According to BtoB’s “2008 Marketing Priorities and Plans” survey, 60.1% of marketers plan to increase their overall marketing budgets next year… the biggest growth area??? Web site development…

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When we first talked about initiating this blog, we discussed mandating staff participation, even specific procedures. We talked about the number of times each of us should post, whether material should be reviewed before posting, etc. Several of us argued that such requirements were counter intuitive to the blogging process. It would mean, we said, people would participate because they had to, not because they wanted to.

Thankfully, we created no formal procedures and a better blog is the result.

I mention this because I came across a

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In her new e-book, Selling to Big Companies, Jill Konrath writes, “As a sales purist, it’s hard to admit that no matter how hard I work with my corporate clients to improve their sales effectiveness, it’s just not enough anymore. Sales desperately needs marketing to take the lead and up the ante.”

Wow! Are we witnessing a B2B marketing renaissance here? We agree with Konrath’s approach to implement B2B marketing tactics that “radically” impact sales, and offer the following suggestions.

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In the past, there was only one kind of “green” marketers cared about, and that was the kind their sales department could bank, but times have changed. The latest issue of B2B Magazine’s article, Marketers face challenges from economy to ecology listed “going green” as one of B2B marketer’s Top Ten marketing trends for 2008. But not all marketers should jump on the green bandwagon.

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Maybe late on a Friday isn’t the best time to blog. It’s been a long, busy week (not to mention rainy) and I’m not sure that I’m really focused. I could skip it today and do it this weekend, since the Patriots-Jets game will likely be a blowout 6 minutes into the first quarter. But more than likely I’ll watch into the fourth quarter instead, then answer some email, and there are the kids. Then Monday I have meetings all morning and a report due by noon and client calls and … Sound familiar?

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Sometimes yes…

Recently, a Mac vs. PC ad fueled the bad rep flame with this ad.

I hate to admit it, but this ad made me laugh because I could relate. But, the side of the story that isn’t told – most of the time it’s the PR people (at least in my office) who suggest we be as open and honest as possible. Yes, we highlight the positives and are even careful with our words to make sure they can’t be misconstrued. But, overall, especially in B2B, there is no sugarcoating allowed – it just doesn’t work.

All I am saying is, “Hey, give us a break!” If we weren’t pitching “new, state-of-the-art, innovative” products or “groundbreaking” research day in and day out, the publishing business would go under.

How important is new media? The fact is most executives are still spending more of their budget in old media. In fact, 45% of them allocate less than 10% on new media. So says a survey from Gundersen Partners.

Is that a true picture of the reality B2B marketing executives must deal with today? One glimpse at the wafer-thin thickness of any trade journal and you get a different picture

A survey of chemical industry buyers conducted by Schubert Communications provides another glimpse of what’s real today. True enough, the Schubert survey collaborates that 78% of the responders say they reference old media for information on new products, while 60% reference the Internet and 53% reference company Web sites. Have we reached a tipping point? You decide.

FACT: Today a B2B company has to deliver their message to markets in the form of and through media the buyers prefer. So that puts a great deal of pressure on marketing to optimize their Web site, search opportunities, and web publication of their information content.