While I am thinking about the marketing and advertising my own company does, I often think about how I react to the marketing ploys and advertising I am subject to. In my case, that is because I am reasonably typical of the folks we're targeting, either as consumers or as re-sellers of our products.

I have been thinking about business to business marketing a lot lately. One thing that dawns on me about B2B marketing is that I am not attracted to campaigns where the marketer appears to be over-the-top desperate for business. I tend to be more attracted to quieter, more under-stated approaches.

As I look at the B2B things our company has done over the years ... our biggest challenge is always getting through gatekeepers at the various organizations we're trying to reach. We have tried a lot of different things over the years, some which worked better than others. One of our most successful campaigns was sending several very strong prospects a free video iPod (shortly after they came out) pre-loaded with our own promotional video. That was a bit over-the-top but the obvious cost of the campaign did not at all smell like desperation.

We're currently working a new campaign which is very understated but also very personal and relational. We have not even yet implemented all parts of the program but it is already showing great success unlike anything we have ever done before.

There may be a book in this someday.