Does your website inspire trust in your B2B …or send buyers away?

October 29, 2009 by ·

Ever notice how, when visiting a company’s website for the first time, you tend to make snap judgments about the company’s overall quality …and, by implication, about the likely quality of its products or services?

Well, you’re not alone;  we all do.  Which means, by extension, that your prospects are doing the same thing when they visit your site.  Over at Savvy B2B Marketing, Michele Linn has been doing a lot of website visits for clients recently, and has done a thoughtful post based on her analysis of the factors about a website that induce such visitor reactions.  Here are just a few of those… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Engagement ·

Can you measure your B2B’s Twitter success? Yes, you can.

October 28, 2009 by ·

While many B2Bs are still figuring out whether and how best to make use of Twitter, the trailblazers with active and maturing programs are already struggling with the problem of how to measure the effectiveness of their Twitter campaigns.

The good news is that the measurement tools are also maturing rapidly… to the point that you can measure just about whatever it is you need to.  Which leads to the question… so just what do we need to measure?

In a post over at MarketingProfs, Evan Gerber suggests that the goals of your Twitter program should determine… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Social Media ·

Tips for getting more oomph from your B2B’s email newsletter

October 26, 2009 by ·

Email is back on the hot list again, probably because every B2B wants to squeeze the max possible out of their lead funnel in this economy.  We joined the parade recently with some pointers on keeping your subscriber list on-board and engaged.

Just lately we ran into this great post by Paul Gillen, giving us “The Rules” of email as he’s learned them over a decade of practice.  We’ll supply just a sampling here, so do check out the full post for more:

  • Maximize opportunities for your website visitors to subscribe by… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, email ·

Prospecting with LinkedIn: a how-to for B2Bs

October 22, 2009 by ·

In any number of recent posts, we’ve always included LinkedIn in our Holy Trinity of B2B-useful social-media networks.

Recently, Dianna Huff took another look at LinkedIn in her guest-post for Savvy B2B Marketing and concluded:  “In the last year or so, LinkedIn has significantly increased its functionality – making the business networking site a great way to gather market intelligence about your prospects and connect with them as well.”

Of course, you gotta know how;  so here are some of Dianna’s tips: [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Online Marketing ·

Your best choice may be outsourcing your content development

October 21, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

No question, the voracious demands of online marketing for content development – already considerable – have escalated sharply over the past year or so.  Up until then, you only had to worry about…

  • your website – which of course has to have substantial amounts of rich and engaging content to meet the requirements of both human and robotic searchers
  • your email newsletter – minimally, a single series on a weekly or biweekly basis;  ideally, different email streams for distinct market segments or buying-cycle stages
  • white papers – probably at least three, to sufficiently demonstrate thought leadership and serve as prospect conversion magnets

That load was perhaps just barely manageable with internal resources.  But now, with the undeniable rise in importance of social media, there’s much more… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy ·

Social media is reshaping the B2B buying process

October 19, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

We’ve suspected for awhile now that social media has the potential to be a paradigm-shifter.  In a thought-provoking post on FYIndOut, Scott Manley argues that that day has arrived, and that one of the paradigms getting shifted is the B2B sales cycle itself …especially the early, research-heavy stage of it.

The old way:
The vendor aims a stream of communications – primarily emails – at the prospect, attempting to walk that very fine line between education and alienation.  It’s mostly one-way, highly intrusive, and uncomfortable for both sides.

The new way:
Instead of filling out a contact or registration form, the prospect goes to your blog, likes what they see, and signs up for an RSS feed.  Then (s)he signs up to follow your company on Twitter, to see what others are saying about her type of business problem and your solution.  (Or she may first learn about your company from sifting through Twitter conversations, without having ever been to your website.)  Now the prospect is learning about your company and solution on her terms, and starting to see you as a knowledge expert in the field before even seeing your product or service; what could be better?!

As Scott says, “…using social media allows solution providers to build respect, share of mind with prospects, and be viewed as a thought leader.  All of this is done on the prospect’s terms, and results in a more educated and efficient decision making process as well as a stronger relationship.”

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, Social Media ·

Think your B2B’s email list is “leaky”? It’s not just you…

October 16, 2009 by ·

As B2Bs, we rely greatly on email marketing to nurture and stay engaged with prospects and customers.  So when an article like Jeanniey Mullen’s for ClickZ comes along, it can be very unsettling.  But don’t blame Jeanniey;  she was only summarizing stats compiled by the Email Experience Council …and here are some of those:

  • Every year an average of 30 percent of the people who signed up for your email marketing list will not get your emails because their ISP (or IT department) will block them.
  • 85 percent of the people on your email list will stop reading your emails (without bothering to unsubscribe) after… [Read more...]

Filed Under: B2B Web Strategy, email ·
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