It isn’t often that someone writes EXACTLY what I’ve been preaching to B2B clients for years. But today, Josh Sternberg nailed it in his column in Digiday. Hats off to Josh, my guest blogger. I have reprinted his article here, unedited. Thanks Josh!
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Digital media has emboldened many brands to consider themselves publishers. After all, American Express has credibility on financial matters and Coke has a network 36 million Facebook fans. Who needs publishers to serve as intermediaries?
The problem is publishing is a lot harder than it looks, or rather it’s a lot harder to do it with the consistency, day after day, that’s needed to build a long-term audience. That’s leading some brands to hook onto the idea that their role lies more in the curation of content.
Curation is the vogue digital term for the ability to not only aggregate and distribute carefully selected information, but also to provide a unique voice on top of the original pieces of information. In the age of Twitter and Facebook, it seems like all the world is curators now. Brands want in on the action.
Brands are trying to establish themselves as trusted sources of information. Hop onto Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr, and you’ll see brands that gather up articles from all sorts of publications and push them out to their followers. For example, look at IBM’s Tumblr, A Smarter Planet, which is a stream of curated content focused on areas of Big Blue’s core competencies. Or there’s American Express’ Open Forum Tumblr (yes, Tumblr is apparently a good platform for curation) that has cultivated a business community online by providing relevant tools and information to help business owners succeed.
“If a brand is an expert in a certain topic, their reputation might make them a credible source of information,” said Neil Chase, svp of editing and publishing at Federated Media. “But if a company that makes toasters gives health advice, they might not be credible. If they’re sending out recipes, that’s a reason to trust them.”
There’s little doubt that brands can amass sizable audiences of their own nowadays. Show me a chief marketing officer who isn’t interested in an owned, earned, paid media model — often in that order — and I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. It’s been four and a half years since Nike marketing chief Trevor Edwards plaintively said, “We’re not in the business of keeping media companies alive.” Translation: We can build direct connections with audiences, thank you very much.
The devil is in the details. Brands aren’t set up to be publishers. They don’t necessarily understand the editorial process or have the stomach for the length of time it takes to build an audience. Take AmEx’s OpenForum, for instance. It took four years to get 1 million people aboard, and now it gets about 150,000 unique visitors per month. They have the resources to build and cultivate an audience others may not. Additionally, OpenForum was put on the shoulders of the end-user: small-business owners. These business owners are able to communicate and share ideas with one another, but they must be American Express Cardmembers. AmEx recognized the need to provide small-business owners with a connection platform and information that will help their business succeed.
“Not everyone is meant to be a storyteller,” said Colleen Decroucy, CEO of Socialistic, a social media agency. “Brands, as marketers, are trying to have these conversations and what do they have the right to own and see any ROI off of that.”
Publishing content in 2012 can be immensely complex or surprisingly simple, depending on your approach. Curation straddles the line. It can be difficult figuring out not only what tools to use, but also what platforms and, of course, what content to share. The plus side is that once you do figure out how you want to curate — how it becomes part of your broader communications strategy — it’s pretty easy to establish a voice.
Steve Rubel, Edelman’s evp of global strategy and insights, suggests brands start by having an editorial point of view and deciding where the content will live — the brand’s site or aggregation sites like Tumblr or Pinterest.
“The best way to do it is to identify a high-interest topic that you want to be perceived as an expert in,” he said. “Curate that topic and provide some context around it. If you’re curating a lot of content in a topic area, over time that leads to expertise and credibility.”
Brands need to be careful in not only what, but how much they curate. There can’t be articles that make the reader question why a brand is sharing it. Also, brands need to make sure they’re not just regurgitating content, but instead offering readers/followers valuable information, as readers will quickly determine the curated content — and thus the brand — is not worth their time. Since consumers have their own tools for curating – Storify, Storyful, etc. – brands have to know each of their customers and have the credibility in their field to get consumers to trust the content they spread.
“It takes time to build that reputation, whether creator or curator,” said Chase. “It might take faster if you’re good at what you do, but you still have to get it up and running. You’re competing with a lot of other stuff in people’s in-boxes.”
There’s also a limit to what curation can do. At the end of day, if brands want to be publishers, they need to put in the hard work, warns Jonah Bloom, KBS+P’s executive director of content strategy. “It’s more likely that original content changes minds than just being a filter,” he said.
Showing posts with label B2B marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B2B marketing. Show all posts
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Building Brand Loyalty -- One Contact at a Time
Okay I admit it. Today I was impressed by a sales guy from a company called Vovici – and believe me when I say, I am not easily impressed.
It all started this morning when I was sorting through my in-box, finger poised over the “DELETE” key, and I noticed an email from Direct Marketing News Whitepaper of the Day. It offered a free whitepaper on ‘The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty.’
As a marketer I was intrigued. So I clicked on the link. Not surprising, a registration form popped up... and, like a good little soldier I filled out the form (knowing all the while that my contact information would be dumped into someone’s database for future follow up). After clicking “Submit” I reached another page with a laundry list of whitepapers.
Unfortunately, none of those whitepapers were the one advertised. Hmmm... I’m thinking. Somebody screwed up.
So I clicked on a different whitepaper (yep, still interested) but another registration box appeared. So now I’m cranky.
I find a “Contact us” link at the bottom of the page, and scribble a helpful little email note as follows:
Subject: Email Problem
You send out an email offering a whitepaper “The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty” – I filled out the form, but it took me to a page that there were 6 whitepapers but none by this title...
Then, when I did try to download a different whitepaper, it took me back to the registration page.
So, when you discover that your email campaign was not generating qualified leads, you now know why...
We design and develop B2B lead generation programs. When you realize this campaign effort didn’t work and you created a negative impression about Vovici, let me know. Perhaps we can help.
I hit the “Send” key and then notice an email in my IN-BOX with a link to the original whitepaper I had requested. Err...umm...
Suddenly the phone rings and my call display shows Vovici, the company I had just emailed. Wow. That took like, seconds for them to respond!
At the other end was a very friendly Vovici sales guy who patiently listened to my complaint and explained that I must have clicked past the page telling me they would email me my link and probably clicked on the link to read additional whitepapers.
But — and here’s the impressive part — he was very interested in my feedback, my user experience with the email and links, and my B2B marketing advice.
Naturally I shared a few best practice tips with him, and since he felt they were helpful, I thought I’d share them with you, too:
1. Don’t design your whitepapers (or any other downloadable document for that matter) with a heavy use of bleeds. It eats up printer toner.
2. Make sure you don’t use darker backgrounds with type over it for call-out boxes or sidebars. It turns into a big unreadable blob when it’s printed.
3. Often, to save paper, people don’t print the front cover of the document, so make sure your company’s contact information (name, phone number and email address) are on the bottom of every page. Especially since folks often just print specific pages or sections of a larger document.
4. Avoid the use of a lot of photography. Again, unless it’s adding a compelling insight to the story, it just eats up ink toner.
5. If you include charts or graphs, make sure they can print properly if the recipient prints in black and white. Don’t count on the end user to have (or want to use) their color printer.
6. If you offer a free paper/document as a lead generation device, make sure you test the user experience before you make the offer. Once I fill out a form, I don’t want to keep filling out forms to get additional documents. If your back end system can’t handle it, don’t make the offer – or provide a link with your follow-up/thank you email that carries my contact information on it so at least the form can be pre-filled for me.
Oh, and one more thing... make it someone’s responsibility to follow up on emails immediately, cranky or otherwise. It creates a GREAT brand impression.
It all started this morning when I was sorting through my in-box, finger poised over the “DELETE” key, and I noticed an email from Direct Marketing News Whitepaper of the Day. It offered a free whitepaper on ‘The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty.’
As a marketer I was intrigued. So I clicked on the link. Not surprising, a registration form popped up... and, like a good little soldier I filled out the form (knowing all the while that my contact information would be dumped into someone’s database for future follow up). After clicking “Submit” I reached another page with a laundry list of whitepapers.
Unfortunately, none of those whitepapers were the one advertised. Hmmm... I’m thinking. Somebody screwed up.
So I clicked on a different whitepaper (yep, still interested) but another registration box appeared. So now I’m cranky.
I find a “Contact us” link at the bottom of the page, and scribble a helpful little email note as follows:
Subject: Email Problem
You send out an email offering a whitepaper “The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty” – I filled out the form, but it took me to a page that there were 6 whitepapers but none by this title...
Then, when I did try to download a different whitepaper, it took me back to the registration page.
So, when you discover that your email campaign was not generating qualified leads, you now know why...
We design and develop B2B lead generation programs. When you realize this campaign effort didn’t work and you created a negative impression about Vovici, let me know. Perhaps we can help.
I hit the “Send” key and then notice an email in my IN-BOX with a link to the original whitepaper I had requested. Err...umm...
Suddenly the phone rings and my call display shows Vovici, the company I had just emailed. Wow. That took like, seconds for them to respond!
At the other end was a very friendly Vovici sales guy who patiently listened to my complaint and explained that I must have clicked past the page telling me they would email me my link and probably clicked on the link to read additional whitepapers.
But — and here’s the impressive part — he was very interested in my feedback, my user experience with the email and links, and my B2B marketing advice.
Naturally I shared a few best practice tips with him, and since he felt they were helpful, I thought I’d share them with you, too:
1. Don’t design your whitepapers (or any other downloadable document for that matter) with a heavy use of bleeds. It eats up printer toner.
2. Make sure you don’t use darker backgrounds with type over it for call-out boxes or sidebars. It turns into a big unreadable blob when it’s printed.
3. Often, to save paper, people don’t print the front cover of the document, so make sure your company’s contact information (name, phone number and email address) are on the bottom of every page. Especially since folks often just print specific pages or sections of a larger document.
4. Avoid the use of a lot of photography. Again, unless it’s adding a compelling insight to the story, it just eats up ink toner.
5. If you include charts or graphs, make sure they can print properly if the recipient prints in black and white. Don’t count on the end user to have (or want to use) their color printer.
6. If you offer a free paper/document as a lead generation device, make sure you test the user experience before you make the offer. Once I fill out a form, I don’t want to keep filling out forms to get additional documents. If your back end system can’t handle it, don’t make the offer – or provide a link with your follow-up/thank you email that carries my contact information on it so at least the form can be pre-filled for me.
Oh, and one more thing... make it someone’s responsibility to follow up on emails immediately, cranky or otherwise. It creates a GREAT brand impression.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Paperless communication is NOT a green initiative
I love direct mail. I like the feel of it in my hands. I love a brilliantly crafted package that has been perfectly targeted to ME based on my habits, life stage, or past behavior. I gaze lovingly at gorgeous visuals beautifully reproduced as if by magic, from masses of ink dots soaked into paper.
I admire, no revel, in a clever headline, that guides me to a story laid out in front of me. If executed properly, that story creates a desire for the product or service, and guides me to visit a web site, call a toll-free number, or (gasp!) return a reply device in a postage-paid envelope.
And I know I’m not the only one.
But I have been told — repeatedly — that I am in a dying industry.
Email, they shout gleefully, has replaced direct mail. “The USPS will be out of business soon!” one digital designer recently pronounced.
Those of you who have read my blogs know I believe that email has a short life span as a viable be-all-end-all marketing channel. So I won’t rehash that argument.
But the whole “green” message around paperless communication, is really making me lose my cool.
“Stop killing trees!” they cry. (They look at me with disgust, as if I’m an axe murderer.)
The recent Kaiser Permanente radio campaign caught my attention because it takes the whole “paper-less” concept and exploits it as their own contribution to re-greening America. It brags that KP keeps all their medical records electronically, thereby saving trees and “proving” how green they are.
Give me a break.
While I applaud KP for storing my health record electronically so they can quickly and easily access it when I’m lying unconscious on that gurney, my B+ blood gushing over my bloodied body, you’re NOT doing it so you can be part of the green revolution.
For some reason, there is a belief among consumers that the pulp and paper industry blithely attacks any forested area they can get their hands on, and mows down 100-year old redwoods. But here’s the real truth: The big paper manufacturers grow trees for the specific purpose of cutting them down to produce paper. Then, they plant new trees to replace them and start the cycle all over again. If all consumers would take their paper and hand it over to be reused, it would be -- over and over again. And that, my friends, is called recycling.
So why doesn’t the paper industry stand up for itself? Why aren’t they spending money educating the masses on the ‘inconvenient truth’ – the reality behind using trees to make paper? Good question!
But hey KP, here’s the question for you: At your gigantic data centers where you store your patient records electronically, how much energy do you consume keeping those mainframes humming? You had to install new computers in every KP room in which the patient comes in contact, in order to retrieve patient records. How much extra energy does that consumer? And how many times does the doctor hit “print” so I can get a copy of that report on my gallbladder? When I leave KP, I get a printed record of my visit. And I receive a postcard in the mail reminding me of my next appointment. Need I go on?
Businesses think they’re going green by refusing to print their collateral any more – “we’re saving trees,” they note with pride.
Instead, they push customers to their websites where the onus is on the consumer to download the information. After they do, they’ll do what all people do: Use their own printer toner and paper to print the material. Then, they’ll use a highlighter to note the salient points… attach a sticky with a notation to pass along to other colleagues, or simply stuff it in their briefcase to read on the commute ride home. Later, they’ll file it and return to review it again and again when they need to refer to a detail.
Net-net is that the business has made it harder for me to consume information about them on my terms and it has increased MY cost (and my time).
I’m not saying that organizations need to print millions of pieces of collateral, but get off the “I’m saving trees” bandwagon. Help your customers and prospects to better understand your products and benefits by delivering information in the form best consumed by your target – whether it be digitally or on paper.
Not everyone wants (or reads) emails. And not everyone wants to spend time on your poorly laid out website trying to dig to find the information they want.
I’m willing to kill another tree if it helps me communicate better to my target and it's helpful to their sales consideration process. Are you?
I admire, no revel, in a clever headline, that guides me to a story laid out in front of me. If executed properly, that story creates a desire for the product or service, and guides me to visit a web site, call a toll-free number, or (gasp!) return a reply device in a postage-paid envelope.
And I know I’m not the only one.
But I have been told — repeatedly — that I am in a dying industry.
Email, they shout gleefully, has replaced direct mail. “The USPS will be out of business soon!” one digital designer recently pronounced.
Those of you who have read my blogs know I believe that email has a short life span as a viable be-all-end-all marketing channel. So I won’t rehash that argument.
But the whole “green” message around paperless communication, is really making me lose my cool.
“Stop killing trees!” they cry. (They look at me with disgust, as if I’m an axe murderer.)
The recent Kaiser Permanente radio campaign caught my attention because it takes the whole “paper-less” concept and exploits it as their own contribution to re-greening America. It brags that KP keeps all their medical records electronically, thereby saving trees and “proving” how green they are.
Give me a break.
While I applaud KP for storing my health record electronically so they can quickly and easily access it when I’m lying unconscious on that gurney, my B+ blood gushing over my bloodied body, you’re NOT doing it so you can be part of the green revolution.
For some reason, there is a belief among consumers that the pulp and paper industry blithely attacks any forested area they can get their hands on, and mows down 100-year old redwoods. But here’s the real truth: The big paper manufacturers grow trees for the specific purpose of cutting them down to produce paper. Then, they plant new trees to replace them and start the cycle all over again. If all consumers would take their paper and hand it over to be reused, it would be -- over and over again. And that, my friends, is called recycling.
So why doesn’t the paper industry stand up for itself? Why aren’t they spending money educating the masses on the ‘inconvenient truth’ – the reality behind using trees to make paper? Good question!
But hey KP, here’s the question for you: At your gigantic data centers where you store your patient records electronically, how much energy do you consume keeping those mainframes humming? You had to install new computers in every KP room in which the patient comes in contact, in order to retrieve patient records. How much extra energy does that consumer? And how many times does the doctor hit “print” so I can get a copy of that report on my gallbladder? When I leave KP, I get a printed record of my visit. And I receive a postcard in the mail reminding me of my next appointment. Need I go on?
Businesses think they’re going green by refusing to print their collateral any more – “we’re saving trees,” they note with pride.
Instead, they push customers to their websites where the onus is on the consumer to download the information. After they do, they’ll do what all people do: Use their own printer toner and paper to print the material. Then, they’ll use a highlighter to note the salient points… attach a sticky with a notation to pass along to other colleagues, or simply stuff it in their briefcase to read on the commute ride home. Later, they’ll file it and return to review it again and again when they need to refer to a detail.
Net-net is that the business has made it harder for me to consume information about them on my terms and it has increased MY cost (and my time).
I’m not saying that organizations need to print millions of pieces of collateral, but get off the “I’m saving trees” bandwagon. Help your customers and prospects to better understand your products and benefits by delivering information in the form best consumed by your target – whether it be digitally or on paper.
Not everyone wants (or reads) emails. And not everyone wants to spend time on your poorly laid out website trying to dig to find the information they want.
I’m willing to kill another tree if it helps me communicate better to my target and it's helpful to their sales consideration process. Are you?
Monday, June 1, 2009
If you build it, will they come?
In B2B marketing, decisionmakers (and influencers) are always gathering information about products before they take the next step in the sales cycle. So how do you make sure they have access to, and get, what they need and want?
Many corporate websites are chock full of product information -- but often located in disparate locations. For a cold prospect, landing on the website home page makes information gathering a daunting, time consuming task.
Instead, build a Resource Center, and organize it such that your target can find and consume it quickly and easily. If you're targeting key verticals, then organize your site by vertical industry. Then, within each vertical, organize your whitepapers, case studies, product spec sheets etc.
Use your outbound marketing efforts to drive targets to that microsite. To determine who is visiting and downloading information, "lock" your pages and require visitors to register before they can access the information. Yes, you will get a few "Mickey Mouse" registrants, but those who are most serious are happy to share who they are -- if you don't ask that pesky "how soon are you looking to purchase?" question. Of course we've all figured out that you'll be calling us first if we answer "within 1 month!".
Be sure to have a plan in place to get a list of who has been visiting your Resource Center every day -- and a plan as to how to follow up with these leads. There is NOTHING more annoying than getting a phone call that says "You downloaded a white paper last month and I'm calling to see if you want more information." My response is "I download lots of whitepapers -- I can't even remember which whitepaper you're talking about, so no, I'm not interested."
A better follow up plan is to have a real reason to follow up -- an invitation to a webinar where a professional user of the product is talking about his/her experience with the product. Or an invitation to a breakfast briefing where some C-level is going to talk about how his/her business was transformed (and the product was part of the solution).
Business leaders are always seeking ideas and ways to make their business more productive. But if you make them do all the work to find out how, or where, they may show up the first time, but they will not come back. Ever.
Many corporate websites are chock full of product information -- but often located in disparate locations. For a cold prospect, landing on the website home page makes information gathering a daunting, time consuming task.
Instead, build a Resource Center, and organize it such that your target can find and consume it quickly and easily. If you're targeting key verticals, then organize your site by vertical industry. Then, within each vertical, organize your whitepapers, case studies, product spec sheets etc.
Use your outbound marketing efforts to drive targets to that microsite. To determine who is visiting and downloading information, "lock" your pages and require visitors to register before they can access the information. Yes, you will get a few "Mickey Mouse" registrants, but those who are most serious are happy to share who they are -- if you don't ask that pesky "how soon are you looking to purchase?" question. Of course we've all figured out that you'll be calling us first if we answer "within 1 month!".
Be sure to have a plan in place to get a list of who has been visiting your Resource Center every day -- and a plan as to how to follow up with these leads. There is NOTHING more annoying than getting a phone call that says "You downloaded a white paper last month and I'm calling to see if you want more information." My response is "I download lots of whitepapers -- I can't even remember which whitepaper you're talking about, so no, I'm not interested."
A better follow up plan is to have a real reason to follow up -- an invitation to a webinar where a professional user of the product is talking about his/her experience with the product. Or an invitation to a breakfast briefing where some C-level is going to talk about how his/her business was transformed (and the product was part of the solution).
Business leaders are always seeking ideas and ways to make their business more productive. But if you make them do all the work to find out how, or where, they may show up the first time, but they will not come back. Ever.
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