What’s Working in Marketing

Millions of personal blogs can be found across the Internet. Some aren’t worth the digital ink they’re written with; others are filled with interesting information about a person’s area of expertise. Here’s a journal about one person’s journey through the horrors of chronic Lyme Disease (something our own family knows all too much about).

The same e-opportunities to establish expertise and share detailed knowledge exist for corporations. And we are now seeing a rapid rise in the number of blogs being added to the corporate marketing mix.

This year, eMarketer estimates just over one in three companies have a public-facing blog used for marketing, a proportion that will rise to 43% by 2012. “Studies have shown that marketers perceive blogs to have the highest value of any social media in driving site traffic, brand awareness, lead generation and sales—as well as improving customer service,” said eMarketer’s senior analyst Paul Verna.

According to a 2010 study by Burston-Marsteller, one third of Fortune global 100 companies have corporate blogs. Those companies that do have blogs, tend to have corporate blogs so divisions and product lines can highlight their own areas of expertise.

This study also discusses use of other major social media networks, including Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. It’s worth a look. Thanks to Brenna Larson at Rogers Corp. for passing this study on to us.

Highly effective search engine optimization strategies that really improve natural search rankings is a specialized area of expertise.  Not everyone can do it, even though they say they can…there are many fly-by-night operations that promise the world and completely under deliver.  That’s why for this next podcast, we decided to sit down with our very own Frank Saucier, Telesian’s CTO, who spearheaded our SEO service and has years of experience optimizing all kinds of web sites for our clients.  Frank has a wealth of knowledge to share, and interviewing him was easier than getting him to sit down and write something … ) plus you’ll get to hear Frank’s witty comments and analogies, which help emphasize good and bad SEO practices in our brains.

In this interview we asked Frank:

• What are the biggest misconceptions about SEO that people have?
• How important are keywords and meta tags when it comes to search?
• Should I care about SEO now that social media is getting so much hype?
• Can I use social media to help my SEO?
• Whats the one thing that is often overlooked with it comes to SEO?
• What are the top 3 ways to improve natural search rankings?

Definitely tune in if you ever wondered about the nitty gritty details of SEO.  You’ll be sure to learn something.  And the good news is we’ll check back in with Frank every so often to hear the latest updates when it comes to search strategies.

To listen to the podcast, go here.

To see all our podcasts, go here.

The theme for the upcoming ISA Marketing & Sales Summit “In Search of the Holy Grail: Integrating Marketing and Sales”, and the Summit is running a blogging contest to win a iPod Touch if folks blog about a topic relevant to the upcoming Summit.  So, here’s my “entry”… although I’m not really qualified to win..I just like to get things started…

Integrating marketing and sales is no small task, and often times is dictated by the culture of an organization more than anything.  If a CEO believes and understands the value of marketing for the business, then alignment can happen much more quickly than in organizations where the CEO doesn’t appreciate marketing.

I was fortunate to participate in an organization that did a pretty good job of integrating marketing and sales efforts without a big CRM system.  The key to success was marketing’s ability to adapt the sales cycle to support a buying cycle approach.  We went through some training which taught the marketing organization (at the time) of how marketing’s real role is to leverage the sales process and help make that process easier for sales personnel.  The goal was to shorten each of the steps as much as possible, by providing information that better suited a buyer’s need at that point in time.  We developed a strategic marketing buy cycle model that allowed us to evaluate what buyers wanted to know at each stage of their “buy process” for the technology we were selling. We gathered lots of information…some directly to our customers, we had some win-loss analysis that helped identify some prospect needs, and from this research we developed an entire information-type system that fed buyers hunger and gave sales personnel new ammunition for each sales cycle step.

What changed? There were several benefits that fell out of this:

1.  Marketing finally understood how to support sales, and sales finally understood how marketing can help them.  (BIG win)

2.  We all had a vocabulary that we understood and marketing became much more proficient at developing materials that were useful and helped drive the sales cycle.

3.  Sales personnel began telling us stories of the positive changes they were seeing in the sales cycle.  The approach helped them build stronger relationships.

4.  We began to use the buying model as a litmus test of whether or not we really needed to create new materials.  The materials needed to address something specific in the buy cycle, and it eliminated those 1-off projects that were not necessarily aligned with the new strategy.

5.  Marketing campaigns got much more effective because we had started to learn how to “converse” with buyers early in the buy cycle – before social media was even a consideration.

There are probably more things, but those are just off the top of my head.  All in all it was a very positive experience and has become part of my core approach when it comes to marketing in general.

What are your experiences/challenges achieving marketing-sales alignment?  Past or present?

Of all the social networks, building a B2B presence on Facebook has its challenges.  Similar to LinkedIn, managing a Facebook page can feel like an echo chamber.  We know we need to be doing a better job in this area, so when this new report came out from Altimeter, I had take a closer look.  In it, they lay out 8 success criteria for successful business pages, and the report goes on to explain good examples of each. Unfortunately most of the examples are consumer-based, but this is who we have to learn from.  Consumer marketers have been more successful in this network than B2B, and we have to find ways to adapt an approach that works for our own markets.

The 8 Criteria included:

Source: Altimeter Group

When I first read this list, I didn’t see it as a surprise.  It’s focused on doing the basic blocking and tackling right for any social media strategy.  (had to get in a football analogy as the season is upon us…)  As with all things, the devil is in the details.  The hardest part for most B2B brands is getting comfortable with the idea of activating positive word of mouth comments through these networks.  We need interaction to help measure our progress and grow our members, but it requires reaching out first. Many companies do fear about getting negative feedback, and how that will “look”.   But this report talks about the various levels of engagement and interaction, and it can help shape goals for your Facebook page over the rest of 2010.

Here’s the report:

Just came across this post by eMarketer about a new report on online lead generation…

Based on the quantity and quality of leads generated, companies said email was their best lead generation program, followed by live events, website registrations and webinars. The effectiveness of online channels, coupled with the fact that prospects indicate the web is the first place they look for more information, makes it natural for companies to be increasing their investments in web design, email marketing and search engine optimization.

This is similar to what we have been seeing in our client base too.  Email is taking priority (it has been for awhile), and as Shari points out brands do matter in e-marketing. The problem is many companies do not have a strong web site to fully support an email campaign.  They use generic links to the home page in the email or landing page, leaving visitors to swim for themselves on web sites that are not well organized or are just plain confusing.   That’s why I thought this chart, which shows where investments are taking place was telling, because new web site design/content tops this list.  This is good news, since web sites really begin to get dated after a few years.  Also great to see online communities and blogs coming in at #3, this is an area that many companies need to step up and do.  Of course, we hope it’s more than another outlet to broadcast press releases, and a real strategy is developed so that these channels offer value for your market(s).

Don’t Ditch Direct Mail Yet

Before we throw away all our direct mail plans (this chart shows 39% are spending less on direct mail this year), we need to remember that an all email communications plan can become a bit monotonous….  We’ve seen some direct marketing success using a multi-channel approach coupled with personalization tactics.  I wrote about this in the article “Spicing up your Direct Marketing Campaigns” in the last Telesian e-news.  Remember we all get bored with the same thing all the time.  So do our audiences. Make sure all email campaigns are tightly coordinated with good subject lines and offers and include suggested next steps to guide people through the buying process.  And if you can tie in another communication medium outside of electronic…like print (gasp), or an offer you can hold in your hands,  perhaps the message will finally get through the clutter.

This week’s issue is focused on social media because I read several articles last week that touched on questions I’ve been asked recently.  Questions like:  Are there good examples of Facebook B2B pages?  Is auto-tweeting everything ok to do?  How are some of the big companies doing with social media?  I hope you found these as valuable as I did. 

1.  Most Useful:  Updated B2B Facebook Page Examples with Data
This blog post is actually a 2-part post – make sure to read the original post too to get the full picture – but it shows some growth of B2B Facebook pages across corporations.  Dell’s been most successful, seeing 259% growth in their “likable” base (what the heck do we call our customers on pages, now that “fan” is out…but I digress.).  Cisco has grown 202%, Forrester grew 44%, check out the latest stats.

2.  Most Insightful: Q&A: Cisco’s Doug Webster
I love a good Q&A, and this one by Doug Webster, director at strategic communications at Cisco doesn’t disappoint.  Perhaps a new idea or two will come to mind as you learn how Cisco is working social media into their marketing efforts.

3.  Most Interesting:  The ROI of Social Media Marketing: More than Dollars and Cents
What I liked about this post was seeing Forrester’s thought process for measuring social media ROI using a balanced scorecard approach.  It allowed to address both the intangible benefits, like brand awareness, along with the tangible benefits like sales leads and actual sales as a result of activities.  It was good food for thought.  Let’s see how implementable it is.  It could be the start of a framework…

4.  Most Helpful:  The Pros and Cons of Auto Tweeting Blog Posts
This is a question we’ve been asked several times, and it’s important to understand.  While it’s easiest to automatically share tweets across social networks, it’s not always the best policy.  This article shows you how to reconsider making your posts more engaging.  But, to make a bigger point, take a look at the recent experiment by MI6’s Chris Hebert who explored how this activity is really received.

5.  Most Risky:  Ben & Jerry’s Drops Email Marketing In Favor of Social Media
I love it when companies take risks, and in this case, Ben & Jerry’s is certainly taking a risk by eliminating their email marketing.  They have found that their customers are more engaged in social media networks than email.  In doing this, they are saving the expense of an email service.  We’ll see if this is works or not, but it looks like it is so far.  Can marketing live on social media alone? I’m not a believer yet, especially in B2B.  But we gotta hand it to B&J for leading the pack in making a decision many of us would gasp at.

I’m writing this Top Five Faves from the road, I’ve found a nice Barnes & Nobles cafe to connect and catch up briefly.  Last week was all over the map with good articles, it was hard to pick just 5!  From last week’s Old Spice campaign (never seen anything like it) along with a couple of Google clips that indicate they are clearly moving into social media,  it was an interesting week.  I especially liked the  PPT on the social network in real life, it’s a little long, but a quick browse will reveal a fascinating view of social networks.  Surely something to think about.  Well, enough of this…let’s get to it:

#1.  Most interesting:  Old Spice vs. Fast Company
I know I mentioned the Old Spice campaign last Friday, but this is a different look at the campaign in comparison to Fast Company’s “Influence” campaign, which seemed to annoy some folks in social media circles.  I also want to give props to Lucretia Pruitt who shared this link using a new app called Amplify… I’m going to investigate that app a little further, it looks promising.

#2.  Most informative:  The Real Life Social Network v2

This is the PPT I mentioned.  It was authored by Paul Adams who is part of the UX team at Google (you can read more about what he’s doing in the PPT notes).  To summarize, he is doing research in how social networks really work, and the complexities therein.  I found some of the ideas refreshing because there are nuances in our social networks that can be challenging when delivering the right content to whom.  I’m excited that Google is looking this seriously…as noted in the next article.

#3.  Most Telling:  Google Conducting Focus Group Research Into Social Networking

Seems like we’ll be seeing a Google-version of Facebook and Twitter…or something like that.  Time will tell.  What have you heard?

#4: Most Not Surprising:  More On Buying Banners = Burning Money: The Guarantee 07/13/2010

Ok, what’s “most not surprising” you say…. I had a hard time coming up with a good descriptor for this one. But it was a validation point for us here at Telesian.  We’ve often recommended clients to not get involved with buying web site banners as their return on investment is minimal.  We do recommend online advertising in the form of e-newsletter text ads because we’ve seen them perform time and again, as well as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.  Of course PPC requires on-going management to really make it work. But, in case you were thinking about buying banners with next year’s budget, think again.  If it’s purely for brand awareness, that’s one thing.  We can’t argue with that. But if you’re looking for leads and traffic, well, there may be better options out there.

#5. Most Funny:  14 Stages of Writing a Book | Content Rules

I really like Ann Handley’s (@MarketProfs) writing style, it’s down to earth and funny.  It looks like she is authoring a new book with CC Chapman, called “Content Rules” and I’ll definitely be reading it.  This article is Ann’s description of the “stages” that a writer goes through when writing a book.  I haven’t written one yet, but this resonated with me.   My turn will come soon…and I know I’ll be falling into this process she wrote about.

Enjoy!  Have a great week all!    Any of these articles resonate with you?  Let me know which ones…I’d love to hear about it.

In the process of researching information for an upcoming presentation, I came across this article about video growth and watching behavior that got my attention.  A recent comScore study showed that in the month of May, an average of 100 videos was viewed per viewer across all video sites. How many videos did you watch last month?  I don’t know if it was 100 for me, but it may have been 25-40.  Between Facebook, Twitter and my son constantly sending me YouTube videos, it creeps up there.   It’s amazing how fast things have shifted.  Get this:

New data from comScore shows that 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month of May. YouTube.com achieved record levels of viewing activity with an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed and surpassing the threshold of 100 videos per viewer for the first time.

U.S. Internet users watched nearly 34 billion videos in May, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 14.6 billion videos, representing 43.1% of all videos viewed online.

So the question for marketers is…how are your plans for video coming? Do you have some in process?  If not, then you need to think about how to produce a video.  And not just a talking head video, but a video that is creative, something that comes at a problem or idea in a new way. Like Old Spice did.

Did you catch the Old Spice video campaign that was happening this week?  You can read the full story here, but the short story:

The Procter & Gamble Co. brand released more than 180 videos featuring the campaign’s star, ex-football player Isaiah Mustafa. In the videos, he responds personally to online queries or comments from various Web users and some famous ones, including Ellen DeGeneres and Alyssa Milano.

The videos, all of which feature Mustafa in a towel speaking directly to the camera, have been steadily released over the last few days. On Friday, they accounted for eight of the most popular 11 videos on YouTube and more than 21 million views in total.

The videos are a bit corny but do garner a smile.  I gotta give it to Alyssa Milano who kicked things up a notch by challenging “Old Spice Man” to ante up $100k donation to a national fund for cleaning up the oil in the Gulf.

Now I recognize that most of us reading this campaign would think…how the heck would this apply in B2B?

Let’s not let our own limitations get in the way of good marketing ideas that could come out of this.  The point is engagement with others.  I could see a similar approach deployed at an event with customers, where you have a roaming video interviewer, asking questions about what people attending really want to know about your company.  And then taking time to respond to each person, in video.  Of course, logistics would need to be sorted out to make it all happen, and it may take a more serious tone, but wouldn’t that be cool?  It would be a fantastic way to wrap up an event with a video of responses.  And fun too…

We’re happy to welcome back our Top 5 Faves, which highlights five articles we’ve read over the past week or two that we thought you’d like to know about.  Last week was packed with good tidbits to share, and hope you find them as interesting as I did.  Here’s the best of the best from last week:

#4 Most Shocking:  Octavia Nasr Leaving CNN After Controversial Hezbollah Tweet

A good reminder that we are all accountable for what we say and write online. Let’s remember to take a pause when we are feeling emotional or dealing with sensitive subjects that we stop and think…could this backfire on me?

Most funny:  The 20 craziest things you can do on Twitter | {grow}

I really like Mark’s blog, and I thought this post was a classic.  I didn’t know a few of these facts and thought you’d find it funny too…!  Like…did you know you can befriend lactating cows?  How did I ever miss that!

Have a great week and enjoy!

We won’t know how well our marketing programs are working unless we track results. Here is an interesting resource on e-mail response rates from the Marketing Online wiki. These numbers jive with other sources we’ve seen.

Your campaigns should be producing results close to these…or better. If not, reengineer the campaign to improve performance.

- Deliverability: 90+%

- Opens: 20+%

- Click-throughs: 5+%

E-mail response statistics