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Q2 Marketing Cited in Slideshare’s Content Marketing Predictions for 2009

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Slideshare’s Content Marketing, Social Media and Marketing Predictions for 2009 cites research commentary from Q2 Marketing. Find the presentation, full of great resources, here:

http://www.slideshare.net/ambal/clickdocuments-content-marketing-cheat-sheet

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Online Marketing, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Brand Loyalty–Another Recession Consequence

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

For most of you out there, another fallout of this strange economy is the loyalty of your customers. Buyers are increasingly looking to make the absolute best decisions with their budgets. In an attempt to shave dollars, they will even incur greater risk by swapping you out for a new product or service provider. And there’s also the risk of them cutting your portion of the budget entirely.

Forrester’s George F. Colony says in the Huffington Post:

Brand loyalty will be limited. For five years, Forrester has been tracking the precipitous decline in brand loyalty — particularly for complex products like cars. Brands will afford only limited protection for your company in the new world — because choice has been radically expanded. All brands are subject to consumer testing, discussion, disclosure, and transparency. You can no longer own your customer — your customer will own you.

Wow. Your customer will own you. Seeing any of that in your industry?

Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you know the Technology Marketing Blog isn’t about gloom and doom or hand wringing. We’re about solutions here, people. The question is–what are you going to do with this information?

We all know that new customer acquisition is a high priority. But an even higher priority is keeping the customers you’ve worked so hard to attain. If your pipeline has slowed, you certainly can’t afford to lose customers. But if customer retention isn’t part of your current marketing strategy, be prepared to face that unpleasant reality.

Later this week we’ll discuss marketing activities you really should be doing to increase customer retention.

Another interesting, if harrowing read, is from NakedCapitalism.com. If you’re not on board with the severity of this issue, this is pretty convincing.

Join us next week for solutions, and visit www.q2marketing.com for lots of other ways to solve your tech marketing challenges. Till next time….

Posted in Customer retention, Economy, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Research and studies, Sales and Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

6 Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks–part 2

Friday, May 1st, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

This is part two of the paradox of branding from Starbucks’ John Moore’s appearance last week. Moore is the brand’s former marketing strategist. Read part one for the first three principles of brilliant branding.

4. “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department,” said David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Company. Every employee is part of your marketing department. One great person equals three good ones. Moore cited The Container Store, as a living example of this. Their mantra is to pay their great people two to three times more than they would make in a similar position.

Astonished employees, he postulated, will astonish customers.

5. If the market grows, the business must grow. Marginal companies get squeezed out when boon conditions abate. He asked the question, “If your business went out of business tomorrow, would anyone care?” Can you say with conviction you would dearly be missed by your employees and customers? If so, you’re doing something right.

Starbucks closed 1,000 stores. Customers went online and petitioned the closing of many stores. The customers cared.

6. Be influenced by “the paradox of growth.”

The smaller you are, the bigger you must look. The bigger you are, the smaller you must get. For those big guys, he cautioned, remember what it took to get where you are.

He concluded by sharing that Starbucks never set out to be well branded. It just happened. If you build a business that’s profitable, makes employees and customers happy, then you don’t need to worry about branding. Branding will take care of itself.

Posted in Economy, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Public Relations, Sales and Marketing | No Comments »

Six Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks’ John Moore

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Build a business that’s profitable, makes employees and customers happy and you don’t need to worry about branding. Branding will take care of itself.

These aren’t sentiments you’d expect from a marketer, must less John Moore, who designed and implemented marketing programs for Starbucks Coffee for eight years. But he’s pretty much an authority.

I attended his presentation before Accelerent last week. Special thanks to Brad Powell of JX2 Professional Software Services for the invitation. In his talk, Moore espoused six principles worth consideration—if not embracing—by marketers everywhere. Because he’s a heck of a wordsmith, some of his phrases are repeated here verbatim, or at least close to it. Here are the first three of his six principles:

1. The more obvious you are, the more original you appear…and vice versa. And here’s something particularly compelling for some in the tech marketing world. There’s no such thing as a dull product category. There are only dull brands.

He stressed the importance of earning opinions from your customers. A way to do that: unconventional names for your cup sizes. By taking something common and making it uncommon, you make your customers feel special, citing loyal customers who speak Starbuckian.

2. Be careful when defying your “circle of expectations.” The more obvious you are, the smaller the circle gets. Starbucks’ mark in the sand, as defined by Moore:

· bold coffee (this isn’t Folgers!)

· high quality beans

· not cheap

· non-traditional marketing consisting of locations as billboards and patrons carrying the distinctive cup

· comfortable stores

· engaged employees–another part of the Starbucks experience

The point is that the smaller the circle, the more effective the brand. Starbucks tried milder coffee, cheap coffee, salads, ice cream and other brainstorms that Moore said were unsuccessful because they were outside the circle.

3. If you want to earn customer loyalty, first earn employee loyalty. Your competitors can replicate your products and programs, but they can’t replicate your corporate culture.

Check back later this week for more on Moore’s six principles….

Posted in Advertising, Brand Consulting, Case studies, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Public Relations, Research and studies, Sales and Marketing | 2 Comments »

Ten tips for choosing the perfect ad agency

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

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.

Posted in Advertising, Award opportunities, Brand Consulting, Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Direct Mail, Direct marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Marketing Research, Messaging & Positioning, Online Marketing, Promotional Marketing, Public Relations, Referral marketing, SEO, Sales and Marketing, Search Marketing, Social Media, Technology Marketing, Trade Shows, Webinars, White paper marketing | 1 Comment »

99.5% of press releases not optimized for the web

Friday, March 13th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

DMNews reported recently that 99.5% of press releases don’t feature search engine optimization (SEO) for the web. This DMNews story was written by Brian Halligan:

He bases this finding on data collected from over 11,000 press releases. Here are the top three tips from Halligan on how to optimize press releases. No new information here, but if his data is accurate, there is a shortage of practical application in the PR world:

1. Link your releases back to your site.

2. The links should include relevant keywords.

3. Include the links near the top of your press releases, and focus on the first page as well.

Read the full story.

Q2 Marketing also recommends your keyword optimization strategy carry over to your press releases. Once you’ve determined what your top keywords are, particularly in light of the specific news of the release, use them appropriately. This includes headlines and sub-heads. But make sure your keywords or phrases comprise no more than 2% of your release.

One more note: don’t invent your own insular corporate labels for solutions and services. Use accepted industry terminology. A good keyword software will yield these results for you. If you are in a murky industry without clear definitions, look through industry analyst reports (and abstracts), industry articles, competitors’ web sites, conference brochures, etc., to understand what the most appropriate and popular terms are for your industry.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Research and studies, SEO, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Content to dominate marketing in 2009

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Look for businesses to focus marketing efforts on creating and promoting content in 2009, according to a new study from Junta42, as reported in Michael Stelzner’s white paper blog.

According to Junta42, “More than half (56%) of marketing- and publishing-decision makers plan to increase their content marketing spending for 2009.” Of those, 31% plan to increase significantly, and 25% plan to increase slightly. Only 13% plan on decreasing their content marketing spending, ranging from slightly to significantly.

Here are the top content types marketers will target in 2009:

Social media, other than blogs—68%
Enewsletters/email—60%
Blogs—56%
Case studies—55%
Online video—51%
White papers—46%
Microsites—43%

Any surprises? On which ones are you spending your marketing dollars in 2009?

Working with B2B and B2G marketers, it is clear to Q2 Marketing that the primary content challenge for marketers will continue to be twofold:

1. generate the content and/or prod subject matter experts to supply the content

2. promote the content through marketing databases and syndication outlets

Think carefully about how you will distribute these materials before dedicating many hours to creating them. Will such content be part of lead generation efforts or will it appear deeper in the sales process? Know what role each item will play and make sure your sales and marketing efforts maintain the consistency of your strategy.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Marketing Research, Research and studies, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Tech market recovery in 2010, says Forrester

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Forrester Research recently released their Global IT Market Outlook: 2009, reporting a dismal year for IT purchases. The report, by Andrew Bartels, projects global IT goods and services purchases will be $1.66 trillion this year. This marks a 3% decline after an 8% rise in 2008. This 3% represents growth in weighted average of local currencies.

The upside is that recovery is expected in 2010 with a 9% growth in US dollars and 6% growth in local currencies. Patience is more than a virtue.

The US tech market will grow 1.6% Meanwhile, the weakest growth will be in Western and Central Europe and Canada and Latin American, according to Forrester.

Globally, software purchases will be the highest performing category in 2008.

Last month, Forrester Research released the US IT Market Outlook: Q4 2008. In that report, they were optimistic–or at least not pessimistic–in foreseeing the near future.

And for even more tech market predictions from Forrester, read Q2’s Recession not ‘canceled,’ will hit tech industry in late 2008.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Research and studies, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Customers desire social media interaction

Monday, December 1st, 2008 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Americans who use social media feel better about companies when they can interact with them through social media. At least those are the conclusions of Boston-based Cone’s 2008 Business in Social Media Study.

Cone defines social media as “technology facilitated dialogue among individuals or groups, such as blogs/microblogs, forums, wikis, content sharing, social networking, social bookmarking and social gaming.”

They find that 93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media. A full 85% believe a company should also interact with customers via this media.

Below are select findings:

–30% of Americans use social media sites and tools two or more times a week.

–13% of social media users interact with companies via these sites two or more times a week. 12% interact one a week. 13% interact once a month and 21% interact a few times a year.

–Those surveyed believe the role of companies within social networks is to:

1. Provide virtual customer service (43%)

2. Solicit feedback (41%)

3. Provide new ways to interact with the brand (37%)

–The bottom line is that 56% of respondents feel a stronger connection with companies that offer social media technology, and 57% feel better served.

The survey was fielded by Opinion Research Corporation on September 11-12, 2008 to 1,092 adults.

Posted in Brand Consulting, Marketing Research, Research and studies, Social Media | No Comments »

IDC: Stop Doing More with Less

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Global analyst firm IDC’s CMO Advisory Practice has released the third annual results of its Marketing Performance Matrix (SM). The report gives kudos to internal marketers who excel in marketplace execution. The report ranks Avaya, Citrix, HP, Nortel, and Sun Microsystems as the top tech marketing innovators and reveals success factors for CMOs.

In the category of preaching to the choir, there are three key takeaways. Marketing execs are urged to:

Gain the trust of their CEOs, CFOs and Sales Executives. (Any surprises here?)
Leverage a strong, senior team in key regions so you can stay close to customers and optimize the ability to react to market and trends.
My personal favorite: Stop doing more with less. Terminate the cycle of ever-expanding marketing activities with diminishing resources. Rather, they recommend focusing on quality, and fewer programs with higher success.

Learn more about this report and IDC at http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=212922.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Industry Trends, Marketing Research, Sales and Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

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