About.com, IBM, Individual.com, FamilyMeds.com, Fusion PR

B2BMarketingBiz.com
Practical News & Tips for
B2B Marketing on the Internet
May 31, 2000 - Vol. I, Issue 3

Please forward to your friends & colleagues in the Biz.
We depend on your help to grow our circulation!

1. NEWS: About.com, IBM, Individual.com

2. CASE STUDY: FamilyMeds.com

3. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Sachin Shah of Fusion PR

4. JOBS: Fox-Jobs.com, Business Development

5. EVENTS: LatinOnline 2000, Camp Sho-M-Sel-M

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----------
NEWS
----------
!!!!!!!!!!!!DO YOUR CUSTOMERS FEEL NEGLECTED?!!!!!!!!!!!
Then your company could be LOSING SALES. Download the
LivePerson/Harris Interactive 4Q Customer Satisfaction
Report. Learn more about customer concerns, the
importance of online customer service, and the impact of
real-time interaction with your customers. Visit:
http://www.liveperson.com/corporate_site/html/harris/popup1_form.asp
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-> About.com: Yet Another VerticalNet Wanna-Be

B2C powerhouse site About.com has seen the B-to-B light.
This Fall they'll be launching a new B-to-B “Industry
Information Network” to deliver online info/resources to
executives and other business users in 75 sectors. We
recommend all readers keep a close watch on this
development. About has cash, clout and eyeballs –-
(consumers, when they're not at home are often
businesspeople). About may be your future competitor,
media buy or marketing option. See announcement at:
http://specials.about.com/channels/industry/b2b.htm

-> Yea/Nay: IBM's Large Business Center

Welcome to the land of corporate communications
shovelware. We aren't sure what we expected from IBM's
online Large Business Center, but it certainly wasn't
what we found. No live online customer service, no
obvious place for us to sign up for news – there was in
fact little more than a bunch of text articles written
in corporate-speak. Hoping for some kind of useful
interactive tool, we clicked on the "Solution Center"
icon to find yet more text articles, some of which had
links to ... white papers. It's dismaying that a company
which stands for so much in the history of computing
just doesn't get interactivity at all. That’s why we
have to give this offering from Big Blue a Big Nay.
http://www.ibm.com/largebusiness/

-> Media Buy of the Week: Individual.com

Coming this Month! Selection criteria for one of the
most targeted, personalized email lists in B-to-B . The
folks at Individual.com –- which delivers personalized
business news to some 1 million registered users –- will
offer business-interest ad targeting for up to 220,000
opt-in readers of its daily email newsletter (finally!).
Until recently, the site only offered targeted selects
for on-site banner ad placement, which runs $40/M, while
daily email ad rates go for $50/M. Contact new owner
Winstar at jdurham@winstar.com, 415.442.5047.
http://www.individual.com/


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CASE STUDY: FamilyMeds.com
----------
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-> FamilyMeds.com: Direct Sales Still Rule in B-to-B

Launched in September 1999, FamilyMeds.com – owned by
Arrow Pharmacy and Nutrition Centers – provides online
pharmacy capabilities to healthcare companies and
Internet merchants. “The crux of our B-to-B marketing is
that we provide e-pharmacies that our partners can brand
themselves,” says senior VP of sales and marketing, Rees
Pinney.

TARGET MARKET: FamilyMeds.com’s primary market for
e-pharmacy storefronts are managed care providers. The
company also provides pharmaceutical back-end support to
online retailers, which tap FamilyMeds.com’s e-commerce
infrastructure to process and fulfill orders, as in a
recently announced co-branded online pharmacy for Ames
Department Stores.

DIRECT SALES: “This part is very direct-sales oriented,
so we have our feet on the street a lot,” says Pinney.
And the time-investment needed to sign up new channel
partners is unpredictable, he adds. “We’ve had closes
that took two calls, and others that I started last
November –- we’re still working out the details.”

TRADE SHOWS: “We’ve been very successful at trade shows,
both as presenters, as well as exhibitors,” says Pinney.
“Industry events have been good for finding managed care
partnerships and for business development, like finding
other Internet-oriented companies to work with.”

NOTE: Pinney points out that success with consumers
helps the company’s B-to-B efforts because potential
channel partners look for relationships that can help
win retail customers. “You need to drive your metrics
to be taken seriously as a Web site,” he says. “But
most of all, you have to drive sales.” That’s why the
company also deploys substantial B-to-C banner campaigns
and opt-in email marketing with service firm Outrider.
“You can’t beat online marketing for driving metrics,”
Pinney tells us.

http://www.familymeds.com
http://www.outrider.com

----------
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Sachin Shah of Fusion PR
----------
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-> Sachin Shah of Fusion PR on How to Pick, Pay and Work
With Your PR Firm

Here at B-to-B MarketingBiz.com, we’ve noticed a lot of you
are concerned about whether you’ve picked the right PR
firm, how to get your money’s worth and how get more
media attention. So when we ran into our old pal Sachin
Shah of Fusion PR in Washington DC’s Union Station, we
poured gin and tonics down his throat and generally
bugged him until he revealed the straight scoop.

Q: There are about 5 zillion PR firms out there, how
does a vertical business-to-business site find the one
that’s exactly right for them?

Shah: First of all, you have to know exactly which media
you’re looking for coverage in. The New York Times, The
Wall Street Journal, Industry Standard, BusinessWeek
DON’T count as “your media” unless your last name is
“Gates.” Especially if you are a private company.
These big media reporters watch for trends, markets,
financial results … not yet another Web launch. Plus,
right now there’s a big dot-com backlash in the media.
Everybody’s dot-commed out. So, if you get coverage
there, it’s a bonus. But don’t expect it, and don’t
hire a PR firm specifically to get it for you.

PR is all about having a good relationship with the
media, so you need to find the firm that has the best
rapport with the editors and reporters in your
particular field. So call the reporters at your trade
journals and ask them which firms are the best at
pitching stories to them. I also get a lot of referrals
from account reps at ad agencies whose clients have
asked them who’s good in their niche field. You should
also check out the press releases of non-competitive
companies in your field and see who’s representing them.

By the way, if you’re a Net market maker for a non-tech
industry then don’t go to a tech PR firm. Being on the
Internet is not enough to call yourself a tech company.
Go to a firm in your industry instead.

Q: Ok, I’ve found the best firms for my industry niche,
now how do I pick which one gets my account?

Shah: Ask to meet the people who’ll be actually working
on your account. 80% of the problems people have with
firms are because the VP walks in and is incredibly
impressive and very knowledgeable about their industry.
But after he or she gets your account, you never see
them again. Instead you get some 20 year old kid out of
college who doesn’t know s**t on a stick and has no
experience getting to the media. You want a good solid
team in place with at least one senior executive, but
believe it or not, you really want that junior-level
person too because they’re so eager and enthusiastic.

Also, when you are interviewing firms, ask them which
reporters -- not just publications! -- will be most
interested in what you are doing. Don’t be afraid to
ask for media references. Then call them just like you
would call references for any other potential employee.
Say to reporters that you are considering hiring such
and such firm and can they vouch for the quality of
their work?

Q: How much should I pay my firm?

Shah: Typically these days for a B-to-B tech company or
site it’s $12,000-$15,000 monthly cash retainer plus
$5,000-$10,000 per month worth of equity.

Q: What do I get for that money? And wouldn’t it be
cheaper to hire someone in-house to do this stuff?

Shah: When you hire a PR firm, people assume your
workload goes down. If they’re any good your workload
should go up! You can’t just say, “You’re our PR firm”
and expect a bunch of media clips the next week.

First of all you can’t expect any PR firm to walk in and
understand your business right away. You’ll need to
educate them. Then they’ll help you develop key
messages for the media (which may be different from key
messages for your clients), position yourself and devise
a media strategy. This is stuff an in-house person
often can’t handle alone because they are too busy doing
daily tactical work to also handle strategic, even if
their job description says otherwise.

Q: We hear a lot of people complaining that after they
hire a firm they get a lot of media attention for a
couple of months … and then zippo after that.

Shah: That’s a common problem. With a lot of firms you
have significant stretches of time when you’re not
getting any value for money. You’ll get a surge of
media attention when you get financing or introduce a
new product (although not for partnerships -- they
aren’t big news anymore) and then media attention will
go to zero until the next “event.”

If this is happening to you, you need to light a fire
under your firm. You can’t expect them to keep your
media attention at fever pitch all the time, but they
can reduce the lulls by getting you speaking gigs,
releasing white papers, writing articles, etc. If your
firm isn’t meeting expectations, don’t fire them right
away, try to build a relationship first and work with
them a bit to get better. It’s a process.

Q: When should you fire your firm?

Shah: If there’s a constant shuttle of people managing
your account at senior levels, you have to ask yourself
how important you are to that firm.

Fusion PR’s clientele includes: eAttorney.com,
Centerpoint, and USAGreetings.com.
Contact: sachin.shah@fusionpr.com

----------
JOBS:
----------

-> VP Business Development/Regional VP Sales: European
Telecom co seeks VP Business Development, also Regional
VP of Sales to develop partnerships and sales to
Telecom companies. Salary $140-150K, Bonus: $25K plus
stock options and benefits. Many sales positions also
available. Respond to Tony Fox: Tony.fox@fox-jobs.com
(email resume as Word attachment), or fax 908-526-6761.

-> Sales: Co. encourages low turnover - candidate must have
a maximum of 3 jobs in ten years, selling to Fortune 500
companies. They are a 50-year-old $500M company that
sells Sales Incentive Programs, Morale Boosting
programs, etc. Base: $90-120k guaranteed MINIMUM,
average AE earns $175k. Positions in: Stamford, CT, NYC,
NJ, SF and Chicago. Respond to Tony.fox@fox-jobs.com
(email resume as Word attachment), or fax 908-526-6761.

-> Research/Analyst: Base: $50-75K PLUS bonus. Very top
end, respected Telecom Consulting co. seeks Research
Analyst for high-level projects. Subsidiary of $500M
publishing company. Located in Northern New Jersey.
Respond to Tony Fox: Tony.fox@fox-jobs.com (email resume
as Word attachment), or fax to 908-526-6761.

----------
EVENTS
----------
-> LatinOnline 2000
June 6 & 7, 2000: Conference
June 8: Post–Conference Partnership Market Search
Hotel Inter-Continental, Miami

Hear from the companies paving the way in Latin American
online auctions, online finance, and B-to-B platforms.
Presentations from: Dell, Digital, Compaq, Subasta.com,
MercadoLibre.com, Ingram Micro, Outpost.com, more.
http://wbresearch.com/latinonline00usa/

-> Camp Sho-M-Sel-M
Wednesday, June 7 at CIT in Herndon VA

For net market makers, ad-marketing folks, and anyone
else doing a show, remember that it's a special
environment. This one-day program focuses on making
sales on the show floor. This is not a stand-up-straight
lecture, but how to select staff and close deals.
http://www.tradeshowtraining.com/camp.htm

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