FUSIONb2b Blog

Developing effective taglines is a disciplined process that melds insight with positioning strategy and creativity. So what is a tagline, and how can tagline development deliver a breakthrough? Sometimes called tags, positioning taglines, slogans, jingles, unique selling propositions or descriptors, taglines distill your corporate or brand position to a few simple and memorable words—ideally from one to five words, and never more than seven words.

Taglines are flexible, persuasive, differentiating, extendable and very often, more memorable than the corporate and brand names they modify. Why? Many names are legacy names, likely descriptive and sometimes over time, less relevant to positioning due to changing markets. With years of equity, it can be difficult to change names, but taglines can change with new campaigns, or to target different audiences.

Like names, there are different types of taglines. With metaphorical names that have highly provocative meanings, sometimes simple, Descriptive taglines can add clarity and anchor aggressive branding. For our client AfterMath, we chose a simple descriptor, Claim Science to communicate industry focus and differentiation. In addition to descriptive taglines, Fusion B2B has identified other tagline types including Metaphorical, Aspirational, Comparative and Jingles. And note that hybrid types abound.

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B2B, Branding, brands, fusionb2b, jingles, logo, Marketing, slogan, taglines

A spam-less Twitter feed is just too good to be true. Increasingly, spam in becoming a problem for Twitter users as spammers are finding new and innovative ways to clutter up the emerging communications channel. Ten years ago search engine optimizers have developed link farms to take advantage of search engine’s dependence upon link popularity. Mostly automated, link farms are landing pages containing groups of hyperlinks to other sites and no content. It took Yahoo! and Google several years to catch on and change algorithms to stop spamdexing users with irrelevant results, but was it enough?

Perhaps link farms have lost some of their appeal to spammers. Getting little love from search engines, not generating much traffic (or revenue) and paying for the domain, spammers had to find new grounds. And this is how Twitter Spam Farms were born.

We’ve compiled a short list of several ways spammers might try to get you, and things you should watch out for. Also we’ll give you valuable tips of how to protect your account against unwanted twitter-solicitors.

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B2B, Link Farms, Marketing, SMM, Social Media, Spam, Twitter

Improving the effectiveness of new product launches is of critical importance to most companies and brands as development costs can be stratospheric, coupled with extremely high failure rates. Some estimates of new product failure as high as 90%! Certainly the new product development process is complex and multi-functional—not just marketing—but typically involving many departments such as engineering, operations, purchasing, executive management and others.

The scope of this checklist does NOT address the many product development processes. Rather, the focus of this New Product Launch Planning Checklist are the marketing activities required to improve product launch effectiveness. No question that different markets or product types will require vastly different new product launch approaches, and have different budget resources. So a New Product Launch Planning Checklist should allow for a range of market and budget scenarios. This planning checklist is based on a typical business-to-business (B2B) market scenario.

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B2B, checklist, fusionb2b, Marketing, planning, strategy

Marketing plans come in a number of “shapes and sizes”, from a detailed strategic marketing plan with extensive market segmentation and competitive intelligence, to an annual tactical plan with budgets and calendars, to a plan in support of a new product launch. One of the most basic types of marketing plans is a checklist that identifies a broad range of elements or steps required for typical marketing initiatives.

A given marketing program may range in complexity, budget and requirements. Different markets and products likely require vastly different marketing strategies and tactics. So a Marketing Planning Checklist should allow for a range of marketing scenarios. This planning checklist is based on a typical business-to-business (B2B) marketing scenario.

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B2B, checklist, Marketing, planning, strategy

Despite the many benefits and relatively low cost of social media, the majority of B2B marketers are only now considering the implementation of social media initiatives. For some categories, there are still opportunities for leadership and mindshare. At FUSION b2b, we believe every marketer should implement social media as part of an overall marketing program. Here’s several tips to get started.

Establish Profiles on Key Social Media Networks.

There are thousands of social networks out there targeted at different communities of people sharing similar interests. Creating profiles on all microsites is a large time-consuming investment. While they may have their place, it makes more sense to concentrate on the top 4 major networks: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Keep in mind that Social Media marketing is very dynamic and is likely to change overtime, so it is crucial to keep an eye out for trends and shifts to determine what other social networks would be beneficial. (ex. 2006 MySpace was number one Social Networking Site)

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B2B, Facebook, SEO, Social Media, Tips, Twitter

No question Social Media or Social Marketing is the marketing topic du jour.
And while the benefits of Social to B2B marketers are becoming more obvious,
traditional marketing still delivers measurable sales. For many marketers,
the website is the foundation of marketing activity. Integrated with social
media, websites become even more potent a marketing weapon.

Certainly every B2B market has its own nuances, but old fashioned new
product launches, special promotions and sales and channel programs are the
marketing that drives real sales. Advertising and publicity build awareness
and even direct response.

Its important not to forget what marketing strategies and tactics deliver
sales, as it is easy for a marketer to get sucked into spending hours on
social media with little sales results to show for it.

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B2B, Marketing, Sales Results, Social Media, Traditional Media

Social Media is the fastest growing marketing strategy/tactic for both B2B and B2C markets. Yet, many businesses are dragging behind and have no virtual presence in the digital space. We recommend any enterprise to implement a complete, yet modest Social Media program as a cost-efficient compliment to, and enhancement of other marketing initiatives. Consider the following points to make your decision:

• Social media is inexpensive, with truly Free Media placements that can generate awareness.
• Many companies have not implemented social media. By implemented social media, you can beat your category competitors to it and claim early leadership.
• Social media can drive Search Engine Results, as high traffic social media networks often rank higher than company/brand websites.

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We’ve been working really hard to roll out this blog and start sharing some great content! Finally it’s live. What a great way to kick off 2010! We have so much to share with our friend, clients and colleagues. Best practice business-to-business marketing. New campaigns. White papers and Case Studies, and many useful links and resources. We hope you keep coming back and checking our blog for updated information. Please subscribe to our RSS feed so you won’t miss any new articles. Also check out our Fusion B2B home page where you will find a marketing Tip of the Week, learn about our services and see what we can do for you.

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