long long post on b2b marketing..

yesterday i arrived very early for yoga. while waiting for lesson to start, i chatted with a lady. we started to talk about work. she does b2c marketing and is thinking of moving to b2b marketing. so she asked me alot about how b2b marketing is like. it is real hard to inject any excitement in to the job description of the b2b marrketing in my company. my tone and her tone is so different. when she speak about b2c marketing, that's more energy and everything sounds more cheem than mine. things like brands marketing, trade affiliates.. what's that? compared to mine.. my job description makes sense to anyone, even a sec 4 student!

today ate lunch with g. although i had turned down his offer last week, he asked me about it again today. he knows that i would like to leave where i am asap, so he propose that i go over and work for a few mths while i look for my next job. in the meanwhile, i can help him to look for a good assistant and train him/her. he also specified the job description. it will be on marketing engineering services, specifically those high tech ones that he is bringing into sg. so it will not only be the sunsetting mold/plastic production industry. b2b marketing... what r the activities?

- create professional looking brochures, videos, presentations, website maintainence --> more room for creative and freeplay.
- participate in trade show. due to small budget, it will be simple booth, with equipment, product samples, brochures and videos. corporate gifts will be given. for bigger budget, we can create more eye-catching booth.
- networking sessions
- search engine optimisation
- create a customer database. the two b2b companies which i have experienced thus far do not have a proper/up to date centralize customer base. all the customer details are in the hands of the sales people. i think many companies are like that.
- cold calling/emailing
- newsletter, whitepapers
- website used to collect details about potential customers
- customer relationship management
- market research --> find customers

have i covered almost everything that can be done for b2b marcom? seems like it. i know what needs to be done, what can be done and operationally, i've done some of the above. but i still have not put together a comprehensive b2b marketing system. which means that i've limited achievements in b2b marketing so far. that was the case with 3-D due to budget constraints and management (big boss). now with a change of leadership in 3-d, i might be able to accomplish more. accomplish the whole package. question is: is this what i want to do?

quite proud that i do know so much about b2b marketing. hehe.. from my reading & researching on the internet.

i think i have the ans liaoz. tried to visualize the process - after i found a potential customer --> g & i visit customer to find out more about his/her needs --> 2nd visit more understanding --> propose solutions --> close deals --> project being carried out/project management --> goods delivered to customer. according to g, i'll focus on marketing. which means my involvement will end when solutions are proposed. i will continue on looking for new customers and process repeats... which means i don't get to do project management and deliver the things to a satisfied customer. i realised i want to do that!! of course, if i speak to g, he will let me do and given the limited manpower, i will most likely do that. but i go into proj management, i wun have the time/energy to do marketing! and number of new customers will not increase.. it's a viscious cycle...

from the thought process above, i realised i am more keen to do PM than marketing. indepth interaction with people... and doing PM in 3D will be very engineering based. which the thought of it gives me headache.

so ans will be no to g. even for his most recent offer of working for a few mths/part time. because it will seem like taking a step back. i shd be moving forward.. :)

will stick to my the 2 options i had identified (in no order of merit) ...
1) pm in adventure team building
2) retail ops, especially in book industry