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

Content is Key to Effective Online Marketing

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:17:27 +0000

There are many challenges businesses of all sizes face when it comes to developing and executing a powerful, ROI-driven internet marketing strategy. One of the biggest hurdles is in developing high-quality, meaningful content. Many businesses simply don’t think they have much to say or a reliable effective way to say it.

Read the rest at TopTenREVIEWS.com Online Marketing Services site.

Talkin’ About My (online) Reputation

Pamela Girardin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:40:34 +0000

Amtrak’s Arrive Magazine’s most recent issue quotes Q2 Marketing’s Becky Sheetz-Runkle on how to protect your businesses’ online reputation. Find out how to use social media to shape your online reputation. Read the full article: http://www.arrive-digital.com/arrive/20100708#pg31

New eMarketer report on SEO and SEM Spending

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:34:32 +0000

Search is fundamental to customer acquisition. And search engine optimization (SEO) is projected to grow consistently, according to eMarketer’s Search Marketing Trends report.

Read the rest at blogs.aquent.com: http://blogs.aquent.com/aquentblog/author/kelly-boykin/2009/06/

The Top 10 SEO Software Products in the World!

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:09:30 +0000

Search engine optimization. Can you really market effectively without it? Probably not. But SEO is about much more than keyword optimization and whose linking back to who. It’s about strategy, content, credibility and great attention to detail.

That’s why a lot of pros don’t go it alone. They pick an SEO software product to help automate the many tedious and time consuming aspects of SEO. The rules and techniques are constantly changing.

To help, I’ve impartially evaluted and compared the top 10 SEO software products in the world. And I do mean world. Only one is based in the U.S.

The top three were:

Web CEO
Advanced Web Ranking
iBusiness Promoter

Find out why they finished at the top and learn about the other seven, price points and more at my TopTenREVIEWS SEO product comparison site.

Enjoy!

Social Media Use Doubles for Small Businesses

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:04:44 +0000

Small business use of social media is steeply on the rise in the U.S. The third wave of the Small Business Success Index™ (SBSI), sponsored by Network Solutions® and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, reports that social media is being used by twice as many small businesses since last year.

How does your business measure up?

Read more and see the breakdown at http://growsmartbusiness.com/small-business-success-index-highlights/.

SEO, PPC, Social Media & More–Find the Top Online Marketing Firms

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:36:35 +0000

Here is a TopTenREVIEWS review of the top internet marketing companies. Various service areas are evaluated, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), link building, social media optimization and more.

Read the online marketing services firms review.

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.?

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

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:22:08 +0000

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

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.

Using PR to Boost SEO

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:10:44 +0000

From PR News, this will help you refine your online media strategy by making the most out of PR to drive SEO. Combine these efforts and minimize dollars spent while maximizing ROI.

http://www.prnewsonline.com/prinsiders/Using-PR-to-Boost-SEO_12769.html

Enjoy!