Thursday, April 3, 2014

When You Bore Customers, You Lose Customers

Here's a no-brainer: If your marketing message -- whether delivered via website, direct mail, event booth or in-person pitch -- bores customers, it fails. Recently, Brian Ladyman, a consumer engagement leader at Slalom, penned an article for iMedia Connection with tips on how to avoid slipping into the yawn zone of marketing. His advice was geared to B2B marketers, but it works for B2C content, too. See if you can pep up your marketing by doing some of the following: Make sure your core value proposition is the core of your message and avoid losing audience attention by piling on the meaningless buzzwords even if, especially if, your competition loves them. Make it real and show how your product or service delivers benefits with examples and success stories. Stand out by picking a competitive advantage to highlight with engaging content. Ladyman lauds Volvo's use of a martial arts star to focus attention on the precision steering of its large trucks as an example. Offer choices in what information customers get and how they want to get it. Have you adapted your message for video and mobile formats as well as basic print and online, for example? Chase away boredom by engaging in an interactive relationship with buyers through humor, entertaining visuals and dialog. Take a look at your social media and event efforts with that in mind. For all Brian's tips and examples, go to http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/35982.asp#singleview.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

How Share-Worthy Online Content Wins B2B Buyers

When 88% of business-to-business consumers say online content has played a major to moderate role in vendor selection, B2B marketers need to make sure they are creating compelling online content, and then promoting and targeting effectively. That 88% figure comes from a recent report by The CMO Council and NetLine, as reported by MarketingProfs. The study also found that 94% of B2B buyers, influencers and researchers are not just giving online content a quick look, they are curating and circulating information internally before purchasing B2B goods and services. Targeting and quality of content then should take into account the most common sharing cycles -- led by a from-the-middle-out strategy as execution-level execs use content to educate senior managers about their buying decisions (35%), followed by a from-the-bottom-up pattern as junior execs share with senior management to get buy decisions (30%), and rounded out by a from-the-top-down cycle as senior managers hand content to lower levels for purchase actions (29%). What content is dubbed the most valuable? Research reports and studies (65% of respondents), followed by technical spec sheets and data sheets (50%) and analyst intelligence and insights (46%), according to the survey of 352 B2B buyers (mostly from large companies). Equally important to know for marketers is how potential buyers find online content. The majority (68%) cite search engines and portals, with vendor websites (40%) and trusted sources/peers (25%) rounding out the sourcing. For more on the study, see http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/24769/how-b2b-buyers-consume-vendor-content