Like any good marketer, the new Philadelphia chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) has come up with a fitting one-word slogan: “Finally.”
Organizers feel the business-to-business specific organization is long overdue in Philly, where business-to-consumer programs have dominated the marketing workshop and seminar circuit.
“I kept saying, ‘but how does this apply to me?'” says Philadelphia BMA co-president Traci Brown, president of Red Cedar Marketing. “The business to business marketer seemed like an afterthought.”
At least 40 people felt the same way at the group’s kickoff event at The Prime Rib in Philadelphia. There’s another free kickoff gathering in the suburbs on June 17 at Kildare’s in King of Prussia. The group’s blockbuster event will come in September, when it hosts a member of Google’s B2B division to speak at Penn State Great Valley, which was one of the first sponsors of the local BMA chapter.
The Business Marketing Association began in 1922 as the National Industrial Advertising Association. In Philadelphia, BMA chapter founders say they’re conducting market research to find out what sectors–technology, healthcare, and professional services, for example–could gain from a centralized B2B leader.
With the economy forcing many marketers’ customers to slash marketing budgets, go out of business, or become engulfed by a larger company, it’s even more important for marketers to pursue new business. BMA Philadelphia, its co-presidents say, will be a forum to share best practices.
“The good news is it’s times like these that people get creative and work smarter,” says BMA Philadelphia co-president Angela Morse of Active Integrated Marketing. “And the really great marketers thrive.”
Source: Traci Brown, Red Cedar Marketing; Angela Morsa, Active Integrated Marketing
Writer: Joe Petrucci
Photos:
Traci Brown
Anglea Morsa