Tag: brand story
4 Strategies to Get More from Your Manufacturing Marketing Efforts
Manufacturers often struggle to get results from their marketing efforts.
Sometimes, it’s the result of relying on traditional sources of marketing in the belief that catalogs, tradeshows and industry advertising are the primary drivers of manufacturing lead generation, e-commerce sales and revenue growth.
Sometimes, the problem is brand story messaging that is so product-focused that it doesn’t convey the and the real value you provide to your customers.
Often, the problem can be tied to an approach that is more random than strategic: a few trade shows here and there, a website makeover, and the occasional email sent out into the wide world of potential prospects.
… Continue Reading >>4 Types of B2B Marketing Videos & How to Use Them
When prospects research what product or service will solve their problem, they’re met with a flood of content. Social posts, e-books, blogs, web pages, and guides extolling the benefits of their solutions jockey for clicks, eyeballs, and, hopefully, conversions.
For prospects, the glut of information can feel like a wall of noise. For B2B businesses, breaking through that wall of noise can feel like trying to roll a boulder up a hill.
If your business is struggling to capture attention and engage with prospects, well-crafted videos – grounded in your brand story and part of a broader marketing strategy – can hook prospects and convince them to invest their time engaging with your social posts,
… Continue Reading >>Brand Story & SEO: Increasing Website Conversions
To increase your website’s capacity to generate leads, many often turn to a commissioning new web design. Facelifts can help but only addresses the style of your brand and not its substance.
Savvy marketers know that you can increase traffic to your website with content marketing leveraged by search engine optimization (SEO) and PR to increase leads but that’s only half the battle.
While a creative, professional web design, content marketing, SEO, and PR are all important pieces of the puzzle, converting more website traffic into leads depends more upon how strongly your messaging resonates with prospects.
… Continue Reading >>The Formula for Successful Messaging in Headlines, Ads, Emails & Everything
The book Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples is an all-time classic and must read for all marketing professionals.
Though first published in 1932, the fifth edition has been updated so that its even more relevant today and, in our opinion, is relevant for print and digital ads, Google Ads and other pay-per-click campaigns as well as for blog post and web page titles (H1 headings), page titles and meta descriptions (SEO), email campaign subject lines and preview text, direct mail pieces, company tag lines, and anywhere else you promote your messaging.
Why is this book so good and relevant over the last 100 years? Because it takes a simple and powerful approach to writing headlines and other copywriting that generates leads and sales.
… Continue Reading >>How to Increase Lead Generation with Thought Leadership
It may seem obvious to say that people seek out businesses that demonstrate thought leadership in their industries, but you would be surprised at the number of business owners whose marketing includes few examples of it – or none at all.
When a potential customer is researching your products and solutions, thought leadership can be a powerful differentiator. There are few ways as effective at driving leads as guides, industry publication articles and whitepapers that demonstrate the depth of expertise and experience you provide.
So why don’t more marketing efforts feature this type of content?
In many cases it’s because of a mistaken idea that marketing should lead with the benefits of products and services.
… Continue Reading >>Why Website Development Projects Fail
Learn how to develop a website that drives sustainable, double-digit growth instead of a sharply designed digital brochure
A new website is an exciting step for any business, whether it’s a build-from-scratch project or more of a renovation.
Why then are so many marketing leaders and business owners unhappy with their website? Why do so many well-meaning website developers and marketing agencies go wrong?
Based on our experience, which includes creating our first web page in 1995, most website projects fail because they are done backwards: they start as creative endeavors instead of being a strategic demand generation engine and end up serving as a digital brochure that doesn’t increase demand or generate leads.
… Continue Reading >>10 Perils of Paying a PPC Agency to Run Your B2B Pay-per-Click Campaigns
With 15 years of experience providing B2B marketing and consulting services, we are not timid in warning B2B clients of the risks of using a pay-per-click (PPC) agency to run ads on Google, Bing, LinkedIn Campaigns, and others.
While clients are often tempted – and sometimes will give them a try – at best, these campaigns generate a few leads but do not pay for themselves. At worst, they waste time and money in the process of producing no results at all.
Why do PPC agencies fail so often at B2B pay-per-click campaigns? Below are the top 10 reasons.
Lack of Strategy
Most PPC agencies focus on B2C clients.
… Continue Reading >>How Content Marketing Can Drive Double-Digit Sales Growth
With signs pointing up for the U.S. economy, despite inflation and supply chain challenges, manufacturers, software developers, service providers, and nonprofits have a unique opportunity to grow their share of the market.
But it won’t happen for everyone. As with luck, economic tailwinds favor the prepared. That’s why it’s critical to establish an effective content marketing strategy.
Door knocking, cold calling, and tradeshows might have been effective in the past but that’s no longer the case for most businesses – even if you can find enough salespeople to do it.
Today’s markets demand educational, online content – with information that helps educate prospects who are increasingly researching solutions before ever speaking to you.
… Continue Reading >>How to Get the Most out of Google Ads for the Least Amount of Spend
While getting results from pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on Google Ads can seem expensive, complicated and mysterious, it can have a significant impact on lead generation and increasing client acquisition with a clear strategy and experienced execution.
With a platform that processes over 8.5 billion searches a day, Google Ads can provides serious reach. According to Google’s annual economic Impact report, companies that advertise on Google Ads generate $2 for every $1 spent, on average.
What Google doesn’t tell you, however, is that it’s easy to spend a lot of money for little or no result if your campaigns are managed by someone without extensive experience, a bit of Google savvy in avoiding common traps,
… Continue Reading >>How Do Custom B2B Marketing Programs Work?
Business owners and marketing executives of business-to-business (B2B) companies face a major challenge: to dramatically increase lead generation and sales without having the right mix of marketing skills on their team.
They turn to marketing agencies for help, but spend a lot of money without getting results.
Custom and comprehensive marketing programs produce results by increasing demand generation for B2B clients because they take a holistic approach to all 4 Ps of marketing – product, placement (channels), pricing, and promotion.
Unlike what is very common in B2B marketing, where companies move from promotion to promotion without an overall strategy, it’s important to avoid “hit-and-run” marketing. Piecemeal marketing generates piecemeal results,
… Continue Reading >>