The numbers are steadily increasing but a white paper issued in August 2011 by the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), entitled, ‘The Client’s Use of Social Media and Social Networking’ demonstrated it’s still an uphill climb. More than 1,600 surveys were distributed; 160 responses received. The breakdown of firms using some form of social media was 36% engineering; 24% architecture; and 17% for construction, landscape design and facility owners.

“For many construction firms, all their work is about getting a project off the ground,” said Daryl Andrews, vice president of marketing and business development at 360 Construct, a building management firm. He added that it’s still a slow-go for the construction industry to use social media as part of their business strategy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Most architectural firms currently using social media tend to be larger, primarily due to the investment in time/labor and having the requisite skills to navigate/communicate effectively on key social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The engineering community, on the other hand, has been quicker to adapt social media. Way back in Fall 2009 (probably equates to about 50 years in tech time), CE News conducted a survey on social media and mobile devices that was sent to about 750 civil engineering firms. Slightly more than half- 51% - said they use regularly use professional networking sites like LinkedIn; 30% said they use social networking mediums like Facebook to promote their business; 20% use Twitter or blogs. Those percentages have undoubtedly increased.

“Engineering firms can take advantage of social computing tools for knowledge management, expertise sharing and information retention, which is especially critical with the pending retirement of baby boomers and incoming millennial generation,” said Brian Zeve, managing director, Microsoft Professional Services Industry. “Web-based collaboration through wikis, blogs, tagging, and other content management tools can provide firms with a whole new way of architecting knowledge and enabling input and expertise to bubble-up within the firm.”

The current social media flavor of the month, Pinterest, has exploded onto the scene in recent months and quite a few A/E/C firms are now sharing their ‘pins’ in the form of visual portfolios of previous jobs, ideas, and designs conducive to their respective business. Most A/E/C firms usually have a welter of images for key projects so Pinterest is fast becoming an attractive forum to showcase work.

So with the aforementioned in mind, here are a few examples of how a handful of A/E/C firms in the U.S. and abroad are effectively using social media:

Burns & McDonnell

Established in 1898, the venerable Kansas City, MO-based firm has more than 3,400 employee-owners including engineers, architects, construction experts, planners, estimators, economists, technicians and scientists. Burns & McDonnell plans, designs, permits, constructs and manages facilities worldwide. The company also ranks 26th in Fortune’s 2012 list of ‘100 Best Companies to Work For.’

While the 113-year-old firm has roots dating back to the 19th Century, Burns & McDonnell hasn’t rested on its laurels and has readily embraced 21st Century social media avenues.

For starters, the company maintains a comprehensive Careers Blog; recent posts have included ‘How to Establish Your Online Presence’ (see YouTube video in this post; the company also maintains a dedicated YouTube page containing numerous videos); ‘LinkedIn: 4 Things You Need to Know About This Powerful Tool;’ ‘7 Tips for Stress-Free Business Travel;’ and ‘What Recruiters See When They Read Your Resume.’ Posts are cross-linked to the company’s LinkedIn site and tweeted.

Burns & McDonnell also uses LinkedIn for recruiting - two recent posts, for instance, advertise openings for a telecommunications coordinator in the Kansas City headquarters, and a project manager-substation design, in Wallingford, CT.

The Facebook home page currently has 915 Likes; it also features numerous shared links to stories in the news that are of interest to employees, project photos, even volunteer opportunities – a recent one was for Jazzoo, the Kansas City Zoo’s largest annual fundraising event.

As of today, the company had 3,271 followers on Twitter (@BurnsMcDonnell). In addition to company-related tweets and retweets, Burns & McDonnell also uses Twitter for recruiting. Here’s one example from yesterday: #Engineering student looking for the coolest jobs? Check out @BurnsMcDCareers.

Snow Architects

Located in Liverpool, United Kingdom, Snow Architects is a RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Chartered Practice; projects range across the board – residential properties, apartments, restaurants, hotels, mixed-use city center developments.

The firm utilizes a wide variety of the most popular social media tools – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter; posts photos/videos on Flickr, Vimeo and YouTube. The company’s director, Dave Cornett, is also using QR codes and Augmented Reality (AR) to help with practice development.

“We’ve been using QR codes in our printed brochure to link to additional information on the website, such as videos or additional photographs of the project,” said Cornett.

Cornett’s enthusiastic about how AR can be applied to architecture.

“We’ve done some image based AR and 3D models to show clients; they’ve been impressed when I pull out my iPhone and guide them through their building,” said Cornett.

He added that the company has also been looking at geo located models – these are superimposed over a phone’s camera as you look at the site.

“We’ve had a lot of Twitter interest in this worldwide, which is something I didn’t expect. The main disadvantage right now is that there isn’t a single app which can do all the things I would want to so it’s a case of switching from app to app,” said Cornett.

Cornett said that social media has helped increase brand awareness for his practice.

“Most people have actually now heard of us when we go to industry events in Liverpool and Manchester; we have also had job enquiries via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook on the back of a tweet or status update which jogs someone’s memory,” said Cornett.

Martell Home Builders

The Moncton, New Brunswick construction firm is one of Canada’s largest home builders.

The company made the plunge into social media because of a key problem – customers didn’t know where to find them when they needed them. So Martell resolved this by adding a ‘Where’s My Contractor’ feature on the web site which lists Twitter accounts of the firm’s managers – this way clients could see what they were doing and know how to find them. The web page is also connected to a Google Map API (application programming interface), which puts a stickpin on a map, making it even easier for customers to find their contractor.

Martell’s Twitter page is popular – to date, @martellhomes has 12,495 followers and the company tweets about a half-dozen times each day on a wide variety of topics – some recent tweets (with links) have included: ‘21 ways of turning pallets into unique pieces of furniture;’ ‘Top 10 ways to add value to your home;’ and ‘What tool can you not live without? 14 must-have tools for new homeowners.’

The company has an extensive YouTube archive – there are currently 79 videos for viewing covering a wide expanse of helpful homeowner-related topics. Some of these include:

• How to fix a door latch
• How to adjust or replace a shower
• Maritime energy solutions

While the jury is still out on whether social media is generating billable projects, it’s definitely helping the A/E/C industry connect with the public and ultimately may lead to new collaborations and clients.

Jing Liu, principal of Brooklyn, NY-based Solid Objectives-Idenburg Liu, an architectural design firm, believes social media will gain momentum across the A/E/C divide over time but with a caveat:

“Younger people who are in their 20s are very much in touch with the technology,” said Liu. “Online there is so much information, however, that I don’t think people completely trust what they read. They need to get know you personally before they give you a project.”

Stay tuned.

Google recently introduced a new set of educational materials in a program called Webmaster Academy. In keeping with the schooling theme, Webmaster Academy is design and organized into a curriculum-style format, wherein beginner webmasters can easily navigate their way through digestible chucks of structured content.

So what does this mean for you? You can now do a deep-dive into a topic you are interested in, and then you can drill-down and find more in-depth articles as you move through your “lessons.” What is even more encouraging is that a vast majority of the “lessons” have an accompanying video on the Webmaster Central YouTube Channel. So no matter what your preferred learning style- they’ve got you covered.

In their words “Webmaster Academy provides practical and easy-to-understand lessons for beginner webmasters to help you improve your site with topics like getting your site in our index, providing search engines with helpful information about your video and image content, and understanding Webmaster Tools features.”

Exciting! I know… #nerdalert. Have you checked it out? What are your thoughts? Catch me here or @saminj58.

So you built a website and it seems to do everything you need. Then someone points out that it looks pretty terrible on a phone, so you build a mobile website. Then you realize that it isn’t optimized for touch screens and doesn’t work on an iPad, so you build an iPad version. Then you get a memo from the Chairman asking why it doesn’t work right on his wife’s new Kindle Fire, and your sales director calls and says it looks terrible on his Mac Mini, which he is viewing on his 42” living room TV, and then...well, you get the idea.

The moral of the story is that the one thing you can count on in our technology drenched world is change, which is why you need a better way to approach creating things for digital channels. That better way is called Responsive Web Design. Not very catchy, but as you’ll see in a minute, the name pretty much sums it up.

What is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design is where the layout and content of a website adapt to the user's environment, which includes screen size, platform, and even orientation.

Basically, it means writing code to create a site that will work on the majority of devices, including those that haven't been invented yet.

To see more examples of sites using responsive design, go to http://mediaqueri.es/.

Why you should care

Your customers and prospects are discovering your brand on all sorts of devices now, and there just isn’t any excuse for not having a good digital experience waiting for them every time. Consumers expect brands to care enough about them to get it right, so when they come upon a brand that hasn’t produced a good user experience they infer the obvious; that your brand doesn’t care.

This is all part of the customer experience puzzle that a brand must get right if it wants to be a competitor today. Responsive Web Design solves a part of the digital piece of this puzzle.

How does it work?

The basic idea is you only have to create or edit a website once and it appears the way it should on a multitude of screen sizes and formats.

Responsive Web Designs contain three core ingredients:

• Flexible, grid-based layout
• Flexible images and media (show only what you want to)
• Media queries, a module from the CSS3 specification

Responsive Web Design is Device future-friendly

Mobile use is big and getting bigger. It’s predicted to outpace desktop browsing by 2015, and by then there will be more devices than people.

Maybe your current website works great on desktops, mobile phones, and tablets, but will it work on projectors, TVs, netbooks, eReaders, game systems, and all the devices that haven’t been thought of yet?

Responsive Web Design is not perfect, but you get closer to ensuring that your content can flow into any device; designed once for all platforms. Of course it also cuts down on the production and maintenance costs, because you’re only programming and designing once, and not each time a new device explodes onto the scene.

Responsive Web Design helps Search

Search engine rankings are strongly influenced by the amount of traffic you generate, but search engines keep the search traffic from different versions of your site separate. Now with Responsive Web Design all your traffic is combined into one big number.

In the example below you see how Google doesn’t combine your main website (domain.com) and its mobile counterpart (m.domain.com) and you lose the search ranking that a 10 million number might deliver. Responsive Web Design solves this.

By creating one site with one URL, all traffic to your site—no matter where it comes from—is counted in the total. That means your search rankings go up. This is particularly important if you already have a legacy of great SEO for your main website.

How do you apply?

Responsive Web Design still requires innovation. There’s not a single model that fits all websites. However, patterns are starting to emerge. Luke Wroblewski documented many of these patterns in his article “Multi-Device Layout Patterns.” The following are two examples he shared.

Which pattern is right for your site?

Each site is unique, so yours may not fit neatly into a pattern. This is where a good UX/design agency can help:

• Content strategists review your current content and help you think about future content. Then they inventory what you have and what you’ll have eventually, so you know what to allow for.

• Experience architects help you figure out what features and functions you want the site to have and then prioritize those with your content. They can also help you determine what size points to use (i.e., the screen sizes you already know you must design for).

• Designers create a visual language for your site and determine the best way to scale the content, features, and functions for each screen size.

• Developers build the site. They follow coding standards to ensure your site works across as many devices and platform types as possible and scales smoothly from one screen size to the next.

Is Responsive Web Design right for your site?

Nobody wants to change, especially if you already have a website that’s working well. But user experience problems will only multiply as devices proliferate.

Consumer adoption of new devices has been so fast that most existing brand sites are only now waking up to the demands of the multi-device marketplace. Designing Responsive sites is more expensive, but it’s cheaper than making custom sites for each device.

An easy first step would be to shift your site to a fluid layout instead of fixed layout. This is where the width of the site automatically adjusts. But even this has been slow to catch on. Our recent review of the Alexa Top 50 U.S. Sites showed that only 6 were 'fluid'.

Support for media queries is broad and growing

Most modern desktop browsers support Media queries, the technology involved powering Responsive Web Design. Most mobile browsers also support Media queries. This is great news, because mobile devices are one of the areas where Responsive Web Design is needed most.

Understand your users’ needs.

Some argue that users looking at your site on a phone have different needs than users looking at your site on a desktop so you need to create a separate mobile website. For example, someone looking at a restaurant’s website while walking down the street probably needs an address and a basic menu. They are not interested in large images of the food.

Be wary of this argument.

It’s true that context (e.g., user on the street versus sitting on their couch) should influence design, but knowing what device a person is using does not necessarily tell you their context. The good news, however, is that Responsive Web Design allows you to turn on or off and content on your site depending on the device or platform it will appear on.

Sometimes a separate mobile site may be appropriate, such as with a conference site that requires specific capabilities. But this may mean you really need a mobile app vs. a mobile website (check out IQ’s white paper on mobile web vs. native apps if you’re facing that decision).

A final thought

Responsive Design is not a magic bullet, but it goes a long way to solve the multi-device problem. It should, of course, be part of a bigger process of understanding your consumer’s needs, when and where they are likely to use digital channels, and what they are trying to accomplish in each context.

Technology will continue to evolve and brands will continue to have to adapt, the question is when is the right time to move. The speed that device technology, like tablets, is being adopted seems to indicate that brands can’t afford to sit on the sidelines and allow second-rate user experiences much longer.

Well, what if you were told that your company’s message could be put in front of people actively searching for your products or services, that you could pick and choose your audience by location, gender, and age, and that you could even control what time of day and device type they found you on? Would it sound too good to be true?

And yet there’s more. Imagine this advertising tool allowed you to simultaneously test multiple ad messaging, didn’t require costly and time-consuming ad production, and could take affect almost immediately. And, unlike traditional advertising, you could measure everything - conversion rates, conversion costs, ROI, and what keywords or ads result directly in a lead.

Before you think the catch is that this must be super expensive, consider that you can set a fixed advertising budget as low as $50 a month, and only get charged if a prospect actually visits your online page.

This marketer’s dream is called Paid Search, often referred to as Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It’s real; I’ve been using it to grow my business since this tactic’s beginnings, then offered via the “GoTo” platform. I’ve kept pace with this evolving advertising method and have leveraged it to help grow my clients’ businesses, too. Regardless of the size of the company and the budget, Paid Search is one of the most efficient and effective tactics for generating leads, driving traffic, and growing a business.

Our team believes in Paid Search so much so that we now offer an end-to-end solution for this affordable advertising. We call it Managed SEM Programs. In short, our expert SEM managers identify clients’ goals; conduct extensive keyword, competitor, and bid rate research; develop optimized landing pages; and leverage sophisticated software to run campaigns across multiple search engines, monitor and analyze performance daily, and provide detailed reporting.

So if your company needs a boost of new customers, use the powerful and cost-effective channel of Paid Search. And if you prefer to let the professionals handle it, inquire about our Managed SEM Program to get even better results without having to shoulder all the efforts. Click here to request a free Search Engine Marketing analysis.

Let us know your personal experiences shopping with retail sites or apps - what improvements do you recommend?

Philly Sports Live used a Custom QR Code to drive sports fans to its website.

Philly Sports Live is an upstart website that reports on the beloved Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles.  It also covers other teams in Philadelphia such as the Philadelphia Union and the college sports programs at Temple and Villanova.

But, despite outstanding journalism, finding an online audience in a city that boasts two sports talk radio stations, a very popular digital newspaper, and a bevy of prominent blog sites has not been an easy task.

So, Philly Sports Live took to the streets to find Philly sports fans.  And, there was no place better to find them than this weekend in South Philly with the Phillies hosting the hated Mets and the Flyers pummeling the cross-state rival Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“We decided that the best way to become known was through guerilla marketing at Pattison and Broad,” said Frank Mazza, publisher of Philly Sports Live.  “We wanted to offer something hip, something cool, to Philly sports fans.  We wanted to offer them something that would enable them to get to our site immediately and quickly.”

That something was a silicone wrist band that enabled fans to immediately access the website while tailgating in the parking lots around the Wells Fargo Center and Citizen’s Bank Park.  Models hired by Philly Sports Live strolled through the parking lots and gave the wrist bands to the partying fans.

The wrist bands showed the Philly Sports Live logo plus a Custom QR Code that showed the most famous Philadelphia celebrity of all-time—Ben Franklin.  Franklin was also holding another favorite among Philadelphia sports fans—a beer.

The clever wrist bands were warmly received.  “We had people running up to us to get them,” said Mazza.  “After receiving them, nearly all of the people immediately scanned them with their smartphones and visited our website.  It was the Ben Franklin QR Code that really got their attention.”

Philly Sports Live is a sports website that has been reporting on Philadelphia sports for a little over a year.  It covers the Phillies, Sixers, Eagles, Flyers, Union, and local college, and high school sports.

Advanced Telecom Services is the mobile marketing company that designed the Ben Franklin Custom QR Code for Philly Sports Live.  In addition to Custom QR Codes, Advanced Telecom Services also provides text message marketing, mobile websites, and apps development for its advertising agency and media customers.

Get connected. Want to stay on top of the latest trends that are driving business for today's digital agencies? Attend the iMedia Agency Summit, May 20-23. Request your invitation today.

That got me to wonderin’ – how do some of the world’s most popular religions, in effect, ‘market’ themselves? What are some of the digital tools available online and does going the virtual route somewhat detract from physically being in a place of worship or complement someone’s spirituality?

So I spent a bit of time wandering in the digital desert and came across a number of interesting sites and apps.

Here’s a snapshot (alphabetized -- not listed in any particular order of preference):

Buddhism

Sumi Loundon Kim, the Buddhist chaplain at Duke University and minister for the Buddhist families of Durham, NC, summed up the dilemma of teaching Buddhism to a new generation that uses texting, Facebook, Twitter and other online social media.

“These other worlds exist only through the eyes and mind; there is no touch, no taste, no smell, and very little hearing. As such, virtual worlds present us Buddhist teachers with students who live not just one step removed from reality, but two,” said Kim.

Kim added that Buddhist teachers can’t afford to underestimate the impact of social media on young people today since they have become ‘neurologically adapted’ to this lifestyle.

“The next generation of dharma teachers must not shy away from understanding the force of technology,” she said.

And one of these entities is The Buddhist Channel. The site’s home page has a pithy slogan on its landing page – ‘Bringing Buddha Dharma Home.’ The Buddhist Channel offers a welter of information and tools – global news related to Buddhism, features on archaeology, arts & culture, healing, travel, various podcasts from Buddhist scholars, even e-cards and games.

Another site, Unfettered Mind was established in 2001 by a Buddhist teacher, Ken McLeod. It provides scores of hours of iTunes podcasts, Buddhist text translations, sutra sessions, and more.

In South Korea, where smartphones are more ubiquitous than in the U.S., there are numerous Buddhist apps ranging from a mobile version of Buddhist prayer beads to a location search program that uses GPS to find the nearest temple. Another app, ‘Hello Dharma School,’ features pop-up animations of the Buddha’s life and uses simple vocabulary to explain basic Buddhist philosophies.

“Modern day people are too busy and don’t have time to visit temples,” said Jung Ho, director of missionary research at the Jogye Order, the biggest Buddhist sect in the country. “With mobile apps, people can keep in touch with Buddhism – smartphones can serve as mobile temples.”

Christianity

Even the pope’s gone digital.  The Vatican is using technology to help Pope Benedict XVI reach out to his flock of more than one billion Catholics worldwide. The site has its own multimedia player called Vatican Player that aggregates content from Vatican media (managed by Vatican Radio). On the site you can access the pope’s encyclicals, homilies, read apostolic letters, download info on basilicas and papal chapels, etc.

But in one of his messages, the pope offered a caveat. New media and social networks offer a ‘great opportunity’ but he warned of the risks of having more virtual friends than real ones.

“It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives,” said the pope.

Another thriving Christian online site is GodTube.com, which is now drawing over two million monthly users. CEO Chris Wyatt recently said “we apply web technology to the Gospel in a way that appeals to young people – we call it Jesus 2.0.”

Chris Ford, a social media expert with the Southern Baptist Convention, said social media is a big plus for Christianity and has had an overall positive impact in three areas – evangelism, ministry outreach, and educational communications.

“It should be no surprise that, for spreading the Gospel and globally mobilizing people for missions, social media can have significant, positive implications,” said Ford.

Brandon Vogt, a Catholic writer/speaker who also blogs at ThinVeil.net, said that at its core, the church is ‘one giant social network.’ Church fellowship, noted Vogt, shouldn’t be exclusive and closed in on itself – it should always be outward-focused and mission-oriented.

“Fellowship in the past was constrained to times when people gathered at churches or in homes, but now conversations about Sunday sermons can linger throughout the week,” said Vogt.

Vogt added that social media also opens the doors of Christian fellowship, inviting millions of outsiders to join the community.

“Young secularists who would never darken the doors of a church find themselves dialoguing with Christian bloggers, and an atheist YouTube viewer stumbles across a religious debate and becomes intrigued by the idea of God…when used prudently, social media tightens the bonds among Christians and also connects them with millions outside the faith,” said Vogt.

Hinduism

Hinduism, the world’s third largest religion after Christianity and Islam, has about 950 million followers. It’s the dominant religion in India, Nepal and among the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Hindu Online purports to be the world’s largest portal on Hindu religion, culture, shastras, and more. There’s a vast array of information available on the site – scores of articles, sections devoted to religion, culture, community, a digital library featuring manuscripts (e.g., Veda, Upanishads, Ayurveda), even a Learn Online area where you can get up to speed on everything from Sanskrit to Vedic mathematics.

Two more interesting examples:

Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, located in Kapaa, HI, is a monastery-temple complex with 21 monks. Established in 1949, the monastery has a very popular Facebook page – at last count almost 4,200 had ‘Liked’ it. The Facebook page features photos and videos of the temple, and site visitors share their thoughts and experiences on the monastery’s Wall. Lastly, the site provides links to other Hindu organizations such as the Hindu Students Association, Hinduism Today Magazine and Hindu American Foundation.

Twitter is also being used more frequently for major religious holidays.

Diwali, India’s biggest and most important holiday of the year, is celebrated in October or November each year and is also known as the Festival of Light. Run a search that time of year and you’ll find that #HappyDiwali will be trending.

One popular Tweet last year came from Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor:

“A very happy Diwali to all of our followers! Spend some quality time with family and friends and be safe!”

Popular Hindu leaders have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon to reach out to their followers. Devotees of Mata Amritanandamayi, a spiritual leader and guru who is sometimes referred to as ‘The Hugging Saint,’ regularly tweets (@amritapuri) in order to provide real-time updates of her activities.

Islam

It has been well documented how social media helped usher in last year’s ‘Arab Spring.’ But technology is also playing an important role in reaching out to Muslims worldwide on religious matters/issues.

For starters, there have been a suite of apps developed for smartphones that have become popular during Ramadan, the ninth month on the Islamic calendar. Ramadan generally lasts about 30 days; participating Muslims refrain from drinking, eating, smoking and sex during daylight hours. Other apps help find the nearest mosque or halal (food that’s permissible per Islamic law) restaurants in various cities.

Some examples:

iQuran, an Android app on Google Play, enables viewers to read the Holy Quran in Arabic alongside its translation. It provides verse-by-verse audio playbacks, repeat functions and unlimited bookmarks.

The Essentials of Ramadan, available on iTunes, provides in-depth info on the rules and laws of Ramadan.

Find Mecca, also on iTunes, uses GPS to locate the Qibla (the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays; it’s fixed as the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca) anywhere worldwide using an iPhone or iPad. Users can see Mecca with the camera in augmented reality mode; the app also can set an automatic countdown to the next required prayer and adjusts to various time zones.

Nidhal Guessoum, reporting in The Huffington Post, said Twitter is now being used frequently to send Quranic verses and religious injunctions; YouTube and Facebook to disseminate sermons.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamanei, even issued a fatwa (a juristic ruling issued by an Islamic scholar) on using Facebook:

“In general if it requires engaging in immorality and evil acts such as spreading corruption, lies and false materials, or if there is concern that it is sinful, or it strengthens the enemies of Islam and Muslims, it is not permissible. Otherwise it’s fine.”

Judaism

There are about 13.4 million Jews worldwide, about 0.2% of the world’s population, with about half in Israel, half in the United States. The rest are scattered widely.

One rabbi in the U.S. has taken proactive steps to bridge this diaspora.

Rabbi Laura Baum founded OurJewishCommunity.org – catchphrase under the Welcome sign on the home page reads, ‘Bringing Judaism to People Where They Are.’

The site’s chief objective is ‘to provide the same services of a brick-and-mortar congregation, such as access to rabbis, sermons, educational materials, social networking, discussions, and more.’

OurJewishCommunity.org uses a variety of tools to generate live content – live stream, blogs, video casts on YouTube, audio podcasts on iTunes, a Facebook Fan Page (currently more than 5,200 fans from 18 countries) and a Twitter feed.

Baum recently presided over an online Passover Seder, which attracted more than 400 people – but no Orthodox Jews, who are not allowed to use electronic devices during the Seder or Sabbath (Friday night through Saturday sunset).

“Sitting in a room is a powerful way to have community; but the fact you can do Passover with people all over the world, that is not any less of a community,” said Baum.

There are also a number of interesting mobile apps being used by Jews around the world.

The Orthodox Union recently released a new mobile app that provides information on what food products are kosher for Passover.

Crowded Road, a software firm, rolled out iTorah-iPad Edition, which includes vowels for Hebrew text to make it easier to read.

Davka Corporation, which bills itself as ‘First in Judaic Software,’ offers the Tanach Bible, a Study Tool for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It includes the Hebrew text and English translation of the Torah and other important works, and can be downloaded on iTunes for $1.99.

Can social media glean modern day solutions to the challenges that first arose during biblical times and are still with us thousands of years later?

Jury’s still out. But these digital tools are having a significant impact on the social and religious lives of people of all faiths and denominations.

Where can you find this hidden treasure? Your domain portfolio.

If you’re using domain names effectively, your company probably has a pretty sizable portfolio. They’re an important piece of the online marketing puzzle for branding, copyright protection, search engine optimization and overall ease of navigation for your customers. Most companies own hundreds or even thousands of domains for these purposes.

You or your colleagues purchased the domains in your company’s portfolio for a variety of reasons, and although some of these names are serving their intended purpose, others are not. Maybe you purchased a handful of keyword domains for a product that never panned out. Maybe you created a landing page for a creative campaign that just didn’t take off. Now is a better time than ever to take a close look at your company’s domain portfolio and to start identifying names that are sitting idle.

Why? Domain name prices have reached historical highs, making it a great time to sell.

According to IDNX, the world’s first standardized domain price index, the domain market set a new record in terms of sales prices during March 2012. Using real estate economic methodology and applying it to hundreds-of-thousands of domain transactions over the past six years, IDNX provides critical insight into the market value of domains. In fact, IDNX shows strong correlation between the value of domain names and other economic indicators like the NASDAQ.

IDNX compared to the NASDAQ 100 and share price of Google since 2006

Just like other economic assets, domain values may fluctuate, but they’ve proven to appreciate over time. Because of this, there’s very little financial risk to buying domains for a variety of online marketing needs. Don’t be afraid to experiment with how your company uses domains: if certain names don’t work out, you can always sell them to get your money back or even turn a profit.

If your company is already using domains strategically, now’s the time to audit your portfolio. If you have names that are just sitting idle, list them for sale. Using a trusted marketplace, you could put them to auction, list them at a fixed price or – for names that may be particularly valuable – broker them privately.

You could be sitting on a cash reserve without even knowing it. With domains priced at an all time high, it’s a better time than ever to take a closer look.

I will admit, while being a little surprised that Apple does not have a mobile optimized site, I am not the least bit surprised when other websites don’t (some of our competitors in the Mobile Advertising market do not). In fact the opposite is true – I am pleasantly surprised when they do.

According to a recent report, only 20% of the FTSE100 corporate websites currently provide support for mobile devices. How can this be acceptable?

Mobiles and smartphones in particular, are quickly becoming our primary content consumption devices. Research shows that accessing the web through mobile devices has consistently doubled every year since 2009 and by 2014, will overtake desktop internet usage. Morgan Stanley predicts that in the next five years more people will connect to the Internet via mobile than on a PC.

So not only are the majority of companies not catering to the habits of their users and not keeping up with changing trends, they are also causing their business to under perform.

Research by Aberdeen Group shows that companies that provide mobile-optimized content outperform those that don’t by 80% in terms of year-over-year increase in web traffic and achieve a 55% greater year-over year increase in the number of repeat visitors. And different research predicts that companies with properly mobile-optimized sites, can increase sales by 12%.

Now days, most companies have adopted digital marketing into their overall marketing strategy – from sending out email newsletters to online search campaigns. However, the market has moved so quickly, that companies without mobile sites, are again behind the trend.

Between 15 – 25% (and in some industries up to 50%) of people read their emails on a mobile device. That means that if you have links to offers or news within those emails, your customers are being taken to sites that are not optimized for the device they are viewing them on.

And mobile search already accounts for over 12% of total search and more than 50% of all “local” searches are done from a mobile device. Just imagine the lost opportunity that this represents with so few companies able to fully utilize this traffic.

So why have companies been so slow at implementing mobile sites?

Fears of additional cost or the management of multiple sites are often quoted as reasons for not implementing mobile sites. However, mobile sites are not meant to be identical to an existing website. They are meant to be “slimmed down” versions that are easy to navigate on the smaller format while still be a great showcase for the business.

And the cost of implementing these sites can be small, especially relative to the lost opportunity of not having a mobile site. And for companies that don’t have the in-house resources, there are a multitude of companies and software solutions to turn existing sites into a mobile optimized site.

The reality is, with so many companies still struggling to implement effective web strategies, this is just another area of digital marketing where they are going to lag even further behind the market. For those that have begun or have already implemented their mobile strategies – the market will be their oyster.

One of the most interesting sessions I attended today was Search: The Search Ecosystem and Integrating Search Into Your Marketing Mix

The session positioned Search as center stage in marketing, not relegated to the basement of performance driven campaigns to drive sales. Search is no longer just "Search," it is an interconnected ecosystem that instead of only driving results or just supporting your "more important" campaigns, Search can, and probably should be influencing or even directing your brand campaigns. Huh? Heresy! Well, not according to our experts. So why should you be "listening" to what Search is telling you?

Kevin Ryan, CEO Motivity Marketing explains; Affliction is one of their clients. They noticed from the search data that people who were searching for "Affliction" were also searching for "Blasko," Ozzy Osbourne's bassist. So they integrated him into Afflictions overall campaign. This is Search influencing up instead of being influenced down. This is Search connecting with consumers by listening to them without them even realizing it. Listen to what is happening in search data. For instance, one of their clients Bugaboo which makes high-end strollers sells an attachment. It is not a "food storage device" or "drink storage" it is a "Cup Holder" or "Snack Tray." It does not matter what the attachment is called, you have to use search terms as to how people refer to it. "Brand Terms" deviate only when practical knowledge intervenes. He also educates us that even with a premium brand like Bugaboo price inclusion works very well and is a significant driver so do not forget to include it in your campaigns.

"Brand Terms" deviate only when practical knowledge intervenes.

For Rhonda Hanson, Director of Search Marketing, Getty Images, she only jokingly admits that "Google does not have a good idea of how to index imagery at all." And she also admits that it is not really their fault; it is a struggle for companies in the photo space as imagery comes with much less meta data that search engines can crawl. And Search is such vital importance to these types of services.

What she did is launch a contest called the Mishmash Video/Music/Images Remix Competition where people could use Getty Images to make mashup videos. The campaign seeds Getty throughout not only the Search ecosystem, but the entire Social Media ecosystem as well. She used Google site links on her brand terms to get extra promotion for the campaign, and demonstrated through the use of promoted Tweets which only cost $300, through the Google Display Network for another $5,000 and through traditional Press Releases how they could increase Getty's Search footprint. And the lesson is simple. Since there are many companies where Search is the number one way people find and interact, Search, and campaigns that help Search should be a primary strategy... AND it does not have to cost you an arm and a leg.

Mitra Naeimi, Director of SEO and Social Media, Shutterfly also understand that. She knows how important search engine optimization is to one of her brands Tiny Prints. Tiny Prints started using Pinterest in Q4 of last year, but the majority of their traffic is to through organic search. They noticed that they were missing a big opportunity to capture the long-tail traffic. They were doing well with the "head" search terms like "Photo Printing" etc... but were no where to be found with long-tail terms like "Twinkle Little Star birth announcements." She implemented a three step process after doing a site audit.

1. She added a "Related Searches" modules on their category pages. What this enables is it creates the dynamic link graph across the site. This helps crawlability, extends content, make content richer, creates a better user experience, and makes a difference in ranking.
2. She added "Related Products" to each of her product pages for the same reasons and that it helps provide content richness which improves the user experience.
3. She structurally implemented "Rich Filters" (the ability to sort by "rounded corners" "heavy stock" "color" etc...) so that all different types of pages were created that were "search type specific." This takes advantage of the way that people search and find information online, so these filters restructure their pages and act as links, efficiently linking into their product pages. This cross-linking dramatically increases search relevancy in

If you are a product company, you need to restructure your site for Search, and Mitra outlines a three step process that works. Search elevates up to influence design, structure and site functionality. It actually should be the first place to start.

Matt Lawson, Vice President of Marketing & Partnerships, Marin Software rounded out our panel of experts, and his four step process educated us on on how to integrate mobile device platforms in search

1. Separate your mobile campaigns. i.e. "Call us now to reserve a table" instead of a brand ad works in mobile. Recognize how consumers interact with their devices. i.e. With GAP a desktop campaign promotes a sale, whereas a mobile device promotes the store location.
2. Target users with specific device copy. Banana Republic has created a specific "http://...../iphone" URL that is displayed. This can increase click-through 9%-15%. No one wants to click on something on a mobile device and end up on a non-mobile site.
3. Prioritize Ad Position. Even though the cost per click in mobile is lower, you need to bid higher due to there being less positions. On a desktop being on the first page of ads is fine. In mobile if you are not position one or position two do not bother. Especially bid on your brand terms to protect your brand in mobile.
4. Optimize for the User Experience. You do not have to create the worlds best app, or the best mobile site, but you have to check your landing pages to make sure they look good on iPhone and Android and have some sort of mobile friendly landing page. In addition, the notion of conversion may be different for mobile devices. Is it a Call? a Reservation? a Map lookup? Put a dollar amount against it and measure it.

And I will add to that the advice "Measure what is Valuable, Don't Value what is Measurable."

This four panel of experts and all of this advice was from just one session at AdTech. I started by saying I could write a book on all the session I attended. In fact I could write a book, and a good one, on just the lessons in this one session.

AdTech is what you make of it; ask questions, take notes, email panelists and presenters, they are all willing to help almost anyone and answer any questions within reason... but before you can do any of that you have to attend all of this value.

Streaming video is dynamic. You can deliver a focused message that reaches your audience and drives sales. That’s the end goal after all, right? Although businesses are more receptive to the use of online video, we’ve all experienced clients, bosses or team members that are hesitant about implementation.

If you are thinking about making the jump to streaming video as part of your product or service launch strategy, here are some benefits to consider and ways to utilize online video:

Pre-Launch/Launch Tactics

Generate Excitement
Prior to a product launch, issuing a video teaser gives your audience a glimpse of the innovative features and benefits of your product or service. It will also help generate buzz and induce excitement about its release. Hopefully, it compels your audience to test or purchase the product too. You might even be lucky enough for the video to go viral!

Grow Your User Base
Streaming video is an excellent way to expand audience reach. By incorporating online video, you offer customers a clear, quick way to see your product and how it works. For people that conduct online research prior to a purchase (me!), this is definitely a way for your product or service to stand out.

A video product demonstration is also a perfect complement to an in-person launch event and as a means to extend the product or service “experience” to a newer and/or wider audience. If you are hosting a launch party, you can create a hybrid event (a mix of in-person and virtual guests) and stream coverage to increase attendance. Since this video can be viewed live and on-demand, it’s especially helpful for those who may have missed a portion of the presentation (e.g. arriving late to the event, distracted by an email or text during the product demonstration) or who were unable to travel due to scheduling or budget restrictions.

Customer Testimonials
Creating an online video for a launch event is a great way to showcase your product and user base. A customer testimonial can put a human face on a typical guided tour video, and your audience will be able to envision itself using the product. I know I definitely respond more to word-of-mouth referrals over company-issued advertisements, and video testimonials from real customers provide that recommendation often needed to drive a purchase.

Post-Launch

Customer Support
Following a successful launch, customers may have questions regarding set up or particular features. It’s usually easier for me to follow along with a step-by-step customer support video to address some of my “frequently asked questions” than to constantly go back and forth with written instructions.

Cross Promotion and On-Demand Life
One of the greatest ROI values of a good product video is its ability to keep giving over time. Your video can be promoted as part of other elements of your campaign, so if you have landing pages for product information, rebates or giveaways, you have easy access to continue promoting the new offering. The bottom line is that if the video is paid for and well-developed, you need to use it for all it’s worth.

Social Media Interaction and Outreach
Once your product is launched, online videos are great tools to share through social media channels. People love to share their knowledge of the latest and greatest product with their family and friends, so develop a fun promotional video (a la Dollar Shave Club http://bit.ly/GSRlIG) that can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.  Best practice or how-to videos are also useful to share with your user community.

Product Updates
If software updates become available and/or there are new tools offered based on these upgrades, online video can show the necessary steps involved. Streaming media is a useful method for demonstrating the benefits of these new features and functionality, and how the product/service differentiates itself from others on the market. In other words, it illustrates why someone should choose your product over your competitor!

While no communication method can solely replace face-to-face interaction, streaming media can help complement in-person launch initiatives. Video communication offers an additional opportunity to better serve current and prospective clients, which provides more chances to gain customer feedback, enhance product innovation, maintain loyal customer relationships, and, drum roll please, increase sales.

The truth is we could spend all day working on traffic acquisition strategies, spend thousands (even millions) of dollars on PPC, SEO and ad targeting, and launch the most advanced email marketing system fully integrated with our POS systems to drive people back to our website. Heck, some of us are still throwing a lot of budget and resources into direct mail and couponing. But, while all of these strategies may work, the puck does not stop there. Your marketing dollars must reach far beyond “more eyes on your website” and ensure conversion rates that turn those browsers into buyers, and turn your marketing dollars into revenue. And it starts with CXO.

CXO Defined
Customer Experience Optimization (CXO) is about making every experience with your brand matter. (Yes, I definitely want to do that!) CXO is dynamic, adaptive and specific to each customer’s interaction with your brand, while optimizing for your business goals. (Right, sounds good to me). CXO is about using multivariate testing, personalization and multichannel marketing to gain real time feedback from customers on which content works, and which doesn’t to increase conversion rates; it's about allowing marketers to tailor website experiences on a personalized level to improve average order values and repeat buyers; and it's about filtering these insights into all marketing channels for maximum ROI and brand consistency. (OK, how do I get started?)

Online Testing + Internal Culture Shift
A/B and Multivariate have indeed become more mainstream, so it’s safe to assume that most companies have attempted some form of testing. But launching a test a month, or employing a testing program with a solution provider doesn’t mean you are nailing CXO 100%. The notion of internal cultural shift that centers around CXO is must. In other words, brands who have a testing program in place need to swear by it: testing any and all changes that happen on the site first, before making any permanent changes.  By letting live visitors and customers tell marketers what they like through their clicks, conversions and purchases, the evolution of providing exception online customer experience can fully begin. 100% optimized, 100% of the time.

Level Up: Personalization
Thanks to mobile apps, site aggregators and even Google, all consumers can easily comparison shop and search. You may have even found yourself throwing more money to stay in the mix at search, PPC and affiliate marketing. But those strategies, while they may help in the short-term, they aren’t going to change the fact that consumers are more fickle than ever and cultivating loyalty is a real challenge. Fortunately, the personalization component of CXO means marketers can meet this challenge head-on.

Segmentation and product recommendations are great ways to get started with personalization, though technically there is no order to which you can start providing better customer experiences. With segmentation, you can create user profiles that allow you to segment visitors into basic groups, which will dictate visitors’ experience the moment they land on your site. Even the simplest categorizations allow for better customer engagement with content and offers that are more relevant.

Or you can apply meaningful product recommendations that help you sell, cross-sell and up-sell: “viewers who bought that, also bought this”, for example. You can even segment and apply multivariate testing directly to those recommendations. Or you can get even more sophisticated, with automated behavioral targeting, by modeling what is the next best content to show an individual in real time. (Wait, tell me more!)

The Holy Grail: Automated Behavioral Targeting
Real-time personalized marketing is now a reality. And if you want to achieve the CXO trinity, it’s a must-do. But, you will need the help of technology here, since it would take way more than the likes of Rain Man to come up with a set of rules that could effectively, and precisely, target your visitors with the right content.

Using sophisticated mathematical modeling, automated behavioral targeting empowers you to present highly personalized offers, products and experiences to each individual website visitor. This type of behavioral targeting takes into account everything you know about your customer, including existing customer data, such as current products owned or a propensity score, it uses all this complex data to identify the best offer for each customer, and then adjusts over time to dynamically optimize visitor experiences with content that yields the highest conversion rate.

In other words, you are spending your marketing dollars to get people to the site, and personalize it, then letting the technology take over to learn, adjust, segment, promote and improve the site experience over time. All this equals more conversions, more loyalty, more revenue, and more marketing ROI.

There are plenty of debates regarding the best tactical means to connect with B2B buyers. The effectiveness of these tactical means, as reported by once again the likes of IDC and etc., show that many B2B leaders believe these tactical efforts such as content marketing and marketing automation may only be effective about a quarter of the time. It does represent a big gap and it begs for a rephrasing of the challenge – this a big disconnect with B2B buyers. Enough to keep any sane B2B CEO and their senior management team scrambling for answers. Part 1 and part 2 of this series pointed out that conventional funnel thinking is woefully inadequate in today’s B2B buyer landscape and is limited in the ability to address new and evolving complexities.

Determining new strategies as well as tactics that can meet the challenge of connecting with today’s B2B buyers revolve around understanding new buyer psychology and dynamics that are in a state of continuous evolution. B2B businesses can do three things to help grasp the connection issue and make plans that close the gap:

Buyer Modeling To Understand Buyer Choices and Scenarios

Business executives today are using the concepts of buyer modeling to understand as well as visually illuminate buyer choice. Buyer modeling incorporates the elements of attitudes, beliefs, values, goals, perceptions, needs, and motivations. By modeling buyers, buying scenarios, buyer experience, and decision journeys, B2B executives can then map strategy as well as tactical marketing and sales activities that enable them to connect with B2B buyers on a relational level. Buyer modeling is based on qualitative research that addresses choices being made versus inadequate interviewing that is done in the context of the funnel.

Focus On The Total Brand and Buyer Experience

B2B businesses are learning how to think outside the context of the funnel and how to encompass the total view of the brand and buyer experience. The invisibility of buyers who are in explore and network mode of the buyer choice model makes it an imperative for B2B businesses to better understand how different buyers interact with different channels that create impressionable brand and buyer experience. The emphasis here is on identifying critical Buyer Moment of Truth™ impression points that contribute to the overall brand and buyer experience. For example, does the web channel brand and buyer experience stay true to form when buyers interact with either the social media, sales, resellers, partner, or service channels? HP, for instance, has a strong ecosystem of reseller and partner channels where the brand and buyer experience has many potential pitfalls and has several challenging Buyer Moment of Truth handoff points that can make or break their involvement. B2B leaders today can conduct buyer experience mapping that identifies critical Buyer Moment of Truth and ensure that the brand and buyer experience stays true to form throughout.

Descriptive Buyer Segmentation Based on Buying Behavior and Opportunity

By integrating the benefits of predictive analytics with that of predictive buyer modeling, B2B leaders are gaining smarts on taking segmentation to a new level. With the use of visually illuminating B2B Buyergraphics, buyers can be segmented descriptively by explore and buying behavior and also by modeling buying scenarios that identify where the organization can reach a “best fit” level with buyers. This can be especially useful in industries where there is a strong company or account focus as well as complex buying scenarios that involve lengthy buying cycles. Descriptive means of segmentation helps to illuminate the many elements related to choice, needs, goals, attitudes, behaviors, values, and experience. This approach enables both marketing and sales to focus on resonating with buyer segments that have similar goals and buying behaviors where knowledge in doing so is dynamic and enriched with each company or account interaction. In essence, allowing B2B businesses to build strong connections with B2B buyers in buyer segments that have higher winning percentages.

When B2B leaders can do these three things, they can be better informed on how to guide the overall trajectory of their organization. Their focus is on identifying the buyers and buyer segments that they can best establish a connection within the context of understanding choices being made. More importantly, they can learn how to connect with B2B buyers today in ways that resonates and invites participation into the buyer driven world of goals, challenges, issues, uncertainties, and growth objectives that orbit them continuously.

Next up: Transforming B2B Business

Follow @TonyZambito

Related articles

• The Buyerology of the Buyer: How B2B Leaders Respond to the Psychology of Buyer Choice (buyerology.com)
• Slow Death of the Funnel: Why Buyer Choice Matters to Revenue (buyerology.com)
• Revenue Growth by Choice and The Buyer Orbit (buyerology.com)
• How B2B Leaders Are Understanding Buyers Better With Behavioral Buyergraphics (buyerology.com)
• The Single Buyer Model: A Dangerous Road Towards Competitive B2B Marketing (buyerology.com)
• Predictive Buyer Modeling Is Changing the Future of B2B (buyerology.com)

Talking with people before and after my presentation -- “DotAnything 101: Demystifying New Domain Extensions” -- it also became clear to me that most companies know just enough about new top-level domains (TLDs) to be intrigued, but not enough to strategically leverage them. For example, very few people were aware of the important upcoming deadlines for those applying for new TLDs and for brand owners that could be affected by new TLDs.

Like a lot of things in life, just when you start to understand what’s happening around you, the window to act may close before you know it. For many companies looking into new TLDs, this can mean losing the chance to make the most of this opportunity. Even if all the excitement doesn’t apply to your company, as an online marketer you can arm yourself with the knowledge to ensure that your brand is protected from what might be just around the corner.

First things first: there are important deadlines to consider.

If you’re an organization considering applying to manage your own TLD, time is running out. The deadline to register with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is March 29, 2012. Once the current application window closes, there are no guarantees as to whether ICANN will announce another opportunity to request your own domain extension.

A new TLD is probably not for us anyhow. Is there anything we still need to worry about?

Let’s be honest. How many organizations are willing to spend $185,000 on a partially refundable evaluation fee just to prove to ICANN they have the technical ability and credibility to launch, manage and administer a new TLD? Consider the expense of managing the TLD moving forward, and it’s not a proposition for the faint of heart.

For most brand managers and online marketers, the real question becomes how to adapt their domain portfolio strategy, given the addition of potentially hundreds of new extensions by the end of the year. Part of the answer includes a proactive approach to understanding the new TLD rollout process, as well as your remaining opportunities to voice concern against any potential new extension. Processing fees mean your chance to complain will not come cheap, but the public is given a chance to voice concerns before ICANN comes to any final decisions.

How can I object to an application?

Approximately 2 weeks after the close of the application window (so, sometime in mid-April), ICANN will post the public portions of all applications that have been received on its website (http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results). The formal objection period will then begin and will last for approximately 7 months. Formal objections may be filed on any of the following grounds so long as they follow pre-established dispute resolution procedures:

• Legal rights -- such as trademark interests
• Community -- for TLDs that would seem to represent a particular group
• Limited public interest – for TLDs that would seem to touch on obscene or anti-social themes
• String confusion – intended to avoid public confusion between TLDs

Who will hear my complaints and what will it cost?

ICANN has hired the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as the exclusive dispute resolution provider for trademark-based ‘pre-delegation’ legal rights objections for new TLDs. In other words, they will hear the complaints from organizations that would like to oppose a new TLD based on one or more of the complaint criteria above. At a significant cost of $10,000 to the complainant (with a partial refund if successful), a company must be confident in its chances of winning.

What’s been done to help existing brand owners?

The new gTLD handbook from ICANN has introduced new mechanisms to protect brand owners from a domain infringing their rights, such as a uniform rapid Suspension system and a trademark clearinghouse, but the exact rules and procedures of both are still being discussed. Of course, the standard sunrise windows for brand owners will still apply for any new domains being made available to the public, allowing them an early chance to register their own names.

According to VeriSign -- the registry for everyone’s favorite TLD, .COM -- there are more than 225 million registered gTLDs. And that doesn’t even count the 90 million ccTLD domains registered under extensions like .US, .UK, .DE, etc. New gTLD applications have been estimated in the hundreds, so it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to predict how the domain landscape is about to transform forever.

Be sure your organization is prepared by understanding the important deadlines to review proposed new extensions, your chances to submit complaints against their acceptance, and the sunrise windows for trademark owners to secure their brand names for each relevant new TLD.

I’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available!

© All Rights Reserved Kenny Madden

This is part 3 of a limited series on why buyer choice modeling is the new view B2B Business must adopt to improve revenue performance and develop long lasting relationships with buyers.

When it comes to understanding the psychology of the buyer, much has been done in the world of B2C to get inside the mind of consumers to understand buying choices and preferences. For B2B, it has been harder to translate B2C research dynamics into ways that would make the psychology of B2B buyers more readily understood. However, what we do know is that there is an increasing consumerization effect happening in B2B buying whereby B2B buyers have the same desires for more experiential purchasing as opposed to a heavy emphasis on sterile transactions.

In part 2 of this series, I discussed the Buyer Orbit and the elements of the Buyer Choice Model. Each of these now filled with more psychological aspects related to why B2B buyers buy. This comes with many implications for B2B leaders to not only understand new buyer psychology but to also shift business models, operations, strategies, and interactions that transforms the way they connect with B2B buyers. In part 3, let us look at how B2B leaders are responding to new buyer psychology in relations to the elements of the buyer choice model.

Psychology of Buyer Choice

Understanding buyer choice has many implications for B2B strategies and tactics – whether they are focused on demand generation, content marketing, or selling approaches. Addressing new buyer psychology and buyer choice paradigms, within elements of buyer choice modeling, can be transformational:

Explore

With more and more buyers mapping out exploration due to the proliferation of content and information channels, a side effect of B2B businesses scrambling to be noticed in the 50% to 70% window of buyers remaining anonymous, B2B businesses are considering the implications of buyers taking deliberate action to map out their exploration.

What this means: predicting and modeling how buyers map and begin their exploring as well as what forms of navigation they usually take specific to their industry.

How to respond: devote more resources to qualitative investigative means, such as contextual interviewing and ethnographic research, to uncover how buyers begin their efforts to explore and how they are dealing with content proliferation.

Network

As elaborated upon recently, the single buyer model is no longer sufficient and more and more B2B buyers operate from the new buying model of working within ecosystems and relying on network participation. Codependency is here to stay and B2B businesses must adapt.

What this means: reexamine how buyers are viewed internally and what forms of outmoded approaches may be resulting in missed opportunities.

How to respond: use various forms of B2B buyer research and begin working with buyers to understand important ecosystem and network drivers for their business and industries. Incorporate important ecosystem views into strategy and organizational infrastructure.

Decide

The art and science of decision-making is becoming more complex each year. An increasing number of variables are being introduced into decision-making such as globalization, uncertainty, ecosystem considerations, and more – shifting how buying is taking place.

What this means: how buyers are buying today is shifting dramatically and B2B businesses need to understand the new rules of decision-making, in addition to the buyer decision journey, that are being implemented for purchase decisions.

How to respond: shift internal focus to understanding new rules affecting decision-making, acquired through the mix of analytics and qualitative insight, and support how buyers are making purchase decisions.

Buy

Buying today, as mentioned in part 2, is a higher stakes game for many businesses today. The margin for costly mistakes is the slimmest in decades. The extent of poor choices can have disastrous effect on many aspects of a business. Understanding high stakes motivations enables a focus on why B2B buyers buy.

What this means: B2B leaders must not confuse how buyers buy with why buyers buy. The focus here is on understanding the new buyer psychology in terms of their collective attitudes, goals, beliefs, perceptions, and drivers. This new collection of mental models are changing each time new variables, such as new technologies, are introduced.

How to respond: getting an understanding of buyer mental models through qualitative research efforts will become more crucial each year as buyer psychology continues to shift.

Relate

With higher stakes involved in decision-making and purchases today, B2B buyers seek more assurances post-purchase than ever before. Unlike the emphasis on engagement in B2C post-purchase, the need for deeper ties relationally is affecting long-term loyalty.

What this means: shifting out of funnel thinking and viewing the entire buyer experience cycle is a new rule of B2B thinking today.

How to respond: post-purchase support and talent can no longer be an after-thought of organizational planning but be seen as the gateway to being included in newly formed ecosystems and networks by buyers.

What we are witnessing today is a marked shift from funnel-thinking to that of focusing on the total buyer experience that does not fit neatly into stages or step approach thinking. The new buyer psychology compels B2B businesses today to make the buyer the centerpiece of strategy and respond to the continuous loops of what confronts them (the buyer orbit) and the choices (buyer choice model) they must make.

Next up: Impact on Marketing and Sales

Follow @TonyZambito

Related articles

• Revenue Growth by Choice and The Buyer Orbit (buyerology.com)
• Slow Death of the Funnel: Why Buyer Choice Matters to Revenue (buyerology.com)
• Predictive Buyer Modeling Is Changing the Future of B2B (buyerology.com)
• 5 Ways New Buyer Behaviors Are Impacting B2B Sales (buyerology.com)
• The Single Buyer Model: A Dangerous Road Towards Competitive B2B Marketing (buyerology.com)
• How B2B Leaders Are Understanding Buyers Better With Behavioral Buyergraphics (buyerology.com)

You know the saying: The times they are a-changing. And nowhere more than in our world of digital marketing. Whether or not you engage in the hype surrounding the shiny new technologies and platforms that constantly promise to “change everything,” you have to admit that these here are exciting times we live in. Get out your new iPad everyone and get ready to take some notes.

Now, I’m not a psychic. I don’t know what our world will look like in five years (though I did recently venture a guess in these very pages). But I do know that if you want to succeed as a marketer in our always-evolving world, you’d better be ready to be increasingly mobile, engaging, relevant, and aware of the contexts in which we all now operate.

To prepare for a “Minority Report”-style, hyper-connected future, here are five big ideas you can embrace now to stay ahead of the curve:

1. Geo-Power

Location features of social apps such as Foursquare, Ban.jo, Path, et al. are a potential goldmine of important data on consumer habits and preferences. Near-Field Communications (NFC) and wireless payments are here and just starting to show their potential. Privacy issues still need to be resolved, but there is a clear demand from consumers who want marketers to find ways to make their purchases and lives easier. And, if the rumors are true that the iPhone 5 will ship with NFC, expect this geo-power to go from leading edge to mainstream with the swipe of a finger.

2. The Video Land Grab

While online video and mobile are – unsurprisingly – attracting a lot of heat, the marketing spend they draw is still way out of line with the amount of attention they attract from consumers. Don’t just throw money at these new channels: Instead of placing pre-roll video ads and other “forced-view” options, look to user-initiated solutions that respect the user, their time, and their interests.

3. You Down with UGC?

I’m talking about the new UGC: User Generated Curation, powered by content-discovery apps like Pulse, Flipboard, Fancy, and Foodspotting. Publishers and merchants are providing the content, and consumers are cultivating feeds that suit their interests and contexts. The power to filter data and curate personalized information platforms has been put in the hands of the people. These are models for how brands will stay relevant to consumers. As these platforms evolve, they could provide the next great marketing platform. The massive attention consumers and marketers are devoting to Pinterest clearly demonstrates how personal curation and relevance can drive engagement.

4. Thinking Beyond the Tap

Tablets are obviously a magnificent canvas where marketers can paint engaging experiences for consumers. But what are you going to do with your users after you get them to tap? Don’t think you can count on rolling out the same old display strategy. It’s time to get creative and imagine the new possibilities inspired by this new platform. Media industry guru Ken Doctor points to innovative advertisers who take advantage of the unique iPad format: “What’s better for an insurance company like Liberty Mutual than threatening you with disaster (tornado, earthquake, flood) and then inviting you to simply tilt your iPad to watch the damage disappear?” Now that’s what I call mobile advertising.

5. United We Stand

Ditch the silos in your advertising strategy and focus on the most important thing – your customer. In this increasingly interconnected world, consumers don’t think in terms of silos, so why should you? The power of integration is evident in the dividends it pays for brands. Google found that consumers had 74% brand recall when the advertiser has an integrated strategy that carries across mobile, TV, and online. QR codes and “bridging” apps like Viggle that help deliver second-screen relevance can support marketers’ efforts to unleash multiplatform, integrated relevance.

So what are you waiting for? The future is here. Smart marketers will succeed in this world by engaging with the trends that have resonance and relevance for the emerging consumer of today.

I’m sure my hypothalamus is hardwired for chocolate – that old adage, “out of sight, out of mind” may work for some folks – not me. If there’s chocolate in the upper reaches of the pantry or it’s buried two-feet deep behind various foodstuffs in the fridge, my brain immediately sends out tracking signals – a cranial GPS (Godiva Positioning System), I reckon.

So not surprisingly, as a self-confessed ‘chocoholic’, I was thrilled a few years ago when I started reading reports about how dark chocolate – eaten in moderation (inhaled is more accurate for me) – may be good for the heart.

Some dark chocolate confections even contain various vitamins, nutrients and probiotics; research has also shown that flavonoids – antioxidants found in cocoa beans – may help lower blood pressure and LDL (think ‘Lousy’ – it’s the bad acronym) cholesterol, and also improve blood vessel function.

In fact, noted Joy Dubost, a nutritionist and spokesperson for the Washington, DC-based Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “the higher the percentage of cocoa, the higher the flavanol content, the higher the antioxidant content and thus we believe the greater positive health benefit.”

All of the aforementioned now fully justifies my quarterly trips to Ghirardelli’s in San Francisco – I now order guilt-free the hot fudge sundaes with dark chocolate sauce.

This then got me wondering about innovative marketing campaigns various companies have rolled out to drum up sales for their dark chocolate products, and in some cases if interesting enough, plain old milk chocolate.

Cadbury

One campaign that Cadbury would probably like to recall/reboot was to promote Bliss, a chocolate product.

The august British company (established 1824 and now owned by Kraft Foods) ran an ad for the product with the heading, “Move over Naomi, there’s a new diva in town.”

Supermodel Naomi Campbell wasn’t thrilled about being compared to a chocolate bar and even her mum, Valerie Morris, chimed in, saying “I’m deeply upset by this racist advert. Do these people think they can insult black people and we just take it? This is the 21st century, not the 1950s. Shame on Cadbury.”

Cadbury, it should be noted, did do the right thing – the company pulled the ads and issued an apology to Campbell.

On the flip side, another campaign rolled out by Cadbury India fared much better. The objective was to publicize its premium dark chocolate brand, Bournville and further promote the catchphrase, “You don’t just buy a Bournville, you earn it.”

Cadbury launched a blog called The Dark Truth and introduced a virtual character – Old Hound. In one story, another virtual character, Mark, a friend of Old Hound, disappeared. While trying to find Mark, Old Hound got a clue that if he collected 100 stories about people receiving something after they have earned it, he would discover the whereabouts of his friend. The posts generated more than 2,000 daily readers.

Haagen-Dazs

A few years ago Haagen-Dazs rolled out its Dark Chocolate Orange flavor at 14 outlets in Singapore and Malaysia. A campaign slugged ‘Slow Melting in Progress’ was aimed at female professionals in their 20s and 30s who are “engrossed with their profession and family and tend to forget themselves in the process, neglecting to pamper themselves.”

That verbiage seems a bit askew but the radio/print/web campaign apparently worked as Dark Chocolate Orange became a popular flavor in that corner of Southeast Asia.

Cocoa Metro

Cocoa Metro, located in Auburndale, MA, markets various dark chocolate drinks. Their catchphrase on their home page immediately grabs your attention: 'Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.'

The sweet maker recently rolled a multimedia ad campaign. One image depicts how Cocoa Metro’s decadent chocolate can be consumed – via juice boxes, pop cans and flasks, for example. Another series of ads relies more on clever verbiage and fonts to capture your attention (having a refrigerated backyard bunker full of chocolate seems like a very sound idea).

Rom

While not a dark chocolate, this campaign merits a brief mention. Rom is a hugely popular Romanian chocolate bar, first introduced in 1964. It features the Romanian flag on the wrapper and probably everyone from Bucharest to Brasov to Baia Mare has gobbled one down.

To fuel international sales and branding, the company rolled out a week-long hoax – the American flag was used on the packaging and various YouTube videos explained that due to a poor economy and a frustrated youth culture, Rom was ditching its Romanian heritage. Literally tens of thousands of angry Romanians vented their outrage on Facebook, YouTube and countless blogs.

The campaign was a stunning success – it reached almost 70 percent of all Romanians. Rom’s Facebook page fan total increased by over 300 percent and it’s estimated the company generated about $500,000 worth of free media. McCann Erickson’s Bucharest office also garnered two Grand Prix Cannes Lions awards in the ‘Promo/Activation’ category (for advertising programs that bring on immediate responses/engagements), and the ‘Direct’ category for direct marketing.

There are scores of other examples but quite frankly, I’ve written enough – time for some chocolate.

Image via Wikipedia

This is part 2 of a limited series on why buyer choice modeling is the new view B2B Business must adopt to improve revenue performance and develop long lasting relationships with buyers.

Growth is getting harder and harder to come by. With this comes the realization that some of the embedded thinking about how to reach and market to buyers are not working well. In part 1 of this series we looked at how the funnel is facing a slow death and the limitations of so called funnel thinking. We are entering a new era of the buyer. Buyer behaviors are shifting yet we know only a fraction about this shift. One emerging insight is that of buyer choice. Simply stated, buyers are making multiple choices prior to as well as well after buying decisions.

Buyers Have Many Options. The floodgates have opened on channels, social media, old media, the Internet, and countless other ways to interact, explore, retrieve, and digest information in this new era of the buyer. With countless options available, buyers are making choices on where to start their exploring.

The Buyer At The Center Of Strategy, Marketing, And Sales. Conventional funnel thinking has a hard time doing this. A better way of stating this is that conventional strategy, marketing, and sales decisions are funneled through an old paradigm of the buyer where marketing and sales held the information cards – cards used to target, sell, and persuade buyers. Today, buyers make the choice on which information cards they decide to deal. B2B leaders today must find ways to focus strategy on the buyer, the choices they make, and the experiences they have with their organizations.

Experience Determines Choice. A while back, I made a choice to attend a Broadway musical – of which I am a big fan. The pre-show experience and excitement was plenty of fun with a great dinner in New York. The musical started and about 20 minutes into the musical the dread began to overcome me. I knew this musical production was going to be – dreadful. We made the choice to leave at intermission and the choice didn’t ruin the entire experience of the evening but it sure changed it. We chose to find a jazz club and had a great time which meant cancelling out the plans we had after the show. Buyers today are taking experience cues well before the buyer decision journey and well after. The buyer experience cues they take-in alter their thinking about the choices they make. And they could be choices about whether to continue having an experience with your organizations – or – find another.

© All rights Reserved Buyerology

Buyer choice anchors five choice elements that can be thought of as continuously orbiting buyers today. A fundamental shift is happening here. In the conventional DNA of funnel thinking, we are accustomed to thinking that involves phases or steps. One phase ends and another phase begin. What I propose is something we can call the Buyer Orbit. This is meant to shift the thinking towards recognizing that buyers are continuously addressing goals, challenges, issues, uncertainty, and growth that are in a continuous orbital loop. This applies to buyer choice:

© All Rights Reserved Buyerology

Explore. As mentioned in part 1, funnel thinking usually started with attempts to make buyers aware of a product or solution. It is still rooted in the thinking of flashing attention-getting means before buyer’s eyes as well as push messaging outwards in the hopes of making buyers aware. Today, buyers are mapping out deliberate exploration prompted by the orbital loop of the goals and etc. that orbit them. Confronted with many choices, buyers are taking time to map out where to explore, how to explore, and etc.

Network. As buyers make progression towards less of a single buyer model to that of a world that includes ecosystems and open networks, buyers are making choices to interact with networks and different ecosystem players to collaborate on addressing the issues orbiting them.

Decide. The way buyers decide today is becoming increasingly complex. Choices are being made on such things as the rules for deciding, who is included, checking dependencies, and assessing impact. Buyers today no longer make decisions in a vacuum.

Buy. The actual buy choice has become a higher stakes game in the B2B world. Not only are the rules for deciding more complex, but there are more dependencies related to buying and potential impact as well. The experience element here is now more critical than ever because of the high stakes. Making the wrong choice, for example, on a software platform designed to measure quality of manufactured parts could have drastic affects downstream with OEMs and distribution.

Relate. The word – relate - has more applicability in a B2B context than say engage for example. The higher stakes involved means buyers needs an organization that can relate to the high stakes and a relational bond is being formed. In the example mentioned above, there may be many discussions before and after the buy choice to ensure that the software platform meets an intended goal. The ability for B2B companies to provide relational choices and experiences becomes an important factor. Does the company provide relational choices whether they are face-to-face, telephone, or complex networking technology that involves exchanging design ideas and specifications?

The new era of the buyer is resulting in a paradigm shift on what is required thinking about the buyer today. Letting go of funnel thinking is no easy task – especially when you strip away the hyperbole and promotion that can surround strategy, it is still very much about the funnel. Buyers today have many elements related to growth, goals, and uncertainty orbiting their world. Making choices as this orbital loop continuously impacts their world is changing the very nature of buyer behavior today. These changes are rocket propelled by a new world of hyper-connectivity and hyper-competition.

Next up: The Buyerology of the Buyer

Follow @TonyZambito

Related articles

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• How B2B Leaders Are Understanding Buyers Better With Behavioral Buyergraphics (buyerology.com)
• Boost Demand Generation Using Target Ready Buyer Models (buyerology.com)
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• The Single Buyer Model: A Dangerous Road Towards Competitive B2B Marketing (buyerology.com)

Definitely worth a read on some of the major issues, Namely’s CEO, Matt Straz pointed out in a bold MediaPost article, “People who work at agencies are frustrated because RFPs are still largely managed through email. A single RFP sent to a dozen publishers can result in hundreds of emails going back and forth among the parties.” Clearly, the process is tedious and lets be honest – it can be maddening.

A special poll recently conducted by STRATA (with agencies of varying sizes that are on a wide spectrum of buying systems) turned up some alarming information, mainly that many people have thrown their hands in the air when it comes to the Digital RFP process. While 27% say they plan to purchase a platform to handle the process – a more surprising 58% said that they will not buy a system to handle this increasingly important media process.

So what are they left to do? Here is the shocking part for all of us in the media buying software industry – only 25% say they will use their media system. Ouch. Nearly half said they will use Excel to handle the process. A process that Straz labeled in his article is a pain in the neck for literally everyone, including the sellers, buyers and publishers.

I’m not saying that STRATA removed the Digital RFP sword from the stone when no one else could, but we have recently launched a Digital RFP module to our buying system that boils the request/response workflow process down to a couple of clicks while expediting negotiations and inventory selection.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that we are pretty excited about it. BUT, there remains a problem. It is a problem of a mindset that is stuck in a traditional process. It is a mindset that as we have noticed for years – where Digital is great but Traditional remains the bread and butter. Well over a third of STRATA Survey participants say that they don’t ever see Digital ad spend being greater than Traditional.

What does the industry need to do? Educate. We as system providers need to educate the agencies on what is needed to streamline the process that includes Digital RFP. Yes, it is different than Spot TV or Print. But they can be equally or even more effective (sorry, Excel isn’t efficient). If agencies feel comfortable leveraging these tools, that will come across to their clients and demonstrating the value of Digital will be simple. I know for us at STRATA, we have the tools in place and it is up to us to educate agencies to help push this ever-changing advertising avenue forward.

Building A Tribe Of Buyers ©All Rights Reserved Kenny Madden

Many B2B Marketers today are faced with the daunting tasks of connecting with buyers in new ways and using new mediums that are still in infancy. New tactical approaches have been introduced at a rapid rate and some old ideas re-purposed with new labels – all in an effort to find the ever flowing fountain of gaining buyer attention. The shelf-life expectancy of some of the new approaches is yet to be known; making investment and resource decisions for leaders in B2B Marketing a road filled with risks. For many of these new approaches, the foundation of thinking is still directed towards the single buyer model that has been the standard way of thinking for several decades.

Evidence is building that the standardized focus on a single buyer model has major disadvantages: depictions have lacked in the reality of the real world today, they are narrowly focused on messaging to one buyer or role, it is an over simplification of marketing and selling to a buyer, they are created with little research, and are routinely ignored by selling teams today. These disadvantages are overshadowing the higher-cost and dangers of the single buyer model used in ways where missteps are being made in overall buyer strategy. These missteps resulting in significant loss of marketing dollars and waste of valuable yet limited resources.

How Did We Get Here?

The single buyer model had worked well right up to the advent of the Internet and email. That’s when the barriers started falling down like the Berlin Wall at the end of the cold war. Up until then, all the power of information was held in the hands of the supplier. And in most cases, there was a single buyer target that needed the closely held information. Complex buying was an arduous task assigned to one decision-maker and sellers did all they could to target that one most important buyer – including bringing coffee and donuts. Marketing played the role of supplying information in literature form and focused on advertising. Sales role was to target the single buyer. Sales training was all geared to train sellers how to persuade the single buyer and in the 1980’s we started to see models of how to determine the psyche of the single buyer – was he or she an amiable or an analytical?

The single buyer model is still the major face of the buyer in many B2B organizations. Evidence suggests that this singular picture of the buyer is cracking like an old oil painting found in an attic:

• • It made sense for many years. After all we are talking about the buyer and that is the focus of marketing and sales. On the surface, the profiling of a buyer target seems like an easy fix. In this new age of social and newly emerging forms of networks – it is no longer an easy fix.
  • Emerging is buyer networks extending beyond our traditional views of the buyer. New technologies, social and Enterprise 2.0 as examples, have completely erased the barrier to information and allow buyer networks to operate as one and to weigh-in on purchase decisions.
  • Buying has become more complex since a key factor in buyer networks and the ecosystems they support are interdependent. Meaning more parties participating and more validation is occurring in the purchase decision-making.
  • The tools of the single buyer model are no longer effective. Sales in particular at the frontline routinely discard sales enablement tools given to them by marketing according to recent IDC research.

What Are The Dangers?

Continuing a narrow focus on the single buyer model is a dangerous path for B2B Marketing. Evidence points to major disadvantages occurring.

First, with a focus only on the single buyer model, businesses risk finding their organization being excluded from a buyer’s network and not seen as an integral part of the buyer’s ecosystem. This is a heavy price to pay if you are indeed outside of the network and not an ecosystem player.

Second, the use of the single buyer model has proven to be fraught with shortcomings. They can best be characterized as only helpful today but not revealing. Several executives I interviewed in the last six months of 2011 are saying it best:

“What we’ve learned is that buyer personas, building tools for sales, creating lots of content, and etc. don’t meet the mark in today’s competitive market we are in – we need to know more.”

“Our marketing department created marketing material that targeted a specific role in our industry and they rolled out it out with all the fanfare you would expect. Let me just say everybody had a piece a cake and the party was over that quickly.”

“Our sales people barely look at the tools we give them.”

Third, the research connection has been lost in the conversation. While we are seeing a rise in predictive analytics, companies are yet lacking profoundly in qualitative buyer behavior modeling. This is important due to the evidence which suggests that the introduction of new technologies and networks are changing buying behaviors rapidly.

Fourth, companies are experiencing missed opportunities. When marketing and sales operations have a singular focus on one buyer, it is like having horse blinders on. There is much swirling around the buyer and their buyer network. If the company doesn’t seem to “get it” in terms of what is going on from a network standpoint, then they are unlikely to be privy to other opportunities. More from the voice of a senior director of global marketing:

“We did this whole campaign around the CFO. Yes, we even did a buyer persona. Only to find out we could never talk to a CFO and that they were not the right buyer!”

Fifth, the use of a single buyer model has misdirected focus towards targets that have always been there and has even backfired. They are problematic in today’s world as they are fraught with many built-in assumptions that were developed over the years. The risk here is that buyer requirements and the very nature of the buyer have changed. Here’s the voice of a senior level sales executive articulating this point:

“After the first year of joining this company, I began to realize there was a disconnect between sales and our customers. What occurred to me is that our customers have become highly educated folks and were of a different background of let’s say fifteen years ago. The disconnect is that our sales force hasn’t kept pace with this change.”

Is There A Better Way?

For many executives today in B2B leadership positions, there are three constant clouds twirling around their heads: the lack of insight about buyers, they are faced with tremendous uncertainty about the direction to steer their organization, and they lack the ability to predict as well as forecast into the near as well as far future. The better way points towards providing clues to disperse these clouds before the rain extinguishes any hope they had. There are several ways that I believe can give businesses the insight they need to respond to the ever changing buyer of today:

• Engage in predictive buyer modeling that models the behavioral trends of buyers – a need that aligns with the fast pace of change
• Connect predictive buyer modeling to predictive analytics to illuminate a 360 degree view of buyers
• Balance market and buyer research investments to include qualitative research along with quantitative research
• Develop robust B2B oriented Business Buyergraphics based on purchasing behavior that extend beyond buyer personas, demographics, and firmographics and serves as the triborough bridge between marketing, sales, and strategy
• Utilize target buyer modeling as a gateway to understand and model fast emerging buyer networks and buyer ecosystem dynamics
• Develop a renewed focus on descriptive buyer segmentation based on purchase behaviors

The single buyer model no longer works in this new complex world. We are confronted with a world where buyers no longer act independent of others in decision-making and are dependent upon networks and ecosystems. The imperative for senior B2B executives is to adapt to change and make the tough decisions that come with change. Modeling the behaviors, decisions, and buying scenarios of buyers and their networks give leaders what they seem to be asking for: deeper understanding of buyer behavior, how to attract more buyers, know which direction to lead their organization, and keep the ship floating upright while at the same time plugging the leaks.

Follow @TonyZambito

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