Believe it or not, even in 2018, I  still hear from business owners and B2B companies who think that a blog has no place on their website. They may think the effort it takes isn’t worth the investment. Or, they (mistakenly) believe that blogs are only for personal use or showcasing opinions. What they fail to realize is how many ways a blog helps turn a website into a useful marketing tool. Blogs are an essential component of any inbound or content marketing effort.

Still not convinced? Well here are seven reasons that demonstrate why a blog is essential for your business website.

Reason #1. Get found more easily.

One of the main reasons any business-focused website should consider a blog is for the search engine optimization (SEO) value it offers. Google and other search engines place a high value on website pages with content that is frequently updated and of high quality. Blog articles help improve the amount of time people spend on your website, increase the number of pages they share or bookmark, and make it easier to include the sort of keyword phrases visitors might actually use in search engines. These are all factors that affect your website’s rank in search results. Blogs also make it easier to get organic backlinks to your website, as visitors are more inclined to share blog articles or educational materials than other types of pages (especially purely promotional product pages).

Reason #2. Gain credibility as an expert.

Sharing your industry knowledge, experience and expertise in relevant, well-crafted blog posts shows your potential customers that you know what you’re talking about. Customers are more likely to engage with businesses they see as experts in their field. You can use a blog to go into detail with useful tips about your products, answer customer questions, and provide advice about choosing between various options. You can also use a blog to generate interest from people who may not yet be considering a purchase. By providing education and advice that is useful in nature instead of focused purely on selling or promoting a product, you can help establish an audience for your expertise. In addition, website visitors are more likely to share articles that provide useful business information with their contacts on social networks. That will grow your reputation as an expert, and also result in more traffic to your website.

Reason #3. Tell your story in another way.

Storytelling is an engaging and effective way to interact with your potential customers. Tell them more about why you do what you do. What makes you passionate about what your company does? How did your company get started? What are the ideas, processes or methods you hold dear? A blog provides a way to share a series of articles that showcase your company and what you do in a human way to which other people can relate.

Reason #4: Engage in social media marketing.

Chances are good that your ideal customers are using social media. You should be there too, with relevant content that interests and engages them. Are ads and product pitches going to fulfill that role? Probably not. Think about what you are likely to read or share on social media. It’s probably not advertising. But if you come across a helpful blog post, or interesting story or video, you might share it. So will your prospects.

Having a blog lets you create the kind of content that you can share across all your company’s social media networks. It allows you to post relevant, updated articles that showcase your company’s expertise, or point of view, in a way that is more engaging than typical promotional content is.

Reason #5. Create ongoing connections.

Having a blog subscription provides a way for you to stay connected with visitors who come to your website. They may not be ready to contact you or reach out for more information about your product the first time they visit your website, but if you have a useful and relevant blog, they may be interested enough to subscribe to it. Placing a prominent blog subscription form on your website can be a way to generate new leads and stay in touch with prospects over a longer period of time in a non-intrusive way. A weekly or monthly email update from your blog will help ensure your company comes to mind when the prospect is ready to make a purchase decision.

Reason #6: Encourage visitor interaction.

Likewise, a website visitor may not feel they have a question or message worthy of sending an email or using your website contact form, but if you spark an interest, they may leave a comment on your blog. This gives you a unique opportunity to interact with them in a useful, unobtrusive way. Taking a few minutes each week to respond to comments will prove worth the effort as it generates a sense of interaction for your website. You shouldn’t worry too much about negative comments or spam, either, because there are a number of tools that can make dealing with both of these issues simple. Furthermore, responding to negative comments gives you an opportunity to correct misconceptions and show that your business takes customer needs seriously.

Reason #7: Use content marketing effectively.

On a blog, you can publish a variety of types of content, from videos, to how-to articles, to slideshows. You can offer infographics or ebooks. A blog gives you creative license to try a variety of different formats and styles of content that might not otherwise work well on a business website devoted to describing a company and products or services. A blog gives you the opportunity to show website visitors who you are, what you do, and what makes you special. That can go a long way in moving a prospect toward a purchase decision.

Starting a blog

Creating a blog on an existing website doesn’t have to be a difficult endeavor. A variety of blogging tools, such as WordPress or HubSpot, are available out of the box that can work as add-ons to your existing website and allow you to get an effective business-focused blog up and running quickly.

Need help? Contact me if you need help setting up a blog, creating content,  getting a website set up for your business.

The era of marketing automation has brought new and powerful tools to the hands of sales and marketing teams. Our arsenal today includes a means to collect customer and prospect data (we never use the term “spying” *wink*), personalization of offers and even the all-important ROI analysis.

But there may be some confusion or overlap in the minds of marketers about the differences between various kinds of software tools. You may wonder, “How do I compare apples to apples? Or am I lumping in grapefruits?

The comparison may get even more complicated when you consider that some marketing automation tools, such as HubSpot, may seem to overlap with tools such customer relationship management (CRM) systems. In fact, HubSpot recently added a CRM directly into its marketing software system. So where do you draw the line?

What is a CRM?

First of all, it’s important to consider that definitions of these tools can be highly subjective depending on who is using them. In fact, a CRM (typically considered a sales or customer support tool) could even be considered marketing software, because the marketing team uses it.

That being said, it might make sense to create a broad definition of what each of these tools are:

• A CRM – is a repository (database) of information for managing customer relationships

• Marketing software (and in particular, marketing automation software) – is used to take actions toward customers and leads

To make the distinction more clear-cut, we’ve outline five essential differences between CRMs and marketing software.

Five essential differences

1. What it’s used for: Database vs. control center.

   A CRM is a repository of customer history and information such as addresses and phone numbers, while marketing automation software is used to perform specific actions. A marketing automation tool allows you to create workflows and send emails or offers to particular customers at a particular time, based on the information they have asked (opted-in) to receive.

2. How it’s used: Sales interactions vs. website tracking.
   

   A CRM is useful for tracking sales and customer support interactions with a customer by logging individual email contact and phone calls. It keeps track of all customer purchases and preferences. A marketing system, however, will track a broader set of data about prospects BEFORE they become customers, such as web pages they have viewed, social media sites they have interacted with and ads they have viewed.

3. Who uses it: Sales vs marketing.
   

   Again, there can be some overlap here, but a CRM records every instance of contact with a particular customer into one aggregated dataset. (Every sales, customer service, and marketing touch can be recorded). Marketing software is a tool designed to measure and collect information about marketing campaigns: which emails generate leads and clicks, which ads pull in the most website visitors, which blog posts get the most readership and conversion on offers, which social media posts or Tweets got responses and views.

4. When it’s used: After conversion vs before.

   A CRM primarily collects information after a lead is known and helps identify the best customers. Marketing automation software aggregates information about the customer that begins before the person has any sales contact by using website forms and online analytics to gather data.

5. Why it’s used: Customer maintenance vs lead nurturing.
   

   A CRM is used to foster and maintain customer relationships while a marketing automation system is primarily used to nurture leads at the top of the funnel in order to convert them to customers. Marketing software provides personalized content to the prospect in order to CONVERT the prospect to a lead, which is why it is primarily used by the marketing department.

As we mentioned, many of the tools in both a CRM and marketing automation system can overlap. And in fact, often both Sales and Marketing departments have access to and may use both sets of tools. The difference will be the kinds of information and actions they want to get from the systems.

Marketing will be more focused on using the tool to generate leads at the top of the funnel, and Sales will be more concerned with the activities that happen to convert the leads into customers –and what happens with the customers after the sale.

Marketing systems may increasingly be useful in the later part as well, because they can manage email campaigns and content that help upsell customers, support re-engagement or get customers to share information with their own friends and contacts.

According to a new study of global social media usage by Ispos Opening Thinking Exchange, the things which most motivate people to share content via social media are how interesting it is and humour.

Probably no big shocker there. If it’s funny or unique (maybe even strange) people will share it. Still it’s interesting to note that the study of 12,420 global internet users demonstrated how the motivations for sharing content can differ slightly from country to country.  Sometimes it’s more about the person wanting to portray a self image online than to be helpful to others. 

Differences by country

For example, the study showed that while the top reason for sharing content in nearly all countries surveyed was “important things,” it wasn’t the case in Saudia Arabia. There, the top reason (65%) reported for sharing something on social media was to let “others know what I believe in and who I really am.” That answer also ranked highly in Brazil, where 60% agreed. Comparatively, only 37% of the rest of the world said this was their top reason for sharing.

The survey also showed some regional differences among the willingness to share “interesting” content. That reason topped the list in China, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey, whereas it was at the bottom of the list in Japan, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Top reasons for sharing

Here are some interesting takeaways from the study:

• 61% of people worldwide will share “interesting things”
• 43% of people will share things which they feel are ‘important” or “funny”
• 30% of global users indicated they shared content to recommend a product, service or movie
• 29% shared something “to support a cause, an organisation or a belief”.
• 26% will share “unique things”
• 22% want to “to let others know what I’m doing” 

See the study  results here: Ispos Global Social Media Study Results

Scott Harrison’s story of turning his life around from one of excess indulgences and shallow endeavors as a NYC night club promoter, to founding one of the fastest growing and influential non-profit charities in the world, charity: water  — which brings clean water to poor villages around the world — is more than just a fascinating tale.

It’s a lesson in the smart use of connections, social media, emotional selling and accountability for your actions. And it’s a striking tale of growth with a zero dollar marketing budget to raising more than $100 million dollars and helping more than 3 million people in just six years.  Is it something that can apply to other industries in marketing?  I think so.

As a keynote speaker at last week’s Inbound Marketing Conference in Boston, Harrison presented not just a tale of how he got to where he is, but also succeeded in getting nearly 4,000 people in the room (include myself) to vow to support the charity’s efforts. Talk about leveraging the power of the masses!

 

Read my blog post at the UP THERE, EVERYWHERE website.

 

E3 International Agency Network will host its first-ever open conference (open to the public and not just members). For E3, this is an important moment. For international marketers, it’s a great chance to hear from some experts in the area of place branding and global marketing.

The conference will be held October 9 in Duisburg Germany.

Why Duisburg? Well, for one thing, one of the agency conference organizers, Sander Werbung is there. For another, it’s a perfectly centrally located European location that many E3 members, prospects and clients will find it easy to get to.  And finally, it allows E3 to turn the conference into a workshop for the city of Duisburg…bring great minds together to consider it’s branding strategy.

The event will be held at Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord. This former iron and steel working industrial complex has been thoughtfully turned into a community park and conference location by the city of Duisburg Nord.

E3 Meeting Agenda

The E3 meeting will include several international speakers in the areas of place branding and authenticity in brand building.

09:00 am – Reception and registration

09:45 am – Opening: Michael Meier President E3

10:00 am – Greeting: Mayor of Duisburg, Sören Link

10:30 am – Speaker: Michael Beverland, Professor University of Bath (UK) “Building brand authenticity habits”

11:15 am – Break

11:30 am- Speaker: Julian Stubbs, Sweden  “Ideas for Duisburg”

1:00 pm – Lunch break 2:00 pm – Speaker: Carlo Einarsson, Sweden, “400 years of company history – Chances and Challenges”

3:00 pm – Speaker:  Raf Stevens, Belgium,  “Corporate Storytelling”

3:45 pm – Coffee break 4:00 pm  – Workshop led by Raf Stevens,  “How to create myths and legends”

6:00 pm – End

For more information and to register for the conference, visit the Global Marketing Conference website.

Global Marketing Conference Registration >>

I hope to see you there!

You’ve probably heard it said…”Email marketing is dead.” Well, don’t believe it! Email marketing is not dead, it’s just evolving.

The truth is, email is an important part of any marketing campaign. When used at the right times as part of an integrated multi-channel approach, email delivers just the right message in a highly targeted and measurable way.

Vendors like Constant Contact, Marketo and Hubspot make tools that not only incorporate email as an essential component to any marketing campaign, but also rely on email to be the closer for social media and inbound marketing efforts.  Email is a valuable and proven way to get your customers back to your site or responding to an offer.

Not convinced? Here are seven signs that email marketing is not dead:

1. 94% of adults check their email every day. (Source)
2. 74% of online adults prefer email for commercial communication.  (Source)
3. 62% of adult US Internet users check or send email on a daily basis.  (Source)
4. Social media users are over 60% more likely to check email at least four times a day than those who don’t use social media. (Source).
5. People. who buy products marketed through email spend 138% more than people that do not receive email offers. (Source)
6. 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email. (Source)
7. Email generates a 2x return compared to other channels. (Source)

Check out this infographic from Marketo that sums it up.

You may have noticed a trend in business marketing that uses a type of presentation format known as “infographic.” Or maybe you heard someone use the term, and weren’t exactly sure what they meant?

So what exactly is an infographic, and what is it used for?

An Infographic, or Information Graphic, is the visual presentation of information, data or knowledge in a format that allows complex information to be presented quickly and clearly.

The concept of the infographic is not new (ancient cave painting could be considered one form of them) but their recent popularity for sharing in social media platforms has taken them to a new level in online marketing. You know the saying of a picture being worth a thousand words? Well, that’s the idea behind an infographic. A combination of charts, graphics, pictorial facts and figures makes infographics interesting to look at, entertaining and educational.

Infographics are generally designed to get across a lot of information in a small space. They are often vertical in format, but can also be used as slides or animated. A number of online applications and tools have cropped up to help the “graphically challenged” create interesting infographics without needing a great deal of graphic skills. These use premade templates and designs.

However, a graphic designer with skill in presenting information visually can create one-of-a-kind infographics that brings complex or confusing information to light quickly. These invite sharing on sites such as Facebook, Linked In and Pinterest. Infographics can be an important part of a Content Marketing strategy.

Here’s an example of recent infographic created by UP team members for a client called Netsize, a mobile billing application company.

When it comes to social media, the thrust of any strategy is aligning your core message with your audience’s needs. But there is a reason it’s called “social” media. How does what people you know and “like” affect how a message influences you?

A key strategy for success in using Facebook and another social media sites for brands is to make use of the influence of “friends” and expand on an individual’s social networks to enter their sphere of consideration. If your friend (or colleague) recommends something, “likes” it or “shares” it with you, you’re more likely to pay attention than if the message comes from a random unknown brand.

So how does the psychology of influence work? This infographic from Pardot does a good job of summarizing it.

What do you think?