Larry Weber: Why B2B Marketers Need to Get Customers Talking

Larry Weber is outspoken about the impact of the Web on the world in general and on marketers in particular. Drawing upon his early introduction to the Web and his experience building a number of interactive marketing agencies, Weber has written a book—no, a manifesto—about how marketers must reinvent themselves and their discipline: Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business. [[http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Social-Web-Customer-Communities/dp/0470124172]] This month we continue our conversation with Weber, who is chairman of the W2 Group.

ITSMA: During your session at the ITSMA 2007 Annual Marketing Conference, you said that in the Internet era “brand is dialogue.” Explain what you meant by that.

Larry Weber: Customers want a dialogue with your business; they want to know you are there and available 24/7. The idea of branding in the social Web is the dialogue you have with your customer. The stronger the dialogue, the stronger your brand; the weaker the dialogue, the weaker the brand. You have to think of customers as transmitters of your conversation. Theyre already having conversations with one another about your products and services anyway. It’s up to you to ensure that your organization participates in that conversation and to convince community members that you care about what they think and say about the brand, the products, and the services.

ITSMA: You said at the conference that the more IBM walls off portions of its site, the more popular the site becomes. Explain that.

Weber: Customers belong to community Websites like MySpace and Facebook in the social sphere. But they also need social sites that fulfill their professional needs. That means creating communities where your customers can have conversations about your brand. Companies like IBM and Cisco are creating private Web communities around specific micro-segments of their audiences. So, for example, they might offer a podcast just for CIOs in healthcare. The CIOs talk to each other, but it’s the B2B company that is supplying content, aggregating external content, and providing the place for these conversations to happen. This year and next year, you will see marketing budgets going away from things like marketing collateral, direct mail, and TV. That money will be invested in more community building that is very focused on content.

ITSMA: Many top executives at companies are showing a reluctance to participate in the social Web, both as spokespeople for their own companies and as participants in other companies’ dialogues. Do you see that changing?

Weber: Top executives still want to have control over the message and the conversation. But you know what? They can’t control either anymore—if they ever could. These conversations are happening on the Web whether they participate or not. It comes down to a choice: Do you want your people commenting on your competitor’s site or your site?

Blogs and communities are starting to take the place of trade magazines. Senior executives were always part of the trade publications, so they are going to have to be part of this channel, too.

ITSMA: When ITSMA surveys marketers and their customers, the consumption of these new content channels comes out pretty low. Most B2B marketers are still in the early experimental phases of this movement. So what’s your elevator pitch to the CFO for making the move to digital marketing?

Weber: My pitch is no matter what, it’s going to be cheaper than traditional marketing because your customers will provide you with some or even most of the content you need for nothing. That means you don’t have to spend as much on media.

I see companies spending $20 million on huge marketing and advertising events where instead they could spend $1 million to build an interactive community that targets a very special area of their customer base. Customers don’t have time to come to all your events. You could give them an online experience that comes close for a fraction of the cost.

ITSMA: Everyone seems to be approaching this in terms of technology. They ask whether podcasts work, or whether they should be in Second Life. Is that the way to be approaching this?

Weber: No. I think those are just tools. First, you have to figure out what your message and content are. Then you can figure out whether it should it be a podcast or a Webinar.

One thing I’m telling companies more and more, however, is that you have to think visually. Because the next generation of interfaces is going to be really media-rich. It’s going to be like your HDTV at home. Marketers need to think much more visually than in the past.

ITSMA members can read the full interview with Weber at www.itsma.com.

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