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Have you been struggling to make content marketing work for your company despite the time and effort you’ve put into strategy, planning and content creation? If so, you might be missing the one ingredient essential to any successful content marketing effort: valuable content. It seems like a no brainer, but many marketers forget that to be truly valuable to their target market, content must be relevant, useful and solutions-oriented. Here’s how to make sure your content fits the bill:
- Make your content relevant. Who is your target customer? What do they do in their day-to-day lives? What do they care about? Answer these questions, and then tailor your content to fit into the lives of your customers.
- Make your content useful. Does your content help your customer learn something new, get ahead or work more effectively? If not, why should they care? Make sure your content addresses a unique need in your target market that no one else has approached in quite the same fashion.
- Make your content solutions-oriented. Particularly in the B2B world, customers don’t consume content just for fun. They read your white papers, watch your videos and flip through your case studies because they are looking for new solutions to the problems they face. Focus your content around the challenges that your target market is likely to encounter, and then provide advice and solutions.
No matter what business you’re in, your target market is busy and overloaded with information. Following these tips for content creation will help you to build something truly valuable that your customer will be happy to make time for.
Image Via Intertsection Consulting.
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Have you heard the news? Today is a big day here at Movéo because we just launched a brand new moveo.com! We hope you’ll head over and check it out.
Like most companies, our website is in a constant state of evolution. However, it’s been a few years since we gave the site a full overhaul, and we’re confident you’ll like our changes.
The new Movéo.com is a true reflection of where our brand is today. Not only does the site showcase some of our most recent case studies, but it also does a great job of explaining our services (including new additions like our content offering) and our approach to B2B and healthcare marketing. In addition to all of this, the new site will make it easier for you to interact with us via our various social media channels. You’ll find our latest tweets, Facebook posts and blog posts right on the homepage.
As always, we welcome your thoughts on the site. See something you like or think we should improve? Let us know in the comments.
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The 2012 Olympic Games are set to kick off next week in London, and several B2B companies are ready to make a big advertising splash. As BtoB Magazine reports, companies such as Citigroup, Dow Chemical Co., General Electric Co., Panasonic and Visa have all made major ad buys for the upcoming Games. Sure, some of these companies (Visa, Panasonic, Citigroup) target the consumer segment as well as businesses, so we can understand why they’d decide to run ads during one of the most-watched events of the summer. But what about Dow Chemical and General Electric? Is their move to run ads during a major TV event (much like GE in the Super Bowl) another sign that the lines are blurring between B2B and B2C advertising — a topic we discussed last week? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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If you work in marketing or sales for a B2B company, lead nurturing is undoubtedly an important part of your day-to-day life. Depending on how you handle it, lead nurturing can be a time-consuming practice with little reward, or an efficient and highly effective way to gain new customers.
Lead nurturing mistakes are easy to make, but fortunately, they are also easy to correct. Avoid the three lead nurturing mistakes we see most frequently, and you can be sure that your lead nurturing program will be worth your time and effort.
Lead nurturing mistake #1: Relying on a one-size-fits-all approach
With the number of high-quality lead nurturing tools that exist today, there is no excuse for relying on the same emails or marketing messages for every lead that comes across your desk. Before you begin your lead nurturing program, be sure to segment your target into several groups based on common needs. For example, you can segment by industry vertical, budget, or decision-making phase and ask your leads to share this information in order to get something of value (like a white paper or case study) from your company. Then, create separate lead nurturing tracks for each segment and tailor your marketing messages to their unique needs. Programs like Genius and Eloqua make it easy to set up numerous email nurturing tracks that automatically deploy these messages to your leads based on the categories you set up.
Lead Nurturing Mistake #2: Bad subject lines
Most B2B lead nurturing centers on email, so learning to write a good subject line is essential. Make sure your subject line addresses something your target cares about and piques their curiosity without being too clever or sales-y. A/B testing will help you determine which subject lines work best. For more subject line tips, see this great article from Marketo.
Lead Nurturing Mistake #3: Lack of strategy
Failing to think through the strategy behind your lead nurturing campaign is the most common and the most detrimental lead nurturing mistake of all. Before you begin any lead nurturing effort, create a set of goals and desired outcomes, and then plan your approach accordingly.
Want to learn more about lead nurturing? Read some of our recent posts on the topic or contact us.
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If you follow us on Twitter, you might have heard us buzzing about Mashable’s report that Facebook tab engagement is down 53% since the timeline feature became mandatory. This statistic was surprising, especially given that Facebook touted improved tab visibility as one of the key benefits of the timeline.
So, now that you know that tabs are not the best way to get people involved, what can you do to drive fan engagement on your Facebook page? Here are a few of our favorite tricks:
- Pin key posts to the top of the page. Want to make sure people can easily access an important piece of content (like a description of your company) when they visit your Facebook page? Simply “pin” the post and it will stay at the top of your timeline.
- Make tabs more visible. As one commenter on the Mashable story pointed out, some of the drop-off in tab engagement may be due to the fact that the default tab images aren’t very engaging. Try creating your own tab buttons that fit with your visual brand (colors, fonts), and see if you notice a difference. Visit our page at facebook.com/moveo to see how this can be done.
- Post questions. This isn’t a new idea, and it isn’t rocket science, but posting an interesting, brand-relevant question that your fans are likely to want to debate can be a great way to drive engagement.
- Post a poll. Polls aren’t always effective at driving engagement, and they shouldn’t be overdone. However, if you feel you have something unique to survey your fans about, a poll can be a great way to get their input and get them talking. We suggest going beyond simple “just for fun” questions and polling your fans in a way that will add real value to the lives of the respondents. For example, we’ve seen several B2B brands poll their fans for feedback about new products that are still in development. What a great way to build emotional involvement!
- Hold a contest. Just like polls, contests shouldn’t be overdone. If you aren’t sharing interesting content, a contest won’t be enough to strengthen your Facebook presence. However, if you already have a loyal group of fans, an occasional contest can be a way to say, “thanks,” and improve engagement on your page.
- Interact. Far too often, brands forget that Facebook is a two-way medium. They post status updates on a regular basis, but then fail to interact with the fans that comment on their posts. Simply adding your brand’s voice to the conversation on a regular basis can do a lot to drive engagement.
Image via 5to9 Branding.
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While flipping through the latest edition of Ad Age over the weekend, an article called “Why business-to-business advertising is increasingly also aimed at consumers,” instantly caught my eye.
The story, written by Editor-in-Chief Rance Crain, calls attention to what seems to be a growing trend: Increasingly, B2B brands are advertising to general consumers with messages that emphasize their connections to consumer products. The reason for this, Crain says, is that B2B companies believe general consumer support can positively impact the purchasing decisions of B2B executives. Crain also says that B2B companies are using their consumer ads as a way to better connect with the real people behind B2B buying decisions.
However, the article is quick to point out that B2B marketing hasn’t “morphed into consumer marketing.” BtoB Magazine publisher Bob Felsenthal, who Crain quotes in the article, says, “At the end of the day, B2B is still a very different messaging, sales cycle, language and feel than business-to-consumer marketing. Even if it has emotional pull and humor, it needs to be business-relevant as well. And often, it needs real vertical industry understanding, context and messaging.”
As B2B marketers, we couldn’t agree more. Especially in complex industries, vertical-specific messaging is essential. Still, we can’t help but wonder if this blurring of the lines between B2B and consumer marketing goes beyond consumer-targeted ads for B2B companies. Today, business customers are connected to work wherever they go, and they have the ability to make business purchases from their smart phones while on the golf course, as well as from their desks. When making a business purchase, they are faced with more options than ever before, and thus, it’s becoming harder for B2B brands to stand out. These are the same challenges that today’s consumer marketers are facing, and in many cases, we believe they require similar solutions. Is there any reason we can’t continue to blur the lines between B2C and B2B marketing while still maintaining business and vertical relevancy? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Image via Bizz Click.
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Now that Fourth of July festivities are officially over, we’re getting back to business here on Get There. Today, we’re excited to welcome our Media Planner Katie Gurney to the blog with a guest post on a topic near and dear to our hearts: mobile advertising. Take it away, Katie!
If the thought of going mobile hasn’t crossed your mind, you are behind and you are leaving your customers there as well. Neilsen reports the number of smartphone subscribers accessing the Internet on their phones has grown 45 percent since 2010, with the majority of 18 to 34 year-olds owning a smartphone. “By 2013, more people will use their mobile phones than PCs to get online,” GoMo predicts, and by 2015, “there will be one mobile device for every person on earth.” Online advertising as a whole grew substantially bigger and faster in the consumer market then it did in the B2B world. That is not the case with mobile. Data from a study by Compete and Google tells us that 28% of C-suite executives use mobile phones and 21% use tablets to research business purchases online. 31% of the C-suite report the Internet has a strong influence on their opinion of a company when researching a business purchase. Below are some cost-efficient steps to help your brand go mobile.
The first objective is to design a mobile site. The site will differ from your desktop in that it has to be easily accessible with less content and gimmicks (videos, downloads and such). Be sure to review your analytics account. You will be able to break down your current mobile audience by reviewing what mobile devices and carriers they are using. You will also be able to review what pages they visited and how long they were at your site. If your company has more then one branch, be sure to have a location finder along with contact information so that your customers will be able to reach out to a representative on the go. Once you are set with a mobile-friendly site, you can begin driving traffic to it by utilizing your current budget.
QR codes are a quick and cost-efficient way to drive traffic to your mobile site. They can easily be positioned on your existing print ads. The key with QR codes is that YOU MUST have a mobile site established before implementing. If viewers go out of their way to scan your QR code and are directed to a registration page or a site that isn’t mobile- friendly, they will lose interest and, most likely, not scan again.
You should also allocate your SEM dollars into mobile search. Between 15% and 25% of paid search traffic is now coming from mobile devices. Turning on mobile search for your campaign is quite easy, but be sure to research your current keywords and creative — you will be able to see which ones are most likely used from a mobile device. Keep in mind — searches on a mobile device are typically short — the user is on the go and performs search queries in less then a minute.
Mobile technology is increasing every day. It has given consumers the ability to have their questions answered immediately with the push of a couple of buttons. So in planning your mobile initiatives, keep in mind that going mobile is more of a way to assist your current audience and guide them to easily find your products and services from their mobile device.
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Whether you’re on vacation in celebration of the Fourth of July, or still in the office, today is a great time for some “light reading” to brush up on your B2B marketing skills. We’ve rounded up some of our most popular Get There Posts from the last few months for you to browse through as you close out the holiday weekend. Enjoy!
Our Four Favorite Social Media Tools for B2B Companies
What B2B Lead Generation Looks Like Today
B2B’s Best On Pinterest
Making the Move Into Mobile
Sentiment Analysis as a Digital Metric
The Five New Laws of Content (series)
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In the last few years, the trend of crowdsourcing for creative work has really taken off. Sites like 99Designs and crowdSPRING have made it possible for any company seeking simple creative services (like a logo or business card design) to post an assignment, receive hundreds of concepts to choose from, and then pay for only the design they decide to use (usually under $300). It sounds too good to be true, and from the perspective of many creatives, it is. The catch, at least according to them, is that designers are spending a great deal of time creating “spec work” with no promise of compensation, which devalues the work of talented designers. A movement (called the Anti-Spec Campaign) has even been started to spread awareness about the downfalls of crowdsourcing.
There are obvious advantages to crowdsourcing from the client’s perspective (less money, more options etc.), but crowdsourcing opponents claim that, in the end, crowdsourcing is problematic for clients as well. High quality creative requires extensive research and a relationship with the client that is difficult to forge when there are hundreds of creatives working on the same project. As a result, opponents believe that most crowdsourcing assignments result in many mediocre creations, but few great ones.
What’s your take? Do you think crowdsourcing for creative work should be getting such a bad rap from the design community?
Image via Cooltown Studios.
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In case you haven’t heard, LinkedIn introduced a new feature that could be very valuable for B2B companies last week. Their new Targeted Status Updates for company pages will allow companies to target their connections by any number of factors (industry, company size, title etc.) and then send specific status updates only to certain groups.
Wondering how you can use this new feature to your advantage? Here are a few tips:
Tailor your content to specific industries. Targeted Status Updates are especially valuable for B2B companies that operate in a variety of different industries. We suggest creating LinkedIn groups for each industry you serve, and then sharing unique industry insights with each group individually.
Engage the C-Suite. C-suite decision makers are notoriously difficult to reach on social media. Try sending targeted status updates only to those with C-level titles, and centering those updates about content that high-level decision makers care about to get your foot in the door.
Find and screen candidates. LinkedIn can be a great tool for finding new employees and screening job candidates, but constant recruiting updates from your company’s page might annoy your regular connections. Use Targeted Status Updates to send this content only to those you consider to be “on the market” for a job with your company.
Have you found any other useful applications of the Targeted Status Update yet? We’d love to hear!
