The SENSIBLE MARKETING Blog for Startups & Small Business

Yesterday morning I was talking to a marketing leader about his strategy and he brought up some concerns he had about the economy and its potential impact on him and others. Can you blame him?

In years past, marketing has been favorite target for cuts by CFOs and CEOs as they look to conserve cash and reinforce their balance sheets for tough times. Trust me, I’ve experienced this first hand a couple of years back while working for a publicly traded telecom company who’s every move was motivated by their stock price.  One day the stock was up and I had 5 new colleages, the next day the stock was down..and we were all out on the curb! (Note: that company, Verso Technologies (Nasdaq: VRSO), finally went bankrupt. I could only wonder if their stock-price driven marketing contributed?)

Nowadays, I’m less concerned about budget cuts and more interested in opportunities for B2B marketers who choose to bring focus to their marketing efforts. We have to remember that regardless of the economy, sales people are still expected to perform. I seldom find sales quotas are lowered to fit the news headlines or a stock price!

If you want to flourish regardless of the economic conditions, you need to look for ways to help your sales team execute and improve performance.

I’m convinced that one of the best ways to do that is to focus on lead generation. I recently read a Kate Maddox’s article in BtoB Magazine, “IDC: Tougher times for tech marketing,” which supports that other B2B marketers are doing just that.

Much like a savvy investor who buys when the market is down, smart marketers can capitalize on this opportunity (and beat competitors), by bringing focus and attention to their lead generation efforts.

Maddox’s article highlights IDC’s recent tech marketing barometer research. IDC showed that fewer tech marketers are increasing their budgets this year compared to last year. But I think the bigger story is how those dollars are being allocated. Maddox writes, “According to the [IDC] report. Lead generation is the top marketing priority for tech marketers this year…”

According to studies, the single biggest issue for contemporary business-to-business marketers is effective lead generation.  Conversely, it has been pointed out that 80% of marketing expenditures on lead generation and collateral are wasted because the leads are ignored by sales people. This was the case with Verso Technologie, not just because of the bad management, but because of a very unfriendly CRM system that was a royal pain in the a$$–but that’s another whole topic to begin with!

In short, marketers should direct their budgets away from traditional awareness building campaigns that quickly eat up budget and instead expand and optimize lead generation programs that bring measurable results. Finding better tools and processes for managing the leads or inquires that they already have is also a good investment in a turbulent economy.

You will optimize lead generation immediately if you can honestly answer “yes” to all of the following questions:

• Do sales and marketing agree on what the word “lead” means?
• Are you tracking the conversion rates of leads to sales opportunities?
• Can you/Do you close-the-loop on all leads that are being passed to sales?
• Does your sales team pass back early stage leads for lead nurturing?

I am working on an upcoming post dealing with how you can build a lead-nurturing/lead gen ecosystem within your small business…one that’s easy to use, easy to extract data and one that incorporates e-marketing—all using low cost and open-source, off-the-shelf solutions.  Stay tuned for that!

Filed under: Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Lead Scoring, Marketing budgeting, lead acquisition, marketing, marketing budget, small business management tips | No Comments

If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking for new ways to attract new customers–and maybe build closer relationships with your existing customers too. In a recent study, 54% of small businesses surveyed rated e-mail as the top online promotion mechanism to drive customers to their Web sites and storefronts. (Source: DMA Interactive) In my next few posts, I’ll walk you through a series of steps that build your “knowledge base” so that, when you’re done, you’ll be equipped to take advantage of e-mail marketing and its power to grow your business.

We’ll start with how to design an effective e-mail marketing message. Design in this case refers to how you present your content (text, images, and links) in the e-mail message.

Design is so important because poor design and bad formatting can frustrate users and increase your opt-out rate.  Once you lose them, you have a very slim chance of ever getting them back.  If your prospects and customers can’t find the information they want–and find it quickly–they’ll either unsubscribe or just delete the e-mail when it arrives. Please don’t be sloppy in this arena; it will immediately undermine your e-mail marketing campaign and result in lost business.  OK!!!???

Here are the keys to designing effective messages

• Develop a simple layout. Design and layout are crucial to moving your reader through the e-mail. Use an HTML template that provides well-delineated sections. Don’t crowd the design with too much content, imagery, or small text. And don’t use white font on a black background, or other high-contrast combinations.
• Create a look that promotes your brand. An e-mail message is a cheap and effective way to promote your brand. Incorporate your company’s color palette and look into your messages. Ensure your logo is always prominently displayed in the header, or somewhere near the top of the page and add a link to your website or landing page.
• Use images. But do so wisely. If you’re using images of people, remember they can become the “face” of your company. If possible, use photos of real people instead of stock images, which can often seem flat and impersonal. If your message focuses on products, prominently feature them and use high-resolution images. High-quality, well-placed images are proven to increase clicks.
• Drive action. As a rule, all e-mail messages should be designed to drive action. Success in e-mail marketing is about clicks–getting customers to open the e-mail, read it, and respond by clicking through to your Web site, signing up for a free trial, contacting someone in your business, or forwarding the e-mail to a friend. Include a call to action (CTA) in each section of your e-mail marketing message–and repeat the main CTA throughout the message.
• Get to the point. Your content should all be relevant and useful–and again drive the reader to take action. People want to quickly “get” what’s being offered. They don’t want to dig around and wait for the punch line. Put all the important information–the offer and call to action–at the top of the message so the recipient can’t miss it.
• Watch the file size. Make sure your e-mail message is not too big or it might get rejected by some e-mail providers. Some experts suggest keeping the file size under 100 kilobytes (KB).
• Consider getting help. When it comes to designing HTML e-mail messages, it might be a good idea to work with a designer or e-mail service provider that uses Web-based software to help businesses create custom e-mail marketing messages.
• Why not try out some of these tips today? Check out this special offer, Constant Contact (60 Day Free Trial) and see how email marketing will make an immediate impact on your bottom line! 

P.S.  Next week, learn the secrets of “Writing E-mail Copy that Grabs Readers”

Filed under: B2B Marketing Ideas, Email Marketing, Lead Nurturing, digital marketing, double opt-in, email marketing best practices, email marketing services, email marketing software, marketing, web marketing | No Comments

Learn about the importance of search indexing and uncover the secrets to getting your site’s pages indexed…quickly. Whether you have a blog, an enterprise website or a microsite/landing page–this video tutorial will help you get those pages indexed and drive the traffic!

(courtesy of SEOmoz)

Filed under: B2B Marketing Blogs, B2B Marketing Ideas, Search Engine Optimization, b2b marketing books, internet marketing guides, online marketing, sem optimization, seo, webmaster tools, website optimization | No Comments