Resource
Google recently announced that their beloved Reader service will be no more after July 1, 2013. This came as a shock to many who have used it faithfully since 2005 to organize favorite websites and blogs for easy reading. After the initial panic subsided, various replacement services began to rise to the surface. While many can do the job, we think Feedly has emerged as the clear leader. It’s user friendly, pleasing to the eye, and most importantly, it offers a seamless transition for past Google Reader users with this simple process.
The Feedly site currently boasts 500,000 new users in the wake of Reader’s demise, and their focus on customer service is made apparent by their disclaimer that they are doing all they can to keep everything running smoothly despite the heavy traffic. Another perk is that user experience remains largely within the user’s control; subscribers can opt for a text-oriented view that recalls the Reader experience, or they can choose a more image-friendly view that is reminiscent of a magazine. The headline view is quick and efficient for hurried readers, and the magazine view works well for those who have the time to enjoy image-based posts.
Feedly makes it easy to share things via social media, and it hosts a Twitter connect that allows readers to see what their friends are recommending. Their mobile app is just as visually appealing as the desktop site and also offers different view options to customize the user experience. Google Reader fans will appreciate that Feedly uses the same keyboard shortcuts, along with an option to star – now “bookmark” – favorite posts.
Marketers can take Google Reader’s demise as an opportunity to import their feeds to this updated service, clean them up, and search for new industry blogs to follow. Thankfully, Feedly makes it easy to add new favorites – an easy way to stay on the forefront of the B2B marketing conversation.
What will you transition to after Google Reader shuts down?
Photo credit: Feestdagen
PHOTO
Resource
Despite the growth of mobile and social, a recent study from BtoB Magazine indicates that a majority of marketers still consider email to be their most essential marketing tool. Though it doesn’t get as much hype as other digital tools, email remains the most trusted form of internet-based consumer engagement.
Email is so popular, in fact, that it can be difficult to make your email campaigns stand out among the endless influx of e-newsletters and email promotions that flow into our target customer’s inbox. Here are three ways to keep your emails from blending in with the crowd:
Express your gratitude
Just as handwritten thank you notes charm those who receive them, a B2B thank you email goes a long way. Consider an email campaign that does not ask for anything. Instead, take a moment to thank your business partners and clients for their partnership. While it can be nice to correlate this type of email with a holiday, it might be even more effective to send it on a normal day, no strings attached.
The greater good
If your company plans to volunteer at a nonprofit event, consider inviting your partners to join you. Likewise, if an internal charitable donation is being collected, offer businesses an incentive for contributing. This promotes goodwill and a feeling of community. Your subscribers will appreciate feeling like part of the team, and it provides a good chance to be in touch with them in a way that does not seem entirely self-serving. Businesses will notice your thoughtful approach to communication and your awareness of the world at large. Movéo has sent emails in support of our annual Movember initiative with great results.
Profile clients
Marketers know that consumers love personal narratives. Replace your typical e-newsletter with a special “About the Client/Customer” feature. In it, highlight how a particular business finds success with your products or services. Subscribers will benefit from relating your product to a personal narrative, and may realize new potential for your product or service after seeing how someone else uses it.
What’s the best thing you’ve done with email marketing lately?
Photo credit: ePublicist
Resource
The end of March is approaching, and once again we’re sharing a roundup of our favorite B2B marketing blog posts. Last month we covered which social media networks are the best for businesses, and this month, we found information about Twitter’s specific usefulness for B2B tech brands. Additionally, you’ll find posts about customer roles, content advice, and the customer-after-sale relationship.
Cheri Saito, Twitter Analyst
Twitter partnered with Compete to provide an intricate study on tweets as they relate to B2B tech brands. They observed traffic of more than 6,000 American users to over 400 B2B tech sites for one month in 2012. They found that a Twitter presence raised site visits by a staggering 47%, and it increased brand consideration by an even greater 150%.
Megan Heuer, Sirius Decisions Blog
Some B2B marketers focus so intently on building their persona that they fail to consider the drastic relationship shift that occurs once a purchase is made – the buyer becomes the customer. When this happens, needs and interests change, and B2B marketers must work to provide continued attention throughout the lifecycle to keep consumers engaged.
Justin Gray, LeadMD CEO for the Marketo B2B Marketing and Sales Blog
All marketers know that metrics are essential to their success. Thanks to the digital revolution, there are now endless, and sometimes daunting, forms of tracking available. With a focus on monitoring entire sales cycles, Justin Gray explains the metrics most crucial to measuring buyer motivation and business value. Most importantly, he concludes with a guide to using them to drive up ROI.
Eric Wittlake, B2B Digital Marketing Blog
B2B marketers often do not trust their content to deliver the complexity of their message or increase their sales. In this post, Eric Wittlake encourages you to understand the true purpose of each piece of content – to capture a lead – and offers advice to simplify and streamline it, thereby increasing its effectiveness.
Have you found more good advice this month? Share your own favorite B2B posts in the comments below!
Photo credit: Sadi Junior Photography
Resource
IBM’s CMO Study calls shifting consumer demographics a “pervasive, universal game-changer” for marketers. The Millennial Consumer is intimidating; they demand interaction that is based on the relationship rather than the transaction, and they expect it to be delivered with new technologies that in many cases, they use more effectively than the generations before them. Above all else, they want to find value in their interaction with a brand.
Millennials are approaching their peak earning and spending years, and companies need to be prepared. To create lasting relationships and keep their companies relevant, CMOs in every arena are asking what Millennial Consumers really want. Some of the answers may surprise you.
Instant gratification
The Boston Consulting Group study, “The Millennial Consumer: Debunking Stereotypes,” refers to Millennials as optimistic, unpredictable, and technologically comfortable. It’s important for CMOs to understand that this generation looks for instant gratification in everything, which is an important factor in their consumer style. They expect quick, efficient interactions at every turn, and they are willing to hold businesses to these standards.
Peer recommendations
Another important trait to note is the Millennial preference for peer-to-peer recommendations. Millennials consider their peers to be the most trustworthy source of information, rather than trained academics or professionals. For this reason, cultivating brand advocates out of customers is becoming increasingly important.
Desire to make a difference
The overwhelming – and perhaps unexpected – theme among Millennials is their belief that they can make the world a better place. As Forbes noted last year, this generation is seeking careers that matter. Likewise, they want their purchases and investments to matter. Highly responsive to cause campaigns, the Millennial is most interested in companies they believe make an authentic, positive contribution to society. As consumers, they are more likely to purchase products that integrate social impact into their mission, be it fair trade or environmental friendliness. Perhaps most importantly, Millennials are more likely than non-Millennials to actively engage in such campaigns by urging others to support them, thus becoming the peer advocates they choose to trust in the first place.
Many studies suggest that understanding the Millennial Consumer is essential to business growth. This generation’s needs and expectations differ from any generation before them. Millennials require varied, dynamic communication strategies, but the overwhelming consensus is that engaging Millennials in trusting, value-based relationships will be well worth the investment.
Resource
Thanks to the digital revolution, today’s CMOs are facing great shifts in the nature of consumer to business relationships. Customers have access to more research tools and information than ever before, resulting in a more empowered, standards-based consumer. In response, businesses are held to a higher standard and must develop a greater understanding of their customer in order to meet – and hopefully exceed – expectations.
Here are three ways to get to know your customers better:
Conduct Qualitative Interviews.
To better understand your customers as individuals, take a step back from numbers and statistics and implement a plan for qualitative interviews. Face-to-face conversations with customers allow CMOs to understand consumer feelings about their brand, and more importantly, the emotions behind them. Engage individuals in conversations to learn more about the motivations behind their decisions as consumers. If you prefer to gather data digitally, a personal email to a customer asking for feedback can also be effective in gaining this insight. Additionally, a blog post that elicits response in the comment section can be far more useful than something like an online survey, because it encourages open-ended response.
Mimic the Customer Experience.
One of the most valuable trips a CMO can take is a walk in their customers’ shoes. While data analysis provides insight into consumer trends, nothing replaces putting yourself on the other side of the table. Visit your business’s locations to interface with customers and interact with team members, or participate in consumer conversations via social media. Read emails related to customer service, and consider asking the company’s service representatives for feedback on their daily interactions. Notice how your experience with the brand compares to interactions with other companies, and think of ways to make it better. At the end of the day, the CMO who participates in the business/consumer exchange is better prepared to serve both parties.
Build On and Offline Communities.
The empowered customer wants meaningful relationships with the companies they choose to do business with. Creating and cultivating a sense of community is crucial to success, and it offers countless opportunities to get to know your customers on a deeper level. First, focus on building an online community based on shared interests that relate to your brand. When your audience is engaged, consider taking it offline with information sessions or networking events. A community that exists both virtually and offline will provide valuable insight into what makes consumers tick, and will allow you to provide a more tailored experience for your customers. Your customers will notice your efforts to engage, and will be likely repay you with loyalty, long-term investment, and advocacy.
How will you get to know your customers as individuals?
Photo credit: Dell’s Official Flickr Page
Resource
Think back twenty years. Think of how marketers everywhere would have rejoiced at the idea of being able to measure every product bought as a direct result of an advertisement. Fast forward to present day, where marketers are simultaneously grateful for and overwhelmed by the myriad ways to reach consumers. With research-based guidance, marketers are becoming more keenly aware of the best places and ways to reach their target. The challenge doesn’t end there; it’s equally important to effectively measure the success of marketing efforts. How else do we know which messages and platforms resonate most strongly with our target?
Measuring the consumer journey
Many direct marketers used to value clicks, and only clicks that directly lead to purchase. Those same marketers are those who scoffed at the efficacy of social media, saying it was a waste of time. Time has shown, however, that there is a different kind of value to be found in social interactions. As consumers build affinity for a brand online, they may be more likely to seek it out offline. They may sing its praises in casual, spoken conversation, something that will never be measured outside of structured survey environments. And that’s just social media. Every channel brings unique value to the consumer journey, and marketers are constantly trying to find the best way to quantify that value.
In our opinion, heuristic attribution techniques are a great option.
What is heuristic attribution?
Put simply, heuristic attribution involves assigning values to different types of consumer-brand interactions. The specific interactions measured and values assigned can and should vary by company.
While somewhat time consuming, heuristic attribution is extremely useful when measuring interactions across multiple devices and channels. Most customers don’t make a buying decision the first time they visit your website. This is especially true in B2B transactions. Instead, they might download a white paper, connect with one of your salespeople on LinkedIn, and browse your mobile site, and only then decide that it’s time to hit “purchase.” Each of these steps in the sales process is important, but without heuristic attribution, assessing their value toward your ultimate goal (making a sale) is nearly impossible.
If you’re ready to explore heuristic attribution for your company, check out this Inc. article, and pay special attention to the studies at the bottom.
If you’re using heuristic attribution at your company (or plan to in the future) tell us how it’s going in the comments!
Photo via: aussiegall
Resource
While traditional communication platforms like print, television and radio are still relevant and effective, the media landscape is constantly evolving. These days, evolving often means going digital. Of all the marketing opportunities within the digital landscape, there are three subtypes that are here to stay. If you’re feeling the need to re-prioritize your marketing investment with a stronger emphasis on digital, here are three areas to focus on:
Consumer-generated content
The best part about consumer-generated content is that once the framework is in place, the consumer will show you if your idea has legs. Some marketers may be reluctant to put their brand in the hands of consumers, but crowdsourcing can yield some truly incredible creativity. The employment of consumer-generated content also has great potential to convert a customer into a brand advocate, since the brand and consumer are mutually investing in each other.
Social media
Much like consumer-generated content, social media interactions are often consumer-initiated. The difference with social media is that brands can pose questions and help consumers to feel heard and valued when they are able to offer up their opinions. For a brand to make a true investment in social media, it’s important to show genuine interest and leave plenty of room for consumer commentary. This involves leaving a brand’s Twitter page open to all tweets and not removing replies – consumers may see the filtering out of replies as a filtering out of important opinions. While it’s important for brands to be actively involved in social media, they should be selective in the social media channels where they invest time and attention. If your target spends more time on LinkedIn and Twitter, don’t feel the need to jump on the Instagram train.
Mobile
Rising to the forefront of the marketing landscape in the last five years, mobile has become an increasingly integral part of the consumer purchase process. A recent IAB study found that 56 percent of mobile device owners used a smartphone while out shopping and 35 percent used the Internet to check prices and availability. Mobile has proven itself in consumers’ eyes and it’s vital that marketers follow suit. Without a mobile-friendly site, some brands will be cast aside for those with an easily-understood mobile experience. The IAB also recommends making your mobile site thumb-friendly for easy navigation and making the copy easy to read and remember.
Are you rethinking your marketing priorities this year? What has proven to be the most valuable investment in your marketing budget?
Photo via: Johan Larsson
Resource
IBM’s recent global study of over 1,700 CMO’s proved what many had long suspected – companies across the world are struggling to keep up with the ever-changing media environment. It seems as if a must-use platform debuts every week, and each one becomes the subject of industry analysis and debate before it ever reaches critical mass.
At the end of the day, what matters most is input and output: Is the price your company pays for marketing efforts worth the value of the outcome? As it has become increasingly measurable, ROI has become a key metric for marketers to prove the value of their efforts. As this infographic shows, consumers really do have myriad different options of how to take in and share content, so it’s important to use the most effective means across each channel.
Here are the top three areas where marketing is changing rapidly, and a few ideas that will help you keep up:
Digital Content Marketing
Content marketing is on the rise, with 91% of B2B marketers employing the technique according to a recent study. Surveys from the Content Marketing Institute show that the biggest problem most marketers encounter is producing enough content. However, as a marketer, your number one concern should not be creating content, but finding a way to engage people through the content you create. Step up your game in the next two areas we’ll highlight, and you’ll have no problem doing just that.
Social Media
Ignoring social media is no longer an option for marketers. It has become an integral facet of customer service and brand health. This is both a blessing and a curse. Marketers no longer have to guess what consumer are thinking about their products. They can simply browse Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. However, businesses have lost supreme control over how their brands are perceived. In the age of social media, there is no such thing as broadcasting – everything is a conversation.
A recent eMarketer study found that a majority of U.S. consumers want companies to listen to online conversations about their brands, so brands that want to master the changing media environment must also master the art of “speaking when spoken to” and engaging in natural, conversational ways. Staying up on the latest channels and finding new ways to leverage each unique platform is also essential. If you need a quick resource to help you get up to speed, be sure to check this post from last week.
Mobile
While mobile web browsing continues to surpass that of desktop, spending on mobile advertising is still a small portion of overall digital budgets. Smart marketers need to pay attention to this trend and allocate their budgets accordingly in the months ahead.
Consumers use their phones or tablets to research prior to purchase, so it’s increasingly important that marketers make their mobile user experience a good one. Finding out what mobile tactics work for your target requires measurement. Unfortunately, there’s no industry standard to measure mobile marketing efficacy. But we can tell you about two key metrics: audience measurement and ad effectiveness. These are akin to awareness and purchase intent for traditional digital marketing.
Resource
Most marketers think of social media primarily as a medium for targeted messaging and interaction, but it can also play a powerful role in helping you get to know your customers. Think about it: every day, people log on to social networks and discuss brands in a way that is 100% open and accessible. Not only can we see what they’re saying, but thanks to the many great analytics tools currently on the market, we can conduct high level sentiment and content analysis on those conversations at the click of a button.
Want to learn how to go about mining social media for valuable consumer insights? Here are a few tips:
- Start with listening. Before you get into aggregating data and sentiment analysis, make a real commitment to the simple act of listening to what people are saying about your brand in real time. Doing this can be as easy as signing up for Hootsuite (one of our favorite free social media tools) and setting up a stream that picks up any tweet that mentions a related keyword (usually your brand name).
- Analyze emotions. Marketers who are new to mining social for insights often start with sentiment analysis. Many popular social media tools make it easy to see whether the tide of conversation about your brand is turning positive, negative our neutral at any given time. Shifts from one end of the spectrum to another could be an early indication of an event or occurrence that needs your attention. We especially like Sprout Social’s sentiment analysis tool for an easy, at-a-glance look at the mood of conversation.
- Use a text mining tool. For those who are ready to take social media analysis to the next level, text mining can be a powerful tool. Most text mining programs are built around a programing language called R, which uses complex algorithms to extract trends from huge amounts of text-based data. Thankfully, you don’t have to know R (or have any programming skills at all) to get started with text mining. User friendly, opens source tools like Rapidminer make it a possibility for all of us.
Are you leveraging social media for its potential to help you figure out what your customers really want?
Photo credit: wikicommons
Resource
As we noted on Monday, most CMOs feel that they don’t have the tools and resources they need to manage social media. Keeping up with the ever-changing world of social is no easy feat, unless you know Laura Roeder.
We discovered Laura’s site Social Media Marketer a few months ago, and were immediately impressed by the depth of tutorials and tools on the site. Laura’s company LKR Social Media is devoted to making social media easy and accessible for busy marketers through videos, courses and online trainings, and we can attest firsthand to the fact that they do just that.
If you’re struggling to keep up with social, we think you shouldn’t wait another day to check out lkrsocialmedia.com. While some of Laura’s resources are free (the free newsletter is a great starting point) the real value lies behind a paid subscription wall. You’ll find resources like:
- Video guides to setting up social media monitoring
- Comprehensive Twitter checklists
- Audio tutorials on just about any social media-related subject you can think of
You’ll also find courses like:
- Zero to Social SEO
- Blogging for Business
- Advanced Social Media Metrics & Data
We think these resources are invaluable for busy marketers who need a little help keeping up with social media. Check out Social Media Marketer and let us know if you agree.
Of course, if you want to go deeper in the social space, we’re here to help. Contact us here to learn more.
Photo credit: LKR Social Media
