IBS campaign shortlisted for B2B Marketing Awards 2010
July 14th, 2010 <...by Lucy Longhurst
Ice the champagne: our ‘Margin Killers’ campaign for IBS has been shortlisted for the Best International Campaign category in this year’s B2B Marketing Awards.
IBS is a leading provider of distribution resource planning software.
In this campaign – working closely with Andy Bailey and the IBS marketing team – we re-positioned the company as a distribution specialist, developed a new web marketing platform and launched an ambitious content marketing campaign to generate leads, increase engagement and position IBS as a thought leader.
Campaign goals:
• Consolidate the web infrastructure for global marketing campaigns
• Position IBS as the thought leader in global distribution software
• Generate leads and feed the CRM system for follow-up
Campaign strategy:
• Create an online engine to drive international content marketing
• Deliver flexible content for global marketing and PR programmes
• Measure the improved performance of the website and content
• Measure impact of different marketing investment across countries.
• Provide global content support for local marketing execution.
We’re now writing and designing an ongoing series of eBooks on the value drivers of wholesale distribution: expenses, cash, revenue, inventory, and margins. The first eBook, on the Six Margin Killers, has already resulted in 1,050 downloads from 4000 views: a conversion rate of 26%.
It’s been a really successful campaign, with a proven increase in visitors to the site, more time spent on the site, and a lower bounce rate. And as the content builds, these will all improve even more.
Neil Stoneman masterminded the campaign and he’s riding the analytics like a bucking bronco. Watch this space.
Velocity is hiring geniuses – B2B marketing jobs London
June 16th, 2010 <...by Doug Kessler
We’re Velocity, we’re growing fast and we’re looking for a few geniuses (copywriters, designers, planners…).
But we’re not just hiring anyone who walks past the door and we don’t just fill slots with CVs. We aim a bit higher than that: geniuses with souls, manners and senses of humour.
To us, a genius is not someone with a high IQ, it’s someone who is more than usually passionate about what they do. Almost unhealthily passionate.
If you love marketing and business and technology and creativity, we think this is the single best place in the world to spend a career.
We’ll never be the biggest B2B agency in the world. Our goal is a lot less Gordon Gekko and a bit more Richard Feynman. We aim to be the most interesting B2B agency in the world. Which may not be as lucrative but is a hell of a lot more fun.
If you’re wondering whether business-to-business (and specifically technology) marketing can ever be as rewarding as consumer marketing, there’s a very short answer: it’s more rewarding. Here’s why:
Why B2B is the place to be
- Because business can change the world and technology is changing it.
While Diet Coke will only ever be sugar water without the sugar.
- Because it’s hard.
You have to really understand this stuff to sell it. There’s no coasting. And hard things are always more rewarding.
- Because it’s exciting.
Our clients are innovators and entrepreneurs. Brilliant people inspire.
- Because it’s grown-up.
We don’t condescend to the target audience and we don’t manipulate his or her insecurities. We build compelling arguments, back them up with air-tight evidence and incite action. And you don’t have to shower after doing that.
- Because it’s incredibly dynamic.
Digital, analytics, video, lead nurturing… this is the steepest learning curve you’ll ever be on. Ask any snowboarder: that’s the best part.
- Because it’s cutting edge.
Some of the new B2B tools are much more sophisticated than their consumer versions. They have to be when a sale can mean a million.
- Because it’s important.
For every bottle bought of Katie Price’s Sensation (or whatever), there are a hundred business-to-business transactions behind the scenes. In economic terms, she’s the tip, we’re the iceberg.
If anyone tells you that B2B is a marketing backwater, thank them for their insight and find someone more interesting (and less fashionable) to share a drink with.
This is where the action is and Velocity is smack in the middle of it.
If you’d like to be a part of it, get in touch.
London-Based B2B Agency Runs Out of Tea
June 2nd, 2010 <...by Doug Kessler
Velocity, the London-based business-to-business marketing agency, ran out of tea today in an uncharacteristic demand forecasting error.
The agency, which recently acquired a large red teapot to support and enable its growing workforce, is now crippled by a complete lack of the beverage that contributes 50% of staff body mass and 76% of all good ideas.
“We’re…,” said MD Stan Woods, “We’re just…”
The agency very recently purchased a Tetley 160-bag super-pack with 50% extra free, bringing the total to 240 bags.
“I couldn’t believe how fast it went,” said Neil Stoneman, comatose sack of meat, “I went to make tea and boiled the kettle and got the teapot ready and when I took down the super-pack, it was really, like, light and I looked inside and I was like, whoah.”
Gesu Baroova, quivering mass of translucent jelly, concurred, “Pllbllbph… brbrbrbrbr fzzzz,” said Baroova.
“What’s the big deal?” asked Doug Kessler, creative director and conspicuous American. “I mean, jeez, drink coffee.” Unfortunately, Doug said this during an all-agency Work In Progress (WiP) meeting at which he was the only attendee.
The agency has no plans to go and get more tea at this time because the agency has no plans at all. None. In fact, when you actually stop and think about it, this whole B2B marketing thing is feeling completely… futile. What’s the bloody point?
No wait. Lucy just went and got some more. Never mind.
‘Margin Killers’ eBook reaches 600 downloads
March 25th, 2010 <...by Lucy LonghurstWe didn’t mention this? We’ve been working with IBS, the wholesale distribution software experts, to produce a content series on the five big success drivers in wholesale distribution.
To kick the whole thing off we wrote and designed an eBook called The Six Margin Killers of Wholesale Distribution. If you want to know what I’m on about here, then download it.
It was a matter of presenting IBS’s considerable expertise in an engaging and easily digestible way, to attract readers and give them practical tips on keeping their margins under control.
And it’s proved to be extremely popular already. It’s had 600 downloads in 6 weeks, and that’s not counting all the downloads from other European and worldwide partner sites.
It’s a great start to the eBook series, because IBS’s expertise is being shared and prospects are finding it helpful. The company’s positioned more as a strategic partner in wholesale distribution than a generic ERP software vendor. And the sales team has some new people to call on (and a new discussion to have when they arrive).
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Velocity acquires Big Red Teapot
February 11th, 2010 <...by Doug Kessler
London-based B2B marketing agency Velocity today announced its acquisition of a new, high-capacity teapot to support its growing team of B2B marketing professionals. The new teapot, a 10-cup, 3.2 litre Globe from the London Pottery Company will go into service alongside the agency’s previous 1.5 litre facility.
“We’re thrilled with our big, red teapot,” says Lucy Longhurst, agency copywriter, “Its very similar to the last teapot but holds more.” The new teapot will be used for occasions that were previously inadequately supported by the legacy teapot. “The teapot that got us here is still a great teapot”, says Longhurst, “but during peak consumption periods (9-9:30am; 9:45-10:45am; 11:00-3:00pm and 3:30-6:00pm) it failed to adequately enable workforce productivity. It was resilient but it didn’t scale.”
Managing Director Stan Woods concurs, “In my view, tea should always be made in a pot and this acquisition certainly fits the bill. It’s red, so we feel it maintains our strategic direction and, since the two-teapot deployment model is service-oriented, we’re actually delivering a new level of Tea Agility™. Ooh. I like that.”
Gartner analyst Tibor Toromerde, was first to put the new acquisition into industry context. “Velocity’s B2B tea-making needs have recently increased in inverse proportion to the available deskspace. We call this the Slope of Obviousness and it’s one of the four key drivers of B2B teapot proliferation. Ooh. I like that.”
The new teapot solution brings added SEO benefits to the digital-obsessed agency. “The keyphrase ‘B2B Teapot’ is wide open,” says Neil Stoneman, some other guy in the room, “With this single purchase — and it’s attendant press release and Twitter-storm – we can power to the top of the results pages for what is admittedly a vanishingly small, almost homeopathic traffic stream. Over a typical ten years, we ought to see up to two searches going straight to us.”
“In my view, tea should always be made in a pot,” repeats Woods.
B2B marketing agency Velocity powers up IBS relaunch
January 26th, 2010 <...by Lucy LonghurstVelocity Partners, the B2B marketing agency for technology companies, has announced the completion of the first phase of their project to reposition IBS, the Distribution Resource Management specialists.
IBS was in turnaround following a major re-think of its structure and services. Velocity simplified and focused IBS’s story helping position them as leaders in wholesale distribution management software. The agency also rationalized IBS’s product portfolio, tailoring each product to specific sectors.
“IBS had gone through massive change and things were rapidly improving for them, but they still had trouble getting their message out there in a clear and easily understood way”, said Neil Stoneman, Velocity Client Services Director, “Creating powerful messages is essential for IBS to capitalize on the turnaround. That’s what we do”.
As an integral part of this process, Velocity designed and built a new website in record time. The site is a platform for generating leads and running outbound campaigns. Ruthlessly logical in its structure, it manages to be both informative and engaging thanks to a killer combination of snappy copy and well-designed visuals.
Velocity also incorporated thought leadership content into the programme, offering opinion and views on the market. The initial piece is an eBook on ‘margin killers’ in wholesale distribution, the first in a five-part series on the value drivers of wholesale.
“As always with a website project, it wasnt just a website project. I wanted it to be the catalyst for lots of things; yes, a new website, but also a new message, to re-energise people, and to bring us into the 21st C. The Velocity team have been great. They quickly got under the skin of the market, helped us craft a crisp story, oh and yes, they built a great website too.” –Andy Bailey, CMO
About Velocity
Velocity is the B2B marketing agency for technology companies.
Website: www.velocitypartners.co.uk
Blog: www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog
Twitter: velocitytweets
Contact: Neil@velocitypartners.co.uk
About IBS
IBS is the world leader in distribution resource management software – business applications for the wholesale, distribution and manufacturer/distributor markets.
Website: www.ibs.net
Contact: info@ibs.net
B2B marketing agency Velocity creates new website for intranet providers SmallWorlders
January 14th, 2010 <...by Lucy LonghurstVelocity, the B2B marketing agency for technology companies, has just announced a new website for SmallWorlders, specialists in intranets for marketing and brand teams.
The agency developed a new brand positioning for the company, new language to describe it’s services and a fresh online presence. Smallworlders built the new website on their own Sandbox™ platform.
“The idea was to appeal to marketing executives by looking and sounding like a marketing agency,” said Neil Stoneman, Velocity Client Services Director, “too many intranet players look and feel like the techies they are. That won’t cut it in the specialised world of marketing.”
Velocity also clarified SmallWorlders products and service levels, repackaging them so that customers can be sure that what they’re getting is exactly right for them.
Neil Stoneman: “We gave them a new way to talk about their business by renaming and redefining their products. That’s especially important if you’re going fishing for marketing people, because they’re so aware of how things are presented. Now the products sound as exciting as they really are.”
And in case an all-singing, all-dancing brand-savvy website wasn’t quite enough, Velocity also helped evangelise SmallWorlders’ unique approach through thought leadership web pages. They’ll be converting the heathen marketing masses to the Way of the SmallWorlders soon.
“We’re thrilled with the new Smallworlders story and the website,” says Kevin Cody, Smallworlders MD, “It looks great and presents just the right image for us.”
About Velocity
Velocity is the B2B marketing agency for technology companies.
Website: www.velocitypartners.co.uk
Blog: www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog
Twitter: velocitytweets
Contact: Neil@velocitypartners.co.uk
About Smallworlders
Smallworlders make smart, sexy and social intranet sites for distributed agency and brand marketing teams.
Smallworlders marketing intranets harness the power of Web 2.0 to inspire and turbo-charge marketing teams. The result is fun, fast and furious collaboration; simple and intuitive knowledge sharing; and hyper-speed process efficiencies.
SmallWorlders’ term for this method is Collective Marketing™ and it’s changing the way marketing organisations work together.
Velocity shortlisted for Econsultancy Innovation Awards
December 2nd, 2009 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity was just shortlisted for an Econsultancy Innovation Award for its work with ShipServ. The recent Content Marketing and Social Media campaign is up against 3M, IBM and Essence for the Innovation in B2B Marketing prize.
The campaign, developed for and with John Watton, ShipServ CMO, combined content marketing and social media to increase web traffic, build a LinkedIn community and generate a six-figure pipeline for the ShipServ sales force. The campaign also relied on Marketo, the lead nurturing and marketing automation suite.
Watton and ShipServ also recently won the CRM Market Award, the B2B Marketing Magazine Marketer of the Year, First Tuesday’s Most Promising Internet Company and won Commendations at the New Media Age Awards and the Best Limited Budget Campaign at the B2B Marketing Awards. That’s a lot of awards.
Velocity client John Watton wins B2B Marketer of the Year
November 26th, 2009 <...by Doug KesslerJohn Watton, Chief Marketing Officer for ShipServ, last night won the prestigious B2B Marketer of the Year award presented by B2B Marketing Magazine.
Watton beat formidable competition, winning recognition from the judges for the way he transformed the fortunes of ShipServ on a limited budget.
Joel Harrison, editor of B2B Marketing magazine, commented, “the quality of entries for this category was particularly high this year, and judges had a long debate over who should emerge as the winner. In the end, they opted for John ahead of Joanna Elliott of Sage, partly because of what he had achieved with a smaller organisation and a more limited budget.”
Stan Woods of Velocity Partners added, “John has been a fantastic client for us. He’s imaginative, open-minded, ambitious and an early adopter of just about every new weapon in the B2B marketing arsenal — from social media and content marketing to viral videos and demand generation.”
John has pioneered the use of Marketo, the demand generation and marketing automation solution, using it to nurture and score leads before turning them over to the ShipServ sales force.
Velocity and ShipServ were also recognised with a Commendation Award for Best Limited Budget Campaign.
B2B Marketing Agency to optimize around keyphrase “B2B Marketing Agency”
October 20th, 2009 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity, the B2B marketing agency, today announced its new B2B marketing agency SEO strategy: to optimize around the keyphrase B2B Marketing Agency.
“Many B2B Marketing Agency specialists do not optimize around the obvious term,” says Doug ‘B2B Marketing Agency’ Kessler, Velocity B2B Marketing Agency director, “and that is clearly, ‘B2B Marketing Agency’. Other terms that are different from B2B Marketing Agency simply do not have the relevance or SEO juice that B2B Marketing Agency has.”
As a B2B Marketing Agency, Velocity helps its B2B Marketing Agency clients with their B2B Marketing Agency related strategies, including B2B Marketing Agency digital marketing and B2B Marketing Agency SEO.
“The B2B Marketing Agency keyphrase is much more than just a web SEO ploy,” says Kessler, B2B Marketing Agency director, “We also have initiated a comprehensive B2B Marketing Agency program to use the phrase in our daily speech in and around our B2B Marketing Agency.”
The Velocity water cooler is now called ‘the B2B Marketing Agency water cooler’ and the tea kettle is referred to as ‘the tea B2B Marketing Agency kettle’.
In this way, Velocity hopes to improve its performance not only in the search results whenever someone is searching for a B2B Marketing Agency (using the term B2B Marketing Agency) but also in people’s minds when they are considering a B2B Marketing Agency.
“If a B2B Marketing Agency isn’t coming up high in the search results for B2B Marketing Agency, you have to wonder if it’s a good B2B Marketing Agency or a crap B2B Marketing Agency,” said B2B Marketing Agency client, Sam “B2B Marketing Agency Client” Winston, “We prefer to work with good B2B Marketing Agency firms and avoid their crap B2B Marketing Agency peers.”
Doug Kessler couldn’t agree more: ” B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency, B2B Marketing Agency.” he said.
Velocity announces free B2B Content Marketing Workbook
June 12th, 2009 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity, the B2B marketing agency specialising in technology companies, today announced the publication of a free 49-page eBook called The B2B Content Marketing Workbook.
The eBook is available to download now from the Velocity website: www.velocitypartners.co.uk.
“In the era of information overload, Content Marketing is probably the single most important thing a B2B marketer can do,” says Stan Woods, Velocity MD, ” You can have lousy brochures. You can be a social media luddite. But if you get content marketing right, the world will beat a path to your door — and your sales guys will throw rose petals in your path (it’s embarrassing but feels kind of nice, too.).”
The Content Marketing Workbook covers topics like these:
- What Content Marketing and Thought Leadership are
- Why you need to get good at them (and fast)
- Why you’re perfectly placed to do it really, really well
- How to pick a topic prospects care about
- How to go beyond the dry, stale white paper
- What we think ‘good’ looks like — lots of examples
It’s free, it’s fun and it’s as fresh as new-baked bread plucked from a hot oven.
“This is the single best overview I’ve yet seen on strategic B2B content marketing”, says David Fideler, B2B marketing strategist and founder of the B2B Lead Nurturing group on Linked In, ” I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed by the ideas and value delivered.”
Velocity and B2B Marketing Magazine announce new webinar
May 28th, 2009 <...by Doug Kessler28 May 2009
Velocity, the B2B marketing agency specialising in technology markets, and B2B Marketing magazine announced a new webinar for B2B marketers about Content Marketing.
The 20-minute webinar is free and runs on Wednesday, 3 June 2009 at 3:30pm London time.
Marketers can register for the event on the B2B Marketing Magazine website.
“Content Marketing is the answer to a deep dark secret that most marketers recognise: traditional marketing is broken,” says Stan Woods, Velocity MD, “The webinar is an introdution to a critical new discipline that every B2B marketer must be good at today.”
The webinar will cover topics such as:
- What is Content Marketing and why it matters
- Why you’re perfectly placed to do it
- How you pick a topic and generate great content
- How to go beyond the white paper
- How to market your new content and measure the campaigns
To register for the Content Marketing Webinar, visit the B2B Magazine website.
Psion Teklogix Takes Digital Upgrade With Velocity
May 7th, 2009 <...by Neil StonemanPsion Teklogix, a world leader in mobile productivity solutions, has launched it’s new market vision and a new website to give customers an enriched digital experience.
The launch is the latest phase of a six-month positioning and communication project with B2B technology marketing agency, Velocity Partners. Part of the site’s remit is to communicate the new Return on Mobility™ message to key stakeholders.
Overall the site has been structured, designed and written to give customers fast, easy access to both the solutions and the thinking required to drive mobile workforce profitability.
“Our customers are used to tough environments but won’t find our site a challenge,” says Todd Boone, corporate communications director at Psion Teklogix. “Like our mobile solutions, it has a single aim: to help our customers get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Stan Woods, MD of Velocity Partners, says: “The new messaging and website illustrate the challenge and rewards in keeping critical business information flowing. The Return on Mobility™ story explores the technical expertise, industry know-how, business understanding and ergonomic feel found in every mobile computing solution.”
A research phase prior to the build highlighted the need to satisfy different customer personas. Some users want fast access to products and support services, while others need detail on the value and role of mobile solutions.
“We needed a website experience for our ‘hunters’ and’ explorers’,” says Boone. “Fast navigation to key product information is a core site function. But we’ve backed it up with a series of story ‘lenses’ for an in-depth understanding of rugged mobile solutions and their value. Everybody gets what they need.”
The site uses an enterprise content management systems (CMS) from the OpenText Web Solutions group.
Velocity launches new Internet marketing portfolio
March 13th, 2009 <...by Stan WoodsB2B marketing agency ramps up digital marketing offer
Velocity, the B2B agency specialising in technology markets, has launched a new portfolio of Internet Marketing services.
According to Stan Woods, Velocity’s managing director, “Our new set of Internet marketing services transform your web strategy and online performance from a passive, broadcast model to a dynamic, fully-engaged process that proves its own value as it goes.”
The new services are:
B2B Web Lead Generation Insight – analysis to establish search engine and keyword performance and establishing the quality of a company’s online presence and reputation
B2B Web Start – a fast-track website design and build process with integrated SEO
B2B Lead Generation Content Factory – content campaigns that drive traffic and response
Digital Engagement and B2B Lead Generation Tactics – from micro-sites and traffic generation to pay-per-click, SEO, eNewsletters and banner ad campaigns
Lead Nurturing and Scoring – automated campaigns that treat prospects differently based on their demographics and behaviours – then tracks each prospect as they progress through the sales funnel
Online PR – the creation of Online PR and Social Media buzz when and where its needed most (Twitter, blogger engagement, social networking sites, social sharing and bookmarking, plus a huge Google back-linkage ‘halo’ effect
B2B Lead Generation Analytics & Reporting – clear, compelling reports on the performance of any campaign or your ongoing web presence, over time
B2B Web Training – equipping clients to do their web marketing themselves
For further information, contact Stan Woods at stan@velocitypartners.co.uk or on +44 208 940 4099
New ‘Clean Technology’ B2B marketing practice at Velocity
March 3rd, 2009 <...by Stan WoodsFour recent Green Technology projects and wins build expertise
3 March 2009
Velocity Partners, the B2B agency specialising in technology marketing, has announced the creation of a ‘Clean Technology’ practice following some significant client wins over the last few months.
Velocity has gained experience on a range of Green Technology / Clean Technology clients including:
• Amplex, a Danish provider of smartgrid solutions offering real power saving efficiencies for low voltage networks, the networks that deliver power into our homes and offices.
• Medis Technologies, a quoted US provider of the first commercially available portable fuel cell
• VNL, a Swedish-Indian provider of solar-powered GSM networks optimised for the developing world
• BrightGreen Technologies, a provider of LED illumination systems that dramatically reduce the energy consumption of backlit advertising and signage.
“The last 12 months have seen a lot of activity in the clean tech sector worldwide and the inauguration of President Obama with his climate change policies is only going to accelerate that,” said Stan Woods, Velocity’s managing director.
“With all the hype and noise about climate change out there, companies offering clean technology solutions need to be able to articulate clearly what they stand for and why customers and stakeholders should care,” he added. “We’ve developed some great experience on how to do that based on our work with some leading clean technology clients. That’s why we’re starting this new practice.”
For further information about how Velocity can help your clean technology business contact us at stan@velocitypartners.co.uk.
Links
www.velocitypartners.co.uk
www.amplex.dk
www.medistechnologies.com
www.vnl.in
www.brightgreentechnologies.com
New mobile marketing eBook for small businesses
February 18th, 2009 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity Partners, the B2B agency specialising in technology marketing, announced the publication of a new eBook available on mobiThinking.com.
The free eBook is called, “Marketing your small business on the mobile Web: the guide to low-cost, high-impact mobile marketing” and is available to all mobile marketers on the mobiThinking.com website.
“The major brands are getting into the mobile Web in a big way,” says Doug Kessler, creative director of Velocity, “But there’s a lot of untapped potential for smaller businesses using the mobile Web, too. This eBook is a primer for small businesses interested in learning more about the mobile Web to see if it might help them attract new customers or serve existing ones.”
Sections include:
- What is the mobile Web?
- How people use it
- How your business can use the mobile Web today
- How to make your first mobile Web site
- Ten tips for great mobile sites
- Promoting your mobile Web site
- Choosing the right domain name
The eBook is the latest in a series of free resources for mobile marketers from mobiThinking.com, the web resource presented by dotMobi, the registry for the .mobi domain name.
It also outlines the benefits of Instant Mobilizer™, a new tool for automatically turning a simple .com Web site into a .mobi mobile Web site. The tool is available from a range of .mobi registrars and is free when users buy a .mobi domain name.
Links:
eBook
http://mobithinking.com/white-papers/free-ebook-marketing-your-small-business-mobile-web
mobiThinking
http://mobithinking.com
Instant Mobilizer
http://instantmobilizer.com/
dotMobi
http://mtld.mobi/
Velocity – B2B technology marketing agency
http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk
New eBook: Best & Worst of the Mobile Web
December 1st, 2008 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity Partners, the B2B marketing agency, today announced the launch of a new eBook for mobile marketers: The Best & Worst of the Mobile Web.
The free e-Book identifies the key principles of mobile web success as highlighted by a distinguished panel of mobi-gurus including contributions from the Yankee group, Gartner, Yahoo! and top mobile marketing agencies and service providers.
The eBook is the latest free resource to be posted on mobiThinking.com, the online resource for mobile marketers. Velocity developed the eBook and web resource for dotMobi, the registry for the .mobi domain name, to help promote best practice in mobile web marketing and to communicate the .mobi story.
The eBook features plenty of examples of the winners and sinners, with screenshots and URLs of each, so readers can visit the sites and judge for themselves.
“The mobile web is hot,” says Doug Kessler, Velocity Creative Director, “This eBook shows people just how far marketers have come in the last year — and how far some brands still have to go.”
To download the free eBook, visit:
Free eBook: Best & Worst of the Mobile Web
About mobiThinking.com
mobiThinking.com is the web resource and community for mobile web marketers. It’s produced by dotMobi, the ICANN-appointed global registry for the .mobi top-level domain name – the only domain specifically for the mobile web.
dotMobi is backed by fourteen leading mobile and Internet players: Ericsson, Google, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM, Visa and Vodafone.
Contact dotMobi at info@mobithinking.com.
About Velocity
Velocity is the B2B marketing agency for technology companies.
Contact us at:
Evel Knievel, corporate positioning & corporate message development – a new Velocity white paper
November 25th, 2008 <...by Roger WarnerVelocity, the smartest, most results-driven B2B technology marketing agency on the planet, today announced the availability of a new white paper for technology marketers facing corporate positioning and corporate message development problems.
It deals with the fact that most technology companies are run by smart, technical engineering types – and these folks are pre-disposed to take a running jump from tech-speak to Big Business Benefits when tackling their corporate positioning and corporate message development projects.
In doing so, they’re approaching things in the same way that Evel Knievel used to approach the Snake River Canyon — because they recognise how far away the Land of Really Meaningful Business Benefits is from the World of Technology. And the result is predictable: they fall down.
The truth is, companies can’t leap from tech features to Big Business Benefits when describing themselves. They have to build a bridge between them. Better still, they need to swing across this ‘benefits chasm’ on a Vine.
And that’s what this new Velocity white paper is all about. It’s a killer set of diagrams and best practice advice for slaying any daredevil message and positioning pretensions you may have.
You can download it today, FREE, via:
http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/2008/11/25/tech-benefits-recipes-for-corporate-positioning-and-corporate-message-development/
About Velocity
Velocity is the consulting-led B2B marketing agency for the Interweb era, specialising in technology. Projects range from strategic consulting to marketing acceleration programs to digital engagement campaigns that include through-the-line content, creative, websites, search engine optimisation, pay-per-click advertising and web analytics. Clients include dotMobi, Gartner, ShipServ, Clearswift, ip.access.
For further information about Velocity, see: http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk
B2B Technology Marketing Heavyweight Stoneman joins fast-moving Velocity
October 10th, 2008 <...by Roger WarnerVelocity, the B2B technology marketing agency, has welcomed ardent Dundee United and Vancouver Canucks fan Neil Stoneman as senior account director.
Neil joins us from a two-year stint at BT Global Services where he drove the company’s thought leadership programmes. Before BT, he had B2B tech experience with two agencies, Brodeur, and Now Communications, which he helped set up in 2002.
Neil’s been thrown straight into leading our effort on two key digital clients, handheld PC leader Psion Teklogix and IPTV player Amino.
“When I used to run Brodeur back in the dying years of the last century, I earmarked Neil as someone I wanted to work with again”, said Stan Woods, Velocity’s MD. “I’m thrilled it’s finally happened.”
About Velocity
Velocity is the consulting-led B2B marketing agency for the Interweb era, specialising in technology. Projects range from strategic consulting to marketing acceleration programs to digital engagement campaigns that include through-the-line content, creative, websites, search engine optimisation, pay-per-click advertising and web analytics. Clients include dotMobi, Gartner, ShipServ, Clearswift, ip.access.
Lee Hosford joins the V Team
September 17th, 2008 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity, the B2B technology marketing agency, is happy to welcome the newest recruit to its design department, Lee Hosford.
Lee is a talented designer and photographer with a great eye for type. He’s also a dab hand at Photoshop, Illustrator and all the essential tools of the digital design trade.
Lee comes to us with an honours degree from Southampton Solent University’s highly regarded design department. He also did an internship at Ryan Emo Design & Advertising in Southampton.
On top of all that, he’s a nice guy and a blues fanatic.
“To be honest, design used to be an afterthought at Velocity,” admits Stan Woods, Velocity MD, “The idea comes first. But as the department grows, we’re discovering the benefits of integrating design ideas at the very beginning of our thinking. And we’re doing a lot more brand identity and web design work than ever before. Lee’s an important part of all this and we’re really glad to have discovered him.”
dotMobi mobilizes with added Velocity
June 16th, 2008 <...by Roger WarnerdotMobi has a fantastic position at the very centre of the most exciting tidal wave to hit marketing since the web: the mobile web. The company – backed by fourteen major players in the mobile internet, from Ericsson and Microsoft, to Google, Nokia, Visa and Vodafone – exists to promote best practice in mobile websites, help developers create better mobile experiences and get the world to use the .mobi domain name for all their mobile sites.
.mobi is the only top-level domain specifically for mobile websites. It tells the user that the site they’re about to experience is designed with mobile devices in mind and, more importantly, with mobile users in mind. It’s a great idea and a powerful way to help accelerate the mobile web.
dotMobi does a lot to help the developer community make better mobile sites, with its rich developer resource dev.mobi. Now it’s time to make sure all the big brands and their agencies understand the importance of designing specific mobile experiences instead of expecting their .com site to serve mobile users. Part of this is to use the .mobi name for their new mobile-optimized sites.
To spearhead this effort, dotMobi has turned to Velocity, the B2B technology marketing agency. “Velocity gets mobile, gets marketing and has great ideas about reaching the marketing community with the dotMobi story,” said Amy Mischler, VP of Identity and Brand Services, “Their ideas are spot-on and their enthusiasm is obvious.”
The marketing-focused campaign will break this summer – spearheaded by a brand new, Velocity produced, web property, mobithinking.com – a comprehensive online resource for mobile marketers which launched today.
About Velocity
Velocity is the consulting-led B2B marketing agency for the Interweb era, specialising in technology. Projects range from strategic consulting to marketing acceleration programs to digital engagement campaigns that include through-the-line content, creative, websites, search engine optimisation, pay-per-click advertising and web analytics. Clients include dotMobi, Gartner, ShipServ, Clearswift, ip.access.
Velocity as Talent Magnet: Stuart Rothwell joins the team
April 7th, 2008 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity is thrilled to announce our latest hire: Stuart Rothwell, Senior Designer.
Stuart joins us from Sketch Creative in Nottingham where he worked on a wide variety of product identities, websites, advertising campaigns, print brochures, exhibitions and flash animations.
An all-rounder with serious digital and print ‘chops’, Stuart also has something that very few candidates were able to demonstrate: talent.
We had planned to give Stuart a nice, slow start with plenty of time for orientation (‘There’s the bathroom, there’s the kettle.’). As it happens, we’ve dropped him into the deep end, with a new dotMobi white paper, work on the ShipServ website and a new identity for a client who shall remain un-named for now.
As a dedicated follower of Velocity’s inexorable rise, you’ll be seeing a lot of Stuart’s work. You’re in for a treat.
The next billion mobile users: VNL goes live.
March 17th, 2008 <...by Doug KesslerVelocity is really quite proud to announce the launch of the new website for VNL. As you’ll see, VNL is pioneering ‘microtelecom’, the complete re-engineering of GSM to bring mobile communications to billions of rural users who have never before made a call.
The site has been designed and lovingly hand-coded by Pär Almqvist, VNL’s digital marketing supremo, working with Velocity copy. We think he’s done a fantastic job: it’s clean, clear, inviting and readable.
Take a look and get back to us with your feedback. Pär understands the concept of ‘permanent beta’, so we’re always looking to improve.
Next step: SEO, pay-per-click… and beyond! Not to mention the blog.
March Marketing Madness
March 12th, 2008 <...by Doug KesslerLots going on at Velocity. No time to blog. New clients: ARM (the chip people); dotMobi (the .mobi people); Magus (the people behind a really cool app that helps multinationals manage the quality of their global web presences); Forescout (pioneers in Network Access Control — admit it: you need it); and Datanomic (the people who clean your data).
And that’s just the new work. The new ShipServ website is weeks away and looking fantastic. The Asset House blog is getting really good (and getting noticed). A new concept brewing for Gartner Events (shhh). A great SEO and Pay-per-click project with Clearswift (more keyphrases than you can shake a mouse at) and the new VNL website is going live any minute now (do visit and tell us what you think — this is a great story).
Back to the coalface.
ShipServ adds Velocity to web marketing effort
January 18th, 2008 <...by Roger WarnerB2B technology marketing agency wins major web re-design project
ShipServ, the leading maritime e-marketplace, has chosen Velocity, the B2B technology marketing agency, to execute a major website messaging and redesign project.
Since its launch in 1999, ShipServ TradeNet has become the world’s most widely used maritime e-Commerce trading platform. Today a community of over 20,000 users are on track to conduct $1bn in trade per annum, buying and selling ship supplies and parts in more than 90 countries.
The company has seen phenomonal growth in its business over the last 2 years and is rapidly ramping up its added value services for both buyers and suppliers. Most notable amongst these is ShipServ Pages, an online sourcing tool that allows purchasing professionals access to a global directory of over 8,000 maritime suppliers covering 2,000 ports and 1,400 brands.
This recent growth has created the need for ShipServ to enhance its online presence, with Phase 1 being a redesign of shipserv.com. Velocity was chosen as the preferred partner after a comprehensive agency review process.
“Velocity showed straight away that they grasp what we do and understand the challenges and opportunities we face,” said John Watton, VP Marketing, ShipServ, “Their creative approach is refreshing and their strength in digital engagement and web strategy is impressive.”
“ShipServ is hotter than a hot thing in a hot competition,” said Stan Woods, Velocity MD, “We’re thrilled to have been chosen and are already getting stuck in with a new approach to the website.”
About ShipServ
ShipServ is the leading maritime e-marketplace, helping buyers and sellers to easily find each other, connect cost effectively and trade efficiently. Today 100 buying organisations, 3,000 vessels and 6,000 suppliers are on track to conduct $1bn in trade per annum and rely on ShipServ to transform the way they do business. For more information visit www.shipserv.com.
About Velocity
Velocity is the consulting-led B2B marketing agency for the Interweb era, specialising in technology. Projects range from strategic consulting to marketing acceleration programs to digital engagement campaigns that include through-the-line content, creative, websites, search engine optimisation, pay-per-click advertising and web analytics. Clients include BT, Gartner, Clearswift, Portrait Software, Asset House and ip.access.
The Couch Potato is Dead
January 18th, 2008 <...by Roger WarnerAssetHouse web site goes live with Velocity, the B2B technology marketing agency
‘Digital Proposition Management for on-demand entertainment services’ can sound awfully… abstract (if you’re not an IPTV company).
So Velocity, the B2B marketing agency for technology firms, looked for something with a bit more impact for the home page of the new AssetHouse website.
The approach: ‘zooming out’ to put the company’s solutions in the context of the new entertainment consumer (by no means a couch potato).
The B2B marketing site presents a range of dynamic content including a new AssetHouse blog, latest news and a growing library of white papers relating to the on-demand world.
“The site was built using a variety of open source tools that are perfect for content-rich web builds that require a good level of outbound engagement with the rest of the web,” said Roger Warner, Velocity Client Services Director (and web-head), “What we’ve delivered is a super-easy system for the client to update with new pages, blog posts and content, and a platform that’ll help them ramp up quickly with new digital engagement programs in the future.”
“This is an exceptionally important period for AssetHouse. The IPTV market is booming and we’re looking to boost our profile and help widen our footprint in the worldwide market,” said Jonathan Callcut, CEO at AssetHouse. “What Velocity has brought us is speed and direction. We have a very definite window of opportunity and these guys are managing our entire marketing drive. The web is only the tip of the iceberg… there’s lots to follow so watch this space.”
Kudos to Jonathan for trying something different in a market full of ‘me too’ techno-speak.
About Velocity
Velocity is a consulting-led B2B technology marketing agency based in London
About AssetHouse – Digital Proposition Management Software for On-Demand IPTV Services
AssetHouse specialises in Digital Proposition Management for on-demand entertainment providers. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Guildford, UK.
Birth of a B2B Technology Marketing Agency
December 8th, 2007 <...by Roger WarnerVelocity brings B2B into “the Interweb era”
Velocity, the London-based technology marketing consultancy, has reinvented itself as “the B2B technology marketing agency for the Interweb era”.
The company announced its new offices, new website, new Client Services Director and new digital marketing practice in one fell swoop today.
The new agency grows out of a successful consultancy specialising in technology marketing, with clients including BT Global Services, Gartner, Portrait Software, Clearswift and a range of early stage technology companies.
“We’re still consulting-led,” says Stan Woods, Velocity Marketing Director, “But we’ve really invested in the digital side of the business – where B2B marketers are lagging behind their consumer colleagues.”
The new agency offers three main services:
Strategic Consulting – engagements focused on positioning, messaging, branding and core stories.
Marketing Acceleration Programs – integrated online and offline campaigns around goals such as thought leadership, lead generation and selling to existing customers.
Digital Engagement – a digital marketing practice that brings together search marketing, email campaigns, online PR, blogging, social media, affiliate programs, web analytics and video screencasting.
“We’re stealing the digital pages form the consumer marketing playbook,” says Roger Warner, Velocity’s new Client Services Director, “But we’re re-engineering tactics to make them more relevant and effective in a B2B context.”
Warner, formerly of IBM and Airbus Industries, joined Velocity in September from open source content management player, Squiz, where he gained deep digital marketing experience.
“It’s an exciting time for us,” said Warner, “We feel we’ve hit a sweet spot in B2B marketing and have a powerful combination of strengths to bring to market.”
The agency recently published a new white paper called The Holy Trinity of Tech Marketing: three questions that earn the right to sell available to download from their website.
It also publishes a new blog on B2B and technology marketing, available at http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog/
For more information:
Website: http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk
Blog: http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/our-blog/
White Papers: http://www.velocitypartners.co.uk/papers/
Roger Warner joins Velocity
November 16th, 2007 <...by Doug KesslerA breath of fresh air and a whack on the side of the head… (in a good way).
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A Busy Month: helping the world get smarter
October 29th, 2007 <...by Doug KesslerDoing technology marketing for a wide range of interesting clients means you never know what’s around the corner.
We couldn’t have predicted it but Velocity came out of October having…
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RSS feedsBack in the 19th Century, you could make all kinds of wild claims about your Tincture of Gripe Water or Dr Astoundo’s Patented Baldness Liniment. Nobody could sue you if it didn’t do what it said on the tin. That changed in the early 20th Century, which is all to the good. It means marketers have to be more creative when promoting products or services, and not just resort to bare-faced lies.
Content Marketing is probably the single most important weapon in the B2B marketing arsenal. This eBook takes you through velocity’s approach to the art. Download it and see what you think…
Ice the champagne: our ‘Margin Killers’ campaign for IBS has been shortlisted for the Best International Campaign category in this year’s B2B Marketing Awards.
Vents, vibes & voodoo
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Roger Warner
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