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My Podcast with Paul Dunay 2007-08-29 06:43:00 Marketing guru, podcaster and blogger extraordinaire Paul Dunay has developed a reputation for interviewing smart, interesting people about their knowledge of web marketing, blogging and social media tools. In case you missed it, last week he took a break from that practice—and interviewed me instead.In this podcast, Paul and I discuss blogging, thought-leadership content and how social media sites can be used to drive B2B website traffic. I cited three specific examples of promoting client thought-leadership content through Web 2.0 social media tagging: Customer stories from telephony migration, voicemail list management and unified messaging software vendor Unimax. The glossary of business service management terms from ITIL service catalog software provider Kinetic Data. An explanation of redundant Internet access from bandwidth aggregation and load balancing appliance maker Astrocom.I also talk about the results of my research on using Web 2.0 social tagging to drive B2B website t ...

Optimizing B2B Lead Generation through White Papers 2007-08-27 08:41:00 White paper syndicator KnowledgeStorm and the marketing case study experts at MarketingSherpa recently published the third white paper in their series on Connecting Through Content, Putting It All Together—Driving Content Marketing Program Success. The series focused on research and best practices in using thought-leadership content, primarily white papers, to drive B2B lead generation efforts. The key findings from this study include:Marketers need to make better use of privacy policies to improve registration quality. While marketers rated the quality of lead registration data from their own website twice as high as that from syndicator or other sites, B2B technology buyers said they provide valid registration information regardless of site type—as long as they are confident that their contact information will not be misused. Buyers rate IT publications and vendor websites as the least trustworthy, with just 30% expressing confidence in these sites. To improve lead registration q ...

The ROI of Website Redesigns per Forrester 2007-08-21 06:32:00 Forrester Research makes a collection of its past webcasts on various online marketing topics freely available (registration required). I recently checked out one of their presentations from about a year ago titled "The ROI of Web Site Redesigns Made Simple" by Harley Manning and Jeffrey North. Like any presentation from one of the big analyst firms, the research focuses on very large companies, and is vertically unfocused (in this webcast, they divided websites into three groups: e-commerce, manufacturing [including B2B] and financial services), but still provides some nuggets of value for smaller organizations.Forrester's key findings from their website redesign research: By Forrester's standards, 97% of business websites fail to earn a passing grade for usability. Among the biggest sins—79% fail at basic legibility (adequate font size and contrast with background). They cite the New York Times website as the gold standard for legibility (not logic, truth or common sense mind you ...

B2B PR - Social Media and Press Release Optimization 2007-08-20 07:01:00 Melodramatic and obvious perhaps, but news sites, online press release distribution and social media tagging have radically altered the PR landscape. PR is no longer just about writing press releases announcing your internally-focused company news to select industry media (though you should still do that), but also about writing news releases that demonstrate your expertise and provide valuable content for your prospects. These releases need to be written and distributed differently than traditional press releases, with the goal of reaching both traditional and new media outlets indirectly through increased market exposure.All press releases and news releases need to be search-engine optimized. Much has been written on this topic, but the best single piece I've seen is Rob Garner's Yes, You Should Still Optimize Press Releases. Rob brings all of the elements together in one excellent, concise post. Among Rob's tips: Include popular keyword and keyword phrases in the release summary, ...

Possibly the Coolest Tradeshow Toy Ever 2007-08-16 08:02:00 More crowd-pleasing than a premium trinket give-away, more alluring than booth babes, even more powerful than free beer—Danish advertising film agency viZoo has teamed with engineering firm Ramboll developed what may be, thus far, the ultimate tradeshow gadget: a giant 3-D holographic projector. Check out the movie here:http://vizoo.com/showreel_wmvs/EPK_Cheoptics360_XL.wmvScott at the MediaPost blog said it gave him a "nerdgasm," a term I find deeply disturbing, but nonetheless, you've got to see this.The 3-D projector is available in various sizes from a relatively compact 5x5x5 foot unit up to a massive 30x30 behemoth, with prices ranging from 85,000 Euros (about $100K) to 575,000 Euros (close to $800,000). Both indoor and outdoor models are available.You can more about the Cheoptics 360 XL here or check out the online brochure (PDF).*****technorati tags: Ramboll, viZoo, Cheoptics 360 XL, trade show marketing, 3D holographic projector, 3-D, MediaPostdel.icio.us tags: Ramboll, viZ ...

Email Campaign, Newsletter and Banner Ad Click-Through Rates (CTR) 2007-08-14 07:22:00 When planning online advertising and email promotion budgets, it's critical to calculate the likely ROI upfront whenever possible, as well as to establish campaign benchmarks. The first step is understanding the average and likely range of CTRs for various programs. The growth in online advertising, the proliferation of enewsletters, the emergence of new forms of information delivery such as RSS and the emergence of social media sites have all affected CTR, so planning based on current data is crucial.It can be challenging to find current statistics, but based on several studies, these are typical CTR ranges for email newsletter ads, email campaigns (blasts or internally-produced enewsletters), and banner ads.Email newsletter advertisements Open rates range from 28-40%, with an average of about 33%—meaning that roughly one-third of the subscriber base is likely to see your ad. The Advertising Is Good For You blog tracks these statistics from DoubleClick. The average CTR for industr ...

PR and Blogging Outreach: Macro Issues 2007-08-10 07:41:00 Note: this is the first of two guest-posts from PR guru-ess Cece Salomon-Lee on how Web 2.0 has changed the practice of PR and how PR professionals can best take advantage of blogging and other social media.When Tom asked me to contribute an article about PR and blogging outreach, I was both flattered and yet apprehensive at the same time. I mean, I admit it. I've been guilty of sending inappropriate pitches to reporters—and in the age of growing blogosphere influence and shrinking print staffs—bloggers as well.But as I thought about this further, I realized that this is more than how to pitch bloggers versus traditional media. It goes to how today's generation of PR practitioners are being trained—or maybe not trained—to communicate effectively with media, and by extension bloggers. It goes to the core skills of what being a GOOD PR person is or isn't. And it may also be applicable to how PR agencies staff accounts.I've had discussions with my colleagues about this over th ... Blogging

Quick Personal Note on the 35W Bridge Collapse 2007-08-07 07:40:00 Thank you to everyone who emailed inquiring about the safety of my family following last week's tragic collapse of the 35W bridge here in Minneapolis. Thankfully, my family and I are safe, as are our close friends and relatives in the area.Still, it is amazing and a bit frightening how close to home a disaster like this can hit, even in a large metropolitan area. Two of those listed as "missing and presumed drowned" are just two degrees removed from me professionally. And two of the confirmed dead were neighbors.Patrick Holmes, a young father of two and a baseball and soccer coach, lived just four blocks to the north of us. Paul Eickstadt, the driver of the truck so horrifically engulfed in flames in the initial videos of the collapse, lived just a few houses down. A couple of years ago, when our little dog went missing and my kids were frantically scouring the neighborhood on their bikes searching for her, it was Paul who found her and returned her safe and sound.We all respond diffe ...

Viral Marketing for B2B Lead Generation, Part 3: Caveats and Links 2007-08-06 06:33:00 Viral marketing campaigns can work for B2B lead generation with the right media and promotional methods. Even with the most careful planning and execution, however, not every campaign will be a huge success. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when design viral marketing programs:Viral Marketing CaveatsTo maximize your odds of success with viral marketing, create a yearly plan for viral campaigns (the operating principle here is that even baseball's best sluggers don't get a hit every time they step up to the plate, but more at-bats generally means more hits).Humorous campaigns are the most likely to be passed around—but white papers or other content that addresses real-world business problems and solutions are more likely to drive responses from IT buyers and influencers.Very few viral campaigns really “explode” online; half produce a decent return, but less than 1 out of a hundred is a true “home run.”Avoid using a committee to create viral campaigns; these have ... Marketing

Viral Marketing for B2B Lead Generation, Part 2: Viral Promotion 2007-08-01 07:29:00 Part 1 of this series rated the various types of viral media; this post focuses on promoting your viral content to get maximum exposure and pass-along. Once again, these recommendations are based on personal experience as well as research from the experts at MarketingSherpa.Top Viral Promotion TacticsSending an email to a house list is the most commonly-used form of viral promotion. It's not the the most effective tactic, but nearly everyone does this because it costs virtually nothing. Obviously, this tactic isn't available to start-up companies that haven't built a house list over time, and emailing to a rented list should always be done with great caution.Getting mentioned by relevant and influential bloggers is one of the most productive means of viral promotion (and free, other than the outreach effort). Independent bloggers don't want to be corporate shills, but they do love to write about cool stuff.Having your campaign cited in online industry trade online publications is ... Marketing

Viral Marketing for B2B Lead Generation, Part 1: Viral Media 2007-07-30 06:41:00 Viral marketing campaigns can be effective for B2B marketers—but they aren't easy to pull off. The next three posts here will offer some ideas about programs, promotion, and pitfalls to avoid that may help in developing successful B2B viral marketing campaigns, based both on my own experience and research by MarketingSherpa.Most Popular Forms of Viral MediaOnline video is the most popular viral medium for both B2C and B2B use. However, with the novelty of web video long since gone, your videos will either need to be really funny or really useful (e.g. the kind of content you could charge people for – but decide not to) in order to really go viral. Keep in mind that humor is more difficult to do well, and while a very amusing video may be widely shared, it may not pick up a lot of viewers who are actually qualified prospects. Videos that are targeted and focused on your industry, on the other hand, are likely to attract fewer but more targeted viewers.Online games are also hot vira ... Marketing

Another New Report on Webcasting Benchmarks 2007-07-25 06:31:00 The team at webcast and rich media marketing producer ON24 recently published their second report on webcasting trends and benchmarks. The new report offers insights and metrics to assist B2B marketers in planning and measuring the success of their own webcasting programs.Among the findings in this study: The average cost per webinar or webcast registrant is $35. Typically, just over half of registrants actually attend or view the webcast. Generally, about 30% of registrants participate in the live webcast, while another 25% view the archived event. Nearly half of all registrations occur within 10 days of the webcast; 10% happen on the day of the session. More than one-third of attendees participate in interactive polls and surveys conducted during webcasts.Again, you can download the full report here.*****technorati tags: webcasting, rich media, webcast report, ON24, webinars, researchdel.icio.us tags: webcasting, rich media, webcast report, ON24, webinars, researchicerocket tags: web ...

B2B IT and Social Media 2: The Vendor Perspective 2007-07-23 06:43:00 The first post on this topic focused on the IT buyer use of social media, outlining an ITtoolbox study which found that IT decision makers spend more time each week reading or interacting with social media than they do with editorial content, vendor-produced content or the research of analyst firms—and that they trust social media more than any other source. Here is the vendor perspective.According to recent white paper from Robert Lesser, publisher of LeadGenTools.com, and Paul Dunay of the Buzz Marketing for Technology blog, "B2B marketers are not just embracing Web 2.0 tools, they're pushing the envelope on adoption. They're using the new tools to reach prospects, not just reinforce existing customer relationships. They're rolling Web 2.0 tools out to their teams and organizations. And they're quickly moving up the learning curve."According to the study (which can be obtained for free by completing a short survey here): The majority of B2B IT companies embracing Web 2.0 tools ...

It's Official: WebMarketCentral is the Fastest Growing Web Marketing Portal 2007-07-18 08:02:00 Thank you to everyone who's visited WebMarketCentral.com over the past few months—you've made it the fastest-growing web marketing portal site. It's gratifying that so many online marketing professionals have found value in the web marketing resources, news, tools and guides on the site.According to Alexa (yes, I know it's not perfect, but it does provide an accurate ballpark measure), WebMarketCentral.com is growing rapidly while other popular web marketing sites such as MarketingSherpa, ClickZ, Marketing Profs, and Web Digest for Marketers (wdfm.com) are seeing traffic declines.These are all fine sites, which I visit frequently and highly recommend. And, granted, they are all ranked in the top 100,000 on Alexa, and in some cases the top 10,000 (having a staff to keep site content updated certainly helps). WebMarketCentral is ranked...somewhat lower. But to paraphrase the famous Avis commercials, when you're number 545,003, you try harder.*****technorati tags: web marketing por ... Marketing

B2B IT and Social Media 1: The Buyer Perspective 2007-07-16 05:41:00 White paper syndicator ITtoolbox recently completed a study of buying influences in B2B IT purchasing decisions. They asked more than 2,100 IT decision makers about the information sources that were most critical in their buying decisions. Specifically, ITtoolbox wanted to determine how IT decision makers use social media tools (such as blogs, podcasts, discussion groups and wikis) to assist in purchasing decisions. The results are eye-opening.Among the key findings: Overall, IT decision makers spend more time each week reading or interacting with social media (3.5 hours) than they do with editorial content (2.9 hours) or vendor-produced content (websites, webcasts, white papers, etc. - 2.7 hours). Executive decision makers spend more time on social media each week than other IT buyers or influencers. When conducting research specifically to assist with a buying decision, vendor content is the most referenced source, followed by social media and trade editorial. All three are more freq ...