Mascola B2B Marketing Blog, B2B Advertising Agency
All posts by Chuck Mascola

The Marketing RFP Saga

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First off, I know that everything has already been written about the evils of marketing RFPs. We are all aware that they can be demeaning, offensive, and unfortunately, ineffective. No one would ever dream of hiring a lawyer, heart surgeon, or even a therapist through this process, but it’s okay to put marketing firms through the indignity of a poorly conceived and/or ridiculously executed RFP. It happens every day. Mascola Group’s official position is that we don’t respond to RFPs. We also make official exceptions to that official position. As an example, we jumped at the chance when we were invited to participate in the RFP for the new Bugatti. Who wouldn’t?

Allow me to dream for a moment and try out a radical idea: The Reverse Marketing RFP. It qualifies as a “reverse” RFP because instead of a potential client asking agencies to compete to be chosen to work with that client, the “reverse” RFP invites potential clients to compete to be included in the agency’s client roster – radical, right?

But why is it so radical?

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Why B2B Companies Need Social Media Now

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As with all things in the world of advertising, it’s about the timing. As businesses struggle, year after year, they turn to the latest marketing trend to help them remain relevant.

While the pace of change quickens, it’s more critical than ever to stay on the cutting edge of communicating with your customers. Every week, a new threat to the survival of your company seems to emerge. Business owners lie in bed, staring at the ceiling when they should be sleeping. They worry about the threats: Threats that take the form of new competitors — domestic, overseas, and on-line; rising overhead costs for materials and salaries; government regulations in the form of taxes and insurance requirements; and labor concerns from minimum wage to finding skilled workers.

When it comes to marketing, there is more to worry about than ever. For B2B marketers, the danger is clear — embrace change or become irrelevant. Social media is that change.

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