Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Tue, Jun 30, 2009
By Rebekah E. Donaldson
Vendors and job applicants pitch B2B Communications each week. So far in 2009, about 1 in 4 indicate familiarity with social media. About 1 in 100 have engaged with us first through social media.
How can busy professionals get a grasp on marketing 2.0 — and start to engage and contribute? I recommend Inbound Marketing University as a foundation. After that, social media mentoring or coaching might be in order.
In 2008, after about the 100th pitch from a vendor who had no clue what a blog is, much less that we have one, I started taking note of how many vendors and job applicants use social media to demonstrate genuine interest in the companies they are courting.
Here are the numbers from Q1 and Q2 2009:
- Vendor/job applicant use of social media to engage with prospect 1%
- Vendor/job applicant social media experience 25%
- Percent of vendors/job applicants we hired who used social media to engage 100%
What does it mean to demonstrate interest using social media?
For example — if you’re starting from scratch:
- Click the button that says “Blog” on our home page.
- Enter a cogent comment about something (anything!).
- Look for me to reply. Reply thoughtfully to my reply.
Together we build knowledge and community.
Empowering marketers to get a footing with social media
What tools or help would really empower people to follow this advice, though?
In an effort to think constructively about this issue (instead of going bananas that job applicants and vendors are seemingly ignoring the “secret handshake” of social media), I asked colleagues in a Hubspot Forum and one of my LinkedIn groups about whether it seems useful, ethical, and practical to set up a B2B Communications Social Media Mentor Program.
Learning the social media secret handshake
Among the responsees received (attribution shown, if I got permission):
“…maybe the key is to embed somewhere in your blogs the way you prefer to be contacted for employment. That way if they really are interested in your company because they have looked through your posts to understand what you are about, then they will know the secret handshake, so to speak…” — Jim Lapic, DIYshutters.com
“Not sure you’re doing yourself favors by helping people “put on the right makeup“. Social media/blogging is nearly 15 years old now. It’s been a major marketing force for at least the last 5 years, and maybe more. Anyone who wants to work in communications and doesn’t get that, or can’t figure it out, doesn’t understand the medium. Is that the sort of person you want to hire?….”
“….The ones who actually are smart enough to try to engage you are the ones you should be interested in. They get it. I think at that point, your idea of giving them some direction and structure is great. Just make it clear whether they might wind up with a job (a giant carrot) or a reference (a mini carrot) at the end of your process. As long as you’re clear, you’ll wind up with some young folks who look at you and your company in a very positive light. And you never know where that good karma might get you. 
” Ann Blanchard, Blanchard Enterprises and Handirecords
“Wow! It sure sounds like it would be very helpful, the ethics seem clear to me in your description of the purpose and intent, I would wonder at the manageability….” Jerry Wilkinson, Green Frog Outdoor Furniture
“One suggestion, instead of a resume make it a contest to see who can be most creative with social media to submit their qualifications….” Geoff Sakala, Owner, Metro Media
“….Look at the Murphy-Goode campaign: http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-thumbs.aspx… the campaign brought thousands of people to their site….” Bill Betz, Investor/ reverse engineer at Pavement Marking Technologies, Inc.
“….If you treat your intern with respect, trust, and include him/her in the decision making process, you will create a professional you’ll be proud to recommend or one day call a colleague. Plus their work will reflect that empowerment.” — Jenny Koreny, Online Learning & Multimedia Designer
A foundation for social media coaching and mentoring
I would be happy to engage with vendors and job applicants through social media… if everyone is on the same page about marketing best practices.
Just look at how useful it can be. The people named above (and others) helped me think through an issue – without payment or quid pro quo… without my traveling anywhere… on their own time. That made me want to help them back (see links above).
It’s all good because we’re all on the same page about the value of social media marketing and how to go about it.
Learn the ”secret handshake” at Inbound Marketing University
I recommend Inbound Marketing University for learning the social media “secret handshake.”
The IMU program includes webinars by thoughtleaders in the social media, internet marketing and lead generation industries and culminates in an inbound marketing certification exam.
Learn more about IMU >>
Social Media Coaching from B2B Communications
I offer a 90 minute social media coaching session focused on your social media marketing needs and questions.
Learn more about my social media coaching >>
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Fri, Jun 19, 2009
By Rebekah E. Donaldson
I talked with Sacramento Business Journal senior reporter Kathy Robertson this week about the return on investment from the Red On Marketing Blog. Her questions got me thinking about why I do it, and this post is the result.
To ground things in real world and tangible results, you’ll see a screenshot showing where our website traffic and leads came from this week.
I’ve written the Red On Marketing Blog since Fall 2007. Yes, one reason I started it was to market our company. Another is that we help our clients with staying at the top of certain search results in Google, and social media (which includes blogging) is part of how we do it. We need to walk the walk.
We track everything with lead management software. Social media has tangibly helped us. Leads are up 400% this quarter over the same period last year. We have new leads every day – many from our website. So social media might sound like a fad or B.S. to some CEOs. But it’s moved the needle for our company.
Referrers — week of June 15 2009
Of our current clients, most found us online. For example, one Sacramento CEO found us when he searched “Sacramento search engine optimization”; another when he searched in LinkedIn for “B2B marketing Sacramento”; and so on.
Blogging is part of Social Media
The Red On Marketing Blog is intertwined with other efforts. It doesn’t stand alone. I’m active on LinkedIn – mostly I try to answer questions – and on Twitter. Sometimes, helping in those forums means pointing to B2B marketing articles, and other B2B Communications resources.
One realization I’ve had is that a marketer’s mindset can backfire with a blog or other social media participation. When I started blogging, I thought about it in terms of
1) Make a calendar of article topics.
2) Chip away at the calendar.
But that can lead to really boring blog posts. And everyone hates boring.
You Said WHAT?
Before starting the blog I’d been reading other people’s blogs for a couple of years. People like Josh Bernoff and David Meerman Scott publish edgy stuff that gets people talking (and pisses off some readers – a cost of being interesting).
The threads of comments after they post are crazy – dozens and dozens of smart people write in to respond.
I really wanted to do that.
Stirring Things Up
Fortunately, I have strong opinions — especially when it comes to cases of marketers getting things terribly wrong.
When I gave stronger opinions, you (readers) did too. Example: “From the Shocking Marketing No Nos Department.” When I published that piece, our blog lit up with comments and backlinks. It was referenced in many more places online. The lesson to me was: Speak up! Call it like you see it!
So after that I co-wrote an ebook. It took 9 months and was like having a third baby. Kind colleagues promoted it with social media (thank you Dianna Huff, David Meerman Scott, Peter Kim, Peter Caputa, and other colleagues).
Behind the Scenes Battles
One behind-the-scenes struggle I have is over topics appropriate for the blog. On the one hand, there is value in publishing about basic marketing techniques and issues. In fact, my colleagues at B2B Communications keeps reminding me that some of you may want intro material . But I fear you’re bored with the same old stuff like ”segment your audience!” “get the word out!” It seems like recycled, regurgitated truisms. (Who’s right? Please comment.)
Girl’s Dream Comes True
One thing that surprised me was that our blog helped us become a MarketingSherpa Affiliate. (MarketingSherpa is like Consumer Reports for marketers – loads of objective data that helps you make good decisions.) I think we’re the only one in Sacramento, California and surrounding regions. It gives us a lot of credibility – most marketers really admire Sherpa – as well as access to their material and the ability to pass along discounts.
One of their big decision criteria was around the quality of guidance we provide through our blog. They looked and said we were doing a great job. So the blog helped us stand out among much bigger agencies. It’s also led to interviews, invitations to speak, and other exposure with organizations like Forrester Research and Hubspot. Each of those organizations reaches tens of thousands of subscribers with their updates. The blog is also one of our top sources of search engine traffic and exposure for our services.
Most importantly, it’s sparked interactions with hundreds of small business owners and business to business marketers.
Keeping it Real
Still, even if we didn’t get the business benefits I’ve listed, knowing what I know now, I would still write a blog. Blogging helps keep things real. It makes me stay abreast of new data and ideas, instead of throwing up my hands because there’s too much. It makes me a better thinker, a better listener, a better writer, and a better salesperson.
Your turn
My hope is that, if you’re one of those business folks who has been blogging, but doesn’t know if it’s worth it, or you’ve held off because you don’t think anyone wants to read a blog written by you, maybe hearing about my experience will help you keep at it or get started.
Do you blog? Why or why not?
Posted by Robert Celaschi on Fri, Jun 12, 2009
By Robert Celaschi
You want your marketing materials to carry a wallop, right? So don’t waste words. Here are three words that are almost always a waste. Take a few extra seconds to get rid of them, and nine times out of ten you’ll improve what you just wrote.
“Situation”
“Situation” isn’t such a bad word by itself. But it’s usually a big waste when it’s bolted onto another word. For instance, how is an “emergency situation” any worse than a plain old emergency? It isn’t. That’s always a good way to tell if you’ve padded out your writing with useless words: If you can chuck the word without changing the meaning, you didn’t need the word in the first place.
I’ve heard advice about how to handle a layoff situation. I’ve seen TV news reporters talk about flood situations. I’ve read blogs describing a hoax situation. They don’t fool me. These are just garden-variety layoffs, floods and hoaxes.
“Process”
It’s the same drill with “process.” Here’s a fun video about choreographed ball-passing. Notice that the choreographer isn’t content to merely start rehearsals. No, he starts the rehearsal process. Remember the flood situation from a few sentences ago? It’s almost always followed by a cleanup process. How about the interview process? The reading process? Engage in the thinking process about that.
“Facility”
“Facility” takes a little more thought. If you run across something like “nursing home facility,” you already know what to do. But sometimes facility is hanging out there all by itself. In those cases, you still take it out, but you have to put something in its place.
But what? Try this little exercise. It works better with two people, but you can do it by yourself in a pinch. Close your eyes and have somebody read the following list of words out loud, slowly. Pay attention to mental image you get when you hear the words:
- Gas station
- Hospital
- Ballpark
- Laboratory
- Restaurant
- Church
- Facility
If you got any kind of mental picture for “facility,” you have a better imagination than I do. Just about any building (or group of them) is a facility. So the word doesn’t mean anything in particular. If you see “facility” in your blog, brochure or other writing, try to picture what kind of facility you are talking about, then use that word instead.
Of course, someday you may find yourself writing about a combination gas station, church and restaurant. Don’t rack your brain. Call it a facility and move on.
Other words and phrases
Can you think of some other words and phrases that don’t really mean anything? Sure you can. There are lots of them.
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Wed, Jun 10, 2009
By Rebekah E. Donaldson
In a normal year, alot of missed opportunities can hurt sales. This year, they can kill a company. So it’s time to get deadly serious about avoiding marketing mistakes.
Are there patterns in the marketing mistakes small to midsize companies make? I think so. In particular, I’ve noticed at least six ”gotchas” when it comes to CEO-led decisions about marketing. In a new ebook called Six Marketing Mistakes that CEOs Can Avoid and a series of blog posts here, I’ll describe each one’s telltale symptom… and outline a better way.
Combining CEO + CMO duties
If you are going to be Chief Marketing Officer as well as CEO, you need to take the shortest, least expensive route to:
- Get found by the right people
- Start meaningful conversations
- Alleviate worries about buying
If you’re already doing all three things well, you win a prize: a pipeline full of great leads!
Sidestepping six marketing “gotchas”
If you are falling short in any of those areas, very likely you are making some marketing mistakes. In a normal year, those mistakes merely hurt sales. But this year, when it seems like every other company is either failing or already belly up, marketing mistakes can be fatal. So it’s time to get deadly serious about avoiding them.
- Gotcha: Tactic Tunnel Vision
- Gotcha: Hiring Specialists Too Soon
- Gotcha: Awareness – The Red Herring
- Gotcha: Push Marketing
- Gotcha: Coordinating Specialists
- Gotcha: Me-Too Marketing Plan
In a new ebook I try to describe each one’s telltale symptom and why it’s a problem — and outline an alternative route.
It’s called Six Marketing Gotchas that CEOs Can Avoid — and I hope to hear from readers in this forum about what I got right and what I got wrong. (The publish date is 6/15/09 but you blog readers are getting access early.)
Fire away!
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Fri, Jun 05, 2009
As featured in web marketing and e-commerce portal WebMarketCentral.com
Whether you’re marketing to consumers or business decision makers, you’re still marketing to a human being – right?
Yes — but decision makers may feel more risk when it comes to the average buying decision.
Perceived risk is generally higher for B2B buyers
We wrote an e-book that covers how B2B marketing differs from consumer marketing, called What Marketing Directors Need in a B2B Marketing Consultant. But here is a short version.
In business to business (B2B) marketing, a purchase of professional services may impact the company’s customer service, productivity, operations, legal issues, reputation, sales, and/or the bottom line. The perceived risk of a wrong decision is high. In B2C decision making the level of perceived risk is typically relatively low, because most consumer purchases can be returned or exchanged.
Purchase decision anatomy
Enquiro surveyed 1,000 B2B buyers to learn what the top influencers are in the purchase decision. They found that “respondents across all phases indicated that the website of the vendor” was the top influence on buying decisions. The upshot: if you’re a B2B company, get it right when it comes to your online presence.
Prospects are looking to educate themselves, do their own comparisons, and create their own short lists. Charts comparing solutions, suggested decision criteria, ROI calculator tools, case studies, testimonials, certifications, awards, affiliations, and executive profiles all help diffuse fear of making a wrong decision.
Agree? Disagree?