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…
6 illnesses B2B (and other marketers) may suffer from
No I don't mean "sick" in a "down-with-the-kids" way, just "ill". I like useful infographics, that's our bag, but really like this one since it's useful and funny - well to me anyway. These look like common ailments across sectors...
Kudos to g2m Solutions - I like the way they integrate it with a B2B Healthcheck CTA on their site, although not on the infographic. If you're looking for treatment, Rene Power also has his infographic showing 7 Steps to a Brilliant B2B Marketing Plan.
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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…
Integrating content and social media marketing
The vast majority of businesses will first experiment with social media long before they get underway with content marketing. Creating a coherent plan is the key to success in both. A content plan helps to integrate content and social media marketing activities. I will be explaining the approach I recommend in more detail in the next Smart Insights webcast. This post gives some of the background.
[caption id="attachment_25503" align="alignright" width="150"] Which way first?[/caption]
Companies tend to work first with social media marketing because social platforms are…
A content marketing productivity tool for faster content marketing
[caption id="attachment_23960" align="alignleft" width="257"] Little Bird - a great way to find and learn about key people online fast[/caption]
If you spend time like I do, writing content for special interest groups online, then you probably love to hear about content marketing productivity tools that can help you optimise your time during the different stages of the content marketing continuum, and improve your return on content marketing effort (ROE).
After years working as a publisher, I’ve now got a new job as a startup CEO, managing a content marketing agency, as well as doing the digital marketing for a…
Understanding the significance of search enables commercially-minded business marketers to construct websites that rise to the top just when prospects and customers are looking for them.
Think about your own information searches online. You use words and alter them, add to them or remove them to better refine the results you receive. Having a search engine optimisation strategy for your business helps to provide a structured approach to identifying the words that your customer and prospects use to then position your products and services to meet their needs. This is achieved by improving your visibility in search engines for the most relevant queries that people are using. If you are interesting and relevant enough, they may take an action to find out more.
Using an industrial b2b example, the mining products company Atlas Copco, we can see how a structured approach to on page optimisation can pay dividends.
Keywords
Keywords are critical as they…
Applying the Ebocube B2B Digital Marketing model for international market development
Emerging markets are countries experiencing relatively recent industrial, political and technological change resulting in rapid economic growth. Emerging markets cover more than the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), however; these countries are amongst the buoyant emerging giants.
Large populations generally characterise these markets, as is obvious with China and India. They tend to be dominated by young populations and rising middle classes.
As business revenues plateau in saturated, developed markets, expansion into emerging markets is a popular means for reaching new growth targets. Although these countries are affected by the global recession, many remain in robust growth positions. The endeavour of international business involves uncertainty and risk, however; this can be mitigated by the internet .
Bringing the Next Billion People Online
Developed countries have long defined the Internet, however, at least 500 million new users of the Internet are expected to come from emerging markets from…
Examples showing what is needed for a customer-centric B2B website
In a recent post, I talked about the importance of developing a solid B2B digital marketing strategy. A critical part of this is creating an enduring website presence that meets the needs of visitors while also achieving standout, leads and favourability for the business. Making their site more effective for visitors and the business should be a primary concern, but it often hasn't got sufficient attention in the past. But this seems to be changing; 2012 RWS/US research data suggests that marketing budgets are being invested more in websites and web development than anywhere else. Yet I still see a lot of basic requirements of an effective B2B site that are missing. In this post, I'll give examples showing some of the key features.
The seven essential features
Start by defining your requirements. Even…
12 great LinkedIn pages to learn B2B marketing from
If you're a B2B marketer, particularly if you work in professional services, you will have noticed how LinkedIn has become a much more effective platform for marketing your business in 2012. With innovations to company pages, profiles and advertising. Just this week, LinkedIn has enabled your groups to be showcased on your company page too.
If you're looking to improve your company page then take a look at the leaders - there are some good examples from a range of sectors. LinkedIn asked followers of their blog to tell them their favourite LinkedIn Company Pages and have now compiled their 12 Best Company Pages of 2012.
I think these are great examples of how businesses and organizations are using their LinkedIn Company Page to showcase…
How can B2B companies use video to attract, engage and improve conversion without falling into the gimmick trap?
Integrating video into a website and sharing through video sites has great potential to build awareness and establish trust before a transaction. We're now seeing many more marketers using video as discussed in my previous post on inbound B2B marketing. In this post I'll use examples to review different approaches B2B companies can use video to really bring their offering to life.
Using video to help with visibility in search
At the last check, it was estimated that approximately 48 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how valuable is a video when video search dominates internet search?
This data from YouTube is further supported by a recent survey which confirmed that B2B marketers need to focus on videos and images as part of their SEO…
