I talk a lot about content marketing because it’s a great way to attract and engage a clearly defined target audience.
Whereas traditional marketing methods tend to hammer prospects over the head with endless blatant sales pitches, content marketing gets the job done in a nonintrusive—and more effective—way...
With so much focus on social media these days, some would have us believe the death knell has sounded for older marketing channels. Take email, for example. No longer the new kid on the block, maybe your interest in it has waned—or never got off the ground.
This article looks at why email is still a marketing powerhouse, why you should be using it (if you’re not), and two ingredients you simply must add if you want to get the most out of it...
I live in a relatively rural area where water wells are the norm. In fact, I have one myself.
A few months ago, I was told our (brand new) local water company was going to be putting a water line down our road. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly enthused...
It’s amazing how just a few changes in content can really blow the lid off the number of leads the average B2B website generates. And they don’t have to be big changes. In fact, you might be surprised how easy it can sometimes be to turn lackluster results into big time improvements.
This article looks at some of the simple steps you can take to rev up your own site’s lead generation engine...
You’ve heard the experts and you’ve seen the research. Blogging can be a great way to beef up your ROI. But let’s face it. Blogging can be downright hard, too. Especially when everyone and their moo (cow, that is) has an opinion on what it takes to get it right.
Whether you’ve already taken the plunge or are still holding off on writing that first page, this article will help you navigate the basics of any successful business blog...
Where in the buying process is your prospect? If you can’t answer that question, you might just be losing sales.
This article looks at the different stages of the B2B sales cycle and the types of content that help each stage move along more smoothly...
The past two months I’ve talked about some of the ways businesses are using Twitter and LinkedIn to connect with prospects and customers. This month, I’m rounding out my social media miniseries with a closer look at the third most popular B2B platform, Facebook. While Facebook may be sitting behind Twitter and LinkedIn in terms of popularity, The Social Network has proven it’s not going away any time soon.
This article looks at how to build a Facebook business page that not only engages visitors but enhances your overall marketing strategy, too...
Chances are you already have a personal profile on LinkedIn. But did you know that this professional networking site is the second most popular social media channel among B2B marketers? And with the latest update to company pages, you now have at your disposal even more ways to expand your reach.
This article looks at six ways to create a company page that brings real value to your prospects and more business to you...
According to Forrester Research, 86% of business technology buyers engage in some form of social activity for work purposes. And Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs’ B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends found that the use of social media by B2B companies continues to grow by double digits every year—with Twitter ranking #1 among marketers surveyed. Indeed, with 75% of Twitter users stating they're more likely to purchase from a brand they follow—and 67% likely to recommend that brand to someone else—there's no doubt Twitter is good for business. But to get the results you want, you still need a strategy.
Here are five tips specifically chosen for their ability to quickly and easily leverage all the power Twitter has to offer...
Have you ever put a lot of valuable time and effort into crafting a landing page only to have it go on to ho-hum success—or worse, totally flop? The sad truth is most landing pages really don’t perform as well as they could. But when done well, they have the ability to skyrocket your conversion rates.
Transforming your next attempt from mediocre to campaign superstar is what this article is all about...
In October 2010, the FTC announces its proposed revisions to the Green Guides. In July 2011, SC Johnson settles the greenwashing class action lawsuit known as the Greenlist case. If greenwashing fears have caused your business to downplay its environmental achievements, you’re not alone. But the market for sustainability isn’t going away. In fact, it’s only getting bigger. And companies that wish to maintain their competitive advantage will need to adapt.
This article looks at 4 tips to help you successfully navigate the latest changes and stay on top of the ever evolving world of green marketing...
Take a look at your company’s home page right now. Go on, I’ll wait. Okay then. What did you see? Putting aside details for the moment, what was your overall impression? Were there headlines that grabbed your attention? Tightly written text that immediately let you know the purpose of the site? Or were you overwhelmed by image after image—or maybe just one really big one? Maybe it’s the increasing popularity of HDTV, 3D movies, video games, or mobile devices, but we now live in an era where images seem to be everything.
If your home page looks as if it’s been commandeered by an overzealous graphic designer, you’re not alone. But you are hurting your business...
In order to know if your marketing efforts are paying off, you have to track your results. Large corporations have the capital to hire huge firms or teams of employees dedicated to the process of tracking online engagement, so the prospect of testing may seem daunting to a small or midsize company with limited resources.
While smaller companies may not have the resources to implement an overly complex customer relationship management (CRM) system, there are still some very effective and relatively simple ways to track and measure prospects’ behavior online...
If you’re in the business of selling products or services that are somewhat complex in nature, chances are case studies are an integral part of your marketing portfolio. But not all case studies are created equal. So if some of your efforts have generated less than stellar results, you may be wondering what you’re doing wrong.
Thankfully, there is a proven formula for writing studies that get results, and this article will show you how to do just that...
In a blog post earlier this year, Joel Makower, executive editor of the GreenBiz Group, set off something of a firestorm by making the seemingly heretical statement that green marketing is dead. And with responses ranging from reluctant agreement to overt hostility, Makower certainly stirred the pot of green consultants and marketers.
But is it true? And, if so, where do we go from here?
If every page on your website is geared toward making a sale, then you’re probably doing something wrong.
“What?” I can hear you say. “But isn’t selling what having a website is all about?” Yes and no...
One of the biggest barriers to making the jump to more environmentally sound products or services is upfront costs.
Anything you can do to get your prospects to look at those costs from a different perspective will make your sales messages stronger and more successful...
According to the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP), adopted by the European Commission in 2004, one of the biggest barriers to the widespread adoption of green technologies is lack of awareness.
Although the responsibility for raising awareness lies largely with government policy and public education, there’s still a great deal the environmental and green marketer can do...
Let’s say you’re actively capturing leads and building your in-house email list. So far so good, right?
All your hard work and those potentially valuable leads will do you no good unless you’re successful in getting your email past those dreaded gatekeepers—the spam filters...
According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing (i.e., autoresponders and e-newsletters) continues to generate an impressive ROI—to the tune of 4000%, on average.
If your organization isn’t currently utilizing email—or is underutilizing it—here are some things to think about...
