Why do so many people reach succes and then fail?
Analyst Richard St. John took the lessons he learned in business, both successes and failures, and put them in this advice-filled, honest four-minute presentation.
Take a quick break and listen to some awesome advice:
Most of the Twitter users who use it to promote their small business expect their company’s use of the popular microblogging tool to increase during the next six months, according to a recent survey by MarketingProfs.
The informal survey revealed that the practice of using Twitter as a business tool is gaining acceptance as an important piece of social media marketing. According to the MarketingProfs survey, 84% of respondents say their company’s use of Twitter will increase, with 46% saying the increase will be by a “significant” margin.
Twitter as a business tool
Compared to other social media tools, Twitter ranks second only to company blogs in perceived value. Company blogs and Twitter still rank ahead of LinkedIn and Facebook.
“This data shows that Twitter users, typically early adopters, no longer think of Twitter as just a personal networking tool, but as something that can provide real value for their company or business,” said Ann Handley, chief content officer for MarketingProfs. “Much like Facebook, Twitter is now moving into the business mainstream.” Additional Twitter research from MarketingProfs revealed that Twitter users are primarily motivated by the learning and immediacy components of the application. (MarketingCharts)
Twitter as a business tool
Posted in b2b marketing, web 2.0
Tagged b2b marketing, benefits of social media, blog marketing business tool, business to business marketing, business to business marketing tips, buzz marketing, internet marketing, new marketing ideas, online marketing, social media, tips for small business marketing, twitter, twitter as a business tool, twitter for business, web 2.0, Web marketing
Surpassing all other business-to-business media categories, online revenue had the most impressive growth in 2008, according to a recent report by The Jordan, Edmiston Group.
In 2008, the online category increased 15.1%, a shift mainly credited to the shift in ad dollars from magazines to online channels. Magazines have been declining in revenue over the past few years, showing an 8.4% annual decline in 2008.
“Advertising dollars continued shifting from print vehicles to online outlets, as magazine net ad revenue declined,” said Richard Mead, Managing Director at Jordan, Edmiston.
Where are most B2Bs putting their money? In online display and search advertising.
Online display and search advertising account for more than 50% of total online revenue and gained more than 12% year-over-year in 2008.
Business-to-business ad agencies had it tough last year, with total ad spending down 2.6% from 2007, according to Nielson Monitor-Plus.
Though advertising took a hit, many b-to-b agencies were able to grow their business last year, with some reporting their most profitable years ever.
How did they do it?
According to a BtoB Online Special Report, those businesses found success by focusing on three major areas:
Winners from this year’s Top Agencies Special Report added that in order to succeed in today’s market, B2B businesses will need a healthy dose of “optimism, boldness and creative thinking.”
“If you are smart, you get lifted up by the recession, not pulled down by it,” said Rick Segal, CEO of HSR Business to Business, Cincinnati, winner of the midsize category. “It is an opportunity to grow and become more profitable in terms of building your business and bringing new ideas to clients, even if they’re not asking for them.”
With an increase in revenue by 30%, 2008 was HSR’s best year on record. The agency explored new opportunities in online video and social media, even with some of the company’s most traditional clients like John Deere & Co.
“We live in a time of extraordinary change—change that will be amplified and accelerated by the recession, ushering in perhaps a new age of business transformation,” said John Favalo, managing partner-group B2B at Eric Mower & Associates, runner-up in the midsize category. “Business models, marketing and communications will transform, and successful agencies will be instrumental in helping clients through the dramatic changes.”
Read the full BtoB Online article.
How has your organization responded to the changing market? Are you using new media, including online video and social media to improve your chances of success?
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.”
Read the full eMarketer article.
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:
Despite the economic recession and marketing budgets being slashed to pieces, almost every social media marketer (95%) plans to maintain or increase social media spending.
Forrester researcher Jeremiah Owyang recently released his study called “Social Media Playtime Is Over,” based on a survey from December of 2008.
Marketers will increase social media spending
Some of his key findings reveal that:
From the report’s executive summary:
These inexpensive tools can quickly get marketing messages out through interactive discussion and rapid word of mouth, and properly managed, can deliver measurable results.
Though you may not have someone in your organization with the title of ‘Social Media Marketer’, the study shows that social media is a strong marketing investment, even when our economy is in the dumps.
Like the report says “Social Media Playtime Is Over,” it’s time to get serious.
Is your company planning to increase spending on social media efforts? Why, why not?
Google Base is a free service from Google that allows you to submit information about your company’s products and services, along with keyword descriptions to help improve your online visibility.
The cool part is that you don’t necessarily need a website in order for Google Base to work for you. Anyone can list their products and services whether they’re sold online or offline.
Improve product visibility with Google Base
The service functions just like a regular Google search. Depending on how relevant your product is to a person’s Google search, your product will either show up in “Google Product Search” or it will come up on the main search results page.
Google Base is easy to set up. First you need a Google account, which is free and takes minutes to create. Once you have your account, go to Google Base and login. You can either start adding your products and services one by one, or upload the information using a spreadsheet or XML file.
Similar to the way you optimize your web pages, there are ways to improve the chance of your products showing up at the top of Google Base results pages. Success mainly depends on your product descriptions and images.
Make sure that the titles and descriptions of each item are valid. Avoid using salesy descriptions or anything that sounds spammy, it will only hurt your rankings.
Upload a high-quality image for every item you list. Images increase the chance that people will click on your item to find out more information.
Google Base is an interesting tool that is definitely worth trying. Even if you don’t have a website, it’s a great way to boost your product visibility online.
Posted in b2b marketing
Tagged b2b marketing, business to business marketing, business to business marketing tips, google, HR product marketing, internet marketing, marketing, new marketing ideas, online marketing, product visibility, small business marketing ideas, tips for small business marketing, Web marketing
Social media has pulled ahead of email as the most popular online activity, according to the latest research from Neilsen Online.
More than two-thirds (67%) of the world’s online population visits social networks and blogs, making participation in “member communities” the fourth most popular activity online.
Social media more popular that email
Activity on social networks and blogs ranks fourth behind search, portals and PC software, but has moved higher than personal email use.
Social networking and blogging now account for nearly 10% of all time spent on the internet and have “become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” said John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online. “While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large. This study explains why.”
This isn’t evidence that email marketing has become ineffective, it depends on what works for your business. What the research does show is that whether your B2B or B2C, more of your customers are active in social networks and are reading blogs.
Your customers are using social media and so should you.
Have you found love on the Internet?
No, not the eHarmony, Match.com type of love. We’re talking about a different type of love – link love.
The kind of love that is critical to the performance of your business to business website.
Link love “is a term used in the fields of search engine optimization and blogging to describe the effect that web pages rank better when they have more and higher quality links pointing at them.”
So, why is link love so important? According to Rick Burnes at Hubspot:
To better understand the process, Rick says to pretend search engines are like hiring managers:
“If you’re a job candidate, a hiring manager will interview you and check your resume, the same way a search engine will check a page’s keywords and title.
But the hiring manager doesn’t stop there. They want to make sure all the information on the resume is correct, and they want an impartial third-party opinion on your potential, so they check references. A search engine does the same thing by checking links. For search engines, links from big, trusted sites are a signal of quality.
Quality inbound links, just like recommendations, are hard to get, but critical to your success.”
Wondering how to get started on spreading the link love? I recently came across the “world’s greatest list of posts dedicated to the fine art of Link Love” in a post at Problogger. The post may be slightly dated, but the advice is still just as good.
