Marketing as Smog
Many b2b prospects have expressed that unfocused marketing communications are noxious - clogging the air and littering the landscape, substituting quantity for quality, volume and weight for insight. Surely, if our message is everywhere, and if we speak loudly, our prospects will flock to our door. Sure - ask the people of Mexico City or Beijing, how's that breathing thing coming along. Ask them about the view. I think marketing is doing way too much talking.
Part 3: Commitment – Boost Results 10% to 20% Now by Making Your B2B Website Smarter
This is the third in a 3 part series on how you can make your website a lot smarter, and work a lot harder. Three Critical Success Factors I can't give you the dissertation on smarter websites, but I can share these the three critical components of smart websites: The Prospect to Product Connection Metrics that Matter Insurance We've covered CSF 1 last week, here are 2 and 3.
Part 2: The Unrealized Potential – Boost Results 10% to 20% Now by Making Your B2B Website Smarter
This is the second in a 3 part series on how you can make your website a lot smarter, and work a lot harder. In our experience, companies that implement these ideas have seen a 10% - 20% improvement in results - engagement, leads, and sales - within the first 6 months.
Part 1: Get a Grip – Boost Results 10% to 20% Immediately by Making Your B2B Website Smarter.
Welcome to our 3-part series on how you can make your website a lot smarter, and work a lot harder. It's a short post a week, each with some solid ideas. In our experience, companies that implement these ideas have seen a 10% - 20% improvement in results - engagement, leads, and sales - within the first 6 months.
Website Self-Assessment: Looking with your Prospect’s Eyes
Most B2B websites are the primary way companies represent themselves and their products to prospects in the 57% of the consideration process that occurs online. There are (at least) five roles that websites need to perform in B2B lead generation and nurturing.
6 Ways to Improve Website Performance
Company websites are central to a brand’s online presence, even with the profusion of other digital touch points on social media and elsewhere. Even if it’s not where you first contact a prospect, it is where most B2B and many B2C prospective buyers end up at some point. As a result, the website is where it’s critical that your brand demonstrates to each of your prospect audiences that you understand them. While building brand affinity is patently important in the B2C world, it is surprisingly even more important in B2B where clients don’t just buy products, they form long-term, high-stakes, vendor relationships. Who you are is at least as important as what you’re selling. My vantage point have is B2B, but most points will apply universally.
7 Best Practices to Boost Your B2B Prospecting
We've recently completed interviewing CEOs worldwide about their company's purchasing process, and their individual contribution. It has reinforced our view that some or all of what companies think they know about their prospects is yesterday's news. The pace of change is astounding: Basic needs are being redefined Channels of marketing delivery are changing Roles and responsibilities to the decision making process are in flux.
A Smart 4-Step Formula to Identify B2B Prospect Opportunities
Not all B2B prospects are created equal. Some are ready to buy now, some later, some not at all—yet marketing tends to invest the same in each one, which is inefficient at best. I’d like to suggest a simple four-step formula that will bring an early identification of B2B prospect opportunities and allow us to gauge our marketing investment in a prospect per potential return. The formula is based on the concept of “propensity to buy” or the likelihood that a given prospect will purchase. Understanding and measuring this concept enables us to focus on real opportunities.
Content Karma: Crappy Personas = Crappy Content
I was going through some old family photos the other day. Wonderful memories of days long ago that I am digitizing to ward off the ravages of time. But, in one sense, I was preserving the ravages of time. Unfortunately, the copy can never be better than the original. A poorly-shot blurry old snapshot will still be a bad picture even in 600 DPI digital form! So it is with personas and the content marketing that comes from them. Mark Schaefer noted the same thing in a recent post arguing that "customer personas may be an outdated marketing technique"... but his advice is not bother taking any photos!
Why Marketing Automation Fails And Three Ways To Fix It
When both my girls lived at home I had a wonderful idea – let’s have a family calendar. We’re all bumping knees – I didn’t know you had a swim meet; your aunt’s birthday is next week; yes, Mom’s working Saturday. This would be a window into the week and a sketch of the month to keep us on track and off each others’ nerves. And if we put it on the computer, everyone has instant access. Didn’t work. So I tried printing a blank calendar and putting it on the refrigerator door. Everyone could just write stuff. Didn’t work. For a very basic reason – you don’t get the picture unless everyone contributes.
Content is in the Eye of the Beholder
We cram a lot of hopes and expectations into content marketing—that prospects will have a preference for our brand and use our content as stepping stones in their consideration journey. Expectations do not decrease. We need content to work harder.