More Companies Using Blogs as Marketing Tactic
A new study released this month by eMarketer predicts that nearly half (43%) of all U.S. businesses will maintain a public blog for marketing purposes. The study estimates one in three companies are using corporate blogs in 2010.
Businesses across all industries are discovering that a corporate blog is a powerful first step (or at least complementary step) into the social media arena. For smaller businesses, a blog can be an easy, inexpensive (free) platform to interact with target customers and prospects by enabling them to comment on a particular posting. It’s a way to create your own little community about a particular industry or topic. Ideally, your blog will become the platform for your target audience to exchange ideas. Your affiliation with a successful blog can go a long way in branding your company as the expert on the particular industry or topic.
Much more to be said about successfully using blogs for B2B marketing…stay tuned for more in-depth articles in the future.
The Value of Segmenting Email Lists for B2B Marketing
Email marketing is evolving fast. There is a vast amount of new technologies and trendy applications to help you create and deliver flashy e-newsletters, email alerts, event invites, and promotional blasts. However, the essential component to a successful email marketing program continues to be the relevancy of your content to your audience. Forrester Research found that 59% of recipients open email based on their individual interests and 51% open emails based on their immediate needs. This is a challenge for most B2B businesses. Developing your own newsletter content can be expensive & time-consuming, while relying too much on third-party content (e.g. RSS feeds) reduces the uniqueness of your newsletter. Whether it’s one-time announcement or a monthly newsletter, the email content needs to have immediate value for the recipient. Segmenting your email lists is the first step to improving relevancy. Sending variations of your email content, aligned to a specific list, is the second step.
List segmentation is nothing new for direct marketers. We’ve been doing that for direct mail campaigns for decades. However, email lists are compiled and maintained a bit different due to CAN-SPAM requirements. Your primary source of emails are from customers, prospect events, and website registrations. Collecting behavioral data can be a challenge, especially for companies with a large legacy customer databases. The initial step is to get started now, and focus on collecting the most effective information for new customer accounts, prospects, and website registrations (e.g. industry segment, company size, company products/services). Setup the infrastructure in your database and/or CRM system. Make sure your database has the proper input fields and frontline employees know the process for collecting the data.
Most likely, you already have enough information to start segmenting your list. For example, if you have an account’s address, the product(s) they purchased in the last year, and the total amount they spent in the last year, you’ve got a good start. Depending on your goals for your email campaign, you can create some specialized content for various groups of customers. Remember, content doesn’t need to be limited to product announcements. It can be relevant industry news or trends, interactive forums for a particular product or topic, or it could be a unique sales promotion just for email recipients. Get creative, and don’t limit your brainstorming to your industry. Keep asking what content is going to motivate a recipient to open your email and be satisfied enough to automatically open the next one you send.
Here’s a interesting article about Email Segmentation. It highlights some best practices for business-to-consumer email marketing, but the concepts can definitely be applied to B2B:
Congratulations to Amy Johnson, a new member of our consultant team at Steve Ebner Marketing, Inc. Amy brings over a decade of design and marketing/PR experience in commercial & residential real estate, health care, retail, and other industry segments. She also holds an MBA graduate degree in Global Management. She will work with me on a variety of client management projects, including website development, social media marketing, search engine marketing, and email marketing. For more on Amy’s background, visit the Consultants Background page at SteveEbner.com.
This week, Google launched a new feature to its paid advertising program, AdWords. It’s called AdWords Search Funnels, and will automatically be added to any ad accounts that use Google’s ‘conversion tracking’ feature. For B2B marketers, this tool will remove the blindspot of fully understanding user activity before the ad conversion.
The impact of understanding user behavior is essential to maximizing the performance and cost efficiency of any online advertising campaign. Previously, AdWords conversions were attributed to the last ad clicked before the conversion happened. However, it’s likely that customers perform multiple searches prior to finally converting. Now advertisers can view seven reports including Assisted Conversions, First and Last ClickAnalysis, Time Lag, and Path Length.
With this new data, advertisers can more effectively refine ad (& landing page) messaging and target keywords. I also see some impacts to better understanding the online sales cycle for your particular product or service.
Redefining Role of Your Company Website – Think Highest Value
Communicating the right message to your business’ target audience has never been more challenging. Today, businesses can choose from an overwhelming variety of offline and online marketing channels. Too often, companies either rush to the latest marketing opportunity without regard to their brand strategy or sit too long on the sidelines while a competitor steals market share. The same can be said for the content on many business websites. An effective website is one that helps achieve corporate goals with high-value content and functionality. The role of most corporate websites should go beyond presenting a product catalog or directing leads to your sales team.
Read full article by clicking on link below:
http://www.steveebner.com/denver-marketing/denver-web-design/article-redefining-role-of-website.html
Revisit Marketing Goals When Developing Email Campaigns
These days it is too easy to get muddled down with the daily “tactial fires” of managing your marketing strategy. Too often, marketing managers will miss opportunities because they misdirect content for email newsletters or email blasts…not to mention other advertising and communications. It’s important to frequently revisit (and document) your marketing goals for each email campaign. This exercise helps ensure that email content is well aligned to your target audience and subsequently supports your overall corporate goals. While a direct response “call-to-action” may not be appropriate for all email campaigns, you should set some measurable goals (e.g. opens, click-throughs, phone calls) for each campaign.
Here are two recent articles that discuss some helpful tips on email marketing. The first talks about common email marketing mistakes. The second discusses the importance of analyzing customer behavioral data from all sources when crafting your marketing messaging.
TOP 10 EMAIL MARKETING MISTAKES http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091203/FREE/912039997/1008/EMAIL
BEHAVIORAL EMAIL TARGETING http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091203/FREE/912039996/1008/EMAIL
Small Biz Increasing 2010 Budgets for Social Media & Email Marketing
According to a November 2009 survey of 831 small businesses (less than 500 employees), there is growing sentiment of the value in social media marketing and email marketing. The study by Vertical Response cites that two-thirds of the companies plan to boost 2010 marketing spending on social media and email marketing campaigns. The survey findings also showed a slight decline (about 4%) of businesses expected to cut search engine advertising (Google, Bing, etc.). However, nearly a quarter of respondents said that search engine marketing was the tool most needed for their business to succeed in 2010.
Check out the full survey release at http://www.verticalresponse.com/about/press/survey_the-state-of-small-business-in-america.html
Social Media Guide for Small Businesses
There’s a new series of articles on Mashable.com that discusses why & how any business can (and should) be incorporating social network activity in their marketing programs. It’s a good summary guide whether you are a rookie or a veteran Internet marketer.
Check out the article at http://mashable.com/2009/12/04/small-business-guide/.
Local B2B Internet Marketing Tips – Part 1
Sometimes a roadblock can force you to take new pathways that lead to undiscovered opportunities. That’s exactly what has happened to Denver businesses during the recent economic downturn. When it comes to marketing spending, it is no longer business as usual. Denver businesses are desperate for finding newer, cheaper ways of promoting their services and maximizing fewer employees. The slow economy has forced even companies solely focused on the Denver market to embrace the web to drum up new business. I have had multiple clients confirm they are moving large chunks of their marketing budgets into Internet-related channels. However, most are still uncertain about the best way to leverage the Internet for their local marketing.
Read full article at http://www.steveebner.com/denver-marketing/denver-internet-marketing/article-denver-internet-marketing-tips-one.html.
Welcome – A Marketing Blog for Denver B2B Businesses
There are so many sites out there with business news, marketing advice, and business strategy trends. However, who has the time and energy to filter out the crap and discover the info that marketing directors can use right now. So, my mission is to tell you about new B2B marketing trends, articles (written by myself and others), research data, and more.
Let’s get started 
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