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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.

6 Reasons Why Your Organization Must Embrace Social Media

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By Sheryl Roehl and Scott Mikus

Marketers may be overwhelmed or intimidated by social media – or maybe they can’t convince management to set up a Twitter page or start a blog. Whatever the case, the hesitation and fear of the unknown are understandable. Social marketing is new and it’s moving fast. It can be hard to figure out how to get started.

A few years ago, participation in social media was optional for B2B companies and even some B2C brands. Not anymore. Here are 6 reasons why companies and brands must embrace social media:

1. Thought Leadership.
Social media gives you and your brand a platform upon which can assert its leadership position. Your thought leadership becomes a differentiator that lifts you above the competition. But you can’t just say you’re a leader; you have to earn it by sharing your views and visions of the future. That means participating in the marketplace of ideas via social media.

2. Engagement.
A recent study indicates that before B2B buyers ever talk to a sales rep, they are already 57 percent of the way to a buying decision based on information they learn from peers, web searches, online forums or social media. Make sure your web content supports every step in the sales cycle. Your blogs and other content should speak to your buyers’ business pains and address the industry trends and topics that will get them to consider your company’s products and services.

3. Search Engine Optimization.
SEO isn’t just about keywords anymore. Your blog posts, tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn status updates are just as important now to your search rankings. To stay ahead of your competition, you will need to participate in social media or your rankings may drop.

4. Internal and External Digital Cross-Linkage.
Social media builds cross-linkage with existing customers, prospects and internal brand ambassadors, among other audiences. The more that you’re engaging in social media, the more you’re visible to key audiences, both internal and external. In today’s social media era, who you know matters more than ever.

5. Inbound and Outbound Marketing. 
When you integrate social media into your inbound and outbound marketingmix, it can dramatically increase inbound traffic to your trade show booth, your website and your blog. According to Hubspot, companies with an active blog get 55 percent more website visitors.

6. Qualitative Lead Generation.
Why have a blog on your site? Take a look at this eye-opening Hubspot stat: 72 percent of companies that post an average of one blog per week have acquired new customers from a blog-generated lead. Then, you can use email and web analytics to see who’s coming to your site, how long they are staying, where they are going and which white papers and eBooks they are downloading. This data can arm your sales team with the information it needs to focus on the most qualified leads and ultimately close more deals.

Social Marketing can help lift your company above the competition, build thought leadership, drive more leads and help you close more deals. What other reasons can you think of for diving into social marketing? How has social media helped your marketing team deliver better results?

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.