Q2 Marketing Blog» Q2 Marketing Blog – Technology Marketing, Public Relations, Brand Consulting

Still not sure of the ROI of email marketing?

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:56:49 +0000

What’s the return on investment of email marketing? It’s easy to get a bit jaded when it comes to email marketing, as we’re cleaning out our inboxes. It seems like on a good day the proportion of solicited messages to unsolicited messages is 1:10. On a good day. . .

But, marketers, don’t allow your assumptions to cloud your judgments. Email marketing has a very real ROI.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. Yes, the nice people at the DMA might have a dog in the fight. (I really hope people aren’t googling dog fighting and ending up on the TechnologyMarketingBlog.) But who else are you going to trust to measure it?

And while down a bit, they estimate email marketing is expected to return $42.08 for every dollar spent on it this year.

So, if you’re not consistently using email marketing, maybe you should be. And if you’re not getting a healthy ROI, it’s time to evaluate your methods.

Domino’s Marketing Tactic–Our Pizza Sucked

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:34:40 +0000

It’s not that often that I get excited about B2C marketing. I spend too much time living B2B and B2G. But I”m always a big believer in direct approaches. What Domino’s Pizza is going is pretty incredible. You may have caught their new TV commercials in between fast forwards on your DVR.

Watch their video where Domino’s really beats their pizza up.

Read the Bnet interview with Russell J. Weiner, Domino’s chief marketing officer.

5 steps to successful and measurable white paper marketing

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:12:03 +0000

In technology marketing, the virtues of white papers are well known. But the deployment strategy too often goes off course. When this falls short, measurable results are sure to follow.

A successful white paper distribution strategy really only requires five steps:

1. A marketable topic that provides important content to potential buyers.

Just because your engineers are excited about a technology doesn’t mean this topic will generate enthusiastic readers. Research your topic and make sure you’re really filling a market niche and supplying needed content. If this step is not dead on, how can the program be successful?

2. Structure and content that delivers on the promise of valuable information.

This step can do one of two things. It can build on the credibility of the company that develops the white paper. Or it can damage your company’s credibility if the reader goes to the trouble to download your data, only to find the information is poorly organized, badly written, and/or hopefully week on good content. There’s a middle ground in there too, but that falls short of motivating the prospect to do business with you.

3. Visual appeal that contributes to the positive perception the reader has of the company.

White papers are marketing pieces and should fit with the overall corporate brand. Charts, graphs, screen captures and other visual depictions should be handled by an experienced graphic designer, as should all parts of the white paper. Not everyone who can design a white paper should design a white paper. After all, you want this document to be read by your audience. Visuals are important.

4. A distribution strategy of reaching potential buyers, customers, etc.

Writing the white paper is the easy part. Really. As difficult as it can be to extract important information out of your subject matter experts and convince your C-suite and peers that you’re not giving away trade secrets at every turn, the most difficult part of any white paper strategy is distribution. Take the time and allocate the budget to do this step properly. Before you embark on developing the white papers, research white paper search and syndication services like bnet, techtarget, knowledgestorm and more, as well as more niche-focused services. Also consider the white paper as a pull to an advertising or direct mail campaign.

Also, determine how you will continue to nurture those leads once they are in your pipeline.

5. Benchmarking and measurement methods to determine and define success.

Before you begin, determine what success looks like. Realistically. Is it the number of qualified downloads, qualified additions to your marketing database, inbound leads, search engine optimization, synergy with a PR program, etc.?

Best Ways to Build Brand Loyalty in Recession

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:57:33 +0000

As discussed last week, brand loyalty is another consequence of this recession. From grocery stores to enterprise solutions, buyers are tenuous with budgets and all too eager to swap out product and service providers to save a few dollars.

So, aside from providing awesome products and services and enviable customer service, what are you doing to boost brand loyalty and retain your customers? The first and most important step you can take is to tell your customers two very important things.

1. Say thank you. How are you thanking your customers for their loyalty? The answer can’t be that the sales representative checks in once a year to re-up the contract. That’s not saying “thanks.” That’s say, “where’s the money?” And customers see through it.

An option is to have your account managers or senior leadership pick up the phone and thank customers for their business. Of course, you always want more business and cross selling is important, but the purpose of these calls should not be to highlight a new offering or upsell a contract. The purpose is to say thank you.

If you’re in a high volume business with thousands of customers, that’s untenable. But you can at least call key customers. Emails and letters are alternatives for large customer bases. For your non-government customers, take them to lunch to show them you appreciate their business.

2. Remind them that you’re great. The purpose of thanking your customers is not to give the impression that sales are down or revenue is tight, if that’s your present reality. You’re not calling to beg them to continue on with you. Good, bad or neutral times, showing appreciation is always a good idea.

Selling and marketing don’t stop after the sale is made, unless you never want their business again. Once an organization joins your customer roster, you must periodically remind them that you’re the absolute best choice they could have made. Chances are they have other options for the products or services you provide. If you keep in front of them in a positive light, you’ll reduce the likelihood that they will want to shop around for alternatives. That’s why marketing is a recession is so critical.

The 5 Fastest Ways to Generate Leads in a Recession–part 3

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:56:20 +0000

Leads. Leads. Leads. They’re worth their weight in gold in any economy. But in a recession, qualified lead volume is as essential as it gets. This is the final of our three part series on the five fastest ways to generate leads. Read part one and part two of the fastest ways to generate leads.

To recap, the first four of the quickest ways to generate lead–and sales:

Webinars
Seminars
Speaking Engagements
White Papers

One quick note on the tactics mentioned in these two recent articles: A lot of companies are still spending significantly on lead generating marketing activities. Word on the B2B and B2G tech marketing street is that these activities continue to work, but a greater volume of leads are needed to close sales.

We’ve saved our most non-traditional marketing activity for last as we explore the fastest ways to generate leads. The last program is telesales. We consider this to be non-traditional from a marketing standpoint, because it falls much more under the banner of sales than marketing. But, like in much of the sales and marketing world, this should be a shared responsibility.

The business model of firms that provide telesales is only growing in this economy. There is no shortage or companies that provide this service. Here’s how it works: they make the cold or slightly warm calls to schedule meetings for your sales people and/or technical experts. These can be very helpful in any economy, but especially now when leads volume is so desired. But just because this is a tactical sales exercise doesn’t mean marketing should sit on the bench.

One of the biggest frustrations executives have with outsourced telesales is the script. The telesales people use the elevator and subsequent messaging the company provides. If the message is off target, the value proposition unclear or the message otherwise misaligned, the calls will have limited success.

Marketing should be engaged at day one to craft the call script and ensure it’s aligned with the corporate messaging, product messaging, etc. Marketing should also be involved in the strategic selling process for each movement within the funnel.

Examples: What is the next step that should occur from a marketing standpoint? Should the lead be added to the marketing database, deleted from the database, scheduled to receive a follow up communication such as a white paper, webinar invitation, enewsletter, etc? This is all part of the sales and marketing process. The best case scenario is that the calls close in the short term. But that won’t happen all the time, so the plan for nurturing the leads through the pipeline has to be considered carefully—and early—in this process.

Additionally, marketing should be involved in testing the message. How well are the calls going? Do prospects understand the value of the product or service? What are their push backs? Marketing must evaluate this feedback and hone the script until it’s fully optimized. Again, it’s a process. The days of throwing random messages against a wall to see what sticks are over in today’s ROI-focuses marketing paradigm.

Generally speaking, the programs highlighted in this three-part piece are the five fastest ways to generate leads. If there are any that you’re not currently exploring, now’s the time to take a closer look.

The Quickest Ways to Generate Leads-3 & 4

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:04:45 +0000

Keeping the pipeline full and opportunities moving through it has gotten increasily difficult for almost everybody. I talk wtih sales people and leaders all the time in industries as diverse as technology, marketing, professional services, advertising, financial, healthcare and more. They’re all pretty much saying the same thing. Chances are, these are the same things being said within your organization.

We may not be able to unilaterally market our hemisphere out of a lingering recession, but we can put some programs in place to begin developing and nurturing leads–today. Let’s explore two more of the five fastest wasy to generate leads. Read about the first two of the fastest ways to generate leads here.

3. Speaking Gigs. Secure speaking engagements for your executives, technical people and other relevant and qualified experts. Large conferences and tradeshows will begin accepting abstracts for presenters at least nine months in advance. Not exactly a quick way to generate leads. But the sooner you start looking for these opportunities, the sooner you will have executives lined up. And stay plugged into good events so your executives can be reached out to for regional events that don’t take as long to plan. Remember, some people come to tradeshows to evaluate and buy.

In addition to major conferences, contact chambers of commerce, relevant associations and other business organizations to see about being added to their calendar for a more imminent event. There are a multitude of such organizations in most metropolitan areas in the United States. If the audience is a fit and includes some well qualified potentials, this can be a powerful initiative. If the topic and content are good, this builds and fosters credibility that will move your organization to the short list of service providers or vendors.

4. White Papers. Do you have valuable, current white papers that fit with the strategic direction of your organization? Even if you don’t have finely polished papers, you probably do have components of good white papers circulating in your proposals, internal documents, client deliverables, etc. We know that nailing down your subject matter experts to develop white papers can be a challenge. But it’s worth it. White papers can be important for promoting to your marketing database, as well as to the rest of the prospect world. And if you use a white paper distribution service, you’ll build valuable credibility and leverage Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your key services and products.

The 5 Fastest Ways to Generate Leads

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:04:20 +0000

Now is the time to leverage marketing to generate leads. In an economy where it takes considerably more leads and more times to make sales, moving quickly to keep the pipeline full is of the essence. Marketing should be helping you in the endeavor.

This article examines the five fastest ways to leverage marketing to generate and nurture leads. These tactics are designed to work in unison with more long-range marketing activities, and can be executed on an ongoing basis. They’re also meant to fit tightly with and enhance your selling process.

Webinars. Once you’ve figured out what you have to say with your webinar or series of webinars, promotion is the biggest consideration. Any media organization that you team up with to promote your webinar will be able to provide you with the list of registrants. Assuming you have a good topic that people care about, this should represent a healthy list of prospects in a reasonably finite period of time.

But beware, there are many webinar pifalls to avoid.

Seminars. The next step up from webinars is face-to-face seminars. These are more risky because you need to fill a real live room. With webinars, none of your attendees knows if they are one of 50 or one of 5,000. But when you’re in a room together, it’s all transparent. So seminars pose a constant challenge to fill a room. If the topic of your seminar is “Ten Ways Product X Can Improve Your Business Process,” don’t expect much of a turnout. The seminar must be educational in nature. Advertise good content and deliver, and you’ll build a reputation for high quality events.

As with webinars, seminars provide qualified leads. But unlike webinars, you’re team is able to actually engage potential buyers face-to-face during networking time and Q&A. Seminars are much more powerful at building and promoting your brand to attendees than webinars. They also build greater interaction with your brand and more vested prospects.

Check back later this week for more of the 5 fastest ways to generate leads.

Avoid B2G Marketing Pitfalls

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:07:19 +0000

Business-to-government (and business-to-business) marketing is most effective when it communicates value. The best B2G marketing is based on compelling content focused on problems solved and clear solutions offered. Read more about why content-rich marketing materials will reign in 2009.

Government decision makers and the corporate C-suite alike tell us all the time that they read resources that help them and their teams be more effective. Examples of such resources include content-rich newsletters, bylined/contributed articles, case studies, blogs, analyst reports, and white papers. For all of your content-driven materials, ask yourself: how does this help the decision maker do his or her job?

The credibility valuable content builds is paramount for companies selling professional services and products to the government. But remember, this initiative won’t be successful if materials are simply sent off blindly to an overflowing inbox of an unwitting recipient. Rather, these resources will serve as door busters for your business develop teams. And they will serve as incentives to use at different points in the sales cycle.

If you don’t have one already, create a library of powerful, valuable materials for your business development team.

Want to learn more about B2G marketing? Join me at The ASBC’s 5^th Anniversary Conference and Gala April 23, 2009 in Vienna, VA. I’ll be presenting on “11 Essential Steps for Marketing to Government.”

Ten tips for choosing the perfect ad agency

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:08:18 +0000

Looking to land a marketing or PR agency? Or maybe you’re considering the options and looking for alternatives to the agency or agencies you already have? Here are some fundamentals for making the best choice.

But first, if you haven’t already, read the four essential ingredients you’ll need before selecting a marketing agency.

And now, for the first 3 tips for securing the perfect marketing agency for you:

1. Commitment to delivery. Agencies sometimes lack structure. Everyone you talk with is going to tell you they hit their clients’ deadlines. To get to the real issue, ask their references about their track record in hitting deadlines.

2. Seeing the big picture. Your account manager should have a firm grasp of your business objectives. The agency methodology should be more about helping you reach your goals than creating award-winning pieces. They must understand how and why you want to impact your audience.

3. What’s the ROI? The agency needs to be able to demonstrate return on projects like yours. If you’re looking at web marketing, what’s the agency done and how has it impacted their clients? If they’re trying to sell you on direct marketing, what’s their track record? How have they measured past success and how will they do it for you? A formal measurement methodology in plain English is a huge plus.

Check back soon for the rest of the ten tips for selecting the perfect marketing agency.

Communicate consistently with buyers

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:30:07 +0000

We often recommend that companies looking to better communicate with their client or prospect base consider a direct marketing initiative. One of the most cost effective is a monthly or quarterly newsletter.

It’s often easy for organizations to believe in the value of newsletters. Being top of mind is important. And with some fantastic distribution tools out there, newsletter traffic is eminently measurable.

But the more they consider this tactic, the more some organizations begin to question whether they will be able to consistently generate enough interesting content. This is a fair question, and one that you must absolutely ask before diving into something like a customer or prospect newsletter. After all, starting one only to stop it a few months later doesn’t really advance your cause. Nor is that a very good way to spend your marketing dollars.

Here are some ideas for newsletter topics:

case studies you can use to highlight a successful project or hot trend
new customers or contract wins
new technologies you support that represent trends
company milestones such as growth, partnerships, etc. that could make a difference to your clients
stories highlighting service in the local community and beyond
achievement of industry awards
the addition of new customer-facing personnel

For product companies, announcements of upgrade packages, new products, user groups, special offers and more can easily be used to drive opens and click-throughs. Service companies often have to work a bit harder to generate content, but the point is the same for both: There are exciting things going on in your company that matter to your customers and your prospects.

Newsletters are one consistent way to facilitate constant communications. What aren’t you communicating to your customers (and/or prospects) that you should be?