld.com

Online marketing takes slight dip in first quarter

Although all industries have suffered during the recession, a new report finds that the online advertising market saw only a slight decline in the first quarter of this year.

According to the report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), online advertising revenues reached $5.5 billion during the first quarter of 2009 - a 5 percent drop from the same period in 2008.

Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of IAB, says that because online marketing has become a line item for many companies it is susceptible to market conditions, but he expects the industry to rebound throughout 2009 as people continue to spend more time online.

"For this, and other reasons, interactive media continues to gain share of marketing spend. We're confident that growth will resume as the U.S. economic climate improves," he said. "Interactive advertising is the most accountable way to reach consumers - and in this economy, digital media will be a core component of any successful marketing campaign."

A joint study last month from MarketingProfs and Forrester Research shows good signs for the business-to-business online marketing community. According to the report, 47 percent of b2b companies said they plan on increasing spending on search engine marketing this year.

Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com

Tex-Styles India, a successful event

The 15th edition of the premier show Tex-Styles India 2009 concluded on a successful note on March 3, 2009. The annual international event, held at Pragati Maidan during March 1-3, 2009 drew participation from as many as 176 leading Indian manufacturers and exporters of textiles, fabrics, furnishings and fashion accessories in a display area covering over 10,000 sqm.

The products on display included a wide range of fabrics for furnishings, made-ups, accessories, yarns, shawls, fibres etc. The special features of the event, namely, Theme Pavilion, Trend Forum, Fabric Folio, Designers-Gallery and Silk Mark Galleria accentuated the B2B ambience of the fair.

The three-day specialised show of India’s prowess in textiles, witnessed footfalls of 1,355 business persons; which included 545 overseas visitors and 247 buying agents based in India representing leading overseas companies.Despite the prevailing global economic slowdown, the fair generated a business of around Rs.406 million. Reportedly, 80% of the exhibitors have shown interest to participate in the fair next year.

Earlier, the fair was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Mrs. Sheila Dikshit on 1st March, 2009. Also present on the occasion were Dr. Sheela Bhide, Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation, Mr. Rajiv Yadav, Executive Director, ITPO, Mr. A.B. Joshi, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, Mr. K.K. Sinha, CMD, The Handicrafts & Handlooms Exports Corporation of India Ltd., Mr. V.S. Velayutham, Chairman, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, Mr. K.A. Marrapan, Chairman, Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council, exhibitors, visitors (both from India and abroad) and media persons.

Referring to the intrinsic strength of Indian textiles Industry, Mrs. Dikshit said that the fair provides a startling presentation of the innovations, concepts, colour and development of fabrics which have tremendous export potential. She also applauded ITPO and supporting organizations for hosting the 15th edition of this fair.

The fair was organized by ITPO with the support of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Textiles, Office of the Textile Commissioner, Textiles Committee and all textiles related Export Promotion Councils.

The 16th edition of Tex-Styles India will be held during February 24-27, 2010.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=73367

B2B Marketing Moving Dollars Online

One of the trends coming out of the recession appears to be the shift to online marketing for many b2b companies with a recent report backing up that theory.

eMarketer reports that a joint study from MarketingProfs and Forrester Research finds that two-thirds of respondents say their budgets would stay the same or increase in 2009. However, while these companies are not decreasing their marketing spending, they are shifting where their dollars go.

The report finds that 47 percent of b2b companies said they plan to increase spending on search engine marketing (SEM) this year while 34 percent said they will increase spending on blogs, according to eMarketer.

In fact, blogs appear to be the biggest winner in this study with only 7 percent of b2b companies saying they plan to cut their budget allocations to blogs. By contrast, 55 percent said they will cut spending on print advertising - the largest percentage on the list.

A report earlier this month from Outsell found that 74 percent of small b2b advertisers will increase or maintain spending in 2009 with another 60 percent of large b2b advertisers expected to do the same. Much of these dollars will end up going to online marketing with the report finding that the category will see an 8.2 percent increase over 2008.

Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/

Capturing the Value of Content Marketing

Click on one of your shortened URLs in Twitter, and your analytics may show a referral from Twitter. But if you click on that same shortened URL in a Twitter client like TweetDeck, the click-through will probably show up as a direct visit, because TweetDeck doesn’t pass along the referrer string in the URL. How many other sources of your traffic are like this? Probably more than you think.

Content marketing is very effective for B2B marketers. Think about all of the case studies, white papers, brochures, technical papers, newsletters you have. Likely, many of these assets are in pdf form. They took a lot of time and money to create. When it comes to analytics, you may know how many people download these assets, but you probably have no idea whether these assets help drive people back into your site.

Smart marketers put links into their pdfs. They know many people never print a pdf; they view it electronically. Ideally, links in the pdf drive readers back into your site for deeper engagement. The primary value of these marketing assets isn’t measured by how many people download them. It’s much better measured by whether readers of those assets take further action. Unfortunately, if you’re like most marketers, a click-through from one of these assets shows up as a direct visit. There’s no way to attribute it to your content marketing.

Suppose you’re searching your analytics for prospects. Suddenly, you find five direct visits from a Fortune 500 company in a span of three days. Each visit is fairly long and deep, but it’s also broad; and you really can’t determine their particular interest or what issue prompted that interest. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that these visits came from a particular white paper? That would give you tremendous insight into the visitor’s interest and motivation.

To begin capturing that information, you need to tag the URLs in your links. If you’re using Google Analytics, you can use Google’s URL Builder to append information to the URL. Then use these tagged URLs in the links you put into pdfs and other similar media (e.g. PowerPoint assets you make available). In doing so, you’ll not only be able to track click-through from certain channels of content marketing (e.g., white papers), but you’ll also be able to drill down within that channel to see how much traffic each white papers is driving. If you’re using another analytics platform, find out how to use its tagging capabilities.

If you use shortened URLs in these content marketing assets, make sure you tag your URL before shortening it. Incidentally, you can also do this for your tweets that contain short URLs linking back to your site. That way, in your analytics, you’ll be to identify click-through from people using tools like TweetDeck and distinguish it from direct visits.

Source: http://searchengineland.com/

B2B marketing moving dollars online

One of the trends coming out of the recession appears to be the shift to online marketing for many b2b companies with a recent report backing up that theory.

eMarketer reports that a joint study from MarketingProfs and Forrester Research finds that two-thirds of respondents say their budgets would stay the same or increase in 2009. However, while these companies are not decreasing their marketing spending, they are shifting where their dollars go.

The report finds that 47 percent of b2b companies said they plan to increase spending on search engine marketing (SEM) this year while 34 percent said they will increase spending on blogs, according to eMarketer.

In fact, blogs appear to be the biggest winner in this study with only 7 percent of b2b companies saying they plan to cut their budget allocations to blogs. By contrast, 55 percent said they will cut spending on print advertising - the largest percentage on the list.

A report earlier this month from Outsell found that 74 percent of small b2b advertisers will increase or maintain spending in 2009 with another 60 percent of large b2b advertisers expected to do the same. Much of these dollars will end up going to online marketing with the report finding that the category will see an 8.2 percent increase over 2008.

Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/

B2B marketplace tool targeted at SMEs

BANGALORE, INDIA: MyTradeBook.com has announced the launch of a free Web-based B2B marketplace tool that allows businesses to build networks, engage in interest groups, buy, sell and advertise products and services, recruit human resources and partner with organizations related to their business ecosystem.

The tool will be initially launched in India and United Kingdom followed by other English speaking countries.

Given the current economic scenario, this tool which is targeted at the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment offers Indian businesses a free online platform that helps create new markets and reach out to potential global customers.

Announcing the launch, Richard Tunstall, managing director, MyTradeBook.com said: "There are many SMBs that have products and services with global appeal, but are constrained with limited marketing budgets, which becomes even more pronounced in the current economic scenario. MyTradeBook.com is designed to cut through the clutter of the existing B2B marketplaces by offering users with effective ways to reach out, collaborate and showcase their products and services in a much more targeted fashion. What's more important is that they can do it for free."

Amalgamating the concepts of business networking and B2B marketplace, this unique tool allows users to join as well as create interest groups. This facilitates collaboration and discussion between users on their areas of interest opening up avenues for generation of new ideas and business leads.

Users can also advertise their products and services for free in the Trade Pages of the tool and these posted advertisements can be linked to various interest groups and can be viewed by other members offering users with an opportunity to target their ads at the most relevant people.

Apart from offering users with the ability to search Trade Page ads, crucially MyTradeBook.com, also allows users to share Trade Page posts with other social networking sites, creating viral marketing opportunities. Presents unique blend of B2B marketplace and social networking concepts.

Source: http://www.ciol.com/

Cotton imports may shoot up by 60%

Thanks to the increase of nearly 25-40 percent in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton, implemented by the government of India, the country could end up importing a higher number of bales in the current cotton season.

International cotton prices are quoting at a discount ever since the government owned agency Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) started its procurement, forcing eligible importers to import cotton which is available at a lower rate.

Fibre2fashion spoke to Mr DK Nair, Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) was very forthcoming when he said, “About 500,000 bales (1 bale = 170 kg) of cotton has arrived in the country so far and another 500,000 bales may be imported in the remaining part of the current cotton year, since ours is the costliest cotton in the world today and mills are looking for cheaper options abroad”.

He added by saying, “An unprecedented increase in imports may lead to decline in prices for the new crop and if this happens, it would be the result of reckless government intervention in the cotton economy during this year. The Government needs to separate populism from policy and to recognise the interdependence of cotton farmers and textile mills”.

Mr KF Jhunjhunwala, Chairman of Cotton Textiles and Allied Products Research Foundation, and Past President of Cotton Association of India, said, “This year import of cotton till September will touch 800,000 bales out of which 500,000 will be extra long fibres and 300,000 bales would be medium and small staple fiber”.

“Every year we import approximately 600,000 bales of cotton so this year it will exceed by only 200,000 bales which is not a matter of concern, though it is tough to predict about the future because it depends on the behaviour of the weather and if it rains well situation will be good”.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

BtoB Technology PR, Marketing Firm Arketi Group Offers Tips On Attaining Thought Leadership

Learn how to create killer content, promote it and use it to generate leads for your business-to-business organization.

05.26.2009 – Arketi Group ( www.arketi.com), a high-tech BtoB public relations and marketing firm consistently recognized as one of the nation's “Top BtoB Agencies”, offers tip to technology PR and marketing pros on how they can position their organization as thought leaders.

Business-to-business technology companies often face two combined hurdles: how to generate content for public relations and marketing campaigns, and how to increase leads for the sales team.

“In order to keep prospects energized and interested in your products or services, public relations and marketing teams must have relevant and compelling content to deliver,” said Mike Neumeier, APR, principal at Arketi Group. “Often companies struggle in developing original content to use for PR and marketing efforts because, simply put, they are focused on delivering their core business. This puts B2B marketers in a bind.”

1) Create killer content
One way to break out of this uncomfortable situation is to commit to a thought leadership strategy grounded in unique industry research. Architecting and executing focused survey campaigns is one of the strongest ways to deliver a unique form of thought leadership that generates persuasive content, and that can be leveraged across multiple marketing avenues.

Creating content your company can own also permits you to highlight your company’s expertise and differentiate it from the competition with fact-based data. By elevating the conversation to trends and issues – and away from features and benefits – you can stake a claim to a true thought leadership position. (For an example, click the Underwriter Survey on Xerox Mortgage Services’ homepage .)

2) Publish and promote your content
Now that the marketing team has content, how can they harness it?

From a PR perspective, news releases, bylined articles or interviews with subject matter experts rank high on the list for using your content. A series of presentations and panel events at trade shows are easy extensions and can be coupled with distributing the survey findings at the event.

In addition, thought leadership-based content also provides the information necessary to drive a series of webinars, whitepapers or direct mail efforts that extend beyond the usual product- or service-based marketing programs. These marketing efforts raise your organization above the expected marketplace messages and position you as a true industry discussion leader with new thinking and ideas. (See this in action for Sprint .)

3) Arm Sales with your content
Every industry has a unique sales cycle, but the common thread for most B2B companies is that the sales force always wants more leads. Today more marketers are using thought leadership-based content to generate leads.

Start by merchandising thought leadership content online. Create a sales sheet highlighting new industry insights and “fast facts” with professionally designed graphics and charts. This becomes a unique collateral piece for the sales team, as well as an effective website download offer that can attract site visitors, increase traffic and grow your leads database.

Survey findings can also be leveraged in customer and prospect e-marketing efforts. For example, pay-per-click campaigns can be constructed to help disseminate the information and also attract prospects to your website.

Thought leadership-based surveys support and complement other marketing tools such as whitepapers, presentations and media coverage. When using these calls-to-action on your website, don’t forget to employ the “give-to-get” model by adding a registration page for to capture the lead, before users can download the item. (Check out StatCom’s 2008 National Survey on Patient Flow Challenges and Technologies.)

With a smart thought leadership program, B2B companies of all sizes can create compelling and insightful content, repurpose it for multiple marketing efforts, and use it to support the lead generation efforts.

Source: http://www.pitchengine.com/

Apparel exports grow 4% to $10.13 bn in FY09

Apparel exports rose over four per cent to $10.13 billion in 2008-09 as against $9.68 billion in the previous year.

Apparel Exports Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Rakesh Vaid attributed the reason for the growth to robust performance witnessed in the first two months -- April and May in 2008, after that there was a slowdown during the last six months of the fiscal.

Vaid, who is in Tirupur to attend the 3-day 28th India Knit Fair, told reporters that the recession usually put pressure on prices only, particularly in apparel industry. Due to the constant increase in the population, the demand for apparels was always on the upper side.

Asked about the situation this fiscal, he said it was projected to register a growth rate of seven per cent.

However, compared to India, other Asian countries like China, Bangladesh and Indonesia had registered exponential growth of 15, 20 and 35 per cent, respectively, Vaid said.

A wide range of spring and summer collections of apparels and readymade garments were on display at the fair.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/

Viyellatex Group first garment Co to install ERP package

To stay in tune with the latest in cutting edge technology and also to remain globally competitive, more and more garment manufacturing companies are adopting the latest in information technology innovation.

The multifaceted Viyellatex Group is the first garment manufacturer in the country to adopt the Enterprise Resource Planning platform of SAP, Germany, by investing around US $2 million.

The biggest advantage the garment units have by implementing the latest in IT solutions is that greater efficiency can be attained in cutting, knitting, dyeing and finishing in the whole process of apparel manufacturing process.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

Financial Times launches new B2B direct marketing campaign

The Financial Times is launching a new B2B direct marketing campaign designed to target media planners and buyers in the EMEA region, in conjunction with Touch DDB and DDB London. The campaign entitled ‘A Complete Spotter’s Guide to the World’s Most Elusive Breeds’ will launch with a teaser email on 30 April, followed by a direct mail pack on 6 May and a refreshed media toolkit at www.ft.com/advertising.

The direct mail brings to life how media planners and buyers can more effectively target an elusive high value audience using a combination of advertising space in FT print and online products. With a bird spotting theme, a guide profiles six audience ‘breeds’ – including the high net worth individual, the business decision maker, the entrepreneur, the client facing professional, the financial professional and the opinion leader.

A pack with the guide and an FT branded pair of binoculars will be sent to approximately 300 existing contacts while the guide will also be delivered separately to 1,000 further recipients.

Caroline Halliwell, Director of Brand & B2B Marketing at the Financial Times, said: “The campaign has been created to position the FT as the most effective and efficient route to reach the world’s most influential and affluent people. That’s why the FT is such an important media choice for advertisers.”

Guy Bradbury, executive creative director at Touch DDB, added: “Communicating with media buyers, the savvy and difficult to reach audience, can be a real challenge but with this piece we’ve really hit the nail on the head, creating something memorable, amusing and demonstrative that the FT is the smartest way to reach high-quality audiences for a wide range of products. This idea was all about creating something pertinent to media buyers, something they would keep referring to but also enjoy reading and in doing so consider the FT more often.”

The newly designed FT online media toolkit created by OneBite will feature a free trial subscription to FT.com which will allow agencies to sign up to email bulletins and keyword alerts on their clients, competitors and industry sectors. It will also include case studies, research, audience information, product highlights and information about FT strategic solutions and digital innovations.

Source: http://mnilive.com/?p=3272