Yesterday, I spent a good portion of the day with a Bay Area community platform vendor's exec and management team.  We discussed the current and future state of online communities, spoke about market growth and B2B marketing trends.  It was a passionate, energetic discussion…one of those rare moments when everyone at the table realizes that we all on the same page, each of us "preaching to the choir" about the incredible opportunities that online communities offer to companies across all industries. Opportunities that many B2B marketers miss.  

Well, the time has come for all of you to take advantage of these opportunities. Our Forrester research team has been quite busy over the last 2 months, working on a B2B Online Community Playbook that will provide you with all the research, tools, assessments and guides to help you plan and execute  your online community.  One of the critical reports in our playbook (what I like to refer to as the "heart" of the playbook)  is now available, and provides you with 4 unique community strategies and a simple framework, called "CLICK",  for building them: 

 

And if this report is not enough, we are also offering a free online community webinar on August 22nd.   I will walk everyone through the details of why online communities are a success imperative for B2B marketers.  I  will dive into our  4 community strategies and each design element of CLICK.  I will also show some innovative best practices from a variety of tech companies.  If you attend this webinar you can take advantage of a free, 30 minute assessment of your community that will be conducted by our research team. 

The B2B Online Community Playbook will be available in the fall.  And I will be sure to let everyone know when it is launched…I am still a marketer at heart, afterall!

In the meantime, if you have a current online community challenge or opportunity  you would like to share,  feel free to comment here!