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

Study: Impact of Positive & Negative Product Reviews

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:20:37 +0000

A study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas reveals some very interesting findings on the importance of product reviews on buyer habits. The findings draw from 165 participants who tested video games. They had no previous knowledge of the game, Plants vs. Zombies. I know, I know, but stay with me… The point here isn’t really about video games.

The study, called, ”The Influence of Professional Critic Reviews,” divided users into three groups. One was exposed to positive reviews of Plants vs. Zombies, one was exposed to negative reviews, and the third was shown none. Participants then played the game for 20 minutes. Next, they filled out an exit survey, gave the game a review score and chose to either receive a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies or $10.

Positive reviews made a big difference.

Those who read positive reviews were twice as likely to choose the copy of Plants vs. Zombies instead of the cash. And they were 85% more likely to take the game than those not exposed to any reviews.

Are you making use of buyer reviews? They clearly influence purchasing decisions, even if you’re not in the business of the undead.

Are You Using PR to Sell?

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:30:33 +0000

Too many organizations forget that public relations can and should have a meaningful impact on the sales process. Are you using PR effectively to sell?

One important output of a PR campaign is to use press clippings in the sales process. PR should not be passive. You should use clippings from interviews and favorable mentions in the sales kits and other leave behind.

You should also be using recent clippings like trend pieces and case studies and sending them along to leads that have cooled.

When viewed this way, PR can be used strategically to sell. How are you using it?

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.

Last things you need before you begin to blog

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:11:34 +0000

This series grew out of my heartfelt conclusion that B2B and B2G blogging isn’t for everyone. Sometimes I get the sense that non-bloggers feel guilty about not yet joining the fray. Conversely, a hearty helping of business-to-business bloggers that, it turns out, have very little to say, have jumped in. The series began by highting the four attributes a would-be blogger absolutely must have:

Strategy
Discipline
Desire
Content

But, from there it grew. Because in addition to these, skill and content targeted to audience are essential, as we explored in part two. But wait, there’s more. Here are our final two attributes you need if you’re going to blog. At least for now.

7. Patience. You aren’t going to experience a groundswell of traffic to your site overnight. You probably won’t experience much traffic for the first number of months. Patience is a prerequisite. This ties into the discipline mentioned earlier. Know that this requires a big picture, long term perspective. We all want thousands of unique visitors each day. But remember one qualified inbound lead as a direct result of your blog has greater value than one thousand passive readers.

On readership, promoting the blog is an entirely different story. A story for another time.

8. Metrics. All good marketing is about metrics and blogs are no exception. One of the single greatest assets of web marketing is measurement. Google Analytics, which is free, will give you great data on traffic to your blog, most popular pages, time on site, referring sites and more. Use this information to understand the types of topics of most value and interest to your readers. When quantifying the value of your blog, refer back to your strategic objectives and make sure your goals are in alignment with your initiatives. And the most important metric of all: are you getting qualifed leads?

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.

4.5 Reasons Not to Spend Money on PR

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:26:37 +0000

Lots of B2B and B2G companies in the tech sector are talking about PR these days. I’m not entirely sure why that is. A down economy typically has the opposite effect on an organization’s willingness to spend on public relations. But this speaks volumes on executives’ confidence in how PR can impact their bottom line.

Despite Bill Gates’ now-famous PR advocacy quote, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations,” not every company should be spending on PR. Why not? Here are four (and a half) reasons why you shouldn’t spend money on PR. At least not now.

1. No room in the budget

This is where PR discussions start—and often stop. If your organization isn’t able or prepared to dedicate at least $4,000-$5,000 per month to an outside agency, or expert internal resources, PR isn’t the way to go. Spend marketing dollars elsewhere to grow the business until the time is right for PR. End of story.

1.5 If you can’t afford a strategic PR initiative….

So you don’t have highly experienced internal resources for PR? There are cost effective means of leveraging the expertise of a PR firm for execution by a junior level marketing/PR person. For details that go beyond the confines of this article, contact me at bsheetz (at) Q2marketing.com.

2. Lack of availability of management team

This is also where a good PR program can fall off. If spokespeople can’t be made available for media interviews in a timely fashion, your dollars are going to fall short. Similarly, your management team must be involved in strategic discussions, even if on a limited basis. This is the only way to ensure the strategy of the PR is in lockstep with the execution.

3. Un-seasoned Spokespeople

This dovetails with the need for the availability of your management team. Everyone wants good and meaningful features and quotes that advance their business’ strategic objectives. Your spokespeople must dedicate some time to honing their message and delivery to maximize each interview opportunity. And they need to make sure they are well prepared to address the reporter’s needs for each interview.

A formal media training is advised for most executives, even the ones who don’t think they need it. (Sometimes it’s especially the ones who don’t think they need it.)

4. Inconsistency

PR works effectively when it happens consistently. It will take some time to begin to generate results. But once the ink starts to land, it has to continue. The good news is that media coverage typically builds and increases exponentially if a good program continues. If you’re going to spend money on PR, be prepared to do so over the long-term. That’s how to create results.

If PR does make strategic sense for your company, it will require a measure of patience. But it’s worth the wait. Read more about how to make PR worth the wait and realize big returns.

6 Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks–part 2

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:02:11 +0000

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.

Six Principles of Brilliant Branding from Starbucks’ John Moore

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:16:25 +0000

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….