Digital-Marketing

Showing posts with label Digital-Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital-Marketing. Show all posts

Sunday 12 April 2015

Thursday 9 April 2015

Inbound marketing tips to improve Inbound Marketing Results



#1. Have a WHOLE inbound marketing plan -  Inbound marketing includes blogging, articles, whitepapers, social networks engagement, social selling, lead generation, traffic and social media conversations. Which of these tactics can be improved?

#2. Implement all inbound marketing tactics -  A business should never rely on one or two tactics even if you are getting good results from current inbound marketing tactics, implementing all tactics will drastically improve desired results.

Ultimate Inbound Marketing Guide for Improve Business ROI


Inbound Marketing Guide

What does the term “inbound marketing” mean to a small business?  What is the difference between inbound marketing and outbound marketing strategies?  Experts say all marketing tactics revolve around wanting to increase web traffic, visitors, leads, conversions, buyers, fans and customers.

Inbound marketing wants the same things as now traditional outbound marketing; the difference is not what a business wants from marketing but how it goes about wanting it. Inbound marketing is about getting permission to contribute to the “awareness” and “consideration” steps in a buyers funnels while outbound marketing is focused on interrupting  (via ads, CPC, direct mail, sales calls) these same steps.

Monday 6 April 2015

How to Win in the Next Stage of the Cloud Data


Two types of fear, or how to win in the next stage of the cloud

As companies look to move their core business applications to the cloud, smaller, more specialized industry cloud providers have a chance to be the new heroes of business tech.

"The real opportunity is moving mission critical systems in the cloud. [Industries] are the biggest hold out. We see that as the biggest opportunity." That's how Stephan Scholl, co-president of Infor--an enterprise software company that specializes in solutions for specific industries--explains what he sees when he looks at the cloud market.

Wednesday 18 March 2015

How to write a Digital marketing resume



Digital marketers although very talented in creating social media marketing campaigns, catchy ads and branding messages, still find it difficult to market themselves. This is the story of numerous digital marketers who are missing out on great job opportunities just because they lack a killer resume to get them noticed and hired. You can also see online resumesamples for freshers related to digital marketing and that will help you to write a resume.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Why do you need Contact Databases solutions and services?


Marketers can rely on B2B Contact Databases solutions and services providers to increase email offer count to customer contact list for the following best reasons:
  • Deliver successful email campaigns by removal of invalid email address
  • Standardized approach in identifying appropriate and correct database
  • Constant monitoring of ISP to remove inactive subscribers
  • Quick and cost effective solutions to scrub wrong addresses from the database
  • Well managed bounce rate to increase email campaign promotions
  • All about Hard Bounce Management Tool, Know-why Hard Bounce tool is advantageous for marketers

  1.  Comprehensive database management with complete reporting and analysis
  2.  Continuous tracking of bounced emails and reporting invalid email address to the database
  3.  Database updated with deliverable email addresses-leaving no room for invalid entries
  4.  Sophisticated software to monitor spam filters to ensure prompt and authentic deliverability
  5.  Appending database with corrected entries and updated email contact database going 
Reporting
Deliver-ability
Analysis
Updating
Tracking
Tele-verified Data

  • Have a prospect database that brings no results?
  • Are you sure the data in your hand is Tele-verified?
  • Or is your data decayed?
B2B data has a very limited shelf life and updating databases with timely updates is what keeps them active. In huge data lists, it is simply very difficult to check how accurate the database is without professional Tele-verification for it.


Why choose B2B Contact Databases solutions and services providers?

B2B Contact Databases solutions and services providers now has 8 Million records in its Tele-verified Database. Besides, the clients find access to one of the largest Tele-verification teams (400+ Tele-verifiers) in the industry, who can authenticate your old database making a million calls. Our protocols involve monthly data cleanup procedures and segregation for the Do-Not-Call (DNC) lists.

Tele-verified Data include category details such as −

  SIC codes  National Change of Address references
  ZIP4 and ZIP Codes of product buyers
  Web and Land Addresses of organizations requiring IT services
  Fax details of gadget purchasers/distributors
  Phone Numbers
  Job Titles in computerized facilities
  Roles of professionals etc.
  Before Tele-verification calls, our experts find all these details through −
  Government database search
  Tech seminars/product launches
  B2b marketing forums
  Application-based campaigns
  Opt-in email campaigns
  Field surveys
  Annual report researching

Data Solutions - Worried about your data credibility?
B2B Contact Databases solutions and services providers prepares you to take data management risks!


B2B Contact Databases solutions and services providers has experience in managing customer data and providing enhanced database management solutions. Marketers rely on us to deliver effective marketing campaigns to their customers, backed by high data management offerings.

7 Best Reasons to choose B2B Contact Databases solutions and services providers
  •  Covers over 55 industry segments
  •  100% Spam Free leads guaranteed
  •  No trail of duplicate or inaccurate records
  •  Connects to top professionals, management officials, presidents, sales professionals and other key decision makers
  •  Saves precious time spent on research and other resources
  •  Database updated every 30 days to ensure high accuracy in business leads
  •  Immediate deliverable s to the customers with updated and accurate database promised
B2B Marketer want Contact Databases Solutions from Data Providers
B2B Marketer Need Help from Contact Databases Solutions Providers

Pulpit rock{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B., Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Tuesday 29 July 2014

Global Trends in the Transportation & Automotive Industry


Technology continually serves as the underlying factor in the changes that occur in different industries. For the transportation and automotive industry, technology has continued to push innovations in efficiency, lightweight materials, connectivity, and energy. Companies within the industry notice trends resulting from these improvements for future automotive developments. 

Global Trends in the Transportation & Automotive Industry
Global Trends in the Transportation & Automotive Industry


The North American automotive industry is not only the biggest market, but it is also the technological leader across the globe with some of the biggest names in the industry. With the market recovering since the recession, the next five years are expected prompt major changes that will impact the way cars are manufactured and used.

Environmentally Friendly Car 

With more companies focusing on being more environmentally friendly and pushing the green initiative, developments for cars that reduce emissions of harmful green house gases are becoming more popular. According to MarketsandMarkets, a market research publishing company, demand for automotive sensors in all cars has increased due to changes in government standards and demand by end users. Development of new automotive sensors for pressure, temperature, magnetic, oxygen, and level/position will continue as environmental regulations evolve.

The exhaust systems for cars are also changing because of emission regulations. The new regulations have reduced the volume of allowed emissions from automobile exhaust systems which have pushed research and development of exhausts to meet new guidelines.

Smart Efficiency Car


The concept of smart efficiency for cars has been driven by the capability to build engines that are smaller, yet have improved performance such as stability and improved aerodynamics. This also includes using energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly products during production. An example is the new use of LED lights in automobiles to reduce the amount of energy consumption for vehicles. Other examples include using different materials, such as aluminum, carbon fibre, or material-mix, as weight savers, which also helps improve efficiency. 

Digital Intelligence

As with our phones and tablets, drivers are demanding a new level of connectivity in their driving experience. According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global connected car market shipments are expected to reach 59.86 million units and likely to reach $98.42 billion by 2018. 

The need for mobile connection in our cars to use for content, information, and services is going to drive the implementation of LTE technologies in vehicles as a connectivity solution. As this demand becomes a norm for all automobiles, tech companies, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, will compete to play large parts as third party developers for the major automotive industry leaders.

Autonomous Cars

Ever since the video release of Google’s self-driving car in 2011, the idea of autonomous cars has become increasingly popular. Near-autonomous cars already exist and are on the road, such as the cars that parallel park themselves or slow down when the car’s computer senses danger on the road. The main purpose of near-autonomous and autonomous cars is to assist in preventing car accidents. 

Because driver error is the most common reason for accidents, and in 2013 there were 1.24 million deaths due to road accidents, governments and automobile manufacturers are focusing on the use of artificial intelligence combined with mechanical, electrical, control, and computer systems to drive our vehicles.  Other benefits of near-autonomous or autonomous vehicles include: better fuel efficiency, fewer green house gas emissions, increased road safety, and decreased traffic congestion.

As technological developments continue in the automotive industry, manufacturers will take advantage of the improvements to implement in their vehicles to create the most desired automobile for consumers. Industry leaders will be implementing most of these trends in their automobiles to ensure they stay up to date with consumer demands.

Written By :- Caitlin Stewart, Marketing Intern

Pulpit rock{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B., Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Tips for More Efficient Profound Usage


Tips for More Efficient Profound Usage

The term “life hacking” has been around for a while now. For the uninitiated this refers to any trick, shortcut, skill or novelty that increases productivity and efficiency in all walks of life. In 2014, as time continues to remain such a precious commodity, any way of reducing time spent on tasks is very much welcomed. 

From making a natural alternative to fabric conditioner using salt to editing Google docs, there is a hack available. As the time and pressure for results is paramount to any business, and I am sure that demand will only increase in the coming years, finding the right market research as quickly as possible is imperative. 

MarketResearch.com's Profound solution provides users with numerous tools and capabilities to help streamline your search for reports.

1. What’s your preference?

Ever been into My Preferences or even thought about checking it out?  Well, you should. In your preferences, you can pre-set the default charge back code, your sort preference (relevance, price or published date newest to oldest) as well as other valuable customization features—features that you can personalise to ensure Profound is working the way you want it to.

2. Find it faster.  
If you spend much time constructing your search, hack straight to Profound's Advanced Search feature. You can use the extra fields to laser in on the single most relevant report containing the data you need. This may require some training, which is a great investment for the future and will save you time in the long term. Remember, there are search tips available on all the search-related pages, use them.

3. Get trained.
I have spent many hours training sales people, and a common response I often here is “I used to do that” or “I’d forgotten that.” Over time and through familiarity with a product or technique, things just get lost sometimes. Whether you are a new user or have used Profound for a period of time, an investment in training will highlight ways you can become more efficient and thorough. All users of Profound have access to free training, take us up on that.

4. Distribute content straight from Profound.
This saves time as you are not required to save files to your desktop, switch application to email, attach the files etc. Simply select (tick) the report(s) of interest from the results page and click on email. Here, you have preferences to include costs or keyword in context (KWIC), and you can add your personal notes for the recipient. You can also do this from any table of contents page.

5. Use all the resources available to you.
As a Profound user, you have access to the wealth of knowledge and experience via your Account Manager and our helpdesk. Contact details can be found on the "Contact Us" page via Profound or save our number in the speed dial option on your phone. Call us or drop us an email; we are here to assist in all research-related matters.

For anyone who is interested in fabric conditioner, TechNavio say in their 2014 report Global Fabric Conditioner Market 2014-2018 that, due to increased competition and the emergence of private labels in the market, vendors are under pressure not only to retain, but also to increase their customer base. Watch out Henkel, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, the market could be reshaped if the homemade natural alternative using salt and essential oils hack takes off. You were warned!

Thanks for reading!
Written by :- Jason Ward, MarketResearch.com


Pulpit rock{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B., Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Important Ten Questions to Ask Your Digital Marketing Partner


The Top Ten Questions to Ask Your Digital Marketing Partner - Max Starkov & Mariana Mechoso Safer


It's challenging to find a good digital marketing partner these days. As more and more companies join the market as 'experts in hotel website design and digital marketing,' hoteliers are faced with a difficult decision. 

1. Do you consider yourself my property's digital marketing partner or vendor?

To achieve the highest long-term success rate, the hotelier-agency relationship must be based on trust and the client's best interests must be at the heart of everything the agency does. What does it mean to be a partner vs. a vendor?

Your digital marketing agency consistently offers proactive recommendations vs. simply "taking orders." Is your agency just an "order-taking" outfit or do they come up with consistent recommendations on how to tackle your occupancy, seasonal and other business needs? If you find yourself making all the effort to communicate with your agency first, you are working with a vendor.

Your digital marketing agency is an extension of your property's sales and marketing team. Are your agency's recommendations based on what's best for your property's business needs and what will generate the highest ROAS (Return-on-ad-spend)? Or are these recommendations based on how high a commission the agency receives? You'll need to do your research to find this out.

Your agency's company values are aligned with your values. If your partner has not identified any brand values, it has not clearly positioned itself in the marketplace. A team that stands behind its values strives to provide excellent customer service and produces better results for its clients. Aligned goals build authenticity and trust between a digital marketing agency and its clients.

2. Are you utilizing any proprietary digital marketing technology?

Digital marketing is becoming increasingly complex, especially compared to what it was just over 3-4 years ago. In this day and age, there is a complete convergence between digital marketing and digital technology. Crucial revenue-generating initiatives such as Meta Search Marketing, Dynamic Rate Marketing, and Content Management Systems equipped with personalized marketing capabilities are an equal part technology and marketing.

Today, you should choose a partner that has both digital technology and digital marketing capabilities under one roof to help you keep up with the rapid development and marketing opportunities available in the industry.

In this multi-device world we live in, hoteliers must meet the needs of their guests on each device. This means investing in technology that allows for the best user experience on the three screens: desktop, mobile and tablet, which many hoteliers find hard to do due to their website's antiquated Content Management System (CMS) technology.

Your digital marketing partner should be able to develop technology in-house that you can benefit from. Examples include a CMS with functionality developed specifically for the hospitality industry, interactive marketing applications, social media applications, dynamic rate marketing technology, and meta search marketing enablement technology.

3. What percentage of your total business is dedicated to providing digital marketing and web services?

A company that has too many 'core competencies' often finds itself not excelling in any of them. Giant global companies like Sony claim to have only two core competencies. Ask your marketing firm what percentage of their business is dedicated to digital marketing and web services. If you are working with a firm where these services constitute only a small part of their overall service offerings, you are taking a risk that your business will not be as important to them. There is also the chance that the team dedicated to your account, if you do have a dedicated team and not a general 'client services department contact email/phone number,' also has other responsibilities that can take them away from providing your account the attention it deserves.

4. What percentage of your clients are in the hospitality space?

The answer to this one should be close to 100% because of the uniqueness, complexity, and fast moving dynamics of the industry. Hoteliers need customized, expert advice that is specific to their needs.

This multi-billion hospitality industry is so large and dynamic that specialization in hospitality provides a unique and competitive advantage to mixed-industry and GDS-focused companies that are late and inexperienced to the online hospitality channel.

5. Do you offer full-service digital marketing?

Managing multiple vendor relationships is a job in itself. By partnering with an agency that offers full-service digital marketing, your team can stay efficient and focused. Does you agency offer the full spectrum of digital marketing initiatives such as website design and CMS technology to SEO, SEM, online media and retargeting, dynamic rate marketing, meta search marketing, social media, mobile marketing, and email marketing?

Additionally, the more vendors involved, the higher the chance for mistakes, campaigns that do not produce, and communication struggles.

For digital marketing campaigns to generate the highest ROIs possible, goals and teams need to be fully aligned. For instance, Paid Search and SEO go hand in hand. Google updates its search algorithm 500 times each year, and the Panda and Hummingbird updates directly affected how Google indexes and values the underlying website landing pages. With Google constantly updating its algorithm, paid search professionals must treat search dynamically. SEM should align with the site's SEO in order to maintain a high Quality Index. Managing your SEO strategy should include a business analysis, comp set analysis, keyword analysis, etc., and having another company manage paid search, which includes exactly the same business analysis, comp set analysis, and keyword analysis, translates to double the work and double the cost.

6. Is multi-channel marketing part of the overall strategy for each client?

In today's multi-device, multi-touch world, digital marketing must be handled in a multi-channel campaign fashion to reach consumers at every touch point. All three screens (desktop, mobile and tablet) must be integrated in the hotel's multi-channel marketing strategy. These campaigns utilize the right combination of online channels effectively (paid search, email marketing, SEO, online media, social media, etc.) to promote one campaign theme. This strategy is the most effective way to increase reach and boost revenues for a need period.

7. Do you offer Dynamic Rate Marketing?

Today's always-connected traveler demands instantaneous hotel information with real-time pricing and resents any type of price promotion that feels like bait and switch.

The latest digital technology and marketing innovation available to hoteliers, Dynamic Rate Marketing, enables marketing campaigns featuring the property's real-time availability and rates. DRM is a next-generation direct-response marketing category, which allows real-time hotel inventory availability and pricing to be inserted in various marketing initiatives: from meta search to banner advertising, paid search to email marketing.

Does your agency utilize the technology needed to support Dynamic Rate Marketing? Dynamic Rate Marketing offers a multitude of benefits for both the travel consumer and hotelier. By combining online advertising and marketing campaigns with real-time hotel inventory availability and pricing, hoteliers can satisfy travelers' demands for instant and truthful hotel pricing information, as well as respond in real time to changing market conditions and comp set behavior. The main benefit here is that advertised rates in ad campaigns (banners, meta search, email, etc.) change automatically when the hotel changes their rates in the PMS or CRS.

The results? DRM dramatically increases campaign effectiveness, boosts conversion rates, and increases direct online bookings
.
8. What percentage of the work on my account is handled in-house?

In-house services translates to total control over the quality of the work as well as the ability to offer services at more competitive prices. If your partner is outsourcing any or most of the business, you may be charged a higher commission than you realize and you will not have direct communication with the people who are handling your account. More services done in-house means less room for error, more intelligence surrounding the status of your marketing initiatives, and quicker turnaround times.

9. How many people work at your firm?

A team of 60-70 people is the absolute minimum for a digital technology+marketing firm to be able to handle all of the complexities of today's digital world: from SEO and Paid Search, online media and retargeting, social media and mobile marketing, dynamic rate marketing and meta search, website design and CMS technologies, dynamic content personalization, and more. Smaller and "one-man-team" agencies simply cannot handle today's complexities and there is a high likelihood of outsourcing or not having the resources you need available to drive the online revenues your property is capable of producing.

10. Are your employees considered industry though leaders and experts?

The management and employees of many digital marketing agencies that offer their services to the industry have no hospitality experience. They don't understand the needs of the hotelier, do not speak their language, and are incapable of providing the consulting and strategy services needed to grow the direct online channel.

Are employees published authors on hot industry topics and best practices related to online distribution and marketing? Also, ask your agency if their principals and experts are frequent guest speakers at major hospitality and digital marketing industry events and conferences. A company that employs team members who are frequently asked to share their expertise at major industry events every year is a company made up of thought leaders. The wider the variety of subjects they are asked to speak about, the better.

A company that is passionate about what it does also wants to stay ahead of the curve, creating products and services that will benefit the marketplace and its clients. In the highly competitive hospitality industry, this is a must. Hotels that fail to work with innovative digital marketing partners run the risk of losing market share, operating inefficiently and running campaigns with decreasing ROIs.

Important Ten Questions to Ask Your Digital Marketing Partner

When choosing your digital marketing partner, look at the web as the most critical and fastest growing revenue stream for the property. You should not settle for anything less than the best, a firm that will lead your property in achieving maximum revenue from the property website/direct online channel.

{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B., Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Monday 14 July 2014

Learn How To Maximize Lead Generation - Market Leader


Learn How To Maximize Lead Generation - Reachforce


Anyone with a blog can call themselves a thought leader – but how do you find the real deal?


If you’re lucky, you meet Ruth P. Stevens (her incredibly impressive bio is at the end of the article).  And if you’re extra lucky, she agrees to an interview drawn from her new book “Maximizing Lead Generation.”


What are the biggest challenges for marketer to generate the number of leads they need currently? Budget? Technique? Lack of alignment?

Lead Generation Best Practices defined


Learn the key framework from Ruth Stevens to create a lead process and generate more qualified B to B leads.
My view is that the biggest challenge is process.  This is not necessarily the most exciting part of lead generation, but it’s where the most leverage lies.  The company that puts a solid process in place, and executes consistently, is the one that wins.  The most important process areas to focus on are lead qualification and lead nurturing, although most marketers focus on inquiry generation.

What are the best performing lead sources currently? (eg Website organic, website PPC, retargeting ads, Iinkedin sponsored posts, etc).

You’re going to kill me, but the truthful answer is: It depends.  There are just too many variables involved.  So marketers should test all of these, as well as traditional media like telephone and postal mail.

But, I would also add to the list your own website (beyond search), which, if done correctly, can be a source of your cheapest and best leads.

What B2B marketers need to do is add an offer, a call to action and a dedicated landing page to the website, to motivate visitors to leave behind their contact information, for ongoing communications.  Plus, add IP address identification software, to “de-anonymize” the visit, and then consider an outbound call to the visiting company, to discuss their needs.

What activities are falsely classified as lead generation and how does this impact marketing?

To me, the big offender is list vendors, who present their products as “lead lists.”  This is ridiculous, and perpetuates the myth that contact names are leads.

How important is awareness to driving ultimate downstream lead generation or supplier preference?

Awareness is very helpful, of course.  The problem with awareness as a marketing goal is that it’s hard to measure.  I prefer to focus on response-oriented communications, where you generate not only awareness, but also action.  As the great copywriter Bob Bly notes, “In B-to-B, all marketing is direct marketing.”

What new lead generation tactics have you heard of that are gaining traction / performing well; and what previously high performing tactics are on the wane?

Direct mail is undervalued today by lead generation marketers. It is still extremely effective, when used properly.  Part of the reason is the abundance of well-targeted prospecting lists.

Another reason is that business people still read their mail, and their physical inboxes are a whole lot less cluttered than their email inboxes.

What’s the easiest way to waste a significant part of your lead generation budget?
Two glaring points:

  • By not systematically qualifying and nurturing inquiries.
  • By exhibiting at a trade show without a well-considered data capture and inquiry follow-up plan (and training booth staff to engage with passers-by).
  • What percentage of B2B companies these days have true alignment between sales and marketing? Is the percentage growing or stagnant?
I don’t have a number.  In my observation, the best alignment potential comes from the top, when the heads of sales and marketing like, trust and respect each other.

What are the most important factors to rapidly move marketing leads to sales ready prospects – and how much elapsed time / marketing touches are needed to get those leads really ready?

There are no shortcuts, really, because you are dependent on what’s happening at the prospect’s end, and you have limited influence there.  But 45% of inquirers eventually buy in the category.  So a company without a process for lead qualification and nurturing is going to lose that sale to the competition.  I know I sound like a broken record by now, but this is where I see companies fall down on the job.  It’s often the basic blocking and tackling that is missing.

You noted that social channels are delivering less than 5% of leads from all social channels. Will any technique or technology push social out of the 5% box?

Social can be put to good use in lead generation, but its best applications are misunderstood today.  Like PR, social cannot be viewed as a scalable, reliable media channel for lead generation.  You can’t build a quota-fulfilling revenue plan on it.

What you can do is:

Add an irresistibly titled content offer to social media messages, linked to a dedicated landing page where you capture contact information, and then nurture that relationship until it is ready to hand to a sales rep.

Use social media touches as part of your ongoing lead generation and nurturing programs.

If you are just starting to re-build your B2B lead program, what are the first 3 critical steps?

Plan your process, from inquiry-generating campaigns, to lead management, to results analysis and reporting. Invest in data management and hygiene.

Communicate the value of a lead to everyone in your company. This is a real point of opportunity.   The value of a lead can be explained in two ways:

  • The cost per lead, meaning the investment the company makes in generating a lead.
  • The revenue value of a lead, meaning the average order size of a closed lead.  If everyone in the firm is aware of these numbers, they are more likely to treat the lead with the respect it deserves.


{{ The Guest Post Blogger organization was not involved in the creation of this content. - Dalvi Prabhakar B., Founder & Digital Manager (SEO,SEM,SMO) }}

Wednesday 4 June 2014

Web content management system - The hub for multichannel pipeline growth


Web content management system - The hub for multi-channel pipeline growth

Today, WCM ( Web content management system) platforms incorporate a host of capabilities that expand their original scope. Next-generation platforms combine Web content management system with integration services for digital asset management and social collaboration. 

Together, these capabilities empower CMOs to deliver media-rich, community-oriented customer experiences that increase brand awareness, drive customer engagement, and build customer loyalty and campaign success. Serving as the marketing hub for CMOs, next-generation WCM platforms provide one central location for permission-based access and publishing of marketing messages and programs across all types of digital channels. In this way, these platforms have evolved into systems that help CMOs grow their pipeline of qualified buyers across different channels. 

One look under the hood of these next-generation WCM platforms leads to instant appreciation for the extra content control and interactive capabilities that they afford. CMOs should consider the following key components when seeking a next-generation WCM platform.

Multi-channel marketing

—Those CMOs that succeed with multichannel marketing do so by developing strategy for each channel that enables them to maintain brand equity while satisfying customer expectations. The most essential tool for pursuing such a strategy is an online marketing platform that enables CMOs to deliver multichannel customer experiences and campaigns. Look for capabilities to perform permission-based publishing across a range of output channels, including email, mobile, social networks, web, and print. This helps ensure that customers are fully engaged, independent of the channel, device, or geography.
Standards-based repository

—Unlike stove piping, which can result from using proprietary solutions, advanced, standards-based solutions help stave off obsolescence. Perhaps more importantly, they ensure platform viability across and outside your organization. Make sure that the WCM platform you choose supports standards such as Content Management Interoperability Standards (CMIS), Representational State Transfer (REST), and the Osage framework. Adherence to these standards future-proofs, and even enhances, your investment by providing access to a rich ecosystem of applications and utilities that are prebuilt to interoperate with the multichannel engagement platform.

WCM agility

—A short ramp-up time is a major factor in digital marketing. Tools should be intuitive and require little training so that they can be used quickly and widely across your organization. In addition, the WCM should feature easy-to-use workflows to create the parent-child relationships necessary for the multisite management that is typical in online marketing.

Digital asset management

—On today’s websites, rich media—including images, video, and online presentations—is what most attracts and engages audiences. As you repurpose digital assets to address multiple devices, formats, encoding rates, and metadata, you’ll find yourself dealing with an explosion of assets. Uneasy-to-use system helps tame this chaos and enables syndication of assets across multiple channels.

Social collaboration

—Every brand has a fan base, but not every CMO is leveraging it. Next-generation wallows you to create a network of relationships between prospects and the loyal customers that can influence potential customers’ purchasing decisions. These online communities also serve other benefits. They help build brand loyalty, which in turn leads to more repeat sales, and they potentially offload customer support functions. Features to look for include a shared calendar, the ability to comment, reviewing functions, rich media, and document sharing.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

—Most site visitors find you via search engines. Tuning content to keep pace with top search terms is critical, but it can be a chore. Next-generation WCMs are built with hierarchical architectures that support the generation of search engine friendly (SEF) links out of the box to boost page rankings in search results. In addition, look for platforms that provide APIs to databases like Alchemy for keyword enhancement and are involved in efforts like the Interactive Knowledge Stack that aim to make content more visible to search engines.

Content targeting

—Unlike old media, digital channels offer a range of information that marketers can use to better target their messages. Whether it is as simple as geography or as complex as past buying behavior, a solid marketing platform enables you to tap into critical data and customize messages so that every experiences engaging and optimal.

Campaign optimization

—Sense and respond is the mandate for today’s CMOs. With support for A/B testing in a platform, marketers can sense audience preferences and promote or pull campaigns based on response rates.

Analytics

—Because CMOs live (and die) by reports, gaining an instant and historical view into campaign performance is critical. Best-of-breed solutions include integrated analytics that can interface with leading standalone analytic offerings.

Localization


—Marketing has no geographic boundaries and, like online commerce, is global. As a result, younger to adjust to local audience needs without compromising your brand. An advanced WCM solution allows single change to be proliferated across sites without delays.

How Today Digital Marketing Organization on Turning Point for Big Changes


How Today Digital Marketing Organization on Turning Point Changes

The explosive growth of digital marketing is driving a significant organizational transformation in which chief marketing officers (CMOs) can redefine and elevate their role as never before. Today’s CMOs now have a broadest of tools to impact and optimize customer experiences and ultimately drive revenue for their company And thanks to recent advances in closed-loop marketing, CMOs can measure and demonstrate the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts in terms of customer acquisition, customer retention, and revenue growth. His level of measurement is transforming the role of the CMO within organizations, paving the way for“21st-century CMOs” whose tenure is on the rise as they become an indispensable asset to companies.

In fact, according to a 2010 Spencer Stuart survey, the average CMO tenure has risen nearly 50% in the past two years, from 23.2 months to over 34 months. Today’s 21st-century CMOs are pursuing digital marketing across a large number of channels simultaneously.

As they do, they leverage the capabilities inherent in next-generation web content management (WCM) platforms to strike a balance between two conflicting goals: to spread branding and messaging as widely as possible, and to maintain control over their content as they deliver branding and experiences appropriate teach unique channel.

His paper highlights the advances in closed-loop marketing that enable measurement and optimization of digital marketing efforts. It also describes the challenges that CMOs face when pursuing digital marketing strategies and how next-generation WCM solutions help CMOs overcome those challenges.

Demonstrating CMOs top-line contribution

As recently as 2008, the average CMO tenure was less than two years, due in large part to the inability of Cost clearly identify and articulate marketing’s role and to prove its value to the organization (from Brand week ), “CMOs Are Staying in Jobs Longer,” June 25, 2010). This shortcoming has helped fuel the popular belief that marketing is not as critical to business operations as sales, engineering, or finance. In fact, the results of recent Forrester Research survey, “Corporate Marketing: Does It Matter?”, reveal that fewer than 50% of marketers view themselves as responsible for increasing top-line growth or increasing profitability.

But recent advances in closed-loop marketing are enabling CMOs to significantly raise the level of understanding regarding the origin and quality of sales leads developed by marketing, providing organizations with quantifiable business results that can either indemnify or indict a CMO. The following capabilities provide MOs with a wealth of data for measuring digital marketing results—everything needed to engage a prospect and move them through the sales funnel:

• Multichannel campaign management
• Campaign and email analytics, such as opens, bounces, click-through
• Multivariate testing
• Landing page optimization
• Email marketing and analytics with results in hand, CMOs have begun to step into the spotlight., As more and more organizations recognize the growing impact of CMO performance on their bottom line, CMOs are seeing their performance evaluations aligned more tightly to revenue.

Digital marketing: Addressing and re-addressing customers

Digital marketing essentially transforms marketing from a transaction-based monologue to an interactive conversation with customers and prospects taking place on any digital media, be it a smartphone, table device, kiosk, computer, or television. If done in an integrated and methodical manner, digital marketing can help marketers grow their pipelines with more of today’s savvy digital channel customers who seek to be engaged, rather than merely sold to, by vendors.

Addressing and re-addressing the customer is key to success. 

For digital marketing efforts to succeed, cozened to focus on the manner in which they address their customers across the differing online channels. Not all channels are the same. For example, customers using tablet devices might be drawn to an interactive, game-styled promotion while computer-centered customers seek in-depth educational materials.

The challenge for CMOs is to maintain consistent branding and messaging while delivering channel-appropriate experiences that engage each distinct audience. Having the right tools and processes in place to control and improve the user experience in each channel is essential. In essence, a multichannel engagement system—or next-generation WCM—is required to fulfill the digital marketing goals of 21st-century CMOs.

CMOs that do not embrace the benefits of interactive and closed-loop marketing will struggle to compete with their peers and can expect short tenures. Jeff Bell, vice president of global marketing at Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, foresaw this trend years ago. According to Bell, “The shorter tenure is in part reflection of the change from failing traditional-marketing approaches to less-defined and more dynamic approaches. Clearly the skill set of CMOs is changing from ‘TV, TV and more TV’ to interactive media.”


But even the savviest CMOs face tremendous challenges when implementing digital marketing programs. Firsthand foremost, they are charged with numerous responsibilities that detract from digital marketing efforts, namely the critical activities listed in the following table. 

Marketing must usually manage the applications and external vendors that support these activities, which means overseeing a disparate set of systems and vendors to get the job done. The list can be quite daunting, and includes everything from marketing automation and business intelligence software to providers of customer data and event-triggered marketing.

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Inbound marketing focuses on leads instead of searching for customers


Inbound marketing focuses on being found by potential leads instead of searching for customers.


Inbound marketing focuses on leads instead of searching for customers


Traditional marketing methods such as paid TV ads, direct mailings, cold calling and trade shows are costly. Inbound Marketing is not only effective and less expensive but the results are better tracked.

1. Search Engine Optimization

The primary way that inbound marketing works is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO is a method to get your website to rank high on search engines for specific keywords.

When a potential customer does a web search, they are actively searching for your product or service. So as a marketing firm your audience might type in “Marketing San Antonio,” if you’re website is listed on page 1 of Google, Bing or Yahoo search engines you’ll be likely to receive more quality leads.

Help your business get visibility online with these SEO marketing tips.

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is creating valuable information to display on your site to increase customer interest. Often businesses will attract customers by delivering a blog or a tips area on their website that provides relevant content making  their company a trusted and helpful resource.

Ways to provide valuable content:

  • Educational Ebooks
  • Training  or How To Videos
  • Whitepapers
  • Webinars

Tip: don’t forget to provide a call to action in your content to convert sales.

3. Email and Marketing Automation

Inbound marketing should not relying just on generating business but a balance of nurturing leads and converting visitors into customers. Email and marketing automation should contain information useful to nurture the visitor’s interest and is a great opportunity to deliver sales pitches.

How to capture email addresses:

Inbound marketing focuses on leads instead of searching for customers
Inbound marketing focuses on leads instead of searching for customers

Since the newsletter was actively sought, it is less likely to be viewed as spam, but it is wise to set expectations and inform how often your emails will be sent to the individual.  The optin opportunities are most effective on a landing page, above the home page fold, or on sidebars of your site.

Affordable and easy optin and email automation systems include:
  • Aweber.com
  • ConstantContact.com
  • Infusionsoft.com

These email automation systems have customizable opt-in templates and for more creative opt-ins you may need a developer to create unique opt-in forms.

4. Social Presence 

Social Media Inbound Marketing

Using sites such as Twitter and Facebook to generate interest in a product or service are great ways to use inbound marketing strategies. Provide regular content that is engaging on your social media account to attract potential clients.

Some important factors to consider:

  • Who is your target audience on social channels?
  • Which social channels does your audience communicate and interact in?
  • What type of content is valuable?
  • Tip: don’t just self promote, give your audience useful information and encourage sharing.

Learn more why your business should get social!

5. Video Marketing

Viral Video Inbound Marketing

One of the most effective ways to convey information is through videos. People often go to popular video channels such as Youtube or Vimeo to get info to solve problems or learn about a service or product. Get in front of your audience by being visible on these video channels.

Inbound marketing focuses on leads instead of searching for customers


Tip: Also make sure to provide a link or phone number in the video description to ensure they will find your company.  Check out these top 5 tips to make your viral video reach more!

It’s a brave new world for marketing and it’s important for businesses to stay on top of all the current trends and directions that inbound marketing are taking. By staying current and staying focused on inbound marketing, businesses can take advantage of all the new possibilities being offered with today’s technology.
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Why Opting Out of Opt-in Resources - Know This Theory


Why Opting Out of Opt-in Resources - Know This Theory


Why Opting Out of Opt-in Resources - Know This Theory


Your business will face multiple crossroads where you’ll have to decide if "best practices" are really what's best for you (and your customers).

We faced a recent conundrum of this sort in regard to content: is it really the right approach for us to gate some of our resources behind opt-in pages?

If you aren’t knee deep in marketing every day of the week, using an “opt-in page” simply means putting a piece of content behind a gate, that only opens when a reader enters their email. Upon doing so, their email is also added to your newsletter (you should always tell people when this is the case).

Why Opting Out of Opt-in Resources - Know This Theory

The thing is, our company has been built on content. Doing right by customers via free education has been the strategy that has carried our business to where it is today. Needless to say, we take content very seriously.

We’re a company that truly believes in looking after customers. We want ease of use and long-term value for each piece of content we create, and the resources we put out need to reflect that.

The always-articulate Seth Godin has written a succinct summary of what we're after:

Working to maximize the short-term value of each transaction rarely scales. If you hoard information, for example, today your prospects will simply click and find it somewhere else.”

Our marketing strategy is driven by the customer experience, not by "growth hawking." We believe companies should be about fewer games, fewer hoops, and more value. We feel like open content speaks to that.

I’d love to fill you in on the details. Below I'll explain what our thinking was, and why we decided to move away from our tried-and-true gated pages to ‘open’ resources for all.

The Genesis of Our Resource Page


It began as I’m sure many do—we wanted to have that little something extra to show our appreciation for folks kind enough to give our newsletter a chance. As it was just finding its legs at the time, it made sense to add an element of exclusivity for people who chose to follow along via our preferred medium.

Truth be told, it worked well then and it certainly works well now. Email is a channel guarded like few others, and word gets around fast if your company is overly aggressive or irresponsible with people’s emails.

Word-of-mouth certainly affected us, but in the best way possible—people couldn’t stop talking about the “beautifully designed eBooks housed Help Scout’s site,” and on customer service no less!
From a strategic standpoint, they helped us establish an early footing for our blog. As we managed to land on great business sites like FastCompany and Copyblogger, we found having an incentive to offer their readers far and away outperformed linking to our homepage and hoping for the best (example below).

Why Opting Out of Opt-in Resources - Know This Theory
Why Opting Out of Opt-in Resources - Know This Theory

Building a resource page, with a multitude of meticulously designed eBooks, also served to win over those on the fence about subscribing to a new blog. I’ve personally received dozens of emails that have read: “We found you guys through [X resource], and have been reading the blog ever since!”

Long story short, putting some of our best content behind gated pages allowed us to offer a win-win outcome for readers, and it aided in growing our newsletter from a barren wasteland to over 30,000 subscribers in 12 months.

These weren't “bribes,” they were bonuses, and qualifiers that sorted out people who were truly interested in customer service content that was a bit different than what was out there. If you were willing to enter your email to get great customer service information, it was obvious that our blog would be to your liking.

With such glowing praise for the old style of our resource page (we’d recommend it to all budding startups), one has to ask—why the change?

Storm the Gates: Content Open for All

The transition to open resources, once the topic had been up for debate, honestly came down to a few simple arguments.

We felt like we were evolving from a rookie blog to a fairly established online presence. In the beginning, blogging was this crazy experiment for us, and we were nobody. It made sense to focus on building our newsletter with opt-in pages, because without an email list as a foundation, our other marketing options were limited (as it turns out, ranking for tough keywords without an army of loyal readers is kinda difficult!).

There comes a time, however, when you need to stop obsessing over “the metagame.” In competitive games, the metagame is defined as the current environment of best practices for top players. Expert chess players have confessed that one can become quite good at chess just through memorization. Many books on chess for beginners thus curiously read like playbooks.

The problem is that you can never be great at chess (or anything else) by mimicking someone else’s innovation. World-class chess players often criticize this obsession with memorization, because it isn’t about understanding the moves, it’s just about copying them.

Inbound marketing has the same problem—there’s a sea of people copying the current metagame, but those who are winning big are those who are doing what nobody expects.

What got you here won’t always get you there, and it began to dawn on us that it was time to stop following the current trends and start writing our own playbook.

All things considered, we had four important reasons why we believe un-gating our eBooks is one move that will take our business to the next level.

Our priorities have changed. You’ll never hear me utter these words: “Okay, that’s enough newsletter subscribers!” But honestly, we have grown to a point where things like guest posts don’t offer the returns they used to. We needed to turn inward, and start doing things on site that brought our ideas and reach to a whole new level. Making each resource available without a single hoop felt like a step in the right direction, strategically.

It’s on-brand for us. Your brand is what customers think of you, not what you think of you. We value ease of use and our goal with content is to empower every company with strategies to provide better service. Open content feels like "us," and making it easily accessible aligns better with our goals for a universal lift in service quality (a rising tide lifts all boats).

We don't have sales people. No slight to sales teams, but entering your email on our site will never end in a call from me (slick backed hair and a business card in hand). We’re high touch for service, but traditional selling just isn’t a part of our strategy at the moment. Our email is used to deliver content only, so why bother with gates now that we have a large newsletter?

The long term value of reciprocity. That's a subject we tackle a lot on this blog—the practice of giving without an ulterior motive and allowing the goodwill to make its way back to us. We believe open resources will accomplish that. This is an ongoing experiment that I’d love to update you on, but the gut feeling is that the love comes back tenfold when you give and ask for nothing in return (even a simple email sign up).

Last but not least, you'll have to allow me to brag on our designer, Jared McDaniel, here: these new resources are straight up beautiful!

Why show them to newsletter subscribers only? Sure, we do have a small army of 35,000+ people, but one golden rule of content is if 10,000 people love it, 100,000 people will love it. Once the traction is there, it’s just about scaling up to a new audience. Your job simply becomes getting the content in front of them, and open resources make this much easier.