Striking a balance between "owning" and "renting" contacts
Marketing has changed dramatically over recent years, as the cost of reaching contacts you have in your database approaches zero. Twenty years ago, things were different: it was expensive to reach contacts in your database as postal direct mail, telemarketing and sending sales people were all expensive pursuits. Databases could become out of date before marketing teams had sufficient budget to reach contacts and therefore accessing third-party relationships (for example mailing lists, readers of publications and trade show visitors) was a cornerstone of marketing practice.
Today there are even more places where you can take advantage of another company's relationships: social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn have gigantic audiences and are more than happy to take your advertising money. At the same time it's easier than ever to reach people on your database. Direct email is fast, cheap and simple, while marketing automation and modern CRM tools provide the intelligence to ensure communications can be highly targeted (although not every email marketer has got there!).
Many people characterize the situation as a conflict between "owning" an audience vs. "renting" the audience, as if the choice is mutually exclusive. If your relationship is directly with the contact, then you "own" them, while using third party platforms or publications to reach people is "renting", and you should pick one or the other. We'll see this is a very misguided approach.
It's pretty clear that B2B marketing budgets are moving towards ownership of contacts: while marketing automation tool vendors prosper, we're seeing trade publications struggle. To be fair, most social media budgets are growing, but this is probably more due to the newness of the medium, and often the budget is growing at the expense of other "rented" sources of contacts from trade shows to publications. At Napier, we've seen the trend and are actively helping clients develop their marketing automation and Inbound marketing strategies that make use of, or build, an "owned" audience.
Despite the excitement, attractive economics and shiny new marketing technology toys, we've not given up on other approaches. The ability to build a database of your company's fans is great, but it's important to remember that there are many potential customers who haven't yet graduated to fandom, and they're much less likely to give up their details for your white papers or email newsletters. These potential customers represent the biggest opportunity for growth for many companies. If you focus on only the contacts in your database, you'll be talking in a private bubble. Yes, the vast majority of contacts will be interested, and they'll click on your email links, but many of the were going to buy your product or service anyway!
Our approach looks at three distinct stages of the marketing funnel. At the bottom we help clients generate engagement with the contacts on the database. But before you can gather contacts and generate leads that can be engaged, you need to generate awareness. Potential customers with limited awareness of your company, products or their benefits are not going to be on your databases, and so you need to reach them on platforms like publications' websites, newsletters and social media.
The key to effective budgeting is understanding your marketing funnel and addressing the weaknesses. Not enough leads? You need to focus on the top-of-the-funnel awareness and lead generation activities. If, however, you've got a lot of great leads who are not yet customers then your time and money should focus on engaging them with marketing automation and other direct tactics. Understanding the situation and getting the budget right means you're then in a great position to move prospects through your sales funnel. At this stage, it's all about the speed that you can convert awareness into opportunity. Increasing the velocity of prospects through the funnel is one of the core competencies of Napier, although the explanation of how we do it will need another blog post.
Electropages launches Development Kit App for Android
Electropages continues it's commitment to delivering engineering tools on mobile platforms with the launch of their mobile Dev Kit App that will keep design engineers up to date with the latest kits from manufacturers and distributors. The app is available for Android, and takes its data from Electropages' editorial reports and reviews on development and embedded tools. The new development kit app joins the existing popular mobile Electronic News Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android users.
Engineers are faced with an incredibly diverse number of Dev Kits from semiconductor companies, component suppliers and distribution companies. There are plenty of statistics that clearly indicate just how rapidly this market sector is expanding and industry analysts ABI Research reckon the installed base of development kits will reach 21 million by the end of the decade, and currently almost half of all electronics designs are facilitated by use of development kits.
Craig Dyball, publisher and founder of Electropages told us:
“Engineers have a mind-boggling choice of Dev Kits, whether it’s a member of the Arduino family, a Raspberry Pi or an Intel Galileo or one of the many thousands available. Consequently informed comment via independent journalists is an unbiased way potential users and providers of Dev Kits can research the market and this is precisely why the Electropages Dev Kit app has been created.”
It's great to see Electropages continue to invest in tools for mobile platforms as well as their conventional online publishing activities. The number of development kits is growing at an incredible rate as manufacturers recognise their value and also build kits to address specific amrkets such as makers. Many engineers are going to find this tool a valuable aid to selecting the right kit for their needs.
How can brands differentiate themselves in the World of IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet of Everything, as is probably now more appropriate, was a phrase coined by Kevin Ashton back in 1999, when he was working in marketing for Procter & Gamble. Despite its inauspicious beginnings in the cosmetics industry, by the late 00's onwards, everything IoT was cool.
Connecting devices to the internet is now the norm, with many new connected products being released every day. According to Gartner, in just 4 years’ time we could well see 26 billion IoT devices in existence, that's 3.3 devices per person on the planet! Perhaps this is why the IoT honeymoon is over: today simply announcing another device with connectivity doesn’t guarantee success, as FitBit found out with their recent launch at CES, where new fitness tracker was greeted by a fall in their stock price.
With demands and expectation high, how can B2B brands be sure they can deliver and differentiate in the crowded market that is the IoT?
A Proliferation of Acronyms
As everyone began using the term IoT, companies found that simply slapping the term on a new product did nothing to differentiate it. So we’ve seen almost every sector adapting the IoT moniker for their industry with their own branding with names such as IoHT (Internet of Healthcare Things) and IoGT (Internet of Green Things). We’ve even heard security companies try to sell their products with the rather scary IoTTK (Internet of Things That Kill)!
Where are we now?
The EIoT - The Enterprise Internet of Things (this is the closest we could find to Internet of B2B things!) is set to account for 40% or 9.1 billion devices by 2019 as reported by Business Insider.
There are still people questioning the rush to connect everything. There was the great IP address shortage that never seemed to cause problems (NAT was always going to solve that one), the political battles to make one standard to rule all others (actually it looks like there will be a few different standards that each serve different applications) and the ever-present fear of the risk of software failure (being connected makes updates possible that can fix bugs before the user is even aware they are present).
So the IoT is here to stay, and perhaps this is the problem.
Why IoT is no longer a Compelling Brand
Despite all the branding efforts, using IoT or a version of the term, is fast becoming a way to make journalists start to yawn and look for excuses to finish the briefing. This is particularly true in the B2B world, where buyers and journalists are typically much more technically-savvy than consumers.
With the inevitable progress towards connecting almost everything (most likely including the often maligned internet fridge), why does IoT induce such apathy and disinterest?
The reality is that IoT has already hit maturity, and connectivity is no longer a differentiator or benefit for many products: it’s the entry ticket to be considered. Marketers have to understand that trendy terms can only be trendy for a period of time, and the rapid progression of technology means that it has taken only a few years from the first wave of IoT devices to connectivity becoming a commodity.
The reality is that the internet of things is now just the internet. It’s no longer cool for data to be transmitted automatically, it’s what is expected. Just as a website redesign is no longer a reason to issue a press release, marketers must understand that slapping the IoT brand on a product is not a marketing strategy. To be successful, they must communicate the benefits of their product that are unique and different. Back to good old marketing, I guess!
Call for Papers - E&E Kompendium
Authors have been invited to submit proposals for the E&E Kompendium 2017, the annual reference book for German electronics engineers. Submissions are invited on a wide range of topics, including
- The main "trend topic" - Automotive
- Active components and microcontrollers
- Passive components
- Embedded Systems
- Design tools and software
- Optoelectronics and displays
- Electromechanics and connectors
- Power supply and power electronics
- Measurement technology and EMC
- Manufacturing
- Distribution and services
The Kompendium has a total circulation of 16.900: 7.900 print and 9.000 electronic copies. The deadline for abstracts is 14th March 2016, and submissions can be made by email to: eue.redaktion@publish-industry.net or the online form.
Data Protection 'Safe Harbor' Agreement Rejected, January 2016 Datageddon Looms
The European Court of Justice has struck down the Safe Harbor agreement that allows organisations to transfer data from the EU to the USA, a ruling that follows the US authorities’ mass surveillance activities of European citizens, leaked by Edward Snowden back in 2013.
Established in November 2000, Safe Harbor is a policy agreement between the United States Department of Commerce and the European Union, which regulates the way US companies transfer and handle the personal data of European individuals. Simply put, it allows American companies to transfer personal data from Europe to the USA easily, without breeching European law.
What does this mean for US companies?
While the collapse of this transatlantic pact is a victory to European privacy advocates, the decision to make the safe harbour agreement invalid has huge implications on US companies, particularly in the technology, telecoms and cloud space.
With as many as 4,500 companies relying on this transatlantic transfer of personal data, the ruling means that these companies potentially have to restructure how they manage, store and use their data in Europe, a task that will require a lot of time and money. With marketing generating much of this data, it’s a worrying time for marketers who work with American companies.
Fortunately there is no need to panic: at least not yet! The Article 29 Working Party, Europe’s independent advisory body on data protection, has given the US government and European Commission until January to negotiate new safe harbour agreements. If these negotiations aren't successful, Silicon Valley could see some serious legal battles.
Since negotiators have failed to reach a new deal despite two years of discussions, these new time constraints place them under increased pressure. The threat is very real as European privacy regulators could begin issuing fines and banning overseas data transfers in the New Year, if a new agreement has not been reached.
Introducing the new electronics Spanish magazine
Nueva Electrónica, a restyled monthly magazine has released their first edition that provides innovative information and projects on various aspects of electronics, including embedded, digital, analog and Wireless.
More specifically, the magazine is geared towards those who work in Research and Development labs and Technical Departments of small and medium sized companies, as well as those still attending courses in electronics and computer science, from high school to university students, and their teachers.
Call for papers – Smart Systems Integration 2015
The organisers of Smart Systems Integration (SSI) 2015, which will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 11th to 12th March 2015, have issued a call for papers. Submissions are invited in a variety of categories. Applications that can be addressed in papers include:
- Smart mobility
- Smart health
- Smart energy
- Smart society
- Smart production
The other categories for papers include hardware/technologies, software for smart integrated systems and smart networking.
Danish title redesigns to provide more options for advertisers
Danish title Elektronik & Data *www.elek-data.dk) has redesigned it’s online presence, providing more opportunities for advertisers. Banner sizes have been significantly increase and there is now an opportunity to place white papers and brochures on the home page.
The site has also introduced “Product Links”, which can be thought of as an “intelligent directory” – links to vendors are placed next to relevant stories. It’s also designed to be a low-cost solutions, with Product Links costing less than Euro 400 per year.
Readers haven’t been forgotten in the new design – the layout fits in a lot of information in an attractive and easy-to-read layout.
It’s good to see publishers looking for innovative ways to drive revenue: whilst the product links are not a dramatic technical advance, it’s a great way to offer brands cost-effective exposure, and also enriches the editorial with links to relevant suppliers.
Bits&Chips to launch new show in 2014: Smart Systems
Bits&Chips have launched a new show, Smart Systems, with the aim of “Connecting professionals in connected devices - from microsystems to square kilometer arrays”. The first event will be held on 19th and 20th November 2014, and is a combination of Techwatch’s established Dutch embedded and hardware events. Bits&Chips Smart Systems targets all industries and disciplines involved in the development and production of smart systems in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Marcus Plantenberg appointed by PSD as sales director for DACH
Marcus Plantenberg has joined Power Systems Design (PSD) as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH). this is a positive move, strengthening the title's European presence although editorial control remains in the USA. Marcus is an experienced media representative, adding PSD to the other publications he represents, including SupplyFrame and the design publications of Advantage Business Media. Previously Marcus represented EPN & EDN Europe for Reed Business.
"Appointing Marcus to work with us in the crucial DACH-Region significantly enhances PSD’s foothold in Europe, and underscores our dedication to this important marketplace" Julia Stocks, publisher of PSD to me. "This move continues to demonstrate our intent to serve Europe as an important part of the worldwide engineering community, adding to our assets in China and the USA to provide the international community with a worldwide design engineering presence."
It's good to see PSD putting more focus on Europe, and I expect that this move will result in an increase in their revenue from the important DACH region.
Call for papers - DATE 2015
The organisers of DATE 2015, which will take place from 9th to 13th March 2015 at Alpexpo in Grenoble, France, have issued a call for papers.
DATE addresses all aspects of technologies for electronic and embedded system engineering, covering the design process, test, and automation tools, and includes both hardware and embedded software design. The conference is arranged into four tracks:
D – Design Methods & Tools
A – Application Design
T – Test and Robustness
E – Embedded Systems Software
Submissions are invited for standard oral presentation and interactive presentation, as well as for Special Sessions (i.e. panels, hot-topic sessions and embedded tutorials to highlight and inform about special-interest and emerging topics), Monday Tutorials, Friday Workshops amd the Special Days on “Designing Electronics for the Internet of Things” and “Designing Electronics for Medical Applications”.
European Court of Justice makes browsing the internet legal
In a decision laced with a surprising amount of common sense, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that internet users don't break copyright law when browsing the web [see note]! This is the result of a four year battle, where the Newspaper Licencing Authority wanted to demand that some users pay a licence to be able to browse the open websites of UK-based newspapers.
Perhaps the legal battle shouldn't be too much of a surprise. It's long been the case that accessing some illicit material on the internet will land you in court with a charge of making a copy of the content, and the NLA does have a reputation of coming up with "creative" ways to try to increase its revenue. But it's clear that any decision other than this one would have had ramifications that would make the controversial "right to be forgotten" appear to be a minor issue.
The PRCA deserves huge credit for their work in getting this judgement. They've invested a huge amount of time and money to help agencies and clients avoid the need to have to pay for a licence to simply browse the newspaper sites that are covering them. Whilst it would seem obvious that there was no alternative but for the court to rule in this way, the reality is that to get to this point took a huge amount of time and money and the PRCA should be applauded for their tenacity and success.
Note: we'd love to route you to the Guardian story about this decision, but the lovely people at the NLA have said that they want to charge us to do it. So we've had to take the link away (and the traffic that would increase the Guardian's revenue has gone too).
New publication for the Russian market
TIMGlobal Media (formerly Thomas Industrial Media), publishers of IEN Europe and several other great titles, are launching a Russian publication. NPI (nowotsi promyshiennay inzenerii was launched with a pilot issue at Hannover Messe, and the first full issue will be published in October 2014, with four issues planned for 2015.
The publication will be primarily digital, with 7000 subscribers receiving electronic copies of NPI. The publishers also plan to distribute 1500 printed copies of each issue at trade fairs and conferences.
As with IEN Europe, the publication will address a broad range of engineering topics, including electronics, automation, production and maintenance.
It's good to see a new publication launch in Russia, where the opportunity for many of our clients isn't matched by the availability of good publications. It will be interesting to see whether the digital distribution is an approach that works with the Russian market: typically digital magazines still have significantly lower readership than print. With the limited number of high-quality, local-language publications, however, we'd expect that NPI will be a success, and an important way to reach engineers in this country.
Elektroniktidningen to handle advertising direct
From 1st June 2014 Elektroniktidningen will deal directly with advertising enquiries, rather than using Huson Media. The advertising contact will be Anne-Charlotte Sparrvik.
Bits&Chips Smart Systems 2014
On 19 and 20 November 2014 the first edition of the exhibition and conference Bits&Chips Smart Systems will take place. This new event is a combination of Techwatch’s established Dutch embedded and hardware events. Bits&Chips Smart Systems targets all industries and disciplines involved in the development and production of smart systems in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Bits&Chips Smart Systems want to bring together all the parties who are working on the development of smart information systems, from smart pills to square kilometer arrays, from clever lighting to advanced diagnostic equipment or production machinery.
The conference will focus on academia, researchers, designers, engineers, and technical management. The development of networked technical information systems, from hardware to software, from antenna to system, from sensor to actuator, is central.
Joost Backus
I was sorry to hear that Joost Backus of Bits&Chips has sadly passed away. He'd helped to grow the publication into a valued resource for engineers in the Netherlands, and was well-known in the industry. Read his obituary on the Bits&Chips website.
It's still all about getting printed magazines in the post!
OK, we're a long way from the days when your marketing campaigns relied on printed magazines being posted out to readers. But there are still many people in Europe who like - or even prefer - to receive their news in print, so publishers will be facing the challenge of physical distribution of magazines for some time.
Svet mehatronike has just celebrated it's first birthday and I loved the picture that publisher Jure Mikeln sent me of the most recent "shipping day". Clearly the publication is doing well, and the model of charging a nominal subscription (just 4 Euros per year to cover postage) is a strategy that readers like. I'm just glad it's not me stuffing all those envelopes!
5000 visitors to Electronics For You Expo Western India
It's good to see shows being successful, and the EFY Expo Western India, which was held in Mumbai on the 21st to 23rd November definitely exceeded expectations. The organisers expected around 1500 to 2000 visitors, so the 5010 people who came through the door to see the 57 exhibitors was a real success.
India is a really important market for many technology companies and is growing very quickly. India is maturing rapidly as a technology market, and it's now all about quality rather than quantity. So was good to see that the organisers were particularly pleased with the positive feedback from exhibitors about the quality of the visitors.
Website relaunch in Hungary
It is sometimes said that the online opportunities are limited in Eastern Europe, with publishers focusing more on print titles, but this is no longer the case in most countries. One example is hungry where ELEKTROnet has redesigned their website with a new simplified layout that can compete with some of the best layouts in Europe. With Eastern Europe continuing to grow in importance for many companies in the electronics sector, it's great to see publishers in this region investing in their websites.
National Electronics Week South Africa has a new venue for 2014
New Events Ltd has announced that National Electronics Week South Africa 2014 will be held on 11th – 12th March 2014 at a new venue: the Gallagher Estates in Midrand is located between Johannesburg and Pretoria and has great access by road, rail and air. If you're thinking of exhibiting and are a british company, there is also support and funding for UK companies via UKTI. New Events are also busy at home in the UK as the South West Electronics Expo will be held from 25th to 26th September 2014 at the University of West England, Bristol.
Electronics event for Western India
The popular Indian title, Electronics for You, will hold their first Expo in Western India in November this year. The Electronics For You expo Western India will be held from 21st to 23rd November 2013 at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Center in Mumbai.
Mesago PCIM GmbH switches from i2i to Messe Frankfurt China for PCIM Asia
Mesago PCIM GmbH has decided to change partners for the PCIM Asia event. They will work with Messe Frankfurt China, organisers of the SPS Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou, rather than i2i. This puts the power of two major exhibition companies behind PCIM Asia, and should help the event grow and develop.
In turn, i2i has plans to launch a number of local shows, sponsored by Bodo's Power China and supported by Chinese Universities. These Power Electronics summits will be held in Suzhou, Harbin, Xian and Chengdu.
Elektroniktidningen enters joint venture to launch Finnish electronics publication
Great news for engineers in Finland, who are still morning the closure of Prosessori: Swedish publishing house Elektroniktidningen has joined with respected Finnish journalist Veijo Ojanperä to launch Elektroniikkalehti, a new dedicated Finnish new service for electronics engineers. With Veijo Ojanperä driving the editorial and Elektroniktidningen providing the website and handling the sales, I'm confident that this will be a product that both readers and advertisers will love.
This is fabulous news. The Finnish electronics market is so much more than just Nokia: in fact it has one of the most dynamic start-up scenes in Europe (not just Angry Birds!). There is a real market for a Finnish publication, and it was a real shame that a high-quality publication such as Prosessori had to close. So it was especially nice to hear the promise that Elektroniikkalehti will, "pick up where Prosessori left off."
Elektroniikkalehti is already up and running. The website is www.elektroniikkalehti.fi or you can use the shortcut www.etn.fi.
Electropages adds in-app newsletters
Users of the Electropages app who subscribe the the email newsletter can now choose to have it sent via an alert directly to their handset or tablet. This isn't just a "nice-to-have" feature: Electropage's early research suggests that this delivery method increases page views: a finding that matches other research showing engagement to be much higher if read on either a tablet or a Smart Phone. We understand that there are plans to offer users the option to only receive product news / companies which are relevant to them. An Android version is planned for the Autumn, and Electropages will also roll out localised versions for China, Asia, Germany and Brazil by the end of this year.
Indian shows increase space
The organisers of electronica India and productronica India, which will take place at Pragati Maidan, New Dehli from 4th to 6th September 2013, have announced that they've increased exhibition space to 15,000 square meters. Whilst it's obviously easier to grow events in a dynamic market such as India, it's great to see such a successful show.