How B2B Marketers Can Up Social-Media Lead Gen

Some business-to-business marketers shrug off social media as a consumer branding and sales channel, sticking to company page branding and PR announcements on social platforms. They are missing a lead source, argues Tessa Berg, vice president of B2B agency Tenlo, in a recent MarketingProfs post. In deciding investment in social outreach to snag leads, start by profiling your target customers and where they gather on social platforms. Here's a hint: 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn, compared with 13% from Twitter. That doesn't mean B2B marketers should exclusively use LinkedIn. For example, Twitter allows for more direct interaction with prospects. And with the proven effectiveness of video marketing, why not leverage platforms like YouTube and Instagram to stimulate interest via product or branding videos? Social platforms want to monetize their audiences so the reach of organic social activity has been increasingly subordinated to paid advertising. At the same time, many social platforms have improved targeting options for paid advertising. So it makes sense to pair organic actions with highly targeted paid social ads. Social tracking data will uncover important insights into which content and messaging on which social channels generate the best engagement and site traffic. Clear calls-to-action driving to owned content (website or landing page) will help capture leads better than a generic "Contact Us." Offers of engaging content, say a video on product installation or an infographic addressing a key issue such as sustainability, also help gather lead contact data, Berg adds. Don't get stuck in a rut with success, however; vary the types of ads and the content of ads deployed to avoid losing audience interest. One easy, effective way to create relationships with prospective customers is to address the questions they pose on relevant platforms such as LinkedIn, Quora, and Reddit, Berg notes. As a bonus, you will likely boost SEO and keyword rankings. Also, most B2B organizations already create presentations on industry trends, product updates, and case studies, and this content is prime for social sharing, especially on platforms such as LinkedIn SlideShare. For more, see our full website blog post at https://www.acculist.com/social-media-isnt-just-for-b2c-the-right-tactics-build-b2b-leads/

Personalization Is Key to 2019 Insurance Marketing

Personalization has become a mantra for all direct marketers, but it is especially relevant in insurance marketing. According to an Accenture 2018 study, 80% of insurance consumers are willing to share data to get more personalized offers, messages, pricing and recommendations from auto, home and life insurance providers. Although over 70% of insurance marketing campaigns claim to use some personalization, surveys show marketers are not doing enough to satisfy that customer demand. As a result, marketers can miss out on personalization's proven power to improve response and ROI, lower acquisition costs, and enhance cross-selling. While digital data often leads conversations, the importance of personalization in traditional direct mail, still an insurance workhorse, should not be ignored. After all, direct mail is considered more personal than digital by 69% of recipients, giving personalized content extra power. Direct mail also gets an average 9% response rate for house lists and 5% for prospects, per 2018 DMA/ANA data, compared with 1% or lower for other channels. Plus, for the digitally addicted, adding direct mail to digital bumps up conversion by 28%. A recent article on insurance marketing from agency Ballantine advised on top ways to maximize mail ROI, and, no surprise, personalization dominated—assuming clean, up-to-date mailing lists with important targeting parameters. First, marketers can use variable data printing and database parameters to personalize content and images to match the consumer's life stage, so, for example, auto policy creative targeting a young single first-time car buyer differs in messaging and images from the creative for an older couple with a minivan. Next, marketers can personalize rates by taking into account factors such as the age and gender of the targeted recipient. And they can tap personal interests by leveraging affinity relationships, such as a specific sports team or association affiliation, via targeted discounts. Personalization should then continue through the customer journey. Marketers can study the sales funnel to find when leads are most likely to drop out so that processes can be simplified, streamlined and further personalized to boost conversion. Simple examples include pre-filled forms and postage-paid return envelopes. Meanwhile, One Inc., an insurance software company, offers a helpful roadmap to digital personalization. As with direct mail, marketing begins with quality consumer data and analysis, taking a step beyond age, gender and location to parameters that identify unmet needs and customer value for targeting and prioritization—such as a recent move, a new home, a new baby or an upcoming policy expiration date. Next, marketers need to track lead and policyholder actions to decide on the specific digital behaviors that will trigger a personalized response, say following up an online request for information with a series of lead-nurture e-mails. Then, marketers can design and test small campaigns before expanding to more channels and audiences. Once strategies and processes have been developed and tested, an investment in marketing automation technology can follow, including AI algorithms using real-time data and behavior to tailor offers, customer service, cross-selling, lead scoring and more. For more on personalization in insurance acquisition and retention, see our full blog post at https://www.acculistusa.com/personalization-is-now-key-to-insurance-marketing-roi/

Slow Event Lead Follow-up Costs B2B Marketers

When business-to-business marketers successfully build event attendance and booth traffic to maximize lead generation, they are disappointed and baffled by a smaller than expected sales harvest. One of the reasons for poor lead conversion, as it turns out, is a simple lack of timely lead follow-up! As reported by Direct Marketing News, a study by Certain, an event automation provider, found that just 2% of the 150 B2B marketing-decision makers surveyed said they follow up with event leads the same day. A quarter follow up in one to three days, 29% follow up in four to six days, and 27% follow up in seven to 13 days. And another 12% said this process takes two to four weeks, with the slowest-moving 6% saying it takes them more than a month to reach out! Why are almost half of those surveyed taking more than a week to contact prospects? Lead processing is a key problem, with 57% of the study's participants saying it can take hours to manually get leads "sales ready" for follow-up, and 23% reporting that the prep process takes a few days. Surveyed marketers blamed the sluggish prep time on a variety of reasons: 23% of respondents cited lack of technological tools, 15% blamed lack of organization, 11% claimed the delay was intentional, and 7% admitted to simple procrastination. Unfortunately, correcting slow lead processing doesn't seem to be a priority with many marketers. The Certain study found that despite generally slow lead processing, 72% of respondents are "somewhat" or "completely" satisfied with their lead follow-up time. That complacency has a cost that marketers are ignoring, we would point out. Most event marketing pros urge a 48-hour follow-up window to try to stay ahead of competitors. In fact, according to a study from InsideSales, 30% to 50% of leads are closed by the vendor who follows up with them first. Even if their lead processing is speedy, 82% of marketers are dissatisfied with the quality of their lead data and wish they captured more information about each individual lead at events. The method of data collection is one issue; the largest group, 42%, said they rely on manual data entry through computers or tablets, followed by 31% who turned to business cards and sign-up sheets, and 27% who relied on electronic scanners. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/b2b-event-marketers-miss-out-with-slow-lead-follow-up/

How Insurance Marketers Can Improve Digital Leads

Sometimes insurance marketers, used to face-to-face sales and targeted direct mail, struggle to adapt to the highly competitive and noisy digital marketplace for lead generation. So these helpful tips from the Blue Corona web marketing agency should be of interest to insurance marketers looking to improve digital lead results. The natural place to start is the insurance marketer's website, where the majority of potential policyholders will first interact with the marketing message. Basically, the website must grab attention almost immediately. If consumers don’t connect with what they see within 10 seconds of landing on a web page, they’ll move on, per studies. That means up-front contact information, compelling call-to-action, plugins that localize content, etc. But it also means speedy page loading. Studies show that a website needs to load in under 3 seconds (in fact, 47% of people expect a web page to load in two seconds or less, points out Blue Corona). And that speed needs to happen on a mobile device. Over half of all digital searches for insurance information occur from mobile devices; more specifically, 58.6% of average monthly auto insurance searches and 55.4% of life insurance searches are via mobile, reports Blue Corona. How do you get prospects to those fast-loading, compelling, mobile-friendly pages? Search engine optimization is a basic requirement today for driving traffic. Blue Corona lists a few top tactics for getting to that coveted first page of a Google search: optimized title tags and meta descriptions on pages; site security (https vs http); mobile-friendly pages; schema markup; quality content; fast page downloading; social media signals; quality backlinks; and optimized images. But all searches are not created equal. Marketers want high-converting leads not shoppers. So Blue Corona suggests buying pay-per-click ads targeting search phrases that indicate high-commercial intent, such as "buy auto insurance" rather than "do I need auto insurance?" The ad content can then target a top consumer trigger. In most cases, that means competitive rates. A blog is another way to not only build traffic but also establish authority on insurance topics and go from policy hawker to insurance resource in the eyes of potential policyholders. Whether a blog post or a website page, the goal is to help insurance shoppers deal with an often confusing topic. TransUnion’s 2017 Healthcare Millennial Report found that 57% of millennial consumers identified as having "no understanding" or a "limited understanding" of their insurance benefits, while 50% of Generation X and 42% of Baby Boomers said the same. So don’t give prospects too many choices on website main pages, which can overwhelm and drive them away, and focus instead on the key solutions people need from insurance. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/these-digital-tactics-can-power-insurance-marketing-lead-gen/

Trade Show Marketers Still Embrace Direct Mail

A recent survey of exhibit managers and event marketers by Exhibitor magazine shows why direct mail continues as a promotional tool, as a companion rather than a victim of the growing use of e-mail and social media. Here are some insights we gleaned from those comments: First, the traditional rules of direct marketing continue to apply for direct mail success: Quality, targeted data is the most essential response factor. Mike Naples, business alliance manager for the United States Postal Service, reminds event marketers of the basics: "A successful campaign is 60% identifying the target, 30% making a compelling offer, and 10% creating a unique piece." Dan McAdams, vice president of sales and marketing for McAdams Graphics, is even more specific: "The most effective direct-mail projects start with a solid mailing list. A bad list yields a bad return." Second, e-mail is a mate, not a replacement, for snail mail. While acknowledging the growing use of e-mail, Holly Seese, global marketing communications manager at Celanese Corp., reminds Exhibitor readers that "hard-copy event invites are still more memorable than e-mailed ones." That can be especially true with an older target audience. "People over the age of 50 have an emotional attachment to letters that people under the age of 50 never developed," opines Keith Goodman, vice president for corporate solutions at Modern Postcard. More generally, e-mail faces headwinds in crowded, spam-filtered inboxes, while direct mail's lower volume actually boosts its impact: "Direct mail is back in vogue because few companies are using it. So a creative mailer is more likely to get read," explains Eugene Maresh, co-owner of Say it With Style Targeted Promotional Solutions. Or as Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, sums up: "E-mail is brilliant for lead nurturing, but not for lead generation. If your message is seen as spam, you're hurting, not helping." Finally, creativity and a multi-channel mix are requirements for today's audiences. Direct mail creative must be personalized, relevantly targeted and eye-catching to engage response now. Tired tricks are not going to win interest. "An interesting shape is the best way to generate attention. Priority or overnight mail doesn't cut it anymore. It feels wasteful," asserts Rhea Cook, president of Ex Machina Design X Marketing. And because audiences also use multiple digital channels daily, they expect to engage with coordinated event promotion and response across channels, so direct mail can't go it alone if it is to be successful. Or as Jefferson Davis, trade show marketing and sales consultant at Competitive Edge, concludes: "People ask me all the time, 'What is the single best media for exhibit marketing?' But there is no single best media. The magic is in the mix." For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/why-direct-mail-still-wins-allegiance-of-trade-show-marketers/

At Year-end, Check KPIs to Gird 2018 Marketing

The busy year-end holiday season, especially for fundraisers and retailers, should not distract direct marketers from the working on the analytics they need to finalize next year’s marketing plans and ROI. Marketing ROI is about effective spending and requires tracking results by channel and campaign. KPIs use actual annual outlay for direct mail marketing (lists, print, lettershop, creative, postage), digital marketing (e-mail, SEO/SEM, landing pages, social media and creative), as well as spending on PR/events/content marketing. Marketers must keep a tally of the number of outbound leads attributed to direct mail or e-mail campaigns, as well as the inbound leads generated by efforts such as SEO, blog content or PR. Then a cost per lead acquired (CPL) can be calculated by dividing annual expenditure by the number of leads generated. Since the ultimate goal is sales not merely leads, the percentage of leads that become paying customers and the dollar sales per lead are key measures. Beyond general performance, marketers should use measurement to fine-tune future plans and budgets. This means identifying the response rates and conversion rates for each channel, for each direct mail and digital campaign, and for tests of creative, timing, frequency, lists and segments. Performance rates should be measured not only for campaigns to acquire new leads/customers but also targeting of existing customers and reactivation of dormant customers. Website traffic reports from Google Analytics can not only show online ad and SEM effectiveness but also track spikes around direct mail or e-mail promotions to give a fuller picture of response. A simple ratio of the return on marketing investment can be calculated by adding up incremental sales from marketing and subtracting marketing amount spent, and then dividing the result by amount spent on marketing. But remember that a focus on annual or campaign results can be myopic since these do not necessarily deliver long-term growth. Marketers need to look at customer and prospect databases to make sure they are growing year-over-year. Because acquiring a single sale per lead also is less profitable long-term than acquiring a repeat customer, average customer lifetime value is vital and calculated by multiplying average dollar sale per customer by the average number of purchases per year and the average retention time in years. For a helpful KPI checklist from Digital Dog Direct, see http://www.acculistusa.com/use-key-direct-marketing-kpis-to-gird-2018-plans/

What B2B Marketers Can Do Better With Better Data

AccuList USA is dedicated to providing clean, up-to-date, targeted data for business-to-business direct marketing, and we urge any B2B marketer who still hesitates to invest in higher quality data and segmentation to read the recent CMO.com post by Ed King, founder and CEO of the Openprise data automation firm. King lists five ways high-quality data will make the B2B marketer's job easier and more effective. First, better data allows the addition of demographic scoring to the usual activity-based scoring for better targeting; for example, marketers won't prioritize a lead from online activity when demographic factors on the company or individual show it does not really meet buyer targeting. Second, with more accurate data about prospects and customers in terms of individual and company profiles, marketers can personalize communications and engagement for better conversion and reduced attrition throughout the sales funnel. Third, B2B marketers can better use account-based targeting as opposed to individual lead targeting, including improved use of automation platforms. Fourth, since all leads are not created equal, better data allows for optimized, speedier lead qualification and conversion--providing different treatment of net new leads versus leads from existing accounts, for example. Fifth, marketers can simplify their marketing technology investments, such as predictive, web or social bolt-ons with data cleansing mechanisms because of poor quality data from CRM or automation platforms. By improving source data, existing technology is more efficient and new technology investments can focus on other key needs, such as analytics or workflow. For detailed explanations and examples, read the full article at http://www.cmo.com/articles/2015/12/18/how-would-perfect-data-change-your-job.html

Digital Lead Gen Forecast to Dominate Sales Funnel

Marketers consistently say quality lead generation is their top challenge, but the path to success can get lost in today's complex multichannel environment. A 2016 marketing forecast by Salesforce Principal of Marketing Insights, Matthew Sweezy, opines that marketers should recognize a fundamental sales funnel shift: 60% at the middle of the sales funnel must now be devoted to digital rapport-building and lead generation, leaving 20% of the funnel for traditional marketing at the top and 20% for sales acquisition at the bottom. The new sales funnel reflects today's overconnected, multichannel marketing challenge. By 2020, there will be seven connected devices for every person on earth (Gartner Research) and the average person already sees 5,000 ads a day from all channels, not counting social (Yankelovich). Bombarded by digital marketing messages, 18% of the U.S. audience already uses digital ad blockers, per PageFair and Adobe, undermining paid ad strategies. Consumers are also disturbed by big-data privacy concerns, with a third of customers abandoning a brand after a data breach, per The Economist research, so reluctance to provide personal information threatens data-gathering and targeting. The key, says Sweezy, is to give digital customers what they want, which is useful information and trust-building self-discovery (it's made Google is No, 1 in search), noting that 73% of consumers say that getting useful information is the most important factor in selecting a brand. Personalized targeting with behavioral, psychographic and internal data is key, and automation is a useful engagement system, but marketers must work smart. Retargeting ads for a product after purchase of the product just makes customers four times less likely to purchase again. And engagement must be swift, with the average consumer taking only 0.05 seconds to determine content value and 70% switching sites/apps if they are judged too slow. To capture the new digital middle of the funnel, companies need to improve the customer digital experience and close gaps by making frequent, small and socially interactive gestures that keep the brand in front of potential buyers and build trust and engagement, concludes Sweezy. For the whole presentation, go to Salesforce's Pardot blog: http://www.pardot.com/blog/future-marketing-2016-slideshare/

13 Ways to Use Direct Mail in 2016 Marketing

Here's a New Year's marketing resolution that we would suggest: Make 2016 a year of direct mail successes. Unsure of how to get the most ROI from "snail mail" today? A recent Target Marketing magazine article by Summer Gould conveniently lists the most effective uses of direct mail--13 ways to leverage this powerful tool for effective acquisition, retention and brand promotion. Here are just the top five: 1) generate traffic to a retail location, website or event; 2) gather sales leads by targeting your most qualified, active audience with a high response tool; 3) counter competitive offers by reaching out to competitor's prospects without broadcasting your strategy; 4) boost customer loyalty with exclusive offers and rewards; and 5) turn customers into sales generators by garnering and rewarding customer referrals. The list includes ways to fit direct mail into partner marketing and multichannel marketing efforts, with e-mail, social media, mobile and more, and ends up at No. 13: build brand awareness with what research shows is the most trusted form of marketing. For all the ways to best use direct mail in your marketing plan, read the complete article at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/13-ways-direct-mail-works-best/

Are You Maximizing E-mail's Lead Gen Potential?

With e-mail marketing generally rated as the most effective online tool for lead generation, a well-crafted e-mail strategy is a digital marketing priority. According to the latest business survey by Ascend2, 48% of respondents ranked e-mail as the most effective lead generator, outdistancing paid search or online advertising (23%), social media (26%) or search engine optimization (37%). So what can marketers do to optimize e-mail's great lead potential? Here are some ideas from a recent post for the HuffPost Business blog by business consultant Larry Alton. He cites the following five top tactics in the e-mail lead-gen arsenal: Collecting e-mail addresses via a high-value e-newsletter; triggered e-mails to automate lead nurturing and follow-up; segmentation by subscriber behavior to better tailor e-mail messaging for new signups, failed conversions or nonresponders; "gated" content to gather contact data in exchange for free but valued material; and sharability, including requests to forward, social sharing buttons and embedded pre-formatted tweets. For more details and examples, read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-alton/email-marketing-best-prac_b_8054350.html

Clues That Your Media Mix Needs a Tune-up

Every budget cycle, marketers question whether they have the right media mix to optimize sales, whether they need to shift dollars between channels, especially in the rapidly changing digital landscape. In a recent Marketing Land article, Scott Rayden, chief revenue officer for 3Q Digital, offers seven clues that a change in your digital mix may be in order. Here are a few of his tips, starting with a no-brainer: If your brand, and non-brand, search numbers are declining, it's time to consider new ways to boost online brand awareness. He advises taking a look at options such as Twitter, display ads, video, Facebook, Pinterest, and Gmail sponsored promotions. Next, now that mobile traffic has topped desktop traffic, you are clearly behind the curve if most of your traffic, whether B2C or B2B, is desktop-driven, so invest in mobile. Rayden also notes that even with great CRM and well-segmented e-mail campaigns, you may not be mining all the gold in your first-party data. Consider using customer knowledge to prospect for lookalikes with new targeting programs offered by Facebook Lookalike Audiences, Google Similar Audiences and Twitter Tailored Audiences, he suggests. And if you are generating lots of leads but not enough paying customers, he advises rethinking targeting and linking CRM first-party data to marketing campaigns to weed out junk lead sources and boost channels delivering conversions. And, of course, pay attention to competitors; if they use many more channels to target the same demographics or firmographics, an expanded media mix may be in order. For more tips, read http://marketingland.com/7-signs-cmos-need-examine-media-mix-133456

B2B Lead Plan Hones Aim to Hit Today's Buyers

Today's business-to-business buyers may have completed 90% of the buying process by the time they see a company's marketing message! So a lot of B2B lead gen is probably missing the mark with mistimed or irrelevant messaging, which is why marketers who want to improve their B2B aim should check out a recent b2bmarketing.net post's four-step plan. Step 1: Realize that one-size-fits-all automated communications aren't enough in today's competitive landscape. Create data-driven "buyer personas" to personalize and guide relevant messaging along the sales cycle. For B2B buyers, a persona would include names of the person and company as well as key characteristics such as job responsibilities, sources of information, role in the purchase process, business goals, pain points, preferred content medium, objections anticipated, etc. Step 2: Win over leads by matching messaging to the B2B buying journey so you deliver desired content at each stage. Note that a recent B2B buyer survey found 61% of buyers choose vendors who deliver a better mix of content. Step 3: Accept that today's average sales cycle is 22% longer than it was five years ago, so invest in nurturing leads for the extended sales journey. Research shows nurturing produces a 20% increase in sales leads on average. Use intelligence across multi-channel touch points to keep buyers moving toward sale. Step 4: Create brand advocates to cheer on those leads as they travel toward purchase. Research shows that 67% of B2B buyers say they had heard of the chosen supplier before they ever purchased. So make it easy for customers and partners to become brand advocates by rewarding and recognizing referrals, reviews, content sharing, and content generation. For a free B2B marketing guide, including how to build buyer personas, along with links to relevant articles, see http://www.b2bmarketing.net/blog/posts/2015/04/21/marketing-modern-b2b-buyer

'Dirty' Data Continues to Sap B2B Lead Success

We do a lot of data work for clients--list hygiene, appending, de-duping, etc.--so we are dismayed to learn that "dirty" data is still the rule rather than the exception in the business-to-business lead process. An article in eMarketer recently noted that, based on a March 2015 poll of U.S. B2B marketing execs by Spear Marketing Group, executives estimate that over 25% of their marketing databases were filled with old, inaccurate and unusable duplicate leads. The majority rated their data accuracy as fair to plain bad. Worse, although the executives acknowledged that third-party solutions can boost data quality, 46% said they did not employ such data solutions, compared with the 40% who did. The waste caused by bad data is especially frustrating considering how it undermines the benefit of other improved marketing technologies. For example, over half of worldwide B2B marketing executives recently surveyed by Regalix reported that marketing analytics had increased their sales revenues between 10% and 25%, according to the eMarketer report. Imagine how much better sales would be if more lead data input was enriched and updated! For more on B2B data trends, see http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Help-Lead-Process-B2Bs-Must-Deal-with-Dirty-Data/1012396

Spring-Clean Your Event Marketing for Higher ROI

Part of your marketing department's spring cleaning should be a thorough review of event marketing plans to remove dusty, worn-out strategies and tune up for higher ROI. A recent MarketingProfs post helpfully lays out six drivers of event marketing ROI, and we suggest you check to make sure all are in place and running smoothly. First, make sure that all stakeholders are using the same playbook, with common goals and metrics for success. Executives may want increased lead quality, but an on-site team focused on maximizing contact forms regardless of quality isn't going to deliver. Next, plan how each event will engage its audience in a way that compels action and achieves goals, whether the aim is audience data collection, sales or brand message sharing. Just being there isn't enough. Third, make sure event strategy includes lead-capture best practices; namely, throw out those paper forms and embrace digital apps and auto-uploads for more accurate and timely data collection and database entry. Timely post-show data analysis, data distribution and follow-up with new and potential customers should be a top priority; marketing automation tools for e-mailing coupons, incentives and follow-up messages are one way to boost responsiveness. Also, benchmark results against competitor events and your own past events in terms of leads, sales, social profile, engagement, site traffic, brand awareness, etc., and adjust future strategies. Finally, debrief with stakeholders who were at the event to identify issues behind the data--such as booth location, technology glitches, audience feedback and even inclement weather--and fine-tune plans moving forward. For the complete article, go to http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/27463/six-drivers-of-roi-in-event-marketing

Is Digital Dazzle Blinding Marketers to Mail Power?

There's no denying that digital advertising offers a low-cost way to quickly reach millions of eyeballs and score a high volume of clicks/leads. But we like the caveat recently provided by a Target Marketing Magazine blog post by Carolyn Goodman, president of Goodman Marketing Partners. Goodman argues that the "digital mystique" should not blind marketers to the enduring value of snail mail in delivering actual buyers. As she points out, marketing experience proves that mass media vehicles (like online ads) will tend to drive higher lead volume, but they'll be lower quality leads (lower conversion to sale); meanwhile, targeted media (like direct mail) will tend to deliver lower lead volume, but the leads will be higher quality (likely to purchase). The weak net response for digital ads is further impacted by today's noisy online landscape, she notes. As any recent Internet foray shows, digital ads are often lost in sites' excess ad clutter, poorly targeted delivery, retargeting frequency excesses, and other annoyances. Thus, while The New York Times quotes the claim of Jon Swallen, chief research officer of Kantar Media North American, that "the cost efficiencies of digital advertising enable many marketers to buy more for less," many of Goodman's startup clients are asking about putting marketing dollars into direct mail. Goodman quotes one CEO's simple explanation: "Our board no longer has the patience for our slow pace of growth because we tied our marketing investment to the digital advertising landscape. We get lots of clicks, but very few buyers." To read the full post: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/blog/the-digital-mystique-all-smoke-mirrors

Lessons From Pet-Care Firm's Content Marketing

We help many pet care and animal welfare clients with direct marketing, and we'll be expanding our knowledge of market needs at the upcoming Animal Care Expo, March 29-April 1 in New Orleans. So we thought it especially timely to highlight a recent Direct Marketing News article about the content marketing success story of PetRelocation, a pet moving and travel service. After trying generic keyword and pay-per-click campaigns, PetRelocation decided to set up a content forum, using tools from Oracle Marketing Cloud, to address pet owner concerns, explains the DM News story. Great for customer relations, but it did a lot more. The marketing team culled popular answers from the forum to post directly on the website, for a boost to organic search results. The increase in online traffic and leads actually allowed the company to eliminate its pay-per-click ad spending. The content forum also gathered valuable testimonials that spurred lead-to-conversion. With the majority of annual revenue tied to online marketing, primarily content marketing, PetRelocation's success story should intrigue pet care marketers and B2C marketers in general. To read about it, go to http://www.dmnews.com/petrelocation-uses-content-marketing-to-drive-sales/article/404010/

Are You Optimizing LinkedIn's B2B Lead Power?

If you're a business-to-business marketer frustrated with results from LinkedIn, you're not alone. Using social media to generate qualified leads and measurable ROI is a challenge. So take a look at a recent online article for Advertising Age magazine by Sebastian Jespersen, president and CEO of Vertic Inc., a digital ad agency. Jespersen offers four tips for B2B marketers on how to optimize LinkedIn promotional investment, taking a cue from the lead-gen success of client firms like Microsoft, GE and Siemens. Tip No. 1: Measure the right part of the funnel. Understand that LinkedIn pours in fewer leads at the top but can have higher conversion rates than other channels at the bottom. Therefore, measure cost per lead or cost per conversion rather than cost per click or impression. Tip No. 2: To get conversion, create the right post-click experience. Don't send qualified traffic to a generic web page; build multiple customized pieces of content on-site and direct users to relevant messages. Tip No. 3 is a no-brainer: Use the data LinkedIn provides to target! Tip No. 4: Retarget. Successful LinkedIn campaigns get a 20% conversion rate, but that doesn't mean throwing away the other 80% of leads. Tap user behavior to retarget qualified responders on other relevant sites and get a second chance at conversion. For the complete article, go to http://adage.com/article/btob/b-b-marketers-improve-leads-linkedin/297386/

How to Use Campaign Data to Budget for Success

Overwhelmed by the pace and volume of "big data," marketing campaign analysis can become a shortsighted focus on lead metrics and quick reaction. We'd like to thank Bonnie Crater, president and CEO of Full Circle CRM, for her emarketingandcommerce.com article reminding marketers that campaign data is also key to long-term ROI--via improved marketing budgets and campaign development. Here are five tips on using campaign data to budget for future success: Start by using prior-year data on lead generation, close rates, average deal dollars, and ROI to provide a roadmap to current-year marketing budget targets. Second, gauge marketing performance and adjust forecasts according to industry benchmarks of realistic lead generation and campaign close rates. Third, in deciding budget allocations, don't measure campaign ROI just by first and last touchpoints; look at the detail of multi-touch, multi-channel, multi-campaign marketing to accurately credit each campaign with revenue generated. Fourth, weight the different elements affecting campaign touches (such as campaign types, user roles, when the touch occurred in the sales cycle) to better allocate spending to maximize campaign ROI. Finally, while digging into campaign data, take note of process problems, such as lead hand-off gaps and sales bottlenecks, and take action to improve efficiency of marketing and sales spending. For detail from the complete article, go to http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/article/5-tips-using-campaign-data-build-your-next-marketing-budget/1

Spurring Referrals Is Top 2015 B2B Marketing Focus

If your business-to-business marketing is in a competitive scramble for leads this year, you're not alone. Generating new business is the top 2015 concern of professional services firms, according to a recent Hinge Research Institute study shared in Business2Community. A whopping 72% of firms surveyed said that attracting and developing new business is their priority this year. The Hinge survey included 530 professional services firms in a range of industries: technology, marketing and communications, accounting and finance, management consulting, architecture, engineering, and construction. So the focus of the surveyed firms' marketing plans should come as no surprise: generating more referrals was the most cited 2015 marketing initiative (61.9%). Senior executives named on average 5.7 different marketing tactics in their drive for new business. Only percentage points behind referral generation came increasing brand visibility, updating/upgrading the company website, increasing the visibility of their firms’ experts, making existing clients more aware of their full range of services, and developing more compelling messages to potential clients. For details and access to the full report, go to the Business2Community post at http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/top-b2b-marketing-priorities-2015-01154781

Poor Map of B2B Buyer Journey Leads to Lost Sales

If inbound marketing fails to guide the buyer’s journey with relevant content, traffic and leads fail to become sales. Business-to-business marketing faces a special challenge because a purchase may involve a team of prospects--each with different personal and professional concerns--points out a recent Hubspot blog post by business consultant Ed Marsh. When B-to-B marketers don't have one decision-maker to woo, they must build content for the role and concerns of each prospect "persona" at different points in the buying process. Plus, marketing must choreograph segues between personas to prevent sales from slipping through the cracks, creating a "series of 'yeses' that keeps buyers moving" to the close. Marsh suggests what he calls a "3D corporate buying journey" framework. Start with a good understanding of your prospective buyers' industry--the hand-offs, push-back and analysis to which projects are subjected--and get the details by conducting real interviews with each persona at target companies, he advises. When you do so, make sure to get the objections on the table so your content can address them. Then map the buying process like a GANTT chart, a linear process that is full of interdependency, precedent and constraining factors. Note the hand-offs and create content for a smooth transition. This requires content that helps your prospects sell on your behalf and that overcomes finance, legal, production, HR, IT or other departmental hurdles by resonating with each discipline. For the whole post, see
http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/why-your-existing-buyer-personas-might-not-be-working