The face of marketing has changed so much in the last few years. All organisations need to ensure that their marketing materials are not only clear, but are being presented to their targets in a way that will interest them.

There are many things to take into consideration prior to formulating a marketing communications plan such as who am I targeting? What am I selling to them (product or service)? Why would they be interested? How can I ensure my message is appropriate to them?

Having worked in B2B marketing for many years, I’ve come to realise that the more intelligence gathered on a target, before actually targeting them, the better the outcome of that contact.

So, what channels should be used to gather intelligence and should these same channels be used to target the prospect?

There’s the obvious means of finding out what target organisations/people are up to, like trade press, corporate websites and so on, but with the social media boom still going strong – how much else can be found out through professional networking sites, blogs, twitter etc?

Even after this intelligence is gathered, the decision is then how to target the prospect and gauge their interest in what you can offer. Is cold calling still the best way to do this or should organisations look at using newer methods like the social media channels used to gather the intelligence in the first place?

I guess there’s no right or wrong answers to any of my questions – it will ultimately depend on what you’re selling and what you need to do to get your message across i.e. can a free trial be offered, is there a ‘door opener’ for you to use in the hope of getting a bigger sell?

I’d be really interested in hearing about other experiences with this thought process – I’m sure there are plenty or marketers out there who have had to think the exact same way in recent times, so please leave a comment for us to discuss.