Google Exec Tells BMA Why the Internet is a Blessing for B2B

The Chicago Business Marketing Association recently hosted guest speaker Jennifer Howard, Google’s head of B2B and local markets for the Central Region. Her comments were featured in a Finance and Commerce article.

Howard cites a number of reasons why the Internet is a blessing for B2B companies.

1. B2B companies don’t need large budgets to make an impact online — Because the Internet has leveled the playing field, companies don’t need boatloads of money to reach customers. Companies can disseminate white papers, free reports, Webinars, e-books, articles and all sorts of other information and tools — efficiently and cost-effectively via the Internet.

2. B2B companies now have real data they can use — In the old days, companies relied on business reply cards (BRCs) and other hazy data to determine response rates for things like direct mail and print ads. And, because direct mail campaigns were often small (as compared to B2C campaigns), A/B split tests or running new letters against controls were rarely used.

Now companies can use Web analytics to determine campaign response rates. Howard gives the example of GoDaddy and its Super Bowl ads.

According to Howard, the company received tons of searches after its provocative ad ran, “but every year after that, the frequency of the search term ‘Godaddy.com’ declined. [This] provides valuable insight into whether buying a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl is useful anymore.” (Amen.)

3. The Internet is a fact of life — Howard also pointed out something I’ve already observed; namely, B2B’s customers of the future are growing up in our own living rooms. My 11-year old son cannot imagine life without the Internet (and in fact, the biggest threat I can make to him is to ban him from the computer for 24 hours — hahahahaha).

He is online all the time researching information, playing games, and talking to friends. He knows his way around operating systems, computer hardware, and online software programs such as iTunes. Even more important, I listen to him as he makes calls to customer support when he runs into glitches — and how these companies treat him.

As a “junior” consumer, he’s already built expectations on how he should be treated by companies, which companies offer superior service and which do not, and how things should work. He’ll carry these expectations into his future career.

As Howard said, B2B is quickly becoming B2P — business to people. As marketers, we’re no longer targeting groups of people with specific job titles, we’re targeting real people with names, faces, hopes, dreams, and very real needs.

Just sign up for a Twitter account and start following people. You’ll quickly see what I mean.

Thanks to the Internet, B2B is no longer marketing’s step-child. Companies can build profitable businesses that target real people without a lot of effort or large budgets.