Solving B2B Challenges Through Social Media

As online business communities flourish, the exchange of expert opinion and advice is expanding at a rapid pace. Marketers who once felt isolated can now gain insights from colleagues in similar situations around the world. One example is the phenomenal growth of MarketingProfs' Know-How Exchange. Initiated just a few years ago, the KHE is abuzz daily with marketers seeking and dispensing free advice.

If you haven't tried it lately, consider posting a question at the KHE about a marketing challenge your team is facing; the meeting-of-the-minds that the community fosters can produce remarkable insights.

Case in point: One recent KHE participant sought advice about changing a company's name following its acquisition by a larger corporation. The parent company wanted the acquired, smaller company to change its name to that of the larger company. However, the parent company was based in another (non-English-speaking) country, and the marketer feared the name would be incomprehensible to its local (English-speaking) market.

Among the points brought out by the exchange:

• Local market forces were actually dictating the name change more than the parent company's strategy: "At the moment, we are viewed as a small local company that is dwarfed by our international competition."
• The nature of the business is always a factor in a name change. The change makes sense "if your clients are multinational, technical, or B2B," but changing to a hard-to-pronounce name "can have a huge impact on consumer-facing industries," one contributor notes.

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