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If you are like one of our 5-year-old daughters, you're very excited to see May is finally here. The flowers, the baby animasls, everything so new! Speaking of new, here are our favorite new posts from the week. Enjoy!
Good Reads for B2B Marketing - Staple Yourself to a Lead via @PointClearPD
A wrap up of terrific reads for our wrap up.
The B2B Website Audience Litmus Test by @ardath421
Don't waste time designing your site for those who aren't likely to visit it.
How to Use EBooks Strategically to Reach Your Content Marketing Goals - by @writemartpam via @copyblogger
You say eBooks, I say eBooks, but what does that mean? Learn the difference between PDF and EPUB-style eBooks.
Which is the Most Secure, Fully Featured Web Browser for Modern Marketers? - via @eloqua
Which browsers are most people using? If you are designing websites, it helps to know what your users are using so you can test.
It's Fun to be a Marketer Again! - Introducing the Big Marketing Activity Coloring Book by @JasonMillerCA
Marketo delivers 30 pages of pure, unadulterated marketing activity fun!
April is flying by! But we've managed to catch some real gems in our nets this week from around the blogosphere. Here's hoping they reinvigorate you as much as the new life springing up all around us!
For Brands, Small Is The Next Big Thing by @davidbrier via @FastCompany
This is an interesting concept that has some relevance for B2B (especially software) businesses.
19 Warning Signs Your Infographic Stinks by @neomammalian via @KISSmetrics
Please, please don't publish stinky infographics.
Write drunk; edit sober. How to blog like you mean it by our own @suddenlyjamie
Being "authentic" and "honest" is not territory reserved only for solopreneurs and artistic types. There's a lot to be said for putting your B2B out there in a "real" way, especially since so few B2B companies have the courage to make the leap.
10 Things That Work Better Than SEO In The Connection Economy by @bernadettejiwa
It's not always about technology, widgets, or workflows.
What You Should Know About Branding When Digital Marketing [podcast] @jonbuscall hosts @craigmcbreen
Back up on the branding soapbox and well worth the listen.
We are pleased to present this guest post by Clare Moorhouse, Search Manager for Torpedo Group in the UK, named one of the top B2B marcomms agencies in 2012. Read on for ways you can set yourself up for lead-gen success.
Lead generation is the lifeblood of any business. Yet many companies struggle to capture, manage and convert meaningful leads for their business. Effective B2B lead generation requires strategic planning and persistent monitoring.
Whatever type of B2B lead generation campaign you are planning, the basic principles of generating quality business leads remain the same. In this post, we’re going to cover ten important questions you need to ask before you embark on any lead generation campaign, to ensure you get the results your business deserves.
1. Has your campaign been thoroughly planned?
Are you putting your campaign out at the right moment, in front of the right person and with the right message? A clear strategy and well-planned campaign means clever targeting with a much better chance of generating quality leads.
2. Is the campaign clearly targeted with a well-researched and in-depth understanding of your target market?
Your starting point for any B2B lead generation campaign should be audience understanding. You could divide your market by what they do, how they behave and operate, and by their buying patterns. Just make sure you are absolutely clear about who your ideal customer is.
3. Does your database contain accurate, up-to-date data?
Ensuring your database contains the most current data is crucial; you will need to contact the correct people at the right level. Validated and well-managed data should be a top priority so your message lands in front of the right person.
4. Have you set critical performance indicators to measure the success of the campaign?
This needn’t necessarily be a monetary ROI. Click-throughs, voucher returns, social shares, incoming enquiries or sign-ups are all effective ways to measure the ROI of a campaign. It’s important to set up metrics from the start in order to analyse the success of the campaign from day one.
5. Are you using intelligent and creative content that engages with your audience?
Businesses are now realising the power of content, but the real challenge is deciding what type of content best engages your audience. Online videos, white papers and how-to guides are all common tactics for B2B marketing.
6. Does the campaign align with your overall marketing strategy and integrate with other marketing initiatives you’ve got planned?
Make sure your lead generation aligns with other campaigns you’ve done in the past, or have planned for the future. Your campaign may need to integrate with secondary or even multiple marketing channels to support and reinforce your message.
7. Is the campaign tried and tested?
Always allow sufficient time to test your campaigns, and where possible, set up multi variant testing of the same campaign running side by side to measure which message is delivering the best conversions.
8. Does your campaign include strong calls to action that are easy to follow and measure?
Is it clear from the campaign what you want your audience to do? Often readers only scan a message, so be sure that it’s both clear and compelling about what action you want them to take.
Make sure you have the systems and reporting in place to measure the results of your efforts. Tracking cost per lead is one indicator of success, but measuring the cost per sales opportunity is also a valuable ROI indicator, as lead generation is about “harvesting opportunity” not just short-term wins.
9. Is your creative brief clear?
A brilliant creative concept is what’s going to grab audience attention, keep them engaged, and entice them to take action. This all starts with providing your agency with a full and clear creative brief that takes into account time, resources and available budget. Getting the most from your Creative Agency means preparing a detailed brief that includes what you want to achieve, your target audience, unique selling proposition and a central marketing message. The more detailed the brief, the better targeted the creative concept will be.
10. What’s your lead nurturing strategy?
After all the hard work spent planning and implementing your campaign, it’s often all too easy to lose contact with those prospects you’ve worked so hard to attract. A clear follow-up and lead nurturing strategy will ensure you continue a meaningful dialogue and build trusted relationships with the people that matter.
As with all marketing campaigns, better preparation will lead to better results. With that in mind, identify precisely the aims of the campaign from the outset and follow the guidelines within this article to achieve optimum results and a better response.
About the author: Clare Moorhouse is Search Manager for Torpedo Group, a B2B creative marketing agency. Torpedo provides bespoke B2B lead generation services integrated across digital, print, event and social channels. Contact Torpedo to find out more.
Have spring fever? Want to try something new? For some great inspriration, check out favorite posts from the week. What else do you have to add?
Which Company is Most Useful to You? by @JayBaer
This is a question you need to ask in terms of your brand's value to your customers.
Linkedin Founder Reid Hoffman's Advice for Entrepreneurs by @zachcb1 via @KISSmetrics
Lots of great lessons here!
Double Your Leads Instantly With This Simple Evergreen Tweak by Garrett Moon of @todaymade via @KISSmetrics (it's a two fer!)
This is a great tactic, IF it's used properly.
Writer drunk; edit sober. How to blog like you mean it by our own @suddenlyjamie
Hemingway's advice is a perfect fit for bloggers. Do you know how to use it to make your blog a more vital and valuable part of your content marketing mix?
Don't Think Like a Publisher. Think Like a Publishing Start Up by @rskin11
Ryan Skinner has an inspirational post to help you think about providing experience instead of content.
6 Developing Trends in Content Marketing by @lieblink
Rebecca Leib fills us in on what's next in content marketing.
They say April showers bring May flowers. So while you're whiling away the time indoors waiting for all those new blooms, inject new life into your reading with these picks from around the blogosphere.
Content marketing lessons sm companies can steal from big brands by @annhandley via @EntMagazine
Actually, these are great lessons for ANYone.
5 SEO Tips: Take Your SEO Menu From Conventional To Inventive by @JuliaRosien via @ShellyKramer
Great metaphor helps you make sense of SEO.
Why Are B2B Companies Ignoring B2C CX Practices? by @hmanning of @Forrester
Why it's faulty to think you can't learn from your B2C counterparts when it comes to delivering a customer experience that matters.
B2B Marketing’s Measurement Problem by @wittlake
Eric Wittlake lays out the key reasons why B2B orgs tend to stick with simple measurements when it comes to gauging the impact of marketing on the business -- and sparks a great discussion in the comments.
Is Social Selling in Need of Sales Enablement? by @ardath421
Here's what it takes to create a “social sharing” support program for your sales teams (and if you know your prospects well and are engaged in social media, you're well positioned to succeed).
42 Hot Tips for Compelling Content Marketing by @michelelinn via @CMIContent
This round up of gems from the Content Marketing Institute is a treasure trove of terrific tips.
It’s hard to underestimate the impact that social media has had on the world of business. From curry houses to house painters, it seems like everyone and their dog now has a social media presence of some kind. That could be an active Facebook profile with hundreds of ‘fans’ interacting each day, or it could be a near-devoid Twitter account with just one or two tweets a month. In any case, it’s clear that social media is here to stay. But while it may come naturally for a clothes designer or skateboard manufacturer, judging the value of social media can be tricky for those in more established areas like financial services. So the question then has to be, for companies who are in the financial industry – what’s the point of social media?
Why Social?
If you’ve been trying to weigh the pros and cons of getting social, there’s a good chance that one or more of your clients has asked you the question already. Beyond the more obvious uses for social media (as a customer service channel, for example), why should they be investing their time into sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and even Instagram? There are some answers which may jump instantly to mind: increased customer engagement, boosted brand recognition, and so on. All of these factors are important and can, cumulatively, lead to an increase in your financial service company’s core metrics – but can social media offer any measurable benefit? The answer to this one, it seems, may be completely subjective.
Getting Going - Try a Trial
The catch-22 faced by financial service institutions is this: in order to know the value of social media, they must first try it out. But not having tried it out, they can’t be sure it’ll be worth their time. Quite the dilemma! The answer, then, is simply that in order to know whether or not social media is right for you, you need to run trials. Perhaps start with a small presence, choose a number of metrics to track (new customers, returning customers, etc.) and judge whether or not there has been a positive uplift in these metrics over your chosen period. In this way, financial services companies will be able to get their feet wet without having to dive head-first into the murky waters of the social explosion.
Your Network Can Work For You
There are plenty of inevitable business benefits from conducting social media activities. But a stumbling block to getting started for some maybe resourcing. Given the right steps, your social networks can actually perform some of your business functions for you. Connecting with influencers in your space by first identifying them and then figuring out what content they want (via a survey, for example) can lead to them selling your content and your services well beyond your own reach.
Get Specialized Help
While it’s important to get the steps right before starting there’s also a real element of learning on the job when it comes to social. With the constant threat of falling foul of the inevitable regulation in financial services there are always specialist financial PR companies to help you dig you out!
Tim Aldiss writes on behalf of Broadgate Mainland, financial services PR experts
Spring is here, spring is here!
Well, it is. Even if some of us are still dealing with the last bits of winter's white stuff. This weekend, Peter Cottontail will be a-hopping down that bunny trail, and after that Old Man Winter doesn't have much oomph left.
Although there have been a few warm-ish and sunny days around here, we've resisted the urge to play hooky and have kept up with our fanatical scanning of the B2B blogosphere.
Without furhter ado, here are this week's top picks.
Enjoy & for those of you celebrating the holiday, happy Easter!
Email Marketing: Get Better Results With Evening Sends by @ShellyKramer
Really? Really. Interesting stats from Experion.
Online Testing: 6 test ideas to optimize the value of testimonials on your site via @MktgExperiments
Great list of ideas - all worth trying.
Why Driving Home the “BEFORE and AFTER” Scenario Is Critical To Get Superb Testimonials by @seandsouza
And ... in case you don't have testimonials yet, here's a great way to approach them so they really count.
Black Hat or White Hat SEO? It's Time to Ask Better Questions via @SEOmoz
This one made me want to stand up and cheer. Such a sensible and logical approach.
Website Content Every Organization Needs by @GiniDietrich
A lesson in why getting back to the basics is a Good Idea.
Google Reader Demise is Irrelevant for Blogs - by @jaybaer
Jay Baer has some good tips you are wondering what you should do as both a reader and blogger as Google Reader goes away . . . if this is a tool you even use anymore.
Cracking the Code for LinkedIn is for Marketers Too - by @ardath421
If you are looking for ways to use LinkedIn better, check out this new eBook from Ardath Albee and Jill Konrath.
We are pleased to present this guest post by John Walker of JPL Integrated Communications, an agency that works with B2B brands including Medtronic, Modjeski and Masters, and New Holland. Read 
on for John's formula for success with social media.
“So, how do we get started with social media?” It’s a question our agency has been asked countless times, but not many companies know it’s the wrong question to be asking. The right question sounds more like “What information can I provide to potential customers that is valuable to them as they are making purchasing decisions?”
54% of respondents recently surveyed by DemandGen Report* said they “followed group discussions, conversations or threads to learn more” about their purchase. Respondents also indicated that they avoid direct contact with vendors over social media. This makes sense, because the messages that typically resonate better are objectively credible information versus a sales pitch.
So the challenge becomes: “How do we create content that is genuinely helpful and credible to buyers?”
Following are three tips on how to impact purchasing decisions through social media.
- Content should help, not sell
Most marketers are used to talking about their own products or services, but remember that buying decisions usually start with a customer pain point or a specific need. Take the business software industry for example. The selection process might start with your potential customer conducting a web search on the problem she seeks to solve, such as “managing online marketing.” The prospect might be interested in not only what software can help, but in what strategies her organization can employ. This presents an opportunity to connect with potential buyers at the earliest stage of the selection process, by providing content that educates and solves the greater problem.
Examples of helpful content that can engage buyers in the early selection process might include: buying guides with product comparisons, white papers explaining strategies, case studies by other practitioners, video interviews with industry experts and blog posts explaining best practices.
- Make content highly visible online to improve search
The same DemandGen Report research referenced above found that web searches are the primary way that buyers start researching B2B companies. While making your content highly visible on search engines may seem like an obvious step to take, when it’s best to optimize your content might surprise you. For many, search engine optimization is an afterthought, with optimization taking place after content is created. For best results, content should be search engine optimized before the content is in even its earliest stages. In fact, search visibility needs to be a primary determinant in what content is created in the first place. Use tools like the Google Adwords Keyword Research tool to see what search terms people are entering, then build helpful content for them to find.
- Use social media to amplify impact
Once you’ve created relevant, engaging content, use social media to amplify impact. Use your social media platforms to establish meaningful connections with customers and followers, and create messages that are consistent with your content – helpful, not salesy. Content that makes the greatest impact in the social sphere is visual by nature and will continue to move in that direction, as you can tell from the recent design layout changes on both Facebook and Google+. Post links to content on your company website, with videos and/or photos included in your post. Share content through your own social feeds, but ask colleagues to share through theirs as well. According to DemandGen Report’s findings, primary platforms where B2B prospects look for information are blogs, LinkedIn, SlideShare and YouTube, while Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest reflected lower levels of influence*.
As depicted in the infographic, the formula for B2B marketers is simple:
Content + Search + Social = Impact
Leveraging these three tips and applying this formula will help your organization create a social strategy that is rooted in content and designed to improve search visibility.
*Source: The 2012 B2B Buyer Landscape: New Challenges, New Complexity by DemandGen Report
About the author:
John Walker is digital marketing manager at JPL Integrated Communications where he works with B2B and B2C clients to help them prioritize investments and slash through the buzz to find the right tools for their goals.
Happy Friday, everyone! We hope that this week has been both productive and fun. Enjoy the weekend and the reads below.
Attract Customers to Your Community with Content by @mackfogelson via @SEOmoz
It's not about you. This post gives some great examples of brands that sell with content that tells their customers' stories.
The Science of Storytelling by Leo Widrich of @bufferapp via Daily Good
Everyone's talking about the power of stories in marketing, but do you know the brain science that proves all the hype is right?
How to Grow Your Email List to 5 Digits and Beyond by @hunterboyle via @KISSmetrics
Great, actionable tips on opt-ins, offers, content, and measurement.
Why Content Marketing is a Long Game (and How to Play It) by @bethjhayden via @copyblogger
A smart take on the "sideways sales letter."
Content Marketing Metrics Fun with Google Analytics by @JillWhalen
Here's how to figure out if your content is driving the desired results.
How to Run a Content Marketing Campaign with Zero Budget by @WebfusionUK via @CMIContent
Here are 5 free tools you can use to run a shoestring campaign that will demonstrate the value of content marketing so you can then secure budget.
Can you feel it? Spring is in the air! And it's a terrific time to feed your mind with thought-provoking and entertaining posts that spark new ideas and inspirations. So read on for this week's top picks!
Twitter and Compete study: How Tweets influence B2B tech audiences by @csaito via @TwitterAds
Summary of findings from research showing that Tweet exposure increases site traffic, influences brand consideration, and drives leads for B2B tech companies.
Google Reader / RSS Reader Alternatives - Crowdsourced List – by @nickkellet
If you are as disappointed as some of us are that Google Reader is going away, you may appreciate this list from Nick Kellet on other options to consider.
22 image-editing tools to make your pictures pop – by @SHurleyHall via @prdailey
If you use images with your marketing (and who doesn’t these days), here are some tools that can make your job easier.
5 Content Marketing Mistakes that Even the Pros Make by @NeilPatel
Taking too narrow an approach to content marketing can rob you of opportunities. Check this list to be sure you're not missing out..
How To Use Objections To Get Awesome Before-After Testimonials by @seandsouza
Excellent technique.
5 Easy Tips for Improving Your Blog and Website Traffic by @John_Rosato via @JeffBullas
Basic SEO tips that you may be overlooking.
How to manage writers and get the most from them by @mstibbe
A little tongue in cheek, but with a grain of truth to it. Writers can be an odd breed - here are a few tips to help you get along famously.
A Real Simple Solution to the Death of Google Reader by @JerodMorris via @copyblogger
Have you heard the news? Google Reader is going to be buried six feet under on July 1st. If you have a blog and RSS subscribers, this matters to you and you should be looking at alternatives. Jerod Morris provides a smart, long-term solution.
