Mini-interview with the Marketing Department Director of the Merlion Group, Alexander Kuznetsov, for the Telegram channel "Promote IT"

The Telegram channel "Promote IT" brings together marketing and PR directors from IT companies. It publishes mini-interviews with marketing directors across various market segments, focusing on the results of 2024 and future plans during December and January.

Alexander Kuznetsov, Marketing Department Director of Merlion Group

What was the main project of the year that you are proud of?

This year, we returned to the format of large offsite events. In September, we held an offsite conference in Istanbul that lasted for four days and gathered over 110 participants. We organized it together with the Private.Labels.Merlion team, which focuses on the development of private label brands. The event was highly appreciated for its wealth of useful information, the opportunity to discuss pressing issues, and the exchange of experiences. It turned into a kind of collective therapy. We see that this format is in high demand right now.

What are the top 3 most effective promotion tools of the year?

Among the most effective tools in B2B promotion, I would highlight the following:

• Events. They have been and remain one of our main promotional methods as a distributor. For many years, we have been holding series of meetings for our partners annually, and they work excellently for building loyalty and confirm their effectiveness.
• Demo Laboratory. The market now offers many new IT solutions. The opportunity to learn more about them, test them, and check compatibility is highly valued by our partners. This is probably one of the most important pre-sales tools for IT products right now. Merlion’s resources allow us to deeply explore the functionality of individual IT solutions and even launch entire pilot projects. The Demo Laboratory is managed by our business development department, which this year significantly strengthened its engineering expertise and increased the number of demo stands to about 60.
• Promotions. A classic sales stimulation tool that still remains relevant for us. We experiment with different mechanics and reward options. For example, we give away trips for reaching certain goals. This year, we have introduced a new promotion format, "Fish Day" — a one-day weekly discount of up to 45% on a list of products. We are satisfied with the results.

What new promotion tools have you tried?

We have strengthened our expert content. We prepare detailed articles about products for our partners and share market analytics.

Another interesting observation: webinars continue to work well, although it seems the COVID era is behind us. They allow us to quickly reach the target audience across Russia.

Plans for 2025 – main challenges and key tasks

As always, we plan to expand the partner channel and grow partner loyalty. For this, we will develop additional support tools for partners at different stages of sales.

Another important task for us is to train and develop the sales team. In B2B distribution, especially of IT solutions, it is very important that managers have up-to-date information about the products. Our focus for the next year is to provide them with access to all the necessary information.

What are the three key trends in B2B marketing in IT?

First, I would note the increased interest in offline events. This year, based on people’s interest, we definitely reached a pre-pandemic level, and this trend will continue. There are more new vendors now, and they are developing dynamically, so live communication is in high demand. Selling IT solutions involves many nuances, and partners always have individual requests, so meetings and discussions are essential.

The second trend is the development of corporate universities. The personnel issue is critical in many industries, and even more so in B2B. There are very few ready-made professionals in the market. We are developing internal employee training and will continue to invest in it.

Third, more of an anti-trend. Everyone talks about automation and the development of AI tools, but in B2B communications, personal managers will still play an important and significant role. They won’t be replaced for now, especially in the area of selling IT solutions.

Team – will you be expanding, maintaining, or reducing?

We will maintain, grow, and train our team.

If expansion is planned, in which directions?

We will always need specialists with technical expertise. I think we’ll be able to strengthen our event team. We arrange events ourselves; it's one of our strong points. We’ll continue growing our competencies in this area.

Source: https://t.me/Marketing_PR_IT/625