Triad Business Marketing

TWO MINUTES WITH TOM PRIKRYL

In 1994, Tom Prikryl used his background in B2B marketing to found Triad Business Marketing, a full-service B2B advertising and public relations firm. He has contributed to promotional work for various industries including advanced mining equipment, commercial financial services, oil and gas equipment and helicopter equipment. Triad Business Marketing reported capitalized billings of $9.1 million in 2006, a 45% increase over the previous year. Prikryl was interviewed by Staff Writer Shashana Pearson-Hormillosa.

Q. What new trends are you seeing in B2B marketing?
A. There are three very significant new trends in B2B marketing – the increasingly stronger alignment of marketing activities with the sales effort, the incorporation of new media techniques and strategies to reach the target B2B buying influence, and the market’s growing understanding of the importance of one’s brand.

Q. How do you become an agent of change for the clients you represent?
A. It is our job – our responsibility – to know and understand the marketing options available to our clients and to work with them to formulate the best mix to meet their needs and objectives.

Q. What has starting your own company taught you about making a business profitable?
A. I believe the two critical keys to profitability are being able to find the right people and, correspondingly, being able to acknowledge when someone cannot meet the company’s needs. I also have learned that you have to know when and how to invest in the company.

Q. What advice would you give to a new B2B company?
A. You had better be fully committed to making the company a success. You had better love B2B marketing. And you have got to understand that you never have it made. You can never rest on what you did yesterday.

sphormillosa@bizjournals.com, 214-706-7156
Dallas Business Journal – January 26-February 1, 2007 issue
Photo credit: Carroll Burgoon