B-to-B General Advice

SUMMARY: Social sharing features, which allow subscribers to share content from an email with their social networks, are emerging as a counterpart to the long-standing “forward to a friend”. But how do you implement social sharing in your messages, and how do you track the impact?

We spoke with a B2B email newsletter publisher to learn how they recently implemented social sharing. The early results showed a 25% boost in reader interaction, and a surge in inbound traffic from social networking sites. Includes tips on:
o Choosing the right networks
o Designing a template
o Launching the program
o Measuring results read the complete case study

SUMMARY: The small-medium business market comprises the majority of companies in the U.S. economy, making it an attractive target for B2B marketers. But, compared to enterprise clients, smaller companies have unique needs that your campaigns must accommodate.

We’ve compiled a list of five lessons for marketing to small-medium business clients, based on successful campaigns. These tips can help you plan your strategy whether you’re a marketer whose primary audience is SMBs, or one who balances enterprise-focused campaigns with those aimed at smaller clients. read the complete article

SUMMARY: Your best-laid marketing campaigns can suffer when disaster strikes. You still have to get your message out, but you face a state of crisis and turmoil.

Discover strategies you can use in a time of crisis. Two marketing vets of two of the largest nonprofit disaster-relief agencies in the U.S share how they continue to solicit donations and get their messages out even when disaster strikes. read the complete interview

SUMMARY: The foremost change in B2B marketing during the past decade or so has been the emergence of a company's website as the primary point of contact with prospects and customers.

The website has also become an extremely efficient platform for integrating and automating the lead generation process. As a result, the role of a company's website has been elevated from simply a spoke in the marketing mix wheel to the hub of the marketing strategy. The following chart represents a snapshot of how well B2B websites are being managed. read the complete article

By Anne Holland, Founder

I woke with a start at four in the morning in a hotel room in Scottsdale, Arizona, where I was conducting research at a marketing trade show in October 1999.

Back then, as now, marketing, PR and advertising professionals were nearly deafened by a deluge of media "serving" them. Magazines, events, newsletters, etc., etc. But, as a 20-year veteran, I felt that huge amount of content hadn't been terribly... read the complete blog post