Marketing Innovators Luncheon Seminar
The Business Buyer of the Future... and the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’
Jennifer Howard, Head of B2B Markets, Google
Let's have some fun. Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY_S-LVXH28.
As the second decade of the new millennium dawns, business marketers are encountering a customer unlike any they’ve faced before. Buying habits and considerations are changing so drastically that the days of traditional “push marketing” are history. Business customers and prospects dictate when, where and how they will engage a brand/company/product. And first impressions are composed of multiple points of introduction, not a controlled experience from the seller.
What’s a b-to-b marketer to do? Find out Wednesday, Sept. 15, when Jennifer Howard, head of B2B Markets at Google, keynotes BMA’s first luncheon seminar of the 2010-2011 program year at The Standard Club.
In her seven years with Google, Howard has developed strategic marketing partnerships with some of the leading b-to-b brands in the world, including GE, 3M and FedEx. In doing so she has watched the online component become a crucial ingredient in the b-to-b marketing toolkit.
“If you don’t have a full-coverage digital strategy, you’re losing a huge piece of opportunity,” Howard said. In her presentation, she will underscore that point when she unveils research that Google and third parties have conducted into the rapidly changing process of customer-initiated brand introductions.
Five years ago Procter & Gamble coined the term “the First Moment of Truth,” referring to the first three to seven seconds after a shopper encounters a brand on a store shelf. This critical moment of customer interaction for consumer packaged goods companies translates to the initial seconds b-to-b marketers have with potential customers at a trade show booth or a sales meeting.
“But what we’re finding is that by the time customers start actually talking to anybody at these organizations, they are already very informed about the products, the services,” Howard said. “They already have an opinion. They’ve already read, our research shows, between four and seven reviews about these products.”
Google calls this online introduction to potential customers the “Zero Moment of Truth,” and it is a game-changer for b-to-b marketers. Howard will present research that shows that 62% of business buyers say they have been spending more time researching products and services online during the procurement process since the Great Recession began. What’s more, 25% of business buyers say they are more likely to change vendors than before the downturn.
In order to be able to head off that change and influence the purchase decision when this online research starts, Howard said, companies need to take advantage of all the tools that are available, including online research, social media and more.
To that end, Howard will show how leading companies are optimizing their digital strategies to engage the business buyer at the Zero Moment of Truth by using the “Five P’s of Digital Marketing,” which are:
· Pulse—Keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s happening online with your brand and your customers
· Pace—Being able to react at the rate of change the way things happen online
· Precision—Making sure you’re accurately targeting your message, talking in the language that’s important to your customers and showing up in the relevant places
· Participation—Engaging customers online
· Performance—Measuring the effectiveness of your online efforts
New luncheon theme
Over the summer, BMA’s board polled members on what topics they would like covered in the upcoming year’s luncheon seminars. Overwhelmingly, the answer was innovation. As a result, the theme of this year’s monthly luncheon series is “Marketing Innovators.”
The September luncheon is likely to reach capacity early, so please sign up soon.
About Jennifer Howard
Jennifer Howard leads the B2B Markets Group nationally for Google. She is responsible for developing strategic marketing partnerships with some of the leading B2B brands in the world including GE, 3M, and FedEx. Jennifer and her team work with these partners to develop digital strategies that increase brand awareness, generate leads and drive sales. She’s been with Google for 7 years. Howard joined Google from the Advertising & Communications Division of Monster Worldwide, where she held a variety of positions, including director of interactive services, director of product marketing and director of client strategy. She completed extensive international assignments and was instrumental in spearheading the company’s interactive division in Spain, England, Germany and Ireland. Howard holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.