I admit it. As a marketer, sometimes I get stuck with ideas when I try to promote my own self.

Maybe it’s a cultural stigma that somehow self promotion is a shameful thing (hence the term “shameless self promotion”). And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

But one day (as I was TOTT-ing … “thinking on the toilet,” term you see posted on the back of bathroom stall doors) it dawned on me: “Heck, I should use my knowledge to benefit … ME!”

For example, this guy was looking for a job. He was trying to stand out from the other applicants, so he bought keywords for executives in the company that he was trying to get hired at.

Why did it work?

Simple. He tapped into people’s natural tendency to Google themselves. Like Al Pacino, vanity is ALL marketers’ favorite sin.

That’s just ONE interesting use case of PPC that search engine designers probably never intended.

That’s just ONE interesting use case of PPC that search engine designers probably never intended.

Ok, so maybe vanity isn’t the best and the brightest use case for PPC. But sometimes we all get creativity block, so here five creative ways that people have used PPC marketing.

1) Use PPC to Market-Test Your Product Ideas

The last thing you want to do when you create a product (book, widget, software, whatever) is to do it in a vacuum.

If you’re an entrepreneur, I’m sure you’ve heard “Build it and they will come.”

Right.

If that were the case, every product that silicon valley engineers build should all be $1B+ valuation companies.

However, great products don’t build great companies. Don’t believe me? Just go to any night / flea market in China, Thailand, India, Brazil … or any of those up and coming countries. They’re FILLED with awesome products that will never fly off the shelves anywhere on earth.

However, great products don’t build great companies. Don’t believe me? Just go to any night / flea market in China, Thailand, India, Brazil … or any of those up and coming countries. They’re FILLED with awesome products that will never fly off the shelves anywhere on earth.

Why not ASK people if they would use your product first? You can use PPC to do some market research and find out for yourself if:

• there is market demand for it
• people would even be interested in signing up to be your beta testerI’m guilty too. One of my web ideas pivoted three times before I called it quits because I couldn’t find a market fit. (But I did learn some valuable lessons about Facebook fanpage marketing.)

  Don’t be another victim. Audience first, product second.

  2) Use PPC for Nonprofit Fundraising

  Yep, the political people figured it out too.

  Politicians are using PPC to sway, but most importantly, to raise money from the people.

  In fact, they spend LOTS, especially during the important election times.

  Politicians know this – it doesn’t matter what media people are reading. As long as you can get in front of them, you can get your message heard.

  So if you’re in the non-profit space (or at least an organization that does non-profit things, like silicon valley startups *cough cough*), why not tap into the minds of people who are LOOKING to hand you free money?

  In fact, I’ve used PPC to help ignite a non-profit fundraising effort  for a dog rescue organization in Singapore. They raised a couple of thousand dollars in a matter of a few weeks and got insane exposure for their organization, as well as media coverage. (Plus their video got over 1 MILLION views as soon as the virality kicked in.)

  Ask and you shall receive.

  Ask and you shall receive.

  3) Use PPC to Test Offline Advertising

  A while back, a small chat software as service company called HipChat used a billboard to get its message in front of tech people in Silicon Valley on 101 (one of the busiest freeways there).

  Their cost? $7k for 4 weeks.

  Despite the universally accepted notion that this kind of advertising doesn’t work, the HipChat team managed to go viral, getting backlinks, free media mentions and PR, and of course customer signups.

  Despite the universally accepted notion that this kind of advertising doesn’t work, the HipChat team managed to go viral, getting backlinks, free media mentions and PR, and of course customer signups.

  So if you do a popular internet meme ad for your product, will you get the same results? Probably not. But here’s my point. Offline ads (newspapers, magazines, billboards, posters, etc.) are ALL very expensive media.

  Why not use PPC to test out your messaging FIRST before plunking down tens of thousands of dollars of your cold hard cash? It’s much easier to test your messaging online that in print.

  Do an A/B test to find out what resonates with people before committing to that final order at the print shop.

  4) Use PPC to Test Your Conference Event Titles

  Ever wonder why some conferences are such a spectacular hit and some are just plain duds?

  Why not use PPC to test event titles before committing the entire marketing team to promote event titles that people don’t find interesting?

  Why not use PPC to test event titles before committing the entire marketing team to promote event titles that people don’t find interesting?

  The last thing you want to do is have NO one show up.

  5) Use PPC to Get a Date

  Are you single? Have you ever wondered why you are single even though you’re this kick-ass marketer and you should have members of the opposite sex beating down the door for one chance of dating you?

  Simple. EXPOSURE.

  Simple. EXPOSURE.

  Just like you’re giving your product or service (or your client’s) a chance in the marketplace by giving it exposure, you can do the same for your OWN love life.

  Just like you’re giving your product or service (or your client’s) a chance in the marketplace by giving it exposure, you can do the same for your OWN love life.

  I personally used copywriting to get better dates and I thought I was a genius. I even thought, heck, since I can target single women with Facebook ads, I might as well try that.

  Then I thought … maybe that’s a little TOO crazy.

  Then I thought … maybe that’s a little TOO crazy.

  Until I read about this guy – he did what I thought was too crazy.

  This guy even did an A/B test! Now I must worship him. He even compiled a spreadsheet of this results on a cost per lead basis.

  This guy even did an A/B test! Now I must worship him. He even compiled a spreadsheet of this results on a cost per lead basis.

  Heck, you might even try guest blogging on one of those PUA (pickup artist) blogs to see if you can land some single men as your potential online marketing client.

  Takeaway?

  Takeaway?

  Be creative. Be unique.

  Take your PPC to a whole new level with your imagination wide open.

• I’m curious – what have YOU seen done with PPC? Leave your thoughts in the comment box.
• This is a guest post by TaeWoo Kim, an entrepreneur, digital marketer, speaker, and blogger. He has over 7 years of experience in software startup, inbound marketing, direct response marketing, PPC/search engine marketing, sales lead generation, conversion rate optimization, email marketing, and social media. You can follow him on Twitter (@TaeWooKim), Google+, and on his blog FreshSuperCool.com.

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What Simplicity Really Means

Click here to view original article at webdesignledger.com

When it comes to web design trends, minimalism has risen to the top and shows no signs of losing its current popularity. There are many reasons why the style has been so embraced of late: not only does it mesh well with the tenets of web design, it also can be effortlessly combined with other popular design trends. Visual styles like color blocking or large photography, and functional trends like innovative navigational structures all can be combined with the methods and goals behind minimal design.

But all of these benefits don’t mean that minimalism is particularly easy to work with. In fact, despite the deceptive simplicity of their construction, really good minimalist designs actually require just as complex of a creative process as any other style. A good way to approach a minimalist project would be to build up a complex site and refine it down to the essentials. But what are the essentials? Read on to find out.

Concept

The first mistake designers can fall into is deciding to use minimalism for the wrong reasons; either because it’s popular, or because it looks like it’s easy to do. But don’t be misled by the hype; minimalism is just one stylistic choice among many; it doesn’t and shouldn’t work with every type of website.

• Minimalism works best when combined with a modern aesthetic and naturally sparse content.
• It’s at its worst when used with complex content, conventional audiences, and a traditional aesthetic.Minimalism wouldn’t work on a content-rich site like The Verge, despite the obviously modern aesthetic and audience. The trouble is that it has too many elements; the ads, social media, buttons, articles, and so on all add up to an unwieldy total. This is not a failure to of simplification; all those elements are essential and cannot be further reduced without negative consequences. And while the website is comparatively busy and full, it’s also quite effective. Make sure that you have a good reason for using minimalism, or else choose another style.

  Another common mistake that designers make is taking reductions too far. This results in a site design that is either lifeless and unappealing, or difficult to understand and interact with.

  • Minimal sites almost always need to feature either beautiful imagery, interesting type choices, or great balance and contrast. Otherwise they look too plain.
  • The entire purpose of minimalism is to bring clarity through simplification. But if navigational elements are reduced to a point where users can’t immediately understand them, then this purpose has not been upheld.For example, while other portions of Pixelsapien’s site have interesting elements, the “Our Work” section exemplifies how throwing flat, refined icons on page really isn’t a successful implementation of minimalism. It’s very easy to understand, but it’s also boring and lifeless. The imagery, type, and colors are all very plain, and the layout is centered and simple. If just one of these features were tweaked and enhanced, then the look of the page would be immeasurably improved.In contrast, Grain and Gram is beautifully designed. But minimalism’s primary emphasis on good communication isn’t being upheld as strictly as it should be; many of the icons and navigational elements are ambiguous and need further clarification.

    

    Design Elements

    As a creative production studio, minimalism fits perfectly with the target audience of Gigantic Squid. A low profile user interface lets their imagery do all the talking.

    

    A website like the Minimalist Music Quiz has just one purpose; to make a fun game out of guessing song titles and artists through minimalist art. As previously discussed, minimalism is a great choice for such a simple site; it’s made more functional as well as more attractive by paring it down to the bare minimum.

    By overlapping aqua triangles with black and white photography, Case 3D shows just one example of how their website design succeeds at creating interest through contrasting shapes, textures, and colors.

    This essential can be achieved in many ways, just one of them being seen in Hennessy’s homepage design. A classical gridbased arrangement like this is a good choice for a company with a historical feel, but something edgier and more complex could be attempted with another type of site.

    

    It’s the little things, like the exquisitely intriguing rollovers to be found on Stronghold’s website, that make minimalist designs feel special. Thoughtful touches like this (that don’t interfere with functionality) are the hallmark of a quality minimalist website.

    The textural, handwritten typography on MailChimp 2012’s homepage is all that was needed to make this large-scale photo come alive; it makes a statement by contrasting the rough, flat texture of the text with the smooth, dimensional look of the image.

    A necessity that ties into both the visual and the interactive experience can be seen in Adam Rudzki’s portfolio, where shapes, movements, and lines are carried throughout the site to make it feel like a seamless experience.

    Although all of these components should be considered and incorporated into a good minimalist design, the essential purpose of the style can be boiled down to just one statement: minimalism is meant to elevate communication by simplification. By using as few tools and options and possible, good minimal designs should provide an interactively streamlined and visually appealing user experience. Many websites stand to vastly benefit from this treatment, so it’s a good bet that minimalism will be here to stay.

    Although all of these components should be considered and incorporated into a good minimalist design, the essential purpose of the style can be boiled down to just one statement: minimalism is meant to elevate communication by simplification. By using as few tools and options and possible, good minimal designs should provide an interactively streamlined and visually appealing user experience. Many websites stand to vastly benefit from this treatment, so it’s a good bet that minimalism will be here to stay.

    Here’s some other articles that you will definitely find useful.

     

Click here to view original article at webdesignledger.com

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Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web.

• Two Years Later, BitTorrent Now In Google’s Auto Completions
  Over two years ago, Google removed BitTorrent from the instant search auto-complete search suggestions. Now, it appears that when you begin typing [bit...] into the Google search box, Google now shows BitTorrent as a search suggestion within Google Instant search. Here is a screen shot of the search auto-completion within Google: Over the years, Google […]
• Study: 61 Percent Of Mobile Callers Ready To Convert
  As a marketer if you’re not making it easy for mobile users to call you, you’re losing business. A new survey of 3,000 US smartphone users, conducted by IPSOS on behalf of Google, underscores the critical role of calls in the mobile path to purchase. Almost two-thirds (61 percent) of survey respondents said that “click […]
• Google Expands AdWords Conversion Window Settings
  In a small but significant change, Google is doing away with the 30-day conversion window in AdWords. Now advertisers can customize the conversion window from 7 to 90 days. Extending the window up to 90 days is good news for marketers whose sales cycles typically take longer than 30 days after an ad click or […]
• Google May Have Penalized Another Major Link Network: Ghost Rank 2.0
  Google has significantly penalized another underground link network over the weekend and we believe that one of the link networks targeted by Google is named Ghost Rank 2.0. A few weeks ago, Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, tweeted “Thinking of ghost-related puns for a spam network. “They try to look super natural, but […]
• Updates To Old Link Building Practices That Score Wins Today
  Everyone is itching for new link building ideas. Google is getting smarter, and the game is getting harder. What worked five years ago — shoot, what worked last year — isn’t going to work today. Except, that’s not necessarily true. Sometimes, it’s not the tactic that stops working — it’s the way people approach it. […]
• Global SEO And Localization Excellence – What Localization Really Is
  Enterprise SEO marketers developing a global footprint see tremendous value in global SEO. Targeting greater performance from global search engines is a top priority for enterprise search marketers since it is a gateway to increase leads, conversions and revenue. Successful global SEO can translate to even greater marketing ROI since extending SEO success to global […]
• Live @ SMX East: App Store Optimization
  You’ve read the reports – apps are the new normal for people spending most of their online time on mobile devices like phones and tablets. Well, everyone else has read the reports as well, and getting people to pay attention to your app among the thousands of others competing for mobile user attention now requires […]

Click here to view original article at feeds.searchengineland.com

The post SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 24, 2013 appeared first on Web Marketing Daily Post.

Overcoming Digital Marketing Challenges

Click here to view original web page at www.business2community.com

You’ve probably heard the terms Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Video Content, Blogs, Social Media and Digital Branding. There is no question that digital marketing is quickly becoming the most effective means of advertising, but you may be wondering which strategies will be the best for your business. Some of the digital marketing challenges that digital marketers face are collecting and analyzing large amounts of data, tracking cost and return on investment, and developing digital media for multiple devices.

Collecting and Analyzing Big Data

In the mid-1990’s, websites began to use counters to track the number of visits or hits received on the domain. Now, businesses have the ability to track much more detailed information about these visits including:

• Where traffic comes from such as age groups, gender and geographical locations
• What products and promotions interest consumers
• The purchasing habits of different demographics
• Social media shares such as tweets and likes which result from customer interaction on the site
• First clicks to know what encouraged the customer to visit the site
• Last clicks to know what converted the visit into a purchase or made them leave the site

You can see how beneficial this information would be in developing a digital marketing strategy. However, the challenge online marketing professionals face is analyzing this large amount of data into useful insights. Businesses can use an in-house marketing analytics team, hire a digital marketing agency or outsource this job to a marketing cloud service. Some of the benefits of a good digital marketing service include:

• Multi-channel integrated analysis which combines data from social, display and paid search campaigns into one useful statistic
• Segmentation to better understand the habits and interests of different demographics
• Opportunities to test content, images, themes and page set-ups and respond accordingly to the results
• Tools to optimize your website in order to better define and reach your target market

Some businesses using cloud marketing services have reported success increasing conversion by at least 33%.

Cost

Digital media campaigns differ from other more traditional marketing efforts such as television and radio ads in that digital marketing has evolved into building relationships with the customer. This is a long-term effort which requires establishing a foundation of trust. As such, it is sometimes difficult to determine the actual ROI. Businesses transitioning into the digital marketing world also sometimes struggle to know how much money to invest initially in their new campaigns.

One mistake that is often made in digital marketing is spreading your campaign too thin. Because the face of the internet is constantly changing and new sites are added daily, businesses can feel pressure to advertise on every latest addition. However, there are many social media and other sites that turn out to be “one-hit wonders.”

It isn’t necessary to have a presence on every site, but it is essential to have a presence on the most popular and current sites. For example, according to eMarketer, two-thirds of U.S. internet consumers used social networks in 2012. Facebook continues to be the most popular social site and an excellent marketing opportunity. In 2012, 67% of B2B companies and 41% of B2C companies acquired a customer through Facebook.

Analytics will show you what reaches your target market so you can narrow your campaign and save money. Many businesses that reported more than a 33% increase in conversion also reduced their marketing spending by almost half using a cloud marketing service.

Multiple Devices

According to Forrester Research, 93% of U.S. online adults own a mobile phone and 19% own a tablet. It is expected by some experts that by 2014 mobile internet will take over desktop usage. This has become a challenge for digital marketers because every page of a website needs to be designed for multiple devices. The website should be engaging, interactive and well-organized whether it is viewed on a PC, tablet or smartphone. Fortunately, there are websites that can help you make your own site mobile-compatible. There are also cloud marketing services which include tools for optimizing your website for multiple devices.

Click here to view original article at www.business2community.com

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Todd Kurie isn’t just an expert on digital marketing, he’s good at explaining it too. The online marketing veteran, who has traversed five startups (including Singapore’s RedMart.com) and corporations like eBay and American Express, gave five tips on how upstart companies should conduct their digital marketing efforts. Targeted at e-commerce outfits, Todd’s presentation was given at the Echelon Singapore Satellite event.

A startup’s main marketing challenge is to grow as fast as possible. The process of doing so can be broadly summarized as follows: learn as quickly and cheaply as possible about your customers, what they like or don’t about your service, the most effective ways to reach them, and customer acquisition costs. Once these questions are answered, then grow as fast as it makes sense.

Tip#1: Observe your customer.

Take a quick look at whatever information you can get from every user who registers — even names can reveal a lot of information about your customer. If your site has a search feature, scrutinize that too. Search terms can tell you a lot about what site visitors are looking for. The goal of this exercise is to spot patterns. Third-party analytics tools — some of them free — are useful for this purpose:

• Google Analytics: If you own a website, you most probably already know this one. It’s a free and powerful tool to learn about customer behavior. Read: 50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics
• Kissmetrics: It’s more oriented towards individual visitors versus Google Analytics, which is focused on pageviews. Read: Kissmetrics versus Google Analytics
• Crazy Egg: Affordable eye-tracking technology.
• UserTesting: On-demand usability testing. Get feedback about your site within an hour.
• Mouseflow, Clicktale: Record website visitors and generate heatmaps to see what they’re paying attention to.

Tip#2: Listen to your customers.

Customer support emails are not just for the support team – the management should also receive and read them. It’s a great way to know what pain points your users are experiencing.

A survey is another great tool to hear from customers. And they will tell you a lot. At RedMart, Todd conducts regular surveys which typically sees a ten percent response rate (300 participants out of 3,000 people who were exposed, for example). The company also offers rewards for testing new features.

Tip #3: Use the right marketing channels.

There’s a big difference between marketing you can do and marketing you should do. Startups should initially focus on marketing channels that are:

• low cost to test
• easy to implement
• trackable, and
• scalable.

In summary: Aim for high results with low effort. RedMart started off with organic search and Google Adwords for their initial marketing burst. It’s now at capacity on Google and has turned to Facebook as another key plank. Here’s how the startup sees the various marketing channels:

 

 

Tip #4: Start tracking lifetime customer value now.

Draw a tension curve to determine how much your customer needs to spend to create a net positive. This is especially important if your revenue comes from ongoing user transactions and interactions.

 

Tip #5: Know what growth is “just right”.

Grow too little, and your investors will be unhappy. But grow too much, and your service breaks down and you risk making users unhappy – this is a killer if your business is dependent on ongoing activity. Know what the ‘just right’ amount of growth is and aim for that.

Understand the degree to which you can dial up or down your marketing spend to hit an amount of advertising activity (visits, transactions, etc). Set minimum and maximum targets for your marketing spend to regulate revenue growth.

RedMart generates some baseline revenue from organic search results alone. The company will top up accordingly with EDMs, Adwords, Facebook CPC, and Facebook posts to finely tune the flow of visitors to the site.

Slides of the presentation:

Find out more about SGE’s research arm: SGE Insights, providing customized in-depth research reports to help you navigate the business of technology in Asia.

About The Author

Terence writes mainly about technology trends and startups in Asia. He believes in crafting smart content: Not just a regurgitation of text, but well thought-out pieces that serve the reader using a combination of data, design, narratives, analysis, and visual impact. His articles have been published on Venturebeat, Yahoo!, Straits Times, Today, and The Online Citizen. He also co-founded NewNation.sg, a satirical news site covering Singapore affairs. Engage him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Read other posts by Terence LEE

Comments

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Questions?  (Photo credit: Valerie Everett)

The more change occurring  the more questions arise.  This year is no exception.  B2B Marketers are experiencing ongoing as well as new challenges as we start to hit stride in 2013.   What are the big future questions as help for B2B Marketers?  Let’s look at a few:

How do we generate more leads and keep them?

Survey after survey indicate B2B marketers have this issue top of mind.  Creating demand and filling up a pipeline is loaded with pressure packed environments.  In my qualitative buyer research work, I see shifts in behavior on the part of buyers.  There are unique sets of goals and behaviors emerging in the area of nurturing.  Calling into question how leads should be defined and segmented.  Lead research and unique lead persona development will emerge to help B2B marketers address this most important question.

How do we use marketing automation effectively?

Marketing automation has crawled out of infancy stage and is more being widely adopted.  Many organizations have been in the “let’s just get started” phase.  Experiencing the pain of implementation.  The next level question is how to make marketing automation more effective to get better results.

How do we operationalize content marketing?

Content marketing has certainly arisen as one of the core capabilities B2B marketing must possess.  It is causing radical shifts in thinking about the role of marketing and how to build internally.   To operationalize content marketing begs further questions related to structure, roles, and skills.  Presenting CMO’s with the daunting task of figuring out how to build internal strength in content marketing.

What do customers and buyers want?

Usually, when this question is asked, there is a tendency to give a product-centric answer.  If you find yourself doing this – then you might want to catch yourself.  Admittedly, this is one of the hardest questions to figure out.  Since no one is guaranteed to be a mind-reader, this will take qualitative intelligence.  To understand how your customers and buyers think as well as what is motivating this thinking, it takes skilled customer research and buyer research.

How do we create seamless multi-channel experiences?

Existing customers and prospect buyers, simply stated, do not want to have to alter how they interact based on the channel.  My theory on this is based on hearing how buyers complain about how one channel works for them but another does not.  The wider the gap, the more disruptive.  Disrupting your customers and buyers – well – is not a good thing.   Here is an example:

“Okay here’s what I mean, I go to the website.  It is impressive and I find some good information.  I am thinking this could be a smart organization to potentially get to know.  Of course, I download the white paper and I get the call.  Let me just say they had no idea what they were talking about.”  (Director, IT Integration and Service)

How do we stop reacting and plan for the future?

There is palpable tension in the air for B2B Marketers this year.  The need to know and the need to get results creates mounting pressure.  When first quarter results may not have been as expected, it is bound to cause some to push the panic button.  It can become a fire drill.  All hands on deck to create the next campaign.  What I believe is happening is buyers are out in front and B2B marketers are trying to catch up.   I advocate having a solid foundation of buyer intelligence to work with.  This means a collective body of research-based reference knowledge like audience personas, buyer personas, mapping tools related to content and buying journeys, and much more.  These give you the perspective you need to know why something may not have worked and to plan intelligently.  Another words – stop hitting the panic button.

How do we build more buyer predictability into B2B Marketing?

Predictive analytics continues to grow.  With limitations.  It holds promise to scale down Big Data and give the ability to predict buying behaviors.  While this may help us to predict how buyers may behave online for example, it may yield little on predicting why.  A capability I am advocating is developing customer and buyer foresight planning.  This type of planning calls for  emerging buyer scenario modeling and mapping capabilities.  Knowing where your buyers may be headed can give you the foresight needed to anticipate future motivations.  In addition, share your foresight and help them envision a future which includes you.

There are many more questions.  It is the nature of business and marketing.  It is the one constant we can on.  Things will change enough which will beg more questions.  B2B Marketing leadership and success wil be predicated on the ability to answer the big questions.

Click here to view original article at www.customerthink.com

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Pinterest: B2B Boards That Will Dazzle Your Clients

Click here to view original web page at socialmediatoday.com

Consumer brands have been on Pinterest for a while, since it’s the best suited platform for visible content. With 48.7 million users (April 2013) and explosive growth, there’s big potential even for b2b companies to establish themselves on the platform.

I’m going to guide you through 5 essential rules for creating a Pinterest account for your b2b that will attract and engage your b2b clients.

• 26% of online b2b marketers used Pinterest to distribute content during 2012.
• Pinterest referrals spend 70% more money than visitors referred from non-social channels.
• Visitors from Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase over other major social media sites.
• Pinterest users spend 10% more money on average than Facebook and Twitter users.
• Pinterest appears to be the stronger vehicle for brand association: 43% of Pinterest members agree that they use Pinterest to “associate with retailers or brands with which I identify,” compared to just 24% of Facebook users who agree to the same use with Facebook.

In the early days of social media, social media accounts were handled somehow “on the side” of traditional marketing activities. Very little time and resources were dedicated to online interactions, and social media were treated as another advertising space were one could place their ad and leave.

As social media evolves, the audience has become more demanding. As the world is spinning faster every day, people begin to treat Twitter as the new helpline: when they tweet a business, they demand instant response.

It means that resources needed for social media can’t be neglected anymore. My prediction is that in the future for a marketing department of 10, about 9 people will be dedicated to social media marketing, and traditional marketing tasks will been down-sized to possible 1 full-time position.

Action point: Handling social media is not about sending out one or two random posts per day. It requires strategic planning as well as creativity and the ability to handle interactions promptly. Dedicate a proper amount of time for those taking care of your Pinterest, Twitter or whatever platform you choose to be on!

No matter what, Pinterest is for visual pinning. Make an effort to find eye-catching, emotional images, since those are the ones who are shared the most.

Don’t think stock photos. People don’t pin what they’ve seen a thousand times before. They pin surprising, original content.

If you’re not a skilled photographer yourself, or haven’t got the time – try a creative commons service, like photopin.com. Just remember to give credit to the source!

Don’t pin all your content in one board!

Create different types of boards that gives your visitors a explicit overview of what’s in there.

Give the boards clear, yet intriguing titles and choose the nicest image in there for the board cover.

Examples of different types of Pinterest boards

• Create a board for customer testimonials. Pin images with quotes from happy customers. Use pinwords.com or quozio.com to make pinable images of text.
• Tell the company story in a board. Pin images that feature your people and premises as well as images of the product/service.
• Create separate boards for webinars, whitepapers, articles and news.
• Create boards for the niche you operate within and pin related news and info.

With your Pinterest boards in place, start to engage with potential and existing clients.

On Pinterest you may:

• Repin clients content.
• Comment on clients or potential clients pins (in a non-spammy way – no selling!)
• Invite certain people to pin on certain boards on your Pinterest account.

Share your pins on social media like Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

There’s a much higher click-through rate from Pinterest than from any other social media at the moment, so it’s definitely worth a try to direct your clients to your website via your Pinterest account.

Source: wishpond

Source: sandbox

Do you engage with brands or b2b on Pinterest? Please tell in the comment box below.

Click here to view original article at socialmediatoday.com

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Quick Course On Effective Website Copywriting

Article originally published at Smashing Magazine.

Many dismiss copywriting as something that ad agency people do. Truthfully, all of us need to pay close attention to copywriting if we want to achieve our business objectives.

The goal of a “regular” text is to inform or entertain. The goal of Web copy (and ideally your website in general) is to get people to do something—to sign up, make a purchase, or something similar. Hiring a professional copywriter can be very expensive, which is one of the reasons why this is a valuable skill to have yourself.

“I don’t need to learn copywriting, I write based on how it sounds to me.”

Think you don’t need to learn copywriting?

David Ogilvy, the father of modern advertising, addressed this in his book Ogilvy on Advertising. One of his copywriters told him that he had not read any books about advertising; he preferred to rely on his own intuition.

Ogilvy asked him: “Suppose your gallbladder has to be removed this evening. Will you choose a surgeon who has read some books on anatomy and knows where the gallbladder, is or someone who relies on his own intuition?”

What distinguishes top experts from mediocre players is that the best know more. You can write better copy if you know more about it.

The Process Of Writing Great Copy

Everything is easier with the right process. If your approach to copywriting is “I’ll just try to be convincing”, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

You don’t even need to be a “natural writer” to come up with excellent copy, you just need the right process and some key principles about writing copy that sells.

The best processes are simple, as those are the ones you actually use.

Here are the six steps of effective copywriting process:

1. Research: customer, product and competition.
2. Outline and guideposts.
3. Draft copy.
4. Conversion boost.
5. Revise, rearrange.
6. Test.

And now let’s get to the details:

This is often the most time-intensive part of your copywriting.

“You don’t stand a tinker’s chance of producing successful advertising unless you start doing your homework. I have always found this extremely tedious, but there is no way around it.”

— David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy had the task to do copywriting for a Rolls Royce ad. He spent three weeks reading about it before he came up with the headline and the rest of the copy. While he was talking about advertising, it equally applies to your website copy—the goal is to get people to do something.

Ogilvy’s famous Rolls Royce ad.

You need to figure out why people buy the product, how they buy it, what they use it for, and what really matters to them. If you don’t have this figured out, you really cannot write a copy that works. When it’s your own business that you’re writing copy for, things go much faster, of course, as you know the product and the competition.

Gauge the Competition

You need to be aware of your direct competition, how they present their product, and what claims they seem to be making. If you are not selling something unique, you are selling as much for your competition as you are selling for yourself. Being “like” others or choosing to be “one of the leading providers of” is a losing strategy.

Neuromarketing research tells us that differentiating our claims is the key to talking to the old brain, the decision making part of our brain. Our whole business identity should be different from the competition, and the claims we’re making about our product should stand out.

Get Out of the Office

The answers are not in your office and you won’t have eureka-moments at brainstorming meetings (working solo is far more effective anyway). You have to interview people. Don’t waste time interviewing random people, you need to talk to your ideal customers and find out what’s on their minds.

Find out what they think about your kind of product, what language they use when they talk about it, what attributes are important to them, and what promises would most likely convince them to buy it. Pick the last 10 to 20 customers (who still remember their purchasing experiences), and ask them these questions (recording the interviews is a good idea, but ask for permission):

• Who are you? What do you do? (customer profile)
• What does our product help you do? (helps you understand how they use it, tells you words they use to describe our product)
• Which parameters did you compare on different options? (which features matter)
• What were the most important ones? (key pains to solve)
• Which alternatives did you consider? (competitors we have to look at)
• What made you choose our product? (our key advantage)
• What were the biggest hesitations and doubts before the purchase? (things we have to address in the copy)
• Were there questions you needed answers to, but couldn’t find any? (necessary information to provide)
• What information would have helped you make the decision faster? (same as above)
• In which words would you recommend it to somebody you know? (words they use to describe our product)

Take note of the exact wording they use. Your copy needs to match the conversation in your customer’s mind. If you talk about “scribing devices” and he needs a pen, there’s a mismatch.

My point is that when customers see the product described in words they have in their mind already, then you’ve got their attention.

2. Outline And Guideposts

Next step: write the outline. Guideposts are the markers that help you write the content.

Writing an outline usually only takes a few minutes and provides a road map for the rest of the project. It allows you to complete the work faster and ensures that you stick to the flow.

The outline structure will depend on the page you’re writing the copy for. The main pages you need a well thought-out copy in place are your home page and product pages.

Here are outline templates I personally use, and you can copy them. I’ve tweaked and tested them over the years, and this model works the best for me.

Home Page Copy

Your home page copy structure depends a lot on your business. A nail salon would have a different approach from an e-commerce store; a website selling mobile app design courses is different from a hosting company. Hence, it’s basically impossible for me to give you an outline template for your home page.

What IS universal is the value proposition. Every home page needs one (unless you’re a very well-known brand)

A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered. It’s the primary reason a prospect should buy from you. The value proposition is usually a block of text with a visual.

There is no one right way to go about it, but I suggest you start with the following formula:

• Headline:What is the end-benefit you’re offering, in one short sentence. Can mention the product and/or the customer. Attention grabber.
• Sub-headline or a two-to-three sentence paragraph:A specific explanation of what you do/offer, for whom, and why is it useful.
• Bullet points:List the key benefits or features.

Here’s a list of useful value proposition examples you can check out.

Product Page Copy Outline

Product page is where you sell the value of your product and where the user takes action (adds to cart, sign up, makes a purchase, etc.).

1. Name of the product.
2. Value proposition: what’s the end-benefit of this product and who is it for?
3. Specific and clear overview of what the product does and why is that good (features and benefits).
4. What’s the pain that it solves? Description of the problem.
5. List of everything in the product (e.g. curriculum of the course, list of every item in the package, etc.).
6. Technical information: parameters, what do you get and how does it work?
7. Objection handling. Make a list of all possible FUDs (fears, uncertainties, doubts) and address them.
8. Bonuses (what you get on top of the offer).
9. Money-back guarantee (+ return policy).
10. Price.
11. Call to action.
12. Expectation setting: what happens after you buy?

What you now have in place is like a skeleton. Next step would be to start writing the draft version of the copy by filling in the blanks.

3. Draft Copy

Start filling in the blanks in the template above, and keep these points in mind for the style of your writing.

Avoid Jargon and Blandvertising

The goal of the copy is to connect with the reader, and guide them towards an action.

“Human relationships are about communicating. Business jargon should be banished in favor of simple English. Simplicity is a sign of truth and a criterion of beauty. Complexity can be a way of hiding the truth.”

— Helena Rubinstein

Using complicated, fancy words does not make you seem any smarter or your solution any better—it just turns everybody off. Who wants to read something that doesn’t feel like it’s written for them? Talk to people like a real human. If you wouldn’t use a phrase on your website in a conversation with a customer, then don’t use it.

In addition to fancy words, avoid meaningless phrases. What do “on-demand marketing software”, “integrated solutions” or “flexible platform” really mean anyway?

Or useless phrases like “changing the way X is done”, “paradigm shifting …” or “exceeding customer expectations”—stop the nonsense. These bland phrases have long lost any meaning, and you will just waste precious attention time. You can see a list of the top 100 most overused buzzwords and marketing speak in press releases here.

Another thing to avoid—superlatives and hype. Saying things like “the best”, “world leader”, “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” will just ruin your integrity. People don’t believe such claims anyway (even if they’re true).

What to do instead? Be specific.

Be Specific

Specificity converts.

“Clearer and more specific subject lines convert better.”

— Bob Kemper, Senior Director of Sciences, MECLABS.

While in that specific quote Bob was focused on subject lines, this principle applies equally well to all copywriting. Specific is believable, specific is attractive, specific is convincing. Don’t be vague, be specific.

“We have the best coffee in the world” vs “Our estate earned the ‘world’s best coffee’ title at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Roasters Guild for the third year in a row.” Which claim is more believable?

You can use a superlative if you back it up.

Here’s an example. Can you understand what they offer?

Specific headline. Specific call to action with a specific explanation of what they get when they sign up. Specific benefits listed. Specific image to show the product in action.

It Has to Be About Them

Remember the old brain I mentioned before?

Our brains have three layers, and the oldest part—the old brain—is the decision-making part.

The “Old Brain” is the part that humans and their predecessors have had the longest—like 450 million years or so. So the part of the brain that controls decisions is fairly primitive and mostly concerned with survival.

If your copy is about you (your product, your company) and not the prospect (his problems, his life), you will fail. Make it about them. Too many companies start by stating “our company was founded…”, “we offer …” or something especially useless like “welcome to your website”.

Instead of saying “we specialize in dog training”, say “train your dog in two weeks”—move the focus from you to the benefit they will receive. People care about themselves—not you—and whether your website can be helpful in some way.

How Much Information Should I Provide?

Tests have shown that 79% of people don’t read, they just skim. However, 16% read everything.

Those 16% are your main target group, the most interested people. If people are not interested in what you are selling, it doesn’t matter how long or short your sales copy is. If they are interested, you should give them as much information as possible.

Complete information is the best sales copy. A study by IDC showed that 50% of the uncompleted purchases were due to lack of information. They can always skip parts and click the “buy” button once they have the information they need. But if they read through the whole thing and they’re still not convinced, then you have a problem.

This is why you should always strive to say everything that can possibly be said about your product. You cannot be there in person to explain and answer the questions, so your copy needs to do it for you.

All at Once or Make Them Click?

Long form copy works just great, but it’s not necessary to provide all the information on a single page. It’s okay to move supplemental information onto a different page (layer, popup, etc.) and just link to it.

For instance, Amazon often hides full technical information of products behind a link—since it’s only interesting to the hardcore tech savvy customers (and most customers are not).

Full technical details available after clicking a link.

The important thing is that all the information needed to make the decision is on a single page. Don’t make people work click to read stuff that you want them to read anyway (like features, benefits, testimonials, pricing, etc.).

When, Where and If at All Should I Show the Price?

Some people think that the price drives readers away, and they should hide it somehow—or make it hard to get to. While there is truth in that sometimes, it’s mostly false.

Consider this:

1. People always want to know how much things cost.
2. If you don’t publish the price, have a “get a quote” form instead. But if your competition does, they may get the client.

You should always make the price easy to find, but for more complex / expensive products communicate the value before the price.

Let’s say you’re selling a copper vase. Price: $990.

Seems expensive. But what if you knew that it was designed by Andy Warhol and previously used by Kurt Cobain? If you know who these people are and respect them, this changes everything, and it might seem like a steal instead.

So communicate value before price.

If your price is cheap, you want people to know it. If it’s expensive, the price qualifies the right people who are convinced to buy your copy. Giving price details also convinces your reader of the image and brand value of your product.

4. Conversion Boost

Once you have the content in place, it’s time to give it a conversion boost. The goal of the website copy is to convert the reader into a buyer (or subscriber, lead, etc.). There are certain things we can do to improve the conversion rate (the percentage of readers that take action) of the copy.

We’ll use three guides here to make the copy sell better:

• Conversion frameworks.
• Science of persuasion.
• Neuromarketing research.

Conversion boost. Image credit APM Alex.

Conversion Frameworks and Why They Matter

Conversion frameworks are a structured approach for increasing website conversion rates. The most prominent ones have been fine-tuned over the years and have been proven to boost sales.

While the conversion frameworks apply to a website as a whole, they can also be used as frameworks to improve sales copy.

There are many conversion frameworks around, let’s use one of them as an example:

C = 4m + 3v + 2(i-f) – 2a

This is not a lesson in physics, but a conversion formula developed by Marketing Experiments. Translation:

C = Probability of conversion

m = Motivation of user (when)

v = Clarity of the value proposition (why)

i = Incentive to take action

f = Friction elements of process

a = Anxiety about entering information

Summary: The probability of conversion depends on the match between the offer and visitor motivation + the clarity of the value proposition + (incentives to take action now—friction)—anxiety. The numbers next to each character signify the importance of them.

How to apply this to your copy:

• Is your value proposition easy to understand and perfectly clear? Would everyone understand what you offer and how it’s beneficial to them?
• Go through your copy and see if there’s any way to make your statements clearer.
• Communicate value: don’t just list features, turn them into benefits.
• Make a list of all possible questions, doubts and objections that prospects might have in the buying process. Address them.
• Make the buying or signup process as easy as possible, remove everything that is not absolutely necessary.
• Add microcopy: explain why you need certain data and what happens after they give it to you.
• Provide full information: what happens after they buy, what can they expect, when is the product shipped, what’s the delivery time.
• Add risk reversal: what kind of guarantees are in place? What happens if they don’t like it, or it’s not what they thought, etc?

The Science of Persuasion

Persuasion has been researched thoroughly. Mr. Cialdini is undoubtedly the biggest authority on the field. His books are bestsellers and have been on the “must-read” list for marketers and copywriters for years.

In his research, Cialdini came up with six scientific principles of persuasion that will help guide you to become more effective at getting people to do what you want. In case you’re not familiar with those principles, then here’s the summary:

Principle 1: Reciprocity

People feel obligated to give back to others who have given to them.

How to use it: teach your prospect something useful in your copy, give away free stuff, and better yet—add value to your prospects long before you even start to sell them something.

Principle 2: Liking

We prefer to say “yes” to those we know and like.

How to use it: talk/write like a human, connect with the reader, share details about yourself. Blog. Be friendly and cool (like Richard Branson, Oprah, Gary V).

Principle 3: Social Proof

People decide what’s appropriate for them to do in a situation by examining and following what others are doing.

How to use it: show how many others are already using your product. Show off your numbers. Use testimonials. Link to 3rd-party articles.

Principle 4: Authority

People rely on those with superior knowledge or perspective for guidance on how to respond AND what decisions to make.

How to use it: Demonstrate your expertise. Show off your resume and results. Get celebrity (in your niche) endorsements.

Principle 5: Consistency

Once we make a choice/take a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.

How to use it: Start small and move up from there. Sell something small at first (a no-brainer deal), even if you make no money on it. They now see themselves as your customer, and will most likely return to make a larger purchase.

Principle 6: Scarcity

Opportunities appear more valuable when they are less available.

How to use it: Use time or quantity limited bonuses. Limit access to your product. Promote exclusivity.

What Neuromarketing Teaches Us

Research in neuromarketing (put together in this book) reveals interesting things about our brains.

Neuromarketing study in action. Image credit: SMI Eye Tracking.

We’re usually trying to talk to the “new brain”—the sophisticated one—but it’s the brute “old brain” that makes all the decisions, so we need to dumb it down. Here’s the formula for talking to the old brain:

Selling probability = Pain x Claim x Gain x (Old Brain)³

1. First you need to identify the prospect’s pain and make sure they acknowledge the pain before you start to sell them anything. Then, you’ve got to differentiate your claims from your competitors. The strongest claim is the one that eliminates the strongest pain.
2. Next, you have to show convincing proof to back the claims up. The “Old Brain” is resistant to new ideas and concepts, so your proof must be very convincing. Show tangible evidence, data, before & after comparisons, testimonials, and case studies.
3. In order to reach the old brain, you need to start with a “grabber”—something that really gets the attention (“if you’re selling fire extinguishers, start with fire”, like Ogilvy said). Second—the “Old brain” is visual, so use a big picture to illustrate and reinforce your message. Visuals get to the brain much faster than words. Best visuals show contrast—before/after, beginning/end, then/now.

How to apply it to your copy:

• Start with a grabber—something that evokes emotion.
• Address the pain from the get-go.
• Use a big picture next to your value proposition, one that the prospect can identify with.
• Are your claims different from the competition?
• Add proof to your claims in all possible formats.

5. Revise And Rearrange

Done with conversion boosting? Now enjoy a full night of sleep and come back to the copy in the morning.

A fresh look a day later will help you spot inconsistencies, missing information, and flaws in the general flow of the copy. Use this time to add more information, rearrange the order of different blocks and fix the typos (spelling mistakes can cost you customers).

Before you publish the sales copy, it always pays to get two or three other people to read it and give you feedback. You want feedback from your ideal customers—do they get any questions that were left unanswered? Is there any part that needs to be made clearer? And peers—other marketers or entrepreneurs. What could make the offer better and more credible?

Once the editing is complete, you can make it live on your website. Don’t guess whether the headline or value propositions are as good as they can be, immediately launch two versions of the copy and test them.

6. Test

There is no good way to predict how well the copy will do. Sometimes the conversion rates can skyrocket overnight. Sometimes the new copy turns out to be a downright dud.

You need to test your copy. Image credit Horia Varlan.

Maybe it’s because the offer is weak. Perhaps the headline is the bottleneck. It’s impossible to put the finger on the problem as all you have are hypothesis. The only way to know is to test.

Don’t trust a copywriter who says he always writes killer copy on his first try. Nobody does.

Most common problems:

• Your value proposition is poor.
• The offer doesn’t match the audience’s needs.
• The headline is weak.
• It’s not clear how the visitor benefits from this.

Start with A/B testing value propositions, and go from there.

Conclusion

Writing great copy is a skill you have to learn just like anything else. Use the outline and the tips to get started on the right track. Stephen King, the famous writer, said that if you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. I believe the same goes for writing great copy.

The best Web copy is not the one that uses sophisticated persuasion and mind manipulation techniques. The best copy provides full information about the product, its benefits, and makes it clear whether it’s the right one for the user.

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 B2B Marketing: When to Hire vs. Outsource

 

Some may think I am biased on this topic since I am a B2B marketing consultant, but I spent most of my career as a corporate employee where this question often came up. Having been on both sides of the fence, I’m comfortable conveying some unbiased tips.

When someone asks me, “How do I know what/when to outsource vs. hire for the marketing workload?”, I suggest first asking:

“What type of marketing help do I need?”

Some of your answers may include someone to help:

1. Figure out or refresh my brand strategy, unique value proposition, and message.
2. Get me into the 21st century with the latest B2B best practices such as content marketing, lead nurturing, and marketing automation.
3. Rethink my marketing organizational structure through the lens of data, technology and marketing operations (vs. my current lens of traditional media, tradeshows, direct email and public relations).
4. Align the marketing and sales functions towards a common goal.

Until you’re sure of the type of help you need, it’s difficult to know when you should outsource vs. hire. However, below are some commonly used cases for outsourcing that may resonate with your situation, along with some different options that may be worthy of your consideration.

Brand Strategy and Messaging

Some leaders have a well-defined marketing strategy, but are unable or are too close to the business, to develop a brand strategy and messaging framework that map tightly to customer insights and behavior.

• Sometimes it’s helpful to hire a brand strategist who can drive a well-oiled process that is proven to get you what you need. Once done, the resulting framework can be handed off to various departments in the organization to implement and manage.
• Another option is to use a permanent marketing strategist who can drive the process; allowing that person to outsource various details of strategic planning such as research, customer focus groups, executive roundtables, and data analysis.

Sales and Marketing Integration

In B2B there has been more focus in the last few years to better integrate marketing and sales functions given the impact of the Internet in helping potential buyers with their research and educational process.

This can inform a strategy for marketing communications to play a bigger role in helping the company to “get found” online and to support the sales process. It can also inform a need for sales teams to play a bigger role in education and thought leadership during the beginning stages of a buyer’s journey.

• There are many consulting firms that specialize in helping companies align their marketing and sales (as well as technology) functions to the B2B buyer’s experience and towards data-driven activities.

• You may consider hiring a consultant to help with gap analysis and strategic planning to determine the level of integration and alignment needed to meet business goals.
• A consultant who specializes in sales/marketing alignment can also offer training and internal workshops to help everyone see the value in this new paradigm and learn best practices.

Helpful references:

Digital Marketing, Data and Operations

In the last several years, data, technology and marketing operations have played a larger role for many B2B companies to attract and nurture leads. This may inform the possibility for a different organizational structure that supports a data- and technology-driven strategy.

• A consultant can be helpful if this is new territory — there are many experts who can offer general advice to get you on the right track and/or help you redesign your organizational structure and roadmap towards this paradigm.
• Once done, you may need to invest in permanent worker bees and specialists for the tactical and technical day-to-day. And…
• Since investment in highly skilled specialists is critical to effectively manage online marketing, data and marketing operations; you may find you can limit your higher-level management team to a single person who oversees and supports that team’s workload.

Helpful references:

• CMO Guide to Building a Data-Driven Marketing Team – Marketo Marketing and Sales Blog
• The Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing – Marketing Leadership Council

Content Marketing

How much of a role does or should content play in driving business outcomes? Is it becoming harder to produce the right level of content to fuel web traffic and support the sales team? How compelling and interesting is your content? 

These things may be on your mind given content can be an important tool to engage buyers throughout their journey (which in B2B is rarely linear). But to do it right is a lot of work and requires varying levels of competency and skill.

• You may consider using internal staff to develop a content strategy and topic ideas, and provide subject matter expertise on a potential story or technical aspect, while also…
• Using outsourced partners to come up with creative ideas for design, production and delivery (e.g. video, Infographics, eBooks, etc.) within campaigns.
• Another option is to outsource the planning process to ensure you have the smartest content strategy possible, then use internal staff to manage the development and execution (with incremental support from creative agencies).

Helpful references:

These suggestions above are just examples and much depends on your company’s size, budgets and goals. Nonetheless, I hope they provide food for thought and some ideas for what to think through in the digital age.

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