CHICAGO, ILL. March 14, 2001 B2BWorks, an online B2B media and marketing service provider, recently announced its new suite of marketing services called FocusWorks. In an appropriate spin on the new product, the company is marketing its service as an opportunity relationship management tool, (most likely in hopes that it will spawn yet another acronym). But, at heart, FocusWorks was developed in hopes that it would bridge the gap between B2B online advertising, marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives, by providing consulting, marketing segmentation development, hosting and delivery, and qualitative reporting services.
Still confused? Here's an example: A regular banner ad provides only one touchpoint to a customer or prospect by delivering its marketer-determined message. The FocusWorks service (offered via ProcurePanel) is similar to a banner but offers multiple touchpoints for both customers and prospects, by providing customized function tabs which can access account information and product information, as well as the capability to bring access to a company's account information to the user desktop.
One of the most important features of FocusWorks is a detailed campaign reporting tool, which provides an interactive learning environment for marketers, stated Bob Zimmerman, B2Bworks' chief technology officer. B2Bworks can identify which customer market segment viewed which ProcurePanel and what specific action was taken. Marketers can optimize based on these reports, having the ability to target new segments and change function tabs midstream to generate the best results.
The new FocusWorks' ProcurePanel service is touting its ability to provide effective one-to-one marketing by turning passive customers into active customers, cross selling, reinforcing their value proposition and extending customer relationships online. But others are touting the service, too. Gary Slack, managing director of Slack Barshinger & Partners, a marketing agency in Chicago, has already signed up for the new service. Right now, we're experimenting like crazy to see what the ProcurePanel can do for our firm, he said. But that hasn't kept us from showing it to a few select clients, all of whom have been quite captivated by its potential.
