As noted in a previous post, the Minnesota chapter of the BMA enters its second year of existence with a solid base of 120 members.  This group, along with the hundreds of non-members that have attended past events, makes up a vibrant and engaged community of Minnesota’s business-to-business marketers.

But what does this tribe look like? Well, here’s a snapshot of your BMA-MN community:

Member Gender

• Male: 50%
• Female: 50%

(It’s true: as of today membership is a 50/50 split!)

Member's Office Location

• Minneapolis: 23
• St. Paul: 15
• Plymouth: 8
• Eden Prairie: 7
• Chanhassen: 5
• Eagan: 5
• Edina: 4
• St. Louis Park: 4
• Bloomington:  3
• Maple Grove: 3

(Note: Only cities with 3 or more members are shown here, many more locations around the metro are represented by at least one member!)

Most Preferred Future Event Topics

• Emerging Trends in BtoB Marketing      
• Lead Generation and Nurturing  
• Multi-media Strategy
• Marketing Research; Customer Analytics
• Sales/Marketing Alignment

(These are the most common requests for future events; we’re always open to hearing other topic or speaker ideas!)

A community isn’t about demographics or profiles. It’s about people coming together with shared interests. It’s about making connections and learning from each other.  But hopefully the information above gives you a feel for the kind of people that are involved.

If you attend an upcoming event, I think you’ll find that we’re a diverse group. But we share a common passion:  the pursuit of success in B-to-B marketing.  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to post a comment or contact us.

Nick Wassenberg

Director of Chapter Insights, BMA-MN

Research Analyst, E.G. Insight

I found myself chuckling on the drive home from my first BMA-Minnesota Board meeting. It was an energizing session, covering a diverse range of topics by a leading group of marketing professionals, representing many different industry segments. That is until the age-old boogey-man-in-the-closet raised his ugly head: contact lists!

For over twenty years, in every job I’ve ever had, getting the contact list right from the get-go and then management of that “golden” list has been a fundamental challenge. And it is not a very fun one.

The bottom line is there seems to be no easy way to merge/purge/slice/dice/update and validate contact lists. It always takes thoughtful, but mind-numbing grunt work from somebody, somewhere in the organization.

And usually, I found, that person was me.

Why? Because there’s something to be gained, when you dive head first into list management.

You’re giving yourself the insider’s edge. Lists are not just data in a file. These lists are real people at real companies who need real interaction.

People matter. Knowing who they are and what they’re capable of doing, matters.

The interconnectedness of them, and their companies, matters.

List management has never been more interesting (or more challenging) than it is now, with the ever -expanding options of social media contact info available through LinkedIn, Facebook IDs, Twitter tags and the like.

What doesn’t matter is what you call it - whether customer relationship management, database management or contact management.

What doesn’t matter is the sophistication of the tool you use to manage it: it can be an Excel file, a high falutin’ ERP system or a web based 2.0 application.

What matters most is intimacy with your community. Our community.

Having said that – it’s past time for me to go back and review our list management processes.

I would certainly appreciate any of you sharing your personal or organizational approach to contact list best practices. We will all benefit from the refresher.

And, most importantly, I’m hoping to get to know each of you, beyond the list, soon.

Jane Rodmyre Payfer
Chief Marketing Officer
Ergotron, Inc.
twitter.com/pay4this
http://applepiemom.wordpress.com

Paying someone to say or not say something about you is a slippery ethical slope that will inevitably come back to bite you at some time.

In the case of David Letterman, the accused extortionist was asked Letterman to pay him to be quiet. In my opinion that isn’t much different than someone asking for payment for saying something positive about you without disclosing they are being paid.

Case in point bloggers. 

There have been some bloggers who have accepted gifts with the understanding that in exchange they would write favorable posts about a company or individual. In my opinion, this lack of transparency goes against the very foundation of user-generated content. 

However, this week’s announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in their updated “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” the government has attempted to restore a layer of transparency to the situation.

While advisory in nature, the new guidelines will reset standards of behavior that public relations, marketing and advertising professionals should adopt to avoid violating underlying laws against unfair competition and false advertising.

The Guide changes, as set out in the FTC's notice, make three key departures from previous guidance that could impact public relations practice:

The FTC advises that "endorsers" as well as advertisers can be held liable for false or unsubstantiated claims or for failing to disclose material connections between the parties.

The Guides no longer offer the "safe harbor" whereby testimonials can be qualified by a "results may vary" disclaimer.

Regarding endorsements, the Guides specify that celebrities should disclose relationships with advertisers.

While the FTC will approach each potential violation on a case-by-case basis, the new guidelines will impact how professionals should approach some common practice scenarios. Here are some applications of the guidelines:

Bloggers who receive cash or in-kind payment (including free products or services for review) are deemed endorsers and so must disclose material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

Any firm that engages bloggers by paying them outright to create or influence editorial content or by supplying goods or services to them at no cost may be liable if the blogger does not disclose the relationship.

Advertisements or promotions that feature a consumer who conveys his or her experience with a product or service as "typical" should clearly disclose what results consumers can generally expect or specify how the results were unique to the individual circumstances.

If research is cited in an advertisement or promotion, any sponsorship of the research by the client or the marketer should be clearly disclosed.

Celebrities who make endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media, should disclose any relationship with the advertiser or marketer.

As with anything, consumers need to access the credibility of the information source and seek other information before making a decision – whether it is a b2c or b2b buying decision.

As B2B marketers we don't often get asked to "make a wish and blow out your candles" but as BMA-Minnesota celebrates our first birthday that is exactly what we are doing.

While other associations are losing members at a disturbing rate, the newly-formed Minnesota chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) is celebrating the completion of its inaugural year this month with over one hundred and ten new members.

In the coming year, BMA-Minnesota will continue to expand its programming and resources for business-to-business marketers including:

The introduction of a small group networking concept called “Troikas.” In Troikas, BMA helps connect and facilitate three members to meet monthly and discuss professional challenges, share best practices, and brainstorm solutions.
And the launch of this blog!

So go ahead, make a wish and we'll bring it to life!

The boardroom maybe where corporate direction is set and budgets are signed off but the real power in B2B marketing lies within the backroom.