Interview with Sumit Virmani- Global Head Corporate Marketing, Infosys

Two – Don’t take yourself too seriously. B2B marketing need not be boring. After all, it’s human behavior that marketers seek to influence & we all know that people respond positively to candor and humor.  If you haven’t already, check out Cisco’s ‘The Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Dayvideo’. It was created to promote their $80,000 ASR 9000 router. Their humorous approach to content marketing took Cisco’s promotional video to the New York Times blog and even today – years after it first hit social media – it’s called out as a  great example of effective marketing humor.

How do you think the role of marketing and marketers has changed over the years in B2B Marketing?

B2B marketers are rapidly turning into publishers. Content marketing has taken on a whole new meaning, with the smart B2B marketer not only producing huge volume of content, but also creatively leveraging the power of the community to ensure an active supply of original content. The best example of this approach is the ‘OPEN Forum’ by American Express, a site that aims to connect small business owners to information, education, and each other.  The site offers content in multiple formats like videos, infographics, blogs & articles. With hundreds of contributors and 200K followers on Twitter, this is clearly a wonderful example for some of us to emulate.

It’s a digital-first marketing world today. With the explosion of mobile Internet and the growing prevalence of social media, B2B marketers are increasing their efforts to engage prospects on these platforms. A stand out example, is that of Adobe’s launch of their Creative Cloud and Creative Suite 6 (CS6) products.  The way they tied their offline and online efforts is a great lesson for marketers on how to leverage digital effectively.  The core idea was a simple Scavenger hunt. The physical & digital scavenger hunt, leveraging Foursquare, Twitter & Instagram took that very simple idea to a whole new level.

What is your view on the way B2B can explore social media/ digital media and where can it be used?

 Like I mentioned earlier, digital is now a mainstream media for B2B marketers. The usage of social media in B2B is no more a question of ‘IF’ but ‘HOW’.  Building brand awareness and gaining follower trust is usually cited as the primary reasons for social media outreach. It’s also fairly routine for marketers to track social channels that their target audience frequent to engage & gauge brand sentiment.

As the social channels are maturing, so should our approach to social media marketing. The engagement metrics for social media can no longer be just about Facebook likes and Twitter followers.  Adobe’s Create Now or The GE Instagrapher campaign have been great examples of this evolving new approach. The way ahead would be to invest time and energy in creating evolved ‘audience personas’ to ensure that every social media intervention is highly targeted and is geared to deliver on a tangible business goal.

When it comes to customer engagement, what is your view on the way players are exploring it today? Also suggest ways by which customer engagement can be made more meaningful?

There are a whole host of interesting ways in which B2B marketers are engaging with customers. Themes such as case study showcase or networking events are routinely used to register the brand with customers. And these formats, because of their proliferation, now have limited influence on customer perceptions of brand strength. Brands need to break the mold and stand out. In my mind, two of the most important influencers of customer engagement—intimate knowledge of problems that customers face and specialist market knowledge—are among themes least leveraged by marketers.  The example of American Express OPEN Forum that I referred to earlier demonstrates the value this approach  can deliver for a brand.

Customers value honest and open dialogue. And such conversations can then evolve into strongly differentiated brand messages. Salespeople are a great source of information about how these open and honest conversations can get started. They can help identify disconnects between what customers value and the messages marketers send across channels. Successful B2B marketers make extensive use of frontline interaction and market research to sync up with customer needs and understand their perceptions. Rubbing shoulders, in social media channels, with customers & influencers is another good strategy to gather insights on what customers value.

Lastly, today’s B2B marketer understands that employees must be empowered with compelling customer messaging to help them understand their role in their companies’ dialogue with customers. This ensures a consistent brand communication across touch points.