Powwownow market in real time

Marketing in real-time: how a B2B brand made the most out of social media

In early 2009, Andy Pearce of Powwownow was like most other B2B marketers in his view of social media marketing. There was no doubting the potential, but actually putting it to work in a constructive, accountable way was more difficult. Without proof, without hard marketing metrics, how could you be sure of success?

But he reasoned that, if his competitors also thought this way, they would remain stuck in old marketing and he had an opportunity to move ahead. There were enormous benefits for pioneers, just as long as they did it right.

Powwownow was, and is, a very successful and fast-growing conference call company. Its business is web-based, with over 100,000 registered users, and offers free conference-calling, with a small margin being made on the cost of the (national rate) phone call. Customer numbers are generated by a combination of search marketing, word of mouth, online advertising, and various other awareness exercises.