Our ranking puts us ahead of most other technology-focused agencies in the UK, as 30 of the 40 names on the list say they have IT/telecoms clients.

Over the past year, we’ve started working with a number of new companies, expanded the scope of our work for existing clients and welcomed friendly new faces to our 50-strong team.

The future looks equally exciting.

You can read the full report at b2bmarketing.net

Every one of us is bombarded with new offers and ‘reasons’ to switch our suppliers every day. The winners in today’s marketing circles are those that are able to build a long term relationship with their partners and customers. It’s about creating dialogue.

But it doesn’t have to be difficult.

STEP 1: LET’S GET PERSONAL

I wouldn’t open a letter addressed to ‘To whom it may concern’ – it’s failed at the first hurdle. If they don’t know who I am, it’s unlikely that I’m going to be interested in their offering.

To cut through that clutter, marketers need to show in an instant that they’ve considered the recipient when putting a communication together, even to get their attention.

Economies in digital print mean that you can afford to tailor your direct mail pieces to make them all the more relevant for each recipient – personalising the messaging, graphics and event details, etc.

By further personalising the call to actions on your DMs and emails with a unique url such as www.getmoremargin.com/jamescollis, you instantly create an added level of intrigue. This has shown to boost response rates considerably – but it doesn’t stop there.

STEP 2: GOING BEYOND THE GIMMICK

The personalisation of graphics and urls grabs attention – it’s a bit of fun. But marketers could be missing a trick if they don’t exploit the real opportunities behind the technology.

SmartURL enables you to tailor the landing pages with the content and messaging that resonates best with your audience – for maximum impact.

If you know what product your customer last bought, their preferred reseller or how long it’s been since they last spoke to you, you can easily reflect this in the messaging and imagery that appears on their landing page.

If you’re inviting a key customer to a seminar, why not use their postcode to pull in a map from their office to your event. You know who they are so there’s no need for a registration form. Confirmation of their attendance, dietary requirements or a request for a call back can all be done at the click of a button.

STEP 3: NOW WE’RE TALKING!

By taking the steps to make your audience feel special – be it your channel partners, prospective or existing customers – you gain valuable mind share. Through real-time reporting, you can also see which areas of the site each recipient visited and what actions they took, enabling you to follow up in the most appropriate way.

And this is where the dialogue really begins.

The more you can get your audience to engage with you, the more knowledge you can gain about their preferences in return, and the greater your ability to build a more valuable, lasting relationship with them.

See how Emulex used SmartURL to boost response rates in the ‘Get More Margin’ campaign

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of bChannels by Adventis Group plc.

bChannels a leader in the development of channel programs for technology companies. Mirroring Second2’s focus on customer service and expertise in the technology sector, bChannels services are extremely complimentary to Second2’s  and enable us jointly to provide a unique range of services to our clients. bChannels’ services include:

• defining the structure of channel partner programmes
• profiling of current and potential partners
• MDF and rebate management
• channel sales reporting analysis
• programme support helpdesks

bChannels has enjoyed considerable success since it was founded in 2005 by Matt Rowland-Jones, Phil Gowing and Chris Bard. All three founders, who will stay with the Company following the acquisition, have extensive experience across the technology & telecoms industries, and have built a channel sales & marketing consultancy that plans and executes optimal channel sales and marketing solutions.

For more information please visit www.bchannels.com

We are extremely excited about the additional services that together we can provide to our clients.

If you would like more information please contact James Collis.

The Emulex ‘Get More Margin’ campaign provides a real example of how SmartURL generates significant results.

The brief was to recruit resellers who were not currently selling the Emulex server connectivity solutions. This resulted in the development of an integrated campaign, consisting of direct mail, email, landing page and letter pack.

Heat sensitive cards were mailed to the target audience revealing a unique personalised URL when touched. This was followed by the personalised letter pack and email.

The landing page was personalised for either HP, IBM or Sun depending on which vendors that reseller specialised in. The site content was also managed with links to relevant vendor product materials, call-to-actions and contact details for the relevant OEM sales manager at Emulex.

The campaign was a huge success and achieved an impressive 11% response rate.

This tool enables resellers to quickly and easily build their own communications to help generate leads. With a choice of templates, graphic options, and the ability to add and edit their own text, they can efficiently create bespoke communications to support sales activity.

Using best practice templates that are web and mobile optimised, developed to adhere to your brand guidelines and support strategic marketing objectives, as well as providing your partners with the flexibility to promote their own message and style – the Self-service Marketing Campaign Builder enables quick and effective partner marketing.

Email Second2 at kirsty.gilchrist {at} second2.com to request a demonstration.