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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 »

Top web sites for tech buyers searching for solutions

Thursday, March 5th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Where do tech people search for products and solutions when making buying decisions? The recent Google/TechTarget Research Project asked 2,200 worldwide tech buyers and decision makers this question: Which of the following search sites have you used to find information on technology solutions for your organization in the past six months?

Here are the results:

Google 95.8%

TechTarget(SearchSecurity.com, SearchStorage.com, Whatis.com) 43.8%

Yahoo! Search 35.5.%

MSN Search/Live Search 29.0%

InformationWeek.com 21.8%

InfoWorld.com, NetworkWorld.com 16.3%

Ask.com 15.9%

eWeek.com 14.7%

AOL Search, ecommercetimes.com, Chinese search engine Baidu, CUIL, South Korean web portals Daum and Naver each received responses of less than 5%.

Download the Google/TechTarget Research Project here.

Posted in Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

SEO Secrets: How Tech Buyers Use Search to Purchase

Monday, March 2nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

The new Google/TechTarget Research Project delivers exciting SEO insight into how technology purchasers use search terms to find products and services like yours. If you’re serious about your SEO strategies and you want to outshine competitors, even the ones that outspend you, keep reading….

We’re examining the Google/TechTarget Research Project because it deserves some quality time. Serious B2B and B2G marketers should really download this free report. They then should come back here for more quick highlights and observations.

How many keywords are buyers using to find you?

Conventional wisdom in search, across industries, is that buyers are using two to three keywords to find information on solutions like yours. But this report sheds new light on this critical topic. In the early stages of research, technology buyers tend to type in two or three keywords. No surprise to search pros. But later in the buying cycle, they will use brief four- or five-word phrases. Why is this?

In later stages of buying, tech purchases use search terms like “compare” and “review” in an effort to distinguish between products and solutions. Specifically, they are looking for reviews and resources that compare technology solutions.

(As an aside, also from this report, 24% of buyers surveyed “frequently” find industry analyst web sites useful in the buying and evaluating process, but this resource is not even in the top five. Click back later to find where analyst sites rank and which resources rank higher.)

What does this mean for IT marketers? The first observation, taken from the report, but a clear conclusion, is that any and all favorable comparisons of your solutions to your competitors should be on your web site in whatever formats available.

If these resources don’t exist, you need to put a strategy in place to have reviews and comparisons created, preferably by reputable third parties like industry analyst firms, magazines, online editorial sources, etc.

You can also take the lead in generating a discussion around your technology, comparing it to your competitors. Maybe a social media program is in order.

From the report: “An analysis of TechTarget online campaigns demonstrates that many of the superior performing white papers are ones in which the author compares the solution or blueprint of one provider to that of another.” That is a very valuable piece in information.

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

Google/TechTarget Report Reveals Tech Buyers’ Search Patterns

Monday, February 23rd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

A new joint study from Google and Tech Target, examines the search habits of technology professionals when making purchasing decisions. The purpose of the The Google/TechTarget Research Project:

Reveal the mindset of the IT buyer in context of their purchase process and search mode
Put marketers in a better position to make keyword buys, choose content to syndicate
Determine optimal selection and scheduling of content and website media to attract the IT buyer

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Here is a recap of some important findings:

Different search terms are used by buyers at various stages of the IT buying process
There is a concrete relationship between search and branding, as well as lead generation and ROI implications
Surprises were found regarding buyer utilization of new media including mobile devices, video and RSS feeds
Information source preferences were established

Here are some more important findings on the brand impact of search:

53% of IT purchasers use search to discover vendor solutions they are not previously aware of
86% of searchers look for a familiar brand or manufacturer before clicking on a search result
67% willing to click on the link of a manufacturer with which they are not familiar
Over 40% of searchers will click on search ads that are contextual to content on IT Publisher sites, and 46% willing to read those ads.

There is some good stuff in this report, and we will be examining it in greater detail throughout the week. Thanks to Michael Stelzner’s “Writing White Papers” blog for bringing it to my attention.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Newspapers not dead, 16% increase in online readership

Monday, February 2nd, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Nielsen Online reports a 16 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors to the top 10 newspaper web sites. This represents 40.1 million unique visitors in December 2008, up from 34.6 million in December 2007.

To top online newspaper site was NYTimes.com, with 18.2 million unique visitors. USATODAY.com and washingtonpost.com took the second and third spots. See the table below for more.

Here are the top ten finishers, courtesy of Nielson Online:

                                               Dec-08 UA   % Change

Top 10 Online Newspapers     40,093            16

 1. NYTimes.com                       18,187             6

 2. USATODAY.com               11,420           15

 3. washingtonpost.com              9,470           12

 4. LA Times                               7,963           73

 5. Wall Street Journal Online     7,235          34

 6. Daily News Online Edition    5,883          99

 7. Chicago Tribune                    5,235           35

 8. New York Post                      4,557           60

 9. Boston.com                           4,086            -6

10. SFGate.com                          3,503           26

Of the top 10 online newspapers, nine experienced positive year-over-year growth. No small contribution to this jump was the weakening economy, election cycle and new administration.

Posted in Economy, Industry Trends, Online Marketing, Public Relations, Research and studies, SEO, Search Marketing | No Comments »

SEO Strategies: Bylined articles and content distribution

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

This entry is adapted from our upcoming white paper on SEO for public relations. It focuses on the important strategy of building credibility, and using SEO for PR to help you get there.

In traditional media terms, bylined stories are articles ostensibly written by an executive and credited to him or her with a byline. Today, many sites, directories, online media firms and related industry sites are open to distributing content by way of their electronic outlets. Do you see the value in delivering your content to the world and leveraging existing channels? If so, begin by building a database of targeted channels. Base this on industry segments you want to reach and/or solutions you provide.

A world of caution: you can get creative, but don’t stray too far from your core business. Contributing content for the sake of a byline that doesn’t reflect the work you do isn’t much of an asset. Here is an example of a meaningful connection.

This process should consist of:

Identifying the target media outlets
Determining direction of content, such as trends, controversial topics, hot technology, etc.
Developing the content
Working with online media to ensure deadlines and specifications are met

An extension of this program is contributing to an online media source on an ongoing basis. This can be achieved through a dedicated effort like the bullets outlined above. Sometimes, it can be a byproduct of a proactive PR program. Recently, Q2 scheduled the second interview for one of our clients with an influential business and technology outlet. Impressed with the spokesperson’s subject matter expertise, the editor invited him to contribute a monthly piece.

This is great exposure that came out of a dedicated PR strategy. If you have executives and/or subject matter experts who can dedicate some time to regular contributions in important outlets in your industry, this content development will go a long way. It can also be a determining factor in being selected for speaking engagements, industry awards and media interviews. But most importantly of all, this visibility can be a determining factor in being vetted and selected by a customer.

Come back to the Technology Marketing Blog for more SEO PR tips and to be among the first to download the upcoming white paper.

Posted in Industry Trends, Online Marketing, Public Relations, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Public Relations Programs that Drive Search Engine Optimization (Part 1)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Everyone wants to be among the top organic listings in Google. But in a search-fueled world, it is still amazing how many companies aren’t effectively utilizing search marketing strategies. Specifically, PR for search engine optimization (SEO) is often a missed opportunity.

Strategies range from buying search listings, optimizing web keywords, maximizing the use of company blogs, and much more. There are many ways to boost (SEO). Of course, these different flavors come at different price points. If you opt to pursue these in-house, some can require a significant amount of time. Let’s talk about one of our favorite flavors: public relations.

PR can help optimize your search engine traction. And in the process way, your PR campaigns can become more measurable. This is particularly important given the difficulty many corporations and PR agencies having measuring the ROI of public relations.

One of the simplest and most cost effective ways to gain search traction—especially for smaller and mid-sized companies that may not already be doing this—is to utilize a wire distribution service like PR Newswire or Business Wire. Online news sources need constant sources of fresh content. There are many nuances, but here’s the bottom line: if you put a release out over the wire it will get picked up and it will help people find you online. Make this an ongoing effort, target it to the right outlets and audiences, and good things will follow.

We have helped many of our clients, including those with very little web presence outside of their web sites, boost their presence almost overnight by leveraging a simple wire strategy. Make no mistake: PR works best when it is employed on a long-term basis. But that doesn’t mean results can’t be achieved quickly.

Check back in coming weeks for more on how to use public relations to drive search engine optimization.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Public Relations, SEO, Search Marketing | No Comments »

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