Best practices for successful B2B corporate video campaigns

Online video marketing has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. What started out as secretly watching YouTube clips in your room or furtively sneaking a peek on your work computer has quickly developed into a practice suitable for the boardroom. In fact, a recent Forbes report stated that the majority of CEOs now prefer to watch a video than other types of content if both are on the same webpage. Consequently, there’s been an upward trend in video marketing for B2B businesses, in both effectiveness and popularity. However, B2B video marketing campaigns have been slow to shake off their boring, corporate image, which consists of them focusing solely on their product or service with stiff, emotionless campaigns. Here are 7 examples of companies where brands have added personality to corporate video, we particularly like the approaches that Intel…

Examples of 3 Facebook Applications that every B2B organisation needs on its brand page

You will know that on every brand’s Facebook Page there are four app thumbnails, three of which are customizable and whose positions can be moved. I've marked them 1 through 3 below. Some companies choose to use this space only to feature their Page’s Like count or Facebook’s 'Notes' and 'Map' apps. These companies are not making the most of their precious Facebook real estate! In this article I'll show examples of 3 better alternatives.

Essential apps for your Facebook page

Much like the cover photo, apps are a feature of the Page that capture the attention of Page visitors first. For B2B companies that want to squeeze the most value out of their Facebook Page, there are three essential apps that should live on the Page at all times: Newsletter app Resources app Testimonials app.

1.…

4 inspiring examples of B2B companies harnessing social media for B2B marketing

In our 7 Steps B2B Digital Marketing Guide we show the importance of tailoring planning and content generation and curation around the specific needs of business-to-business (B2B) buyers when positioning B2B products and services. In this post I will look at more examples of B2B companies making good use of social media.

Social media and business are two phrases that have sat uncomfortably for several years; I think for good reason. I think about my own use of social media going back before 2008 to when the major platforms developed into mass audience participation, real-time news and networking sites, and the ways in which people use them. Business applications of social media do appear to have been shoehorned in as an afterthought.

In previous posts, we talked about the importance of curating content and creating great original content and offered…

Research shows how just-in-time content can re-engage abandoning visitors

When it comes to bounce on B2B landing pages, the numbers are depressing. Marketers put a lot of time and energy into these crucial pages, and research says the large majority of businesses depend on landing pages as part of their lead-generation strategy. Yet the majority (more than 50%) of traffic will bounce, perhaps never to return. The waste and inefficiency can be HUGE if landing pages aren't optimised or other relevant content isn't available. [Editor's note: This post reviews different ways to measure engagement and explains bounce rate and typical benchmarks if your not familiar with it. Bounce rates for blogs can be in the range 60-80%, so it's worthwhile designing the blog to encourage some of these visitors to engage more]. Much of the time spent developing effective landing pages focuses on content optimization and enticing calls-to-action (CTAs) to grab…

Insights on the best times to follow-up on leads in B2B marketing

Here's a summary of research specifically of interest to readers selling to marketers, but also relevant insight on best time for follow-up for B2B marketers selling technology to other professionals. Traditional lead generation techniques work well when selling marketing technology to marketers - it's not seen as 'cold calling'. According to Jenny Vance, President of Leadjen 'Marketers wear many different hats in their organizations: social media, events, public relations and advertising, to name a few. It’s no wonder they are bombarded with sales messages. When done properly, traditional lead generation efforts to marketers can be very effective in driving sales appointments and revenue.' Leadjen has backed this up with their study from 2010-2013, to look at best prospecting practices to Marketers, and traditional lead generation techniques. Leadjen made over 1 million calls and email contacts across more than 20,000 conversations. It…

Defining ROI and the digital skills gap are major challenges

An online survey of 100 marketing leaders, the B2B Leaders report in association with Circle Research, involved Marketing Directors, Heads of Marketing and Marketing with an average 15 years experience, reporting into board or leadership teams and controlling a total of £188m. The survey delved into brand management, demonstrating ROI, managing a team effectively and personal reputation. For more specific detail on Content Marketing, see our separate post on B2B Content Marketing trends for 2014. The findings have been summarised in this infographic, we have shared for our readers working in B2B marketing to provide context if you are looking to understand typical B2B priorities for the next 12 months and how to develop marketers skills and training accordingly. …

Content marketing Survey on B2B marketing

The Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, undertook a survey sponsored by Brightcove, to ask over 1,200 B2B Marketers in the US the key marketing tactics from last year and to discuss their focus for 2014.

 'Heading into 2014, many B2B marketers are feeling more confident than ever about the effectiveness of their content marketing strategies,' said Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute and author of Epic Content Marketing. 'Though the industry is still in the early adoption phase of content marketing, it's clear that many are seeing success and are continuing to increase their tactics and devote more resources, and budgets, to producing great content experiences.'

Key content marketing survey findings included:

93% of B2B organisations are using content-based tactics and 73% are producing more content than the previous year.86% have someone who oversees content marketing strategy30%…

Bridge the gap in your content marketing

A recent Financial Services Content Marketing survey for the UK found that although over 80 per cent of respondents believe content marketing will be more important over the next 12 months, yet only 41 per cent have a strategy. Research on B2B Content Marketers' use of Content Marketing from the Content Marketing Institute in the United States shows a similar situation with a large proportion not having a documented content marketing strategy:

So, what is required for a successful content marketing strategy? Here are my rules to bridge that gap:

5 Content Marketing Rules

1. It’s not just a tick-box exercise

There’s more to content marketing than just churning out content via every available channel – from Twitter to Pinterest. The greatest ROI comes from mapping a funnel of engagement and taking a customer or prospect on a journey. You need…

How B2B companies are using content marketing to drive engagement, trust and transaction

In my recent post on making the case for inbound marketing, I talked about how the need for information has led to the emergence of new approaches to the promotion of credibility and experience through content marketing. Interest in content marketing shows no signs of abating, but many companies still seem to find it difficult to review the impact. In a recent B2B content marketing benchmark survey, B2B Marketing found that although 56% of respondents saw content marketing as having an impact on sales, there were more concerning undertones: 15% saw little or no increase whilst 29% simply could not quantify the impact of content marketing on their business 46% found demonstrating content marketing return on investment a key challenge Finding good relevant B2B examples online often proves challenging because although everyone is talking about doing it, there are hardly any examples…

How to showcase your business through expertise and experience

We all know content marketing is important. It trends daily worldwide. There are now conferences, magazines and institutions dedicated to it. The Content Marketing Institute in the US. for one, does a nifty job of covering it all. Famously, Marketing Profs declared recently that 91% of b2b marketers profess to using content marketing for the following three reasons: to engage customers and prospects (82%); drive sales (55%); and educate the market (44%).

Tapping into the need for information

Technology, as we see daily on this site, has facilitated a significant shift in how people in business interact with the companies they buy from. We know that business professionals now use the Internet increasingly as a…