Just finished updating a keyword list for a client. Since they provide a seasonal service, it only makes sense to pay to optimize those words that are relevant to the season. You already know this, right?
What's been bouncing around in my mind since the client sent over their ideas for the winter list was a phrase they wanted to include:
Tax rebates.
To say that this is generic is an understatement. They don't offer tax rebates. And the product that they do sell is one of hundreds that qualifies for a tax rebate.
As I think about it, I hear a little voice in my head -- the voice of a former colleague and something of a mentor. He used to say: "You can be anything you want to be. Make up your mind what that is, and promote it."
With all due respect, in the case of search, I beg to differ.
Search is about a customer looking for a specific product or service to fulfill a specific unmet need. (Again, you know this.)
"Searchers" are going to pretty tweaked if they click on your link (I'm talking organic here) only to find that you offer in no way, shape or form, the product or service they want.
The point? When it comes to search, you can't be all things to all people.
This is a lesson I learned first hand while attending a seminar at Google's NY office last year. Organic search works best when specific search terms lead to matching content.
If you're going to take the time to execute an organic search program -- and we suggest that you do especially for B2B -- consider:
-- Who is your best online audience
-- What are they likely to search for
-- What specific need to they want to have met
-- What matching online content can you provide as a search result
-- What are your competitors offering
-- Once they land on your results page, how can you gently lead them through the sales process?
Now get on out there and be yourself!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
(Audience-relevant) Content is King
We're in the early stages of helping a manufacturer based in China enter the U.S. market.
While the details are confidential, let's just say their product line is in a highly competitive market -- one with established, experienced brands with lots of marketing moola to ensure their positioning.
As we prepare to Westernize the brand, we are encountering research that shows the potential for Chinese manufacturers is great in the American market if they can overcome one key dynamic: the preconceived notion that Chinese products can be lacking in quality (because they are low in price).
Well that's okay. We never intended to sell on price.
So why blog about this?
It reinforces one of our most important messages:
Audience relevance is critical to marketing's success.
Fancy campaigns won't move the needle if you fail to understand what motivates buyers and connect their need to your solution. Whether it's a plant manager, a CFO or a college dean. Each buyer is motivated by something specific to their function and the subsequent accountability.
One of the most successful B2B campaigns I ever had the honor to work on took this thinking to the highest level -- for construction equipment of all things. When we worked really hard to understand why target audiences should care if the wheels moved seamlessly over a curb -- and made sure that they understood how this benefitted their role and responsibility...wow, the results.
Understand your audience. Deeply know what motivates them to buy. Truly know your company's and your product's strengths (and weaknesses). Compare them honestly to your competitors.
And craft your marketing messages with the end-user squarely in mind.
If this is the biggest change you make at the end of 2010, or for all of 2011, it might be the one with greatest impact.
While the details are confidential, let's just say their product line is in a highly competitive market -- one with established, experienced brands with lots of marketing moola to ensure their positioning.
As we prepare to Westernize the brand, we are encountering research that shows the potential for Chinese manufacturers is great in the American market if they can overcome one key dynamic: the preconceived notion that Chinese products can be lacking in quality (because they are low in price).
Well that's okay. We never intended to sell on price.
So why blog about this?
It reinforces one of our most important messages:
Audience relevance is critical to marketing's success.
Fancy campaigns won't move the needle if you fail to understand what motivates buyers and connect their need to your solution. Whether it's a plant manager, a CFO or a college dean. Each buyer is motivated by something specific to their function and the subsequent accountability.
One of the most successful B2B campaigns I ever had the honor to work on took this thinking to the highest level -- for construction equipment of all things. When we worked really hard to understand why target audiences should care if the wheels moved seamlessly over a curb -- and made sure that they understood how this benefitted their role and responsibility...wow, the results.
Understand your audience. Deeply know what motivates them to buy. Truly know your company's and your product's strengths (and weaknesses). Compare them honestly to your competitors.
And craft your marketing messages with the end-user squarely in mind.
If this is the biggest change you make at the end of 2010, or for all of 2011, it might be the one with greatest impact.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing
As my colleague, Jody Jacobs heads off to the 27th Annual ISBM Members Meeting (Institute for the Study of Business Markets), those of us holding down the fort (and a tish envious) are having our own discussion about the importance of aligning sales and marketing teams.
And how difficult this process has been for various clients over the years.
The benefits of fully aligning sales and marketing efforts are indisputable. When both "departments" work together to understand the buyer's needs and define the company's product or service in audience-specific terms, business grows. Alignment of and integration between the two silos yields profitable growth.
Why then, does it tend to be so difficult to bring the two together?
I can't answer that one. What I can do, while I wait for the new ideas that Jody will bring, is offer my thoughts on how to at least get the ball rolling. Thoughts that are based on actually helping a major manufacturer bring the two groups together. And watching the company subsequently grow from less than $100 million to over $1 billion.
Some basic steps:
1. Executive buy in
As with any major initiative, you need buy in from the top. You need a champion. Someone who understands the benefits, the challenges, the process and the resources necessary for succes. And the power to say, "I want this to happen and I'm willing to make it happen."
2. Understanding of the current processes
How do sales and marketing currently communicate? Where does product development fit? How does marketing create the messages that are used to raise awareness, generate interest, and move prospects to action? How does marketing select the tactics that are designed to generate leads? What role -- if any -- does sales play in the marketing process (message development, tactical execution, overall strategy, etc.)
3. Understanding buyers
When the aforementioned client grew, it was due -- in part, not entirety -- to the manufacturer's desire to bring the customer into the sales and marketing process. Here is where the alignment internally began. Sales was charged with delivering key customer insights that could be used by marketing to better intrigue and engage prospects in an increasingly competitive environment. Sales became an integral part in marketing's ability to understand and therefore reach -- on a far more powerful and personal level -- the buyer. Seems so obvious doesn't it? But how many organizations really execute this? And on a regular basis?
4. Improving communication between marketing and sales
Many companies correctly use marketing to support sales in many ways. Lead generation efforts, sales support materials, are such examples. But there are other ways in which marketing can support sales that are often left behind -- and with budget cut backs and time constraints we understand why.
But if growth is on your mind, I urge you to challenge this thinking. How can a planned, regular and ACTIONABLE communications effort directed at your sales force improve your company's top line performance?
I'd guess: substantially.
Don't just jump in. Ask the sales force what they need and how they want it delivered. Don't give them a monthly email if they rely primarily on their phone for communication. Don't give them updated brochures if what they really want is market data and trends.
Ask: what will help you penetrate key accounts or move a prospect into the buy column? How do you want to receive that information and how frequently.
Depending on the answer, bite off what you can chew and get started.
REMINDER: Establish key performance indicators before launching the initiative. Know what you want to measure before you get started...then measure, re-work and re-launch as necessary.
Take the leap.
And how difficult this process has been for various clients over the years.
The benefits of fully aligning sales and marketing efforts are indisputable. When both "departments" work together to understand the buyer's needs and define the company's product or service in audience-specific terms, business grows. Alignment of and integration between the two silos yields profitable growth.
Why then, does it tend to be so difficult to bring the two together?
I can't answer that one. What I can do, while I wait for the new ideas that Jody will bring, is offer my thoughts on how to at least get the ball rolling. Thoughts that are based on actually helping a major manufacturer bring the two groups together. And watching the company subsequently grow from less than $100 million to over $1 billion.
Some basic steps:
1. Executive buy in
As with any major initiative, you need buy in from the top. You need a champion. Someone who understands the benefits, the challenges, the process and the resources necessary for succes. And the power to say, "I want this to happen and I'm willing to make it happen."
2. Understanding of the current processes
How do sales and marketing currently communicate? Where does product development fit? How does marketing create the messages that are used to raise awareness, generate interest, and move prospects to action? How does marketing select the tactics that are designed to generate leads? What role -- if any -- does sales play in the marketing process (message development, tactical execution, overall strategy, etc.)
3. Understanding buyers
When the aforementioned client grew, it was due -- in part, not entirety -- to the manufacturer's desire to bring the customer into the sales and marketing process. Here is where the alignment internally began. Sales was charged with delivering key customer insights that could be used by marketing to better intrigue and engage prospects in an increasingly competitive environment. Sales became an integral part in marketing's ability to understand and therefore reach -- on a far more powerful and personal level -- the buyer. Seems so obvious doesn't it? But how many organizations really execute this? And on a regular basis?
4. Improving communication between marketing and sales
Many companies correctly use marketing to support sales in many ways. Lead generation efforts, sales support materials, are such examples. But there are other ways in which marketing can support sales that are often left behind -- and with budget cut backs and time constraints we understand why.
But if growth is on your mind, I urge you to challenge this thinking. How can a planned, regular and ACTIONABLE communications effort directed at your sales force improve your company's top line performance?
I'd guess: substantially.
Don't just jump in. Ask the sales force what they need and how they want it delivered. Don't give them a monthly email if they rely primarily on their phone for communication. Don't give them updated brochures if what they really want is market data and trends.
Ask: what will help you penetrate key accounts or move a prospect into the buy column? How do you want to receive that information and how frequently.
Depending on the answer, bite off what you can chew and get started.
REMINDER: Establish key performance indicators before launching the initiative. Know what you want to measure before you get started...then measure, re-work and re-launch as necessary.
Take the leap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)