The recession has had a massive effect on B2B sales and marketing – but not just in the obvious ways. Yes, companies are buying less and projects have been cancelled or put on hold, but research by TAS into the B2B sales cycle, quoted on the Inflexion Point blog uncovers some surprising facts.

Despite the recession, successful sales cycles are getting shorter. Essentially companies are only going out to the market when they have a clear idea of what they want and the signed-off budget to proceed. So time from qualifying a prospect to signing the deal has reduced by just over 23 per cent. The flipside of this is that if the sales cycle drags on, the opportunity is more and more likely to turn to dust, wasting time and effort.

Where does this leave PR and marketing? I’d say it strengthens the overall part they play in the sales cycle. Prospects are doing due diligence and research before they call you, so you need to ensure you are providing consistent information to them across the whole marketing mix. Get into the publications they read, make your website relevant, have a strong presence in the right digital channels and keep this up on a sustained basis.

With the sales cycle moving from a marathon to a sprint preparation and warming up prospects is even more vital. This is absolutely where integrated PR and marketing delivers, and careful investment here will reap major benefits further down the sales process.

Living in a very safe seat I’ve not been overly affected by the General Election campaign on a local level. Thankfully we’ve not had any visits from party top brass, no-one has called anyone a bigot and vans with loudspeakers haven’t been touring the streets of West Suffolk. In fact the most exciting thing was the addition of a Hitler moustache to a Tory poster in the middle of a field.

Cutting edge and marginal it isn’t. I’m not even asking for social media engagement. However that is no excuse for the frankly appalling campaign literature I’ve been sent. I’d like to say I’d vote for whoever could write in proper English, without grammatical or spelling errors – but that would mean spoiling my ballot paper. Absolutely everyone from Labour to UKIP has sent me information that is poorly punctuated, badly spelt and shoddily printed. And the irony is that they all talk about education (they spelt that right at least) as being central to UK competitiveness. It doesn’t matter that the seat is pretty much decided, basic proofing is all I ask!

I find how brands integrate digital with the rest of the marketing mix fascinating. Many still don’t get it, as seen by high profile cock-ups by the likes of Nestle but savvy companies realise it opens new channels to their audiences.

My colleague Chris McCrudden blogged on Nike’s new campaign, and, continuing the shoe theme, Jimmy Choo is getting in on the act. For the launch of its new ultra cool trainer range, the CatchaChoo campaign updates the treasure hunt idea with technology. The trainers appear at a fashionable London hotspot, announced via FourSquare, Facebook and Twitter and first person to get there wins a pair of their very own.

What’s great about CatchaChoo is that it is simple, straightforward and uses the strengths of digital to best advantage. Not being a Jimmy Choo type I’ll leave it to others to chase the trainer but look forward to seeing the impact it has on sales. Maybe then it will encourage more brands to use digital positively in the marketing mix.

Last week’s Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Spring Conference in Norwich was a very positive affair. Whether it was the Spring weather, the green shoots of recovery or the plush surroundings of the John Innes Centre there seemed a mood of optimism around marketing in East Anglia.

And this was backed up by the speakers –Robert Shaw of the Cass Business School outlined how in a more and more complex marketing ecosystem it is time to focus on ideas that add value. Slaying the sacred cows of Brand Awareness, Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty he put forward a new model for analysing, predicting and measuring the impact of ideas.

But the real meat of the day was digital. David German, sales and innovation director of News International talked about new models of advertising that focus on payment by results, learning from the affiliate traffic models of the likes of Amazon. Ducking the question on how proposed News International paywalls will affect his ambitious plans to deliver 10 per cent of total commercial revenues through payment by results within 3 years, he finished by quoting his boss Rupert Murdoch “The business model that relies on advertising only is dead”.

The afternoon saw Ian McKendrick and Mark Peters develop digital further, providing an introduction to what it is, what it can do and how all businesses can benefit. We even got the event video up on YouTube before the end of the day. Entertaining and educational – probably a first for a trip to Norwich for me.

Cambridge is full of innovative start-ups and the main thing they need is money to help them grow. That’s the perceived wisdom but having attended last night’s Cambridge Network Open Meeting on Growth Capital I think it needs to be challenged.

The whole event, held at Robinson College was about getting money. But despite engaging presentations from the likes of bankers Kleinwort Benson, venture capital companies Amadeus and Atlas Venture as well as economic think tank Z/Yen the audience was dominated, not by hungry start-ups but by lawyers, accountants and PR people (myself included). A back of the envelope calculation was that just 16 per cent of people there were start-ups. Obviously you need an ecosystem to develop any technology cluster, but the balance seems all wrong.

So the question I’m left with was – where are the future Cambridge giants, the next ARM, Autonomy or CSR in embryo? Are they in their sheds busy inventing or simply not worried about gaining the investment they need to grow? Answers on a postcard please……

The publication of the Tory Technology Manifesto initially got my hopes up. At last an election that puts technology at the heart of the debate. But on a closer look the definition of ‘technology’ is woolly to say the least.

Most people will agree that opening up government data, increasing superfast broadband speeds, ending central government mega-projects and increasing the use of open source are generally ‘good things’. I’m less sure about the vague idea of crowdsourcing during the discussion of legislation – but that’s a personal worry about the fine line between the wisdom of crowds and the baying of the mob.

What is less easy to understand is how many of the other proposals fit under ‘technology’. A new high speed rail network? Measures to force every local authority to publish expenditure over £500 online? MP expenses available via the web? Whatever you think of these, I wouldn’t class them as technology policies.

This isn’t just being pedantic – the risk is that if this is what politicians see as ‘technology’, the real benefits of properly applied IT and a vibrant UK tech sector will get lost in wrangles over trains and expense claims for duck houses. Time to reclaim technology for what it actually is and what it can really deliver to the country.

I had some great news on Friday – my final results for my Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Diploma came through in the post.

I scraped a pass in the final module, meaning after 18 months study I’m now a ‘proper’ marketer.

However imagine my surprise when a couple of hours later I had an email from CIM telling me that my results were now online. But (and rather a big one this) “due to an unprecedented flow of web traffic to our site“, I may not be able to access them. I could telephone during business hours, but “our lines are very busy and there may be a delay in answering your call.”

Luckily I’d already got my results through in the post but imagine the frustration of anyone still waiting. Your potential life-changing results are there, but you can’t get them. Given one of the major topics on the course was integrating multi-channel communications and being able to predict web demand surely it is time for the CIM to practice what it teaches…………

After Valentine’s Day I’d add another point – it’s about the Search Engine Optimisation. I was aware that a new restaurant had opened in nearby Bury St Edmunds (my nearest and dearest had told me), but couldn’t remember the name. Not wanting to give away my plans (or admit to not listening fully) I thought a quick web search would deliver a name or number.

Wrong. Even though the restaurant had a website, searching for Bury St Edmunds restaurants failed to turn it up. Eventually I got a number by cheekily calling a nearby pub for the restaurant name, but it was a time-consuming process. A less determined diner would have gone elsewhere and missed out on what was a very good and inventive meal. So time for restaurants to realise that simply sticking up a website is not enough – you need to plug it into what people are searching for if you want visitors.

Instead what’s caught my attention is the shake-up in the satnav market. From being the must have gadget of a few years ago it looks like a combination of commoditisation (you can buy one for £50 in Argos) and mobile phone apps will kill satnavs as a standalone device.

Anyone with an iPhone will marvel at how easy it is to use Google Maps (and equally how it zaps your battery). And Nokia’s announcement of free, turn by turn navigation through Ovi Maps is a direct threat to Garmin, Tom Tom et al. So if these guys want to survive they need to get creative. Become application providers rather than hardware manufacturers and get your branded content into other people’s devices. Hell, maybe start with the Apple tablet……………

The www.data.gov.uk site has now gone live, providing developers with access to government data to power useful applications for us citizens. There are already some great little apps out there, from property prices to crime maps.

But at the moment there are two things missing if the initiative is to really fly. Firstly, it doesn’t have Ordnance Survey data, although apparently negotiations are continuing on this. Secondly, and I think more importantly is a way of getting these apps out to the widest possible audience. The risk is that lots of bright people will do cool things with the data but the general public simply won’t know about them.

What’s needed now is proper marketing of the apps, not just the concept, and a programme that mandates the public sector to publicise/include them on their own websites. Otherwise the risk is that the outputs of data.gov.uk will remain the preserve of a digital elite.