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

SEO Category

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

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

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.

Tags: link building, online marketing services firms, pay per click, ppc, review, search engine optimization, SEO, top internet marketing companies
Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Marketing Research, Online Marketing, Research and studies, SEO, Sales and Marketing, Search Marketing, Social Media, Web site development | No Comments »

5 steps to successful and measurable white paper marketing

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

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.?

Posted in Advertising, Brand Consulting, Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Direct marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Public Relations, SEO, Sales and Marketing, Search Marketing, Technology Marketing, White paper marketing | No Comments »

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 »

Keyword Optimization—Low-Cost, Qualified Leads

Thursday, June 18th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

There’s a low-cost, recession-proof way to drive qualified leads to your web site.

“[In this economy] there is a greater focus on customer acquisition. Search is the best tool for that.”

–David Hallerman, senior analyst, eMarketer

Q2 Marketing is offering a proven recession-proof keyword optimization program you can implement immediately to begin driving measurably increased qualified traffic to your web site.

You’ll receive a full listing of keywords, prioritized by daily searches, predicted daily searches and Google KEI (keyword effectiveness index). And you’ll know at a glance, based on the straight-forward, easy-to interpret numbers, which are the most effective for your web site and which ones to be sure and include.

The Q2 Keyword optimization program. It’s fast, affordable and will boost qualified leads to your web site. That’s good news in any economy. Contact sales@q2marketing.com for more.

Posted in Lead Generation, SEO, Technology Marketing, Web site development | No Comments »

Last things you need before you begin to blog

Monday, June 15th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

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?

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Economy, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Public Relations, SEO, Sales and Marketing, Social Media, Technology Marketing, Web site development | No Comments »

Two More of the Most Important Things You Need to Blog

Thursday, June 11th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Earlier this week we examined the four most important things you need before you blog. To recap, they are:

Strategy
Discipline
Desire
Content

Those are the absolutely essential ingredients if your blog is going to make any impact on your business. Most don’t, according to Technorati’s State of the Blogsphere. According to this September 2008 survey, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs they track had been updated during the previous three months. This means 95% of blogs have been abandoned.

So to avoid an abandoned blog, or spinning your wheels to no avail, here are two more of the most important things you need before you blog.

5. Desire. Blogs aren’t high prose, but you have to like to write. You must have at least a modicum of aptitude for conveying the written word. And you have to want to push out to the world information, trends and issues that are hot in your industry. Being naturally inquisitive and generally excited by your industry and its goings-on will go a long way. And having a finger on the pulse of trends and developments is an absolute necessity if you’re going to attract initial and repeat visitors.

Think of it like going to the gym. If you hate it, or you’re just ambivalent, you won’t keep doing it. It’s better to dedicate your time to other efforts.

6. Content targeted to audience. Part one identified content as critical, but an effective blog extends beyond that. If your blog is going to help you drive business and reach other strategic objectives, your copy must be aligned to your objectives. I talk with bloggers who are disappointed that their consistent and well-conceived efforts are not driving traffic to their blog, sales leads, or even significant traffic to their corporate web site.

Often the culprit is less the quality of the blog and more the relevance of the content to the business. There is no shortage of things I’m passionate about and could blog about, from politics and religion to martial arts, fitness and a variety of business topics. But my Examiner column and Q2 Marketing’s Technology Marketing Blog are focused on strategic marketing for one of our most significant market sectors: B2B and B2G tech firms. If you’re going to get results, ensure your blog is equally targeted.

Check back soon for two more things you need before you blog.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, SEO, Sales and Marketing, Social Media, Technology Marketing | No Comments »

Blogging? Do you have the 4 most important ingredients?

Monday, June 8th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

Business-to-business blogs are everywhere these days. But that doesn’t mean that blogging is really for everyone. Maybe it’s a fit for your and your business. Maybe it’s not. This article highlights the four most essential attributes needed before blogging. We’ll review even more in part two. If you’re missing any one of the four below, regroup and consider if blogging makes sense for you.

1. Strategy. We hear all the time that executives are told they need to blog. They feel this overwhelming urge to keep up with the Joneses and their blogs. But what is too often missing from these recommendations is the strategy behind the blog.

This is true with any marketing activity. It’s not enough to produce a brochure for its own sake or build a web site for the sake of having a web site. How will the blog help you close sales, boost your credibility, fuel search engine optimization, or create awareness for your products? Start here because the next three attributes are irrelevant without a sound strategy.

2. Discipline. Be honest. Are you the type of person who bounces from one thing to the next? Or are you the type who can stick things out and stay the course? Blogging must be consistent, as we all know. Some advise for a daily posting. I think that makes sense if you’re a social media professional or professional blogger. For the rest of us, two to three times a week is a better and more realistic goal.

If yours is going to be a multi-author blog, you’ll need an accountable project manager to build the schedule and keep contributors on track. Contributions should reflect the strategy you’ve carefully planned.

3. Desire. You have to like to write. You have to want to push out to the world information, trends and issues that are hot in your industry. It’s like going to the gym. If you hate it, or you’re ambivalent, you won’t keep doing it.

4. Content. Not all industries lend themselves to B2B blogs. That’s not to say you have to be Guy Kawasaki to create and nurture a blog that people will read. But generally speaking, determine the theme of your blog. Will you cover specific industry verticals? Will your approach be skeptical? Will you provide actionable tips readers can use to help build their own businesses? And importantly–what’s stand-out about the way you will provide information to your world?

Come back later this week for other essential ingredients for a blog that drives revenue for your business.

Posted in Business to Business Marketing, Business to Government Marketing, Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Online Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Technology Marketing, Web site development | 1 Comment »

Q2 Announces Launch of Johnston McLamb Website

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 - by Pamela Girardin

Q2 is pleased to announce that Johnston McLamb’s new website is now live. Johnston McLamb hired Q2 to completely redesign the site as well as incorporate SEO in the form of keyword/phrase research and optimized web content. The site is already receiving rave reviews and Johnston McLamb looks forward to leveraging their new site to help drive sales and recruiting objectives.

Posted in Business to Government Marketing, SEO, Technology Marketing, Web site development | 1 Comment »

Using PR to Boost SEO

Friday, April 24th, 2009 - by Becky Sheetz-Runkle

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!

Posted in Public Relations, SEO, Search Marketing | No 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 »

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