Presentation to CIM Sheffield as part of MADE Festival covering digital strategy, websites, SEO, inbound content marketing, social media, conversion optimisation and analytics and measurement.
2. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Who has a documented digital marketing plan
with SMART objectives assigned?
Who runs a website?
Is it designed around what customers want or
what you want to tell them?
Who has a focused approach to search engine
optimisation?
About you
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
3. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
About you
Who has access to analytics? Who uses analytics to
improve what they do?
Who is using content to drive engagement,
data capture and interest?
Are you using social media to drive brand engagement
further?
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
4. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
About me
20 years in B2B marketing
across a variety of sectors
Accomplished international
(digital) marketer and business
developer
Respected blogger
www.marketingassassin.co.uk
& www.smartinsights.com and
a published author
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Passionate b2b marketer,
advisor, hustler
Self employed, business
owner – launched today
5. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Offers to brilliant delegates
Free slide download
• Visit
www.visionb2b.co.uk/She
ffieldCIM2015 (only live
till Friday, 17:00)
Free prize draw
• Ten business cards will
be drawn tomorrow to
receive a complete 220
pg guide – only available
to Smart
Insights
Expert
Members
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
9. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
57% of respondents to Dave
Chaffey’s latest Smart Insights
survey said they didn’t have a digital
marketing strategy written down.
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
10. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Why do so many companies fail?
They make assumptions
Audiences
haven’t evolved
Haven’t moved
online for
information
needs
Don’t have
confidence with
digital tools and
technology
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
12. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Why do so many companies fail?
They make
assumptions
Audiences
haven’t
evolved
Haven’t
moved
online for
information
needs
Don’t have
confidence
with digital
tools and
technology
Not
learning
How ask the
right
questions
How to
listen to the
answers
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
14. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Why do so many companies fail?
They make
assumptions
Audiences
haven’t
evolved
Haven’t
moved
online for
information
needs
Don’t have
confidence
with digital
tools and
technology
Not
learning
How ask the
right
questions
How to
listen to the
answers
Don’t
interact
Don’t
engage
Don’t
advise, help,
inform,
Don’t
entertain,
develop
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
18. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
1: Don’t dip your toe; set a strategy
• Why?
– Information is the primary
driver in B2B specification
– Why? Professional buyers
seeking assurance
– Browser mentality: supplier
research is predominantly
conducted online
– You can’t measure
effectiveness without goals
or a benchmark
19. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Making the case for digital
• Focuses activity
• Sets tangible goals
• Helps secure buy in at all levels
• Assists financial & resource investment
• Identifies / prioritises target audience
• Understand channels / how they are used
• Encourages use of channels
• => By design, likely to lead to more
successful digital marketing
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
21. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
What goes into a digital strategy
• Digital SWOT
• Online value
proposition
• ROI measured by
– Sales
– Savings
– Attribution
– Customer
satisfaction
The organisation Strengths - S Weaknesses - W
1. Existing brand 1. Brand perception
2. Existing customer base 2. Intermediary use
3. Existing distribution 3. Technology skills
4. X-channel support
Opportunities - O SO strategies WO strategies
1. Cross selling Leverage strengths to Counter weaknesses through
2. New markets maximise opportunities exploiting opportunities
3. New services (Attacking strategy) (Build strengths for attacking
4. Alliance/co-branding strategy)
Threats - T ST strategies WT strategies
1. Customer choice Leverage opportunities to
Counter weaknesses and
threats
2. New entrants minimise threats (Build strengths and defensive
3. New competitor processes (Defensive strategy) strategy)
4.Channel conflicts
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
22. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Know your audience
• Who they are
• Where they go
• What’s being
asked or
discussed
• What’s missing
• Who’s helping
• Who needs help
www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
26. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
2: Home base (website)
• Why?
• Your website is most likely
the first port of call
– 36% of B2B buyers look at
supplier sites during
problem resolution
– 49% of B2B buyers look at
supplier sites to shortlist
– 18% of B2B buyers look at
supplier sites to make final
supplier selection*
• Your website provides that
crucial first impression
*2012 Buyersphere survey
34. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
• Why?
– Search is everything
– Customers browse on their terms
– You have a great site = don’t leave it as a great art
in a dark, concealed room
3: Getting found and staying
found (SEO)
35. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
• Use Google Adword tool for keyword analysis
• Set primary keyword/s per page
• Assess competition
• Meta data - First 70 and 200 words and
density
• Meta description
• Page titles, h1 tags and alt tags
• Anchor text
• Calls to action
On page SEO checklist
39. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Trade media
Trade
associations
Search
engine
indexes
Social
media
Bloggers
Main-
stream
press
Website
Top
Internet
sites
Discussion
portalsTrade shows
Conferences
Link bait
Main
stream
press
Directories
News sites
44. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Content marketing checklist
Agree what success looks like
Assign responsibility incl. senior level
sponsor
Audit what you have
Visit watering holes
Curate
Create
Repackage and repurpose
Create a calendar
Walk before you can run
59. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
• Why?
• Businesses can’t just help
• They need to turn a profit
• Finesse landing pages
– Tease and tantalise
– Provide sign posts to action
Conversion optimisation
62. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
• Why? …Really!?
– Set up goals/funnels and assign
value
– Use forward and reverse path
analysis to indicate most
popular/effective content
– Use event tracking to monitor calls
to action
– Use content experiments to
test/increase performance on key
pages
7. Make analytics your friend
63. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
The basics in Google
8 standard metrics that
you need to monitor &
impact
New vs. returning
Behaviour (content)
Dwell
Bounce
Social referral
Exit path
Device
Geography
65. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
The basics in email
6 standard metrics that
you need to monitor &
impact
Open
Click
Unsubscribe
Bounce
Content
Social links
Link to your website data
to build a better picture of
‘qualifiable’ prospects
66. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Buzz by no of posts buzz by impressions shift in buzz channel buzz
asset popularity buzz by customer type mainstream media mentions
growth rate of fans follows friends contacts no of pass alongs
recommends embeds bookmarks subscriptions page views
clickthroughs changes in search ranking type reach channel
geography volume of posts impressions time spent clicks
contributions by bloggers chatrooms wikis online sales offline sales
savings change in share AEV event response email
open rate by time / region event attendance
buazz by time of day seasonal buzz competitive buzz category/topic buzz
buzz by stage in DM process mainstream media mentions installs downloads
uploads favourites likes comments ratings
increase in searches %of buzz with links no of views/interactions polls
virtual gifts tags popularity contest entries leads generated
products sampled store visits trials
customer acquisition & retention complaint handling
cost per click satisfaction feedback dwell time on site
bounce rate cost per customer
You can’t track what you can’t
measure
67. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
• Set a strategy
• Invest in your website
• Improve your search visibility
• Become useful and relevant
• Go social with purpose
• Work hard on conversion
• Monitor and use analytics
Summary: 7 steps to brilliant b2b
digital marketing
68. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
Ways to get more value
Connect on Linkedin & Twitter
Subscribe to the Vision b2b blog
Subscribe to the Marketing
Assassin blog
Come to my other events
Request an online evaluation
Consider retained mentoring
Discuss involvement in your
business marketing challenges
69. www.visionb2b.co.uk @visionb2b @renepower
launch offer
An exclusive 20% off the annual price of
www.SmartInsights.com Expert
Membership.
Member only guides, templates,
downloads and webinars designed to
rocket your digital marketing.
Use the code SMARTB2B by 30th
November and lock in your $999 (£650)
annual pass for only $799 (£520)
If you use one resource, make it Dave
Chaffey’s www.SmartInsights.com
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And Vision B2B referral offer
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and (minimum three month contract)
with Vision b2b before 30th November
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Visit www.visionb2b.co.uk/referral
today!
Understanding, interpreting and delivering on customer needs has been the foundation of marketing for over one hundred years.
Businesses have been buying and selling products to one another for hundreds of years. But, don’t let anyone tell you that B2B marketing isn’t different from marketing products to consumers. It is.
We know B2B marketing often involves communicating with hard to reach and hard to engage B2B decision-makers through a complex purchase cycle from unaware to purchase.
(Why bullets?)
A digital marketing strategy that provides a structured process to create a long-term plan to integrate digital media and technologies to support business goals must be the best way to cut through this and stand out.
Focuses activity around audience and business goals. Do you want to make money, save money, improve service, raise awareness, build data? Only you will know. Document it.
Focus strategy helps secure buy in, resource and investment at all levels across the business.
Focus strategy helps establish who, what, where, why and how for all digital decisions you need to make such as channel selection, timing, ratio of investment and more.
The SOSTAC model have been voted as one of the most popular marketing models and is created by PR Smith. It is a planing model that can be used for your digital marketing planning and it stands for:Situation – where are we now?Objectives – where do we want to be?Strategy – how do we get there?Tactics – how exactly do we get there?Action – what is our plan?Control – did we get there?The model offers a logical order for tackling your plan and you can use it to critically assess your processes. I guess the reason for its popularity is that is simple and easy to understand and use. I personally use it a lot and I think it offers a really good approach.
You will have completed a SWOT for your traditional marketing planning over time, but have you applied that thinking to your online environment? It needs to be digital-specific.
This SWOT activity will certainly help establish opportunities, weaknesses from a resource perspective and strengths from a brand perspective, which could be translated into a compelling OVP.
A clearly defined OVP will help you differentiate your online service encouraging prospects and existing customers to engage initially and stay loyal.
We recommend using a TOWS matrix for SWOT in this format since this helps integrate your analysis with your strategy rather than the analysis being placed on the shelf and forgotten.
Identify and prioritise target audiences. As with traditional marketing, targeting the right audiences is key. Digital media enable you to target broad groups, but also micro-target. LinkedIn, the preferred business online networking tool of over 200 million around the world, is a fantastic resource for customer and influencer research. Get a sense of the issues your audiences have, as suggested by their individual and company profiles. Also review the questions and discussions placed in LinkedIn Groups. This can help you both in developing content to engage them, but also shows you questions you must answer to convert them.
Create propositions to emphasise your differences. In broad terms this means using each digital tool in the right way, at the right time to convey the right message to the right people. Brand awareness, lead generation, customer acquisition and customer retention all require modified approaches. This also applies to offline as well as online channels.
Whichever business sector you are in, it is still crucial to consider your digital marketing as a holistic process created around your website. While some consumer brands may find that their Facebook page is their main touch point for online customers there aren’t many where this is yet true for B2B marketing. The website is still at the heart of your digital marketing.
We know that business buyers are looking for reassurance and credibility, so a company needs their website to be as credible as possible.
(bullets)
So, don’t spend money on banner advertising, pay-per-click (PPC), email campaigns or effort in setting up elaborate and ‘hard to feed’ social media platforms until your website is right. Why? Because if it doesn’t offer the right user experience, provide the appropriate and relevant content and channel them to a tangible next action, you are wasting your time and your money.
1. Information is easy to verify on your website. Shows a company is trustworthy and stable.
2. There is a real organisation behind your website. Evidence that the organisation exists takes this further by providing clear guidance on locations, people, products.
3. Highlight expert content and services offered. As we move from being a broadcast to targeted inbound marketing economy, companies that produce focused content relevant to the needs of customers will stand out.
4. Demonstrate honesty and integrity on your website. These qualities may be seen as subjective but you can set a tone throughout your website as pages such as About Us, Our Philosophy and FAQs allude to your honesty and integrity.
5. Make it easy to contact you. Post contact details on every page throughout the website and not just on a ‘Contact Us’ page.
6. Your website should reflect your business. And, it should reflect the experience that customers enjoy offline, face-to-face, in stores, on stands and anywhere else.
7. Your website should be accessible and easy to navigate. Western websites have navigation bars either running horizontally across the top and bottom or vertically to the left-hand side of the website for a reason.
8. Use frequently updated relevant and useful content. Content is the biggest part of your digital strategy as it governs your selection of keywords, what you say, how and when you say it. It helps rank your site with search engine bots and entice real human visitors too.
9. Avoid errors of all kinds. Sounds obvious but spelling mistakes, grammar and punctuation slip ups, 404 messages and any other error on a website disrupts the user experience and risks harming your credibility.
10. Your website isn’t just available online or available in one form. Consider responsive design so it displays specifically for different devices. Think about future compatibility and consider other languages, domains, ecommerce, social. These will guide design and hosting solutions.
Remember to treat every page as a potential landing page so narrative, call to action and signposting are all key. More on this later.
Given the overt commercial nature of B2B marketing, and the prevalence of search as a professional buyer’s primary research, short-listing and selection tool, SEO is one of the most fundamental and biggest impact areas you can focus on.
A good understanding of the technical basics of SEO is essential and will help to set you and your business apart from your competition. Understanding which keywords are going to position your business to your customers and then systematically taking all ethical steps to include them in your search marketing plan, will reap rewards over time.
But it is when the key elements of SEO are applied to great content that is both relevant to the needs of your audience, and proves your credibility, that the tangible impact of good SEO is seen.
Search engine optimisation or SEO is the practice of making your business visible to human (and search engine) visitors when they go looking for suppliers like you.There are a number of ways of securing profile, both natural and illicit.
This slide is a takeaway. It’s more fun to look at some real B2B companies doing it though…
What is being shown
Effective use of keywords on the site in descriptions, in meta data and content –all in relation to predicted customer search
Taking it a little further on the BOC site, how meta descriptions are written in order to be displayed on Google Search and also how keywords are adopted into URLs, page titles, h tags and more
Given the time, we’re not actively exploring the area of link building, article outreach and indexing today. These are important and are covered in some detail in the ebook.
Technology has facilitated a significant shift in how people in business interact with the companies they buy from.
Until the early 2000s, businesses supplying other businesses could still (just about) get away with broadcast marketing, using relatively untargeted, unsophisticated advertising to promote important product or service features.
Not anymore! Just as the procurement function became more professional, your customers got smarter. They now rely on the Internet to research, shortlist and select suppliers. And as Generation Y – 20- and 30-something digital natives enter the workplace – it will be the companies that use the Internet to project beyond their own website to draw Generation Y buyers to them that will win online.
Technology has facilitated a significant shift in how people in business interact with the companies they buy from.
Until the early 2000s, businesses supplying other businesses could still (just about) get away with broadcast marketing, using relatively untargeted, unsophisticated advertising to promote important product or service features.
Not anymore! Just as the procurement function became more professional, your customers got smarter. They now rely on the Internet to research, shortlist and select suppliers. And as Generation Y – 20- and 30-something digital natives enter the workplace – it will be the companies that use the Internet to project beyond their own website to draw Generation Y buyers to them that will win online.
Run through examples discussing the difference between Stelzner’s primary and nuclear fuel (from the book Launch!)
Primary fuel (lifespan = 3 days) incl How to guides, Expert interviews, Reviews, News stories, Case studies
Nuclear fuel (lifespan = months) incl Survey reports, White papers, Top 10 contests, Micro events (webinars, video, podcasts)
And that really helps when it comes to social media.
Social media and business are two phrases that have sat uncomfortably for several years; for good reason. When you think about the very nature of social media and how the major platforms developed business applications do appear to have been shoehorned in as an afterthought.
You can see where social media fits, with content marketing in place, you have the fuel needed to power effective social media campaigns that inform, educate, entertain, persuade, engage and endure. Remember, though, that social media marketing isn’t just about broadcast.
B2B marketers need to be ruthless about how, where and when they deploy social media. Without the stellar consumer budgets or mass market audiences the pressures on return on investment are heightened.
Social Media Examiner 4th annual survey of 4000 marketers
Establish audience/s
Reach audience/s
Influence audience/s
Audience defined loosely as existing & potential customers, internal customers (staff), external customers (business partners)
Development of content requires the following considerations..
Thinking about our multi-disciplinary B2B audience we need to ask ourselves...
When it comes to relevance, think about marketing to the niche...
Evaluation – analytics can cover it all
Customers are more likely to stick to you if you follow a robust repeatable approach to delivering against their needs.
Development of content requires the following considerations..
Thinking about our multi-disciplinary B2B audience we need to ask ourselves...
When it comes to relevance, think about marketing to the niche...
Evaluation – analytics can cover it all
Customers are more likely to stick to you if you follow a robust repeatable approach to delivering against their needs.
What does CARE mean in action?
Some examples...
Social interaction can be integrated all over the web (from within your website – Knauf), to a Facebook page.
Google’s most recent algorithm update gave social mentions on Google+ and other social sites more ranking so we’re now seeing the benefits of this in search.
Facebook example of PWC using market data as a hook to drive traffic and engagement online
The goal of most businesses is to provide a rewarding return for their owners or shareholder investment. This is our focus in the last two sections where we move on to assess how a B2B marketer sets about delivering quality leads to the sales team and uses a variety of tools and techniques to drive more, and better quality leads which can be nurtured through to transaction.
Claremont – itsinsidethatcounts.co.uk
The example on the left is a landing page for workplace interior design firm Claremont showing how content can be arranged to showcase the business in the possible light to a specific audience – in this case the legal sector.
In this example the page includes a number of the critical elements that should be included in a landing page:
A headline and (optional) sub-headline.
A supporting image (or slider including multiple images).
A brief description of the offer/call to action.
Supporting elements such as testimonials, affiliations, accreditations or security badges (for transaction B2B sites).
Interactive content to bring the landing page call to action to life – in this case video testimonial.
A form to capture information – duplicated twice at the top and bottom of the page.
Separate email sign, get in touch and social media profiles.
Downloadable material in the form of interactive brochures.
Anglian
Again focused around conversion to action. Make contact or fill the form in. Could it be any blunter?
Adobe
Show lots of primary and nuclear content to get people to take action from webinars to blogs to datasheets etc
The point is – you spend all your time, effort and money getting them there. Make it easy for them to do business.
Last few slides. And we’re into analytics. This should be a no-brainer as it links back to strategy, goals and objectives and helps tell you what is working and what isn’t.
Much evaluation of marketing activity falls into monitoring and measuring brand, key message delivery and resonance, size of, engagement with and sentiment of audience. These measures are important, but the majority of the metrics that companies build their digital marketing evaluation on often fall into the ‘vanity’ bracket. Focus on those that deliver tangible return.
When it comes to measurement, the boffins say steer clear of vanity measures like fans, likes, follows as these are meaningless when it comes to real ROI. I think there is some truth in this and there is much to be said about a niche but highly active following being more valuable. However, people are swayed by large numbers. For b2b, match vanity metrics with those that help display some tangible return – signups, downloads, inquiries, appointments and chart them through your funnel. These are much more likely to lead to stepchange improvement in what you’re doing as you make yourself even more relevant to your customers.