September 2011 Archives

At BuyerZone, our core mission is to help businesses looking to make a purchase connect with quality sellers. We've helped connect millions of businesses over the years. While I'm not saying that to brag, I am saying it to show that we have a lot of data on what businesses are buying. If you're anything like us, you're probably curious about what other companies are spending money on and specifics of those purchases. A simple Google search will often give you stats on spending (e.g. the online advertising space will grow to $45B by 2020), but how actionable is that data? All it tells you is that online advertising is popular. Well, you already knew that.

So that got us thinking: how can we use the data we have internally to help paint a picture of what businesses are looking for when looking for online advertising help? When I pulled the data, I found out some interesting tidbits.

They want SEO help

One third (33%) of businesses requesting price quotes from online advertising companies indicated they are primarily interested in SEO services while 22% of those in the market want social media help. It's not surprising that SEO is the primary interest, given its cost-effective and proven way to get traffic to your site.

If your sales and marketing teams are facing year-end revenue goals and wondering how to reach them, I recommend you spend some time reviewing this two part webinar from B2BLeadRoundtable and Meclabs.

The focus is how marketing can contribute to meeting end of year goals in the last quarter of 2011 - within the resource constraints we all face.

Part one includes an impressive experiment that boosted paid search clickthroughs by 21% - and a 272% increase in conversion! - simply by clarifying the value proposition. What is your value proposition, exactly? Simple. According to Carroll, it's the answer to the question, "If I'm the ideal customer, why should I buy from you compared to all of your competitors?" In the case they examine, that included presenting quantifiable data, offering a free trial, and using "award winning" language to increase trust.

Was this outstanding ad a result of one ingenious brainstorm? No - it was the winner among many variations tested. Coming up with the exact value proposition that will work best for you isn't a precision science - it takes practice and experimentation. But that doesn't mean you have to start from scratch. Meclabs put together a value proposition worksheet to help you come up with messaging that could work for you.

The webinar also covers evaluating the quality and return on different lead sources, how the sales cycle can be longer than you expect, and how you can turn to contacts from Q1 and Q2 to help you meet your goals in Q4. Part 2 of the webinar continues with a focus on optimizing your lists, timing your calls, and closing the loop with sales.

Watching these two webinars will take you 2 hours - but if that investment can help you meet those rapidly-approaching Q4 goals, it's worthwhile, isn't it?

Creating ebooks and other downloadable content is an important part of any online marketing strategy. When your ebook is posted on your site, prospective customers complete a contact form in exchange for your content, thus becoming leads for your sales team or contacts for your marketing team. This sounds great in theory, but as you sit down to start writing it's common to face a severe case of writers block. Is it just me or does the prospect of writing an ebook bring back nightmares memories of college term papers? So what's the best approach to successfully creating and marketing an ebook?

Here are a few tips we learned from Hubspot's ebook guide:

First things first
Choosing a topic that you can write a can be daunting. Here's how to get started:

• Select your target audience - Who do you want to target? What issues can you help your readers solve?
• Research what else is already available on the topic you've selected - Can you provide unique insight?
• Create an outline and start writing...one chapter at a time

Happy Friday everyone! In honor of the weekend and the first official day of fall, here is a roundup of some good lead gen, marketing, and sales articles that I found interesting this week.

Want 7 Ways to Make a Mini-Marketing Campaign? Some of their suggestions include experimenting with new audiences and attaching yourself to large events. Check out the article amongst many other excellent sales and marketing articles at inc.com.

Still wondering if using social media for your business is a good idea? Check out these numbers to see the overall influence of social media sites across the globe in How the world uses social media. Or read these 5 simple social media management tips for suggestions for your SMB.

As this quarter comes to a close, we need to think of creative ways to keep our teams motivated and push to close the sale. Read 3 Top sales tips for keeping sales focus.

Finally, since it's the first day of fall, here's some fino on the history of Oktoberfest in Munich Germany (starting in late September this year). There are plenty of reasons to spend the fall months outdoors - check out your local papers for apple picking, fairs, and events.

That's all I have for now. Have a great weekend!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently: as you can imagine from the title of this post, my life has been pretty crazy lately: my twin boys were born in July, and after a few weeks off work entirely, it was tough to get back on top of the everyday work. But now I'm back, and the rest of the About Leads team is back on board as well - we'll once again be regularly sharing insight and lead gen news.

That said, I think there are some great reminders and lessons about lead gen that I can draw from experience as a new dad. Too much of a stretch? I blame it on the sleep deprivation.

Take in all the expert advice you want - but make it fit your situation

I must have read dozens of articles about infant sleep schedules, feeding, bathing, and the rest. I learned a lot - but when it comes down to me and a hungry baby, if he wants to eat more often than some expert recommended, I'm going to with his instincts. That works for me and him - but it likely wouldn't work for lots of other parents.