Marketing Trenches

Whether you live in the Baltimore/Washington area like we do, or have only heard about it on the news, everyone knows we’ve been hit here by record snowfalls.  I saw yesterday that Baltimore just passed Syracuse NY for first place as the snowiest city in the U.S. this winter.

While technology has allowed me to continue working on just about everything I would in a normal day, some of the down time “snowed in” got me thinking about how people might use some of that down time to address items on the “marketing list” (you know, that list some people never quite get to).

With that mind, I went back through some of our posts to highlight 5 pretty tangible and actionable items you can think about, evaluate and improve right away.  And while I tried to avoid the “clip show” format — Didn’t you always hate when sitcoms did those episodes that were just recycled material? – It did seem to work best in this format.

So here you go – 5 Marketing Fixes for a Snowy Week.

1). Fix Your Core Messaging:

We all know how important it is to have a clear and consistent message – But do you have a messaging problem?

Your Marketing Message in 30 Seconds

2). Diversify Lead Generation:

In an ideal world, you are managing multiple buckets of leads, each bringing a different volume, a different quality, and a different set of metrics.  But are you putting all your eggs in one basket?

Buckets of Leads

3). Convert More Visitors to Leads:

Make sure you are getting the most from your online visitors.  Tune up your contact forms and landing pages by looking at 5 common problems.

Better Contact Forms = More Prospects

4). Improve Your Search Marketing:

Writing ad copy for pay-per-click ads, particularly for Google AdWords, is an extremely challenging task.  Are you getting the most from your paid search campaigns?

The Most Challenging Copywriting Job in the World

5). Update Your Website:

Your company may have all kinds of exciting things going on - new customers, partners, upcoming events, etc.  But if from the viewpoint of the random website visitor, you’re not doing much lately it may not be worth taking the next step to get in touch.

Keeping the Newsroom Fresh

Implementing these 5 fixes will help you to upgrade your marketing — And give you a reason to avoid that snow shovel.

Will Davis is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing.  Don’t hesitate to drop Will a comment on this post.  If you liked this post, follow@willdavis on Twitter for more commentary like this.

I was speaking with a few colleagues the other day about the different benefits of social media as a whole, and blogging in particular.  The folks in the room had varying levels of social media involvement, from no involvement at all to heavy involvement.  Each of us discussed what we hope to get out of social media, why we blog or might consider it, and how businesses can benefit from blogging.  The discussion went on for some time, covering the wide ranging benefits from SEO opportunities to more frequent customer touch points and everything in between.  After a while, it quieted down a bit and somebody asked me if they had missed anything on the list.

Skip the First Meeting

While our blog serves many purposes, one of them I hadn’t heard mentioned by the group was one of the things that I find most useful.  Having a well planned blog and social media presence, with what we hope is interesting and insightful content, allows us to Skip the First Meeting.

So what do I mean when I say Skip the First Meeting?  Unfortunately, despite how well you may try to vet things ahead of time, inevitably in our business you run into an opportunity that 5 minutes into that first meeting, after you’ve sniffed each other and gotten a bit more of a sense of your businesses –  you both know isn’t a fit.  You don’t think alike, you don’t value the same things, really whatever those components may be.  Of course generally by this time somebody has ordered food, or driven out of their way, or fired up a PowerPoint or laser lights show, or something else entirely, and it’s too late to do anything but spend the next 45-60 minutes or more there despite you each knowing this isn’t going to work out.

Now, we often head this meeting off at the pass.  We’ll send a contact or prospect a link to our blog ahead of time, and also encourage them to connect with and follow us on social networks, and ask them to read through these pieces ahead of time before scheduling that first get together.  By doing this, we make much more efficient use of their time and ours.  We try to convey the idea here that we want to be involved in strategy and planning and believe in taking a holistic view of marketing, and that shines through in our posts.

When we discover the poor fit, we each save ourselves the time of an unproductive meeting where we just won’t be a fit for each other (although sometimes we do miss those laser light shows).  And just as importantly, for those that could be a fit, we’ve fast forwarded over the glossy part of the first meeting and are digging right into the important and meaningful parts that are usually saved for a second meeting.

So while there are probably 100s of reasons to blog and to get involved in social media, if it works for your business you may want to try to Skip the First Meeting.

About the Author: Will Davis is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing.  Don’t hesitate to drop Will a comment on this post.  If you liked this post, follow @willdavis on Twitter for more commentary like this.

In my initial post on the B2B lead generation topic, I wrote:

This is the first in a series of posts that will address the creation and execution of a B2B lead generation program in a step-by-step manner.  We’ll post another tip each week, and when the series is complete we’ll compile all the tips into one document and distribute.

That was October 16^th, 2009.  Oops.

My apologies for the programming interruption, but we’re back on track.  For those that missed the first few posts in this series, here they are:

B2B Lead Generation Tip #1: Start With the Right Mindset

B2B Lead Generation Tip #2: Build a Strong Roster of Stakeholders

B2B Lead Generation Tip #3: Identify the Metrics that Matter

Let’s get into the 4^th step, which involves messaging.  The good news is that we’re seeing a healthy shift to a metrics-focused mindset amongst B2B lead generation marketers.  While that mindset may elicit a “No duh Mike, lead generation is all about the numbers” response from some, the truth of the matter is that until a few years ago, the metrics-centric mindset wasn’t that prevalent.

That brings us to the bad news.  Somewhere along the way, many lead generation marketers forget about the importance of the core message and the value it brings to lead generation efforts.  While the message is only one of many moving parts in B2B lead generation, it’s a critical piece that must be addressed.

When messaging is ignored in the lead generation program building process, the most common cause is an impatient executive with a “no one cares about the message” attitude, and of course the program administrator/leader who accepts that attitude and proceeds to ignore the messaging component.

Given that the executive we’re referring to is often times a strong and influential stakeholder in the process, let’s figure out a way to address messaging without offering the impression that you want to overhaul every web page, press release, brochure, video and tweet ever created.

My guess is that there are hundreds if not thousands of approaches to message development.  I’ll offer up the two that work best in the circles we travel in.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t addressed the first two steps in the lead generation planning process - establishing the right mindset and building a strong roster of stakeholders - you may want to go back and review those before you read this.  After all, if you’re a smart lead generation marketer, you know (or you’ll find out) that process is critical.  Skip a step or ignore part of the process, and you can expect a weakened lead generation program.

Next up is identifying the metrics that matter.  Note I am using the phrase “that matter.”  Simple, but important.  Many marketers make 1 of 2 mistakes during this phase.  Either they don’t address metrics at all, or they identify a long list of metrics that don’t really matter or ones they’ll never ever track.

As an individual in charge of this program, you should discuss lead generation metrics with the person you report to, or the person that represents the most important stakeholder in the program.  Don’t be surprised if you get responses like some of these:

“I don’t care you how you do it or what the metrics are; we just need more leads for the sales team.  Focus on volume.”

“As long as we don’t spend over $XX,XXX, we’ll be ok.  Focus on using that budget wisely.”

“We just need to get our name out there more.  That will help our guys prospect, give them the confidence, and likely get some more deals closed.”

All of these examples represent what I call Metrics Avoidance Disorder (MAD), a common condition that affects approximately 75% of those asked to discuss marketing metrics.  Symptoms include:

• Cancellation or rescheduling of metrics-related meetings

• Desire to focus more on creative execution than metrics

• Making irrational statements regarding the expected results of a lead generation program

The good news is that there is a cure for MAD.  Persistence, the ability to educate key stakeholders, and some clear and concise reporting visuals can lead to MAD-free living.

Read the rest of this entry »

In last week’s post, we discussed the first step in the creation and execution of a lead generation program: establishing the right mindset.  This week, we’ll cover an equally important step: building your roster of stakeholders in the lead generation program.

Unfortunately, it’s far too common that this step looks a lot like the following within small or mid-sized organizations:

[VP Marketing and CEO/CFO are wrapping up a marketing/budget meeting]

CEO: OK.  Things seem to be stabilizing.  You guys should have an additional 50k to spend on lead generation next quarter.

VP Marketing: Great.  I think we can do some impactful things with that money.

CEO: Excellent.  Like what?

VP Marketing: Good question.  Let me bring this back to my team, and we’ll identify a plan of attack.

CEO: OK.

[VP Marketing walks down the hall, stops by the cubicle of his Marketing Manager]

VP Marketing: So…good news.  Rick agreed to give us an additional 50k to spend on lead generation programs next quarter.

Marketing Manager: Great.  That will help a lot.

VP Marketing: Yeah, that’s what I said too.  Anyway, what do you think we should do with it?

Marketing Manager: Good question.  Let me call our pr agency and see if they have any ideas.  Oh, and I’ll check in with Ralph who handles our search engine marketing, see if he thinks he can expand the program with a larger budget.  And last but not least, I’ll check in with those guys from Socially Insane Marketing to see if they think some increased social media activity will drive some leads.

VP Marketing: Sounds good.  After you talk to those guys, let’s put together a 1-2 page plan and we’ll send it over to Rick, and we should be good to go.

Marketing Manager: Sounds like a plan.  I’m on it.  We should able to crush it with an additional 50k.

VP Marketing: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.  This is gonna be fun.

[VP Marketing wanders back to his office to see if today's press release is 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd ranked in Google News when searching for the company's name.  Marketing Manager checks on the company's Facebook fan page and is pleasantly surprised to see that the company now has 37 fans, up from 33.]

OK.  So injected a little humor into that dialogue, but it’s not that far from the truth in some organizations.  The VP of Marketing and Marketing Manager are off to figure out what to do with their additional 50k in lead generation dollars, and the only stakeholder they’re worried about is the CEO.  Now, we’re all concerned about anything that ends up with CEO-level exposure, but this is NOT the right way to build your roster of stakeholders when creating a lead generation campaign.

Even though we’re just in the initial stages of this new endeavor, I am a big believer in over communication.  As the person that generally serves as the spokesperson for the marketing department, the VP Marketing ought to at least let the following types know about the potential of new lead generation programs:

• The CEO, if for no other reason than exposure to the fact that you’re moving on a new idea.

• The CFO/Controller, because he/she may be the one that signs the checks or at least authorizes them.

• The entire marketing team, because any good lead generation program is multi-faceted and ought to involve input from and integration with other efforts.

• The VP/Director of Sales, because leads are, well…kind of important to that person.

• The sales team that might be handling those leads, or at least the manager of that team, because they will need to adjust to new leads, leads from new sources, new qualification procedures, etc.

• The external agencies/consultants, because they’re typically more than willing to help brainstorm new ideas to spend more money.

There are other possible stakeholders, but I think you get the point.

I know what the VPs of Marketing out there are saying right now.  Mike, you want me to allow that many cooks into my kitchen?  That’s a disaster waiting to happen, and you’re insane.

That’s a fair statement, but that’s not what I am recommending.  I am recommending that you identify these people as stakeholders and share your initial goals and plans with them.  What’s the primary reason to do that?  So that they don’t become cooks in your kitchen later on!

Explain to these stakeholders that you are expanding the company’s lead generation program.  Explain the process you’re going to go through to create the plan.  Explain how you intend to execute on the plan.  Explain to these people the types of help/support you might need from them.  Explain to them how they can submit any ideas now, as opposed to later.  Explain to them the format you need those ideas submitted.  Explain how you intend to keep them in the loop throughout the process.

In other words, over communicate now so that you don’t have to later.

About the Author: Mike Sweeney is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing. Don’t hesitate to drop Mike a comment on this post.  Follow Mike on Twitter for more marketing commentary.

This is the first in a series of posts that will address the creation and execution of a B2B lead generation program in a step-by-step manner.  We’ll post another tip each week, and when the series is complete we’ll compile all the tips into one document and distribute.

The first step to creating and executing a B2B lead generation program is to establish the right mindset.  Regardless of your level of expertise, it goes without saying that you need a positive attitude about what you’re about to create, or else the program will fail on the runway or earlier.

Assuming you’ve established this positive attitude, we typically recommend that you embrace the lead generation mindset that is illustrated in the visual above.  We call it the Marketing Wheel for obvious reasons.  Each circle on the outside of the wheel represents a marketing vehicle (we interchangeably call them “buckets”) that you may or may not be actively using to create, execute or manage your lead generation campaigns.  Regardless of whether you’re actively using each of these vehicles, the point we’re making is simple: there are A LOT of different vehicles to consider when launching a lead generation program.  Whether you like it or not, many of these vehicles can impact your lead generation program even if you’re ignoring them from a time and money standpoint.

So where do you start?  Simple.  Brainstorm your list of vehicles or buckets.  Consider every vehicle - direct mail, email, search marketing, website, social media…the list goes on and on.  Now you have your master list.

We’ll go further with what to do with the list in a future tip, because we’re still focused on establishing the right mindset first.   You have however, taken part of the first step in building a lead generation program - you’ve identified the potential lead generation vehicles.

That brings us to core part of the mindset, and this requires some long-term thinking.  Every lead generation program should include the following concrete steps:

• Identify the strategy and tactics
• Diversify the tactics
• Execute the tactics
• Track the tactics
• Reallocate time and money towards the tactics

If this were a class, many of you would be raising your hands screaming, “What about setting up metrics for the campaign?” or “In which step do we figure out who and how we respond to leads?”  Fair questions, all of which for the moment should be considered in the strategy phase, which will be discussed in the next tip.

For now though, embrace the mindset.  You’re creating a lead generation program that is not unlike a stock portfolio.  You need to put your time and money into a few vehicles in order to diversify, monitor performance and then decide at some regular interval where to reallocate.

About the Author: Mike Sweeney is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing. Don’t hesitate to drop Mike a comment on this post.  Follow Mike on Twitter for more marketing commentary.

So you’ve managed to create a marketing program that is generating leads.  Real, ready-to-be-qualified, hopefully big budget leads.  Fantastic.  What do you do next?

If you’re structured like a lot of organizations, that lead is entered into a CRM system, perhaps assigned to a sales or marketing representative, and the dance begins.  A small percentage of those leads will become hot, sales-ready, take-the-next-step type leads.   A larger percentage of those leads will become qualified but not ready to fully engage type leads.  An even larger percentage of those leads will not be ready to engage with anyone at all.  That could indicate a host of different things, but never assume that means the lead is unqualified.

All three categories - the hot lead, the warm lead, and the cold lead - require lead nurturing at this point, yet the average organization fails to nurture leads effectively.  Why?  Too many organizations still assume that their primary lead nurturing weapons are a salesperson and a phone call.

Let’s take a look at a 4-step lead nurturing plan, and briefly describe why each step is important and how you can begin to address each one.

1. Understand why lead nurturing is important.

It’s no secret that the average B2B buyer prefers to work with someone they perceive as a trusted advisor, as opposed to just a sales representative.  So how can your sales representative become that trusted advisor?  The trusted advisor is able to prove the following over time:

• That the advisor - and the company in general - is an expert in the field being considered.
• That the advisor - and the company in general - understands the problem or issue facing your company, and can help solve it.
• That the advisor - and the company in general - will be easy to work with.

You think all three of those things can be established in a single phone call?  No chance.  Those three components are generally proven out over time.  Sure, referral business may move quicker through this process, but they still need to check off all three stages.

2. Identify the tactics you can use for lead nurturing.

This is typically the area where sales/marketing organizations sell themselves short, and ultimately revert back to using phone calls and email as their primary lead nurturing tactics.  If you’ve read this blog previously, you know that content is king in marketing.  Here’s a partial list of all the different forms of content that can be used to nurture leads:

• Case studies
• Press releases
• Free trials
• Whitepapers
• Webinars
• E-Newsletters
• Printed newsletters
• Events
• Third-party articles
• Phone calls
• Emails
• Research reports
• Blog posts

The list could go on and on.  Make your own list.  You likely have some of these materials already, and some you’ll want to develop.  Next comes the easy part - use them, and use them without abandon.  If your content is well-developed, most prospects will appreciate you sending it.

3. Schedule your lead nurturing activity.

You understand why lead nurturing is important, and you’ve now identified the materials you have at your disposal.  What now?  Make a schedule for when and how you will touch each lead.  This doesn’t have to be complicated.  It may be as simple as the following:

Read the rest of this entry »

A colleague of mine often says “Your website should be as good as your best salesperson” – which for many organizations is easier said than done.  Those of you who read this blog regularly know we always advocate looking at your overall marketing strategy, your web marketing strategy as a set of that, and your website itself as a piece of that.

In addition to looking at the big picture, sometimes it helps to slice off a few clear and actionable improvements you can take.  Some organizations have never done all 3 of the steps outlined below, while for others this is a chance to get back to basics and make sure you haven’t lost site of these 3 keys.  Here’s 3 key steps you can do to make your web presence work harder.

1). Take an Honest Look at Your Search Presence

We all know that search engines play a huge role in the web — In fact, 80% of online session start with a search  engine (via  PC Magazine).  So, even if you are doing everything you can to get the word out on your brand and website in other media, if you don’t have a significant presence in search you may be sunk.  Since search is where people go first when they go online, you need an effective search strategy — both paid and organic — to make sure that you will be found.  So take an honest look at your search presence, look with a keen eye and really re-evaluate everything.  Once you ahve done that and reformulated your strategy (or confirmed it was right all along), start working on keyword testing in paid search and SEO (learn more in a  previous post The Obvious Yet Underused Way to Build an SEO Program) and continue to monitor and adjust as you go, utilizing your analytics systems as a guide for what’s working and what isn’t.

2). Segment Your Audiences and Match Their Expectations

Too often we see campaigns where all visitors are sent to the same generic homepage, which may not speak to a segment’s particular needs.  One of the things we love about the web as marketers is it is trackable and customizable. So, for example, if you are a bank and know you have a prospect looking for CD rates, make sure you take them to a page about CDs.  If they are looking for mortgage refinancing make sure you take them to a page about refinancing, not new loans.  Utilize targeted landing pages and microsites in order to better match the prospect’s expectations and you’ll see much better results (see our previous post Microsite or Landing Page? to learn more on when to use landing pages and microsite ).  While these examples seem obvious, I’m constantly amazed by how many organizations aren’t doing them.  This feeds right back into #1, if you match your customers expectations when they come to your site, your campaigns — whether search, social media, print, or anything else — are just about guaranteed to perform better.

3). Optimize your Conversion Opportunities

So you’ve knocked down items 1 and 2 – what’s next?  Well, some people still think getting traffic to your website and getting a few leads is doing the whole job.  Getting visitors to your website is really just the first step, what we really want to do is convert those visitors by making them take your key actions.  That generally means converting them to leads by an activity such as filling out a form, converting them to customers by an activity such as an online purchase, or sometimes by an activity such as viewers of key information like using a retail locator to the nearest store.  By reviewing your analytics, you can develop a baseline for your conversion activity.  Then, begin to test different variables against this baseline, including copy approaches, offers, calls to action, imagery, landing pages, form fields and other variables.  By understanding and continually optimizing your conversion opportunities you’ll get much more value out of your marketing activities.

Whether you are new to online marketing or a seasoned veteran just circling back to make sure you are still doing the basics right, these 3 steps will make your web presence work harder.

About the Author: Will Davis is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing.  Don’t hesitate to drop Will a comment on this post.  If you liked this post, follow Will on Twitter for more commentary like this.

So you’ve gone ahead and set up a blog for your company.  Or maybe you are just starting to think about it but aren’t sure what to do – or whether you should even have a blog.  No matter which of these camps you fall into, it’s critical to your success that you don’t just create a blog, you nurture it.  While an exhaustive list here could be a few hundred tactical points, these are the big keys that will help you to be more successful with your blog:

1). Start with a Strategy

This sounds incredibly obvious but amazingly isn’t usually the case.  Most blogs fall down because there is no strategy in place on how and when to communicate, what you want to say, who you are trying to reach, and all the other crucial elements.  All too often, businesses start a blog without a well-defined strategy and it all falls apart from there.  Make sure you have a plan in place for what you will discuss (more below) how frequently (at least enough to keep your audience’s interest) and that you have the time and people to write well.

2). Write What You Know, And Please — Don’t Sell, Educate

One of the basic tenets of writing has always been to write what you know.  Hand in hand with that, on your blog make sure you aren’t just pushing a sales agenda.  Use the blog as a forum to educate visitors on your area of expertise rather than a hard sell pushing your company.  Nobody wants to go to a cocktail party and listen to someone talk about themselves the whole time, and nobody wants to read your blog if it’s just a hard sell for your company.  Instead, be interesting and educate your visitors.

3). Make Your Blog Accessible

This really spans a variety of items on your page.  On your page, make it easy to search by having items such as a prominent search box, categories, tags, easily sorted archives and clean design and navigation  – it’s really surprising how often that basic is missed!  If visitors can’t figure out what to do on your blog because your design is screaming at them then your content is nearly worthless.

4). Make It Easy for Visitors to Interact and Share

The whole idea of a blog as a social vehicle is to be, well, social right?  So, make it easy for visitors to do just that by providing easy access to tools that let them share your post with their networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Technorati, social bookmarking etc.), post comments, and contact the authors.  Link to other interesting blogs in your blogroll so your visitors get even more value out of your blog.

5). Let People Know You Are Out There

Again, this covers a number of items.  On the simple side, make sure you are submitting your blog to search engines, relevant directories, industry specialty sites, providing visitors an easy to use RSS feed, and promoting it on your website and in email.  Additionally, consider utilizing your online and offline networks to make folks aware of your blog and latest posts.  Share a new post if you are on Twitter, but also tell people at your networking meeting if it is relevant.  Add a blog app to LinkedIn (such as the WordPress app if you are using WordPress) but don’t be afraid to mention and send a link to a relevant post to a client or prospect.

While there are hundreds of additional tips to enhance your blog, make sure you are first nurturing your blog with these 5 easy keys.

Have other key steps you would like to add?  Add it to the comments below.

About the Author: Will Davis is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing.  Don’t hesitate to drop Will a comment on this post.  Follow Will on Twitter for more commentary like this.

Had a discussion with a professional services firm today regarding a problem they’re experiencing.  The problem revolves around a very simple yet often overlooked page on the typical company website - the contact form.  This company recently redesigned their website, and while site traffic has been rising, their lead volume from these site contact forms has been declining.  As a matter of fact, the numbers from their web analytics package were pretty staggering - in the last month alone, 476 page views of the contact page, and only 3 form submissions.

While we looked under a bunch of rocks to rule out other problems, one look at the contact page told me everything I needed to know.  Here are the problems, and the prescribed medication:

Problem #1: The page is waaaay too crowded.  Lots of links, lots of imagery, lots of reasons to leave.

Solution #1: Treat someone sitting on your contact page like someone sitting at your cash register ready to make a purchase, except in this case remove the Snickers bars, the US Weekly and the Chapstick display.  Remove all clutter other than the essentials.

Read the rest of this entry »