B2B Marketing Gone Digital – Toshiba Telecommunications

Gail Miller, Director of Marketing for Toshiba Telecommunications Division, shares her expertise and insight into the world of B2B marketing in our latest BRANDInsider episodes. As the director of marketing for Toshiba Telecom division, Gail is responsible for multiple aspects of marketing, public relations, and advertising. She is a strategic marketing expert with more than 20 years of marketing experience for Fortune 500 companies; Gail shares valuable and revealing insights on B2B marketing.

Part I: In this five-part series Gail kicks off part one as she shares her role at Toshiba and the products they market , differences in strategies for B2B and B2C buyers, and how B2B companies can use B2C style strategies.

Part II: Miller discusses why everyone in a company should be involved in marketing, how multitasking is key as a marketing director and the evolution of digital marketing in B2B companies.

Part III: Gail Miller provides insight to a collaborative approach to marketing including some examples of what Toshiba Telecommunications is doing in social marketing.

Part IV: Gail tells BI the importance and power of marketing through video, and how Toshiba is using webinars in order to communicate with their dealers. Gail also shares how B2B companies should maximize their marketing efforts on a low-budget.

Part V: Gail shares with the BI audience a few key suggestions from her “Top 10 B2B Tips” and the importance and power of marketing through video, webinars and the ever-expanding use of social media to make a connection and engage with clients. She wraps up with advice on maximizing your marketing on a limited budget.

We want to hear from you! What tip from the interview will you be using to improve your company?

 

Jeffrey Hayzlett – Adapt, Change, or Die Part II – V

Jeffrey Hayzlett, former Kodak CMO and bestselling author, joins BRANDInsider to talk about his latest book, Running the Gauntlet. In part II of our series, Hayzlett discusses the importance of driving through fear to make an impact in business and marketing. Leaders should recognize and take calculated risks. In part III he describes how a company is only as strong as its weakest link. This can be a customer, vendor, person or process that needs to be evaluated. Marketing and business leaders can learn about how to manage better and those just starting out can see how to be the strong link that companies want to keep.

Hayzlett emphasizes in part IV the importance of listening in management and leadership. He also shares an example of how it is critical to guide your team towards the place you want to go (and how to keep them from going back to the place you don’t want to go). In our last segment of our series Hayzlett discusses the four E’s:

• Engage,
• Excite
• Educate and
• Evangelize

Also, he touches on how ROI is different in social media. Lastly, he goes over the difficulty of driving change.

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and comments!

Suzuki Motors,The Next Generation of Import Economy?

[Written by me for BRANDInsider.tv!]

Hello BRANDInsiders! In this new webisode we take a look at who may be the next generation of import economy, Suzuki Motors.  We talked with Jeff Holland, Director of Public Relations & Social Media for Suzuki Motor Corporation as he explains how Suzuki  stands out from their competition.

At the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, Suzuki showcased the newest model in their lineup, the Suzuki Kizashi. Their exhibit featured the actual Kizashi driven by Motor Trend editors on a daring adventure from Suzuki’s  Tokyo headquarters to their US plant in Los Angeles. The car has received some reviews including being ranked #1 in owner satisfaction for 2010 and 2011 by AutoPacific as well as earning the highest satisfaction rating in a J.D. Power Study.

Part of Suzuki’s marketing strategy to build awareness using social networks  to engage with their customers. As of September 6, Suzuki Motors USA has over 70,895 likes on Facebook,  5,076 followers on Twitter, and a higher than average  Klout Score of 59 out of possible 100 . These are impressive numbers given their year and a half presence in social media. Suzuki began their social media platform by creating  Suzuki AllPoints, a engagement contest website where customers would participate in games using social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube with the chance to win Suzuki merchandise or a new Kizashi.

From our previous post, Suzuki also ranks in the top 20 youthful brands as they try to position themselves as an niche active brand.

With these marketing strategies, sales for Suzuki have greatly improved. The latest  numbers show that Suzuki has increased their sales 32% from last year.

As Suzuki positions themselves as an affordable auto maker, they have showed that by demonstrating reliability both on the road and off they may be the next generation of import economy.