Inbound Marketing

3 Ways to Build Marketing Momentum in 2013

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Posted by Sheryl Roehl

Sales cycles are getting longer and more complex. B2B prospects are doing more research themselves.

Most decision-makers consume at least half a dozen pieces of content before they are even ready to talk to sales. By this time, they’re probably halfway to a buying decision.

So what can you do to make sure your company stays on your prospects’ radar until they choose a solution?

Here are 3 ways to build your marketing mojo in 2013:

1. Assess your content. A content marketing audit can help identify content needs at each step in the buying cycle.

  • Identify gaps. For example, your organization may not have sufficient case studies and video testimonials for building credibility and overcoming prospects’ objections during the sales cycle.
  • Pinpoint emerging needs. You may need to support the rollout of a new solution with web content and sales collateral. Be sure to put a plan in place to address upcoming content asset needs like these.

2. Ramp up visibility. Is it easy for prospects to find your company when they are searching for a solution? Do they immediately think of your company or do they turn to your competitor? Consider implementing an ongoing thought leadership program to:

  • Build brand awareness and reinforce your position by securing speaking engagements and editorial placements in media outlets.
  • Keep your business top of mind by developing and publishing rich content such as white papers, eBooks, articles and online videos.

If you lack the internal resources to support such an initiative, look for an experienced agency partner who can help you develop quality content and secure high-profile visibility opportunities.

3. Tune up lead and customer nurturing programs. Here are a couple of suggestions:

  • Keep prospects engaged until they’re ready to buy by delivering a steady stream of relevant content.
  • Your communications with your customers shouldn’t end with the purchase decision. Don’t forget to keep looking for ways to improve retention and add value to their business by cross-selling and up-selling new solutions.

By implementing these 3 marketing tactics,  you’ll increase the chances of engaging prospects, driving thought leadership and ultimately getting the results you want in the coming year.

What are you planning to do to stay on buyers’ radar in 2013?

Want to accelerate growth in 2013? Schedule a free marketing and public relations consultation in January. Contact Sheryl today at 404.434.5330 or sherylaroehl@gmail.com.

7 Reasons Why Your Social Marketing Doesn’t Deliver ROI

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Posted by Sheryl Roehl and Scott Mikus 

Too many corporate marketers tell us that their social media initiatives haven’t delivered on expectations or ROI.  Based on our experience, we’re betting that there are many more of you out there who would say the same thing.

Here’s our list of 7 reasons why social marketing programs fall short and what to do to fix these problems.

1. The Silo of Social Media. Many organizations treat their social programs as a one-off effort, rather than building an integrated digital strategy that encompasses social components. For example, an organization may increase their social media activity to help improve search engine optimization (SEO) but neglect to optimize the navigation, functionality, branding and content of their social media presence.  The SEO initiative might improve search rankings and increase traffic to your website, however, neglecting other social components will create a chain reaction breakdown in the process and can even drive incoming traffic to your competition.

How to Fix It: To achieve success, you need to integrate every component from the Social Media Value Wheel, including SEO, internal/external cross-linkage, thought leadership, engagement, inbound and outbound marketing and lead generation. In other words, social media works best when it’s embedded in all your marketing initiatives.

2. No Plan, Stan. As marketers, we plan the product launch. We plan the rebranding. We plan the demand generation campaign. However, in many companies, social media is a bolt-on effort or something that they do because everybody’s doing it. As a result, it becomes a reactive, not proactive initiative. We just try something and see if it sticks.

How to Fix It: Every other marketing initiative has a plan. Why shouldn’t your social programs, too? Start by building an integrated social brand strategy and plan. Your social marketing programs are more likely to succeed when they are consistent with the company’s business strategy and goals and embedded in every marketing campaign.

3. The Fatal Disconnect. Often, the success or failure of social media falls on one person’s shoulders. That individual may know how to use social media tools and platforms, but may not have much experience in marketing, sales and branding. Not surprisingly, many company’s social voice becomes little more than empty chatter and the results are often underwhelming.

How to Fix it: As marketers, we have to do a better job of educating executives and colleagues about the value and payoff from embracing social media. We can enlist the help of colleagues who are subject matter experts to serve as social brand ambassadors. When more employees understand the organizations business strategies and are participating on social media, your social programs are more likely to build external linkage, gain traction and ultimately drive lead generation.

4. Inconsistency. Infrequent posting and inconsistent interactions on social media are common reasons why businesses don’t get the most out of their investments in social marketing. If you don’t engage with you and your brand, people will follow and listen to your competitors instead.

How to Fix It: Get help from a marketing and public relations agency to help you build and grow your visibility, credibility and Klout gradually over time. Establish a regular editorial calendar to publish content on a consistent basis. Keep in mind that the timing of your posts is crucial. For example, did you know the best time to tweet to get the most traction on Twitter is on Mondays between 1-3 p.m. ET? Social media management tools like Hootsuite and Social Oomph make it simple to schedule a steady stream of posts to hit at the times when your target audience is more likely to be engaged.

5. Tool Rich, Content Poor. It’s easy to get caught up with the latest tweaks and enhancements to social media platforms and tools. They can help you perform publish, schedule, track and measure your social initiatives faster, better, easier. But let’s face it: There’s no shortage of tools. The real shortage is great content.

How to Fix It: Don’t just tweet corporate press releases and product announcements. Invest in great content that your buyers, prospects and other audiences will find valuable. If you lack the necessary in-house resources to develop thought leadership content, rely on outside content marketing agencies and designers who can help you create a steady stream of engaging content, including eBooks, infographics, online videos and blog posts.

6.  No Room on the To-Do List. Many companies’ social marketing programs fail because there’s simply not enough energy or resources invested in them. In many cases, marketers are already so overwhelmed by all the projects on their to-do list that they have little time left over to give to social media.

How to Fix It: Make a commitment to spend a realistic percentage of each workday or workweek on social media – and stick to it. Remember, you get out of social media what you put into it.

7. Expecting Overnight Success. It’s easy for our expectations to get ahead of our efforts. Building a social media presence takes time – months or even years.

How to Fix It: The best way to achieve results is to stay active and engaged over the long haul.  Remember, the more time you put in and the longer you participate in social media, the bigger the payoff is likely to be.

Why do you think your social marketing initiatives have succeeded or failed to hit the mark? What are you doing to improve the results of your social marketing programs?

6 Reasons Why Social Media is the New Marketing

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For decades, Marketing was a one-way street. We designed, wrote and delivered corporate marketing communications – collateral, ads, direct mail and the like. It was all about the company speaking to the market with one voice.

Fast forward more than two decades and the old “Mad Men” Marketing model is all but dead. In other words, Social is the New Marketing. To see why this paradigm shift has occurred, let’s take a quick step back.

The traditional definition of Marketing goes something like this (from the AMA): “the activity and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.”

Go searching for a definition of social media and you’ll find so many that marketing strategist Heidi Cohen came up with a collection of 30 Social Media Definitions. Personally, I like Cohen’s own definition of social media as “platforms that enable the interactive web by engaging users to participate in, comment on and create content” as a means of communicating with other users and the public. In this environment, the company/brand can engage in a two-way conversation with prospects, customers and the public at large.

With these definitions in mind, let’s look at 6 reasons why social media is the new marketing:

1. It’s about content.
Social media places the power of the media in everyone’s hands. Unlike the old days, nobody needs to own a TV station, a newspaper or a printing press to communicate with a virtually unlimited audience. All that’s needed is a computing device and an Internet connection. That’s huge because it gives companies, organizations and individuals enormous power to communicate, persuade and impact other people across the globe.

2. The concepts of messaging and positioning have morphed. 
One-way messaging is out. Two-way communication via a variety of social channels is in. Marketing must both listen and speak to what the market actually wants to hear – not what you think they want to hear.

3. The never-ending campaign. 
The old marketing campaign had a beginning and an end. The new one is a never-ending, living, breathing, organic campaign that requires constant care, feeding and nurturing.

4. There’s not just one target; there’s many. 
Social media focuses on one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many communications. It’s no longer just the “message to/for the masses.” Now you can speak to one prospect, to many, or jump into a conversation of many-to-many.

5. Bring the brand to the table.
If you don’t participate in the conversation via social media, you’re letting the market define you and your brand – without any input from you and your organization.  Far better to see social as an extension of your brand and use the tools to engage with and evaluate the impact your brand has on key audiences.

6. Focus on execution. 
In Marketing, as in life, it all comes down to the details, doesn’t it? That’s where execution comes in. In the age of social media, effective marketing demands that we maximize and integrate all media: text, video, photographs, images, audio, presentation, design and more. Your brand isn’t just your website; it encompasses all communication and must speak with one, unified voice across multiple channels.

Have you made the leap to the New Marketing? More importantly, has your marketing made the shift: Is your marketing social and your social (integrated with) marketing? If not, use these 6 key points to rethink your marketing.

So what do you think? Is Social Media the New Marketing? What key reasons would you add to the list above?

 

How NOT to Choose a Marketing Agency: 13 Rules You Should Break

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As a marketer, choosing an agency is probably one of the hardest but most important decisions that you’ll make in your career. Choose well and you’re a rock star in your boss’ eyes. Choose poorly and it could ding you on your next performance review.

It’s not just whom you choose that matters. It’s just as important how you choose. With that in mind – and in honor of this week’s dreaded Friday the 13th, we’ve assembled our 13 favorite rules for how NOT to choose a marketing agency.

1. Choosing a marketing agency that “can.” Today’s agency landscape is crowded with candidates who say they “can.” As in, “We can do branding” or “We can do social media” or “We can do PR.” But there’s a big difference between “can” and “has.” Remember, your brand will live or die by the experience (or lack thereof) behind it. By way of metaphor, would you want a surgeon just out of med school operating on you? Sure, they have the M.D. next to their name. But wouldn’t you rather have the most experienced pair of hands repairing your hernia – or, in this case, doing your branding and messaging?

2. “I just need my website redesigned.” Sure, a website’s design may be tired and outdated. However, the more important question is: How is the site performing for you? Are visitors converting to leads? Does the content reflect your current positioning? Have you optimized your landing pages? Have you integrated social media into your site beyond just sticking up some icons on your homepage? What about your offline brand — does it need sprucing up, too?

3. Branding a la carte. Your brand isn’t just a logo or a website; it’s the sum total of positioning, messaging, awareness, visual identity and the communications architecture of a company. Be sure to choose an agency that understands this core principle and can skillfully build and integrate a brand across multiple disciplines from inbound to outbound marketing and offline to digital. If you take the a la carte approach, you’ll pay for it later in a splintered or fragmented brand.

4. Wow, what a pitch! Sure, the pitch is important. But are the people pitching going to be doing the work after the contract is signed?  In many agencies, the senior-level deal closers move on to close other deals, while the junior account people step up to do the work. See rule #1.

5.  The people you will work with don’t have a clue about your business. Be sure that the people you’ll work with at the agency have at least a solid understanding and interest in your business from the start. If they’ve done their homework, it will show in the questions they ask and the presentation they give. If not, move on to the next candidate.

6. I really, really like them. Chemistry is important. But don’t pick an agency because your friend works there or just because they just make you feel good. Choose the best agency partner because they have the best experience for the job and can deliver results for your company.

7. Don’t tell the agency candidates your budget. If you don’t at least give the agencies competing for your business a ballpark idea of your budget, they’ll probably come back with very different, hard-to-compare proposals. Why not set clear, upfront expectations of what you’re looking for? That way, when the proposals roll in, you can focus on choosing the right partner, not just the lowest bidder?

8. Set impossible deadlines. Tell the prospective agency that you want a web redesign in a month or a direct mail campaign printed and in the mail in 3-5 business days and you’re probably setting the project up for failure or less-than-stellar performance. Why not try to speed up corporate approvals while putting specific deliverables on parallel tracks? You might be surprised how quickly you can get projects delivered – on time and on budget!

9. They don’t speak the language of business. The world is full of creative people who like to design, write, shoot videos or get PR hits, but many of these people don’t really consider themselves business people. Nothing wrong with that if all you want is just pretty good creative, nothing more. But if you want marketing that truly delivers, choose the agency that talks business – the one that talks about building messaging that resonates with buyers or creating campaigns that drive more leads and increase sales.

10. I can just hire an intern to do social media. To do social media right, you should hire an agency that knows how to integrate social and track results as part of your integrated marketing campaigns. Social doesn’t belong as a siloed sideline; it should be part of the mix.

11.  We can do content in-house. Good content is critical to your branding. If you don’t have good writers and content creators in-house, then trust outside experts to help you get the message right. Good agency content marketers and copywriters know how to develop content for different target audiences and different communications. Without good content to support the entire buying cycle, all you have is well-designed brochure or a good-looking shell of a website.

12. Sorry, but we don’t do X. A good agency may not specialize in SEO or PR, for example, but more often than not they will have a healthy Rolodex of strategic partners and colleagues they can call on to help you create a video, get press or help you build a new mobile app. Do they have a can-do spirit or do they just care about what they want to do – not about meeting your overall marketing needs?

13. But the agency is a big-name agency that has won lots of awards. But will you be an important account to them – or merely a minor account that will be shuffled off to the most junior account team that takes three times longer to do half-baked work? Think twice before you choose based on name alone.  And, if they talk more about their awards than how they’ve helped clients achieve their business goals, then they probably can’t help you achieve yours either.  Move on.

It’s not easy choosing an integrated marketing agency for your company. But if you know the pitfalls, you’ll have a much better chance of selecting the right partner for your organization.

What are your personal rules of how NOT to choose an agency partner? Please share your experiences and tips in the comments below.