Ben Edwards on the IBM transition from outbound marketing to inbound marketing

Last week I delivered a talk at the Text 100 Digital Rising event in Port Dickson, Malaysia. I connected with Ben Edwards, VP Digital Strategy and Development at IBM who was also speaking at the event. I’ve known Ben since his days at the Economist – we were both based in Tokyo at one point (I was with Knight-Ridder at that time).

Ben spoke with me about the ongoing transformation at IBM from being a company primarily focused on outbound marketing to a social media and digital enabled inbound marketing powerhouse.

I've written before about IBM social computing guidelines, but I wanted to learn more. Here's a three-minute interview with Ben on the more than 200,000 IBMers involved in social media.

IBM has been spending many millions of dollars in traditional outbound marketing communications efforts. Ben cited the following:

-- 58,000 marketing activities
-- 8,500 events
-- 4.5 million people targeted with outbound marketing

He said they are now moving much of this resource into digital, which includes building the systems and infrastructure required to go from outbound marketing to inbound marketing.

Ben cited a report that says 96% of IT buyers say they use search in the buying process. And it is used throughout the entire buying process, not just at the top of the B2B sales cycle.

Amazingly, over half of 407,000 IBMers are connected socially because the company encourages them to engage. Ben said 200,000 are on LinkedIn and 200,000 on Facebook (of course there is some overlap). There are 30,000 on Twitter who have declared that they are IBMers in their profile.

"If the average person has 150 connections on their social pages, that's millions of connections," Ben says. "Imagine if IBM could mobilize that group of people. Imagine if people could excite loyalty and advocacy."

The challenge, according to Ben is: "Communicating through 407,000 IBMers is more complicated than working on logos and brochures."

The key, he says, is to engage with people based on how they define themselves. A shared belief is more important than things like job function or geography. And he cited a need to build marketing with digital as the core, not as an afterthought.

Note: My video camera stopped working in the middle of the interview with Ben. What I’ve learned from this is to ALWAYS check that I have enough battery power and storage space before I start to film!

Comments

[Heidi Cohen]

David (and Ben),

Thank you for sharing these insights about IBM. It shows that social media marketing isn't something that just small mom and pop companies do. But rather social media marketing done well should be integrated into the fabric of the organization. Further, it's not just limited to a "social media" person or department.

Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Heidi - what struck me about Ben's example at IBM is that half the company are involved. It is not just some pocket like the PR department.

[Jorge Conceicao (Portugal)]

David, who'd imagine? IBM using Inbound Marketing! Time has definitively changed! We really have to move fast in a completely different direction!

Very good input!

[Tony Faustino]

David, did you have an opportunity to ask Mr. Edwards why he thinks IBM's Media Relations Department didn't respond to your email-inquiry re: communication processes at IBM to embrace the real-time digital era? According to page 25 of your Real-Time eBook, IBM was one of the Fortune 100 Companies that did not provide a response.

In a company the size of IBM, I understand that Mr. Edwards can't speak for every division but I was just curious. Based on this interview, it's obvious IBM embraced social media and inbound marketing much faster than other Fortune 100 corporations. That's why it's surprising IBM's Media Relations Team didn't take the opportunity to demonstrate their pro-activeness in real-time initiatives also (if they indeed are).

[David Meerman Scott]

Tony - I did not ask Ben. But he did see the research because I shared it in my presentation. So he is aware of my analysis.

[Kenny Madden]

Outbound and inbound marketing. The IT buyer prefers inside marketing :) :) :)

[InboundBrasil]

Thanks for it David. I'll use im my own blog, the Inbound Marketing Brasil. We're trying to promote the inbound marketing methodology in a virgem marketing like Brasil. If you feel confortable, please visist us in our blog.

[Debt]

Really nice article. Outbound Marketing is the kind of marketing are more sellers learned with our first gig out of college or the type of marketing that have been exposed to more advertising media such paper or television commercial up.Traditional offer a very low yield on investment and once the notice expires, you must start from scratch.