Targeting Consumers with Content

According to a B2BOnline, more than 80% of business-to-business marketers use content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategies. Content marketing now exceeds event marketing and public relations in the B2B marketer’s toolbox, according to a survey conducted by HiveFire Inc. B2B marketers are also now twice as likely to use content marketing as they are to buy print, TV and radio advertising.

The “B2B Marketing Trends 2011 Survey”  polled 366 marketers in August 2011. Participants included business owners as well as marketing executives and marketing specialists. For purposes of the survey, “content marketing” is the creation and publication of original content, such as blog posts, photos, videos, website resource pages, case studies or white papers to enhance a brand’s visibility.

Because content production is less expensive than many other types of media buys, companies are incorporating content marketing more heavily into their lead generation marketing strategies, all while optimizing the content for search engines, in order to take advantage of the long term benefits of online content publication.

78% of respondents cited driving sales/leads as the most important marketing objective for their organization. This was the number one goal of the polled marketers but they indicated that they were challenged by budget and staffing limitations. 28% of respondents cited limited budget as a top marketing challenge. 23% cited limited staff as a major concern. The survey results suggest that these are among the reasons content marketing is increasingly utilized by these companies as a cost-effective method of generating leads.

 * photo via alexmandossian.com

Survey Says: Social CRM

Marketing technologies have evolved to the point where they are able to collect intelligence gathered in social media conversations – either at a micro (personal) level or at a macro level (demographic) level. So not only can you now log the source of a new lead (ie: tie it back to a social media platform), but you may also be able to capture more information about individual leads’ online behaviors, interests and influencers – potentially valuable information to your sales team. This is why 62% of companies already have this specific combination of business process and technology – called social CRM – either planned, partially implemented, or fully implemented.

Social CRM, also known as Social Media Monitoring, is an emerging business process supported by a technology platform (such as CRM software) where organisations watch services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for relevant mentions of their brand or related topics, and use social media to engage with those vocal consumers.

More than 3,300 marketers were surveyed recently on a variety of social media topics, including adoption of social CRM. Only 6% of respondents reported that their companies had fully implemented social CRM, but highly indicative of how important they believe social CRM is, 56% reported that they had started to plan, or partially implemented social CRM in their organizations.

Companies with long sales cycles and/or a reliance on relationships, referrals and networking – such as B2B and professional services companies – can especially benefit from the implementation of socially-integrated CRM because of the inherent value in tracking lead genesis and the detailed data about leads and prospects that is available through social media channels.

Image source: standoutblogger.com, marketingsherpa.com

The corporate website as a lead goldmine

The corporate website is second only to personal referrals as a source of leads. This was the finding of a recent study by Demandbase and Focus Research. Still, surprisingly few companies take full advantage  - with  marketing automation and lead nurturing - of the leads generated through their corporate websites.

Companies do spend significant time and money on the development of their websites, attempting to create a one-stop resource for prospective clients to learn about the business, its offerings, its people. However, 84% of U.S. B2B businesses felt they needed moderate to strong improvement in their ability to generate new sales leads with their company websites.

One major area of needed improvement for corporate websites is the tracking of web visitors and leads. According to the Demandbase study, only 20% of B2B marketers are tracking which companies their web visitors are from. Only 49% are tracking post-registration user activity on the corporate website. The businesses seeing the highest conversion rates recognize that most leads don’t convert immediately, and that they need to be nurtured over time - a process that can be difficult to manage and sustain without the use of marketing automation.

Marketing automation technologies help companies collect information about the web user, track the user’s website activity and nurture the resulting leads over time. Implementation of marketing automation solutions can help marketers nurture web-generated leads through relevant follow-up emails, based on a lead’s interest and activity, and hand the leads to salespeople much later in the sales funnel, when they are much more likely to convert. The data gained from marketing automation activities also enable companies to tweak their websites to generate more, and higher quality leads.

Most companies use their websites to generate quality leads for their sales staff, but leading companies automate their lead nurturing processes to turn more of those leads into hot prospects and, ultimately, into clients.

* image via flickr/visitsweden

Test and Test Again

No company ever created the perfect lead generating website on the first try. Consumers respond to different fonts, graphics, photos, page layouts and copy – it can all make a big difference in how well your website converts websurfers into leads and into paying clients. Even small changes can have big impacts, like the increase of 638% in new accounts one company achieved, after long-term testing of its landing pages.

We talked earlier this month about A/B testing of web pages – making slight changes, tracking the conversion results of each and tweaking appropriately. Marketing Sherpa featured another good case study on this same topic again last week.

In this latest case study, Active Network ran tests on the homepage of one of its brands and also on a few search engine optimization (SEO) landing pages. The landing page testing involved placement of page navigation, links and key calls-to-action. The first test landing page beat the “control page” in conversion rate by 548%. The company took some of the lessons learned from that landing page test and applied them to the company’s actual homepage (which historically drove most conversions). After several more tests and tweaks, the homepage saw a 141% increase in new accounts. It took the company eight tests to get to that point. After four tests, the SEO landing pages saw a 638% increase in new accounts.

Active Network’s online marketing director summed up the long testing process (which continues even now, after such positive impact of the initial round of testing): “The beauty of optimization is that you can get some learnings in one place and then start applying them to a lot of the different online strategies that you are using to drive leads to your business.”

A key takeaway from Active Network’s case study is the value of multiple rounds of testing. The company’s testing began with its homepage, then other landing pages. At each testing stage, small lessons were taken and used to tweak the next round of test pages. Test results from landing pages were analyzed and applied to the homepage. And the payoff for this patient analysis and action? A staggering increase in conversions.

* image via flickr.com/horiavarlan

The bygone era of cold calls

Cold calls have been the go-to sales starter for B2B companies for decades, but the advent of caller ID and voicemail put a major damper on the success rate of those calls. In fact, upwards of 85% of all sales calls go to voicemail, according to the Direct Marketing Assocation. Most are never returned. Digital marketing, however, helps warm up those cold calls and, according to one recent study, may help increase conversion rates by over 800%.

B2BOnline featured an interesting study last week involving a business-to-business marketing company that sent e-newsletters to 18,000 cold prospects over two months. From the email campaign the company put together a list of 1200 leads, which were then turned over to its call center for sales calls. The leads were tracked by separating them into four categories: (1) those who never opened the email, (2) those who opened the email but never clicked on a link in the email, (3) those who opened the email and clicked once, and (4) those who opened the email and clicked several times and/or visited the company’s website.

Of the first group, the group that never opened the email, only 0.60% booked appointments as a result of a salesperson’s subsequent cold call. The second group, who opened the email but didn’t click, didn’t book much more (about 0.70% percent). But the group that opened the email and clicked once booked at a rate of 1.9% (or 321% more than those who were cold called). And the group that interacted several times with the email booked at a rate of 5.3% – a whopping 868% better than group 1 (the cold-call group).

The folks behind the study point out that this process was a slow one. These e-newsletters were not “one and done”. Several emails went out over two months – increasing the possibility that those in the “never opened” category might slowly be nurtured into a higher sales-probability category.

The bottom line from this case study: a pre-qualifying, nurturing process including measurable e-mail marketing helps identify solid sales-qualified leads and helps the sales staff prioritize their sales efforts. Fewer, more efficient, and more productive calls result.

* photo via flickr/Seattle Municipal Archives

Multi-Variate Testing

Technology giant IBM recently did some testing on one of their websites, and the resulting design changes generated a substantial (double-digit) increase in conversions on the site. While impressive, it’s just a high profile example of the types of gains that smaller companies are achieving every day through “a/b” and “multi-variate” testing.”

MarketingSherpa first published the article about IBM’s testing of its IBM Software Group homepage across international markets. Big Blue was looking to determine the best homepage design to generate leads (the primary business objective of the site) for demos of its software product in several different countries. The leading design was to be used as a template across their many international divisions.

After some initial research and surveys, IBM tested three designs – the original page and two variations of the original. The main differences they were testing were in the navigation features of the page (eg: the main menu). The results of the testing overwhelmingly supported implementation of one of the new designs. IBM, though, tweaked the winning design a bit to include a feature or two from the non-winning design which also got good response in the testing. That final design, after some more testing, resulted in a 23% increase in software downloads and demos over the page.

When you’re trying to convert web surfers into clients there’s more to web design than a cool logo, a nice color palate, and a slick layout. Conversion rates can be affected by all those variables and countless others. Testing different versions of your website’s homepage or landing page against one another can be enlightening as to consumer behavior and the performance of your site’s design. Partly due to the increased availability and affordability of tools that facilitate such tests, companies of all sizes are adopting the practice with results often similar to the very high profile example that IBM was proud enough to publish the results of. Slightly less notable companies share their A/B Test results on websites like abtests.com every day.

*photo via flickr/jlz

Dyson's Viral Video

Racking up 1.8 million views in 17 months, Dyson – the vacuum cleaner manufacturer – demonstrated that even videos about air fans can go viral. By showcasing their new product in a way that average Joe/Jane could easily visualize their technical achievement, consumers became interested – intrigued even – and wanted to know more. And the product in the video hadn’t even been released yet. The relatively low-budget video was posted on YouTube, and print media and other traditional media took notice within four days due to its immediate popularity. Dyson achieved a nice boost in brand awareness that even they probably didn’t expect.

Dyson vacuums already have strong brand recognition, but if you’re anything like me, you may not have known Dyson made fans (actually, “air multipliers” – whatever that means). They also make those jet-engine loud new hand dryers in public bathrooms. Who knew? Back to the air multiplier. It is a bladeless fan, released in the summer of 2010.  It looks like a ring mounted on a post, kind of like a Harry Potter Quidditch goal.

When Dyson announced the product in the fall of 2009, people didn’t understand how the device worked. About a month before launch, Dyson posted a video montage of air multiplier testing and a video with a animation showing “how it works” on its YouTube channel. The videos got relatively few views, so a few weeks before launch Dyson posted a new video. This one was a bit Rube Goldberg-ian in that it shows a balloon being sweep through an intricate series of Dyson air multipliers; an obstacle course of sorts for the balloon to maneuver without human assistance. The balloon moved through the fans solely by the power of air. The result? Not only eye-opening understanding of how the new product, but a desire among consumers to share the cool video with their friends. A great case study in the viral nature of online videos without even one “LOLcat“.

Retirement Community's viral "Lip Dub" video

A “lip dub” video (below), produced by a university student film crew for a retirement community in Michigan recently clocked over a million views on YouTube in just one month. The popular video generated interest from local and national TV and print media, resulting in levels of notoriety the retirement community never anticipated.

Think about it – a million views for the Clark retirement community in Grand Rapids. Those are senior citizen residents singing, dancing, and even synchronized swimming to Michael Buble’s cover of “Feelin’ Good.”

The video is featured on the retirement community’s website and on its YouTube channel. It has been covered by Fox News, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Today and NPR. Nearly every local Grand Rapids media outlet covered the video and linked to it. As more people watched the video, it was posted on high-traffic websites such as Mashable, Gawker and the Huffington Post. Michael Buble even chimed in with kudos, saying it reminded him of his grandfather.

Media mentions and web referrals from those media sources are powerful benefits of a solid video campaign. And although many of the video’s million plus views came from outside of Michigan the level of local notoriety for the lip dub video has been impressive. Local and national television, radio and internet coverage almost certainly brought the facility to the attention of Grand Rapids residents – and in this case many potential target consumers who may not have otherwise found the video online. Clark Retirement Community wouldn’t have achieved all this with a banner ad – this is for sure.

The internet moves fast and people are pushing it constantly to move even faster, causing attention spans to dwindle, and challenging businesses to get “aggressively creative” to attract new customers online. This is one of the reasons that the use of video for marketing on the web has expanded so quickly over the past several years. According to the comScore May 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings:

83.3 percent of the U.S. Internet audience – 176 million people – viewed online video in May 2011.

The Milk Board launched a website, everythingidoiswrong.org, to serve as the hub of the Got PMS? efforts. Calling it “your home for PMS management”, the microsite provided “preapproved apologies” for men to use with their girlfriend or spouse with PMS. Not surprisingly, many consumers criticized the campaign as sexist. The real surprise was the sheer volume of the negative buzz pouring from social media outlets.

After a surge of negative response to the campaign, the everythingidoiswrong site was replaced with (and redirected to) gotdiscussion.org. The new site was intended to foster more serious debate about the Got PMS? campaign’s premise and approach, and to provide information about the calcium/PMS study.

gotdiscussion.org states that “regrettably, some people found our campaign about milk and PMS to be outrageous and misguided,” adding that others “thought it funny and educational. And we apologize to those we offended.” Milk Board reps have told the media that they “accomplished what we set out to accomplish,” citing visits to the microsite and conversations about the campaign. The Board’s agency denies, however, that the campaign was designed to play out this way.

The Milk Board learned – some might say taught – a valuable lesson in the current digital marketing environment. While businesses want to stand out from the crowd – often in provocative ways – they must be prepared to change course if public response demands it.

Consumers can respond individually in full public view on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as on their own blogs. They share their opinions and forward links to their network with amazing speed and, often, passion. If you offend someone, chances are very good that you’re going to hear about it. And the Milk Board certainly heard about it.

Rather than continue to invest in a campaign that brought an unexpected level of negative attention, the Milk Board was nimble enough to respond within days, changing direction and opening up discussion. They listened.

Digital marketing allows for that nimble behavior in a way that traditional media never truly has. Credit to the Milk Board – and their ad agency – for recognizing and reacting to social media buzz in a way that encouraged consumers to continue discussing their brand. Whether or not they achieved their campaign’s original goal, they certainly scored a backhanded win in terms of brand exposure.

Not only has the Milk Board been immortalized yet again as an online marketing case study, they have started discussions about their brand (like this one) that the original Got PMS? campaign never could have.

Image via Got Milk Facebook page

Social media "shares" impact search results

Recent industry studies indicate that search engine rankings are measurably affected by social media activity. The undeniable fact is that search and social media are growing ever more intertwined, but according to eMarketer, about 70% of top brands don’t manage their Facebook page to account for its impact on search at all.

Google, the search giant, is continuing to make significant investments in social media. Last month Google bought PostRank, a social media analytics tool. And then they launched the Google+ (Google Plus) social network which has become the fastest growing social networking site ever.

Facebook, the current king of social networking, understanding the power of its domain within search results, recently teamed up with a search engine optimization (SEO) research firm and issued a white paper on “social SEO.” Among the findings in the whitepaper were that businesses, even those that practice optimization on their websites or blogs, don’t put much effort toward making their Twitter, Facebook or YouTube pages search engine friendly.

It’s clear that a strong social component is seeping into search engine algorithms. Facebook “likes,” Twitter “re-tweets,” and Google “Plus-1′s” are all indicative of good social media engagement and are favored by search engines.

Many companies continue to treat the areas of search and social media as distinctly separate online marketing initiatives, but those that recognize the importance of this converging space of search and social media are adopting a more holistic online marketing strategy.

Photo via sofiabudapest