tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8019616112874514062024-03-05T10:08:11.087-08:00Lawler on LeadsBill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-80771929822953672502010-02-08T11:37:00.000-08:002010-02-08T12:30:20.194-08:00Email Personalization/Testing<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.clickz.com/3636402">Nice article today</a> from Jeanne Jennings at ClickZ regarding email best practices and testing. She comments on the use of click-stream data and other analytics to personalize and customize email messages.<br /><br />She talks about the fine line between the importance and effectiveness of personalization and message relevance and 'hyper-personalization', or a 'big brother-ish' feeling one gets from knowing a company may have too much information about the recipient, where they surfed on a website and how that can be a turn-off. Couldn't agree more.<br /><br />I will say however that striking the right balance between personalization and intrusiveness is a very important element to test and get right. How much likely are you to respond to an email with your name in the subject line, or with an offer or content from someone or something that you know you recently looked at? Can have a huge affect on conversions.<br /><br />On the topic -- I've recently received an email from a company (that I've opted in to) that nevertheless went directly into my spam folder in Yahoo. Couple things jumped out at me -- it's important to make certain you have some copy at the top of your emails to ask the recipient to either include your address in their address book/list of accepted email senders or to provide them the option to opt out of future messages (in fact a clear and prompt opt-out procedure is a <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm">CAN SPAM requirement</a>).<br /><br />A quick review of the email also pointed out some potential spam folder issues - it had 'FREE' in the subject line and had quite a few images in the email body. These elements might not automatically doom you, but they don't help.<br /><br />Many ESP's (<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_service_provider">definition</a>) have built in spam filters that allow you to test and score your emails to see how likely they are to make it through spam filters and become deliverable into in-boxes. If yours doesn't there are many free spam filters available (<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://spamassassin.apache.org/">SpamAssassin</a> and <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/">SpamCheck </a>to name but two) for you to use, I heartily recommend.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-40006119494375133232010-01-22T09:34:00.000-08:002010-01-22T10:39:30.975-08:00Website's Influence on Buying DecisionsOn Wednesday <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hubspot</span> put up a <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5501/Research-Shows-Websites-Influence-97-of-Clients-Purchasing-Decisions.aspx?source=Blog_Email_[Research+Shows+Websi]">blog post</a>/chart (below) about a new survey released by <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.raintoday.com/index.cfm"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">RainToday</span>.com</a>. 97% of survey respondents (which included more than 200 buyers of professional services) stated that websites had at least some measure of influence over their ultimate buying decisions. 97%.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJgIIeYibzZvzMcGoKVxCKS8DgioMNhj70Iy4lDTSjbSTX4fK7IK8A6o3E-6cRVVLYloVpNvmNtDJ_eJayu562gEG84JsJnHdK5t19AZH62fggfeysSgsqpu1W4mNwR3FCR_GraUMvM8/s1600-h/Websites'+Influence-resized-600.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJgIIeYibzZvzMcGoKVxCKS8DgioMNhj70Iy4lDTSjbSTX4fK7IK8A6o3E-6cRVVLYloVpNvmNtDJ_eJayu562gEG84JsJnHdK5t19AZH62fggfeysSgsqpu1W4mNwR3FCR_GraUMvM8/s200/Websites'+Influence-resized-600.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429623746057750674" border="0" /></a>This hopefully tells you something you've known for some time, that nearly all confirmed buyers will eventually make their way to your website (or your competitors) to gather information to help inform their buying decision. And that's not just product-specific data.<br /><br />We know from analysis of the marketing and sales funnels that at the beginning of this journey, these prospects are first looking for educational content and thought leadership that first speaks to an understanding of business challenges, how that relates to their specific needs and then provides answers that help solve these challenges. Not until those questions have been satisfied do these prospects seek specific information on the vendor solutions that support these ideas.<br /><br />This blog has spoken often about the need to have a website that provides compelling (and easily obtainable) content to prospects for each stage of the funnel they are in, as well as for their specific roles/pain points relative to their responsibilities to the overall decision chain. This only further supports that.<br /><br />If you feel your website is not sufficiently content-optimized, it's not too big an elephant to start the changes needed right now. I'm sure you have sufficient content already in your site copy, your campaign offers and assets, etc. The keys are to get that content organized, updated and targeted, and get it on the site (and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">searchable</span>). Simple <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">SEO</span>, such as keyword development and creating meta tags for your page titles, descriptions and keywords can be done in a few days. Paid search that supports those keywords can be done in minutes. Create a landing page/s that provide a path for prospects to gain further information from you while exchanging some of their personal data. Ensure that your blog is liked to your site and pump a steady stream of your brilliance into it. Link those posts to your Twitter, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Facebook</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">LinkedIn</span> profiles. It's not difficult. There are prospects who are waiting to hear from you right now...Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-15281233414069569882010-01-11T13:10:00.000-08:002010-01-11T13:51:22.557-08:00Search Strategies in 2010Three new articles out this week each underscore the evolution (and importance of) search as we go into 2010. Each article I felt raised some interesting issues pertaining to how an organization should consider constructing their search strategies in driving traffic to their websites.<br /><br />At <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">HubSpot</span> they took a <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5462/How-Much-Traffic-Should-Your-Small-Business-Expect-From-Search-Referrals-Paid-Search.aspx?source=Blog_Email_[How+Much+Traffic+Sho]">survey of existing clients</a> to find that of the three primary methods to drive search traffic (organic, paid, referral sites), organic drives more traffic <span style="font-style: italic;">than both paid and referral combined. </span>Considering the added credibility (and increased conversion) of organic search vs paid, how much of your search budget is devoted to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">SEO</span> vs strictly paid?<br /><br />On the Google Blog, they provided a <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/this-week-in-search-1810.html">very brief summary</a> of some stats from 2009 -- all are interesting factoids, but one especially stood out for me w/respect to driving traffic:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Number of search quality improvements made by Google in 2009: 540, ~1.5 each day</span><br /><br />What this tells me is the importance of having a dynamic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">SEO</span> strategy, and not just staying pat w/the hand you have. It's a daily fight to stay abreast of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Google's</span> changing algorithm's, keeping your keywords in the top echelon and beating your <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">competitors</span> to the punch to get the best terms and results.<br /><br />In <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.clickz.com/3636063"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ClickZ's</span> 2010 online marketing trends for 2010</a> the article mentions the increased use (and increased competitiveness) of broad key terms that are used earlier in the purchase process due to their limited supply. It's critical that you identify (and make ROI-based decisions) on your broad term keywords as they are highly sought after and expensive. Create sufficient metrics to see which of those terms best move the needle with regards to the ultimate purchase decision.<br /><br />The article also reminds us of the ever-expanding use of YouTube (<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-features/39777-youtube-surpasses-yahoo-as-world%E2%80%99s-2-search-engine">the world's 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">nd</span> largest search engine <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">btw</span></a>). How much content are you preparing for video share sites like YouTube? Translating as much of your content and making it suitable for various channels (digital, video, podcast, print, personal) should be an important consideration of your content development strategy.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-37578694941028254982010-01-06T11:19:00.000-08:002010-01-06T12:27:38.845-08:00Forrester Wave Report on ESP'sForrester Research recently came out with their Wave report reviewing 15 top Email Service Providers (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ESPs</span>). Summary <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.demandgenreport.com/archives/demandgen-reports/375-forrester-wave-report-cites-email-marketing-service-provider-leaders.html">here</a>, full report can be downloaded from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ExactTarget</span> <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://pages.exacttarget.com/wave09">here</a>.<br /><br />The report has both <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://email.exacttarget.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ExactTarget</span></a> and <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.responsys.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Responsys</span></a> as being ranked at the top, with both being cited for providing robust and comprehensive offerings, excellent functionality and very good service to support their platforms. I've worked with both solutions and can attest to their power and flexibility.<br /><br />Other notable <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ESPs</span> mentioned include <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Yesmail</span>, e-Dialog, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Acxiom</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Experian</span> and Epsilon. Not ranking quite as high is <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.lyris.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Lyris</span></a>, which I've also worked with. I feel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Lyris</span> is an up-and-comer in the space due to their solid analytics package, simple content creation, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">PPC</span> management and burgeoning social media capabilities.<br /><br />Some other interesting notes include that 92% of those surveyed for the report say they are actively using email marketing as part of their marketing mix and agree that spending on email marketing will be increasing in the next 3 years. So much for the death of email as a marketing tool.<br /><br />Enhancing the business case for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">ESPs</span> includes marketers offsetting staffing losses with the increased productivity and efficiency that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">ESPs</span> provide, and an increased relevance in marketing programs.<br /><br />I believe a great deal of that increased relevance is (and will continue to be) due to more and more companies embracing lead nurturing and a mutual value exchange in their interactions with new prospects. Email has become the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">de</span> facto communications channel for timely, compelling and relevant interactions between company and prospects. As the ROI for email marketing for cold lists (list rental) continues to decline, the ROI on house lists/marketing databases should rise as marketers seek to build relationships through their communication by providing thoughtful, educational and targeted content that prospects seek out and come to expect.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-74662518020162466932009-12-29T12:14:00.000-08:002009-12-30T12:39:15.723-08:00Short Tail and Long Tail KeywordsSome quick observations regarding <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">PPC</span> strategies that I've been reviewing recently that may help your paid search ROI.<br /><br />Many companies obviously seek out the highest performing (i.e. highest trafficked) keywords relating to their products and services in determining those keywords that they would like to ultimately bid on in Google, Bing, Yahoo, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">et</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">al</span>. The catch there is the more popular the keyword, the more difficult (and expensive) it is to 1) win it at auction and 2) gain a page one hit in a search engine.<br /><br />Short tail keywords (<a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.marketinghub.info/long-tail-versus-short-tail-keywords/">definitions</a>) are essentially broader search phrases, usually consisting of one or two terms (think 'running shoes'), that while being the most popular search phrase for a product or service will also be the most competitive and expensive search phrase in trying to win its' use as you bid for the phrase. If you're a small company competing in a large space (i.e. the aforementioned running shoes) you would have a very difficult time competing against the budgets of global brands for these phrases.<br /><br />Long tail keywords are a longer string of terms, usually 3 or more words, that are much more specific and pinpointed to your product or service (think ' Nike running shoes size 13'). While long tails might not have nearly the volume of clicks as short tails, well-researched long tail keywords can have higher conversion rates than short tails and be a cost-effective way to drive more highly-qualified traffic to your site. They are usually much less expensive, and you are more likely to be able to gain a page one result for your ad.<br /><br />A large part of your paid search strategy then is to do detailed ROI analysis to determine which of those types of short tail and long tail keywords convert - to a click, to a page view, to a form completion/response, to a lead, to an opportunity, to revenue. Use tools like the <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Google Traffic Estimator</span></a>, <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.wordtracker.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Wordtracker</span> </a>and <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.trellian.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Trellian</span> </a>to help you uncover keywords that would resonate with your targets and drive traffic, as well as give you an idea of their approximate cost as you bid to use them. Go to some of your competitors websites and take a look at their page code -- you can see the keywords they are using in their own title, description and keyword meta tags, which can also help give you ideas for your own terms.<br /><br />Relative to your industry or space, you may find it cost efficient to in fact bid on a higher-priced short tails if the business case is there after conversion. Or perhaps you'll find that you are in a niche market and short tail keywords aren't all that expensive to begin with. You may also find that the opportunity cost of the research it takes to find and maintain enough suitable long tails to make a good strong list is simply not worth it in the long run. Additionally, as (ideally) you are matching your landing page copy to your keyword/ad copy for optimum conversion, maintaining a larger inventory of long tail keywords/campaigns requires a significant uptick in time and energy.<br /><br />The trick is to find the right balance in your keyword strategy and purchase. As always with any marketing investment, test and experiment to determine the optimal blend of those tactics that reap the highest results.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-23122905371323946092009-12-22T12:31:00.000-08:002009-12-22T13:19:24.531-08:00ROMI Down to the TacticI had an enjoyable chat last week with a software CEO who had a outstanding command of marketing strategy and tactics. He asked some in-depth questions about demand generation and the ability to calculate a <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_on_marketing_investment"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ROMI</span> (Return on Marketing Investment) </a>down to the specific tactic deployed in a multi-target, multi-channel campaign. I thought he raised some important issues that bore discussion in the blog.<br /><br />I've found that many marketing (and operational executives) feel that once a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">CRM</span> or marketing automation tool is purchased/deployed it will provide the magic bullet of calculating the program ROI of a given deal by attributing that deal being closed to a specific tactic at a specific time. I'm not suggesting that isn't possible, but would caution that that type of metric might be tougher to arrive at than you think.<br /><br />Frequently I've heard feedback from salespeople who say that the deals they close were not affected by any marketing outreach as much as existing contacts/relationships the salesperson had that s/he nurtured and closed. Leads that were generated and passed through by marketing to sales weren't 'true' leads in that they already existed. And in many cases that may be true.<br /><br />But the likelihood that a well-crafted, multi-target campaign helped shape and influence a complex decision chain is indeed very real. I'm not suggesting that a charter of marketing should not be to identify and collect net new leads for new business opportunities. That should be a large part of marketing's responsibility. But I'd like to make a case for level-setting in the ways in which you view the impact of your demand gen marketing investments.<br /><br />If your typical decision chain consists of multiple targets (say 3-5 individuals, senior exec, middle manager/s, analyst), each with differing <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">responsibilities</span> to the final decision, it's likely that your campaign will include multiple offers to each target through multiple stages (AIDA) of the marketing process. Thus there are numerous client interactions/touch points that can and will take place as the decision chain educates to the problem, educates to the solution (needs recognition), assimilates proof points (needs satisfaction) and then takes an action to discuss the opportunity with a vendor.<br /><br />To attribute the development of an opportunity or deal to one offer or action is very challenging in this type of environment in that it is fair to think that the sum total of numerous marketing interactions, plus the relationships that sales has had in the account, helped contribute to the deal being found and closed.<br /><br />I can hear some of you asking -- then why do I invest in a demand gen initiative, in a marketing automation tool, in the creative and resource investments if I can't pin down a successful deal to any one tactic? I would argue that the way to think about this is more about attributing a deal to a collection of strategies and multiple tactics that were developed and executed as a systematic and coherent approach to help identify, capture, score, nurture, route, and track leads to deals.<br /><br />In your campaign/deal post-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">mortems</span> you will be able to identify certain tactics that created lift, that helped accelerate the process, that had more perceived impact than other tactics. (As an example, you can research and build models around those tactics that seem to frequently be in the mix in those opportunities that you have won. In fact that type of analysis should then inform your lead scoring standards).<br /><br />But I'm not confident that you will frequently be able to reduce the success of a joint marketing and sales engagement to any one tactic. And I'm not sure you should be able to. Complex decision chains have an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">assortment</span> of dynamics, including momentum, timing, budgets, politics and online/offline/human interactions that in sum help drive (or retard) the progress of the decision chain through the marketing and sales funnels.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-90399317373861718522009-12-18T11:53:00.000-08:002009-12-18T12:27:05.729-08:00Customers as Social Media AdvocatesMany of you now are quite familiar with my enthusiasm for supplementing your traditional outbound marketing strategy with an <span style="font-weight: bold;">inbound marketing strategy</span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;">getting customers to find you in online communities. </span><br /><br />A large part of this strategy requires your planting 'seeds' of your brilliance -- your thought leadership, ideas and creative, innovative thinking for solving business problems -- in forums, blogs and social media platforms where they can be found by people interested in what you have to say. Taking on a content marketing orientation or creating a mini-publishing house, with the purpose of providing a relevant, compelling source of content (information and knowledge) on a regular basis is a significant aspect of building a relationship with a prospect and being successful here.<br /><br />I tend to discourage blatant product or solution pitches as a source of content in your inbound <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">strategy</span>. It undermines the credibility you're establishing for being about solving business challenges and not just selling product. If and when a prospect is interested in learning more about your solutions, they will find their way to your website and be able to consume vast amounts of product information.<br /><br />Why not instead seek to enlist your most satisfied customers as your social media solution advocates? How much more powerful would it be for a prospect to hear how <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">impactful</span> your solutions are from a company who has vetted several offerings and found success with your products versus hearing it from you? I'd bet it's a pretty big difference.<br /><br />Here's an example -- if you're a member, go to <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.linkedin.com/answers/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">LinkedIn</span> Answers</a> and ask a question, say about what <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CRM</span> solutions are out there that people could recommend. Check out how many answers come from marketing and sales people associated with the vendors they recommend (some people state their company affiliation, but some don't. Talk about integrity). See a credibility issue there?<br /><br />But how much more impact do the same answers from customers have? Especially those who state they have looked at several different solutions and undertaken a detailed vetting process. It's a significant difference amongst those people seeking an unbiased opinion on what works and why.<br /><br />Recruiting these types of advocates is not difficult. Once they are on-board and (hopefully) have fallen in love with your company and it's products/services, they would probably be enthused to share their experiences as they have a vested interest in helping your company to do well and grow. You could also incentivize these customers with promotions, service discounts or even <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">chotzkes</span> to gain their assistance. Make it easy for them to identify forums, blogs, social platforms where they could add their 2 cents, and make sure they know that they would prove helpful even providing as little as a sentence of positive feedback.<br /><br />I would also stress here that you in no way attempt to shape or affect the feedback they would give (which carries some risk, but you should have a strong sense of the type of feedback they would provide at the outset). Assure them that it's <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">completely</span> up to them to provide an honest and principled accounting of their <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">experience</span> with your products and service.<br /><br />I think you'd be surprised how many of your satisfied customers would love to help spread the word about how terrific your <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">company</span> and it's solutions have been for them.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-35411770445343634002009-12-11T11:25:00.000-08:002009-12-11T16:53:24.280-08:00Lead Lifecycle CampaignsI met recently with the VP of Marketing of a what many experts consider a real up-and-comer in the marketing automation space. He's an innovative demand gen marketeer and has some terrific ideas and opinions about demand generation best practices. He made me aware of some solid thinking about those leads that haven't yet achieved sales-ready status.<br /><br />One area we talked about was advanced lead nurturing and what he calls <span style="font-weight: bold;">lead lifecycle</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">campaigns</span>. He defines these campaigns as designed to ensure that leads don't go stagnant (or get lost), to keep them moving with the goal of maintaining an ongoing interaction with the prospect until they are ready to buy or engage with sales.<br /><br />Driving home after our meeting I was thinking about the number of leads I've seen generated that for whatever reasons did not achieve sales-ready status that just lingered in the marketing funnel, or worse, were jettisoned out of the system with no further action put upon them. It's a big number. His reference to these types of leads as simply in a 'not ready to buy yet' state was an interesting recognition of these leads having an intrinsic value (you've invested a certain amount of time, money, resource to get them to a certain stage).<br /><br />My interest was piqued and that night I downloaded his company's guide to lead nurturing to learn more. In it they discuss lead lifecycle campaigns being broken down into three categories - <span style="font-weight: bold;">lead handoff</span>,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> lead recycling</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">new customers</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lead handoff</span> is when a marketing qualified lead (MQL) becomes a sales-ready lead (SRL) and is passed into the sales team. Details about the lead including date passed, nurture time and how quickly sales engages with the lead are noted. If the lead is not acted upon in a timely fashion (time frame established by sales and marketing together), not moved forward or is moved backwards in the sales process, there is a set period whereby the lead is reassigned or <span style="font-weight: bold;">recycled </span>back to marketing. This ensures the lead doesn't get lost or stuck or otherwise slow down the sales engagement process.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lead recycling</span> refers to leads which are not yet ready to be acted upon by sales. It's an acknowledgment that these leads have value and should continue to be engaged until they are ready, or until it's absolutely clear that there is no further sales potential. Recycling is important due to the fact that so many leads that enter the sales funnel are ignored or lost. The critical point here is that there are a percentage of these leads that are simply not yet ready to buy, but do down the road fully intend to purchase a product or solution. Potentially yours if you maintain a relationship with them.<br /><br />The guide refers to two recycling scenarios, where leads are either automatically recycled according to set rules or they are manually recycled by sales. In either case, these leads can be ported to other campaigns in place which are cognizant of their status, the level of data that has previously been exchanged between the prospect and the company and provide tactics which reflect and leverage that information.<br /><br />The final component of lead lifecycle campaigns is when <span style="font-weight: bold;">new customers</span> are won - and the opportunities you'll have to build upon the relationship you've developed with the (new) customer and add to their lifetime value with cross-sell, up-sell and service offerings that continually meet their needs. Drip campaigns for these customers can include welcome notes, helpful hints, newsletters, et al, that would be an ideal means to further deepen your customer engagement and strengthen your relationship.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-12859792925704116582009-12-08T11:51:00.001-08:002009-12-09T17:53:06.341-08:00Real-time Search in GoogleI'm sure many of you have read either yesterday or today about <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Ushers-in-Realtime-Search-With-Facebook-Twitter-MySpace-571830/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Google's</span> new search enhancement</a> whereby they are now including real-time search results from news sites, blogs, and social media sites like Twitter, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Facebook</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">et</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">al</span>. You can sample this new feature by going <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.google.com/trends">here</a>.... scroll down to the box labeled<span style="font-weight: bold;"> More Hot Topics</span>, type in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Obama</span>.... then watch real-time posts from a myriad of sites spill down one after the next. Pretty cool.<br /><br />Obviously this is great news (and has huge ramifications) for inbound marketeers, not the least of which is the importance of being able to serve immediate content in Google about your space, company and solutions. This now provides a channel for your timely and relevant brilliance to be found immediately by prospects, partners, customers and media.<br /><br />You'll also have an opportunity to monitor and respond to mentions about your company and it's assets virtually real-time, as well as identify other openings where you can affect the conversation about your industry and its' solutions.<br /><br />Yet another reason for evolving your marketing organization into a mini-publishing house to take advantage of the multiple channels to create content for your prospects and customers and further increase your awareness and build your relationships. More to come on this in the days and weeks to follow...Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-34643720808065648462009-12-07T11:28:00.000-08:002009-12-07T13:14:54.194-08:00Contact AcquisitionMany companies aren't always certain where to start when they tackle the task of building up their house lists (prospect & customer marketing databases) for future marketing and demand generation. When asked, I've maintained that a contact acquisition strategy should be included in the overall lead management strategy at the outset of any new lead management initiative at an organization.<br /><br />When I talk about contact acquisition, I'm referring to those contact records you own (or have access to) that comprise the initial database source/s that you will aim your offers/messages at in hopes of generating interest (and leads) for your solution or service.<br /><br />Ideally you would identify multiple contact data streams that would flow into your lead gen machine on a regular basis, feeding the campaigns you build and filling your funnel with the responses that evolve into qualified leads. And hopefully many of these streams would be economically sustainable over the long haul.<br /><br />The question is -- where do you start? For many the first place they go is to a list broker (person or firm that specializes in procuring contact lists for use in marketing campaigns). I don't disagree that a good list broker should be part of an overall contact acquisition strategy. But list rental can be expensive ($150-400 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CPM</span> for B2B email lists) and reap poor results (open rates <15%, CTR .25-.75%).<br /><br />List rental, data services (such as Jigsaw, Hoover's, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">InfoUSA</span>), paid and organic search, content syndication, newsletter sponsorships, trade shows and events all should be important channels for contact acquisition (with special attention paid to acquisition cost and ROI).<br /><br />But I also try to bring in as many easy, low-cost channels as I can when brain-storming ways to acquire new contacts for my campaigns. Simple things like adding a compelling link/offer to all company email <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">sig</span> files are free and simple ways to build your lists through transactional and customer service/support emails.<br /><br />Remember to make all your web pages landing pages, with a newsletter sign-up field on every page as well as a gated offer or two (demo, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">webinar</span>). With effective <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">SEO</span>, website visitors can be coming into your web site through other ways than the front door (home page) - make it easy for them to sign up to learn more about the problems you solve (and your company's solutions).<br /><br />Also look to your marketing, sales and alliance partners to trade access to proprietary contacts with a message or offer that may be appealing to their list members.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-64927966750611684232009-11-30T15:16:00.000-08:002009-12-23T14:20:43.564-08:00Lead Scoring TipQuick tip: When assembling a lead scoring standard for their lead nurture programs, many marketers assign a score based upon a scoring range, usually 0-100. This helps determine how qualified a lead actually is and where (generally) it is in the funnel. As long as both sales and marketing know what that range is and what it corresponds to, they figure the system works.<br /><br />Try this - add a further (and simple, at-a-glance) understanding to your lead scores by assigning a letter/number score to the rate range. For example, 100-80 points would be further broken down as A1, A2, A3, A4 (A1 being highest). 79-60 could be B1, B2, B3 and so on. You could extend this scoring convention in any number of ways and any number range.<br /><br />This assists your sales team further in equating a known grading system (A-excellent, B-very good, C-average, D-below average) to the value of the lead. Numbers standing alone don't always equate to a quick understanding of the lead quality and its' sales readiness.<br /><br />In routing leads into <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">SFA</span> tools such as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Salesforce</span>.com, I've often given the lead an A1, A2, A3 lead score in the sales tool to gain the salesperson a better understanding of the lead value. Give it a shot...Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-15201747948197799022009-11-17T12:04:00.000-08:002009-11-17T12:47:51.511-08:00High-Performance Landing PagesAs part of an overall lead nurturing strategy, there's been increasing talk about the use of what are commonly being referred to as high-performance landing pages (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">HPLPs</span>). Marketing Profs will be presenting a <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/226"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">webinar</span> </a>on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">HPLPs</span> later this week. Companies like <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.ioninteractive.com/">Ion Interactive</a> offer software for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">HPLP</span> development.<br /><br />The idea behind <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">HPLPs</span> is simple -- better segmenting practices help you construct more targeted landing pages (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">LPs</span>) with custom messaging and offers that more accurately speak to the interests and needs of targets in the decision chain. As marketeers continue to search for ways to boost conversions and make their content more relevant, I think the idea of customizing and super-charging your landing page optimization is well founded.<br /><br />Some software apps (like the aforementioned Ion) can automate the process of building these pages -- helping to improve page layouts, dynamic page editing, adding/testing page elements such as Flash and flexible forms, bringing in logic/business rules to provide unique <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">pathing</span> based upon prior behaviors and advanced reporting capabilities.<br /><br />Even if your budget won't permit the use of a landing page optimization software app, it's good practice to seek to manually create <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">LPs</span> that are specifically targeted to individual members of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">decision</span> chain (C-level, VP-level, Dir-level, Analyst-level) rather than one size fits all. Usually each of those targets has different responsibilities relative to the decision process, and thus would likely better respond to more relevant (and compelling) messaging and offers.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-90186782797925867592009-11-09T13:20:00.000-08:002009-11-09T13:47:01.015-08:00Lead NurturingI've been chatting this week with a former colleague setting up a simple lead scoring system for a small tech company where he runs the marketing team. He embraces the importance of automating his lead collection and management, nurturing the leads they gather as well as placing scores on each of the interactions he has with prospects as they progress through the lead funnel. Good stuff.<br /><br />We've been debating though the amount of data he should seek to collect through this lead nurturing process, that is, how much data and when to ask for it. He's attempting to collect all relevant data with which to determine if the prospect is a viable lead IN THE FIRST CONTACT HE MAKES. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Hmmm</span>, I say... not good stuff.<br /><br />We both agree that lead nurturing should be an ongoing process where we engage in a ongoing dialogue with a prospect with the goal of providing the prospect with high value information that makes him smarter/do his job better in exchange for his providing us proprietary data about what his needs are (or might be in the future). This suggests that this information exchange should be gradual and at a pace the prospect feels comfortable with in his learning process.<br /><br />The lead nurture process is very much about your company gradually earning trust as a valued thought leader or provider of good ideas. As you become a trusted partner (you're not just about trying to sell product) the prospect will become more willing to gradually reveal more information about himself and his requirements. Very few people will tell you everything about who they are/what they need in that first marketing interaction.<br /><br />I've always felt that the campaign forms I build are incremental and reflect where the prospect is in the funnel. I seek to gather just enough prospect data with the first marketing activity that permits me the chance to re-connect and prove my mettle again and again. My first forms usually ask just for a first, last name and an email address (always a 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">nd</span> email field to ensure there are no errors). Once I have that, I can enter the prospect into my marketing database and let the conversation grow.<br /><br />Hopefully with each <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">successive</span> marketing transaction I provide sufficient value for the prospect to feel comfortable in exchanging more info about who he is and what his needs might be. A 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">nd</span> form might for instance ask for his title, company name, size, address and industry. 3rd touch forms might then delve into <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">BANT</span> information (budget, authority, need, timeline) where I begin to get a sense if there is funded project either now or on the horizon.<br /><br />In future posts I'll go through how creating an offer portfolio <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">which</span> supports this lead nurturing process ensures a hand-off from one marketing transaction to the next and keeps the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">prospect</span> engaged.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-49565164438881356402009-10-30T11:52:00.000-07:002009-10-30T12:38:04.957-07:00More SEO TipsI've recently been helping out a friend with his new small business selling golf training aids (check out his site: <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.athleticgolfswing.com/">http://www.athleticgolfswing.com/</a> the Pure Contact Connection is a winner!) and have been reminded about some areas of basic <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">SEO</span> that need some close attention, no matter the size of your business (I've even noticed this with global enterprise companies that have been on my radar).<br /><br />I've previously mentioned the three initial areas that any website should address with regards to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">SEO</span> - <span style="font-weight: bold;">meta tags for title, description and keywords</span>. Although having quality in-bound links to your site are probably at the top of the list with respect to getting crawled and ranked organically, your <span style="font-weight: bold;">title meta</span> is important and does factor into how Google and others index and rank you. Remember that the title should contain the most important <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">searchable</span> keywords or #1 most common search phrase that people would use to find your type of solution. Remember not to exceed more than 60 characters total in the title as most search engines may only display that number of characters in their search results.<br /><br />Your <span style="font-weight: bold;">meta description tag</span> should provide a full, coherent, keyword-laden description of what your company or product does -- it's value proposition if you will. As well it should not exceed 150 <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">characters</span> in total to ensure it's fully displayed in any search results (this includes characters and any spaces).<br /><br />These two things most people are on top of... where I see some issues is in keywords and their importance to your <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">SEO</span>. Due to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">SEO</span> analysts finding ways to stuff keywords into web pages and trying to game the system, search engines like Google have attached minimal importance to them in indexing and ranking your site.<br /><br />However that is not to say they don't play a role. Where keywords help you is ensuring that they are reflected in your title and description <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">metas</span>, BUT ALSO IN YOUR WEB COPY. Google looks for relevance in web pages, where keyword terms and phrases are populated throughout the site content/copy. And weave the terms into your copy in a coherent, organized way, creating a strong and compelling narrative.<br /><br />Also -- since (hopefully) most of your website pages are each a little different and describe different aspects of your company or products, so too should your meta tags reflect those <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">differences</span>. Try not to repeat the same <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">metas</span> on every page, it won't help your rankings and in fact could probably hurt your indexing. Any keyword exercise you do should be for each and every primary page that you have on your site. Obviously there will be overlap in terms from page to page, but try to create the most pertinent terms for the page content you have, then reflect those terms in title, description and keyword <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">metas</span>, AS WELL AS your page copy.<br /><br />You should see improved rankings result from these simple steps.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-41182836123869686902009-10-15T12:32:00.000-07:002009-10-15T13:44:42.439-07:00Focusing on the Right AffiliatesI recently concluded a client engagement that included a number of demand generation initiatives, both through direct and in-direct channels. Affiliate partners played an important role in helping to drive demand for the client's consumer software suite.<br /><br />In a post-mortem of the activities, two things jumped out at me -- it was clear that of the scores of affiliates that were signed up as partners, the majority of lead flow (and revenue) came from a small percentage (~10%) of those partners in the program.<br /><br />Second, many partners had preferences (and differing results) for certain products.<br /><br />This illustrates some key points with respect to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">affiliate</span> marketing and how to best manage your marketing investments around where the success comes from. It will be true that for many partners, the investment provided to them in the way of resources (time, programs, messaging, tools, support, training, etc.) will be inordinate compared to the results you derive from that relationship. Good reporting and analytics should help you to identify and isolate those partners that can and do perform. Once known, that data should help guide where your organization should place greater emphasis in helping affiliates to maximize their (and your) marketing outcomes.<br /><br />As well, your analytics and reporting should also help determine those partners who drive demand for certain solutions only, those partners who are fully engaged but for some reasons are unable to meet/surpass certain quotas or requirements and those partners who do not provide a corresponding return for the investment you're making in them. <br /><br />The capability to isolate and understand your partners is therefore crucial to maximizing affiliate performance. Some will require (and have earned) more incremental time and resource allocation based upon performance (or potential). Some will not. The trick is to have the data and analysis available to you to make those types of calls. It's also important to note that it's <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">natural</span> to expect churn within your partner portfolio as a result of systematic review and appraisal of your partners. Which also supports the importance of an ongoing and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">aggressive</span> affiliate acquisition program.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-10305015216275343892009-10-03T11:29:00.001-07:002009-10-03T11:49:59.480-07:00Do Clicks = Trials = Sales?As I've been working recently building some online media tests for a consumer software client, it's been amplified to me the importance of tracking your campaigns accurately to determine to what extent they impact revenue.<br /><br />I've mentioned in the past that online display media would not be my first choice (or 2nd, or 3rd :^) to drive data collection and lead capture in a campaign. That being said, I do feel there are other relevant online advertising vehicles that could work under the right conditions (paid search, highly targeted affiliate search, pay-per-download, etc).<br /><br />If your product is a software solution which can be easily downloaded as a trial, pay-per-download might provide an interesting testing ground. We've actually had some success in a pay-per-download program with a global media download site, where in fact we've seen over 5500 downloads of our software product trial over about a 3 week period. At least that's what the media partner claims.<br /><br />The issue for us is what exactly constitutes a 'certified download' with the partner? This week I analyzed the site's claimed download numbers with our analytics reporting and saw that the download to trial ratio was much lower that our standard trial ratios.<br /><br />In examining the steps on the site to download the trial, it's clear that the first step -- click on the download link -- might indeed be their claimed number of >5500 clicks. But that doesn't mean that all of those clicks resulted in the file being actually SAVED to the client machine (2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">nd</span> step from the download link), then RUN on the client machine.<br /><br />When I mentioned this to the media rep, she agreed that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">altho</span> the trial does get downloaded from their server (thus they should have the info on the number of times the file was actually served/saved), they don't have those figures. It's a critical <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">pathing</span> that's missing from our ROI calculation.<br /><br />On our side we're able to see how many run the trial as it actually scans the host machine (it's a driver update software) and then provides a results page which is issued by our servers.<br /><br />Right now it's very tough for me to figure out the ROI of the pay-per-download campaign. As well, there is insufficient reporting to see where we could optimize within the download process to improve saves and runs of the trial.<br /><br />We're not ready to write off this type pf marketing investment, but it's certainly tough to build a business case for it. I mention this to remind you of the importance of not only doing sufficient internal tracking but also the tracking you receive from the online partners you may be considering. To get an accurate picture, you need to capture EVERY click, every online action, every online step from the initial message <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">thru</span> to trial and sales conversion.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-71813860732967602702009-10-02T17:27:00.000-07:002009-10-02T17:33:41.434-07:00PPC Quality Score & RelevanceGood article today on ClickZ <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.clickz.com/3635150">Relevant Signals on PPC Search</a> discussing some of the signals search engines use to determine the relevance of your paid search ads for specific search queries. All have their own versions of Quality Score assigned to ad-keyword combinations that help determine how relevant your ads are (and how well they rank).Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-32953771528761537372009-08-26T13:55:00.000-07:002009-08-26T14:07:05.499-07:00Combining SEO and Social MediaGood article today from MarketingSherpa <span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31340#">Combine SEO and Social Media to Generate Web Leads: 5 Steps</a>, which discusses blending</span> social media with SEO to increase site traffic and leads.<br /><br />Adding blogs to your website (hanging off your corporate domain) will increase the likelihood that your copy will get searched and found, thus bringing traffic in, and gaining increased organic lift for your overall website.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-38592802379543504332009-08-12T17:43:00.000-07:002009-08-12T18:01:01.054-07:00Wordtracker and Google Keyword ToolAs part of an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">SEO</span> strategy (which is a traffic building and ultimately lead gen strategy), you're hopefully looking closely at your title, description and meta keywords to ensure that your site is fully optimized for <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">organic</span> site indexing.<br /><br />Two indispensable tools (one free, one $59 after free 7 day trial) I use for helping to figure out keywords are:<br /><ul><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal">Google Keyword Tool</a>: This FREE tool from Google allows you to plug in current keywords you're using (or considering) and provides keyword ideas right back to you. Simply enter your keywords (one per line) as words or phrases in the data field, hit the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Get Keyword Ideas</span> button, and after a few seconds Google provides you with related keyword terms. In addition, Google also provides local search volume figures for each word/s, global monthly search volume and the competition for these words with other advertiser. Neat stuff -- and free!</li><li><a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.wordtracker.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Wordtracker</span></a>: WT is one of many keyword research tools out there that I find works very well and is relatively inexpensive. Similar to the Google tool you type in your keywords and phrases and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Wordtracker</span> provides back other <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">keywords</span> that are most relevant to your business. In my opinion it provides a 'deeper dive" than Google as well as being able to see search rankings in engines other <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">than</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Google's</span>. It's quick and easy and can help you find some golden keyword nuggets that perhaps your competition hasn't found yet<br /></li></ul>Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-73329412580852815352009-07-06T12:23:00.000-07:002009-07-06T12:47:26.424-07:00Article MarketingWorking closely with a few clients these past few weeks and just now coming back up for air (and some new blog posts)...<br /><br />I was reminded recently that in the search for low-cost ways to market your company and brand, one area many companies overlook is article marketing. There are a number of online article <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">aggregators</span> like <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://ezinearticles.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eZine</span></a>, <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.goarticles.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">GoArticles</span></a> and <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Articlesbase</span></a> who are constantly on the lookout for viable content and are FREE to upload your stories. In turn it is free for people to download or link to your articles thus making your message available to a wide audience of readers. You'd probably be surprised how many companies/publishers look to these sites to provide them w/free, useful content that they in turn can use to power their own sites.<br /><br />It's simple and quick to sign up for these sites and upload your stories. When you create your profile upon initial <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">sign-up</span>, you provide your name, a short bio, the article copy, a category and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">usually</span> a sub-category. Preview, edit, submit, you're done.<br /><br />This is an especially low-cost way to leverage existing articles, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">assets</span>, copy that exists in your corporate silos and get some additional site traffic and brand building for your company and its' products. Give it shot...Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-18301994009187989142009-06-19T12:07:00.000-07:002009-06-19T12:59:40.046-07:00Continuum vs Breadth Offers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_oXyfxZPFB1yOta-w6vQo6Fsoy9DWJEL18jYF0MpLkxDqPjNyT4cSV-VDUhJwBT4BaCWqVrmr02qrIpOCmsSYR4jJGstD2P9HCrnUba1NQ-E9WgP0cOFcTlHqtcBQq_5jTJ_rM4YVok/s1600-h/offer+dev.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_oXyfxZPFB1yOta-w6vQo6Fsoy9DWJEL18jYF0MpLkxDqPjNyT4cSV-VDUhJwBT4BaCWqVrmr02qrIpOCmsSYR4jJGstD2P9HCrnUba1NQ-E9WgP0cOFcTlHqtcBQq_5jTJ_rM4YVok/s400/offer+dev.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349130361245385506" border="0" /></a><br />I've written quite a bit about how a one-size-fits-all offer simply will not prove effective in marketing to an extended decision chain. By that I mean a single offer (or if you prefer a 'Call-to-action') generally cannot speak to the pain points/interests of a C-level exec, VP, Dir, Manager and Analyst in total, as well as specific offers created for each target could (most especially as they progress thru the marketing funnel). I've run a number of tests that show conversions rise when offers are built that address specific target concerns or charters.<br /><br />With that in mind, start your offer development strategy by considering not only who the target is and what's top of mind for them, but also where the target is in the marketing funnel.<br /><br />There are circumstances when offers can be consolidated between more closely-related targets, say C-level and VP-level targets. These types of offers, called <span style="font-weight: bold;">breadth offers</span>, are broader in scope and are designed to speak to a wider swath of people in the decision chain (while being cost efficient to the overall program). These offers are usually top-of-funnel assets that speak to more general issues relating to business issues, problems, challenges and would be of interest to a cross-over collection of individuals in the decision chain. They're specific enough to create sufficient awareness to prompt the collection of profile information at the initial stages of when an organization is vetting and researching an idea or product.<br /><br />However as each target's interests (and their responsibilities) become more specific as the entire decision chain progresses thru the funnel, <span style="font-weight: bold;">continuum offers</span> support a multi-touch, lead nurturing model by providing progressively detailed and highly targeted content needed to attract, satisfy and advance individual targets from touchpoint to touchpoint. Continuum offers provide coordinated incentives for deeper engagement and mutually satisfying funnel progress, ensuring that each interaction you have with these decsion makers meets their need to seek more relevant information relative to their own roles and responsibilties to the overall decision.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-87056294704311468382009-06-15T11:38:00.001-07:002009-06-15T11:43:18.319-07:00Quick Tips to Improve Your Site's Organic Search RankingsChatted with a couple companies recently who both were not taking full advantage of a few simple steps to drastically help improve their search rankings for their company website:<br /><ul><li><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XZRSYoQ8rJl6LSxo44rH0QL9udH7OyF1XoPFCTRj09er6j5ulGhNGheoIY8h67sC3vcZnjR-YB-Cfo20kkriB7JOF5W9R6CoQbZDhxnYIoxwJuc3XItSdF7J6MqBp7MtaNJ7lwFIbVI/s1600-h/pic1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 98px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XZRSYoQ8rJl6LSxo44rH0QL9udH7OyF1XoPFCTRj09er6j5ulGhNGheoIY8h67sC3vcZnjR-YB-Cfo20kkriB7JOF5W9R6CoQbZDhxnYIoxwJuc3XItSdF7J6MqBp7MtaNJ7lwFIbVI/s400/pic1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347626665204227250" border="0" /></a>For your home page code, turn your attention from meta tags for keywords and concentrate more on what your title and meta tag description says. Remember that these days Google pays less and less attention to meta tag keywords due to the spamming and keyword stuffing companies have done to try to improve their search rankings.</li></ul><ul><li>Keywords found in the Meta TITLE Tag have highest ranking/indexing value with most search engines; they should contain the MOST important searchable keywords or #1 most common search phrase that people would use to find your type of solution (‘Find updated drivers’?) Use a 60 character limit as some search engines will only display a maximum of 60 characters of text for a TITLE in their search results </li><li>The META Description Tag should contain a brief description of what can be found on the current web page and be 150 characters or less in length (there's a 150 character limit b/c some search engines only list 150 in their result).</li><li>Remember to sync your meta tags to your page copy as best you can. Aim for 7-10% density in your site copy for best results</li><li>Use keyword, link and page graders from companies like <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.hubspot.com/">HubSpot </a>to see which words are ranking highest, then optimize your site accordingly</li></ul>Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-36192009784629790142009-06-01T10:31:00.000-07:002009-06-01T10:48:49.071-07:00Turn-key Online CommunitiesI chatted last week with Dan Ziman, marketing director with <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.lithium.com/">Lithium Technologies</a>. There are now a number of interesting companies like Lithium (<a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.helpstream.com/">Helpstream</a>, <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.jivesoftware.com/">Jive</a>, <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://telligent.com/">Telligent</a> among others) that offer various iterations of social network software that can build your online community very quickly and at a reasonable cost.<br /><br />Lithium for instance offers (in a SAAS model) a number of integrated, social technology products including forums, blogs, chat rooms and idea exchanges that power online customer communities for both large and small businesses. In Lithium's words these products <span style="font-style: italic;">'inspire customers to share knowledge, connect with each other, and connect with the enterprise, thus providing a unique method for companies to identify, engage, and understand customers. As a result, businesses measurably improve their marketing and sales, accelerate innovation, and increase customer satisfaction.'</span><br /><br />Helpstream, Jive, Telligent and others provide their own types of collaboration software, community software, and social networking software solutions that allow companies to develop an almost instantaneous community presence and build from there. If you're seeking to build out your online community and wondering where to start, check out these vendors to see if perhaps that might be a viable way for you to get the ball rolling.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-6176270091992267532009-05-27T12:15:00.000-07:002009-05-27T12:49:46.218-07:00Social Media as a Listening PlatformMuch has been written about the importance of including social media in your marketing strategy and the types of activities that you can and should begin to explore. Perhaps one aspect of social marketing that might get short shrift is what Dave Evans of ClickZ writes about today in<span style="font-size:100%;"> <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://www.clickz.com/3633845">Get Started With Social Media</a></span> -- leveraging social media as a listening platform.<br /><br />There may in fact be greater merit right now to setting up your online community with blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook et. al. as more listening and feedback outposts than as platforms for outbound marketing. If you remember from past posts I've written, I'm not sure if outbound marketing/messaging has yet found its' ideal niche in social media marketing (SMM). What social media can do right now is help form the foundation of an <span style="font-weight: bold;">inbound marketing strategy</span>, where you make available your intellectual capital, your ideas and solutions for solving business challenges and allow prospects and customers to find your brilliance rather than your going out and hunting them. By becoming a thought leader on specific business problems and best practices you gain much more credibility amongst your intended targets.<br /><br />Part of that inbound strategy includes using social media as the true interactive medium that it is. And that means listening to all that is written about your company, your brand and your competitors. Social media is an outstanding marketing research tool. Just as important as providing your thinking and ideas online is the response to those ideas that you receive. It provides you with an ongoing dialogue with your constituents, to have a conversation, giving them the ability to express their likes and dislikes, what their needs, opinions, complaints are. How they like to be communicated to. It enables you to share, learn, better engage. Ultimately it gives you a deeper understanding and stronger bond w/your targets and helps guide and inform your own product/solution development.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-801961611287451406.post-89242844214791490072009-05-20T11:29:00.000-07:002009-05-20T12:07:31.904-07:00Peeling Back the Layers of the OnionBefore you decide to transition all your lead gen marketing from offline to digital channels, <a style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" href="http://news.cnet.com/Why-are-doctors-such-Luddites/2009-13836_3-6249511.html?tag=nl.e703">this article from CNET today</a> points out the importance of understanding your targets and how/where they would like to communicate and interact with you.<br /><br />The article states that younger doctors who have been raised on technology are more apt to embrace it in how they build their practices, treat their patients and communicate and engage with both patients and colleagues. Conversely, older doctors, not having been raised in a digital world, are reticent to embrace IT as robustly. Thus digital marketing platforms and vehicles may not be as effective with more senior targets.<br /><br />This points to the importance of segmentation and micro-segmentation, with the need to delve further into what would seem like a homogeneous group (ie doctors) to decipher their specific needs, traits and habits.<br /><br />Surveys and focus group research (not as formal as it sounds -- calling a dozen or so of your customers and asking some basic questions about how they like to engage w/your company, what they like/dislike, where they go for their info, etc) -- are absolutely critical for you to understand how to best communicate and market to your intended targets. It's a wise place to start when developing new messaging and outreach vehicles and as an ongoing exercise helps to supplement the valuable data and results you'll get from your campaigns once they've been deployed.Bill Lawlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585727765843026276noreply@blogger.com0