Unless you’ve spent the last two years in a cave, you’ve probably figured out that content is this decade’s buzzword for B2B marketing. So we all know it is important, but do we understand the how and the why?  B2Bs are struggling to wrap their arms around content marketing. Content Syndication, Content Strategy … asking what it all means, how organizations benefit, and why it is so important? And, the most vital question – how can it be used to get the most exposure for your brand and support demand generation for your business?

At Sales Engine International, we believe that content marketing encompasses everything we develop – from websites to video to white papers to blog posts to infographics. The reason we develop it? To both elevate your organization’s brand and reputation AND at the same time create opportunities you to Find, Connect with and Engage prospective customers. Great content not only provides invaluable resources to be consumed by vast and diverse audiences, it also establishes your organization as an expert/thought leader in your particular industry.

So now that we’ve developed this amazing library of content, how do we put it to work? For many of our clients, honing in on this part of the strategy is critical given the abundance of online channels available today. Whether you have unlimited funds or just a modest budget, it’s important to focus your activities on the areas that will support high quality content for demand generation that ultimately result in new customer acquisitions.

Because not all media are created equal, a program that might benefit content for demand generation for one company program could be a flop for another. As such, it’s important to do your homework before rushing to create that YouTube channel:

• What media will generate the most exposure for your company? Fight the urge to jump on any virtual bandwagons unless you can be absolutely sure that your target market is adequately represented and engaged.

• How can you get the most bang for your buck in terms of budget and resources? Work smart, not hard. If you don’t have a ton of website traffic, just hosting your content there may not give you much in terms of distribution. Attracting visitors who fit your Ideal Prospect Profile can be tricky and expensive. Email marketing continues to be a cost-effective vehicle for reaching prospects and has the added benefit of offering a medium for the distribution of every variety of content for demand generation that can be linked, tracked and measured.

• Can your content be used for a variety of purposes? Consider taking the audio from a webinar and creating a podcast then transcribing it for a white paper or article – voila, numerous pieces of content that can be used as individual touch points! This type of repurposing not only expands your content library, it also ensures your content can appeal to different buyer personas, who may prefer to listen, watch or read.

• Is all of your content optimized for SEO and can your perfect buyer find you? Creating content for demand generation can be both art and science – keywords and tagging are de rigueur, especially on high traffic sites like Google, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest.

• Are you making it easy for prospects to stay connected with your organization? RSS feeds are a must for any content areas (like blogs) that are dynamic. Similarly, publishing content on a regular basis that allows people to subscribe (like eNewsletters) keeps your company in front of prospects.

And finally,

• Can the results be measured? If you can’t determine the outcome of a particular effort then it probably was not worthwhile.

Trends come and go, especially in the ever-changing world of the Internet, so be sure your content and strategy can withstand those shifts.

Melissa Macchiavelli

Tell It, Don’t Sell It … Plus Three Other Tips for Creating Subject Lines that Improve Your Outbound Marketing Performance

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your email subject line and send-from address, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest of the content. An effective subject line can increase those odds and improve the success of your outbound integrated marketing efforts.

Four Tips for Creating Subject Lines that Increase Open Rates:

1. Tell It, Don’t Sell It

Every subject line should clearly state what your reader can expect from your email message. The subject line is a promise that you are obligated to deliver on with the content of the message.

Don’t overhype and come across as a hard-core salesperson. The best subject lines tell what’s inside, the worst sell what’s inside. Write yours to read like the headlines in your local newspaper, highlighting the most important facts in a few words. The purpose of outbound marketing is to develop relationships and build trust with prospects over time so that eventually they will open every email you send, regardless of the subject line.

2. Limit Yourself

The general rule of thumb in outbound marketing is to limit your subject line to 50 characters or less. The reason for this is that the majority of mobile email devices allow for 50 characters including spaces before the text is truncated. Some newer mobile phone models, including the iPhone and E series Nokia, further limit subject lines to just 32 characters in length before they are cut off.

How should you approach drafting a subject line? Put the most important words at the beginning and keep it short and to the point.

3. What’s in a Name?

Recent research shows readers often look at the “from” line first when deciding whether to open an email. Before even reading an email’s subject line, recipients scan through their list of senders, so be sure yours includes your company name. As much as possible, this should not change from campaign to campaign and should concisely convey who you are.

Because these two elements, subject line and from line, always appear alongside one another, it’s important that they work together and don’t repeat unnecessary information. You don’t have to include your company’s name in the subject line, wasting valuable space, if it already appears as the sender.

4.  Everyone likes a good deal – but spam filters

The general consensus is not to use the word “free” in subject lines as it will trip spam filters. But if you can’t resist, don’t make it the first word. Other hallmarks of spammers to avoid include: ALL CAPS, spe©ial symbols, and exclamation points!!!!!!

Run your email through a spam checker to identify any words, phrases or construction that may get you filtered. At Sales Engine International, we use Litmus which tests all our outbound marketing through various spam traps and filters providing either a pass or a fail for each one.

Subject line writing is both an art and science. By following these tips, you can increase your email open rates and overall outbound integrated marketing success.

Raquel Horton

If you search online for tools to support the sales and marketing process, you will find a lot of sales video production companies with catchy names like Reel ‘Em In.com, in addition a good number of sales video production companies that seem to take themselves, and their clients, a little more seriously. Why are B2B sales video production companies in high demand? Because a video leveraging your unique message to the market is a highly effective tool to support demand generation.

In the digital age, if a sales video production is not a component of your marketing plan, it should be. Consider this:

• Forbes Insight found that 59 percent of senior executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text, if both are available on the same page. (Forbes Insight, December 2010)
• Video in email marketing has been shown to increase click-through rates by over 96 percent. (Implix Email Marketing Trends Survey, 2010)
• According to Cisco, video will increase from 30 percent of Internet traffic to 90 percent of Internet traffic by 2013. (Cisco, 2010)

Technology continues to change the business world and companies who have integrated video into their marketing strategies are getting noticed first, before their competitors. A properly produced video will provide visual and auditory stimulation and influence a buyer’s behavior.

The benefits of partnering with a sales video production company are considerable:

• The ability to showcase a product or service when it is impractical or impossible to have a live demonstration on-site or at a trade show.
• More personal communication with prospects. Video enables you to share who you are and build trust with your prospects making them feel like they know you, which may help relieve some anxiety over the buying process.
• Consistency with your sales and marketing messages and the peace of mind of knowing that your message will be communicated the same way each time.
• Additional SEO benefits to your company
• A medium that takes lengthy, complicated processes and explanations and condenses them into user-friendly, short packages using charts and other infographics.
• A positive level of engagement that builds a level of trust from prospects.

You can still attain these benefits without hiring a sales video production group, assuming you have access to the right equipment. Whether you attempt to handle your sales video production on your own or you decide to go with a production company, here are some suggestions to ensure a quality end product:

• Shoot in a professional studio in front of a green screen

The top advantage of shooting video in a controlled environment is just that – control. Shooting in front of a green screen provides complete control over lighting, background and sound. It also makes it easier to add graphics and animation to the background of your video to keep the content visually interesting.

• Provide a what-not-to-wear list

It is wise, and helpful, to provide a what-not-to-wear list to the presenters. After all, they are representing your brand and you want them to look their best on camera. Professionals recommend that presenters avoid clothing with small, repetitive patterns and anything with a logo, writing, or pictures. Jewelry should be kept at a minimum and should not be reflective. It is also important to have the speaker wear clothing that is neutral to all seasons. A heavy sweater in the winter makes sense but it might come across as odd to a viewer in the summer. If shooting in front of a green screen as recommended, avoid green and any shade or color that is remotely close to green. Lastly, with the advancement of HGDTV, many people think that they need more make up when the opposite is actually true.

• Think through the speaker selection

Consider using professional talent if your budget allows. Many companies use their executives, with varying results. Some executives are very comfortable in front of the camera, but many do not enjoy the experience and that discomfort is compounded by the pressure they feel to represent the company well. Tense, nervous presenters can ruin the sales video production process. If you are not sure your designated execs will be great on camera, look into professional talent options.

Also, be sure to give consideration to all job levels. The best resource might be someone on the sales team or in another level of management. These folks can often offer a wealth of information since they are directly involved with the day-to-day interactions with prospects.

• Shooting on-site

If you’d like to provide prospects with a clear picture of what the business is all about then it may make sense to shoot on-site. When doing this, consider the environment. It must be portrayed in a way that is atheistically appealing and lighting can play a huge role in this. Second, what kind of sound control will there be? Sometimes the normal sounds of business can get in the way of a sales video production, so be sure to factor in additional time for the shoot to allow for any delays.

• Shooting on your own

If budget is limited but you have the desire to attempt a sales video production on your own, be sure to follow these guidelines:

- Have an external microphone hooked onto the speaker. Do not rely on the microphone on the camera to produce a clear and crisp sound.

- Most homemade videos have inadequate lighting. Be sure to properly light your environment with artificial lighting, if necessary.

- If the speaker will be reading from cue cards, be sure to hold the cards within inches of the camera or else it will be appear that the speaker is not talking into the camera.

Targeting your prospects through video is worth the time, energy and resources of the video production process. If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine what can be conveyed by a well-produced sales video. Whether you select a sales video production company or decide to go it on your own, the end result will be one of your greatest sales and marketing assets!

Trisha Daniel

You’ve probably heard John Wanamaker’s famous quote “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” But that was nearly 100 years ago! For sure he was referring to the mass media tools of the day like print and … yea, that’s pretty much it … print.

Mr. Wanamaker didn’t have modern tools like Google analytics, marketing automation, sales force automation, CRM, email campaigns, webinars, email list vendors, sales intelligence aggregators, pay-per-click ads, landing pages, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, eNewsletters, websites, content syndication, SEO, YouTube, Lead Scoring, Droids & iPhones, iPads, SMS, QR codes, and, and, and … Is your head spinning yet?

If you only had one way to reach your buyers, say … banner ads, you’d probably figure out how to be really good at running that type of marketing program. Through rigorous testing, you would eventually find the best places to place your ads, the best creative to generate clicks and the most compelling landing pages to convert the traffic that actually ends up buying from you. But even if you could achieve this, can your business grow and thrive by optimizing only one channel for lead generation? Probably not.

Marketers in the 2.0 era are under a ton of pressure to use all of the new digital tools to reach new buyers and, because it’s all measureable, they’re expected to systematically optimize each marketing program and remove the wasteful spending that troubled John Wanamaker. Ironically, that is what creates the problem. Marketers struggle to do so many new things at once; doing them all well seems impossible.

Today’s head of marketing doesn’t wear a white lab coat while pointing his cherry-wood pipe to teams of researchers that produce intellectually interesting studies on campaign optimization. It’s a bit more simple … spend the marketing dollars wisely to generate qualified leads that close quickly. Or get fired.

But few marketing departments have the skill or bandwidth to leverage all of these new channels and tools in a meaningful way, and each can be it’s own black hole — sucking time, money and energy from a department. Yesterday’s “Marketing Communications” department must reinvent themselves into a team of journalists (think content creation), IT experts (think website & CRM integration) and process-oriented scientists (think A/B testing every element of every campaign in every channel) that have a deep understanding of how to integrate all of the facets of digital marketing into a cohesive demand generation engine. Guess what? That’s really hard to do.

So where do you start? It may well begin with deciding what to stop. While you likely need to be great at more than one channel, trying to be good at all of them may be killing you. Some simple steps to take:

• Step back and re-affirm your Ideal Prospect Profile. All good marketing starts there.
• Decide which new channels offer the most promise. Social media may be the new shiny object on the corner, but it will take a focused approach to produce results. Start with channels you know you can be great at that will also be the easiest to perfect.
• Size up your team. The same creative masterminds who developed great branding and organized super cool events for your customers are not the ideal talent to leverage this new digital world. You must have the ability to leverage technology, produce volumes of content to use in marketing programs and then rigorously test and optimize those programs.

Achieving ROI on marketing programs is more possible than ever in a digital world. Take an honest assessment of your market and of your team and start measuring your success.

When it comes to building a social media strategy, there are platforms that matter and platforms that don’t. In the world of B2B marketing, probably the most important platform to execute and maintain a presence on is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is the Facebook® of business professionals and the place where buyers from all industries go to learn what’s new and who’s who in their market. Chances are you’ve already set up a LinkedIn profile, but that famous quote from the movie Field of Dreams – “if you build it, they will come” – was never intended to be a part of your social media strategy.

The most successful LinkedIn profiles, as noted by the number of followers and the real business opportunities that materialize from online interaction, are active in the LinkedIn space. They’re members or administrators of industry groups, and they post relevant, useful information frequently.

That makes perfect sense, right? But translating that into an actionable to-do list for yourself or your staff is the hard part. Don’t worry; I’m going to break it down for you.

First, let’s cover the basics.

• There are two LinkedIn profiles that will boost your company’s recognition online. There is a personal profile for the President/CEO/Owner and also a company page. Company pages are managed through access to the President/CEO/Owner page and BOTH should be actively engaging in LinkedIn activities.
• The company page should be adorned with your logo and catchy copy written in the tone and style of your company. Be sure your employees are linked to your company page. This transforms your company from a starchy Inc. or LLC with no face recognition into a company with personality and flair. Everyone likes flair!
• Both your President/CEO/Owner page and company page should join industry groups. A quick search in LinkedIn should reveal the groups available to you. Join the ones that focus on topics you can comfortably participate in discussing.

Now that your profile pages look snazzy, and you’ve placed yourself in the heart of industry group discussions, you can follow these steps, ideally on a weekly basis. Monthly will do, but daily is even better to really boost your LinkedIn social media strategy.

• Use your marketing calendar as a guide for what you should post. Do you have an interesting newsletter piece? A targeted campaign launching soon? A new blog on your website? Post about these! Update the status fields of both your company page and your President/CEO/Owner page. Find one communication you have released or are planning to release and post it – not the whole email, but a link to a web-based version of that email or PDF. Lead into your post by asking a question or making an announcement. Example: Did you know pharmacy-related waste is expected to top $1.2 trillion by 2014? Learn more: insert your link here. Questions are great attention grabbers, so use them.
• Join in the conversation. Whether you joined one group or ten, throw your two-cents in to each group on a weekly basis (or monthly, or daily!). If there’s not an ongoing conversation that you can add any value to, start your own. When you’re in a pinch, use the update you posted on your profile pages as a conversation starter.
• Check your messages and be on the lookout for replies. It is imperative that you do not ignore anyone who attempts to communicate with you through LinkedIn.

By updating your statuses, joining ongoing conversations, and responding to those who respond to you on a regular basis, you’re managing a competent LinkedIn social media strategy. And if you harness the creativity and subject matter expertise of multiple staff members to complete these tasks, you’ll boost your company’s online perception even more.

Tonya Severance

As a marketer, you’re well aware of the importance of making a connection with your audience on a personal level. Skilled marketers are able to create content that generates a visceral reaction from audience members. But the best, most personally targeted messaging still falls short if it is tied to an outbound campaign launched to a poorly segmented database.

Segmentation is central to effective database marketing and serves a dual purpose. First, an effectively segmented database will help a marketer to confirm the audience is representative of the company’s Ideal Prospect Profile. For example, IF a company’s best prospects are HR Directors within banks with $50M – $100M in annual revenue located in the Northeastern United States … AND the database segmentation exercise reveals that the highest audience concentration in the existing database is actually CFOs within manufacturing companies with $5M – $50M in annual revenue located in the Midwestern United States … THEN, the marketer’s efforts will miss the mark, BIG TIME.

Second, when a database is segmented properly, marketers are able to access database segments quickly and easily for enrollment into campaigns built specifically for that audience. Putting in the time up front to get the segmentation right will pay off later when you are able to execute seamlessly.

Database marketing done well works! Here at Sales Engine, clients quite commonly experience a boost in audience engagement and campaign metrics when addressing a segmented recipient group effectively. Returning to our example above, an email launched with a headline that reads “Keep Your Bank in the Black: 3 Keys HR Directors MUST Implement Today” will resonate much better than “Keep Your Company in the Black: 3 Keys You MUST Implement Today”. What are the best practices in segmented database marketing?

• Review your Ideal Prospect Profile. If you don’t have this established for your company, you’ll need to consider both company and person criteria of your best prospect. For example, company criteria may consist of industry, revenue, employee count, and geography. Person criteria may consist of title, job level and job function.

• Export the existing database into a tool that can be used to analyze the data, such as Microsoft Excel. We suggest maintaining the raw data and categorizing (a.k.a “segmenting”) the data in a new field or column. For example, if you’re segmenting the field “Revenue”, instead of overwriting raw data for a given record (ie: revenue of $65,000,000) with a category (such as $50M – $100M), you’d maintain that valuable raw data, but categorize it in a new field, “Revenue Category”.

• Be mindful of how this exercise will need to be formatted to effectively update your CRM system. If new fields must be added to capture and record your segments, be sure to do this ahead of time. Also, if a record identifier must be used to update the system, such as a Record ID or Correlation ID, be sure that ID field is captured in your original data file.

• Import a small handful of your segmented records into your CRM to ensure all fields/columns are mapping to the correct CRM fields. When all looks good, you can go ahead and repeat for the remainder of your records.

Marketers who embrace database marketing can reap the benefits of creating the “That’s Me!” connection with recipients, which could make the difference between a recipient clicking the “Contact Me” link in YOUR email versus in the email your competitor will surely be sending soon.

Kim Cool

Value of Marketing

Today, it is often said that content is the most trusted form of advertising. Good content is also the most effective tool we have to support demand generation. That places a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of B2B marketers: to create content that delivers the highest value of marketing to the community and at the same time, produce this content in sufficient quantity and variety to meet the constant needs of various marketing channels. Is it possible to do both? For B2B marketers to succeed in the digital world, we have to be able to serve up steakhouse quality at a fast food pace.

Have you ever entered your contact information, email address etc., on a web form in anticipation of downloading a piece of research or thought leadership that promised information nirvana, only to discover that it was barely on point of the promised topic and no more than a trick to lure you into giving up your identity on their site?

What happens if marketers fail to deliver content that makes a trusted connection with the prospective buyer? The buyer moves on to shop elsewhere, and that opportunity is lost. At a time when 80 percent of B2B buyers find their vendor through independent research online, lost opportunities can add up quickly, and unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to quantify them.

Alexis Borucke

Prospects are hungry for information. White papers have been used to feed these prospects, and marketers have found that white papers are a very valuable tool to get information in front of their buyers. Today, white papers are also becoming an important tool used in successful video marketing.

The questions to ask about video white papers are what and when. What information is typically produced and when should that information be provided to prospects?

The information produced in a white paper is typically technical information or information about business problems or use cases. Generally, white papers are made available in the buyers search process before they engage with a sales rep. Buyers in this stage are out on websites downloading white papers as they establish their criteria for solving their problem. This is really the beginning of the journey with prospects and that’s why it is so important for many marketers to use white papers.

The common medium for white papers has been PDFs and although they have been effectively used in the past, there are a few key drawbacks. The first is a content issue. Marketing needs access to domain knowledge in order to create a white paper. The time involved in sitting down to write a 5-10 page white paper is extensive and is further complicated by the fact that marketing needs to go outside the department, to a technical person, an executive, or another person with subject matter expertise, for help. That means obtaining their commitment, getting on their calendar, and conducting one or more interviews. Once that is done, there is still time to be spent writing the white paper, putting it in the right voice, etc. So, access to and creation of content is a big challenge with a PDF-based white paper.

The second problem is one of accountability. You may always be able to tell that a prospect has downloaded a white paper, but it is hard to carry that any further. You won’t necessarily know if it has been consumed, if someone opened it up and read the first two lines or if they read the entire document.

Finally, there is a problem of differentiation. If a prospect has downloaded a white paper from your website, chances are that they’ve also downloaded six PDF white papers from all your major competitors which they may or may not have read.

At Sales Engine International, we believe that video is a highly effective yet underused medium for white papers. Video marketing techniques can give your white papers an edge over traditional PDFs.

First of all, the personality of the organization and the presenter will come through in a video white paper. Rather than reading a static document, the prospect will get a feel for the company and the subject matter expertise within your company by watching your expert talk about a subject in which he or she is highly knowledgeable.

Second, the visual aspect of video marketing is also much better for engagement. You can keep your prospects interest for a much longer time frame with video than with a written document.

Third, video marketing and video white papers clearly create differentiation from the stack of PDFs that are sitting on your prospects desktop. You’ve chosen to present your information in a dynamic video format, and they are doing it in a static PDF — clear differentiation in your product.

Fourth, and very important to marketers everywhere, is measurement. Video marketing presents marketers with greater opportunities to gather intelligence about the consumption of content. By offering a video white paper, you’ll know when it was downloaded, when it was viewed, how much of it was viewed, if it was abandoned and where it was abandoned. And you’ll be able to use those metrics to improve your process and gain a better understanding of your prospects.

Taking a video marketing approach to creating white papers also means it will be easier for you to capture the content you need for your white paper. Your subject matter expert can be prepared in advance by reviewing questions you provide. That also ensures that your expert covers the point you’ve determined to be the most important ones to convey to a prospect. Your expert’s knowledge will be clearly articulated to the prospect and the process of capturing the information will be much easier and more efficient for all involved.

Finally, as with all video marketing content, you can convert the video white paper to a print version, which will allow you to get an SEO lift on your website and give you another medium for presenting your information.

Taking a video marketing approach to presenting your information in a white paper can be very effective.

We are finding that marketing leaders are increasingly excited about outsourcing demand generation for one simple reason: it just takes a myriad of people to pull it off.  A few years ago, we were educating a lot of people on the integrated marketing process, and the “FIND, CONNECT, and ENGAGE” components that we find essential to a successful marketing automation and nurture marketing strategy.

That’s not the case anymore. Today’s marketers get it.  They are very well informed, and they see the challenge and understand the solution.  For marketers, executing on demand generation has become an arms and legs issue.  It’s no longer possible to get to it all, and marketers are now focused on educating their senior management on the limits of their bandwidth.

If you are going to play the integrated marketing game, you really have to play to compete.  Then, you need to meet all these functions and processes.  Database management, messaging, video creation, graphic design, engaging content written by subject matter experts, and HTML production are all essential elements in this new era.

I have been in B2B sales for nearly 30 years and the way we started, the way we were measured was: first – on sales success, second – on the number of dials, and third – on face-to-face appointments.

Today, 85 percent of outbound sales calls go to voice mail, never to be returned.  80 percent of buyers are finding the seller on their own, which is completely counterintuitive to the sales professional’s persona.  As a result of failing to adapt to this shift in buyer behavior, half of sales reps are not meeting their sales quotas.

How can a B2B sales leader adapt his game to meet the challenges of the new world of sales?  Take a page from the integrated marketing playbooks of all the B2C merchants who have leveraged it so successfully.

First, FIND your audience.  To do this, you must build a database of ideal prospects so that you can reach out to them, but you also need to make yourself findable to them through search engine optimization and other initiatives that ensure your website is loaded with the right content to attract buyers.

Second, CONNECT with your audience.  Making a connection was easy when all that it required was a warm handshake from a good sales rep.  Today, to connect you have to have a strong array of different digital content to tell your story.  You have to remember that the connection requires this level of human contact when telling your story.  If you can’t get face-to-face as early as you once could, digital messaging is powerful to build that connection.  Buyers are consuming information digitally and filing it away as they make their preliminary and final buying decisions.  Integrated marketing connects your outbound delivery strategy with your audience of suspects and ensures that you have the right process in place to deliver the right piece of content to the right buyer persona.

Third, ENGAGE all your prospects.  Many of them are not ready to buy just because you are ready to sell. You need an integrated marketing plan to stay continuously in touch with them in different manners and different styles.  Keep touching them until they are ready.  Until a trigger event happens that indicates they have decided to enter the market, it is fine to just keep touching them.

Once a trigger event indicates that they are ready to move on to the next step, make sure you have practices in place to keep sales follow-up in alignment with the marketing message.

FIND, CONNECT and ENGAGE is the new normal.  Many, many companies are reaping great success by adjusting their models this way.  Companies that are not are at a competitive disadvantage.  Unfortunately, the old ways are not coming back.  It’s important to change your sales methodology if you want to thrive in the new world.