by Fronetics | Aug 31, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Targeted content can help convince high-level decision-makers and executives to accept your sales meeting request.
There are many benefits to content marketing, but did you know it can help you land that next impossible-to-get sales meeting?
According to expert marketer Stu Heinecke’s new book, How to Get a Meeting with Anyone, top sales professionals use personalized content to target high-level relationships in what he calls “a shadow practice,” which has been extremely effective at reaching critical, hard-to-reach contacts.
In these campaigns, content is targeted to make the connection with the right people — without any obvious pursuit — and secure those hard-to-get meetings. This can be a game-changer for your business.
Heinecke’s book pools the advice of the top 100 sales thought leaders in the world. He recently shared some of his findings with Harvard Business Review.
Here are some key takeaways:
- You can use content marketing to combine marketing and selling, employing specific campaigns to connect with high-level decision-makers and specific C-level executives. Finding a few dozen of the correct high-level relationships can quickly elevate the scale of your business.
- When approaching connections derived from content, Heinecke found that response rates averaged from 60% to 80%, with some campaigns actually hitting 100%.
- The greatest success is associated with content that delivers something of value. Share the personality of your brand, but offer no sales pitch. “Your first mission is simply to create a connection, to establish yourself as someone they’ll want to listen to,” Heinecke states.
- You should offer something more, to be delivered at the meeting. The point is to continue to add value to the relationship. For example, offer to bring relevant research, a white paper, or a free audit of the executive’s business to the first meeting.
- Once face to face, continue to engage in conversation that provides insight to what the contact’s business challenges are. Refrain from a sales pitch, but share examples of other companies with similar challenges, which have benefited from your specific product or solution. Tell a story — similar to what your content marketing does.
Content can help you make important connections — just ask NoWait
The same HBR article also shares the story of the founders of NoWait, a mobile application which allows diners to put their name on the waitlist of a restaurant from a remote location.
With a minuscule budget, the NoWait founders used targeted content as the basis for their entire launch strategy. They sent personalized videos on iPads in custom packaging to the CEOs of the 30 top restaurant chains. Their highly targeted approach allowed the company to focus on the exact people who could do them the most good — the decision-makers of the biggest brands in the industry. The app is already used by more than half of their targeted companies.
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by Fronetics | Aug 10, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Data/Analytics, Marketing, Strategy
Examine these stats when you analyze your content to improve your content strategy and the effectiveness of future content.
A critical (but often overlooked) element of an effective inbound marketing strategy follows the actual production and distribution of content: analyzing your content. It sounds obvious, but many businesses who are producing content do not take the time — or are unsure how — to evaluate how it has performed over time.
Regularly studying how your blog posts, videos, high-value resources (e.g., case studies), and other content resonates with your audience helps inform your strategy. It tells you what kinds of content succeeds in driving traffic and converting leads, as well as which distribution platforms and patterns are optimal.
While you may have had a good feel for this when you initially developed your strategy — p.s. you should always have a strategy and you should always document it — an audit can confirm it. If it doesn’t, you can make adjustments.
Also, keep in mind that digital and social media is constantly evolving. Regular content analysis will dictate where and how you need to accommodate changing user patterns, interests, behaviors, and technologies.
Here are four things that are important to evaluate when you analyze your content.
1) Views
How many times your content has been read, watched, or downloaded is a good indicator of how well it resonates with your audience. It’s important to evaluate individual pieces of content (rather than total website views) so you’ll know exactly what is driving web traffic.
Run such reports on a regular basis, examining how your content has performed over that short interval of time. You’ll want to consider how certain subjects play during the time of publication. You should also keep an eye out for how things have changed over time — for example, a topic that normally drives a lot of traffic that is no longer getting the same attention. Has audience interest changed or been satiated? Is the distribution platform no longer appropriate for that topic?
For blog posts or web pages, make sure to check both pageviews and unique pageviews, as well as bounce rate and time on page. That way, you can rule out any spam traffic or pages that draw a large audience but do not end up keeping them once they start reading. An eye-catching title or well-optimized post can bring the horse to water, but if it’s not drinking, your content isn’t doing its job.
2) Performance over time
It’s equally important to check how individual content has performed over its lifetime.
You may have a blog post that gets an extraordinary number of views the week it is posted but then fails to draw traffic thereafter. If that’s the case, examine what circumstances were in place at the time of the post and how the post fit in that context, then try to replicate that pattern in the future.
On the other hand, if you have a post that continues to draw traffic long after it has been posted, take note. Is content involving similar topics popular as well? Your audience is hungry for information about that subject. Consider other factors: Was it authored by a particular company leader? Is it formatted in a certain way, or did you use certain keywords?
3) Social impact
What kind of content gets the most engagement on social media? Examining the number of likes, shares, comments, and click-throughs on individual posts offers insight into what your followers are interested in. It can also help you evaluate your distribution strategy. Do certain subjects perform better at different times of the day? Get more engagement on one platform? Use individual channel’s analytics features as well as tools like Google Analytics to evaluate the impact of your content on social media.
4) Lead conversion
The reason we create and publish content is to attract new business, so knowing what drives lead generation and conversion is incredibly valuable. If you use marketing software, like HubSpot, this is easier to do. If not, it can be difficult, though not impossible, to understand what content was critical in winning over your customers.
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by Fronetics | Aug 3, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing
Here are some guidelines on what content marketing might cost your business and why you need each element to be successful.
Content marketing can be a game-changing strategy for companies looking to increase brand awareness, improve lead-generation efforts, and grow their business. But sticker shock can prevent some from pulling the trigger — especially when an organization is unsure how to measure ROI.
Content marketing will require an investment in services that are not cheap (writing, design, social media management, etc.) or a major time commitment from your own human resources. That being said, the more dollars or resources you throw at it will not necessarily ensure greater success.
To find the right pricing for your content marketing, it’s important to understand what you are paying for. Here are some guidelines for how much content marketing should cost (if you’re doing it right).
A pricing breakdown
The right content, published at the right time, reaches buyers who are looking for products or services like yours and informs them about your business. That, in turn, entices them to become customers.
Here’s the rub: You cannot just throw any old content out there and expect it to work. Here is what you need:
1) A data-driven inbound marketing strategy
This initially may cost around $20k. That sounds like a lot, but here’s why it is so important.
Research proves that content marketing is drastically more effective when it is 1) backed by a strategy, 2) the strategy is documented, and 3) a designated person is leading the strategy. Whether created by an in-house team or an outsource partner, your strategy should be driven by data, and should include these vital components:
- Buyer personas and journey: Who your potential customer is and what steps they take to research, evaluate, and decide to buy
- Content mapping and demand generation: What topics appeal to your customers? How and when should you deliver content? What channels reach customers best?
- Conversion and scoring leads: How to optimize lead-conversion rates and evaluate leads throughout the buyer journey; identifying optimal timing for sales calls
- Goals and KPIs: Define what success looks like and how to measure progress
2) Content marketing talent
Human resources may cost $5K-$10K per month. You need a team of skilled writers, graphic designers, and social media managers who can produce quality content, on a regular basis, and distribute it effectively.
Why can’t you just have the intern do it and save some cash, you ask? When it comes to content, you get what you pay for. Consider that 27 million pieces of content are shared every day. That means consumers can afford to be picky about the media they consume. If they find your content lacking in quality, substance, or appearance, they simply won’t read it. You might as well not have written it.
For your content to be effective — meaning your content attracts your target audience and drives profitable customer action — it must stand out, really stand out, among the masses. For that, you need a professional hand.
3) Lead management, marketing software and analytics
This may cost about $10k per month. It includes marketing automation software, like HubSpot, as well as a skilled manager(s) to provide insight and reports on content performance. This way your organization can effectively track leads, evaluate what is working, and adjust your strategy as necessary to ensure optimal performance.
Return on investment
If you’re still uncomfortable with these numbers, keep these in mind: Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads.
Content marketing is valuable in growing any business. But remember that getting your return really does require making that investment.
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by Fronetics | Jul 11, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
This is part two of a three-part series on Twitter for B2B. See part one, Twitter for B2B, and part three, How to Use Twitter Analytics.
If you’re not sure what else to tweet, try these 20 ideas.
Twitter is an excellent platform for sharing news and reaching your customers, but it sure can be a lot of work. Our recent social experiment showed us that engagement is highest for Fronetics when we tweet around 40 times a day. That takes a lot of time and energy — not to mention, a lot of content.
You, too, may find yourself frequently strapped for quality tweeting material. We’ve got some ideas to not only fill your feed but to keep your followers interested and engaged.
A few things to remember
Keep in mind the 4-1-1 rule, an idea popularized by Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi and Tippingpoint Labs: “For every one self-serving tweet, you should re-tweet one relevant tweet and, most importantly, share four pieces of relevant content written by others.” This prevents your Twitter account from seeming too self-promoting, which quickly will turn off followers, and it reinforces your business’ position as a helpful source of information and knowledge.
Remember, also, that you don’t have to tweet just text. You can also share photos, videos, Slideshares, and links. Mix it up to keep things interesting.
With that said, here are 20 ideas to get you tweeting.
Tweet this
1) Release news.
Twitter has become the new newswire, where stories break and people turn for to-the-minute information. It’s a great place to offer updates about product releases, changes in service, or other company announcements. But also you can share news that might affect your followers or your supply chain: severe weather, acts of terror, or economic or political events.
2) Share company or industry data.
We’ve written before about the potential for data-as-content. Tweeting stats, data, and other numbers relevant to your audience is a great way to get started. You can type out the information in less than 140 characters or create a quick infographic or image.
3) Mine Reddit.
Reddit is an endless source for content of any kind. Create a multireddit with industry-specific subreddits so you can quickly browse what’s trending to share with your audience.
4) Recycle an old blog post.
Be it a week or a few years later, there’s no shame in reposting content after some time has gone by. Maybe it’s relevant to current events. Maybe it got overshadowed by another breaking story or event when it was originally posted. Maybe it did really well the first time, and it’s still relevant. Regardless, tweeting about an old post can drive new traffic to some of your best content. You can always frame it as “ICYMI” (in case you missed it) or a “Best of” post.
5) Praise your suppliers.
Sharing a positive experience with a business partner is great exposure for the partner and good karma for you. It also shows your audience that your behind-the-scenes operations are running smoothly, which reinforces confidence in your products or services.
6) Share a meme.
An internet meme is a humorous piece of media (most often a photo) shared online from user to user. Show your brand’s personality by posting one that will make your followers smile.
7) Thank inspiring speakers from an industry conference.
Did someone give a particularly interesting presentation? Tag them and thank them. Maybe they’ll follow you or retweet you, giving you lots of exposure.
8) Throw it back.
Post an old photo or an old tweet on a Thursday to participate in Throwback Thursday (#TBT). “Old” doesn’t have to mean decades ago, by the way. People frequently use content from earlier in the year — even earlier in the week.
9) Reveal your favorite follow.
Do you really enjoy news or content from another user? Share that person’s Twitter handle with a quick explanation of the kind of tweets followers can expect. You’re offering valuable information to your audience — and you’ll get excellent exposure for your business if the user has a large following and engages with your tweet by liking or retweeting it.
10) Celebrate holidays.
Wish your followers happy and safe holidays, and show photos of your employees celebrating special events. Remember holidays aren’t limited to major religious or patriotic days of observance. International Women’s Day, Bring Your Child to Work Day, and National Ice Cream Month can inspire content. Days of the Year is a great resource for little-known holidays. Did you know that July 11 is International Town Criers Day?
11) Comment on trending topics.
See what people in your network are talking about. The Trends column on the left of the homepage shows popular topics of conversation tailored to you based on your followers and accounts you follow. If a trending topic involves something you have experience with, offer insight and information to help position your company as a thought leader in the industry.
12) Retweet your executives.
Get exposure for your management team or other content spokespeople in your company by retweeting them.
13) Quote someone famous.
Everyone can relate to inspirational quotes. Tweet your favorites or create graphics to share. Or, follow leaders and thinkers you admire and retweet particularly poignant thoughts.
14) Praise an industry leader.
Tag someone to tell them that you liked their book, article, or post. Congratulate newly appointed executives of competitors and business partners. Recognize someone for a courageous business decision, successful quarter, or outstanding support of a charitable organization.
15) Hold a contest.
Build excitement about a product by asking followers to post photos of creative alternative uses with the hashtag #HowNotToUse. Have them share their best recipes using your wholesale food products. Or ask for submissions to name your newest cargo ship. (Boaty McBoatface?) Whether you give a prize or not, people are competitive by nature and will enjoy participating.
16) Answer an FAQ.
Ask your customer service team for a list of customers’ most frequently asked questions and regularly tweet out answers.
17) Ask a question.
Whether “What do you think of our new product?” or “Do you have plans for the long weekend?” there’s no better way to get a response than to ask a question.
18) Conduct a poll.
If you’re looking for a specific answer, use the poll button to see what your followers are thinking. It can be related to your business or just for fun. Try both and see where you get the most engagement!
19) Share photos of company events.
Days of service, employee milestone celebrations, executive retreats: photos help followers attach faces to your business name. It also gives them a behind-the-scenes look at company culture and builds a positive image of your employer brand.
20) Retweet what your network is sharing.
Share helpful, informative, or entertaining content from the users you follow. You not only offer value to your followers, you also let the user know you like their content and prompt them to do the same for you.
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by Fronetics | Jun 28, 2016 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media
Reddit is a gold mine for relevant, engaging content to share with your social media followers.
You probably have heard that Reddit is useful in content marketing. But what, exactly, is it, and how do you use it?
Reddit is a news website/social network in which registered users submit content, such as posts and links, which the community of users (called redditors) curates by voting up or down. The more positive votes, the higher the content will appear on the page. Users also can comment on the content, and their comments are organized by the same up-down voting system. The discussion by redditors is often the most important part of any post.
Content is organized into categories, called subreddits. Subreddits can be as broad as News and Music and as specific as Supply Chain Risk Management and 3-D Printing News. Users can subscribe to a subreddit to have popular posts from that category published on their homepages.
Reddit, which ranks as the 9th most popular website in the U.S. and 31st globally, refers to itself as “the front page of the internet” for a good reason. Whatever the industry, topic, or perspective, there is content about it, ready for you to share.
That’s what makes Reddit great for content marketers, who are always looking for content to distribute to followers to keep them engaged. It is also intuitive to find and share exactly what you need.
5 easy steps to get started on Reddit
1) Sign up
First, you must register. Go to Reddit.com and click the “Sign Up” link in the upper-right-hand corner. Mobile users can download the Reddit app.
2) Get to know the community
After setting up a user account, you begin following a default set of subreddits, including topics like Art, Jokes, and Sports. Access them by clicking the “My Subreddits” dropdown menu on the upper-left corner of the homepage. These default subreddits are great for learning about the community.
3) Customize your subreddits
Find subreddits in your niche. It can take time to browse individual subreddits, but you can slash your search time by creating a multireddit, which is a custom dashboard of content around your particular topic of interest. First, find subreddits you want to include with the subreddit search box . This lets you search for all subreddits related to a keyword (for example, supply chain technology). Narrow down further with advanced search options.
4) Create a multireddit
Next, compile a master list of subreddit names, organized by topic, and save them in a multireddit. So, sign into your account, then go to the Reddit front page, and click on the dotted line on the left side. Click the “Create” button, and type in a name for your multireddit. (You can’t use spaces or symbols in the multireddit name.) When you’re finished, click “Create.” You can then filter the posts you see by those that are:
- Hot: Posts that receive the highest engagement (upvotes/comments)
- New: The most recent posts
- Rising: Posts that are gaining popularity
- Controversial: Posts that receive an equal mix of upvotes and downvotes
- Top: The most popular posts of all time
- Gilded: Posts that received reddit gold
- Promoted: Sponsored content
5) Share
Once you find a link you would like to share on social media, you can queue up content directly from Reddit using Buffer and/or IFTTT. If you have the Buffer extension installed in your browser, you’ll see its link for each Reddit post. Click the link and schedule the Reddit post in your Buffer queue. You can also set up IFTTT recipes, which connect your Reddit activity to Buffer.
Can you post content on Reddit? Yes, but directly marketing your business and self-promotion is not allowed. Instead, create a presence by being relevant within a specific community. Check out reddiquette and FAQs to learn what posts are acceptable. Essentially, 10% or less of your posts and dialogue should link to your own content.
Posting your content can benefit your business. If your post rises to the front page of Reddit, it can drive more than 200K visitors to your content, get picked up by other websites, and garner a ton of social shares.
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