by gabriel_sales | Jun 16, 2014
B2B companies today know they need content. This is very clear by the fact that thousands of B2B blogs and videos are now posted every week. But how do you get it to actually do the things you want it to (e.g. generate leads, increase brand awareness, motivate a transaction, etc.)?
Here are 5 steps to B2B content engagement success:
1. Start with your audience
If you start by asking yourself, “What kind of content do I want to make today?” you’re doing it wrong. The first question should be, “What type of content does my specific audience want to engage in?”
For example, do your prospects like quick and fun blog posts or in-depth, technical white papers? If you don’t know the answer to that question, it is pretty easy to do some research, and find out what your competitors are doing. You can also directly ask your prospects what type of content would be helpful to them, which can help you to prove your value during the sales process.
2. Tell a story
Incorporating storytelling into your B2B marketing content seems to be one of the big marketing trends of 2014, and for good reason. Adding storytelling elements to your content helps improve engagement by making your content easier to read and increasing the probability that prospects will retain your message.
By using a ‘beginning, middle, end’ structure, prospects can more easily follow the flow of your content as you present your argument, statistics or other information. Messages with stories also are remembered much better over time and “according to Uri Hasson from Princeton, a story is the only way to activate parts in the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and experience.”
Continue reading.
by gabriel_sales | Jun 13, 2014
Looking to launch B2B sales marketing? Here are your options…
Most companies today have realized that the b2b sales marketing strategies and tactics that worked 10—or even 5—years ago do not work anymore. Marketing no longer revolves around positioning and impressions, and sales is more than endless cold calls and aggressive sales pitches.
B2B sales and marketing today is about having the ability to integrate your sales and marketing processes with digital tools and technologies to simultaneously improve effectiveness and increase efficiency. For B2B companies who have not yet gone through this integration, the process can be overwhelming and time consuming. For many companies, it can take over a year to implement and see results from a marketing automation platform.
In order to streamline these processes and handle the added complexity that comes with B2B sales today, many companies are currently looking to external resources. Companies have several options when it comes to outside sales and marketing resources, and the rest of this blog will look at the pros and cons of using freelancers for B2B sales marketing.
When Freelancers Work
- You have a specific, one-time project or issue.
- Hiring a freelancer can work when you have something that needs to be done that has a clear beginning and end (e.g. a website redesign or marketing brochure).
- You have a clearly defined gap that needs to be filled.
- A freelancer can be a fit when all of the other puzzle places are already in place. For example, you may have all the marketing technology you need running smoothly, but cannot keep up with the constant demands for content.
- You have project management processes and quality assurance standards in place internally.
- Because freelancers, by definition, are not your internal employees, they do not know how you work and what your standards for quality are. In order to get quality work on time, you need to have clearly defined processes and standards in place for freelancers to adhere to.
When Freelancers Don’t Work
- You are starting from scratch
- If you have yet to enter the world of content marketing, social media, customer relationship management and marketing automation, hiring a single freelancer is not going to get you where you need to be.
- The issues you are trying to solve involve different skill sets
- If the help you need involves both content creation and technology integration, you need an outsourced sales and marketing team, not a freelancer. Freelancers typically have very specialized expertise and cannot wear all the hats needed to set up and run a fully integrated sales and marketing program.
- You need help with strategy in addition to execution
- If you have a strategy and plan in place, it is relatively easy to plug freelancers into it. If you have yet to create a sales and marketing strategy, it is likely you need a more comprehensive solution before you will be able to execute successfully.
To learn more about the option of outsourcing your B2B sales marketing, read 5 Ways an Outsourced Sales Team Can Help Your Marketing Team. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | May 12, 2014
This is part two of a blog series on marketing automation in 2014. Click here for part 1.
As an outsourced marketing automation provider, we understand how difficult it can be to start. There are now dozens of solutions out there, and everyone has different opinions about what you should do.
Here are three quick tips for companies who have yet to implement a marketing automation solution.
1. Understand that the ‘best’ marketing automation platform for your company is dependent on many factors.
As a company that offers outsourced marketing automation services, we make our platform recommendations by weighing the client’s demographics and goals against the capabilities and limitations of the software. When choosing the right solution for your business, you need to consider things like the size of prospect database, number of emails that need to be sent daily, possible integrations, the number of users and more.
2. Leverage implementation checklists and guides, training webinars and other guides to learn the ins and outs of your software.
While marketing automation software is somewhat complex, there is a ton of content out there that can help you simplify it. Most marketing automation platforms have support centers and training videos to help with the basics. Some platforms, like eTrigue, hold weekly live training webinars that cover different features and processes in more depth.
3. Bring in marketing automation experts to streamline your implementation process and train you on how most effectively use your platform.
While we aren’t arguing that you can’t implement marketing automation on your own, we will argue that the whole process goes much smoother if you have experts there to guide you. From the technical setup process to list segmentation to setting up and run automated email campaigns, outsourced marketing automation services can help enable you to use your platform as effectively as possible.
For more on marketing automation, read this quick blog on How Marketing Automation Impacts B2B Lead Generation. You can find more info on our outsourced marketing automation services
by gabriel_sales | May 8, 2014
As digital marketing takes up more and more of the overall marketing space, more and more companies are invetsing in marketing automation solutions to help streamline their marketing process.
In the past few years, marketing automation has been a revolutionary force in the world of digital selling. B2B companies who leverage marketing automation as a part of an integrated sales and marketing program gain better targeting of prospects, improved lead management, the ability to measure results and ROI and better customer relationship management.
In a recently published report from Regalix Research on the State of Marketing Automation in 2014, it was found that 88% of B2B marketers are either currently using or implementing marketing automation tools in the coming year. Of those who did not currently have a solution in place, 69% plan to implement a solution in 2014.
The report also looked at the biggest obstacles to effective use of marketing automation. While the report lists over a dozen, two of the top obstacles are lack of expertise to use the data and intelligence offered by the tool (55%) and complexity of marketing automation software (34%). This helps to explain why the top factor companies look at when evaluating a marketing automation software (86%) is ‘ease of use’.
In addition to the complexity, it can often take a while to see results once your marketing automation system is in place. The report found that only 20% of marketing automation users saw results within the first three months, while it took at least six months for 64% of users.
Continue reading for implementation tips.
by gabriel_sales | May 6, 2014
Video, especially digital video, has grown so prevalent; it is likely to be the defining media format of our time. Over 100 hours of video now are uploaded to YouTube each minute, and it would take over 1,000 years to watch every video uploaded.
Here are 3 reasons you should be using B2B video in your digital marketing programs:
1. Your buyers watch them.
While we all love our cat videos, it seems we also (at least somewhat) enjoy watching business videos and commercial advertisements. Forbes recently stated that 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week. Forbes also found that 59% of executives would rather watch a video than read text.
2. They can influence your buyers’ subsequent web activity.
Many studies on B2B video engagement have found that videos are able to influence buyers to further engage with your company in some way. Forbes stated that 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website after viewing a video. Similarly, Zabisco found that 46% of people who viewed a video ad took some action after viewing it. Specifically, they found:
- 26% looked for more information about the subject of the video (Zabisco)
- 22% visited the website named in the ad (Zabisco)
- 15% visited the company represented in the video ad (Zabisco)
3. They can motivate a buying decision.
While impulsive decisions are much more likely to happen in the B2C space (where 65% of people are much more likely to buy a product after seeing a video), videos can motivate purchase decisions in the B2B space as well. Forbes Insight found that after watching a video, about 50% of executives went on to make a purchase for their business.
For more on the advantages of B2B video, read this quick blog on 3 Reasons You Should Leverage B2B Video in 2014.
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
by gabriel_sales | Apr 14, 2014
The 2014 B2B Content Marketing Report done by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs found that 93% of B2B companies currently engage in content marketing.
These companies have realized that today, buyers begin to interact with B2B companies digitally before engaging with sales directly. They know that in order for buyers to interact with their company digitally, they need to have digital content for buyers to interact with.
While it is great that so many companies are engaged in creating content, many B2B companies are failing to understand the true function and goal of marketing content in relation to the overall sales process.
Many companies are treating their content—blogs, white papers, webcasts, nurturing emails, etc.—like an extension of their sales pitch. They see every blog post as another chance to push their product or sell their service. They see every email as the perfect place to try to close the deal. The main issue with marketing content like this is that the focus is on the company, not the customer. The emphasis is put on the company’s goal (selling) rather than the customer’s goal (solving a problem).
There is always going to be a time and place to sell. However, many of the prospects that interact with your marketing content are nowhere near ready to buy. In fact, only about 5% of B2B prospects are ready to buy at any given time. The other 95% are at various stages of their buying cycle—discovery, education, verification, etc.
This means that if all of your marketing content is simply an ongoing sales pitch, only 5% of your audience is going to be receptive to it at any given time. The other 95% still want to be educated or compare their options, and your sales pitch is going to seem pushy or annoying.
While talking about your product or service is okay, try to keep the hard sales messaging on your product and service related pages only. In your marketing content like blogs, white papers and webcasts, your focus should be providing valuable information that your prospect can use in some way. By providing value prior to purchase, you help to build trust with your prospect, which is a prerequisite for most–if not all–B2B deals.
To make sure your marketing content is focused on helping the buyer solve problems (rather than selling the buyer a product/service), you should first work to clearly understand what those problems are. Then, create content that answers any and all questions your typical buyer may have in trying to solve those problems.
A simple rule for determining whether your content is company/selling-oriented or customer-oriented is to ask, “What does this piece of content do for the prospect?”
If your only answer is, “It convinces them that my product is the best” or, “It explains why they should buy my service,” you probably should go back to the drawing board. ”If your answer is something like, “It gives them information on the pros and cons of SaaS solutions” or, “It explains the five most important aspects of energy efficiency,” you are probably on the right track.
To learn more about creating compelling and engaging B2B marketing content, read The New Rules for B2B Customer Engagement. Feel free to contact us with any questions.
B2B companies today know they need content. This is very clear by the fact that thousands of B2B blogs and videos are now posted every week. But how do you get it to actually do the things you want it to (e.g. generate leads, increase brand awareness, motivate a transaction, etc.)?
