While information-heavy companies employ entire teams dedicated to cyberattacks, American factories have quietly been growing more and more susceptible.
It’s been eight years since the widely publicized Stuxnet virus was released to wreak havoc on its unsuspecting victims. Are we in a better place now to deal with a highly sophisticated next-generation Stuxnet-style attack?
[bctt tweet=”Information heavy companies have entire teams dedicated to cyber defense, while American factories have been left more and more susceptible.” username=”Fronetics”]
Ransomware attacks, in which hackers use malware to encrypt data, systems, or networks until a ransom is paid, are alarmingly common. According to a recent report from Radware, 42% of global companies have dealt with this kind of attack. That number has been steadily rising. The number of companies reporting financially motivated attacks has doubled in the last two years.
And there’s a bit more: The Wall Street Journal recently reported on what they call a new type of cyberattack that targets factory safety systems. Hackers who attacked a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia last year specifically focused on a safety shut-off system.
Is the WSJ right? Is this a new trend? Will hackers begin targeting control-system computers that manage American factory floors, chemical plants, and utilities on a more regular basis? Maybe.
There are plenty of theories that even the most crippling ransomware attacks like Petya and WannaCry are, at their core, motivated by something other than money, namely sheer pleasure in chaos and disruption. The potential damage to factory production and safety systems is growing. Now is the time to wake up and pay attention.
Factories Growing More Susceptible
Factories and manufacturers are at a heightened risk for a few coinciding reasons.
The complexity of our supply chains is a liability. With parts and materials from diverse and sometimes changing sources, as well as networks that can span all phases of production, our supply chains are large and constantly adapting and, because of this, extremely vulnerable.
The intensity of the manufacturing schedule raises a second issue. Many manufacturing facilities run around the clock, and halting factory production for testing is often cumbersome and costly.
The third reason is, of course, the byproduct of a manufacturing sector that has become steadily more data-driven and dependent on information technology. As manufacturing has steadily merged with technology to create the Industrial Internet of Things, we too have unknowingly created a space in which hackers see the potential for massive amounts of under-protected data, equipment, networks, and intellectual property.
How Can We Prepare
We’ve all heard the mantra, “The first step to solving any problem is admitting you have one.” A core concern has been the manufacturing sector’s inability or unwillingness to face this growing threat.
A report summary issued through a joint venture between MForesight and the Computing Community Consortium warned, “There’s a widespread failure to reckon with the risks.” The report recognizes that solving the issue will be long-term and complicated, but offers a few suggestions, including wide-reaching efforts to increase awareness, collaboration with trusted third-party partners, and cybersecurity research and development.
In the shorter term, maybe this can help. Last year the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a Cybersecurity Framework Manufacturing Profile that provides a roadmap to managing cybersecurity and reducing risk to your manufacturing systems.
But I think Sridhar Kota, professor of engineering at the University of Michigan, hit the nail on the head in his article entitled A Plan for Defending U.S. Manufacturers from Cyberattacks, when he wrote: “Cybersecurity needs to become a deeply ingrained part of every manufacturing company’s culture — embedded in management decisions, workforce training, and investment calculations.”
The risks to manufacturers are growing from all-too-common ransomware attacks to sophisticated Stuxnet-style assaults targeting our safety systems. Its’s time that we in the manufacturing sector think of cybersecurity, and cyber defense, in absolutely every decision we make. To do otherwise is reckless.
Influencer marketing capitalizes on the relationship between popular influencers and their followers to help your organization reach your target audience.
By now you’re aware of the latest marketing trend: influencer marketing. For decades, Hollywood elite have been used to promote everything from make-up to movies and now this trend is taking over the most popular social media sites.
[bctt tweet=”Why is influencer marketing so effective? Because buyers trust influencers talking about your products and services more than they trust you talking about yourself.” username=”Fronetics”]
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which marketers identify individuals that have influence over potential buyers and create marketing campaigns and activities around these influencers. Why is this so effective? Because buyers trust influencers talking about your products and services more than they trust you talking about yourself.
Is influencer marketing here to stay?
Linqia’s latest report, The State of Influencer Marketing 2018, shows that companies are already taking full advantage of this marketing trend. The report shows that 86% of marketers used influencer marketing in 2017, and 92% of marketers that tried it found it to be effective.
But don’t just take our word for it. Here are some statistics that prove you should pay close attention to this trend.
Infographic: Influencer Marketing and the Supply Chain
With 39% of marketers planning to increase influencer marketing budget this year, B2B companies are quickly seeing the leverage that influencers can have over their target audiences. By teaming up with the right influencer, marketers can easily reach thousands of potential consumers, increasing website traffic and leads.
The bottom line: influencer marketing can be an extremely effective aspect of a B2B business’ content marketing strategy.
Have you tried influencer marketing? How was your experience?
If you’re hoping to generate more leads on your website, you’re going to have to develop a holistic content strategy and create many strong calls-to-action.
You may have read part one of this mini-series about the importance of having a solid website if you’re going to invest in content marketing. Essentially, there’s no point in pouring a bunch of time, money, and resources into a robust content marketing program if the website that you’re driving traffic to stinks.
Be thoughtful about the role your website plays in the lead-generation process. It’s a really important piece of the puzzle that companies often overlook.
Consistently producing quality content and distributing it through various channels, like social media, will help attract your target audience to your website. But unless you provide them with a good user experience while they’re there — and give them plenty of opportunity to opt in to learn more about your business — you’re not going to move them down the sales funnel. And you’re not going to generate more leads on your website.
So how do you ensure your website is a lead-generating machine? Here’s what I know.
5 tips to generate more leads on your website
1) Create a holistic content strategy.
I can’t overstate the importance of creating a content marketing strategy, documenting it, and then designating someone to lead it if you want your content marketing to be successful. As part of that strategy, you should outline the role your website will play in assisting the conversion of leads.
Ask yourself these questions:
Do different pages of my website suit prospects at different stages of the buyer’s journey?
Where do I want traffic to go from each page (so prospects move further down the funnel)?
What calls-to-action can I add to each page to assist them in that move?
Which pages are ripe for lead conversion, and which are better for providing information?
If you’re using the topic cluster model (which you should be!), where are my pillar pages and corresponding topic cluster pages?
Also, make sure your messaging is consistent across your website and your regularly published content (like blog posts).
2) Think about the user and how s/he experiences your site.
Hopefully in creating a holistic content strategy that includes your website, you’re thinking primarily about how the user will be interacting with your site and each page. That means organizing pages in a way that makes sense for the prospective customer, rather than internal politics.
That sounds easy, but I have helped many organizations for whom this is incredibly challenging. Often, one department (or person) feels strongly that something very important to them deserves real estate on the homepage or in the main navigation. But, if it’s not something that is meaningful to a prospective customer, you’d best not cave. Doing some usability testing with prospects is a good way to collect data to support your reasoning.
Also to consider: think about the language your buyers are comfortable with, and avoid any overly jargony or technical wording. Make sure to lay things out in a way that is approachable for them. And aim to provide the information they seek, rather than trying to sell them at every step.
3) Publish original, quality content.
Along those same lines, the best way to convince today’s B2B buyer to choose you as a vendor is to win them over with your content. Content marketing is all about positioning yourself as an expert in the industry, after all, the business that knows the most about your product/service.
Instead of promoting your business on every page, use each as an opportunity to showcase your expertise. Create resources that will help buyers better understand how to solve their pain points. And make sure everything you publish is well-written, offers value to prospects, and is completely original. You want people to want to read what you have to say.
Consider incorporating various content formats to cater to different learning preferences:
In-depth blog posts and articles
Infographics for visual learners
Short video tutorials or explainers
Podcasts for those who prefer audio content
4) Strategically place strong, visible calls-to-action.
I’ve hinted at this one already, but it bears further explanation. Make sure your website is full of calls-to-action, or buttons/links/forms that ask visitors to do something further. After all, how do you expect someone to take an action (like providing their email address) if you don’t ask them to do it?
You can generate more leads on your website by asking visitors to become leads more often.
Make sure these calls-to-action stand out on the page so that visitors’ eyes naturally go there. Be very clear about what you’re asking for and/or what the user will get in return when they complete the action. And, again, be strategic about what you’re asking people to do on which page. You won’t have much luck, for example, asking visitors to call a sales rep on a page that is designed to assist them with initial information-gathering.
Pro tip: Use A/B testing to optimize your CTAs. Try different colors, copy, and placements to see what resonates best with your audience.
5) Offer value with your calls-to-action.
Sometimes it might take a little convincing to get visitors to provide their contact information. The best way to persuade them? Give them something they want in exchange.
We call this high-value content. Examples might include:
Case studies
White papers/industry reports
Webinars
Tutorials or how-tos
Demonstrations
Sneak peaks or previews
Guides or ebooks
Podcasts
Ask visitors to download your high-value content by completing a form, which asks for their email address. Set up your marketing automation to email the content to them, then send a series of lead-nurturing emails following up at strategic intervals to keep them moving down the sales funnel.
If you want to generate more leads on your website, follow these five steps. Above all, just be thoughtful about the role your website plays in the lead-generation process. It’s a really important piece of the puzzle that companies often overlook.
These metrics to benchmark marketing performance will give you insight into how your brand stacks up against your competition.
A few months ago, the winter Olympics were in full swing, and Mikayla Shiffrin became the youngest slalom champion in Olympic alpine skiing history. Shiffrin achieved this incredible record, not only working to beat her best personal performance, but also that of her biggest competitors. After all, you don’t become a two-time Olympic gold medalist without the knowledge — and drive — to beat out the world’s best athletes.
You have to know how your competitors are performing to be the very best at what you do. That goes for Olympic athletes and supply chain companies alike.
We call this benchmarking performance. For we marketers, it’s important, albeit difficult, to find metrics to benchmark marketing performance. We tend to turn inward to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs), like website traffic, social engagement and conversion rates. But it’s time to start looking outward, as well.
[bctt tweet=”Competitive benchmarking gives brands the ability to benchmark their marketing performance against that of their competitors, giving you the knowledge and drive you need to improve your performance and chance of success.” username=”Fronetics”]
Competitive benchmarking gives brands the ability to compare themselves against a number of competitors using a set collection of metrics. These metrics allow you to benchmark marketing performance against that of your competitors. This will give you the knowledge and drive you need to improve your performance and chance of success.
Here are four metrics to benchmark marketing performance against your competitors.
4 metrics to benchmark marketing performance against your competitors
1. Content
Benchmarking your content allows you to compare the differences and similarities between you and your competitors’ types and relevancy of content. Are they focusing on video content or blog posts? Are they creating infographics? How often are they posting content?
2. Social activity
Knowing what social media platforms your competitors are using is critical in today’s digital marketing world. Are they having success on a specific platform? Are you using the same platforms? And how often are they posting on social media? How do you compare? Knowing when and where to post on social media can help get you in front of your target audience.
3. Social engagement
You’re posting and tweeting, but are audiences interacting with your content? Benchmarking your social engagement against your competitors lets you see if and how audiences are interacting with your posts and videos. How many likes and shares are you receiving? And how many are you competitors?
4. Keywords and topics
We talk a lot about the importance of keywords and topics. After all, that’s how audiences are searching for — and finding! — your brand and your competitors. Using online tools like SERPS, you can easily determine how you and your competitors rank for specific keywords and topics.
Analyze and adjust
Use these metrics to benchmark marketing performance. Once you have collected data, you can start analyzing your results. How does your marketing strategy stack up against your competitors and industry leaders?
Benchmarking allows you to see strategic opportunities — what you’re doing well and what you need to improve. You’ll gain valuable insight into what your competitors are doing better than you. Use this knowledge to improve your strategy. After all, action is key!
Which metrics to benchmark marketing performance do you use?
Content marketing is a long-term solution. Here’s why it takes so long to see results.
You are committed to your content marketing program. You’ve created blog posts, uploaded videos, and collaborated with industry leaders. You may have started noticing an increase in web traffic, social reach, and other engagement metrics like time on page. You’re on the right track!
The problem is your lack of leads or sales. Your boss is pressuring you for results, and you’re starting to question your efforts. Are you doing something wrong?
The answer is NO.
In fact, you’re doing everything right. Now you need to give your investment time to deliver on your return. But I know you’re asking, “Why does content marketing take so dang long to work?”
[bctt tweet=”Content marketing is a long-term solution that helps businesses build brand awareness, grow their audience, and generate new leads and sales. ” username=”Fronetics”]
Content marketing is a long-term solution that helps businesses build brand awareness, grow their audience, and generate new leads and sales. But it takes time and effort to achieve results. You don’t want to give up before you see the fruits of your labors.
Just how long will it take for your content marketing strategy to yield results? Well, that really depends on your business and your goals, but you can count on at least six months. Content marketers Neil Patel and Carol Ann Tan both write that content marketing strategies take at least six to nine months to start seeing results.
But that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel. Here are 4 reasons content marketing doesn’t show results overnight but is still well worth your time and investment.
Video: 4 reasons why it’s NOT time to give up on content marketing
Please don’t give up on content marketing before it’s had time to play out. We understand you want to see the fruits of your labor. But if you pull the plug too early, you’ll lose out on your initial investment, not to mention the leads and sales that are eventually coming your way.
