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- 19 Nov
Banish The Boring: Use B2B Video to Entertain, Educate & Engage
by Aljaz Fajmut
When we think of some of the B2B videos we have seen, we probably think to ourselves – BORING. Well, B2B videos don’t have to be boring anymore. No longer is it necessary for our customers to suffer thought a monologue of charts, facts and figures.For B2B video marketing success today, those videos need to follow the Rule of the 3-E’s. They now need to entertain, educate and engage.
That Means It’s Time to Get Creative
We can no longer escape the fact that video is not a trend. It’s not a fad. In fact, it’s everywhere. And it has proven, time and again, to be a great way of connecting with clients, building leads and clinching sales. But, how relevant is it to the B2B sphere? Well, 73% of B2B marketers have already said that video positively affects their marketing ROI.
Today, there’s no reason why your next B2B video marketing campaign can’t hit a home run. And according to Aljaz Fajmut,as long as you use video to be entertaining, educational and informative, there is no reason to be boring. And to learn 7 of the best B2B video marketing techniques so that your own ROI grows and grows this year he shars, read the full article on Jeff Bullas’s Blog.
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- 18 Nov
Good Storytelling Starts With Your Value Proposition
As a consultant, I often see companies forgetting to tell the story about the value their products hold for the customer. In most cases, that is because companies are so close to their products. As a result, they assume the benefits are apparent to everyone.
This is Where Good Storytelling Comes In
And this is a good example of what good storytelling represents. With the markets changing at such a rapid pace, it can all be overwhelming. Understanding the shifting demands of buyers, and the market are hard.
But, one thing is constant. A good story always works and a good story always starts with the value your products brings to your customers. And that means that all of your content needs to demonstrate as well as explain your products values to the customer. But not as a focal point of your product, rather from a customer-view perspective.
To understand this all more clearly and learn how this can be applied to your business, read the full article on Heinz Marketing’s Blog.
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- 12 Nov
5 Big Changes in B2B Buying Behavior You Need to Know
If you’re a B2B marketer, and especially if you work for a services provider, your environment is about to be upended. Your customers are changing. And so are the ways those customers buy.The Winds of Change Are Upon Us
There is mounting evidence that B2B buyer behaviors are shifting due to a number of dynamic forces. While those forces are slowing moving the markets we work in, most have not noticed the shifts. And if we don’t move with those forces, we will be left in the dust.
In this article from Target Marketing Magazine, Ruth P. Stevens brings forward five glaring developments in business buying behavior that you need to know about. And once you know, you must consider how to adapt and, better yet, turn the changes to your advantage. To learn what those developments are, read the full article at Target Marketing Magazine Online.
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- 08 Nov
Where do Buyers Research Products? [New Report from HubSpot]
by Pamela Bump
The burning question of the day: Where is it that people do their research when they are considering a purchase? The time was, people perused print ads. Or they saw a promotional flyer. But the times, they are a changing. Or, at least they have changed and significantly. And if brands don’t keep pace with these changes, they loose opportunities to be in consideration of the final purchase.If Ya’ Snooze if Ya’ Loose . . .
One big shift was noted in 2018 when it was discovered that 40% of people used social media channels for aspects of product research. And younger generations today are getting more and more connected to social media platforms. So, that means that the amount of product research done on these platforms is likely to grow. In fact, 16 to 24-year-olds already conduct product research more on social than search engines.
By now, you might be on all the major social media platforms. But, as they expand and evolve, you might still wonder which you should focus your time and efforts on if you’re selling a physical product. To determine this, it can be helpful to find out which social channels your specific audience is using to look for products, and then create social strategies that meet them where they are on their preferred platforms.
To learn more about the social networks people prefer to surf for product research, see the poll data and read the full article on the HubSpot Blog
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- 07 Nov
Email Marketing Trends Report: Deliverability Remains A Challenge
from Marketing Charts
A new report [download page] from DemandMetric and Return Path, has some surprising state-of-email insights. It seems that an increased number of marketers say their email marketing effectiveness is holding steady. However, fewer are seeing any increase in its effectiveness.It might be easy to assume that this performance plateau is due to the fact that email is a long-established channel. However, there are some key differences between sectors. Additionally there are some emerging challenges that are worth noting from the report.
Deliverability Become A Greater Issue; Getting Attention Still Tough
One key take-away is that email marketers still struggle at the inbox. They still need to get their emails into the inbox before they can achieve any other goal. And getting emails seen is a basic but pressing challenge considering that consumers say that few brand emails are even interesting enough to open.
For more of the data, insights and to download a copy of the original report, read the full article at MarketingChats.com »
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- 05 Nov
7 Ways B2Bs Can Use Social Media to Boost Conversion Rates and Lead Gen
by Tessa Burg
Almost all companies recognize the importance of social media. But recognition isn’t the same as understanding. And there is a huge amount of confusion around its value as a B2B marketing opportunity. A lot of those companies tend to view social’s utility through a narrow and skeptical lens.
Most B2B companies don’t believe any B2C marketing strategies will work for them. And this attitude extends to the notion that B2C social strategies won’t work. Instead, they mistakenly use social platforms as real-time broadcast channels. So, they only post announcements or company updates.
That Strategy Misses One Vital Ingredient: Participation
Social media allows B2B companies an opportunity to show their expertise while participating in and adding value to a community. Done correctly, social can drive B2B lead generation and even conversions. To learn how you can begin to leverage social media, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
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- 04 Nov
2018 B2B Video Completion Rates and Success Benchmarks
from Marketing Charts
We know that in the B2C space, marketing videos have grown in popularity. But, this year B2B marketers have also named video as their top lead generation tactic.But keeping B2B buyers engaged can sometimes be a struggle. Marketers are constantly challenged with the cold, hard reality of engagement. So, the question remains if they work and how they can work harder for our marketing. And, can video really help with that?
One measure of video marketing success is video completion rate. That means, people watching the complete video from start to finish. And a new video benchmarks from Vidyard [download page] offers insights into that very benchmark. And what they found for completion rates for business-related videos, and the results are encouraging.
But beyond just completion rates, the study offers other benchmarks for business-related videos on Vidyard’s platform in 2018. To see what those are and to learn just how effective B2B marketing videos can be, read the full article at MarketingCharts.com
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- 31 Oct
How to Create a Market for Your Product When There Isn’t One
by Nick Mehta
As a business, you probably have dreams of being a big, successful company. But in order to do it, you may need to do more than simply have a great product or service. You may need to create a new category of business.Now, you may be asking yourself, “why do that . . . ?”
Well, there are a number of reasons you might think you want to do this. You may want to take advantage of a new trend. But more importantly, it’s lucrative. According to Harvard Business Review, “Companies that were instrumental in creating their categories accounted for 53% of incremental revenue growth and 74% of incremental market capitalization growth.”
But we also saw the big drawback. If you’re thinking about category creation, you’ve already thought of it, too. There are no customers to a category that doesn’t exist yet. And in this article from the HubSpot blog, Nick Mehta, CEO of Gainsight brings us his 5 Strategies to Create a Product Category and win.
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- 30 Oct
7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Boost Your Website Conversion Rate
When you think about it, there are a number of good reasons for creating, updating, and maintaining your business website. On the top of that list should be one important goal. Above all else, it should be able to acquire qualified leads and customers. Otherwise, if your business website fails to generate qualified leads and customers, it certainly is not working on behalf of your success.
Just Becase You Build it, Doesn’t Mean They Will Come . . .
And, not only do you need to build a great website, but you also need to constantly optimize the design, the content and the usability of your website in order to convert more of your visitors. And when you consider that the average website conversion rate is 2.35%, every website could do with a boost to improve results.
So, how can this be improved, you may ask. In this article from Jeff Bullas’ blog, Lilach Bullock shares with us 7 things you can start doing immediately to boost your website conversion rates. To learn how your business can capture more leads and customers through your website, read the full article on Jeff Bullas’s Blog.
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- 25 Oct
Why Meta Titles and Descriptions Are So Critically Important For SEO
If you’ve ever tried optimizing your website for search engines, you may have come across things such as Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions. These two are central to any SEO strategy. And they must to be considered and edited before publishing a piece of content or allowing a website to go live.What is SEO and Why is it Important?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. And it is critically important because of how search engines work.
When someone begins a search on an engine, they type what they are looking for into the search bar. This ‘request’ then uses the search platform’s algorithm to find the information. And in order to do this, the algorithm searches things such as matching words in the content, images that could potentially correlate with the query. But importantly, it looks for it’s top clues in the Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions.
But if you’ve never even touched the SEO side of your website, this article by Konstantin Rabin on Jeff Bullas’ Blog will certainly convince you that it’s an absolute must to have if you want your business to succeed.
Read the full article on Jeff Bullas’ Blog.
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- 22 Oct
Avoiding Funnel Failure: 3 Tips for Lead Generation & Conversion
Lead generation is an expensive task for any B2B marketer. And understanding the nuances of each lead and how to replicate some level of success is as much art as it is science. Additionally, the pressure to both create and convert isn’t slowing down any time soon.
Which Came First, The Lead or the Conversion . . . ?
Today, balancing the demand for conversion and the importance of building meaningful customer relationships is an ongoing battle. However, the good news is that B2B organizations can implement a lead generation mindset. And they can create a framework that capitalizes on the opportunity to secure leads throughout each stage of the funnel.
To learn three practical tips for how marketers can drive leads, conversion rates, and bottom-line growth, read the full article on Chief Marketer.
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- 18 Oct
Creating LinkedIn Campaigns Efficiently and Effectively
Brenna, as a Senior Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing, has worked on numerous LinkedIn campaigns. And that work has ranged from developing strategy and reviewing existing campaigns to improve performance. In fact, you could say she’s done it all. So with all of that, she thought that she might as well write a blog piece covering some of the ideas she has arrived at.
Just in Case You’re Playing Along at Home . . .
First, she willingly admits that she is, “by no means, an expert in digital marketing or LinkedIn campaigns.” But, rather, what she has to say is based on her solid experience and some rather impressive results and performance she’s seen.
In this article, she points out a few things to keep in mind when creating a campaign. And then brings up some solid best practices and tips she’s used along the way. So to learn more, read the full article, Creating LinkedIn Campaigns Efficiently and Effectively, at Heinze Marketing’s Blog.
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- 17 Oct
How to Create Effective Sales Enablement Content
In far too many businesses there is far too little connection between marketing and sales team members. And that’s a shame. Because everyone in those companies suffers as a consequence of this lacking.
Marketing and Sales Have Plenty to Offer One Another
Marketers drive interest in the product or service through the content they produce and publish. Salespeople nurture the would-be clients through the educational content and sales materials they share. But if the content coming from marketing is disjointed, prospective clients can quickly lose trust. And then, unfortunately, marketing content is often shelved after one use.
That can make it a costly investment. But, what if that content could have a second life, or third, fourth, and more. Well, its ROI would soar. So, to learn How to Create Effective Sales Enablement Content, boost sales and increase the value and return on your content, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
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- 16 Oct
Work Email Behavior: Time, Inbox, and Usefulness Trends
by Ayaz Nanji
Whether at work or at home, email has become the everpresent spectre of life. And it seems that we all have a persistent, almos compulsive, habbit of constantly checking for new email messges.Times, They are a Changing . . .
However, that seems to be changing in today’s work world. It seems that workers are spending less time checking business as well as personal email. That is even though most still spend several hours each day sorting through their inboxes. This is according to recent research from CMO by Adobe.
Now this may simply seem to be an interesting factoid to see and forget. However, this fact is far more important that that, especially if email is the linchpin of your lead gen and marketing programs.
Survey respondents reported that they spend 209 minutes each day checking work email, on average. That is down from 256 minutes spent checking work email, in 2016. And this can have some serious implications in the world of email marketing.
To learn more about this trend, to see more of the data and to access the original report, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
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- 15 Oct
Build a Cross-Channel Lead Generation Strategy in 4 Steps
by Brett McHale
Cross-channel marketing is an important element of your lead generation strategy. But figuring out the details isn’t always easy. It’s tricky to determine how to approach the relationship between each channel.Questions. Questions. And More Questions.
And it doesn’t get any easier, especially if you’re considering all the relevant questions, such as, how much budget do I allocate to each channel? Or, how do I get the most out of each channel? and even, how can I better connect what we’re doing on Google to what we’re doing on Facebook?
Once you begin marketing on multiple platforms, it becomes apparent that certain strategies work for more than one channel. While others may only apply to one of them. So to help, Brett McHale brings us an easy to understand guide. With this guide, he walks us through four steps to create a strong cross-channel strategy so that you can get more out of each of your advertising channels.
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- 14 Oct
Email Marketing vs. Social Media: Grudge Match or Dream Match?
Some may feel that email marketing and social media marketing are at opposing ends of the marketing spectrum. But, they can work together to benefit your next marketing campaign. Both have their relative strengths and weaknesses. But, in combination, they can make a powerful combination for your marketing.On The One Hand . . .
Social media marketing, on the one hand, is the act of promoting content on social media channels. While email marketing is the process of leading prospects down the sales funnel by sending marketing materials directly to those who’ve subscribed to that content.
And there are engaging, eye-catching methods you can use to integrate both marketing strategies in ways that will delight your customers. A holistic approach to digital marketing incorporates both social media and email marketing to reach your customers in a creative and memorable way. Believe it or not, the two rival methods work very well together. To see how, read the full article at HubSpot.com
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- 10 Oct
Visual Language Can Spell Success for Your Next Marketing Campaign
by Erin McCoy
By now there should be no argument. Visual content is now an absolute necessity for marketing success. In fact, 94% of first impressions of your brand are based on visual design.And, so your marketing content must delight and your visuals need to engage your audience at very first glance. But, if not, they’re likely to move on to the next thing. And will do so in a matter of seconds.
You Still Might not be Reaching Your Full Marketing Potential
While your brand guidelines are critical for providing general direction, each campaign is different. So each campaign needs its own visual language. And to help you take your visual marketing content to the next level, in this article from the HubSpot blog, Erin McCoy explores what a visual language is, and how you can develop one for your next campaign. Read the full article now . . .
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- 09 Oct
8 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Lead Generation Ads
By most standards, LinkedIn is considered to be the best platform for B2B networking. But it is increasingly becoming a great platform for targeting in the PPC space.The Right Kind of Social Sharing for Business
In recent years, LinkedIn has become a more popular destination for users to consume content. Rather than a pure “social,” social platform, LinkedIn permits you to see what your contacts and potential business relationships are up to. Plus, it helps you to gain insights into the topics that are trending in your industry.
But more importantly, for advertisers, the targeting options now allow you to zone in on just about any part of your audience’s profile. Since the platform also has many benefits for their users, it’s in their best interest to keep their profiles up to date. And that’s why LinkedIn is the place to be if you want to generate higher quality B2B leads. But, if that’s your goal, you need to know that not all strategies are created equal.
In this article, from WordStream’s blog, Michelle Morgan discusses LinkedIn Lead Generation Ads and some best practices and innovative strategies for you to leverage in your account. Read on to learn some tips to make your campaigns more efficient for you and more impactful for your customers and both sides will win. Read the Full Article Now
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- 08 Oct
The Top 5 Content Distribution Strategies to Extend Your Reach
Arguably, in almost every B2B segment content is essential. Google loves quality content. Your visitors love content. But it is a total waste of time and resources to simply write content for the sake of writing. So, not only do you have to produce quality content but you also need to adopt methods to distribute it.
Producing Content is One Side – Marketing it is Another
It is a lot of work to produce the type of high-quality content your visitors want and need. It takes a lot to create what gains their attention and engages them. But creating the content is only part of the equation for content marketing success.
And if you are currently creating and producing content and not getting what you need, it may be because you of one missing ingredient – a distribution strategy. In this article from Jeff Bullas’ Blog, Vartika Kashyap brings us a few tips about how to build a successful content distribution strategy.
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- 07 Oct
New Research Reveals How to Accelerate the Buyer’s Journey with Content
by Josh Baez
It’s no secret today’s buyers are overwhelmed. And today, the average consumer experiences tremendous marketing fatigue. They are literally being bombarded from every angle with marketing messages. And, that experience isn’t always a positive one.
Are We Hindering or Helping?
70% of buying decisions are made before ever talking to a salesperson. And these days, for buyers, experience and information matters more than ever. So, now there is an even greater reliance upon content for marketing outcomes.
As marketers, Are We Enabling Those Decisions or Hindering Them?
But, what can be done? New research just released give us some great tips. The report gives us some intereting insights into how we can best use our content to accelerate our buyer’s journey. And not to hinder it. So to learn what they found, read the full article at Heinz Marketing’s Blog
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