Boosting Online Presence for B2B Marketers on a Budget.

By Steve Fodor.

I don’t pretend to know everything, but I know one thing to be true: B2B marketers today need to boost their online presence with less funds, fewer people and in an ever-increasingly cluttered online environment.

What’s the point of having invested in a Web site if it does not get found? Or if it doesn’t sell? Content development strategies continue to grow as a way for increasing SEO and telling a brand story. And it’s a great strategy, if you have the time, people and resources to do it. A recent study points out that 60% of B2B companies have no marketing staff dedicated to content development, and 24% of companies have only one person dedicated to the task.

So what to do? A colleague of mine and I were discussing this dilemma the other day. The problem we’re trying to solve is: how can we create greater online presence for a client with minimal funds and not enough resources to really implement a content development strategy? Here’s some food for thought.

Give your Web site a “call to action.” - So many Web sites are basically, well, online brochures. If I come to the site once, I’ve seen about everything there is to see. Your Web site…regardless of industry… must first and foremost sell your products or services. Call-to-action specials, sweepstakes, promotions and “new” items that are available should be seen in a big and bold way. It’s easy and relatively inexpensive to frequently feature new items and promotions with calls to action on your home page.

Better yet, create micro sites for specific promotions. – Adding micro sites to support specific product or service specials and/or new promotions puts new content out there to be found, and can be created at a fraction of the cost of a new Web site.

Expand your presence through promotion on third-party e-newsletters. – Third party e-newsletters are often overlooked when developing online media strategies. But, just about every industry has online newsletters authored by credible industry experts. They usually are opt-in (meaning people actually request the content) and present promotional opportunities at a fraction of the cost of other more “mainstream” venues. In our experience, we’ve actually seen some online newsletters perform better than established publication Web sites.

These are a few ideas a B2B marketer can do today and on a relatively small budget to boost online presence. We call making the most of available marketing funds our Industrial-Strength Marketing® approach. Having been in business since 1985 and working exclusively with B2B marketers, we know that just throwing money at a marketing problem is not always possible (or advisable). We have a few more Industrial-Strength ideas to share. If you’ve got a few, let us know.

Flickr Photo Credit:28 misguided souls

Another case for direct mail.

By Steve Fodor

Pick up any trade magazine from the marketing world and you’ll read about how social media is the “latest and greatest,” even in the B2B world. A recent conversation on LinkedIn even asked, “Is social media overtaking marketing?” No doubt, social media presents B2B and B2C marketers with dynamic venues for optimizing search results and developing conversations with customers.

But, even in the new media world, “old” and proven communications venues still have their place. I’ve always been a fan of direct mail…done right. I’m not of fan of postcards and letters that are not personalized or do not have a relevant offering (I’m also not a fan of push email, either, for the same reasons). Direct mail, when done right, is engaging. Human beings are tactile creatures and direct mail can involve the senses. Direct mail can be read in a more passive environment, which is especially advantageous if you’re selling a technical or information-intensive product or service. Direct mail can (and should be) entertaining and visually interesting. And, with creative use of different paper stocks and printing techniques (remember printing?), direct mail can create brand ambience.

I opened my mailbox the other night and found a nice direct mail piece from a financial planning organization. Actually, the mailing was addressed to my wife, but I was so intrigued by a three-dimensional direct mail piece that I had to open it to see what it was. It’s engaging. It’s interactive. It presents information in a way that’s easy to understand and makes good use of a three-dimensional visual device (the spinning wheel). All in all, it delivers an effective and informative marketing message that got my attention.

Another good use of direct mail is something we did for one of our B2B clients (see photo above). It’s for a new kind of slip -resistant flooring that’s applicable in the trucking industry, as well as many other industries. The marketing challenge is that the product is “alien,” according to the marketing manager. With our help, we put together a targeted mailing list, an engaging three-dimensional mailer that tells the story, and these are being mailed to select prospects with a follow-up call for a personal visit.

We see social media continuing to evolve in the B2B marketing world. It’s a big part of what we do and we’re working with clients to expand how they use and think about social media to tell their brand stories. But, don’t overlook the power of so-called “old school” mediums. The right tool used in the right situation will still work wonders, no matter how old it is.

Photo Credit: Badertscher Communications