In today’s multi channel world to reach increasingly connected prospects, a company needs to provide a user journey across channels and platforms that are part of their target audience’s world.
Indeed, marketers are increasingly aware of the need to connect with so-called “consumers of information” through the savvy use of data and targeted engagement strategies. But are they doing it effectively?
The Digiday/Acxiom State of the Industry study found that while most marketers want to understand their customers and engage with them with bespoke experiences “in this era of the empowered consumer”, the majority haven’t yet found the optimal way of tapping into user data effectively.
It is no surprise that, as digital marketing takes a marked turn toward harnessing ‘big data’ and providing a personalised user journey across media channels, there is a lot of buzz around marketing automation.
A single integrated platform where marketers can simultaneously glean user insights, test, perform and analyse, and sales teams can easily identify what stage of the buying cycle a prospect as at – the idea is certainly appealing so no wonder marketing automation is now enjoying increased adoption in the B2B world. (more…)
You may have seen the recent publicity over the EU Cookie Law (aka The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011) and wondered just how it affects your website and your business.
You’ll find some simple steps to understand that impact below, but just in case you aren’t aware of the new regulations, here’s a quick round-up. (more…)
When speaking to marketing directors and business owners, one of the most common questions I am asked is – ‘Is all of this measurable?’ We are living in a world where ROI is at the heart of every business process and marketing is not an exception. (more…)
Attracting lots of untargeted web traffic that doesn’t convert to leads… or at least not at the rate you want it to? We’ve all been there. In fact, you may be surprised to find out that lead generation is one of the major challenges technology companies we’ve worked with have had to overcome.
While they may be a testament to an increased awareness of your brand, an improved visibility and the excellence of your content, high levels of traffic have no tangible value. Marketers have, indeed, bemoaned the fact traffic doesn’t yield itself to much more than quantification and segmentation. As an Econsutlancy/Adobe report found, while businesses agree that web traffic value is critical to measure, a mere 17% of the companies studied have such processes in place. (Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing)
Rather than revelling in web traffic glory, as a savvy B2B technology decision-maker, you’d be better off asking yourself, ”What am I doing with all that traffic? Have I got practices in place that will ensure these visitors come back to my website and eventually, convert to paying customers? Who do I want to attract, engage and turn into a client in the long run?”
Every B2B technology business wants to be on the crest of the digital wave but with so many players in this highly competitive arena, this could be more challenging than you think. A proven way to ensure your marketing efforts are yielding positive returns and translating into sales is to embrace closed-loop marketing.
Tech company employees are traditionally adept at number crunching and data analysis and so, they are among the most natural adopters of this approach, which closes the loop between audience data, marketing processes and sales. This type of intelligence marketing relies on analysing audience data feeding into campaigns and tracking the performance thereof, with the view to improving the overall performance and sales numbers.
Recently I was describing inbound marketing to a sales person from a high technology company. As I began to outline the benefits of using valuable content as a way to engage with prospects to help them make an informed buying decision, he interrupted me and said that in his experience the leads that came from their website were ‘rubbish’.
The process he described to me was the opposite of what inbound marketing was designed to achieve. He explained that their site had a wealth of information about their products and in some cases site visitors would leave their contact details in exchange for the most valuable content.
These prospect details were emailed directly to the sales team who called them up to find out whether they were likely to buy in time to help them meet their sales quota for the quarter. In 99.9% of the cases the prospects were simply looking to inform themselves about the products and were nowhere near ready for a sales conversation.
Finding new customers is the main crux of B2B commerce. Understandably, B2B organisations are constantly seeking new ways to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. If used correctly, inbound marketing can play a massive part in your engagement model and help your ecommerce business thrive.
5 steps to harnessing inbound marketing for your ecommerce business
The following five steps will get you on the inbound marketing cycle:
As we prepare to see off 2011, some have better reasons to crack open the bottle of champagne than others. It’s been yet another challenging year for marketing teams the world over, who have had to keep abreast of all the goings-on and novelties of the digital era in a race to increase web traffic, raise brand awareness and generate leads. And naturally, those on the cutting edge of online marketing are the ones who will toast their success as they ring in 2012.
Whether you have reasons to celebrate or not, there’s always more you can do to improve your marketing performance and results, without having to shell out buckets of cash on expensive advertising campaigns. Here are three key mini-strategies to infuse into your 2012 marketing mix.
Set your brand newsroom in motion
How many times in 2011 did you see the word “content” alongside business terms such as marketing, revenue and lead generation? Brand storytelling has turned into a buzz activity – but while it is often considered a one-hit wonder, producing compelling content with the rigour and care of a traditional publisher has become a necessity for businesses looking to attract consumers in the glut of voices of the digital space. A report by eMarketer predicts that 39% of companies will increase their investment in branded content in 2012.
