B2B Inc.

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  New B2B Inc. Website; Free B-to-B Marketing Downloads

  Joe Hendershot 7:59 pm on August 30, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: free b to b marketing advice, free b2b marketing, free b2b marketing advice, new b-to-b website, new b2b website, new b2bmn.com website, new business to business website

  We’ve launched our re-vamped website: same basic design but, importantly, a big change in content and the way the site is structured.

  Content has been expanded by more than 500%.

  Site structure has been re-vamped to appeal to the search engines: three basic categories (b2b branding, b2b strategy, b2b online presence) with DEEP content below those main categories.  This is what’s recommended today in terms of structure.

  Plus, we’re offering free, extensive downloads with just a couple of clicks.

  Hope you enjoy the new content.

   

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  Economics, and B-to-B Marketing

  Joe Hendershot 10:53 am on July 18, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  I have a very good friend who’s an economist. We continually have heated discussions about politics and economics.

  He does not like politicians and as a rule, he says the laws they pass are self-serving, wrong, and not good for the economy.

  “What’s best for the economy is not what politicians promote, because what’s best is usually not popular, so they won’t get re-elected”, he says.

  Wow, what a parallel between economics and b-to-b marketing:

  What’s best for the b-to-b marketer is usually — especially in mid-size firms — not adopted by the c-suite, quite simply because it costs money and may cut into profits.

  How short sighted.

  A firm will spend all sorts of money on equipment, sales and admin people, managers, hardware and software — but they get all wimpy and scared when it comes to investing in marketing.

  It’s unfortunate, since with today’s lower-cost, wider-reaching, instantly-measurable tactics and tools, a b-to-b marketer can brand itself and get sales leads and beat its competitors faster and better than ever.

  Marketing is not about being careful so you get “re-elected” — it’s about having the guts to do what’s right, what’s proven to work.

  Spend the time to plan: establish your objectives and develop your strategies.

  Then, choose the tactics that support your strategies, and establish  a budget — even if it’s not a big budget.

  This isn’t politics; it’s economics — do what’s right for your company.

  Make a plan and stick to it, but stay nimble so you can vary your tactics depending on market conditions and analytics.

   
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  Content is Still King on Your Website Pages

  Joe Hendershot 4:48 pm on June 22, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  When it comes to website management and SEO you may have heard the phrase, “Content is king”. It’s true, since content is how search engines determine whether pages are of value or not.

  Note that we said your website pageS (plural)!  Do not just focus on your Home page.  Some of the major search engines are placing as much emphasis on the depth of your site as they do on the content.

  Search engines also like it when content is refreshed, and when new content is added. Well-managed content is also content that has been well researched; it is relevant to the needs and wants of prospects and customers.

  There is no such thing as too much content in the online b2b marketing space. Your content must reside not just on your website, but in other online places as well: in blogs, industry news-and-information resources, and in social media.

   
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  B2B Account Exec Wins 3 Awards In Film Festival

  Joe Hendershot 1:55 pm on June 22, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  

  The B2B Inc. offices transformed into the evil science lab.

  At B2B Inc. we encourage our employees to grow and have an entrepreneurial spirit.  Our account executive Brianna Deihl, also a local Minneapolis filmmaker, recently took home three awards in the inaugural year “The 50 / Fifty Reel Challenge.”

  Her film “HELODERMAGEDDON! The musical!” won best sound mix, best graphic design and best costume. The film was also up for best director, editing, cinematography, music, leading actress and best film.

  The challenge is set up as such: The producers (Brianna Deihl, Richard Molby and Joe Johnson) pick 50% of their genre ahead of time. The festival gives them the other 50% of their genre. They picked period piece, they were given muscial.

  “I never wanted to shoot a musical. Ever. When I found out we where given musical as our genre, I almost cried. But after the shock, we hunkered down and started calling all of our musician friends.” Deihl said.  They used local musician Aaron Rice, of Aaron & The Sea. They shot and edited the film in 50 hours.

  “This was the most collaborative project I’ve ever put together. I’m so honored to work with these people.”

  See the musical here: HELODERMAGEDDON! The musical!

  In March Brianna Deihl’s film “Enter Sandman” took 3rd place in the local film festival Z-Fest.  Last fall she flew out to St. John’s International Film Festival in Newfoundland to see her short film “Going to seed” play in front of her first international audience.

   
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  Branding at its Worst: The "Chevy" Mistake

  Joe Hendershot 10:00 am on June 11, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  You’d think that the people — corporate execs and ad people — behind a brand such as Chevrolet, would be smarter than the average bear.  Not so.  Yesterday GM issued a statement to its employees, saying that one of the biggest brand names in the world  should be called “Chevrolet”, not Chevy — even going so far as to place a “swear jar” in the office where employees would pay (literally) a price for letting the phrase “Chevy” come out out of their mouths.

  DUDES!  A brand lives in the minds of CUSTOMERS, not your employees!  You can’t DICTATE how your brand stays alive — or even how the public refers to your brand.  A brand evolves over a long period of time, and it means something to people.  Try to take that away and you’re labeled as “stupid”, which you were by the press and the public.  So you back-tracked and issued a clarification (basically, an apology for being dumb!)

  Whether in the consumer or the b-to-b space, brand value is a very sacred thing — you work for decades to build a brand — so THINK before you mess with your brand name!

   
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  Bing Gains Share

  Joe Hendershot 1:42 pm on March 10, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  A post in BtoB Online today states that, “According to Internet marketing researcher comScore, Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine continues to steadily grow its share of all U.S. search queries, rising to 11.5% of the search market in February, up from 11.3% in January. Google remains the market leader, edging up to 65.5% of all U.S. search requests last month from 65.4% in January.”

  As we monitor analytics for our clients, WE HAVE NOTICED that Bing is encroaching on Google.  So if you run reports on “referring domains” as you analyze your web visit stats, be sure to include Bing in your reporting.

   
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  Who's in Charge of Your Brand?

  Joe Hendershot 12:11 pm on January 25, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  This announcement appeared in today’s BtoB Rollout, a feed from BtoB Magazine:

  Leo Burnett USA—Patti Temple Rocks, previously VP-global public affairs, brand and reputation at Dow Chemical Co., has been named global director of corporate communications at Leo Burnett, Chicago.

  Interesting that some companies actually have a person in charge of “brand and reputation”.  Of course these companies are often large multinationals.  But it begs the question,

  “WHO’S IN CHARGE OF YOUR BRAND?”

  Even in small firms, not to mention mid-size and large companies, someone needs to be watching the brand at all times … especially with the advent of social media, where people may be talking about your brand behind your back.

  It’s not difficult– yet very important — to develop a brand strategy and to monitor and contribute to social media.  Branding is not just for b-to-c firms; companies in the b-to-b space should include a branding strategy in their marketing plan.

  You do have a marketing plan, right?

   
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  Failure to Connect the Marketing Dots: Potential Disaster

  Joe Hendershot 12:35 pm on January 6, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  

  If you’ve followed the facts behind the failed airplane bombing attempt on Dec. 25, you (as I) can conclude that our “security experts” failed miserably.  So many clues, yet no preventive action.

  Same can be said about your marketing.  If you’re not connecting the dots, you may be setting yourself up for failure — meaning, competitors leaping ahead of you — and not just in sales or market share (those results come later) — but in areas such brand awareness, search results, relationship building, sales lead generation / nurturing, website behavior, and more.

  With today’s amazing suite of online communications tools, with marketing automation, with SEO and SEM, with social media, with e-mail marketing — all of which carry with them incredible analytical tools — you have no excuse for not measuring how you are doing, and therefore connecting the dots as you see trouble ahead.

  Put your marketing plan through a full body scan and make sure you’re wide awake at all times, and measuring what you can measure.

   
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  Has The SEO Snake Oil Dissipated?

  Joe Hendershot 6:54 pm on October 14, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: b to b advertising (2), b to b search engine optimization (5), b to b seo (3), b2b marketing (4), business search engine optimization (5), business to business seo (4), sem minneapolis (3), seo minneapolis (4)

  Many marketers, especially b-to-b marketers, have long considered SEO (search engine optimization) to have an oozy sensation to it, or maybe to have that voodoo-like aura.

  SEO is more than ten years old now.  At first, it was indeed a technical, complicated thing: trying to figure out – and stay ahead of – the search engines.

  Compared to SEO, online “advertising” seems to be easier for marketers to embrace.  Maybe more trusted.  No snake oil.  For example, PPC (pay per click) ads have always been pretty straightforward: make an ad and get visits to your website.  (I know, there’s a bit more to it.)

  Good b-to-b marketers ensure that SEO and PPC work in concert; these marketers know the value of marketing integration.  And they add a lot of SEM (search engine marketing) into the mix.  They also integrate their marketing with their sales efforts.  Good idea.  Too bad more marketers don’t understand that.

  Back to SEO: why is b-to-b SEO still treated as a third cousin with H1N1?  “Stand clear!”  I can’t tell you how many business-to-business marketers I meet, who dismiss SEO as unnecessary.  Yet they readily admit in the same breath that their website is underperforming!

  Here are a few FACTS you should know about SEO, or search engine optimization:

  1) Optimization is not voodoo: it’s a defined set of technical and non-technical things you need to do to your site to make it “found” by the search engines.  Search engines have rules; you need to play accordingly.

  2) SEO is not expensive: it does not (in most cases) mean a re-design of your website (design is always costly).

  3) A website that is optimized works as a website should: it organically (without PPC) draws visitors who are looking for the company’s products or services.  Why do you think some sites are always on top, and others on page 17?  It’s not luck; it’s skill.

  4) SEO should be a key component of your marketing plan.  And it’s not SEO-and-we’re-done … it’s ongoing content management work (not difficult; you just need a bit of creativity.)

  5) “Don’t try this at home” … SEO experts are called “experts” for a reason.  It’s like going to a specialist if you have a problem; you want the right people doing the work.  Most firms that list “seo” in addition to 15 other things they do (especially design firms), do not truly know SEO.  This is based on personal research; call me for details.

  6) SEO is measurable: search engine by search engine; keyword phrase by keyword phrase.  This allows you to track results and modify on the fly.

  7) SEO does take some time, but it’s not bad: expect to see initial meaningful results in 90-120 days, and some very nice results – if you pay attention to content management – within six months.

  The bottom line with SEO is this: it’s a proven, non-voodoo, mandatory tactic for business marketers.

  For more info on SEO, go here.

  If you’re in the Minneapolis area, go here.

   
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  Marketers Ignore Social Feedback; Wrong Idea

  Joe Hendershot 11:29 am on October 6, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: b to b blogs (2), b to b social media (2), btob social media (2), social media (2)

  According to an article just published by BtoB Online, written by Christopher Hosford, “Most marketers fail to use social media feedback to improve products or marketing efforts, even though monitoring customer attitudes and gaining business intelligence are the top two business uses of social media.

  “According to the ‘Social Media Survey’ conducted by PRWeek and communications agency MS&L, almost 70% of marketers say they have never made a change to their products or marketing campaigns based on consumer feedback on social media sites. In addition, 43% said lack of knowledge and expertise prevents them from using social media in their marketing programs, and 39% said they are not convinced of its value or ROI.

  “The online survey polled 271 U.S. CMOs, VPs of marketing and marketing directors in June.”

  Learn how and why you should develop a SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY … even if it’s just a simple plan, you do need to get a start, since social media is here to stay.  GO HERE (Scroll down to SOCIAL MEDIA: MAKING IT WORK.)