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Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
Sigma-Aldrich is another B2B company that has harnessed the power of Facebook to drive bottom-line results.
Sigma produces chemicals and lab products that scientists use in their experiments. You can see their Facebook profile here. They created a fascinating campaign promoted on Facebook and through Twitter to get actual users of these products fired-up about the brand. They then use the end-users enthusiasm to act as a sales team to the key decision makers internally in those companies.
Sigma is using their online marketing campaign to solicit scientists to submit user-created testimonials of their insights and passion in advancing the frontiers of biology in the lab. Also, they use the social presence for contests to design t-shirts and other items that are low-cost branding aids. All of this combines to form a relatively inexpensive campaign to motivate end users.
Frequently, in a B2B world, the end user isn’t a key buyer; in this case it is the lab manager or company executive. Sigma understands this. Their full time sales people work the buyer end of the equation. But they use social media to motivate influencers. This tactic is called "persona-based marketing" - they segment the typical buyer for one set of tactics and messaging; and another set of messaging and positioning for the end user. The websites directed towards these very different groups of people could not be more different. One is focused on products and ultimately prices; the other on the experience of being a scientist.
If you want to talk about your B2B marketing options, drop us a line!
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Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
Hubspot has an informative slideshare - here that lists 15 B2B companies that have enjoyed success through online marketing.
Steel Master USA, a maker of pre-fabricated metal structures has taken Facebook by storm. Here is a B2B with over 8,000 fans.
Their Facebook page gets a lot of attention and really generates excitement around something that a lot of people might not think at first glance is really "cool."
That’s the whole strategy. Their energy and presence outside the normal building advertising ecosystem - certainly a high-touch sale, let’s them reach customers who would never ordinarily consider one of their solutions. Pre-fabricated buildings are supposed to be purchased for convenience, cost, and a temporary purpose.
Yet, getting in the face of people who are generally in the market for a structure on Facebook, means that Steel Master will be considered with more scrutiny. Sending a 23 page color brochure (which they have) of their solutions might not sway someone as much as a interesting and light video on facebook - or a human-focused story.
Their strategy gets their offering in front of people who would not ordinarily purchase from them. That’s a winning online marketing strategy. Great job @steelmasterusa!
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Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
You can read the post - here. We regularly check in with the @kissmetrics team to listen to some of their insights, and recommend you do the same. This latest post really drives home the fact that online marketing (including social media) are really enabling standard, offline businesses close deals.
While the examples they provide are all in the B2C realm, it is important for B2B marketers to really internalize the successes. Going after certain customer segments - especially long tail segments in the B2SMB space requires a web-centric sales process.
Sales teams, cold calling, and trade shows won’t drive profitable revenue from smaller companies or niche offerings. However, properly served via online marketing, these channels can really drive impressive financial results.
In the coming days, we’re going to highlight some traditional B2Bs that are really generating profits through a web-based strategy. Stay tuned!
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Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
The annual survey by Alterian has some interesting things to say about how marketers, and it certainly didn’t pull any punches - click here
The reality is that too many companies fail to execute a rigorous social media strategy. Social Media has a unique ability to craft an opinion about a brand. This is due to the interconnectedness of the networks and the trust people have in peer-sourced input.
Most companies see 2011 as a growth year for their social media strategy, but don’t really know how to execute one. Doing well in the social space isn’t just about showing up. Success on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook comes from a disciplined approach. Social Media is an endurance race, so - not only do you need the right tactics, you need to keep them going for a long time. Ad hoc efforts never work.
If you want to review your social media strategy, drop us a line!
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Thursday, February 24th, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
Marketing.co.uk shares some interesting date in their recent post - here. Online video usage is up 45% in the 12 months Jan 10 to Jan 11. The number of viewers, however, was not up much at all. So, the conclusion is that people are watching a lot more video.
Given that video is becoming more and more central to the standard web experience - how are you addressing this in your website?
It is important to use video - even just a slideshare with a voice-over to make your content more compelling. Users are simply not willing or interested to digest large amounts of text. Your customers absorb information in a video-centric way.
This is important in the B2B space particularly where product value propositions can be complex to explain. The folks at Dropbox have no text to explain their product. Instead they rely on a video to do all the talking. Dropbox must be doing something right, they have 4-6 million users. According to Forbes, virtually all of their paying customers are using the tool for work. So, Dropbox would have done better to target them specifically in the demo.
Drop us a line if you want to discuss how you can better reach your customers with an engaging web experience.
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Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
Econsultancy has a good post - here - on the importance of not forgetting about your traditional marketing efforts.
Not all of your customers are glued to their twitter feed! In fact, depending on your industry, it is possible that very few are. And, increasingly, people are reaching a messaging saturation point in terms of online marketing messaging.
The wave of analytical tracking solutions that have sprung-up to add measurable ROI information to your online solutions are increasingly integrating into offline efforts as well. Use custom business cards with different phone numbers or even email addresses to judge the effectiveness of different trade shows, conferences, or networking events.
Remember also: tying offline marketing to online execution is vital. The two approaches to marketing are most effective when deployed jointly. For example, I saw a Realtor sign outside of a house that had contact phone and custom property-specific web URL on the sign. Different people will be comfortable in reaching out to you in different ways. It is important to capture offline-focused customers.
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Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
@hubspot - here - has a great video on their site describing how to add a customized landing page for your Facebook campaign.
The Facebook fan page is a vital component of your social media strategy. Having a customized on-brand page is critical to stand out as an established business. Many B2B companies don’t think that Facebook is for them. The reality is very different.
Your potential customers are on Facebook. In the B2SMB space particularly, there isn’t a clear separation in time of day, between a work activity and a pleasure/consumer activity. Being on Facebook lets you fish where you’re target swims!
If you’ve looked at the statistics, and you are still on the fence about starting a Facebook campaign, here are 3 quick tips that will make your campaign easier to start and give it a purpose:
Setting up a Facebook social media presence does not take a great deal of effort. Content populated into it can be easily syndicated from areas where you are spending more social energy (LinkedIn, Twitter, or your blog)
Generating a body of fans should be part of your customer on-boarding process (why not 5% off for "liking" you on Facebook?)
Put thought-leadership items behind the "like" activity for your demand generation efforts. This is much better than getting someone’s gmail address they use only for spam.
Drop a line if you’d like to talk to us about developing a Facebook axis to your social media plan.
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Monday, February 21st, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
Copyblogger’s latest post - here gets us back to the basics: Write in a way that makes your readers really compelled to pay attention.
Too ofter product descriptions focus on software features and not on the value solutions offer to enrich lives. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting business leaders and software developers of B2B offerings that are so focused on the specifications of their products that they don’t see the profound value they are creating.
As you describe what you bring to market, remember to make your case in impactful, engaging language. Show the world that you’re excited about your product. Part of this is in the messaging and positioning of the product, and part of it is to develop assets where you show thought leadership and excitement about your industry.
In terms of messaging and positioning - remember that you want to engage your customers the way they want to engage with you. Consider video or interactive resources so that your customer can really experience your site, and not just read it.
In terms of showing thought leadership - create a buffer to competition by showing your customers that starting a business relationship with you means gaining the value of your expertise beyond just the specifications of a tool.
If you want help developing the right tone and web assets to make your customers fall in love with your B2B solution, reach out!
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Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
Founded by veterans from Salesforce.com, @Zuora is an online billing and payments management company. Zuora’s "Z-Billing" platform seeks to make it easy for cloud-based companies to monetize their solutions in various ways. So far, so good! Trying to find out what this solution costs is a challenge, however!
I first came across Zuora via this article on techcrunch that quoted the a 2% of invoiced dollars. Interested in knowing what the pricing options were, I went to their site - but there was no pricing information to be found. An email to sales hasn’t been replied to in 2 days.
What is Zuora’s goal in hiding their pricing structure? Who knows? In addition to the tech press, their competitors are broadcasting Zuora’s pricing structure - see this link. So they don’t gain anything in keeping it close to their vest.
Zuora would do well to imitate help desk software gurus Zendesk who make pricing clearly accessible from the home page. Zuora has a great product, from what I’ve heard - so don’t take this post as any kind of judgement against the company. Their leadership team is guided by cloud visionary, CEO Tien Tzuo. I think their marketing strategy could use a little refresh though.
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Friday, February 11th, 2011 from Mural Consulting Blog
@Zendesk - here makes a critical point: bad customer service drives lost revenue. Too many business leaders see bad customer service as simply a way to cut costs.
How many businesses put their phone number on their website? How many have instant chat on live during the work day? How many businesses have customers or prospect talk to an agent who can really answer questions accurately and right wrongs in an account?
Marketing and customer support need to come together to really help the customer, not get in the way. With so many companies oblivious to the effects of poor customer service, actually providing good customer service is a powerful and hard to duplicate competitive advantage.
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