by Fronetics | Nov 3, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media
The web search has changed the way businesses shop for products and services — and content marketing is your key to reaching them.
What’s the first thing we all do when we need a gift for Fathers’ Day, can’t think of a song lyric, or want to buy a new kitchen appliance? We Google it.
The world of B2B sales is no different. Demand Gen’s 2016 B2B Buyer’s Survey Report found that 62% of B2B buyers say that a web search was one of the first three resources they use to learn about a solution. In fact, 94% of buyers reported using online research at some point in the purchasing process.
That means businesses must be more than just conscious of their digital presence: They must actively manage their website and digital content assets to accommodate the ways buyers are conducting research.
Seeing opportunity in the new reality
In the pre-internet age, the salesperson’s role began relatively early in the buyer’s journey. Today’s average B2B buyer, however, progresses nearly 60% of the way through this process before making any sort of contact with a sales rep. That means your prospects are forming their early opinions about your business and your products based on what they find on the web.
This new reality may seem daunting, given how much of the purchase decision-making process occurs before you have the opportunity to engage with a potential client. But in reality, this changing climate offers serious opportunities for businesses to demonstrate their expertise, without turning buyers off with overt sales pitches.
Content is king/key
To make the most of the potential purchaser’s experience with your business, content is key.
A robust content marketing strategy builds brand awareness, establishes trust and rapport with prospects, and generates traffic to your website. Thoughtfully generated and curated content catches the attention of buyers and keeps them interested in your business through the time of purchase.
Specifically, 67% more leads will be generated by companies with an active blog in 2016. And content isn’t limited to your website: a vibrant social media presence helps buyers conduct their research, with 57% of consumers reporting that they are influenced to think more highly of a business after seeing positive comments online.
Again, while this new reality may seem like a challenge, it’s actually a golden opportunity for your business to put its best foot forward with potential buyers. By thoughtfully generating and curating focused, informative content, companies can guide B2B buyers through the sales process, and develop an engaged and loyal customer base.
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by Fronetics | Oct 27, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
Company X also saw web traffic grow by 180% in 90 days by using Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.
Sometimes our clients can be a little hesitant to try pay-per-click advertising. Take Company X, for example.
Company X’s target customer fits a very particular profile, in terms of geography, income, and age. Because of those specific demographics, the client was not confident that a pay-per-click advertising campaign would be an effective way to reach those target customers. But we thought differently.
When paired with a content marketing program, pay-per-click can be one of the cheapest, in terms of cost-per-lead, and most efficient ways to reach a target audience. Thus, we convinced Company X to try PPC on a trial basis, investing just a small budget.
We developed a strategy for the client, using Google AdWords and Facebook Ads. Over the course of 90 days, the results were phenomenal.
A few key results:
- Company X acquired 54 leads.
- Traffic from paid search grew by 180%.
- The lead-to-customer conversion rate was nearly 3x the industry standard.
Needless to say, Company X will be expanding the use of pay-per-click advertising in the future.
How can pay-per-click help your business?
PPC can seem intimidating to the novice. But, when done right, it can be a highly effective way to reach the very specific kind of customer your business is looking for. A little bit of know-how can be all the difference.
As such, Fronetics has developed a quick training on the basics of pay-per-click advertising: what it is, what platforms are available, etc. If you are interested in learning more about PPC and how it might complement your marketing program, download our free guide below.
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by Fronetics | Oct 26, 2016 | Big Data, Blog, Content Marketing, Data/Analytics, Marketing
Big-data insights can help you segment your email database to better target prospects based on where they are in the buyers’ journey.
Most companies these days are swimming in a sea of big data, the great swaths of information they’ve amassed from sales records, social media connections, website leads and contacts, and online analytics.
At first glance it’s a tangle of information that is hard to organize and even harder to learn anything from. That’s a stumbling block that forward-looking businesses need to overcome. Big data can help breathe new life into one of the most reliable yet shopworn tools of the trade: email campaigns.
Embrace Big Data
A study by the executive head-hunting firm Spencer Stuart surveyed 171 companies regarding big-data usage. Just a little over half of the companies used their big data to help guide email, SEO, and SMS marketing campaigns. That’s a fairly low rate, given the potential leg-up that big data can provide.
Consider what Walmart is doing. The company has big-data information on about 60% of all Americans, with which it micro-targets customers based on their individual interests and habits. It’s a powerful strategy that is spreading quickly to businesses of all sizes.
How can you use big data to freshen up your email campaigns?
Be a Collector, Not a Hoarder
Chances are, you are obtaining a lot of data, especially if you have an active content marketing plan in place. Not all of the data you get is equally important. Your focus should be on data that can lead to an actionable and quick response — for example, are you gathering information on your customers’ buying habits? Do you know who they are, where they are, what their interests are, what their email address is, and how your business connects with them?
Collect that relevant data and study it. Much of it will come from the buyer’s journey — the breadcrumbs that potential buyers leave for you in your big data. These pieces of information are keys to your personalized email responses.
Respond In Kind
Most experts agree that a quick and targeted email response is a good strategy for encouraging a new customer to make a purchase. The email needs to respond directly to the buyer’s interests — using information you’ve (hopefully) logged with your big data.
From this point on, it’s crucial to make sure that every email that is sent to that buyer is built around a backbone of big data. Nurture your customers with personalized emails that offer content and deals that line up with their specific interests.
Don’t Mess with the Masses
Mass emails — the generic sales pitch email — used to be the cost-effective and simple way of reaching and converting customers. Now, it’s more than likely they’ll get sent to the trash, or worse, the spam filter. The mass email is your one-way ticket to spam purgatory.
“Traditional methods of mass marketing doesn’t resonate anymore and they’re being ignored by the audience,” said Volker Hildebrand, Global Vice President of Strategy at SAP Hybris, in a recent interview with Forbes. “Data is the fuel for customer engagement, and being able to pull together all the relevant information about in real-time.”
You can do better than the mass email approach. If you’ve collected relevant data and you’ve studied your buyers’ journeys, you have the tools in place to build a smart email campaign. Tailor your campaign to personalize your approach to your customers, and more than likely they’ll open that email.
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by Fronetics | Oct 19, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
Native advertising is the non-ad-like way to promote your business’ content to users who might be interested in it.
Is your business using native advertising to promote your content with a targeted audience? If not, you’re missing out on one of the biggest upcoming trends in content marketing.
So how can your business use this technique to promote your content and, ultimately, your products and services? Let’s take a look at the basics of native advertising.
What is native advertising?
Native advertising blurs the line between advertising and editorial content. It allows publishers (of content) to get their message to a targeted audience in a format the audience is already using. Think of sponsored updates on LinkedIn, which look just like regular posts, or when a radio DJ promotes a product within the regular broadcast.
Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi defines native advertising with the following three qualities:
- “A Directly Paid Opportunity. I hate to bring out the obvious, but native advertising is ‘pay to play.’ If a brand or individual did not pay for the spot, it’s not native advertising.
- “Usually Content Based. The information is useful, interesting and highly targeted to the specific readership. So, in all likelihood, it’s not an advertisement promoting the company’s product or service directly.
- “Delivered In-Stream. To truly be a native ad, the user experience is not disrupted. The advertising is delivered in a way that does not impede the normal behavior of the user in that particular channel.”
Native advertising is not content marketing…
… But it can be an effective way to promote your content.
Remember, content may be king, but distribution is queen, and she wears the pants. That is to say: Publishing valuable and relevant content in a strategic and consistent manner will create demand for your products and services. But content doesn’t go far — actually it goes nowhere — without distribution.
Native advertising is a paid opportunity to distribute your content to more people. It can be more effective than non-native advertising, like banner ads or commercials, because it does not interrupt the user experience but rather complements it. It doesn’t feel like an ad, even though someone paid to have it appear on your screen.
Social media platforms are offering more and more opportunities for businesses to advertise this way through sponsored posts and updates. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest — you may have noticed that more and more posts from companies you don’t follow appear in your newsfeeds now. These platforms use proprietary algorithms to help businesses target users might be interested in the content they are promoting.
Here’s what a sponsored post on LinkedIn looks like, for example:
The sponsored post from SendGrid looks just like the other posts in my feed. Another important thing: It’s totally relevant for the kind of content I consume. I might even ignore the comma splice and click on it to get the information about email marketing because that’s what I like to read about on LinkedIn.
Some native advertising facts
The use of native advertising is growing among businesses because it is proving to be so effective. Here are some facts that might interest you.
Doing it right
Because native advertising blurs the line between editorial and advertising, some advertisers have gotten in trouble for violating rules of compliance. In response, the FTC has come out with some official guidelines for native ads in order to prevent confusion and to protect consumers. If your business is launching a native advertising campaign, make sure that you are familiar with these rules and best practices.
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by Fronetics | Oct 17, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
Learn the basics of pay-per-click advertising — what it means and which platforms you can use — in this quick training.
Pay-per-click advertising can be an effective complement to a content marketing campaign for companies in the supply chain and logistics industries. Essentially, you can get your business’ name and content in front of people who are searching online for products and services like yours — but you’ll only pay for those who click on your advertisement. Sounds great, right?
But here’s where things get a little complicated: Should you use Google AdWords or Google Display Network? What’s the difference? What about Facebook and Twitter advertising? Is a Sponsored Post on LinkedIn considered pay-per-click?
We at Fronetics have developed a basic training on pay-per-click advertising for supply chain and logistics organizations. Learn more about what it can do for your business, as well as which platforms are available and the differences between them.
This training offers information about:
- Google AdWords
- Google Display Network
- Facebook Ads
- Instagram Ads (photo, video, carousel)
- Twitter Advertising (Promoted Tweets, Promoted Twitter Accounts, Promoted Trends)
- LinkedIn Advertising (Sponsored Posts, text and image ads)
Click the button below to download our free pay-per-click advertising training.
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