Context and Relevance key to the success of B2B Online Marketing

Linkedin and IAMAI organized a roundtable under B2B Innovative Marketing Series.

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | August 30, 2011

At the B2B – “Innovative Marketing Series: Translating online communities into opportunities for B2B Businesses” organized by Linkedin in association with  IAMAI (Internet & Mobile association of India), Hari Krishnan, Country Manager – Linkedin,  stressed on synergizing Context and Relevance. He said, “The potential of communicating to the B2B segment in the online space is tremendous. But unless the communication has the right context and relevance, it will be difficult to transform communities into opportunities.” Mr. Krishnan further added, “US online B2B market space is pegged at around US $ 2 billion. Unfortunately, we do not have any data as to the size of the growing B2B online market space in India.”

Taking a cue from Hari Krishnan's opening statement, Punit Modhgil, Director – Enterprise Marketing, Microsoft said, “Targeted approach is the method to reach out to the target audience. The recipe to success lies in creating and involving online communities. While peer groups are extremely important, caliberating and engaging the peer group is paramount.”

The members of the Roundtable agreed to the fact that there is a captive audience to communicate with where the Communications Manager plays a pivotal role with high sensitivities involved. The panel agreed that there is a need to have a mechanism in place whereby different stakeholders of an organization are brought under the umbrella of the community and engaged in a conversation. It is also important to have personalized communication to enhance business prospect, concurred the panel. Deepak Shetty, Sr. V P – Domestic Sales & Marketing, Moser Baer India wrapped up his thoughts by saying, “While engaging communities, the organization must be careful of not bombarding the target audience with messages. There should be gap of few weeks between messages so that members of the community can engage in a meaningful discussion. Broadcasting information and providing information at fingertip will certainly enable a more business like atmosphere to the community.”

Speaking at the roundtable, George Paul, Director – Marketing, Ericsson India, said, “As an extremely focused B2B company, Ericsson India recognizes the importance and value of online communities and their impact on our business. Our engagements with our communities are at a very personal level. If you are serious about converting your online communities to business opportunities, you cannot have a general communication. Involving and engaging your communities is the main essence to successful business conversion.”

The interactive roundtable comprised of George Paul, Director Marketing, Ericsson India; Mohit Hira, CMO, Global Individual Learning Businesses,  NIIT Ltd ; Punit Modhgil, Director- Enterprise Marketing, Microsoft; Deepak Shetty, Sr. V P – Domestic Sales & Marketing, Moser Baer India  Kartik Nagarajan, National Director – Social & Insights, Group M. Dhiman Mukherjee of Linkedin moderated the session.

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