If you’re a business-to-business marketer, you probably create a variety of content to promote your product through direct mail, email, Twitter and blogs, just to name a few. Sometimes, the trigger behind making a change in content can be motivated by the wrong reason.
MarketingSherpa recently surveyed a group of content marketers to find out what was the typical trigger that sparks a change in content. They compiled the results and created their latest Chart of the Week, titled “You’re a Publisher, Like it or Not.”
Content marketing: You're a publisher, like it or not
If one of your goals is to become a thought leader in your industry, you have to start thinking like a publisher, according to the gurus at MarketingSherpa.
“Above, we see that it’s often the wrong trigger. To be a thought leader is to think like a publisher – to think about the people at the other end of your white paper, Web event, blog or podcast. They’re not necessarily interested in your new product or feature (unless you happen to work for Apple); they’re interested in what’s happening in the industry or economy that’s inspired that product or service.”
The best reasons to update content fall in the middle of their survey results, including news, trends, events and research. Each of these reasons are focused on the reader.
Of course, the Sherpas also advise to take a look at the performance of each form of content to determine if you should make a change.
“Newspapers may be dying, but the need for compelling niche content is growing every day. To fulfill that need and sell your products, remember that you’re asking for the time and interest of your customers, and make it worth their while.”
The online video market is growing exponentially. By 2012 the U.S. online video audience alone will reach 190 million, almost 88% of the country’s Internet user population, according to eMarketer estimates.
“As with most everything else online, where the eyeballs go, advertising follows,” say the eMarketers.
In just the next four years, online video ad spending is predicted to reach almost $6 billion. Driving the incredible growth is more trust in video content and larger advertisers entering the online video market.
“The use of videos for advertising online is unquestionably growing—except among B2B marketers. They face a huge hurdle. Most of their targets—businesspeople—don’t have audio turned on in the office. Talking heads or voiceovers that no one hears are not very effective.”
The solution? Captions.
Use online video subtitles
PLYmedia, a provider of closed-caption solutions, studied user response to videos where subtitles and captions were included on online videos. Overlaying subtitles and captions increased the amount of time users spent watching videos by almost 40%.
Additionally, videos that had subtitles were watched 91% to completion, compared with 66% to completion for videos without subtitles.
“As more and more online video is consumed in an increasing variety of settings—from office environments to noisy bars to mobile phones—it makes sense to add closed-captioning and subtitling features to digital video files,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst. “These enhancements expand opportunities for viewers to enjoy online video, even when it’s impractical for them to have the sound turned on.”
If your business-to-business marketing emails could talk, I hope they don’t sound anything like the guy in the video below.
The folks at Email Marketing Reports created the video to shed some light on the most common B2B email mistakes found mainly in newsletters: failure to deliver value, use of no-reply addresses, poor targeting, failed personalization, etc.
Armed with just one little chart, MarketingSherpa managed to send a chill down the spine of a marketer or two at their Email Summit last week. Titled, “The Current Myth of Opt-in,” their new chart explains why not every opt-in is necessarily a willing subscriber.
The Sherpas admit the chart may be somewhat confusing, but basically they found that over 50% of respondents reported that all of the email they received from legitimate companies, they had asked only for 25% of it or less. Almost 20% said they never asked for any of it.
Email opt-ins
They define the conundrum with a highly-technical term: the quasi opt-in event. Quasi opt-in events generally happen when site visitors submit information where there was a pre-checked box or in situations where people who just wanted a white paper ended also got a subscription to a newsletter with their download.
While all of it is legal for the most part, it may not be living up to the true definition of opt-in. Signing up a prospect for emails they never asked for can seriously damage the relationship you were trying to build.
The most important piece of advice the Sherpas share in the article is to segment your quasi opt-ins accordingly. These people should not be treated the same as a true subscriber.
“Think of them in the same way you would think of a co-registration name — both need to be wooed. Separate them from other new subscribers and make sure that messaging explains why they’re receiving the email, what they’re going to get from it and why they should stick around.”
If you continually surprise people with emails they never knew they signed up for, you’ll start to see many of your emails landing in spam folders. Show people why the information you’re sending would be valuable to them, then ask if they would be interested. Simple as that.
InformationWeek recently released an insightful report on how to maximize the power of white papers in B2B marketing.
Researchers surveyed 542 IT decision makers and how they use white papers. The survey results show that white papers are still considered an important tool in persuading and engaging customer decisions.
You’ll have to register with InformationWeek to download a full copy of the report, but here are some highlights:
76% of respondents use white papers for general education on a specific technology topic or issue
74% percent use white papers to investigate possible technology solutions
83% use white papers just as much or more than they have in the past
93% pass along information they find in downloaded white papers to colleagues
While the survey dealt specifically with IT buyers, the results of the survey are easily translated across all areas of business to business marketing.
The survey also asked for feedback on what readers want from white papers, information that anyone within the IT industry or not can put to good use. Respondents revealed the top features of a good white paper include:
A concise abstract
Transparency/minimal marketing
Case studies
Product information with specifications
Technical diagrams
Downloadable PDF version
Survey respondents also revealed some eye-opening statistics on the impact white papers have on readers. Among the survey respondents:
54% contacted a vendor for more information as a result of reading a white paper
36% made a purchase after reading a white paper
32% included a white paper in a case to support a purchase.
As new media struggles to show its growing value, the tried-and-true methods like business to business white papers prove that they still can have powerful results.
According to marketing guru Seth Godin, There are only three kinds of people in business to business sales:
The “Stallers” – These people make up the majority of the population and are “empowered to stall.” They’ll ask for so much more information that you’ll feel like you’ve been sent “after the broomstick of the wicked witch of the west.”
The “No” People – Those that have the ability to stall, but also possess the authority to hand you a big, fat “no.”
The “Yes” People – This group is the smallest of the bunch, but full of those with the power to say “yes” to your offer. They may participate in stall tactics, but just for the fun of it.
If you’ve ever been part of a business to business sales team, most of your experience comes from dealing with “stallers” and “no” people. It’s a great day when you get to deliver your pitch to one of the “yes” people, but it may only happen rarely.
“You have no chance (zero) of moving someone from one category to another. The reason this system evolved is straightforward: the yes people are rare in a typical organization, because they have responsibility and power. So they are busy and need to be protected. The no people are easy to train at saying no, and they’re waiting to be promoted to yes people. And the stallers? They represent the dip, the barrier salespeople have to get through to show that they are serious.”
Instead of trying in vain to move someone from one category to another, Seth says to get up and start playing offense if you want the best deal.
“The opportunity for marketers in search of media is not to play defense, to stall people with clever ideas or small platforms, but instead to stop stalling and start looking. The bargains are there, just waiting.”
It’s a great post that hope everyone had a chance to read, visit Seth’s blog for even more great advice.
So, who are you? “Staller,” a “no” person or a “yes” person? Leave a comment and let us know why.
Todd Defren, author of the PR-Squared blog and a principal at SHIFT Communications, posted an insightful slide presentation last week on how we’re all going to survive through this recession.
The presentation is all about marketing in a recession and offers some great ideas that any B2C or B2B marketer can put into practice. As an added bonus, the presentation features advice from a brain-eating zombie. Yes, a zombie.
There’s been a debate going around recently that business to business marketing has no place in social media. For everyone who questions whether B2B viral videos can be successful, we’ve found another example of how they can.
Since Cisco posted this video on January 29, it has had more than 140,000 views. Find out how you can show your love through Cisco in this funny B2B marketing video:
Seth Godin wrote a blog post last week, titled “Demonization,” that ties in seamlessly with our Tuesday post on what can happen when terrible customer service hits the Internet.
Here’s what Seth says:
The closer you get to someone, something, some brand, some organization… the harder it is to demonize it, objectify it or hate it.
So, if you want to not be hated, open up. Let people in. Engage. Interact.
If you interact regularly with your customers in the places they like to hang out (blogs, forums, Twitter, etc.), an unhappy customer will be more likely to approach you first, before telling all of their friends about the horrible experience they had.
Be open, engage your customers and help them when they ask for it. Instead of telling everyone how terrible you are, maybe, just maybe they’ll spread the word on how absolutely wonderful your company is.
How often does your sales team go through training? Once a quarter, every other month?
I recently came across a practical idea over at the B2B Lead Blog to train your sales team more frequently, without involving any additional costs or resources.
In the post, Lauren Kincke, Marketing and Sales Operations Manager at ReachForce, shared how frequent, peer-to-peer training has helped their sales team to reach and exceed their goals.
Here’s part of their story:
Our typical training regime used to be comprised solely of a full-day quarterly kickoff. During that time we would run through a few “sales” skills specific sessions, some background on our industry, and a piece on what we do and how we do it (for newbies). Part team-building, part skills training, it was an exhausting day and by the end of it some of our more ADD inclined employees had mentally checked out. Recently we decided to make some changes.
First, instead of only hosting training sessions on a once a quarter basis, each of our weekly sales meetings would be host to a mini-session led by a sales rep. Second, our quarterly sales training meeting would be shortened to a little over half a day.
During their weekly sales meetings, employees were assigned and presented topics ranging from overcoming customer objections, to managing your time effectively to advice on how to prepare for a first call.
There’s no set format for how employees can present the material. Some have found success using PowerPoint presentations and others have simply discussed the topics in front of the class.
“I can’t say that we’ve measured our results, but I can say that our reps have been able to put these things into practice as quickly as they are being taught. One of the greatest things about this training is that it is led in a peer to peer setting.”
It’s an interesting training idea that gets everyone involved in the process. Apart from learning how to be more efficient at work, the peer-to-peer sales training strengthens the bonds between coworkers and improves engagement across the board.
Moreover, the training method helps businesses save money by eliminating the need to bring in outside training providers and lessening the time employees spend away from their work. When combined with a formal sales training program, the peer-to-peer method has the potential to bring success to almost any business.
Do you think a training method like this could work in you organization? What benefits does peer-to-peer sales training offer that traditional training can’t deliver?
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