“This tweet was a long time in the making,” said Doug Kessler, Velocity co-founder, “The team just hasn’t had the bandwidth lately to get together, brainstorm some ideas, have them copywritten, run them past the Micro-blogging Strategy Committee (MSC) and the Self-Aggrandizement Working Group (SAWG), then create and tag a URL — using an external resource — and send the tweet to the Velocity in-house tweet posting department for eventual submission to the people over in Traffic, the Hashtag team and beyond, to the good folks in ‘Go-Live’ who (together with IT security) control the Velocity twitter account.”

“With this in mind, we’ve streamlined our social media processes quite a lot,” added Kessler, “Now we can submit any new tweet to the MSC and the SAWG simultaneously.  It’s amazing how much time this can save — sometimes cutting down the idea-to-post time from months down to weeks or even, in some cases, week.” (additional quote pending approval from corporate PR and brand consistency secretariat – not for publication)

B2B Twitter Strategy
The tweet, an announcement of its latest press release, was distributed to Velocity’s 704 avid followers (@velocitytweets) and the 2,221 followers of Doug Kessler (@dougkessler) where it was expected to be devoured,  retweeted and favourited by virtually every one of them.

“Our followers eagerly await every tweet from Velocity,” says Stan Woods, MD, “They sometimes skip meals and neglect their personal hygiene for fear that they may miss one. That’s the power of micro-blogging and self-aggrandizement — it becomes almost addictive for the people we’re gracing with our Velocity-related insights and self-promotional updates.”

The latest tweet, one in an apparently interminable series, continues the theme of ‘Agile Narcissism in the Era of Social Self-Pleasuring’ – a theme established in Velocity’s bi-annual blog posts and all-but-dormant LinkedIn Company Page — and expanded on in the new Velocity Google+ profile, a fresh spin on the utterly-futile-but-somehow-critically-important Velocity Facebook Page (currently under review in the company’s Facebook Utility Committee of Knowledge (acronym not used)).

As for its plans for future tweets, the agency is uncertain. “We’re all just exhausted from the excellent work we just created together,” says Woods, “I want to thank the entire team behind this latest tweet — we could never have done it without the 24-28 people who worked day and night to get this thing out in a timely fashion. Now it’s time to rest a bit, celebrate our success and, maybe get the hell back to actual work on a paid bloody project for a buggering client if we can squeeze it in.”

The recent Velocity tweet, all rights frivolously thrown away without a second thought

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The B2B Marketing Manifesto tackles the choice facing B2B marketers today: either step up to the challenge of marketing in a digital world, or continue using the internet for digital brochureware and serving the sales team with collateral support.

The role of B2B marketing within companies has changed and a new marketing mindset is needed to make the most of the new opportunities. The eBook outlines the five imperatives every B2B marketer needs to have sorted before going any further:

Get a world view

Expose your beliefs

Get some chops – and use them

Start thinking and generate relevant ideas

Think beyond digital

Once you’ve got these things, you need to get really good at content marketing, analytics, testing, lead nurturing, search and community. While keeping an eye on mobile. Easy.

Doug Kessler, Velocity’s Creative Director said, “The Manifesto is a bit of a rant and a call to arms for B2B marketers. This is the most exciting time in history to be a B2B marketer – but it’s just too easy to coast along doing what we’ve always done. The Manifesto is meant to rattle some cages.”

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

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Post tags: B2B marketing, B2B marketing agency

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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.

© Doug Kessler for Velocity Partners, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: B2B agency hiring, B2B marketing agency jobs, B2B marketing job openings

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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.

© Doug Kessler for Velocity Partners, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: B2B marketing, B2B marketing agency, Corporate Positioning, persuasion, Tea

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We 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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Post tags: B2B marketing, Content, Content Marketing, Technology Marketing, Thought Leadership

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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.

© Doug Kessler for Velocity Partners, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: B2B marketing agency, teapot

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Velocity 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 21^st 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

© lucy for Velocity Partners, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Add new tag, B2B marketing, Distribution management, Technology Marketing, Web Marketing

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Velocity, 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.

www.smallworlders.com

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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.

© Doug Kessler for Velocity Partners, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: B2B content marketing, B2B marketing, B2B social media, B2B technology marketing

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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.

© Doug Kessler for Velocity Partners, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: B2B marketing, Content Marketing

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