Product Description
Business-to-business marketing is the fastest growing segment of direct marketing and online commerce. This practical yet forward-thinking blueprint for success goes a step further than other Internet marketing books by focusing on how to enhance the business-to-business segment of direct marketing through the Internet. Internet marketers will learn proven strategies for increasing profits such as generating leads with e-mail, using Internet events for marketing, and building customer relationships. This new edition has been updated with the latest case studies, Web site references, and Internet use statistics.Amazon.com Review
This “crash course” in business-to-business marketing is an excellent introduction for the newcomer and a worthwhile refresher for the veteran. Barry Silverstein is convinced that the Internet will soon replace direct mail as the primary vehicle for business-to-business direct marketing. Silverstein doesn’t promote spam, but discusses how the Internet has changed marketing and how principles of sound direct marketing can be applied to the Internet in fresh ways.
Silverstein presents dozens of techniques than can be applied to five major strategies, each invaluable in building business profitability. The first is a set of techniques for generating and qualifying leads online. Next, he demonstrates approaches to using Internet events as means to promote products and services. Then he discusses using the Internet’s advantages in delivering instant-fulfillment service. The ins and outs of generating orders over the Net come next, followed by the means of using the Internet to build and solidify relationships with your customers. Silverstein backs up his points with excellent real-world examples and a variety of case studies. He closes his presentation with an action plan to help you put his techniques to work in your organization. A series of appendices guides you to additional resources. –Elizabeth Lewis
A good book for beginners, but not for anyone with at least a few months of marketing experience. All chapters have good summaries and occasional case studies. I’ve been doing marketing for about 2 years and find some of the general strategies helpful. For example, he advises using call-to-action strategies, but doesn’t go into details about the tricks of the implementation. Also, the first chapter on direct marketing is excellent in that it ties in well conceptually with internet marketing. Overall, I would say not worth your time if you’re a professional, skim it if you’ve had some experience, and a good buy if you’re an absolute beginner.
Rating: 2 / 5
This is an outstanding book. It covers 7 specific b-to-b Internet marketing strategies in detail with plenty of real-world examples. It’s one of the best books on the topic. The companion site is a real bonus – it has a “living table of contents” with links to every site mentioned in the book, plus an exhaustive resources section. Highly recommended!
Rating: 5 / 5
This book starts with a very good refresher course in B2B direct marketing. Barry Silverstein then covers seven different B2B Internet direct marketing strategies for increasing profits in a luxury of details. The companion site is a good complement to the book for that purpose. Barry Silverstein is very good at generating ideas that both beginners and experienced marketers could use for building marketing programs. The author gives some ROI applications to illustrate his point. Unfortunately, Barry Silverstein does not give screenshots of good and bad direct marketing applications. To paraphrase Jakob Nielsen at the beginning of his last book, “Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity”, the reason to give those screenshots is not to criticize or praise specific sites, companies, designers or marketers. The screenshots are used to illustrate direct marketing techniques because it is difficult to understand abstract theory without concrete examples. Unlike Arthur Hughes in his last book, “Strategic Database Marketing”, Barry Silverstein seems to limit his description of case studies to success stories. One of the main goals of a reference book is to help other marketers avoid making the same mistakes again and again. Despite those shortcomings, Business-to-Business Internet Marketing is currently the leading authority on the subject.
Rating: 4 / 5
Extremely thorough but conceptual in approach. Not enough URLs cited so that reader can see these principles in action. No screen shots at all. Requires the reader to already know what the author is referring to in discussing Web strategies.
Rating: 4 / 5
As an Electronic Commerce Consultant from Bombay, India, I found this book very useful to promote businesses of my clients on the Internet.
The book is a good one stop resource for tactics and trends in Internet Marketing. The third chapter itself (“Generating Leads..”) is worth the investment in the entire book.
I strongly recommend the book to readers from countries like India, where Internet is slowly gaining ground and people are looking for ways to utilise this beautiful medium to promote their businesses.
Rating: 4 / 5