.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} When people are surveyed about memorable advertisements, 99 times out of 100 they mention consumer-driven ads. They might refer to a funny Geico TV spot with cavemen, a catchy jingle for G&L Clothing or a heart-tugging print ad from Hallmark.

It’s pretty rare to hear someone say “there was an ad in my industry’s trade pub that really caught my attention.” Why? For a long time, business-to-business advertising has served as the poor cousin, rarely getting the same level of attention or care.

Need proof? In a recent study of B-to-B communications, the category as a whole got bad marks. As one commentator said, “much of B-to-B communications is kind of PowerPoint slide as ad” communications. Ouch.

Pull out your last ad series or other B-to-B marketing tools. Are you guilty of any of the sins that got high scores in the survey?

•Ads try to say or show too much, so messages get lost (74 percent of respondents)

•Messages do not address concerns or questions of the audience (66 percent)

•Ads are full of company chest pounding (39 percent)

•Ads lack passion or emotion (28 percent)

•Ads are too safe, don’t take enough creative risks to get the audience’s attention (20 percent)

•Ads contain expected stock photography or often-seen clip art (19 percent)

Not only do any of the above (or a combo platter) make for bad, boring advertising, but more important, they get in the way of your ads being effective.

So, how guilty are you? And what are you going to do to fix it? Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and blogs at www.drewsmarketingminute.com. He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com. © 2007 Drew McLellan