Thomas Koch: "My God, have we learned a lot".

Thomas Koch is one of Germany's most distinguished marketing experts. And he says: the fact that trade fairs have now fallen away as a marketing channel because of the corona virus is not so bad. After all, there are - unlike in the past - enough alternative channels for B2B companies. In our podcast, we talked to Koch about why people save on marketing without wanting to save on marketing and why he is particularly enthusiastic about the marketing of his car repair shop.

Thomas Koch Resists. Resists that the Impact of the Corona virus on B2B market tetting are talked bigger than they need to be. After all, says the agency founder and columnist, even the elimination of trade fairs as a marketing tool would be easier to compensate for today than it was a few years ago. "We have more channels than we ever had, but only one has been eliminated with the trade fairs," Koch says in the podcast. For the trade fair marketing channel, Koch believes the current situation will only be a foreseeably short ordeal. Even after the financial crisis more than a decade ago, trade fairs have become more popular again - for one simple reason: "People want to see each other".

Nevertheless, B2B companies are now being called upon to rethink their owned media strategies in particular and thus ultimately become more independent of other marketing channels - among other things, with Content marketingwhich is particularly needed in a phase of uncertainty among B2B customers.

Yes, says Koch. Marketing budgets would probably be cut now. But not necessarily because companies don't want to do marketing, but because it is usually the easiest cost centre to cut. But companies, Koch warns, should think again before they apply the red pencil. After all, the companies that now continue their communication unabated would be particularly well perceived by customers in this virus-induced moratorium. Koch's trusted car repair shop could be a good example of this.

Koch, a columnist for several German industry and business magazines, has already thought about what the title of his annual review columns would be.

You can now listen to the entire conversation with Thomas Koch in our podcast. Enjoy!