Rnordman

The activities that make up a compelling brand story are generally all lumped together under the umbrella of marketing.

The marketing department creates the story, finds an effective way to tell it, and generates leads. Sales then walks those leads through the purchase process and converts them to customers. Customers are then handed off to service (and support, whenever there’s an issue).

All of this is designed as a well-oiled machine for the buyer journey.

But, is this the most effective way to create and nurture an exceptional customer experience?

Gaps Create Distrust

The problem with a structure like this is that gaps exist. As seamless as the organization wants to make the experience between one department to the next, the most difficult part of the process is often the hand-off.

Usually, marketing thinks of themselves as storytellers for the organization, sales is motivated primarily by numbers, and services are left to pick up the pieces of broken software and unfulfilled promises.

This leaves a gap in the experience between marketing, sales and service. Gaps create distrust as customers are haphazardly shuffled between departments. The overall brand story becomes more fragmented as the organizational structure becomes more separated.

Creating a unified brand story across the organization helps to fill these gaps, but the potential goes far beyond that.

If done proactively, a content strategy that encompasses multiple departments within the organization can create a tremendous amount of value, save time, and make it easier overall to do business-generating activity.

Content Strategy Is More Than Just Marketing

Content has potential far beyond lead generation.

It can be used to build loyalty, streamline customer service, repurpose and enhance PR initiatives, and ultimately equip a sales force with the data and analytics needed to bring in more business.

Content, then, can play a part in nurturing the relationship far beyond the point of sale. With a holistic content strategy, the marketing department becomes less of a vertical within the organization and instead reaches across many departments and can affect multiple company initiatives.

Here are some examples of how you might improve your organization’s brand storytelling savvy:

1. Create an exclusive and ongoing newsletter that you send out to your existing customers in order to nurture the relationship.
2. Build loyalty and referrals by incentivizing unique discounts or offers to customers’ friends and family.
3. Create and share a knowledgebase of solutions to common problems that users are experiencing.
4. Use testimonials and questions collected by customer service to make more content directly targeted at your customers.

All of this work shouldn’t necessarily be shoveled into the laps of the marketing department, either. In fact, it should be exactly the opposite.

Empower Your People For Collaboration

A collaborative and unified story that spans across the entire organization means empowering each department with the right skills and tools. It means educating each department on the intricacies of your values. It means every department is empowered to sell when the opportunity arises, and it means every department has a role in your content strategy.

It’s the service department creating a wiki of their experiences. It’s the IT department providing the necessary infrastructure to develop content on the fly. It’s the sales department actively engaging with their customers to gather insights and proactively handle support questions.

When each piece of the organization individually contributes to the content marketing efforts of the whole company, gaps in the brand experience are minimized and the customer’s perception is enhanced. Better yet, actively engaging in the brand’s story becomes an intuitive part of each employee’s daily responsibilities and, thus, more consistent over time.

Consider this scenario: A regional bank is evaluating providers to help it migrate its financial management applications to the cloud. The cross-functional decision-making team is spread across offices and communicates heavily over tools like Skype. In addition to the time team members spend evaluating the websites of you and your competitors, they also search, read blogs and publisher websites, tweet, share research, and meet to discuss in person.

Research from Google/Corporate Executive Board and SiriusDecisions suggests this buyer decision-making process is the new normal and that means your marketing team is challenged to not only have adequate visibility into these activities but to also effectively influence each prospect across as many channels as possible. Oh, and then there is the sales team hungry for new leads down the hall…

Today, a new category of predictive intelligence beyond lead scoring provides marketers with the data, insights, and recommendations they need to understand today’s disjointed buyer’s journey and drive measurably better sales results.

It’s Not Magic, It’s Math

Through a combination of data sources and modeling methods, predictive intelligence tells marketers which companies are in the market to buy, which products and services they need, and when they are likely to make a purchase. The accounts and contacts are then scored and that information is delivered directly into systems like marketing automation, CRM, CMS, and ad buying tools for companies to take immediate action.

What might seem too good to be true is built on machine learning and data science. Predictive intelligence ties together data from sources like marketing automation, CRM, past bookings, buyer profiles, and web activity across your site and thousands of others. The blend of static data (e.g., company size, revenues) and behavioral data (e.g., prospects downloading white papers) not only identifies which companies are in market to buy now but also uncovers accounts previously unknown who are looking for what you sell. One SiriusDecisions ABM Campaign Of the Year award winner says these early insights on what prospects do before they reach a salesperson gives their company an “unfair advantage.”

Applying Predictive Intelligence Data to Marketing and Sales Channels

Let’s revisit our bank: Through email campaigns over the last several years you have obtained several contact records inside your marketing automation database. From what you can tell its interest is limited to a case study registration a quarter ago. And what you don’t know is that the bank’s IT team is moving closer to a vendor recommendation for the application migration. Team members attended multiple webinars in the last month, spent days researching across the web, and held a lengthy conversation on a tech forum. Is your typical quarterly investment in email, lead gen, and advertising enough to identify and create a sales opportunity with this company? Predictive intelligence can help ensure it is by tying together all the activity into one predictive score.

Let’s look at some of the ways marketers can use predictive intelligence data to improve nurturing and create opportunities with companies like our example bank.

• Call center: Create call scripts tailored to your prospect using company and category intelligence and improve lead qualification rates.
• Marketing automation: Route prospects to the right campaign and ensure communications are properly personalized based on company size, industry, job role, and level of interest in your products.
• Advertising: Only advertise to key companies and adjust messaging and landing pages based on purchase intent and company attributes.
• Retargeting: Stay visible to your prospects after they reach your website. Tailor messaging according to the intent they show at your website and across the rest of the B2B web.
• Social media: Only target ads to prospects at key companies when they are on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
• List acquisition and lead generation: Educate and nurture prospects from key companies while building your database with net new contacts.
• Website personalization: Make each visit as useful as possible by integrating audience data from predictive intelligence scoring into your content management system, personalization and testing tools.
• Sales calls and conversion: Help reps prioritize the right prospects and arm them with the intelligence to secure meetings, RFPs, and close deals.

The use cases are many and the impetus is here: savvy buyers warrant savvy marketers. Before launching another half-baked campaign where your prospects run you, consider how predictive intelligence can help you gain insight into your audience so you can blow away your benchmarks.

Data sources, modeling techniques, systems integration, marketing tactics: What areas would you like to learn about most? Let us know, and we’ll follow-up in future posts.

 

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional social network has recently announced that it has shaken hands and made agreements to acquire the B2B marketing platform start-up Bizo in a deal worth $175 Million. I asked the question of how this deal came to fruition and what differences it could make for the end user in coming months.

In a nutshell, Bizo are a trailblazer in business audience marketing. With clients including Jaguar, AMEX and Microsoft, B2B marketers use the platform to reach their target prospects online. Bizo’s data management and targeting technology allows concise B2B display and social advertising programs. In Bizo’s own words ‘We are in the business of helping marketers “get to the right people.” I’m sure you can already see how this partnership seems like a match made in heaven!

The tools that Bizo offer help marketers reach a larger professional audience, develop prospects and gain new custom. On top of that Bizo offer products that measure the efficiency of multi-channel marketing programs. They recently launched a marketing automation product, ‘Multi-Channel Nurturing’ which effectively takes retargeting and makes it very B2B focused. Retargeting is an effective online marketing technique that happens when you visit a company site. If you leave the site without purchasing or taking action, you will then see that companies ads when surfing the web. Marketers do this in hopes to recapture your interest and generate more online sales.

Bizo recognised that most business software buyers want to remain anonymous, so instead of the typical marketing automation where a white paper or another piece of content is laid out, hoping to entice you in exchange for your e-mail address the ‘Multi-Channel Nurturing’ product focuses on behavioural retargeting. It starts with a cookie on the first page view, focusing more on monitoring what the customer is doing when visiting your site rather than your typical retargeting tactics, it analyses that site user’s click-psychology and tailors their viewing experience. For example, your current employees wouldn’t receive your ‘free trial, sign up now!’ advertisements.

LinkedIn have decided to incorporate Bizo’s ‘Multi-Channel Nurturing and Media Solutions’ with this partnership, but have decided not to join forces with their Data Solutions Business which integrates with companies existing marketing technology such as BlueKai, Eloqua AdFocus and Google Analytics to enable brands to identify which audiences are visiting their websites, engage website audiences with personalized content and nurture prospects with targeted display ads.

Overall this partnership probably isn’t much of a surprise to the involved parties, as LinkedIn’s David Thacker released a statement explaining how Bizo has been part of LinkedIn’s API Partner programme for some time. Bizo’s Chief Exec Russel Glass also commented on the deal in a recent blog post. In the post it was mentioned how the relationship has grown over the years and that both companies shared strong and positive employee cultures. Glass also added that he believes the partnership will create a big win for customers, employees and LinkedIn members worldwide.

With the acquirement Bizo, it begs to ask the question of LinkedIn’s proposed direction within the coming year, are they moving away from being a social driven business platform and with a new focus on lead prospecting, are they moving towards becoming an all encompassing B2B Marketing company? With recent news it seems that LinkedIn may be less focused on the average user and their social functionality and more focused on how brands build their relationships with members. But with their recent developments in user engagement and improvements social sharing it could go both ways.

With Bizo’s mission being to help B2B marketers reach the right audience, and with LinkedIn’s being to connect the professional world it’s clear to see that this partnership will unquestionably create some great opportunities and business, but it has also raised concern with the average LinkedIn user who is now worried about the level of advertising that they will be served when visiting the site. Although Bizo’s focus lies with its tech products, it’s safe to say that LinkedIn understand the importance of B2B marketing and it’s current potential audience. We’ll be paying close attention to the coming changes

Ken McGoogan, author of 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, offers his picks for individuals who played an important role in advancing the digital age.

1. Marshall McLuhan: Recognized internationally as the “prophet of the electronic age,” McLuhan was an obscure English professor when, in the 1960s, he published two visionary books: The Gutenberg Galaxy and Understanding Media. He anticipated a “global village” of instantaneous communications that today we know as the World Wide Web.

2. Douglas Cardinal: Best known for creating the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History), Cardinal pioneered the use of digital technology in architectural design. Drawing on his Aboriginal heritage, he created curvilinear buildings that drove him to develop computer-aided design and drafting (CADD).

3. James Cameron: After creating the blockbuster movie Titanic (1997), Cameron began developing the digital 3D Fusion Camera System he would use in Avatar (2009). That movie, which relies heavily on computer-generated animation, revolutionized the film industry, replacing traditional 35-mm celluloid with digital 3D technology.

4. Mike Lazaridis: In 1999, after creating a series of increasingly sophisticated mobile devices, this electrical engineer invented the BlackBerry, the world’s first smartphone. Today, more than 1.2 billion people use smartphones to access the web, though BlackBerry’s dominance is a thing of the past.

5. Don Tapscott: The author of 14 books, among them the blockbusters Wikinomics and Macrowikinomics, available in two dozen languages, the visionary Tapscott finds hope for the future in the collaborative innovations made possible by the Internet. He argues that the Millenials, born between 1977 and 1997, are “digital natives” who are changing the way the world does business.

The post 5 Canadians who created the digital revolution appeared first on Macleans.ca.

TORONTO – Canada’s average household net worth rose nearly eight per cent in 2013 — making it one of the best years since the recession — mostly because of rising stock and real estate values as well as moderating debt levels.

That’s according to data from Environics Analytics, which found that the average net worth per Canadian household last year grew by 7.7 per cent to $442,130.

It found that non-mortgage consumer debt was flat compared with 2012 while mortgage debt increased more slowly than the value of real estate or investments.

“Overall, 2013 was an excellent year for Canadian balance sheets,” said Environics senior researcher Peter Miron said Monday in a press release.

“Many people benefited from the strong stock market. But they also saved more and didn’t take on more debt — preparing (perhaps) for a rainy day.”

The report drew on data from 121 financial and investment statistics from a variety of sources, including the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada.

The report also found that disparities in wealth for households in Canada’s three richest cities — Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary — are rapidly vanishing. Average household net worth in each of those cities is now within $29,718, or 4.4 per cent, of each other. In addition, the average household has $533,172 worth of real estate holdings.

Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario had the highest growth in net worth among the provinces in 2013.

In Saskatchewan, household net worth increased by 7.4 per cent, which was below the 7.7 per cent national average. Environics said that consumer debt in the province was up 7.6 per cent, partially offsetting a 9.1 per cent increase in the value of liquid assets such as investments.

“A lot of people moved to Saskatchewan to take advantage of the resource-based jobs and they sparked an economic boom,” said Miron. “But now the real estate market is starting to cool off while incomes are staying high. Taking on more debt is a belief in better days to come.”

The cities reporting the greatest increase in net worth were Oshawa and Halifax, where household net worth grew by double digits — 11.2 per cent and 10.9 per cent, respectively. Calgary was also part of the group, gaining a 10.6 per cent increase in net worth.

From a macro view, Environics said the gains weren’t limited to a few small pockets — the effect was felt across the country.

Nationwide, the new data indicates that stock portfolios are growing, savings are on the rise and mortgage debt has ticked up only modestly

Households enjoyed growth in liquid assets due to a robust stock market in Canada and the U.S. and took out more mortgages at the same rate that they’re paying it down.

In 2013, the growth in household debt was mostly attributable to mortgage debt growth of 3.3 per cent, as low interest rates kept mortgage debt manageable.

Consumer debt from credit cards, loans and lines of credit was unchanged from 2012.

Households in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and British Columbia paid down the most debt whereas the debt-to-disposable income ratio increased in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Manitoba.

The post Canadians’ net worth up eight per cent, rebounding well from downturn appeared first on Canadian Business.

On a daily basis, people seek for the products or services they need by performing local searches. These searches are focused on finding such results that will be close to the person. This concerns various aspects of businesses such as e.g. the opening hours of a shop, the detailed address with directions, or simply whether a certain product is in stock. Google has conducted a research concerning consumers who use mobile devices for their research process. It has been also aimed at finding the solution and answers to this topic. They have tried to indicate the most popular enquiries people make during their local research, as well as to provide the information on the potential it has for the advertisers. The article is even more interesting, because it distinguishes tablet users from smartphone users. It seems that the intentions and expectations of these two groups are different. On the basis of this research, I will try to analyze what information is important and should be added to a mobile website.

Source: Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior, Research by Google, May 2014

OK, so what do they search for?

The first vivid conclusion is that the majority of mobile users conduct their search via a search engine. According to Google, 4 in 5 users prefer this way of looking for the local information like product availability or the store address. Google shows that 88% of smartphone users and 84% of tablet and PC users do it by the search engine. However, the research proves that the prospects look for different information than the computer or tablet users. The most frequent enquiries given by smartphone users are the business hours (54%), the directions (53%), and the address (50%), while PC and tablet searches focus on the availability (45%), opening hours (42%), and the local store address (38%). It should not be surprising that when it comes to online shopping, the desktop and tablet devices are more popular.

Source: Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior, Research by Google, May 2014

Typical Purchase Process

The bigger the screen, the better the presentation of the product. It is easier to view the product, compare it with other brands, or, at last, get through the checkout process. 64% of desktop and tablet users who conducted the local search actually purchased the product or service (compared to only 43% of purchases via smarpthones.

Source: Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior, Research by Google, May 2014

Similar tendencies are visible when one analyzes the location we use the smartphones at. Most of all, our smartphone is the initial device, we start the research with it. Our decision to conduct the research is impulsive and we are not ready to make a purchase. Most of the searches are performed on-the-go.

mCommerce On the Rise

On the other hand, we cannot underestimate the constantly growing trend of m-commerce. Recent study by eMarketer states that by the end of 2017 the sales within m-commerce (US Retail) should be higher than $100 billion and reach over $108 billion. Furthermore,  tablets’ share of US retail mcommerce sales will rise to 71.5%, vs. 27% for smartphones.

Still, the local searches have a significant impact on the actual purchase. Google informs that the prospects react quickly after they finish their research via a smartphone. 50% of consumers who used a smartphone for the research went to the shop to finalize the process by purchasing the product or service (compared to only 34% of desktop and tablet users). What is more, people prefer in-store purchase to online shopping when: they know the store is nearby, they will get it quickly and at better pricing. Additionally, smartphone users are more eager to visit the shop that is within 5 miles from the place they currently are at. Google states that 72% of them actually visit such a store (compared to 66% of desktop and tablet users).

Source: Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior, Research by Google, May 2014

Bearing in mind all the aspects mentioned above, you should now be aware of the expectations of your mobile prospects when they make searches online. I will also give you advice that is very important when designing the mobile website of your company – you need to look at the problem from the perspective of the online user who seeks for the product or service, the location and the contact information. That is all for now, but stay tuned!

When DOOR3 asked me to write an article about managing expectations, I didn’t know where to start. Being from a project management background, I first looked to my old PMBOK for advice. After pulling out all the overused industry terms, I realized it’s not really something a textbook can teach. Don’t get me wrong, you still need to learn the trade if you want to be successful, but to me it’s much more akin to designing an experience like UX or creative work. Like the famous UX researcher Jared Spool puts it:

“Good design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible. It’s only when it’s done poorly that we notice it.”

And in many ways, client management is just that. After a project is over, no one will remember how many meetings you had or how many documents you created, how fast you did something, or for how much or how little. But, they will remember the experience.

The following are some key universal points and simple reminders for how to manage that experience or reset expectations with your clients regardless of your role on the project.

1. Show them you care.
From the very beginning of anything you’re about to do, make sure you care about it. First and last impressions are everything and it sets the tone for the working relationship. It’s also flattering for a client if you’ve done your homework and are prepared to talk about concerns they have too.

One of my favorite paraphrased quotes on the subject is by Theodore Roosevelt:

“No one cares how much you know until they first know how much you care about them.”

And its true. It doesn’t matter how many awards your last site won or what you did with some other company, it only matters what you are doing right now and what you plan to do for them in the future.

For extra points, get to know them outside of a business relationship. Strike up a personal conversation when appropriate. This will help you figure out what makes them tick and you’ll start to understand their motivations and more importantly, they’ll start to understand yours.

2. Work on your trust issues.
Trust doesn’t come easy. You can lose it at anytime and never get it back. How do you avoid this? Just as easy. Say what you mean, do what you’re going to do and follow through on it. Hit your dates or just make sure you show up to work on time. And if for whatever reason you can’t, make sure everyone understands why.

Along these same lines, make sure everyone understands why you are doing what you’re doing. Provide background for the most mundane of tasks. This will not only provide transparency, it will create buy-in to the work and give value to the little things that help make everything else better.

3. Communicate over and over and over and over and over….
This is the single most important point on this list. Why? Because how we present information is always subject to interpretation and people absorb it in all sorts of different ways. Some contextually from a situation, others verbally. Some need it drawn out on a whiteboard and others need to take their time with a cup of coffee and an email.

To add to the complexity, once you’ve picked your communication of choice, you now have to deal with how the recipient internalizes it. We all have filters that only let in the information we need or worse what we want to hear. We then impose a perception of the situation based on our own experiences which naturally develops a bias. To complicate things further, this changes daily depending on our moods or level of distraction.

In order to eliminate that grey area of understanding, deploy a combination (I’d even recommend using all) forms of communication and deliver it in the simplest way possible. Be a broken record. It might seem annoying, but it’s the bridge between expectations and assumptions, which we’ll touch on next.

4. Never assume, it makes an [INTERNAL ONLY] out of you and me…
You may think that after you have communicated everything clearly it ends there. You are wrong. The minute you assume everything is fine, you’re in trouble.

Most people (clients included) are really bad at articulating exactly what it is they want or need. So you’ve got to work doubly hard to extract all meaning and get to the marrow of what they’re actually asking for. Otherwise they’ll assume you know and will be disappointed when you don’t deliver.

If there’s any doubt or if something can be interpreted in a number of ways, follow up and get a concrete answer. Never read between the lines.

5. Agree then disagree, then agree again!
Yes, this is confusing, but stay with me. Agree on a strategy, agree on goals, agree on a timeline and agree on expectations. Then agree on what success looks like – this will be your north star throughout the project and for getting you back on track after you do this next part.

Disagree. It’s not easy and no one wants rustle feathers, but sometimes you have to say no. It’s a necessarily evil in order to accomplish the things you have already started. If this becomes a sticking point with a client, make sure there is an equal trade-off or a concession in place that keeps you pointing north. Anything that is a distraction from this needs more discussion.

And of course, there can actually be some good that comes out of these constructive disagreements. The client hired you for your expertise, but they keep you around for your opinion. As a consultant, you’re outside of the organizational politics and chains of command. If something isn’t right or if you think something can be improved, speak up! When you offer up the brass tacks you become more than a vendor. You become a partner.

6. Money talks, so talk about it.
In business, money is not a dirty word. Although, it will still be the root of all evil if you don’t address it openly. Being open and honest about budget reduces any tension associated with it. And it also shows a client just how much something costs and what is required to continue.

If this isn’t addressed, (especially if you’re operating in the red), you’ll quickly find you have some unhappy customers and you might end up having to pick up the check.

7. Write down everything we just talked about.
Lets face it, information travels fast and we can only absorb so much before we lose track. Like witnesses reporting the details of a crime, the information gets less accurate the further they are from when it occurred. As time goes by, people forget what was agreed upon or morph details into something else. So taking notes during these meetings and conversations is crucial.

This paper trail not only serves as a reference for what was said, it also allows you to codify potential new requirements and provide instructions for what to do next. Post these notes in your collaboration tool of choice (ie. Jira, Basecamp, etc.) for all to see and refer back to when times get busy or when lines blur as new things are added last minute.

These 7 tips are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to managing expectations, but they’re simple and easy to execute at any point during the engagement. You’ll find too that once you put these into practice you’ll start to notice a shared vision and understanding of where things are going and what needs to be done to get there.

Plus if you’re consistent, you’ll have created a great project experience. And success or failure, that will be the metric used to determine whether or not a client works with you again.

What’s your strategy when it comes to meeting client expectations? Share your opinion by commenting below.

A new, free report on digital media and technology use [@SmartInsights statistics alert]

Value: ★★★★★ For students, researchers and marketers who need to convince others of the importance of digital media

Recommended link: Ofcom 2014 digital communications statistics report

If you need hard facts and charts for reports and presentations to convince others of the growing importance of digital communications and technologies in influencing the purchase decision today, the Ofcom Communications report is one of the most comprehensive sources available. That’s why we feature it at number 1 in our Top 10 Free Digital Marketing Statistics sources listing.

It’s published each August for the UK and includes an international digital media statistics benchmark in its December edition.

The latest update for the UK has just been published and in this post I have selected from the 61(! ) charts available to ask what I think are some of the of the most important questions about trends in digital communications which we hope could be useful for your next presentation.

Question 1. How many people have access to the Internet and digital media in 2014?

As expected, broadband access now accounts for nearly all access, but what is interesting in the latest data is the continued sharp growth of mobile Internet use which now accounts for over half of all access “Internet on mobile”.

Question 2. How much time is spent online?

This is a surprise. Browsing time on desktop actually fell by 14.7% and the difference was not made up by the 2.5% growth in mobile Internet browsing.

I would speculate based on other data from Pew Internet that this would seem to reflect more time spent in messaging apps such as Whats App, Viber and Snap Chat.

Total browsing time per month at 31 hours 24 minutes is certainly significant at over a day per month, but leaves plenty of time for other activities, including consuming traditional media.

Question 3. Which digital devices are used to access the Internet?

The Ofcom research has a lot of detail on the type of device used to access the Internet in each household. As you will know multi screening and multiple digital device use is commonplace. This data shows that there are now multiple laptops, tablets and smartphones in each household

If we look at this from an individuals’ point of view of their primary access we can see that mobile (smartphone or tablet) is the primary Internet access device for over half of users 52%).

Question 4. Which activities is the Internet used for?

I have been covering this in my books for a long time now and the picture doesn’t change that greatly. What’s interesting though is frequency of active use.

Ofcom used to ask about using the Internet for different activities in the last 3 or 6 months, but now it’s interesting how frequent these activities are in the last week showing really active use:

• 48% have used a social network in a last week
• 44% have banked online in the last week
• 35% made an online purchase in the last week

Question 5. Which search platforms are used?

We tend to think that Google accounts for the vast majority of searches, but this data reminds us that Bing and Yahoo! are still significant platforms to reach audiences online.

We also get a picture, courtesy of the comScore MMX data or the importance of mobile search. Mobile only use is still relatively low on Google at 12%, but up to 30% on Bing.

Question 6. How many people in different age group use social networks?

We’re often asked this question so it’s interesting to see this breakdown.

The popularity of social networks are broken down also. All the main social media networks continue to grow in the UK.

A full breakdown by Gender isn’t available unless you subscribe to comScore or you can check out our Global WebIndex compilation of Social media use statistics.

Social network access via mobile dominates whether it’s app or browser.

Question 7. What is the expenditure on digital media?

Given the increasing Internet use we have seen in the other charts a final question looks at the overall importance of digital media.

This data via WARC shows that digital media are now the leading media, but with TV, press and direct mail still significant. I’m not sure I believe the prediction that 75% of media spend will be online within 5 years, since it’s a big shift in a short time, but the other charts certainly show increased investment is warranted.

 

You depend on your team. So when a key staff member tells you that they are considering moving on, it's usually an unexpected (and unwanted) surprise. We asked eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what questions they should ask in this situation. Here's what they had to say:

What Are You Not Getting Here?

Ask what need they're fulfilling by moving to a different position. Is it pay? Responsibility? Respect? Often there is a problem that's easy to solve, but both sides have made false assumptions about what the other is looking for.

This is your last chance to have an honest, frank discussion with your employee before they leave. You should try to keep them there depending on what they're looking for. Maybe they would like a shift in responsibilities, or to learn more about a new area. But if they aren't happy in the work environment, can't keep up, or don't feel like they're a match for the team, it's probably time for them to move on.

—Lauren Roeder, LKR Social Media

If You Had a Magic Wand, What Would You Have Changed?

If someone is ready to move on, it's likely because they no longer feel motivated or inspired. Asking what they would "magically" change can yield answers that are more telling than if you simply say, "Why are you unhappy?" Hopefully the feedback they give will be helpful in addressing any issues for other employees.

Unless there is a very clear problem with a simple solution, it's not a great idea to negotiate to try to keep someone on your team. Even key team members are replaceable. You should staff your company with people who are excited to be part of it and believe in your mission, not people whom you begged not to jump overboard.

—Brittany Hodak, Zine Pak

What More Do You Need to Stay On?

Depending on how key the staffer is, I would analyze their value to the organization and run a cost/benefit analysis. I've been known to double or triple compensation in situations that warranted it. This is particularly true with sales staff who are worth their weight in gold and their contribution is easily quantifiable.

My advice for entrepreneurs is treat everything as "all business." Don't take it personally if a staffer wants to leave. If it makes sense on a business level to keep them around, then get ready to negotiate.

—Charles Moscoe, Scumbag.com 

What Can Someone Else Offer That We Can't?

If someone discusses their interest in moving on, there's still a part of them hoping to stay. This is their way of starting the conversation. Ask them what someone else can offer that you can't. Talk through it to come to the best decision for everyone involved.

—Brooke Bergman, Allied Business Network

How Can I Improve?

Whether or not their resignation is coming from anger, their options opening or their goals changing, asking what you can do to improve your work approach for other employees is extremely important. It establishes your own humility and openness to developing your leadership skills, and chances are they'll provide you with extremely honest feedback.

—Rob Fulton, Automation Heroes

What is the Root of the Problem?

Begin with asking why. Find out if there is a problem that you can fix, and if you can’t fix it with them, make sure that you apply it to your business in general. If the issue is simply monetary, see if there is a way you can work with that person on sustainable goals and solutions.

—Ashley Mady, Brandberry

Does This Decision Serve You Well?

The one question I would ask one of my key staff members is, "Does this decision serve you well?" I would try to learn where they're wanting to go in life and confirm with them that whatever decision they're making is going to help lead them to that end result.

—Dan Price, Gravity Payments

Can You Help Me Understand?

I find this question to be enlightening in all sorts of conversations. Thankfully, we have never had a key staff member choose to leave our organization, but if someone expressed the desire to leave, I’d want to understand why. There may be situations where we could find a way to meet their needs without them leaving the company, but we won’t know unless we understand the reasoning behind it.

—Chris Cancialosi, Gotham Culture

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, YEC 

I'm in the midst of doing another client survey, this one the sixth I've performed for a very successful engineering firm and long-time client of mine. It still amazes me that so few A/E firms do this on a regular basis. I always uncover a few surprises, revealing that firms don't know their clients as well as they'd like to think. Yet there are some consistent themes I've noticed in the many surveys I've done over the years: 

Relationships matter. This is stating the obvious. But many firms continue to neglect the basics of managing their critical client relationships. Very few have a deliberate approach, instead simply trusting their client managers and project managers to follow their instincts and do the right thing. Unfortunately, too many technical professionals are prone to focusing more on doing the work than serving the client. 

Not surprisingly, clients tend to judge the quality of your technical work in the context of the relationship. A client who enjoys working with your firm will be more forgiving of any shortcomings or mistakes. But a client who finds you difficult to work with will generally find fault with your technical work as well.

Flexibility is important. I know, this can drive you nutty. Clients who change their mind at inopportune times, who want you to dumb down your design, who expand the scope but not the budget, who have their own unique invoicing requirements. Indeed, clients' demands are sometimes unreasonable. But A/E firms are also sometimes unreasonably inflexible and slow to adapt to client needs.

The best way to manage these situations is to establish mutual expectations at the start of the project. Discuss with the client how changes will be managed, critical junctures in the project schedule when timely decisions are needed, how best to maintain good communication, how performance will be evaluated, what precisely is expected in work deliverables, etc. With mutual expectations, reasonable boundaries can be defined that help enable flexibility without compromising your firm's needs.

Proactive client communication is crucial. One survey found that about 67% percent of clients who dump their consultants do so because of perceived indifference. Poor communication is at the heart of such perceptions. When the client has to initiate most communications or is contacted only on a need-to-know basis, it's easy for that person to assume that he or she isn't really valued by the service provider.

Technical professionals sometimes overlook the fact that good communication is a critical deliverable. Clients depend on timely information and updates to meet internal deadlines, manage budgets, satisfy reporting requirements, and allocate time and resources. Simply meeting contractual deliverable schedules is not enough.

Clients also want to know your thought process—how you reached certain decisions, why you favored one solution over another, what other options were considered. Many A/E firms are inclined to leave clients out of the loop in such discussions. That means the client's input often comes too late—after the deliverable is well developed—forcing expensive revisions and delays. It's better to engage clients early and often, starting with the project management plan, scoping documents, and preliminary design concepts.

Clients see our organizational dysfunction. Clients often know more about our internal workings than we'd like. They seem to recognize when departments don't coordinate well, when the PM doesn't keep the project team adequately informed, when deliverable review procedures aren't followed, and other such issues. They naturally associate these problems with the project screw-ups that happen from time to time. 

When is this a particular concern? When performance deficiencies persist or mistakes recur with ongoing clients. Most clients understand that a few problems are inevitable on every project, and most firms are responsive in trying to make things right when such problems occur. But clients grow frustrated when we fail to address the root causes of lingering problems. My interviews with clients indicate that they know the difference between your short-term corrective actions and longer-term, systematic fixes to recurring issues—and they'd like to see more of the latter.

The best solution isn't always best. Imagine you're shopping for an economical compact car and the salesman persists in trying to interest you in his line of SUVs. Irritating, isn't it? That's how many clients feel when we keep offering them the Cadillac solution when they wanted a VW. Architects seem particularly prone to this. Clients often wonder whose needs are driving the design solution.

There may well be compelling reasons for nudging the client toward a more elaborate and expensive solution—lower life cycle costs, easier operation, reduced liability, greater flexibility, etc. But sometimes we have to admit that it's mostly our subjective preference. We like delivering the "best" solutions because we want to be among the best solution providers. Yet budget-constrained clients are increasingly asking us to deliver "good enough." Keep in mind that a good-enough technical solution is often part of providing exceptional client service.

Bottom line: Make it easy for clients to work with you. Client surveys reinforce the research that reveals that clients value the experience as much as your expertise. Simply put, they want a project experience characterized by your concern and their convenience. They want service providers who are committed to understanding and responding to their needs.

Most clients have too much on their plate, so they're looking for low maintenance, trouble-free working relationships. That's why they tend to stick with their current A/E firms, even if they're not convinced that it's the best they could do. But clients don't like being taken for granted, and the apparent complacency (or indifference) of their existing service providers is the major reason why many eventually make a change.

One way to avoid appearing complacent? Get regular feedback on how you're doing, listen carefully, and make improvements where needed.

Before the funding rounds and investors come into play, startups don’t usually have access to the same resources established businesses do. Money, business expertise and experience, contacts, well-established brand value, and above all, a loyal customer base, are the foundational elements of keeping a business alive. But what are startups supposed to do to differentiate themselves before they have the resources they need?

While clambering through the trenches, innovation is what allows startups to compete as viable competitors. Smart startups do things differently from their more mature competitors, and, in the process of doing so, they have the opportunity to develop their expertise and a loyal customer base.

Innovation, however, is easier said than done, and it goes beyond visualizing or getting sudden surges of inspiration. Here are four critical innovation tips for startups that want to truly set themselves apart.

1. Follow the Right Approach

Innovation requires letting go of predictability and control, while also being able to think differently. However, innovation is not making blind leaps of faith or taking wild risks, either; rather, it’s an exercise in risk management that requires a structured and logical approach.

In this sense, startups have a distinct advantage over established companies. Long-standing companies don’t want to tinker with a flow that’s proven to work well, whereas startups can experiment earnestly with trial and error in an effort to find better ways of getting things done. Taking it a step further, applying mind mapping techniques to innovation efforts allows startup entrepreneurs to undertake this feat in a structured way. A good mind mapping platform allows the brainstorming team to cover all bases and variables, understand the relationship and the time constraints of each variable, and take each eventuality to its logical conclusion. Mind mapping, when used in a startup culture, can foster the intersection of structure and creativity.

2. Involve the Customer

Startups usually target new wants and needs, or they target changes in wants or needs that existing businesses cannot or do not fulfill. For instance, there might be a market for an enterprise sales automation solution, but there might only be room for a solution that is targeted strictly to small businesses, or some other innovative service not offered by existing players. Understandably, the reason most startups are founded is because someone sees a gap in the current landscape and wants to fill it.

Startups would benefit from engaging customers early in the process. This can be gathering feedback from beta users, conducting pre-launch surveys on the targeted market, and much more. The feedback can offer critical insights that become the foundation for innovation. Using an innovation platform allows the team to collate ideas from various sources and sustain the innovation process; in short, this makes innovation intelligent and structured.

3. Adopt a Hands-on Approach

Innovation never succeeds in isolation. A hands-on approach to business allows innovators to gain critical insights into voids in product or service delivery. As a way to identify and address those missing pieces, startups should use business prototyping tools, and closely study existing businesses.

Most innovation processes start with discovery, move to invention, then into improvement before the product or service hits the market. Many teams make the mistake of moving to the invention phase too early and spending too much time there. It is important to spend substantial time in the discovery phase to understand what drives the target audience, what makes them tick, what turns them off, etc. Leaders should ask: what target markets have this need? Does this have the potential to be a global solution? Is it scalable? Think about the questions you need to ask your team before launching into creation, and use the answers to determine next steps.

A solid practice in consumer and market research offers the best foundation for innovation.

4. Develop the Right Culture

Finally, the success of any innovation depends on its incubation in the right culture.

Startups have yet another advantage in this arena, because they can develop a culture they like without the arduous task of changing an existing culture. The success of innovation depends more on transparency and accessibility to information, as well as an open flow of ideas across the organization. Equally important is a system that acknowledges and rewards the contribution of each participant. However, simply wishing for such a culture is not enough. It requires policies to back it up and a platform to enable it.

Innovation is seeing the bigger picture outside existing walls. Organizations, especially startups, still need to define innovation to fit their own goals and limitations. It takes a structured and logical approach powered by smart practices — such as mind mapping and crowdsourcing — backed by a robust innovation platform, in order to reconcile these conflicting dichotomies.

Nowadays, displaying onboarding screens to first-time users has become a common practice in mobile apps. The purpose of these onboarding screens — also referred to as walkthroughs — is to introduce the app and demonstrate what it does.

Given that these are often the first set of screens with which users interact, they also set the users’ expectations of the app. Therefore, it is essential that those involved in creating the product — product managers, designers, developers — take the time to evaluate whether onboarding is necessary for the app and, if so, to determine the best way to implement it.

In this article, we’ll provide some good tips on how to approach onboarding, some common implementations, alternative techniques, as well as resources to help you provide the best experience for users.

To Onboard Or Not To Onboard?

In recent years, we’ve seen plenty of discussion on the usefulness of onboarding in mobile apps. A popular argument against¹ onboarding is that if an app needs it, then it is fundamentally flawed, lacking the cardinal elements of simplicity and user-friendliness. While this line of thought does have logic, it’s too sweeping a conclusion.

The digital design world has plenty of rules and best practices, which is good. These rules save designers and developers from having to reinvent the wheel every time they work on a product. More importantly, they save users from stressing out whenever they use a new app; instead, they can rest assured knowing that the editing function will be represented by a pencil icon and that a “thumbs up” icon means “like.” Rules are good.

But the reality is that every app is unique in what it does, how it does it and who uses it. These variations make onboarding a reliable, pragmatic and user-friendly feature in certain instances. Let’s consider some use cases.

Use Case 1: Unfamiliar Interaction

If you are releasing an app that supports interaction methods that most users would not have been exposed to on a regular basis — particularly a gesture-driven app — then onboarding is essential. Gesture-driven apps are still in the experimental and exploratory phase. As such, developers need to guide users on how to interact with them, clearly presenting each gesture and its corresponding function.

For example, the alarm clock Timely, indicates to the user that tapping a particular part of the screen will add or subtract five minutes from the clock.

²

Use Case 2: Empty State

An app whose default state is empty and requires users to go through one or more steps to populate it with content is also well suited to onboarding. Even if the onboarding process consists of just one step, the guidance will reassure users that they are doing the right thing.

⁵

Use Case 3: Suite of Products

If your app is part of a suite of products — say, with desktop and web companions — then onboarding could greatly improve the user’s experience, especially if the mobile app doesn’t have all of the functionality of the other versions. This is especially important in complex business apps, many of which have a variety of user roles, each with specific access rights and security restrictions.

Very often the web and desktop versions will support full functionality (such as for creating, viewing, editing and deleting content), while the mobile app limits it (such as viewing only). In such cases, a brief presentation explaining what the app does would help existing users understand how the mobile app fits into the suite of products.

Use Case 4: Personal Information

If your app relies on personal information (such as age, weight, gender, marital status), then collect and store this information via onboarding. Guide the user step by step so that they are clear on why this information is being requested. And be sure to allow the user to change this information whenever they want (usually from the settings screen).

⁸

Even if your app doesn’t fit any of the examples above, your users might still benefit from onboarding. Keep in mind that anyone who interacts with a product will at least want to know how the product will benefit them. You can present this information in onboarding, as we’ll discuss later in the section on function-oriented onboarding.

Sure, our primary responsibility is to design products that are intuitive and easy to use. However, we shouldn’t dismiss onboarding because when it provides value to the user, it makes for a much more pleasant experience.

Which Technique to Use?

These three techniques are the most common:

• benefits-oriented onboarding,
• function-oriented onboarding,
• progressive onboarding.

We’ll look at each in turn and review some general guidelines for implementing them.

Technique 1: Benefits-Oriented Onboarding

This is pretty self-explanatory. With this technique, you present the benefits (i.e. the value) of the app, communicating one or more of the following to the user:

• What does the app do?
• How can the user integrate it into their life?
• What value will this integration provide?

¹¹

When implementing this technique, consider the following principles:

Present a Maximum of Three Key Benefits

This number is not based on hard science, but because the point is to give the user a quick overview of the app, three is a safe number (excluding the title screen). This way, the user gets to learn about the app without getting bored or slowed down by too much information.

Apply the “One Slide, One Concept” Rule

Think back to presentations from which you retained the most information. The slides with a clear, focused message probably had the greatest impact on you and were the most memorable. The same goes for onboarding screens. The “one slide, one concept” rule helps the user to focus on and digest every little piece of information. Presenting everything at once would be visually noisy and distract the user from your key message.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

Resist the urge to show off everything cool about your app. Always return to your user data and remind yourself of the problem that the user is facing and what they need. Then, figure out how to reassure them through onboarding that the app does indeed answer their need.

Use Consistent Vocabulary

Evernote Food¹⁴¹², mentioned above, uses verbs to quickly grab attention and communicate its key benefits. The approach is effective, efficient and succinct. If you can’t boil things down to a few high-impact verbs or adjectives, then a short phrase or two would suffice. Just be sure to stick with it all the way through. A harmonious and coherent presentation, both in visuals and terminology, will help to kick off the user’s experience on a positive note.

¹⁵

Onboard Before Registration

Because onboarding is meant to be an overview, present it before the user signs up for or logs into the service. Once they decide to log in, the user will be ready to explore the app and should not be interrupted by reminders on the benefits of the app.

Keep It Brief

Perhaps you’re wondering whether onboarding really is necessary. After all, doesn’t it just repeat the description in the app store? Not at all. App store descriptions come in all shapes and sizes, whereas onboarding has to be succinct and, as such, focus on the absolute essentials. In addition, many people skip the app store description, preferring instead to dive right into the experience. So, a brief presentation once they’re engaged with the app could help them understand what the app does.

What Not to Do

Readability¹⁸ is a wonderfully practical app that, unfortunately, is inconsistent across platforms. This is particularly evident in the onboarding in the Android version, which makes several missteps:

• The user has to digest a total of seven slides and corresponding messages.
• The text for some slides runs a bit long. For example, the slide about sharing could have been simplified by showing icons of the social networks on which content may be shared.
• One slide encourages the user to install a Firefox plugin, which seems misplaced given that it’s a mobile platform. Plus, the previous slide already tells the user that “Readability is a web and mobile app.” Onboarding in the mobile app should not serve as a catch-all for marketing the full suite of products, but rather should be relevant to the mobile platform.

¹⁹

Technique 2: Function-Oriented Onboarding

Another option is to forgo a presentation on benefits and to focus instead on the app’s key functionality. This is sometimes referred to as coach marks²¹. If you take this approach, communicate the following:

• What is the key functionality (for example, how to get started or what actions are most common);
• When to use the functionality (for example, when viewing search results);
• How to use the functionality (for example, tapping or swiping left).

²²

When putting together function-oriented onboarding, keep the following in mind:

Don’t Explain the Obvious

Since the dawn of the Internet, from desktop apps to the web to mobile apps, the “x” has consistently represented closing, exiting or cancelling. So, unless that icon has a different purpose in your app, including it in your onboarding won’t provide any value to users.

²⁵

Three Slides, One Function Per Slide

If you are explaining the functionality in a slideshow, then follow the same principle that we covered with benefits-oriented onboarding: a maximum of three slides (excluding the title slide), presenting one function per slide.

Help the User Get Started

If your app is empty by default, focus on this in your onboarding. Don’t let the user face a blank screen the first time they open the app. Include a quick note to show them how to get started, so that they don’t wonder — even if only for a second — whether the blank screen is a bug or a feature.

Onboard Before Log-In or Sign-Up

As with the last technique, onboard users before they sign up for or log into your service.

What Not to Do

Photography showcase app 500px³²³⁰ boasts some amazing content and a rich set of functionality to go along with it. However, the onboarding process for the iPhone app commits some faux-pas:

• The navigation bar and its functionality are showcased. Telling users that they can navigate via the navigation bar falls under the category of obvious.
• Some slides show buttons such as for liking, favoriting and sharing. All three of these functions are represented by icons that are universally associated with them, so explaining them in the onboarding is unnecessary. Let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, that a portion of 500px’s target audience is not familiar with these icons. In this case, progressively onboarding these users by presenting the functions in context would better serve them (for example, when the user is viewing a picture and might want to “like” it).
• One slide shows the “flow,” a timeline that showcases the activity of people whom the user is following. Because you can only benefit from the flow once you have followed others, progressively onboarding the user by telling them about this feature after they’ve followed at least one person would have been better.

³¹

Technique 3: Progressive Onboarding

In general, people learn best by doing. This probably explains the popularity of progressive onboarding, which is a true walkthrough in that it presents information to users as they use the app. For example, when the user is on the dashboard, they would see only dashboard-related information; when they’re viewing search results, they would be shown only functions related to search results.

³⁴

Here are a few things to keep in mind when progressively onboarding:

Save for Complex Workflows

If your app has a fairly complex workflow or handles complex tasks (such as finances), then progressive onboarding is a good choice. You would feed the user information only when it’s appropriate and logical in the workflow, giving the user time to digest it.

Use for Hidden Functionality

When developing mobile apps, we’re always focused on efficiently using the small screen, which sometimes requires menus and functions to be hidden, visible only via, say, a double tap or long press. In this case, walk the user through those hidden functions.

For example, take the app Pocket³⁹³⁷, shown below. In it, functions are available for each item in the reading list, but the user has to swipe left in order to access them. Because the user has to populate the app with content, a nice touch would have been to wait until the user has added at least one item to the reading list, and then immediately point out that a left swipe reveals the hidden functions.

³⁸

Ideal for Gesture-Driven Apps

If your app is strictly gesture-driven, then this hands-on approach is best. Getting the user to take action over time as functionality is introduced will help the information stick.

⁴¹

Make It Persistent

For gesture-driven apps, provide a shortcut to a list of gestures and their corresponding actions, perhaps in the settings screen.

Remember that the more gestures you have, the more the user has to memorize. And the more gesture-driven apps a user has installed on their device, the more confused they can get, trying to remember the difference between a double-tap in one app and a double-tap in another. Making the information permanently accessible adds an extra layer of comfort.

⁴⁴

What Not to Do

Because progressive onboarding complements a user’s exploration of an app, the biggest risk is that incessant hints as the user moves from screen to screen will ruin the experience of an otherwise wonderful app. So, take even greater care with this technique to show only the most useful information.

Also, avoid highlighting features on every screen. Give the user some breathing room so that they get some satisfaction from exploring your app. A walkthrough is not a substitute for poor design. It should simply enhance the experience.

Alternative Solutions

The techniques presented above are the most popular. But you do have other options to play with!

Alternative 1: Hybrid

A hybrid approach — blending one, two or all three techniques — is sometimes viable, as Flink⁴⁷ shows:

⁴⁸

Alternative 2: Video

Video onboarding is used in some apps and is worth looking into. This can be taken in different directions, with some videos being more practical, like a tutorial, while others are basically advertisements. As with videos on websites, playing them automatically would be invasive and jarring for the user. And the user might be in a public space, where blasting sound from a mobile device would be inappropriate.

⁵⁰

Alternative 3: Sample Data

Providing some sample data for the user to play with might also be worthwhile. This is particularly helpful in apps that handle sensitive data, such as finances and human-resources data. If the app is preloaded with sample data, the user will feel comfortable experimenting, making mistakes and learning how the app works, and they will feel better prepared to input real data.

Conclusion

The guidelines and examples in this article will jumpstart your onboarding project; however, as always, the user is at the heart of all of this. So, as you evaluate which technique to use, remember to revisit your personas, user scenarios and any user data you have, whether from analytics or market research.

If you’re still unsure about which technique to go with, test one or two techniques on users and analyze the feedback to see what works and what doesn’t. No solution is one-size-fits-all, so, as always, use the data on hand to make the most informed decision.

As you take your first steps, monitor what other developers are doing. The following websites provide a variety of onboarding patterns to draw inspiration from:

• Pttrns⁵⁵
• Mobile Patterns⁵⁶
• UX Archive⁵⁷
• Pinterest⁵⁸

If you’re interested in platform-specific guidelines, then check out Apple’s⁵⁹ and Google’s⁶⁰.

(cc, ml, al, il)

Footnotes

1. 1 http://blog.maxrudberg.com/post/38958984259/if-you-see-a-ui-walkthrough-they-blew-it
2. 2 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/01-timely-opt.jpg
3. 3 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.bitspin.timely
4. 4 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/01-timely-opt.jpg
5. 5 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/02-feedly-umano-opt.jpg
6. 6 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devhd.feedly&hl=en
7. 7 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/02-feedly-umano-opt.jpg
8. 8 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/03-fibit-opt.jpg
9. 9 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/fitbit/id462638897?mt=8
10. 10 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/03-fibit-opt.jpg
11. 11 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/04-evernote-food-opt.jpg
12. 12 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote.food&hl=en
13. 13 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/04-evernote-food-opt.jpg
14. 14 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evernote.food&hl=en
15. 15 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/05-nytnews-opt.jpg
16. 16 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nyt-now/id798993249?mt=8
17. 17 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/05-nytnews-opt.jpg
18. 18 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.readability&hl=en
19. 19 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/06-readability-opt.jpg
20. 20 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/06-readability-opt.jpg
21. 21 http://mobilepatterns.wikispaces.com/Coach+Marks
22. 22 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/07-carousel-opt.jpg
23. 23 https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/carousel-by-dropbox/id825931374?mt=8
24. 24 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/07-carousel-opt.jpg
25. 25 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/08-adobe-kuler-opt.jpg
26. 26 https://itunes.apple.com/app/adobe-kuler/id632313714
27. 27 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/08-adobe-kuler-opt.jpg
28. 28 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleevio.spendee&hl=en
29. 29 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/09-spendee-opt.jpg
30. 30 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/500px-discover-photos-from/id471965292?mt=8
31. 31 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10-single-slide-opt.jpg
32. 32 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/500px-discover-photos-from/id471965292?mt=8
33. 33 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10-single-slide-opt.jpg
34. 34 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/11-feedly-opt.jpg
35. 35 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devhd.feedly&hl=en
36. 36 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/11-feedly-opt.jpg
37. 37 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-save-articles-videos/id309601447?mt=8
38. 38 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/12-pocket-opt.jpg
39. 39 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-save-articles-videos/id309601447?mt=8
40. 40 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/12-pocket-opt.jpg
41. 41 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/13-solar-opt.jpg
42. 42 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/solar-weather/id542875991?mt=8
43. 43 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/13-solar-opt.jpg
44. 44 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/14-beats-music-opt.jpg
45. 45 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/beats-music/id781817640?mt=8
46. 46 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/14-beats-music-opt.jpg
47. 47 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/flink-mode-street-des-meilleures/id798552697?mt=8
48. 48 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/15-flink-opt.jpg
49. 49 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/15-flink-opt.jpg
50. 50 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/16-paper-opt.jpg
51. 51 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/paper-by-fiftythree/id506003812?mt=8
52. 52 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/16-paper-opt.jpg
53. 53 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xero.touch&hl=en
54. 54 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/17-xero-opt.jpg
55. 55 http://www.pttrns.com/
56. 56 http://www.mobile-patterns.com/
57. 57 http://uxarchive.com/
58. 58 http://www.pinterest.com/
59. 59 https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/StartingStopping.html
60. 60 https://developers.google.com/live/shows/6727337534029824

The post Mobile Onboarding: A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

The use of personas in sales and marketing has long been a standard practice, though it probably first entered mainstream awareness years ago when Best Buy’s sales profiles of its typical customers were leaked. In sales and marketing, the use of these typical customer archetypes helps to refine and target messaging to these specific customer types (so that the pitch to the soccer mom is different from the pitch to the gadget geek).

But what about the value of personas in the world of technology? By using personas of typical users of a technology, can businesses find out how to best leverage and gain from these different user personas?

This is the idea behind the Analytical Mind Map, from Aberdeen’s Analytics and Business Intelligence practice. With this Mind Map, Aberdeen’s analysts have put together a set of personas representing classic users of business intelligence and analytics tools and have then used these personas to offer recommendations on how organizations can get the most out of these different analytics personas.

To create the Mind Map, VP and Principal Analyst Michael Lock and Research Analyst Peter Krensky surveyed and profiled analytics users about their tendencies and practices. Lock said, “We’ve created personas that map to how people think and act when it comes to making decisions and using analytics.”

Did they tend to go with their gut instincts in analysis or do detailed investigations? Were they collaborative team players or experienced BI gurus? By working through the responses and the practices and strategies of BI users, they were able to come up with four distinct personas for BI and analytics users.

“We think that when it comes to decision making and operating in an analytical environment, there are things that play into how people make decisions. There are practical things, like your job role and level of expertise, but there are also emotional things, like how data driven are you versus gut driven, are you more likely to be collaborative in nature or more likely to be a lone wolf. We decided to meld these two worlds of the practical and the emotional and come up with personas that we think describe the user world” said Lock.

So the four personas that Lock, Krensky and the analytics practice found by digging through the 700 plus responses to their survey were Gunslingers, Detectives, Professors and Evangelists. Gunslingers are quick to the draw with decisions based on gut instincts. Detectives dig deep and do detailed data analysis to find the truth. Professors are highly experienced teachers who know all the ins and outs of analysis. And Evangelists are collaborative sharers who look to spread the value of analytics and get many other users and groups involved.

Analyzing the characteristics and practices of these personas, the Aberdeen team has compiled several pieces of research that look into both the strengths and weaknesses of these personas. For example, Krensky said “In the case of the professor, not only do we highlight them and define what traits they have, we’re also a little hard on them. We find that training initiatives are a little lacking in organizations with professors. And they have that tenure and that expertise where they should be putting themselves forward and helping new users build their skills.”

By looking at the research coming from the Analytical Mind Map, businesses can not only gain understanding of the different types of analytics users, they can also find out how to get the most out of these personas, either through ideal pairing or improved practices.

Lock said “When we define these personas and describe them, we’re mapping out tendencies. That’s going to lead to an understanding of how these people think and act, where might they fit best within the organization. But we’re also going to highlight some of the opportunities. For example, the gunslinger. Part of the impetus behind why people are gunslingers is because they have a tremendous amount of urgency when it comes decision making. A gunslinger, by their very nature, would rather make a bad decision than make no decision. There are opportunities there to equip them and enable them with tools and technologies that are going to help them combine their expertise and experience potentially with more data driven insights.”

According to Lock and Krensky, the initial set of existing research based on the Mind Map is just the beginning. They plan to dig deeper, looking into, for example, how different personas operate in different industries or technology practices.

Look for an upcoming series of podcasts with Lock and Krensky, digging into how the Mind Map was created and how this knowledge can be leveraged by businesses looking to optimize their analytics and business intelligence operations.

Lifestyle marketing has been around for decades, yet brands that embrace lifestyle marketing seem to experience wild success in a relatively short time period. Perhaps this is because they’ve done the research, and gotten out of their conference rooms into the world to put their products into the hands of consumers who might actually use them.

All too often, lifestyle-marketing campaigns lose steam when not strategically aligned with social media campaigns, and that’s an expensive lesson to be learned. So before you go investing thousands into marketing concepts, look before your leap; here are 3 examples of successful lifestyle marketing campaigns.

Dodge SRT Campaigns

Car companies are infamous for implementing “youthful” marketing campaigns to appeal to the moods and attitudes of car buyers. In Dodge’s case, it comes in the form of an in-house performance team; dubbed SRT (for street racing and technology) that puts a stamp on only the fastest, meanest vehicles the company has to offer.

The true genius behind Dodge’s marketing efforts lies in the fact that only those in the know (car fans) recognize an SRT vehicle, either because they like that it’s fast, want one in their garage because it’s fast, or are just plain envious that an SRT product intimidates what’s already in their garage – a mustang perhaps?

SRT products don’t come cheap, and to further distinguish it from other Dodge products, the latest Viper isn’t even called a Dodge; it’s called an SRT Viper. Check out this SRT Viper Commercial to see how they appeal to the car fan’s inner child, through throwback nostalgia that connects them to why – and when they fell in love with cars in the first place.

Image: Source

Red Bull Space Mission

Red Bull is one of those brands that has managed to reinvent itself over the years through lifestyle campaigns. They even have their own media company, red bull media house, which cranks out sports-focused media campaigns over various mobile, digital, print and audio mediums; all this hype generated from a company that makes sugar water.

A fine example of a Red Bull Lifestyle marketing campaign would be their Mission to The Edge of Space campaign that saw daredevil Feliz Baumgartner jump from the edge of space to break a skydiving record that had stood for years. Did they help sell more energy drinks? Maybe so, or maybe not, but it did do a fine job of reaffirming the brands commitment to inspiring people to stay active – or alert enough to do daredevil things.

Image: Source

Outdoor Tech in Germany

To prove that lifestyle marketing campaigns don’t just work for large mega million corporations mobile electronics upstart Outdoor Tech took their marketing worldwide by attending an outdoor sports show in Friedrichshafen Germany.

While efforts to make a big splash in Europe proved a tough feat, Outdoor Tech was still able to get their products in front of a new audience who quite literally lives and breathes an outdoorsy, tech obsessed lifestyle.

Image: Source

Key Takeaway

Good lifestyle marketing is all about connecting with an audience that would authentically be into something because they see it as an extension of who they are, not so much what they buy. We as consumers have a habit of using our emotions as self-persuasion. No matter how big or small the effort is it will pay off dividends once your brand’s voice starts to resonate within a community.

If you have to come up with an internal department to brand and market niche products, do it! Metaphorically speaking. It worked for Dodge.

If you have to jump out of plane at altitudes slightly above the Earth’s atmosphere, do it! Metaphorically speaking. It worked for Red bull.

Heck, even if you have to hop a plane and fly to Germany just to hang with a bunch or beer loving outdoorsy type technophiles, do it! That ‘s the beauty of lifestyle marketing; any stunt that can get your product out in front of a relevant audience increases your marketing success rate ten fold because if you’ve done your homework, and know what you’re selling, appealing to an audience who will buy your product becomes an easy sell.

You spend time trying to pinpoint how you are different from the competition. Master of your domain, expert in your space, thought leader- you know everything there is to know about your business you want your customers to know it.

It’s true that your industry experience and engagement is important to convey to your online audience. Modern buyers do the majority of their research online before making any purchasing decisions. The more you can share your expertise, the better you will fare during their evaluation.

But here’s the trick: there is no fast track to thought leadership.

There is no one blog title to get you to being considered the expert. Don’t tell me you’re a thought leader, prove it to me with content, engagement, and strategy.

It takes more than renaming your blog “Thought Leadership” to win the respect of your audience and get them coming to you for industry news and innovative thinking. Everyone can claim to be a thought leader. If you don’t know what’s going on in your industry, then shame on you. So what’s so wrong with touting what you know with a blog title that shows that off? Anyone can include the blog titles “Thought Leadership” or “Industry Insight.” There are no rules on what you call your blog, your navigation, or your resources section. Therefore it negates any impact or relevance of whether you really know your stuff.

So if you can’t be obvious…

How do you get the message out that you have a thing or two to say about your business? And how do you let your clients know that you know their needs before they do?

1. Content

Share your story! Blogging is the first way to start telling your audience about how invested you are in your niche and that you are better than the competition. You don’t have to just talk about yourself and your business either, share your thoughts on industry news. Show that you are ahead of the game and the go-to. Inbound marketing is about helping people and the more helpful you are, the more you will be viewed as an industry leader.

2. Engagement

Blogging is a starting point, but thought leadership doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s time to start engaging and interacting with your peers and audience. Diversifying your message across platforms and including social media helps push the message that you are a key player and paying attention to the industry. With strategic engagement you can not only stay on top of the news, you can also share that news with your audience.

Focus on the channels that are most relevant to your buyer personas. Are you talking to c-suite executives? Get on LinkedIn and make waves. Be a resource and be real-time. Talking with other subject matter experts across channels will only solidify your own industry presence.

3. Strategy

Strategy is important for showcasing your position in your industry and focusing on targeted content and engagement. Don’t send your audience mixed messages between what you write on your blog and how you interact on social media. Having a clear and cohesive digital voice and presence supports your overall goal of being known for your thought leadership.

Thought leadership doesn’t cut it as a competitive differentiator. Everyone can say they are on top of their game. When it comes to thought leadership, it takes strategic content and consistency to gain the recognition of your audience. The proof is in the pudding, or rather, the content you share, create, and interact with.

When things seem too complicated, buyers hold off.

As a consumer, you know this is true. When given a lot of options and strategies, most of us shut down and hold off on making a decision to buy something.

It is no different for buyers – you have to make it easy for buyers to want to do business with you.

Robert’s Maine Grill is a great New England restaurant in touristy Kittery. I drove by a number of times over a few weeks before ever going in – wondering what such a fancy looking place was doing in an outlet-mall town. It seemed out of place – which is why I love how they have the addendum to their big sign out front, saying that in their “fancy” restaurant, flip-flops are WELCOME.

You can immediately tell that they just want you to come in – and not worry about what you are wearing. It is a brilliant marketing move to encourage someone driving by who is having to make a split-second decision to turn in and park. Inside, they are down to earth folks and really are not overly fancy. They took an objection some people might have – their more formal-looking restaurant, and put the flip-flops sign up to assure you it’s OK to come in. Smart.

I remember when I first went looking for a smartphone and how confused I was (yea, that was a few years back). Now it is pretty easy because of so many millions of smartphone purchases later everyone is getting it right (most of the time). When I started looking, I could not get basic questions answered so I would never buy. Finally I met a super helpful sales rep and they answered all of my questions. There was nothing left for me to do but buy.

Amazon makes it easy to buy with their recommendations using what you have bought in an algorithm to help suggest other similar items. On the other hand, Google is offering me ads everywhere online and I really don’t like it. I would never click on anything served up to me by Google’s ad team. It is too much – too often.

So how to make it easy for your buyers? Here are a few ideas:

Start by asking them.

Listen to customers. Have annual or semi-annual account strategy sessions where you ask not only how you are doing with them but how you could serve them better. What do they need that you don’t offer?

Email an agenda ahead of time when you have phone meetings, This can help a busy client remember what it is you are talking about and have a point of reference.

Send follow up notes summarizing a discussion. If you missed anything, they have the opportunity to correct the notes. People like this because they don’t have to create it themselves. You’ve done it for them.

What other ways do you regularly help your clients to keep working with you on an ongoing basis, or ways that you help new buyers to do business with you?

Lori Richardson is recognized on Forbes as one of the “Top 30 Social Sales Influencers” worldwide. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside sales teams in mid-sized companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips in selling. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.

email lori@scoremoresales.com | My LinkedIn Profile | twitter | Visit us on google+

The post Money Monday – Make it Easy for Buyers to Buy appeared first on Score More Sales.

Despite all the research and writing on the B2B buyer’s journey, quite a lot of B2B marketers still believe that “my buyers aren’t looking for us in search.”

Their assumption is that the customer in a position to buy a six- or seven-figure (or larger) piece of equipment or service is going to be deeply experienced and already know who the main providers are, and that’s who they're going to request bids from. The evidence suggests otherwise.

For example, if you search for 'healthcare IT consulting' the results include paid ads from Accenture, Dell, Siemens and many others:
 

Why would they waste their marketing efforts and budget if no one important was searching? They aren’t, because the buyers are.

According to Google, approximately 260 searches are done monthly on that term in the United States, and 320 globally.

Obviously that’s not huge numbers, but a single contract for healthcare IT services is worth a lot and the lifetime value of the customer could be several times higher, so it’s worth paying over $20 per click to Google.

If you look at some related long-tail keywords, the search numbers can be much higher. More than 720 people a month search for 'top healthcare consulting firms', over 1,600 search for 'IT consulting services', and so on.

Suggested bids on the various keywords range from those with low competition and under a dollar costs per click ('information protection policy'), to terms such as 'Enterprise security services' and 'cloud computing security' with high competition that has bid them up to over $40 per click – and in some cases much higher.

A consumer might search on a term like 'CT scan', but a hospital or healthcare provider would be more likely to be searching for 'CT scan equipment', which can cost more than $1m for one scanner.

So, again, major vendors advertise on it, and their ads and organic listings are seen by about 90 searchers globally each month, or close to 1,000 annually.

The numbers vary considerably from industry to industry, but the fact that big-ticket B2B buyers are searching is clear by both the number of searches and that certain keywords are highly competitive and have been bid up beyond a dollar or two per click.

Here are 10 other examples of big ticket B2B keywords:

Keyword	Monthly Global Searches	Suggested Bid
Marketing automation software	1,900	$37.85
Business online storage	90	$45.40
Network managed services	140	$161.73
Cloud security companies	210	$107.67
Custom trade show exhibits	110	$67.11
Trade show displays	9,900	$26.88
Help desk software	8,100	$53.51
Master data management vendors	110	$52.79
Office reburishment London	590	$37.03
Local SEO company	1,000	$27.16

And, again, each of these keywords has many long-tail companions that increase those monthly searches many times over.

For example, in addition to those 210 search for 'cloud security companies' there are another 210 searches for 'cloud security solutions' (with a suggested bid of more than $55/click) and about as many for the valuable 'virtualization cloud computing' ($108.91/click) with advertisers such as EMC, Intel, Microsoft, SAP and Google.

According to IDG Connect, 58% of B2B IT buyers use search during the buying process. What are those people searching for?

They typically consume seven or eight pieces of content while researching. Early in the buying process they’re often doing broad industry searches and then they focus in more on solutions and ultimately research on particular, short-list vendors.

The most advanced companies aren’t just using PPC ads but they’re also creating content that addresses the concerns of each member of the buying team during each stage of the process.

Considering that it can take dozens or, in many cases, hundreds of clicks to produce one sale, these high cost-per-click on low-volume B2B keywords show that they are worth it.

At the same time the low search volumes show that those advertisers can’t rely solely on a search or inbound strategy. No doubt they also use targeted accounts programs, ads in industry publications, exhibits at tradeshows and other means to reach their very specific markets.

That’s what omnichannel marketing is all about.

Amazon launches massive campaign against Hachette amidst dispute about prices

Amazon has emailed all its Kindle publishers and set up a website in the midst of its dispute with the American publishing company Hachette. The publishers do not wish to lower the prices of ebooks, but Amazon wants them to. Meanwhile 900 leading authors have set up a website appealing for the dispute to end, criticising Amazon.

At the heart of the dispute is the pricing of ebooks. Amazon wants to lower prices, arguing that this leads to more purchases, increased profits and better royalties for authors. Leaving aside the fact that the company has used emotional tactics, linking their latest round of the dispute to the First World War, Amazon does have some impressive statistics available.

According to Amazon, if you decrease the price of an ebook by a third, you can increase the sales by almost 75%. Amazon uses this data to say that lowering prices will make more people read more books. They suggest that, in the world of multiple media, books have to compete effectively and that price is crucial.

Amazon’s basic error

Amazon, however, is making the basic mistake made by schoolchildren when they first start studying statistics. They are linking two sets of data and assuming there is a connection. The fact that more books are sold does not mean that more books are read. Indeed, there is plenty of research that even books which are valued by people get low readership. Many business books, for instance, are not read after purchase and if they are, usually it is only the first chapter, with readers dipping in and out occasionally. An interesting fun study, known as the Hawking Index, suggests that a wide variety of books get very low readership. Amazon has made the basic mistake of assuming that the purchase of something means greater use of those items. The evidence actually points the other way.

Amazon’s second mistake

The next problem with Amazon’s argument about the need to lower prices is that it assumes that people are driven by price. Decades of consumer research shows that this is emphatically not the case. Only when the seller starts to focus the mind of the buyer on price does the amount of money become the issue.

This is about psychological “framing”. The design of the Amazon website, for instance, frames the mind of the visitor into “cheap”. Therefore they expect lower prices. Once you have made them expect lower prices you have to start delivering. This is a downward slope, the ultimate direction of which is in ever lower prices, driving the need to sell more and more in order to stand still in terms of profit.

Price is about perception

Once you start lowering prices your customers start to devalue what you sell. If you price something highly, people value it much more greatly and with higher value you generally get greater usage. If Amazon is really as keen on getting more people to read, as its emotionally-charged letter suggests, then they need to RAISE prices to increase engagement. Lowering prices reduces the perception of the value of the book and with that goes lower usage, reducing readership.

Whilst it is admirable that Amazon wants to increase the number of books read, they have gone about this in completely the wrong way, revealing they misunderstand the psychology of price.

If your business wants greater usage of what it sells, lowering prices is precisely what not to do.

Forward-thinking B2B marketers are building relationships with influential members of the community, with the goal of providing more targeted and credible messaging to the potential buyers among their followers. When added to the marketing mix, influencers can help amplify a company’s marketing message and, in turn, reach a wider audience.

This is a natural extension of traditional marketing efforts, as B2B buyers are increasingly putting more credence in the opinions of influencers and colleagues. According to Demand Gen Report’s 2014 Content Preferences Survey, 72% of respondents turned to peers for relevant content when researching B2B purchasing decisions.

Many progressive B2B companies are beginning to see the value of influencer marketing, with nearly one third (65%) of B2B organizations currently have a digital influencer marketing program, according to a recent infographic from Marketo. Influencer marketing was also a widely discussed topic at this year’s SiriusDecisions Summit, where Polycom was honored for its influencer marketing program.

“B2B organizations need to create better alignment in order to make conversations and engagement consistent and thorough,” said Julie Ogilvie, Research Director at SiriusDecisions and presenter of the Influencer Program of the Year Awards at the Summit. “Companies are thinking about how to leverage influencers, and areas like content marketing are the major causes for this demand.”

Polycom’s marketing team created a program in which industry analysts were paired with groups of sales execs and subject matter experts to build relationships. The program eventually affected influencer reputation and company demand generation. Up to $60 million in added revenue can be attributed to the influencers who participated in the program.

“As a strategy, you’re promoting the growth of relationship and engagement,” said Lee Odden, CEO at TopRank Online Marketing. “That’s why having a long-term view on influencers focuses more on building relationships than short-term goals. This relationship helps to slowly build your own influence.”

How To Begin An Influencer Marketing Program

There are three steps that marketers should take when beginning an influencer marketing campaign, according to Odden:

• Identify the influencers that show the most potential towards meeting your company’s goals;
• Qualify each influencer based off their audience, content and social activity; and
• Recruit influencers with highly personalized incentives.

Much like researching prospective buyers, selecting the right influencers for a campaign requires a lot of analysis and examination into your particular industry’s thought leaders. Following your prospective audience’s digital conversations — and analyzing who is creating the content or the topics of discussion — is a great start when looking for the right influencers for a specific campaign.

“Everyone thinks they need to get the biggest and the best influencers, but that’s not always the case,” said Geoff Nelson, Partner at Ivy Worldwide, in an interview with Demand Gen Report.“You want to gain several influencers who have relationships with your target audience. They may grow into A-list influencers, which is great, but the overall relationship is what’s the most valuable.”

While well-known industry thought leaders may have a large following, their actual influence on the audience’s buying decisions may be lackluster, according to Pierre-Loic Assayag, CEO of the influencer marketing platform Traackr.

Ultimately, a healthy mix of mainstream influencers and “up-and-comers” will provide a brand with the reach it desires, along with highest potential to have these influencers make an impact on prospective buyer’s decisions.

“It’s really important for marketers to understand that having a ubiquitous number of influencers is a fallacy,” Assayag said. “This is never the case in any influencer marketing program. Context is paramount, and you have to think about direct reach when interacting with potential influencers.”

Another award winner from the SiriusDecisions Summit was LinkedIn, which leveraged influencers to educate an audience of job recruiters who thought of the professional social network as more of a competitor than as a tool that they can leverage.

LinkedIn contracted the help of several influencers who could amplify their message from various different angles, allowing the company to reach each of their segments and maximize impact. The company saw a 424% increase in talent connections over the next three years, and 20% of last-touch content marketing bookings were driven by influencers.

The Difference Between Influencers And Advocates

Influencer marketing is oftentimes confused with advocate marketing due to how relatively new these strategies are to the B2B industry, according to Jim Williams, VP of Marketing at Influitive. The key difference is that influencers specialize in knowledge of an industry, while advocates specialize in knowledge of a specific company’s products or services.

“Advocates have a definite brand affinity,” said Williams. “While highly passionate, most advocates don’t have as wide a reach, but they speak with authority and expertise on a product and/or service.”

However, Williams noted that influencers and advocates both can be leveraged simultaneously to offer a personalized experience to prospective buyers, creating meaningful engagement whenever a prospective buyer is expecting it.

Qualifying Influencers

Much like qualifying leads, qualifying influencers relies heavily on the data that B2B marketers have on them. Primarily, this data focuses on the influencer’s activities within the community and how their followers respond and take action.

Some of these metrics, according to Odden, include:

• The content they’re sharing, which can highlight other prospective influencers in the industry;
• How often they’re publishing content and how the community is responding to the content; and
• Comments and conversations created about the content, which helps provide context to what their audience is looking for.

Marketing automation has grown into a vital tool, aiding marketers in analyzing any and all data that may surpass the human eye. However, you can’t take out the human feel of buyer engagement, according to Odden. “Marketers need to manually inspect these influencers to qualify them and validate their pull in the industry, and the personalized engagement will help in the recruitment process.”

A healthy mix of automated and manual analysis throughout an influencer marketing program can help marketers begin to build relationships with these influencers and increase their potential to do business with them.

Manually reviewing influencer information also can reveal unique opportunities that can be leveraged during the recruitment process, according to Odden. “A particular influencer might be a pretty active advocate, participating fairly regularly in influencer content programs. Such an influencer might be open to a direct pitch to participate. Others may be more guarded and require some time to establish light contact, which advances to the presentation of an opportunity.”

When it has reached the stage where you have a solid list of prospective influencers, the recruitment process has to answer the one question that is at the top of influencers’ minds: What is in it for them? While it’s possible that influencers will expect a monetary incentive for their efforts, there are oftentimes larger incentives that affect the influencer’s overall presence in the community.

“Mutual incentive is the approach to co-op marketing,” Odden said. “Influencers need to see the mutual goal before they collaborate with an organization, and this incentive is often the chance to create more valuable relationships and engagement within a community.”

With the right influencer, marketers can obtain information that can be used in various stages of the buying cycle. Whether it’s aiding marketers in designing lead segments, or providing topics of conversation to generate the right engagement, the ultimate goal is that it helps the company create more than a transaction with a buyer — but a relationship.

LittleBird Maps Online Community, Automates Influencer Tracking

Influencers are not just for expanding a company’s reach; marketers tap into their influencers in order to help create meaningful engagement with their prospective buyers.

“This isn’t about marketing, this is about engagement,” said Jill Rowley, an influential member of the social selling and modern marketing industries, in an interview with Demand Gen Report. “Traditional marketing no longer works. You’re looking to gain trust, and the best way to do that is to engage with influencers in the circles that potential customers already like and trust.”

In order to stay atop of the constantly changing social media landscape, Rowley uses Little Bird to map out social media communities and find the key people at the center of each one.

The platform tracks any social conversations — with a deeper emphasis on Twitter — revolving around specific industries or trends. This is important for highlighting key discussion topics and members of the community, according to Rowley.

Rowley added: “You need to see where prospective customers already receive influence. Where’s the trust? You then use that information and content to create engagement and build relationships.”

Ultimately, platforms like Little Bird aim to relieve the stress of manually analyzing social media, allowing influencers and B2B marketers to spend more time engaging with one another and taking their relationships to the next level.

“Technology like Little Bird will help humans by machine handling tedious tasks like data filtering — and the humans take it the final mile,” said Marshall Kirkpatrick, Co-Founder and CEO of Little Bird, in an interview with Demand Gen Report. “They have the critical thinking that is needed to make the important decisions on who is the best influencer to connect with.”

Once automated solutions are more acceptable in social marketing, there will be an increase in marketers looking to create influencer campaigns with members of online communities, according to Kirkpatrick. “The industry hasn’t yet transitioned into fully accepting the appropriate technology for social marketing. There are opportunities to be proactive via social media in order to enhance relationships with the right communities.”

This article was originally published on Demand Gen Report.

LinkedIn is easily the premier social networking site for businesses and business professionals. While Facebook and Twitter may get the lion’s share of popular attention, they simply do not offer the business building opportunities available with an active and well-crafted LinkedIn account.

That being said, many people fail to take full advantage of their LinkedIn profile to generate rewarding leads, and to market their business’ brand. And that’s a real shame, because LinkedIn makes business outreach easy and effective – two adjectives every business owner likes to hear.

So, if you have yet to tap into the full potential of LinkedIn for business outreach, now is the time to look at a few ways the social networking site can help you build your business and market your brand.

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Searching for Opportunities

The heart of LinkedIn, like any social networking site, is making connections. This is the most basic way to reach out to potential new leads.

You can begin by joining a few LinkedIn groups, all of which should have some connection to your niche industry. This will help to spread awareness of your brand to a wider audience.

Next, using LinkedIn’s Advanced Search, you can begin to target a specific market. LinkedIn’s Advanced Search allows you to fine tune your search parameters according to industry, company, educational background, and job title. You can even perform searches that target specific keywords that are relevant to your industry.

The connections you make on LinkedIn will help to generate leads all by themselves, but to maximize their potential you will want to make personal contact.

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The Power of the Personal Message

One of the cardinal mistakes people make when setting up a LinkedIn account, is to assume that their profile will do all of the heavy lifting.

It won’t.

You have to be proactive, and the best way to be proactive is to reach out to your connections with a personal message.

Now, these messages have to be carefully crafted. They need to be more than simply a sales pitch.

Quickly review the LinkedIn profile of the person you intend to contact, and look for areas of interest that can be used to personalize your message. Try to find a personal connection between you and your potential lead.

You might be members of the same LinkedIn groups, or you may have similar hobbies or mutual LinkedIn connections.

With this information in hand, craft a brief message introducing yourself. Highlight any areas of mutual interest, and explain how working together could be beneficial to both parties.

Finally, ask for the opportunity to speak directly with the person, either in person or online.

A well-crafted personal message can help you generate the kind of leads that quickly turn into real business opportunities.

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Leveraging the LinkedIn Group Experience

Creating a LinkedIn group is not only a good way to generate leads for your business, it is also a great way to make new connections and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

Before you tackle starting your own group, however, spend some time reviewing some of the more popular LinkedIn groups. This will help guide you in setting up your own group.

Some tips to remember when creating a LinkedIn group:

• Use Keywords in your group’s title and description to make it more searchable in both LinkedIn’s internal search function, and in Google.
• Link your company’s blog and website to the group page to help drive traffic to your primary sites.
• Include your blog’s RSS feed on the group page, so members can directly receive any new blog posts.
• Send regular messages to group members. These should offer valuable information, and not simply be weekly advertisements. Include a link to help drive traffic to your website.

Creating a LinkedIn group will help to generate leads and to drive traffic to your business’ website. However, make sure your conversion funnel is properly optimized so that the leads you generate can be effectively converted to sales.

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Hosting an Event

Hosting a LinkedIn event can help you build awareness for your brand, as well as generating actual leads for your business.

Creating an event is relatively simple, and LinkedIn offers an easy to use Event Platform for its members.You will have to answer a few questions about your event, and fill in a few forms, but once that is done you can begin inviting key LinkedIn influencers to attend.

Remember, as LinkedIn is a social networking site, every time one of your guests RSVPs it will show up on their live feed. This will help your brand and business reach a wider audience, leading to more LinkedIn connections and a greater number of potential leads.

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Using LinkedIn Answers to Build Your Online Authority

Using the LinkedIn Answer feature is a great way to build your online authority, establish your credibility within your industry, and generate awareness and leads for your business.

Simply set up the Answers Application on your home page, making sure to only select those topics with which you have a real expertise. This will allow other LinkedIn users to contact you directly with any questions they may have on the topic.

When you receive a question, consider the following tips before answering:

• Consider the person who is asking the question. Check out their LinkedIn profile, and look for any information that will help you to personalize your response.
• Be as helpful as possible in your response. If necessary, include links to websites with further information or referrals to experts who might be better able to provide the necessary answers.
• Keep the conversation going. Answer the question to the best of your ability, but leave your reply open ended and encourage your contact to stay in touch, and to contact you with any other questions they may have.

Using LinkedIn Answers will help you to improve your online credibility.

It will also help you to build new relationships that can be used to make more connections and to generate more leads.

As the premier social networking site for business, LinkedIn offers a unique way to generate leads and to grow your business.

While the kids are playing on Facebook and Twitter, the professionals are hard at work using LinkedIn to promote their businesses and establish their brands.

These few tips should help to illustrate how you can leverage your LinkedIn profile to make new connections, generate valuable leads, and ultimately grow your business.

Does this sound familiar: you exhibit at a trade show and collect a bunch of business cards or contact information from potential customers. After the show, you follow up with each of these “leads” but aren’t able to make a sale! You’re frustrated but it’s time for the next show and you do it all over again!

In this article, I’m going to discuss some do’s and don’ts for overcoming this by starting conversations at your booth, focusing on building long-term relationships, and continuing the conversation after the trade show has ended using trust-based selling techniques.

Note: The below is a paraphrased summary from an interview with Charles Green (author of the books “Trusted Advisor” and “Trust-Based Selling”) to David Wogan from QuickTapSurvey.

 

1. Don’t show up to a trade show unprepared for follow-up communications

Do create some follow-up resources before exhibiting at a trade show

Before attending a trade show, identify who will be in attendance and build some educational content focused on addressing their needs and pains, which can be sent to potential leads after the show.

“Hold on a second David, I don’t have time to build any resources!”

A follow-up resource doesn’t have to be a heavy piece of content. It can be a promotional brochure, a blog post, or a simple email from an expert answering a question identified during the initial conversation at the booth: More on this later in point #5.

 

2. Don’t focus entirely on converting leads

Do focus your team to start conversations to build trust

Yes, I understand that you need leads, but they will come later after you first focus on genuinely helping people and building trust.Your trade booth representatives need to be curious and intrigued to learn more about every visitor. You wouldn’t ask someone to marry you on a first date, so why do this at a trade show.

 

3. Don’t count the amount of business cards you have

Do create a memorable booth conversation

Generally speaking, most companies that exhibit at trade shows are there for one reason: to capture lead information. Okay, let’s face it, that’s why you’re there too. But, how do you expect anybody to remember you if everybody else’s objective is to capture leads?

Our objectives affect our behavior. In order to stand out, reverse this objective from “How many business cards do I have?” to “How can I help anybody who visits my booth?”

People won’t necessarily remember a sales pitch, but they will remember a good conversation they had that focused on their issues. Be genuinely interested in talking about the other person’s concerns. Your goal should not be to convert every visitor, but to help every visitor.

 

4. Don’t have a scripted conversation

Do show genuine interest to learn about each visitor

Imagine your brother-in-law is asking you for business advice at a family event. You wouldn’t be trying to convert him as a sales lead. Instead, you’d be willing to give the best possible advice to help him succeed. This exchange shouldn’t be any different in a trade show setting: be the helpful “brother-in-law” to your trade show booth visitors. Don’t be too goal focused when conversing, just be interested to help.

If you are afraid of looking like a fool for asking a potential lead a question, just remember this Chinese proverb: “A person who asks a question is a fool for 5 minutes, but a person who asks no questions is a fool forever.”

Here is a guideline to have a memorable conversation:

• Let’s say you are exhibiting for an air conditioning manufacturer. When somebody approaches your booth, they are obviously interested in air conditioning units. Start a dialogue by asking an open ended probing question about their business, such as: “What do you think is the bigger problem: the quality of the air conditioning or the cost of the service?” This question will also help determine if they are a qualified or unqualified lead without them even knowing.
• Give some stat about their response, such as: “Oh, well more than half of people agree with you.”
• Conclude with something like: “Obviously, this is a very interesting issue for you, why don’t you type your contact details into this tablet and we’ll send you more information.”

Notice a few things: Firstly, I left the dialogue open to discuss a possible issue that they may be experiencing. Secondly, I listened to what they said and gave a relevant response to the information they provided to me. And thirdly, the goal of the dialogue was not to obtain their contact details, but rather discuss an issue of relevance to them. Collecting contact information this way is very different than winning something in a contest or offering something that has nothing to do with addressing their problems.

 

5. Don’t follow-up with a standard “Nice to meet you” email

Do follow-up with additional resources to HELP those you met

The whole idea behind trust-based selling is that the customer talks and you keep on being curious about what their issues are. During or after the conversation, try to capture the essence of the conversation. You can do this by jotting down notes on the back of a business card, or by using a data capture app. If you are collecting contact details on a data capture app, add a notes question so you can freely type the issues raised in the conversation as a basis for a sales rep to follow-up with.

Establishing trust will get a prospect more interested in what you have to say and will get them more likely to convert as a customer later down the line.

Follow-up either with an email or phone call saying something like:

Hi [First Name],

It was great connecting with you at [Event] and thanks for your interest in our booth. It was very interesting chatting with you about what it’s like to work in a basement. Here are a few resources to help you learn more about the types of air conditioning units: [Insert links to resources]. I would love to connect with you again sometime this week. Are you available for a quick phone call tomorrow or Thursday?

 

In conclusion

What you may be thinking after reading this:

“That all sounds great, but I really don’t have the time”

Don’t dismiss people if they don’t immediately qualify as a lead. Instead, think about building long-term relationships. Be helpful and have a conversation with all booth visitors, and follow-up with useful content relating to the conversation. Ask the right questions to determine whether a person is a qualified lead, after which you can spend more time with them. Nothing turns people off more than you rushing through some scripted dialogue. If you invest a little time up front to improve a relationship, the payoff from then on is huge.

“My industry is very technical and they don’t want this soft mushy stuff”

Everybody is a human, regardless of the industry. Engineers and lawyers are just as susceptible to wanting to be listened to, respected, and understood just like anybody else.  Although it may seem like expertise is the biggest element in a buying decision, it’s really all about bonding with another human that is the major influencer.

“That’s too risky: If it doesn’t work, I might lose potential leads”

Fair point. But, consider this: There are two types of risk:

• The risk of doing the wrong thing and being paralyzed into not changing out of fear, yet expecting different results from the same behavior;

• The risk of not doing the thing right, but at least there is a chance that it may work for you.

We are all terrified of doing the wrong thing, but if you do nothing, you guarantee the risk of not doing the right thing. Say if trust-based selling works out for you? Trying a new process and getting it wrong is much more valuable than not trying it at all.

Have you used trust-based selling techniques at a trade show before? Share your experiences in the comments below.

If you would like to learn more about data capture and how to use a data capture app at events, check out QuickTapSurvey.

If you’re a frequent visitor to this blog, you know social media measurement is an important focus, so when I ran across this infographic, from ExactTarget, detailing 5 steps in a measurement plan for social media, I was intrigued and thought I’d share it with you.

Measurement plan for social media

Step 1: Goals

The first step in the measurement plan for social media is identifying goals and objectives. As with anything else, these goals should be SMART ones.

Step 2: Reach/ frequency

Reach is a tried and true metric for measuring any form of marketing communication Reach basically assesses how many folks saw your content across social networks — including your blog and landing pages on your website.

Why do I include your blog reach in my measurement plan for social media?

Because your blog is a critical element of your content marketing. It builds authority and drives traffic to your site from social networks and through organic search (SEO). Shares from your blog also bring in diverse content views that might be difficult to reach without advertising on social networks.

Frequency, while often not discussed in the context of a social media measurement plan, gains prominence in other forms of marketing communication. I’d like to argue for its inclusion in your measurement plan because consumers must see your content several times (the number varies between 3 and 20 depending on your reference. My personal preference is 4-5, which conforms with Guy Kawasaki’s best practice) before taking action.

Now, if you want to understand how many times to post on various social networks, Buffer provides a great resource using their own experiences and data from SocialBakers. Frequency is also a function of WHO sees your messages. So, on Twitter, where messages scroll quickly, more posts are necessary to achieve a particular frequency, while on LinkedIN, with its much smaller content stream, only 1 or 2 might be effective.

Of course, content which is deemed valuable is much less annoying than content with little value, thus increasing the optimal frequency allowed before users find you annoying.

But, # posts/ day is very different from frequency of a single post. The number of posts helps build awareness of your brand, while frequency of a given message reinforces the message. Both are necessary. You really need both.

Step 3: Measure KPIs

While the infographic says to measure conversions and sales, you should really measure all your KPIs to ensure you’re making progress toward your goal. Some KPIs represent end goals — sales, email subscriptions — and some reflect process goals — engagement, awareness, sentiment.

I also recommend measuring performance of individual pieces of content, as this information guides creation of new content.

Whatever your goals, engagement must be measured — ideally, it’s one of your goals. Engagement is critical in social media because it amplifies your message, a phenomenon we really don’t see much in traditional advertising. In traditional advertising, brands pay for reach and frequency. In social media, engagement enhances distribution of your message to the connections of those sharing (commenting and liking) your content.

Step 4: Track leads

Tracking leads is really different from simply assessing performance on KPIs because it’s ongoing. Obviously, you can use tools from Salesforce or other lead management tools to ensure no lead drops through the cracks. Here are some basic steps:

• Set up a series of email marketing messages to move leads down the funnel
• Lead scoring to move high value leads to the sale force or other personal followup
• Carefully track WHERE leads come from to effectively evaluate performance of individual social networks
• Track performance of campaigns, landing pages, and other efforts(including possibly individual pieces of content) aimed at direct response

Step 5: ROI

It’s not enough to determine which social networks perform best, you need to assess the ROI of each social network and campaign — even individual piece of content ROI might be important depending on your goals.

As the infographic points out, ROI might result from new sales, but it might also be a function of LOWER cost. For instance, social media reduces the cost of customer service for many firms who now use crowdsourcing to help customers who have problems and save calls to customer service employees.

Collecting data for the measurement plan for social media

Collecting the data necessary for your measurement plan to work is a little more challenging, especially if you can’t afford enterprise-level tools like ExactTarget, Adobe Social, IBM, and others. So, it might take a little work, but organizing your data using IBM Cognos or other dashboarding platform (via APIs) is a good first step.

Facebook provides the most data-rich insights (after Google Analytics, of course) of any social network. For instance, here’s a recent report for one of my client’s Facebook pages:

Notice, the level of detail for Facebook advertising. Several ads performed much better than others in terms of reach and frequency, as well as conversion — clicks, in this case. To effectively evaluate performance, however, you need additional data not contained in this table — most importantly ad spend. Combining data from several Facebook reports gives you a clearer picture of ad performance — such as CPC (cost per click) which is available by selecting any individual ad.

The most important element in your measurement plan for social media is YOU

That’s because no metric, no data table, no analytics tool replaces the value of a trained analyst delving into what’s behind the data. For instance, let’s assume for argument sake, that CPC is about the same for every post in the table above. A critical question emerges;

Why did some posts perform dramatically better than others?

Notice, there are several posts about Amanda Boxtel, who walks with the aid of a bionic exoskeleton. That’s a great place to explore why 1 post did very well, while the second barely drove any traffic to the website. You might investigate things like time of day and day of week for the post, as these easily impact performance. If day part doesn’t explain it, then you might look at things like other posts on either side of the particular post of interest. And so on until you discover why and have hopes of replicating the superior performance of some posts.

Some final thoughts on a measurement plan for social media

These are my thoughts. What do you think?

How do you evaluate the performance of your social media campaigns?

What tools do you use?

What measurement plan for social media do you employ?

This infographic is brought to you by ExactTarget Marketing Cloud.

When we are working with clients on fixing their marketing issues in the Seattle area, there are three main areas we address.

The first area involves solving the obstacle of having no traffic, second, we help clients get leads, and third, we help our clients get sales by closing the loop of the inbound marketing process and optimizing the sales funnel.

All businesses have a unique problem in one of these three areas (or all areas) that must be addressed in order to make their marketing campaign show positive ROI.

This means that it’s imperative that you (the business owner or marketing manager) understand how to fix these problems.

Today I will be focusing on the key to online lead generation – how to spot and solve a leads problem in your sales processes.

Solving for Leads

The first step towards solving this problem requires understanding what a lead problem is.

A lot of marketing companies think that passing leads to their clients is where their responsibilities stop.

But, smart marketing companies understand that the key to building, and scaling, an online marketing campaign requires refining leads generation through actively setting up communication channels with the sale’s team (usually this is accomplished through automated marketing and lead management software).

It’s important to note that, just because leads are not closing into sales does not mean that the problem is an issue with the leads themselves.

We often find that clients have not built out their sales system to properly communicate and organize their leads so that opportunities for revenue are not missed.

So, with inbound marketing we always start the process by determining the type of person we are trying to attract, and then reverse engineer our sales and marketing system from that target. We call this Persona development.

A lead problem often stems from a lack of direction and definition as to who the business is targeting.

Defining the target (persona) helps inform the content that calls traffic to action – which then moves that traffic to turn into leads.

So, the first step to fixing a lead problem is to define your target persona

Once you’ve defined your target persona you’ll need to create calls to action that are tailored toward fixing their pain point.

There are three types of pain points your target persona will experience (depending upon where they are at in the buying cycle):

1. They need to learn more – They sense that they need something, but they are not quite sure if your solution will fit their problem.
2. They need to compare – Are you the best choice compared to others who provide the same service or product?
3. They need to buy now – Where’s the call to action, because I’m ready to buy.

You’d be amazed at how many of our clients see a strong increase in leads because we help them correctly address traffic with a CTA (call to action) that just asks for the sale on their website.

This being said, we often see business owners and marketing managers fail to translate “You got to ask for the sale” into their website.

The second step to fixing a lead problem is to define your Calls to Action

After you’ve defined your calls to action, you’ll need to define what type of content will help people answer questions that have to do with the theme of a specific call to action you’ve built.

For instance, if your call to action is to schedule a free consultation, you’ll need to create content that helps people understand why they should schedule a consultation. What are all the questions your target market might be asking that reflect where they are at in the buying process?

Here’s what you need to do. Create three different types of content that relate to people who are:

1. Looking for more information
2. Comparing
3. Ready to buy

Your final CTA “Schedule a Free Consultation” is the call to action that caters towards people who are at the bottom of your sales funnel and ready to buy. This means that every single one of your posts should have a visual call to action at the end of it to lead your traffic to the next step of the closing process.

This is where marketing automation software comes in quite handy. Marketing automation software will enable you to segment out people who are converting on CTA’s that appeal to those who are “looking for more information” and “comparing.”

The software will then nurture those leads by sending out automated e-mail messages to them with more information, encouraging them to make the next decision to bring them closer to the sale.

As you may have already guessed, this is why it’s imperative to understand how you want to communicate with your target persona during the sale. How you communicate during the sale will inform what type of content you should be using with your lead system to bring a lead closer to conversion.

Finally, create content that informs and asks people to move down the sales funnel closer to a conversion (macro conversion).

This is the general outline we use here at Fannit to help our clients fix their lead traffic issues.

However, there are a lot more factors that must be taken into account to ensure that all possible leads are

being communicated with in a way that will get them to convert.

On-going work includes a sort of “rinse-and-repeat” of all 3 steps over and over again with different messages, which we split a/b test to get the best possible lead and nurturing system for our clients.

The end result is an automated lead feeding system that is scalable to the amount of leads a business can take in and provide services/products for.

The 2014 Benchmark Report on B2B Content Marketing and Lead Generation reveals various insights into how B2B companies are creating, licensing and utilizing content assets to demonstrate thought leadership, raise brand visibility – and, perhaps most importantly, generate qualified leads. Some of the insights are obvious; others are not.

The research was conducted in Q2 2014 by Starfleet Media; 261 B2B marketing and sales professionals participated. The final report can be accessed here.

Following are 7 key takeaways for B2B marketers to consider:

1. The top 5 objectives for investing in content marketing are: to raise brand visibility, generate more leads, generate better leads, increase website traffic and improve search engine rankings. However, not all B2B companies are succeeding in their efforts.

• Less than one-eighth of survey respondents report that they have been “very successful” in achieving their primary objectives for content marketing
• Less than one-thirdof survey respondents report that they have been “successful” in achieving their primary objectives for content marketing.
• More than one-third (35%)of survey respondents report that they have “not been successful” in achieving their primary objectives for content marketing.

2. The content assets that B2B companies are using most frequently aren’t necessarily the same ones that are creating the most value.

• Client case studies are the most frequently used content assets, followed by company-branded white papers, webinars, eBooks and infographics.
• Companies across all industries report that they produced or licensed an average of 4.5 new content assets over the past 12 months.
• Cross-industry software providers produced or licensed an average of 7.5 new content assets over the past 12 months while industry-specific software providers produced or licensed an average of 5 new assets during this same period.
• Non-software providers produced or licensed an average of only 3.5 new assets
• Survey respondents ranked company-branded eBooks, case studies and third-party research reports as having created the most value for their companies.

3. Content assets need to be gated to generate leads (but not to be valuable).

• Infographics are rarely gated but nonetheless rated valuable by 92% of marketers for their ability to drive website traffic and create brand awareness.
• Case studies are also rarely gated but rated valuable by 90% of marketers for their ability to substantiate benefits and results via client testimonials.
• Some content assets, such as recorded webinars, may be ungated on some platforms (e.g., YouTube) and gated on others (e.g., the company website).

4. Outsourcing of certain functions related to B2B content marketing is on the rise across companies of all sizes, and that’s probably a good thing.

• Most marketers report that their plans to outsource over the next 12 months will increase slightly in the areas of demand generation and content marketing strategy.
• Most marketers report that their plans to outsource over the next 12 months will remain roughly the same in all other areas.
• Very large and large companies are nearly as likely to outsource content development and design functions as midsize and small companies that may lack in-house resources.

5. “Let me send you follow-up materials” is the top distribution tactic B2B companies are using to get their content assets in the hands of target prospects.

• 96% of companies rely most heavily on sales and account management team outreach for content distribution, followed by tweets, blogging and Facebook posts.
• Social media sites account for half of the top ten content distribution tactics. In fact, B2B marketers use social media far more extensively than paid search to help generate leads. They employ an average of 3.5 social media platforms to promote their content assets.
• Nine of the top 10 content distribution tactics are essentially free vehicles; only press releases can be said to fall into the “paid promotion” category.

6. Spending on content marketing will increase for most B2B companies — some by a lot.

• Almost two-thirds of marketers plan to allocate a greater portion of their marketing budgets to content marketing over the next 12 months.
• Almost one-quarter of companies plan to more than double their spending on content marketing over the next 12 months.
• None of the survey respondents indicated that their companies plan to reduce their spending on content marketing over the next 12 months.

7. When it comes to B2B lead generation, content is king.

• While resource constraints are more likely to be an issue for large and very large companies than for small and very small companies, companies of all sizes and across nearly all industries struggle almost the same when it comes to creating compelling content.
• According to survey respondents, the ability to generate high-quality leads, as well as sufficient numbers of leads, is almost always a function of having compelling content.

Insects outnumber humans 100,000,000 to 1.

The people of France eat more cheese than any other country in the world.

Karaoke means empty orchestra in Japanese.

78% of Facebook users are mobile-only.

Which one of these is not like the other? Which one of these facts will elevate a brand’s marketing strategy? Unless you own a cheese company who specializes in insect-flavored cheeses, that are only sold to karaoke-ists in Japan, I would guess the later.

Here is the fourth edition of these addicting factoid cheat sheets. (Did you miss our other three editions? Here they are: Edition 1, Edition 2, Edition 3)

Take a look at these new statistics that can skyrocket and caffeinate your marketing tactics, if applied strategically.

1. When exposed to Promoted Tweets followers spend 29% more from that brand when compared to organic tweets. Tweet this!
2. Brands lose 15% of new Twitter followers within 3 weeks due to lack of engagement. Don’t loose any more followers!
3. Females are twice more likely to follow a healthy snack brand on social media than her male counterparts. Tweet me!
4. Thanks to Pinterest, 19% of pinners spend more during the holidays. Cha-ching, cha-ching!
5. Internationally, 44% of people never take an action on a social media advertisement. Tweet this!
6. 56% of online content is shared on Facebook, compared to 12% for Pinterest, and 7% through email. Tweet, tweet!
7. Pinterest activity peaks at 9pm, whereas Facebook and Twitter have the highest activity at 11am. Tweet this at 11am!
8. 60% of Twitter users who tweet about reality shows, do so while not watching them. Tweet me!
9. 71% of social media users are more likely to purchase from a brand they follow across their social media channels. Tweet-y bird!
10. After meeting someone, 29% of American adults will research them on social media. Freaky? Or flattering?
11. 700 YouTube links are shared on Twitter every minute. Tweet this!
12. Half of all consumers feel a brand’s Facebook page is more useful than the brand’s website. Tweet me!
13. The demand for content creation among marketers has increased more than 70% over the last year. Tweet, tweet!
14. 49% of marketers have no idea what native advertising is. Do you know what it is?
15. Almost 60% of shoppers trust online reviews, just as much as personal recommendations. Tweet me!
16. 74% of Pinterest users get their holiday gift ideas from the pinning platform. Is Santa on Pinterest?
17. More than 80% of marketers would increase digital, mobile and social channel dollars if they could better track ROI. Would you?
18. Only 36% of marketers who publish branded content, think they are doing so effectively. Surprising?
19. Americans share Pinterest content 3 times more often on their mobile devices, when compared to desktop computers. Tweet, tweet!
20. YouTube drives the most engagement traffic of all social media referrals. Are you using YouTube?
21. 0.1% of eCommerce customer acquisition comes from Twitter. Larry the Bird kills sales!
22. Brand marketing mobile budgets have increase 170% over two years. Mobile is important!
23. By utilizing video in email campaigns, brands on average, see a 40% rise in revenue. Do you have a video in your email campaign?
24. 65% of spenders do not continue using Facebook Ads because they are too expensive. Show me the money!
25. Only 9% of US marketing companies have a full time blogger on staff. We are included in that 9%!
26. 8 in 10 shoppers have changed their mind about buying a product after reading a negative online review. Are you managing your reviews?
27. 68% of millennials won’t make a major decision without consulting their social media audience first. Guilty?
28. Custom emails targeted to customer loyalty programs have a 40% higher open rate.Tweet this!
29. Business to Business marketers that use Twitter develop twice as many leads as those who do not. You obviously have more leads, since you’re about to tweet this!
30. 75% of consumers prefer to receive special offers over any other form of call to action. You tweet, I tweet!
31. Email marketing has an average return on investment of $44, for every dollar spent.Tweet me!
32. 79% of online shoppers would rather get free shipping on their purchases than a discount on their total. Hello free shipping coupon?
33. More than half of US smartphone addicts use their devices while out shopping. Guilty again?

Are you already tweaking and changing your marketing tactics?  You should be. Especially if your brand is on social media, sells a product or service online, utilizes content marketing, or puts email marketing to the test.  Ready, set, send me a free shipping coupon for insect flavored cheese!

Putting customers first in lead generation.

As marketers, we have more ways to observe our customers’ behavior and can leverage tools like marketing automation, Web analytics and CRM systems to help us manage all this complexity.

Complexity found in things like Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs), Sales-qualified leads (SQLs), opportunities, lead engagement scores and other KPIs are helpful to see trends and measure what we deem important to us, but something is often missing.

That missing piece is customer empathy.

Unfortunately, empathy is often ignored or lost when we start to become overly clever and complex with lead generation.

We can get so caught up in our systems, tools and investments that we lose sight of empathy.

To build that empathy, I recommend:

Push the acronyms aside and actually talk to your customers

Sadly, I’ve found that marketers don’t talk directly with the very people they are reaching out to with lead generation messages. All too often, customer service agents and sales reps are the only ones talking to customers live and/or in real life.

Here’s some ways to fix that:

• Pick up the phone
• Survey customers on your email list
• Get out in the field with your sales team and meet customers face to face

It is critical to know what customers want in order to serve them better.

Businesses often take understanding the customer for granted when this is one thing that should be always valued. For ideas on the questions to ask your customers, read this post from the B2B Lead Roundable Blog: “8 Questions to Steer Your Marketing Priorities.”

Use those conversations to understand what customers care about

Instead of worrying about being interesting, you need to first be interested in your customer. Your goal is to understand your customer’s motivation (what they want) and make sure that’s aligned with what you can deliver.

It is most effective to actively listen with empathy to consciously try to understand and see the world from the other person’s perspective.

Avoid “hearing” through a filter formed by your own worldview as a marketer, and do not impose your preconceived ideas on what you hear, because doing so will inhibit your efforts to put yourself in your customers’ shoes.

Use that understanding to anticipate what they want next from your organization

You need to move from company logic to customer logic.

Customers want to work with people and companies that can step in their shoes and understand the results they are trying to achieve. But before you can do this, you must first actively listen to them and understand their situation and concerns.

At its core, lead generation is really about relationships.

I’m wondering what would happen if we stopped treating people as leads (dehumanizing) and instead treated them as human beings or future customers. What would happen if we put ourselves in our future customers’ shoes and looked at our messages from their perspective and trying to feel what they are feeling when they hear from us?

If you want to improve your influence and empathetic connection with people, watch this RSA short:

In this 3-minute animated video, Dr. Brené Brown reminds us that we can only create a genuine empathetic connection if we are brave enough to really get in touch with our own fragilities.

Image Attribution: Crystal Coleman

You might also like

Customer-centric Marketing: How transparency translates into trust [More from the blogs]

Customer-centric Marketing: Learning from customers helps increase lead quality 130%, Sales-accepted leads 40% [Case study]

Customer-centric Marketing: 7 triggers to engage customers and build loyalty [More from the blogs]

Creating Customer-centric Messaging for Optimal Lead Generation [Webinar replay]

My last post, perhaps provocatively, called for a reduction of data in executive dashboards (digital, online, offline). More English (IABI, specifically) would lead to a smarter understanding of performance, and of course glory for data practitioners.

Here's the post: Strategic & Tactical Dashboards: Best Practices, Examples.

In the post Adil commented that he's observed that attribution modeling is missing from most web analytics dashboards. My reply was that attribution modeling might not be present in a physical manner, but that it should be there below the surface to ensure our executives have a smarter understanding of a channel's true contribution.

While that is a perfectly good reply, Adil did make me wonder what a perfect dashboard module (one element of a dashboard) might look like should we want to parade the dead body of last-click attribution in front of our executives.

I'll share the outcome of that thinking in this post, but you also get a bonus. The post also shares a total of seven complete modules to your digital analytics dashboards. Each shows a unique facet of digital performance, and I've attempted to choose the best dimensions and, for those dimensions, the best possible metrics.

If you are in the process of creating a dashboard, you'll discover that this post saves you a million hours of wandering in the woods (ok, so not a conservative estimate!). If you already have a dashboard in place, the post should spark introspection about your choices and encourage a few valuable changes. The post shares seven distinct, awesome, dashboard modules.

Before we go on….

Prologue:

You'll recall the killer insight from the post on strategic and tactical dashboards, getting the balance between data and English right, and the shift involved as you move from customized data pukes (CDPs) to tactical dashboards to truly strategic dashboards…

This post is focused on helping you create smarter tactical dashboards. The target audience would be Senior Directors and VPs in the company/division. They will have some of data, but your insights, recommended actions, and computation of business impact (IABI) will be critical in driving change.

Creating these tactical dashboards (I'll end with a representation of what an entire dashboard could look like), will give you much needed experience to step up to creating magnificent strategic dashboards.

Before we go on, what do I mean by database module? It is one complete representation of performance, usually illustrated in a table or a graph. Here's one simple example that is likely in every single digital analytics dashboard…

The dark blue line is Sessions (Visits, if you are not using Google Analytics) and in the light blue line is Conversion Rate. Ever single dashboard likely has this module because every executive wants to know how many visits were there on our site, and what's our conversion rate!

This is an easy module to create in Google Analytics (or any other tool). Most of the time it is value-deficient, but sometimes, like above, it does raise interesting questions. If we are getting so much better at getting traffic, how come our conversion rate is essentially flat? If we've spent money on qualified traffic, why is the light blue line not sloping up over time? Good question!

Oh, and this is why you need the English part (IABI). Without it, you are assuming the dashboard recipient can answer that question and that is just silly.

Ready to go? We are going to focus on tactical dashboards, and here are seven delicious dashboard modules I've created that should help you create insightful dashboards. I've done the hard work on your behalf to pick the dimensions and critical few metrics that will illuminate your complete business performance. [And Adil, if you are reading this, #2 is just for you!]

Ok, don't forget to breathe, this gets exciting!!

1. Search Contribution: Acquisition, Behavior, Outcomes!

Before we get to attribution modeling here's one of the more basic dashboard module, and a best practice.

Search engines are immensely valuable sources of traffic for any type of website. For the site below, they represent 56% of the site traffic (in the best practice range). So obviously the executives will want a dashboard module that represents search performance.

Given our challenges with not provided, (See: Search: Not Provided: What Remains, Keyword Data Options, the Future), it might be optimal to just have the search engine level view in the dashboard.

Here's the best practice I encourage you to consider… show the search source and Users, Pages/Session and Per Session Goal value.

How many people visited our site, during their visit how much content did they consume, and what was the value of the macro and micro outcomes to our company?

There are a million other things you can add to effectively confuse your executives. You might not need to. This tells them everything they need to know.

A big, large, huge, gigantic, mistake Analysts make in dashboard modules is they only show a partial view, rather then end-to-end. So for Search they might show Users, Sessions, CTR, CPC (for paid), Impressions, and Conversion. The problem is they over-indexed in acquisition (the first five metrics), only had one outcome metric, and no behavior metric. Always focus on the complete journey! (See: Best Metrics For Digital Marketing: Rock Your Own And Rent Strategies).

In our module above we have one of each to represent the end-to-end journey so that you can judge which engine is bringing lots of traffic, but then is it traffic that engages and in context of that do they deliver value to us? Data above is for a B2B website with no ecommerce. Always compute economic value!

As you can see my dashboard module is directly from Google Analytics. You can use the standard Channels report, or you can create a custom report. I'll show just the standard reports directly from GA for rest of this post. But you can also use the free Google Analytics API to automate extraction of the dashboard modules and create pretty dashboards. There are many apps in the Google Analytics App Gallery that also do this very nicely.

With a tiny bit of love I can take my slightly ugly, but still insightful, dashboard module above and make this pretty thing…

Nicer fonts, some simple application of conditional formatting (try it in Excel), and boom! Your boss loves you. Oh, and yes, it is much easier to see patterns in the data. I suppose that is a bonus. :)

For the rest of the post, I'll just share the standard GA view because I just want to create the modules and share the best dimensions and metrics to focus on.

2. Channel Contribution: Assists AND Last-Click Impact

One thousand, one hundred and three words later, we are finally on to our friend Adil's comment that inspired this post.

There are three types of multi-channel attribution scenarios. Almost always your efforts to apply custom or standard attribution models will show up in tables and graphs that measure conversions/outcomes. They will be silent and behind the scenes.

But this module could sit all by itself on your dashboard and both educate your senior-most executives and get them to ask all the right questions about the thing you want from attribution modeling efforts: Are you investing our marketing budget optimally in our media-mix?

On the left are all your owned, earned and paid media channels. Then we show the number of assisted conversions driven by the channel. This is super-duper important. People came to your website (mobile or desktop) and they did not convert during the first visit (that is absolutely ok!). But they did come back in the future (in a 90-day period) and convert via a different channel (also absolutely ok!). For the first time on your dashboard you'll give these beautiful channels credit they deserve!

The third column is what your digital analytics tool will report, how many last-click conversions did the channel deliver. This, of course, is important. It is just not the full picture.

The very last column is to deliver a quick sense for your executives for which channels tend to have more propensity to deliver last-click conversions (see Paid Search, Display), and which might introduce just as people people to your business (assist) and convert about the same (Social, Email).

This dashboard module will cause your executives rethink ad-targeting, ad-content and landing page strategies (much more selly, sell, sell on Paid search, a lot less on Email and Referrals). It will also encourage them, without having to understand the immense complexity of attribution models or media-mix modeling, to give you permission to invest in aforementioned complexity.

Win-win. Achieved simply.

3. Content Contribution: Consumption, First Impressions, Value Delivered

Changing gears, you'll surely have one database module to communicate the value of the content your company is investing in. Plain text. Product recommender tools. Configurators. All the lovely See and Think content. Awesome videos (boring videos). Pimpy Flash thingys (remember… every time you use flash on your website, a puppy dies).

Here's my favorite content contribution dashboard module…

Several things to note here.

Do you see that I cover acquisition, behavior and outcomes again? Always do this!

Did you notice I'm biased towards measuring people wherever I can, I don't like sessions/visits as much (unless I need to align users, sessions, and hits optimally).

Unique Pageviews only counts the page's view just once, even if a person viewed it ten times. Entrances is there to give us a sense for how often the page is a landing page (remember… every page on your website is a home page!). Finally, my bff Page Value shows how much money a give page made for us (it works both for ecommerce and non-ecommerce websites). You want our executives to move away from obsessing about page views, to valuing outcomes. Look at the wide spread above, from pages making us $0.27 to $2.75!

How many people saw the page, how many entered on the page, how much money did it make? What else do you need to know when it comes to content consumption if you are an executive?

This module will always provoke questions (be ready with your IABI) and drive short and long term change.

4. Country Contribution: Intensity of Outcomes, Something Big, Something Small

Executives don't worry about geographic differences enough. Cultures. Spending power. Shopping behavior. To name just a few.

In my dashboards for companies that have a wide geographic presence, I like to include this dashboard module…

In this case we are focusing on countries, makes the most sense for this business, but you can just as well do cities or DMAs or a different more optimal slice.

Because this is just a couple times a year type business (at best, mostly you might engage just once a year), we show Sessions (I want to show you that you should read best practices, like mine in the above module, but then always, always, apply local knowledge of the business).

Then the difference in Goal Value between each country. The Comparison button on top of every GA table helps us eliminate most numbers and replace them with this red and green indexed value against the overall average.

And finally, one micro-outcome. Geographic differences often drive different outcomes. The Per Session Goal Value covers all the goals and outcomes. But I wanted to call out Goal 2 as a proxy for differing behavior. Again, using the Comparison feature. In your dashboard module, customize this column.

To create this report in GA, go to Audience > Geo > Location > Click Comparison on top of table, choose the right metric (Per Session Goal Value and Goal 2 used above).

Get your company to be smarter and more targeted about their advertising and marketing strategy by using a geo segmentation. Your shareholders will thank you.

5. Social Contribution: Activity + Full Credit For Outcomes.

With all the hype around Social Media (yes, still!), can you imagine how many things we can show in our Social dashboard module? Total Likes! Total Followers! Circle Members! Pageviews! Wait. What was that last one? :)

Ok, there is a lot.

I normally show a module that contains my best social media metrics: Conversation Rate Amplification Rate, Applause Rate, and Economic Value.

But recently I've gone simpler, partly to accommodate for the fact that our executives have become so much more skeptical about all the social hype and its value. Especially, executives that own outcome oriented sites.

Here's the dashboard module I'm using a lot more, and the response from the leadership has been pretty ecstatic.

If you go to Acquisition > Social > Overview, you'll see it.

The small blue circle is what our executives are often told Social channels delivered as outcomes and economic value. (Data below is for a non-ecommerce, B2B website.)

The light blue circle is what they should really be told, outcomes and revenue is roughly 2x of what they believe. We want to give Social credit for all the non-last-click conversions! It is only fair.

The big circle represents overall outcomes. 315k conversions. The two numbers at the bottom, orange box, are there to provide important context.

Now our executives have the full picture. Social is important, but it is not the thing to most obsess about. If you want only short-term outcomes, inside 90-days, invest less than fifty nine thousand dollars (people, process, advertising) in it and you'll break-even. If you can afford to be patient and believe in long-term outcomes, invest more.

A simple database module that gives Social its full credit, and allows for smarter decisions.

Our executives will always have pet projects, they will always have the next shiny object to chase. Your job is to create the simplest database module for that shiny hyped thing so that you can help the executives get to the best decision.

6. Product Contribution: Bestsellers, Crazy Buyers, Opportunities.

Ok, enough of all this B2B and non-ecommerce stuff.

Let's focus on money! Ecommerce! Life-sustaining ecommerce!!

This might surprise you, but my favorite ecommerce dashboard module shows product performance…

We obsess at high level conversion rate type stuff so much that we don't often look at what is being sold. And even if we do we might list the total quantity of a product ordered and it will take the shape of a top ten products sold dashboard module. All fine. It is not insightful enough.

My favorite metrics are Unique Purchases (total number of times a specified product – or set of products – was a part of a transaction), Average Quantity (average number of products sold per transaction) and Product Revenue (revenue from individual product sales).

Take a couple minutes. Look at the table. So weird right?

Why are people ordering, on average, 2,822 quantity of the toddler tee? What do we need to learn more about the product, or, better, the purchasers? The Fiji pens look a lot more normal. But look at the motion lamp or the messenger bag. Weird stuff going on!

That is why I like this module, structured this way. It brings the data to our executives to change minds about what our customers are buying and how much and forces us to ask why. And as the best analyst knows, asking why always leads to good things!

Use this module. Surprise your company stake holders.

7. Intelligence Alerts: Greatest Starting Points, Brought Forth.

My last dashboard module falls is from Planet Wish-list. It is less something you can get directly out of Google Analytics, like all of the above modules, and more of something I would love for you to spend time and money on (usually with a consultant).

Most dashboards don't obsess about what's changed, they focus more on what happened. And that's not the same thing.

The Intelligence Alerts feature in Google Analytics does focus on what's changed. In English… here are some things in your data that are showing an unusual pattern,let us present them to you in the order of importance (statistical significance).

It is really cool. If you go to Intelligence Events > Overview, you'll see something like this…

It shows the impacted metric, the segment where the behavior was observed and the observed change and how much confidence does Google Analytics have that the change was important/significant.

You can click on any of the alerts above and you'll get more detail….

In this case you see the expected range of average session duration (maxing out at one min and four seconds), and the actual performance was almost five minutes!

Does your dashboard have a module that represents this type of change? Give your executives the best starting points for their questions? It is important to illustrate what happened as you see it in all the other dashboard modules above, but I believe the best dashboards in the world, representing the work of the best analysts in the world, will have a module that represents results of automated analysis of the data to highlight at least the known unknowns (and if you are really good, some unknown unknowns!).

In case you are unable to build your own system or module, please leverage the automated intelligence alerts in Google Analytics. And for the known unknowns, do remember to set up relevant custom alerts.

Closing Thoughts.

We should strive for the best strategic dashboards in the world. Our leaders deserve nothing less!

But, it is of value to create great tactical dashboards for people in our company with enough connection to data and reality. The seven modules above cover your entire business, and leverage important frameworks in their presentation (critical few metrics, obsessing about people, focusing on acquisition, behavior and outcomes).

When it comes time to pull it all together, here's my recommendation for what your dashboard could look like…

A dashboard module on the left, a text box with the insights, actions and business impact (IABI) on the right. Please click on the above image for a higher resolution version.

Your executives will be informed, advised and will take every action you recommend, and then some more.

Life will be… glorious.

I wish you all the very best!

As always, it is your turn now.

Which of the seven modules is your favorite? Is there one that you tend to use across multiple companies/divisions? What does your favorite dashboard module, from any too, contain? Which facet of a digital business do the above modules ignore? There are lots of compromises in picking the critical few metrics, which compromise goes too far? What else would you add to fix it?

Please take a moment to share to your delightful comments, insightful suggestions, valuable examples via the comment form below.

Thank you.

Smart Dashboard Modules: Insightful Dimensions And Best Metrics is a post from: Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik

Where do you start when building a community from scratch? In past posts, we have shared tips for success in planning a community and ways to promote your community, but today we will share some practical steps when launching a brand new community. We’re assuming that you have already defined the purpose of your new forum and have the software up and running.

1- Set the forum to display a list of recent a discussions as your “homepage view” to encourage interactions. A list of recent threads across all categories makes it easier for new members and first time visitors to see what’s trending in the community and increase the odd that they will engage in discussion. Categories are not so important in new forums. You can certainly create a few categories when starting but let them naturally “evolve” instead of creating too many right away. Once there is significant content, switching to a category homepage might make sense. You can use your analytics to see what leads to more engagement.

2 -Seed the community with topics that start discussions and leverage any existing content you have. A common mistake is having no or too little content upon launch. Just like people shy away from being first on the dance floor at a party, having some active discussions going right away will help. Create at least 10 discussions, use existing collateral, ask questions and solicit opinions. Once thing to avoid is to create puppet accounts and stage fake discussions. Recruit colleagues and friends to get those early discussions going.

3-SEO will play a big part of getting new members, so think hard before launching your forum in private mode. It’s sometimes tempting to offer the forum as a value add to customers or registered members and restrict access. A private forum won’t get indexed by search engines, which will help drive traffic and get you to critical mass. There are some exceptions:

• You have a really big brand and people will seek you out. The same applies to celebrities.
• Making it part of an existing premium membership that is already well established.
• Limiting access and support to paid customers. This makes sense if you offer a high-end or expensive product. You may wish to consider a hybrid setup where you have a public “Pre-sales Questions” category.

Once your community gets to critical mass, you can make it private or semi-private by restricting certain categories.

4-Get the word out and recruit members. You have finally got things ready to invite some people. Start with your close knit friends and colleagues to test things out and listen to their suggestions. The truth is, though, this group will probably not be the hardcore users of your community. So what should you do? Well it depends on how your forum integrates into your eco-system. If you have an existing website, here are some ways to make sure it’s properly promoted:

• Make sure you promote it all over your website including in your main navigation. The more launch fanfare and exposure, the faster you’ll grow your membership.
• Place ad tiles or banners on your website to let users know about the community.
• Add community content to existing newsletters or email marketing campaigns.
• Include the community information on transactional emails, not just your email newsletter.
• Have your customer service agents and sales team tell customers and potential customers about your community.
• Invite discussions on topics from your blog, and also on social media posts where it makes sense.

There are many more ways of promoting your new forum, you just need to get creative.

5- Ensure you welcome and engage with users as soon as you can when they make their first post. Most communities have a large percentage of lurkers, it’s been found that in some cases it can be as high as 99%. So when someone finally engages you will want to make sure you respond. While it would be great to respond to all new posts within an hour, make it a goal to make sure someone interacts to all new posts/members within the same day. Once your community gets going you can recruit people to keep a lookout for new members, and ensure new members get some sort of reaction. By providing some sort of acknowledgement within the first 24 hours, you are making new members feel welcome, instead of feeling ignored.

Summary

Too often a community is hidden on a company website or there is a lack of clear plan or purpose for its very existence. Take the time to create a plan and ensure you leverage your existing website and content. Make it easy for people to engage and ensure you interact with these new users as soon as possible. There are many more strategies to get your launch off successfully, but the above tips should help you get started.

Now it’s your turn. Are there more tips for launching a community from scratch? Share them in the comments.

10 Ways to Supercharge Your B2B Lead Generation Efforts written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

B2B lead generation seems to be a mystery to many marketers. Just do a search on the topic and you’ll find little that’s helpful.

In my opinion, there are two reasons for this. One – people are searching for that one killer lead tactic that will mask all ills or, Two – people fail to realize that successful B2B lead generation is made up of activities that are by nature very hard to quantify and pin down.

The latter then leads to plenty of articles spouting the virtues of practices such as inbound marketing and content marketing, but little hard advice on how to make any of it pay.

Here’s my take – the real problem lies in the fact that you don’t simply generate a lead today, you guide it.

You can no longer run an ad that say’s “hey, we’ve got what you’re looking for come and get it” and expect much. Once a prospect actually knows what they are looking for, they’re already looking for a price.

Nope, it’s a process that involves many components working together that just happen to culminate in “a lead or click,” but know this, that click isn’t the thing; it’s merely the vehicle. Don’t get caught in the trap of relying on that kind of measure to show you what’s working.

Proper lead generation – or lead guiding – goes more like this – 1) Hey, here’s the real problem you need to address, 2) hey, here are a couple ways you might start to think about that problem, 3) hey, here’s one specific way to solve that problem and maybe, just maybe, 4) hey, here’s why we might be the right one to help you fix that problem.

This kind of process comes to life in the combination of the right activities delivered at the right time in the customer’s journey. It takes a mindset of consistently calling to action while consistently offering to loop a prospect back into consuming more content.

Below are ten B2B lead generation practices that must be used in some combination to guide the act of building a steady stream of highly qualified leads. No matter if you run a marketing department tasked with generating leads or you’re an individual sales person trying fill the lead gap, this is your plan of action.

1) Answer focused blogging

I know everyone tells you that you must be blogging today, but simply waking up on a Monday and deciding what to say is what leads to immediate blogging burnout. You must blog, but you must do it with intention.

Here’s the easiest way to do that. Go to your sent email folder and find a dozen or so questions you’ve answered from clients and prospective clients.

Now, turn each of those into blog posts.

Then, think about the questions your prospects might be asking or thinking before they ever consider your product or service as a possible solution.

For example, I was speaking to a group of Franchise print shops and asked them to tell me what questions a prospective customer might be asking at the earliest part of the their journey to find a print shop.

As you might have guessed most said things like – can I trust this shop, is there a print shop nearby, what should I print? But here’s the thing – there may be a few that are asking those kinds of question, but most are still asking – “How do I get more sales, how do I find more leads, how do I increase my conversion rates?”

The point is that to make blogging pay as a lead generation source you’ve first got to start answering those kinds of questions.

Dig up as many of those types of questions and put them on an editorial calendar for your blogging efforts for the next six months.

Once you get good at that you can turn a series of relevant posts into other forms of content such as videos and eBooks.

2) Social relationship building

Many B2B businesses are looking for a few dozen good clients, so I find it odd that they get sucked into the friends, likes and followers trap.

Social media as a lead generation tool is simply a really powerful way to build and nurture relationships. Stop using it as a broadcast tool and start thinking about influencing and adding value around 50 or 100 prospects.

Go to LinkedIn and leave all those industry and job title related groups you signed up for and find two or three groups where your actual prospects hang out and look for advice. Start asking and answering questions in these groups. Start building targeted prospect lists in these groups using LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator tool.

Start building trusted relationships based on your expertise and your network, start referring others and connecting these people to the tools, answers and resources they need and you’ll start to generation the right leads in social media.

3) Seminars and webinars

For many B2B lead generation environments, the most effective tactic involves in person education through events like seminars and webinars.

When a prospect gets to see and hear that you provide valuable advice, that you seem like a nice enough sort and that you have an answer or two for the precise challenges they are struggling with at the moment, some instant magic can occur.

Never mind that from a content creation stand point the ongoing series you create can also be turned into a powerful trust building asset or even a product in itself.

Here are some examples created by Duct Tape Marketing Consultants Vicki James and Kevin Jordan.

Like so many of the tactics in this post, this one relies on integration and follow-up via one or more of the tactics listed here.

4) Sponsor and be sponsored

We all want referrals, right? There’s no question that the best form of lead generation is the right kind of referral ushered to your door. And yet, few people actively promote this very form of lead generation – if it happens, it happens by accident.

I’ve built the bulk of my consulting and speaking business on the sponsor and be sponsored concept.

Here’s how it works.

Create an information rich, education focused eBook and/or webinar and reach out to other related businesses and ask them if they would like to cobrand the eBook or offer the webinar to their network free of charge.

Many know that they should be offering this kind of information, but haven’t gotten around to it so they will see your offer as a blessing and you’ll receive the benefit of essentially being referred to their entire network.

I’ve used this idea in tandem to great effect as well.

An organization will ask me to speak to their members and I’ll double up by allowing them to use an eBook I’ve created related to the topic. This way I reach the members in attendance, but I’ll also gain awareness throughout the group and give those that heard me speak deeper insight into how they could work with me.

But, you don’t have to stop there.

Go out and find someone else’s great eBook or webinar and arrange to cobrand that content as a lead generation magnet for yourself. One of the more popular lead capture options I have on my site is an eBook on Fee Based Selling written by my friends at FreshBooks.

Slideshare is a great site for finding people that might be great webinar guests and a search on Google for “yourtopic” filetype:pdf will turn up nothing but eBook related to the topics you choose.

5) Sequential lead magnets

I went fly fishing recently and I found this clear deep hole in the river where fish were actively rising to the top to eat. Things had been pretty slow to that point so I put some dry flies on and cast right on their noses.

Immediately my targeted fish rose, took a look and swam away. I kept at it, offering new casts and new flies and eventually after a number of presentations I would catch the fish.

Few things generate quality leads like a series of sequential offers that lead prospects deeper and deeper into your educational grip.

By setting up a process that by nature moves your prospect along, exposes them to increasingly valuable content and opportunities to get to know your approach better you set up relationship where it begins to feel as though you are working with a client as opposed to nurturing a lead.

You can accomplish this process through a sequential series of videos or even a series of checklists, each offering more pieces to the puzzle. One of the keys to this approach is that you sell the value of the series and set the expectation that your prospect is going on a journey of value.

6) Small batch direct mail

I return once again to the idea of smaller is better. I know we all want to do that blast thing and have it rain leads, but the more personal you can get the better.

You will receive far greater results targeting 50 or 100 ideal prospects a month and reaching out with a personalized letter outlining one highly actionable idea than any other form of mass communication out there.

For example, imagine getting a personal letter that included a statement like this: “We’ve found over the years that our customers want to know how to generate more leads. We’ve also found that one of the most effective ways to actually do this is [fill in your killer tactic here]” If you would like to receive more tips like this or learn how to more fully employ this idea please visit our video series here [your URL].”

7) Relevant warm calling

I would never advocate cold calling, although plenty of people still do it. The problem is that the notion of cold implies dumb calling. I still get calls today from people who start off by saying that they would like to come by and spend 30 minutes of my time learning what I do to see if there are any synergies.

First off, let me say that if you use the word synergies you probably aren’t going sell me anything, but further, let me say that it is nearly impossible to not know what my business does – heck, you wouldn’t have to work that hard to have my family medical history and some knowledge of my music and food choices, so no call should ever be cold.

Picking up the phone and connecting after thoroughly researching relevant and personalized discussion topics is how you create warm calls.

Let’s back up to the previous point concerning small batch direct mail. A powerful way to up the response of said small batch mail is to claim in that letter that you intend to call the recipient next Tuesday to talk about several more ways they can increase their sales.

Very affordable technology exists today that would let you know which of the letter recipients visited the link in your letter and might just be ready for a call. Most marketing automation tools such as those from Marketo, Infusionsoft and Salesforce incorporate this kind of technology.

You can begin to inject this idea into other lead generation elements as well. If you have a webinar sign up form start asking for phone numbers. You don’t have to make it mandatory, but try reaching out to a few that provide the number simply as a way to make sure they have what they need, offer to answer questions about the event or even send them a tool for note taking.

You don’t have to be a pest when you call people, in fact, don’t sell, just be useful. Even useful voice message follow ups will let people know you are human and aren’t going to hard sell anything.

Reaching out via the telephone in a useful manner will help build trust for your other lead generation initiatives.

8) Smart networking

My friend Derek Coburn has written a tremendous book on networking called – Networking Is Not Working. If you have not read it highly recommend.

Coburn debunks the value of the traditional meet and dump kind of networking that people tend to waste their time doing.

If you want to make networking pay you have to look at it as a tool for connecting others rather than getting connected.

Here’s the difference – instead of reaching into LinkedIn to see who you can connect with, reach into your existing network and find a handful of people that need to meet some shining stars in your network.

In fact, start looking to connect with more and more people who can help your connections instead of help you.

When you view networking as your opportunity to build bridges that help others – guess what happens – you become a lead magnet.

Yes this takes time and effort and it can be hard to quantify right off the bat, but building lead momentum isn’t for those who are afraid of work.

9) Interview ideal clients

I intentionally stayed away from the word podcast because so many people don’t want to be podcasters. Here’s the thing though, I don’t want you be a podcaster any more than I want you to be a blogger – but you absolutely must have a blog!

Here’s what I want you to do. Create a podcast so you can gain access to your ideal clients in a highly leveraged way.

If you want to work with CEOs of mid size manufacturing companies then create a show where you interview successful CEOs of mid size manufacturing companies who just happen to be happy to share their journey to success with your listeners.

Okay, maybe you don’t have any listeners, but your guests don’t need to know that and while you are building your following you’ll be getting some awesome content that helps you build authority in the space you work and just might land you in a conversation with a prime prospect.

Podcasting is not as complicated as it might sound and there are plenty of resources, such as The Podcast Answer Man, to help teach you what you need to know to turn this into a lead generation play.

10) Paid traffic

I’ve placed advertising as the final piece of the B2B lead generation list not because I don’t think it has much value, but because it’s so much more effective when you are doing many of the other elements prior to buying ads.

Ironically advertising is the easiest tactic – anyone with some cash can throw up ads and generate a few clicks and maybe even leads with very little effort. The only problem is that the leads are often uneducated and unqualified.

The way to create the highest quality leads is to invest in teaching them how to be ideal clients. When you employ many of the previous tactics you can use your advertising to drive prospects to any number of educational opportunities, such as video tips, webinars, eBooks, and, now that you have one, your podcast, knowing that the traffic you send to these elements will do the proper job of educating and ultimately selling.

Here’s some of my favorite plays for paid traffic

• Facebook look alike audiences – check out Jon Loomer’s great explanation of this fairly new Facebook advertising option
• Syndicated content – My get sponsored tactic above is a form of syndication but paid options such as Outbrain can be effective ways to get your owned media assets and content in from of targeted leads. Neil Patel of QuickSprout has a great tutorial on Content Syndication
• Pay per click and retargeting – Check out Wordstream’s PPC Uninversity –  and AdSpringr

You’ve probably run across some of these suggestions in search for lead generation answers, but the real point here is that you’ve got to employ numerous lead generation tactics, working together, in order to create lead momentum.

How to combat marketing misbeliefs from colleagues that can kill profit

Marketers, by nature, are persuasive humans, yet sometimes they’re stifled by management’s delusions.

In my career, I’ve observed several misconceptions that interfere with effective marketing and, ultimately, prevent the company from growing and becoming more profitable. The reasons behind this are many and varied, but it usually relates to misbeliefs depending on managers’ previous experiences. It might be because managers don’t believe in a certain type of marketing investment, or they might simply consider the marketing department a mere backup to the sales team.

Whatever the case, if you’ve ever approached your C-suite executives with a killer marketing plan backed by concrete principles only to be shot down because they can’t imagine doing things differently, you’re not alone. However, if you prepare for possible ‘pushback’, you can present sound rationales for the importance of marketing efforts.

5 Deadly Marketing Misbeliefs

Here are five common marketing misbeliefs and  how marketers can address them:

• Misbelief 1. ‘We don’t have a marketing budget.’ Every company should have a defined marketing budget. In my experience 3 to 5 percent of net income to marketing is a rule-of-thumb for a minimum. Your C-suite needs to know that every business is in the business of marketing. Now, there are some exceptions to the 3 to 5 percent rule, but not many. The exceptions probably don’t apply to you.
• Misbelief 2. ‘We are B2B; we don’t need marketing.’  B2B doesn’t mean there is less need for marketing budget. Far from it. You’re not marketing to a business; you’re marketing to a decision-maker (i.e., a person), so all marketing is effectively B2C. All clients have emotions, and those emotions are going to affect their decisions. If a business is putting out sub-par marketing campaigns and collateral, then that lack of detail and effort is going to affect future relations.
• Misbelief 3. ‘We’ve never spent money on marketing before.’ If management isn’t satisfied with where the company is, then that’s probably the reason. Marketing makes a large impact on a company. It’s a virtual sales force working 24/7 to bring in new leads, qualify them, pre-sell them, and build brand recognition.
• Misbelief‘ 4. Our competitors aren’t spending any money on marketing.‘ That’s great! The company can get a head start and increase its market share with less investment. Competitors won’t know what hit them.
• Misbelief 5. ‘Our business is unique; marketing doesn’t apply to us.‘ No matter how unique, boring, or unusual the industry, marketing has been shown to work. Customers can’t read minds. You have to show them the value your product provides. Even if you’re the only one in the market, you can use marketing and branding to solidify your market authority.Instead of being put back on your heels when a competitor shows up after laying in the weeds and learning all your weaknesses like a velociraptor, you can show your dominance like a male peacock and keep would-be competitors from ever trying their hand.

Anticipating these misconceptions and preparing the appropriate responses won’t guarantee success. However, you can use your marketing know-how to increase your chances. When you’re selling an idea to C-suite executives, clearly outline what’s in it for them, and portray yourself as a credible source.

Prepare your marketing plan

One critical piece of persuasion for executives is ROI. Specify the ROI you’re aiming for, and back up your claims. Laying out a concrete plan for how you will achieve this ROI will increase the chances of buy-in.

Although marketing departments are usually hesitant to promise specific ROI, if you remember that it doesn’t always have to be strictly financial, you might feel more comfortable with this approach.

Here are three tips for using ROI to make a stronger case for your marketing plan:

Tip 1. Choose the right ROI measure(s)

Net profit increase is the ultimate ROI, but it could also be a host of other things. For example, for a technology company, ROI could mean the number of users. For a company that’s spending money training new staff due to a high turnover rate, an important ROI would be employee loyalty.

Think about what really matters to your unique C-suite. What results would make them go outside their comfort zone?

Tip 2. Include measurement in your marketing plan

Now that you know which metric you’ll be tracking, make plans to measure it. Be absolutely sure you can trace results back to your marketing efforts, or someone may attribute them to external forces. If that occurs, then the next time you go back to the C-suite, you won’t really have any usable data to back up your credibility.

If your ROI is an increase in phone orders, for example, use a unique telephone number in your marketing campaign. Where applicable, A/B test everything, track results, adapt, and repeat. When you can visually chart your ROI, your C-suite will be more easily convinced.

Tip 3. Share your results with the C-Suite

If you’re unable to deliver the ROI you promised, it may be tempting to hide the results. But don’t give in to this temptation. Show the C-suite what you learned — even if it’s what not to do. Use the results to propose adjustments for the next iteration of the marketing strategy. They’ll understand the investment side of this.

It’s crucial for marketing professionals to identify and ‘fix’ these mindsets. Help your C-suite develop a healthy appreciation for what marketing is and what it can accomplish for the company.

The right marketing mindset in the C-suite will improve communication — starting with clearer expectations of the marketing department. When everyone knows what you’re tracking and how it contributes to the underlying goals, employees will be happier because they know what’s expected and how to achieve it.

Happier employees are more productive, which will ultimately lead to a larger bottom line. It’s a continuous cycle.

Some C-suites are more challenging than others. However, part of our responsibility as marketing professionals is to continue educating the C-suite (and all employees for that matter) on what marketing is about. It will make your job easier, your marketing campaigns more effective, your C-suite better leaders, and ultimately, your company more profitable.