As mentioned in our previous blog, B2B companies are slowly and steadily dipping their toes in the social media water, and rightly so. But there is another storm brewing in the present digital ecosystem, which is integrating mobile into the current B2B marketing mix. According to Forrester Research report for 2012, “By 2016, smart phones and tablets will put power in the pockets of a billion global consumers, and mobile is the manifestation of a much broader shift to new systems of engagement”.  This power shift is compelling not only for B2C companies to pay attention to mobile marketing, but B2B companies are also waking up to the innumerable opportunities, this evolving and interactive “touch point” can offer them.

Mobile smart phones and tablets are quickly becoming a way of life for all, especially for the on-the go workforce. To put things into perspective for B2B, mobile devices are MUST have business tools and are also the primary mode of communication used by many B2B professionals. More importantly, smart phones – sophisticated mobile devices have become an omnipresent all-in-one digital companion of the masses, which combines the capabilities of a personal computer/laptop, landline phone and Internet. Due to mass conversion in the consumption of communication and content on mobile devices today, mobile has the power to justify the status of being the biggest media platform.

By sheer virtue of the phenomenal adoption rate particularly in the B2B space, as mentioned in Marketing Sherpa Benchmark Report for 2012; B2B customers are using smart phones and tablets more than B2C customers. The growing use of mobile devices is driving the needs, attitudes, purchase behaviors and expectations among this new breed of B2B segment, which is more connected, more research-oriented, and more informed than their predecessors. Yet, B2B companies are slow to untap the full potential of this anywhere, anytime, always-on mobile media, in their pursuit to connect and engage with business audiences.

According to a research led by Oracle and Endeca in November 2011, published in an e-marketer article, “nearly one-quarter of B2B ecommerce professionals said that mobile web was one of the most influential touch points for their customers; In addition, 28 percent of US c-level executives used a mobile device to research business purchases, 21 percent used a tablet”.  The significance of how content consumption habits have changed among the senior decision-making business executives further implies that B2B companies need to embrace mobile in their marketing efforts more than ever.

Moving forward, in the high-touch, highly personal selling environment of B2B, where building one to one customer-relationships is the Holy Grail, thus making it imperative for B2B businesses to have mobile-friendly assets. To make the case for mobile-optimized content marketing opportunities for B2B even stronger and viable, Donovan Neale – May, executive director of the CMO Council, mentions in the study “Engage at Every Stage”, “Mobile is an enormously impactful channel for differentiating a brand and creating much closer and more dependable relationships with customers, suppliers, and the entire value chain”.  For B2B companies to venture into the world of mobile, a haphazard approach to developing and implementing mobile marketing strategies just by having a mobile-friendly website is not sufficient. Like everything else in Marketing, mobile marketing initiatives require aligning of the complex and rapidly evolving mobile ecosystem involving different combinations of device, wireless operator, and operating system, with the companies’ objectives and needs.  Jim Hemmer, CEO of Antenna Software, emphasizes in a Forbes article, on the need for mobile undertakings to be interactive and agile rather than tactical one-off projects with a beginning and an end.

Below are some mobile marketing “best practices” to guide your lead generation and nurturing efforts, in the B2B landscape.

Assess: To start with, it is important to assess what specific pieces of the existing content library are best suited for the mobile-specific business audience in order for them to make informed decisions, perform tasks and stay up-to-date. This can mean providing users with shorter version of lengthy content through short videos, content feeds or text message alerts. And which mobile tools and approach can enhance the overall B2B marketing campaign? For instance, there are potentially dozens of mobile tools at the disposal of marketers such as, QR code, location-based mobile services, mobile apps, mobile-friendly websites, mobile web banner ads and mobile e-mail/text messaging and multi-media messaging, all depending upon which mobile tools support the needs of the business audience.

Optimization: The key is to optimize the content of the website for the mobile environment with a special focus on improving the readability and relevance of the content to ensure campaign success and stickiness. All content, links, destination pages should be mobile-optimized and presented in a consistent, simple and easy-to-use manner, which not only drives engagement but also leverages to extend brand value proposition among its target consumers.

Mobile Testing: According to 2012 Mobile Marketing Benchmark Report, only 13% of marketers are conducting mobile testing whereas 59% did not perform any mobile testing or optimization. But to be effective in this rapidly evolving digital landscape, the verification of cross-platform delivery should be a mandatory step in executing any mobile campaign. Mobile testing process encompasses various tests to ensure consistency and quality of the content across all types of mobile devices and platforms.

Analysis: One of the great things about mobile marketing is that you can measure the effectiveness of the campaign and make quick adjustments in real time. A mobile website can give you rapid data such as click-through rate, impressions, conversion rates, download counts and number of forwards. Furthermore, with the use of mobile SEO software it can help in tracking and analyzing which devices and mobile operating systems are most used by the business audience, and how engagement, abandonment and behavioral patterns vary across these devices. All of this data can play an important role in the overall analytics of the B2B marketing campaign.

Take-away Note: For B2B companies to design and build a mobile experience, they need to look at mobile in a holistic way by putting the customer experience at the core of their focus.

Written by Vidushi Bhardwaj

Vidushi Bhardwaj is the Content Marketing Strategist at Grant Marketing. She possess a strong background in content marketing and integrated marketing communications. Passionate about innovation in the digital marketing and social media space has driven her to the marketing world. You can connect with her by sharing your thoughts on her blog.

Long gone are the days where a firm could be successful in any market without any social media, firms must adopt some form of social media if they would like to stay relevant and not lose their competitive edge. Our words may come off being too strong, but it’s the truth and we’ve got the numbers to prove it!

The three most effective social media sites are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and it is easy to see why. After all 77% of companies on Facebook have brought in clients through Facebook, and about 65% of B2B companies have attracted customers through their LinkedIn company pages. Having an updated company page is key for B2B companies to gain customers, companies can also track who is viewing the page and ensure that they are in fact targeting the correct audience.

One can also use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to the company website, Facebook created about 26% of traffic on company websites whereas Twitter created about 23% of traffic. Furthermore, friends of your customers are about 85% more likely to choose your company over another company if they have seen your company be liked or tweeted by their friends. This phenomenon has been dramatically enhanced due to search engines like Bing, as they not only aggregate web results for a search but include any relative information that may be posted on social media sites that you are on.

Users must also realize that social media’s sole purpose is not just to generate leads anymore but to allow prospective clients to gather enough information about your firm in order for them to make an educated choice of who they would like to work with most. A successful social media campaign has to be extremely content orientated, the best way to get content out is by publishing blogs on a regular basis. These blogs can be a deeper insight into your industry or your company, a rule of thumb that I go by is to make sure the content that I am publishing is something that cannot be easily found with a Google search. In other words, push yourself to put out something meaningful instead of simply regurgitating something that you read in this week’s Forbes. About 60% of companies have gained customers through blogs.

Other social media sites that tend to be content heavy are YouTube and Slideshare. Many firms have turned to YouTube to cost effectively release videos that either educate customers about the company culture or the basic company operations. SlideShare is a platform where companies can publish presentations, the objective of this is again to share information about the company or the industry. Sharing videos and presentations is a great way to connect with customers and ease them into trusting your brand over another brand.

Another aspect of content marketing that one must take into consideration as well is that content that tends to go viral is that which is usually shared within small groups first instead of being posted as a status update on Facebook or tweeted.

The information in this blog has been extrapolated from Tom Pick’s article titled “72 Fascinating Social Media Marketing Facts and Statistics for 2012.” The article can be found at www.jeffbulas.com.

For more information please visit our site www.grantmarketing.com or email us on bob.grant@grantmarketing.com

By Anushka I. Kassim

Content marketing is one of those buzz terms that has taken the traditional marketing world by storm. A pretty picture is not enough to catch the increasingly educated eye of consumers, instead consumers have begun to choose companies and brands that share content in order to influence the consumers’ decision towards the product or service in question. Content marketing is an umbrella term that encompasses all marketing materials that include sharing content with the objective to attract and acquire customers.

According to BtoB magazine’s recent study on content marketing, “Content Marketing: Ready for Prime Time,” found 34% of respondents are “very” or “fully” engaged with content marketing, compared with only 18% last year. For the future, companies’ commitment to content marketing will increase rapidly: 66% say they will be “very” o r “fully” engaged in content marketing by 2013. The study was based on an online survey of 440 b2b marketing professionals conducted in April and May.”

It is easy to see why content marketing is being increasingly implemented by companies across all industries; after all it does hold the ability to better engagement with targeted audiences this statement was confirmed by 56% of the survey’s participants. 47% said it increases the trust factor with companies, and 23% agreed that it also improves Search Engine Optimization.

According to Nick Panayi, director-global brand and digital marketing at multinational IT services company Computer Sciences Corp: “There are two parts to the content story… one is the raw intelligence and information it provides that allow you to rise above the clutter. And then there is putting those insights into a package that is consumable and attractive.”

The BtoB magazine study went on to say that marketers perceive content marketing as having its most significant impact on the following

• Lead generation – 51%
• Brand Awareness 38%
• Thought Leadership 34%
• Sales – 29%

Furthermore marketers can focus on multiple uses from a single piece or content marketing, for instance a content heavy video on YouTube could be a call to action and also link back to other social media outlets. The video’s transcript can also be molded into a white paper or into a blog post.

About 54% of the people that BtoB magazine surveyed for the study said that they were satisfied or more than satisfied with their use of content marketing. About 51% of marketers will be increasing their budgets for content marketing, and about 44% indicate that a sixth of their budget is directed by content marketing needs. The marketing industry is past the point where content marketing was just an innovative way to market a product or service; content marketing is now needed to ensure the success of any marketing campaign.

For more information please visit our site www.grantmarketing.com or email us on bob.grant@grantmarketing.com

By Anushka I. Kassim

How to Engage, Persuade, and Inspire Your Most Important Stakeholders

Due to the success of our last workshop we’ve decided to hold yet another!

The workshop will be held on the 27^th of September from 8AM to 10AM at the Grant Marketing offices on the 16^th floor of the Prudential Tower which is located on 800 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199.

The workshop will be led by Mr. Rob Levinson, the former “Marketing Strategies” columnist for the Wall Street Journal has refined his methodologies for Brand Strategy, Brand Marketing and Brand Development over the last 25 years. His expertise has allowed him to create a unique, compelling, and strategic brand narrative for his clients who are mostly in the technology, manufacturing, medical and financial industries. His clients in the past have included companies like Analogic, GE, Fidelity, and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.

Mr. Levinson will be discussing the following topics:

•    How to take a 360 degree look at your brand
•    How to assess your current brand positioning
•    How to research where your brand lives in the hearts and minds of key stakeholders
•    How to review the competitive landscape
•    How to create an updated brand narrative
•    How to measure the impact of your efforts
•    How to align your branding and business strategy
•    How to capitalize on having a powerful brand story

This workshop is highly interactive, conversational and entertaining. During the workshop you will be sure to gain a better understanding of Brand Development and its importance to your customers and internal stakeholders.

The first three companies that commit will be used as examples during the presentation including an assessment of current messaging, kudos for powerful positioning, and gentle suggestions for improvement.

What: Brand Workshop

When: September 27^th 8AM-10AM

Where: Grant Marketing, 800 Boylston St, Prudential Tower, 16^th floor, Boston MA, 02199

To reserve a seat please contact Bob Grant at Grant Marketing by emailing him at bob.grant@grantmarketing.com or calling him on 857-453-6744.

By Bob Grant

Bob Grant, President of Grant Marketing

B2B marketers are increasing their use of social media as a means of reaching prospects and customers wherever they may be found. While this is an important tactic in a company’s arsenal of marketing communication efforts, it becomes even more crucial for companies to have a strong brand message. Companies need to understand what they are good at and why they are different than their competition. They need to look inside their company and see what makes them successful or not successful. They need to understand what their strengths are and why those strengths endear them to their customers and why those strengths are sought after by their prospects. Your brand is the evidence of your distinction and the process of uncovering that brand is brand development.

Once that brand is defined and everyone in the company from the CEO to the janitor understands and has adopted that brand, then and only then can you begin to launch a successful marketing campaign, including social media.

B2B companies must develop a brand strategy before implementing their marketing plans. You must have a strategy that…

1. Defines your goals and objectives.
2. Defines your brand and unique selling propositions.
3. Makes you mission and vision statements clear and unique.
4. Encourages internal stakeholders (employees and managers) to embrace the brand.
5. Communicates your brand message at all touch points where prospects and customers find you.

In September, Grant Marketing will conduct a brand workshop on “How to Engage, Persuade, and Inspire Your Most Important Stakeholders” For more information go to www.grantmarketing.com/workshop

By Mary Rideout

In this world of social media, smart phones, and tablet computers one thing is certain, if  a brand is not unique it will disappear. For manufacturing and industrial companies, this means it is now more important than ever,  to utilize your number one asset, your brand. Your brand must be strong so it can stand out among the constant bombardment of information presented to your clients daily.

Now you may wonder what your current brand is saying about you. Maybe you never realized how important a well developed brand could be, so we are going to start with the basics.

Your brand is more than your logo. Your brand should highlight your strengths and why they are important to your clients and prospects. A good brand takes what is unique about your company and personifies it. Everyone in your company from the CEO to the maintenance team should be able to identify with, and adopt the brand, before you launch a marketing campaign. After all, if your own employees cannot stand behind the brand why should your customers buy it?

Now that we’ve covered the basics of a good brand, let’s talk about developing a great brand!

When you are developing your brand it is important to progress in stages, much like a mechanic checking a car for damage, each stage will bring you new clarity in the form of problems that may need to be fixed. Start with a look under the hood, then bring it into the shop for a more thorough inspection, finally take your brand for a test drive to ensure everything is running smoothly. Below are some tips from our brand strategy to help you get started!

Stage 1- Look Under the Hood:

Survey your employees to determine how they perceive the brand. This stage is imperative, if your employees have varied opinions of your brand it is even more likely your customers and prospects do too.  You should be sending one cohesive message about your brand from all areas of your company, try following these tips.

• Develop 5- 10 questions that will give feedback as to how employees compare their company to competitors in terms of message, brand recognition, and marketing support.
• Click here for a list of ideas, or use our report card!
• Use a low cost online survey tool to distribute your survey. Survey Monkey, Mail Chimp and Constant Contact are all great options!

Stage 2: Bring it Into the Shop:

Now that you have a firm understanding of your employees’ thoughts on your brand, bring in your company’s top stakeholders for a half day brand workshop dedicated to uncovering your brand’s essence.

• Designate a facilitator for the workshop
• Ask your stakeholders to contribute a list of the top 50-100 facts about the company
• Talk about the facts together to determine which 5 facts make you uniquely different from your competitors

Stage 3- Take a Test Drive:

Now it is time to find out what your customers think! Survey your top customers and ask them questions like these ones:

• What single word best describes who we are?
• What do you believe we are best at?
• What do you believe our competition is best at?
• How can we better serve your needs?

Just like when you surveyed your employees you can send out a survey through an online survey tool. If you prefer you may call your customers, but keep in mind unless you have a third party call, you may not get truthful answers.

If you are looking to build your brand, we encourage you to use some of our suggestions and see if they help improve your brand strength. If you would like us to help you with your brand, or you have any questions please contact us!

By Bob Grant, President of Grant Marketing

Bob Grant

It was not so long ago that the term branding in casual conversation meant that you were going to burn your initials or insignia into the backside of your livestock.  Fast-forward a generation and branding has taken on a whole new meaning.  Or maybe not. It still is about differentiating yourself from your competition. In the days of the wild west, the Circle-R Ranch wanted to differentiate itself from the Square-Z Ranch. Perhaps this was the start of logos where the design of the brand represented the brand of the ranch. As it was back then, your brand is a reflection of you, or your company, and is the image with which all consumers associate your product.

Even in the cattle industry, certain brands receive more recognition than others. McDonalds promotes its relationship with the Black Gold Ranch in Illinois that raises more than 1200 beef cows. The new McDonald’s agriculture commercials give us a sense that their hamburgers and other foods are wholesome and nutritious.

Businesses need to invest in brand development and to create a viable brand strategy.  In today’s overwhelmingly busy market, where consumers are barraged by online and offline advertisements every minute, developing an easily recognizable presence, or brand, is vital to the success of any business.  An integrated marketing system that targets multiple consumer bases in various ways will most certainly result in the most recognition for your product or company.  The more recognition, the higher the potential profit, and at the end of the day, that profit is your largest barometer of success.

by Bob Grant

Integrated marketing is an effective way to bring all forms of communication together into one concise campaign. Advertising, sales, direct marketing, Internet marketing,  etc. all work together in a cohesive approach for a united goal.

A very important first step of any integrated marketing strategy is situation analysis. Situation analysis researches the potential of the industry, the company’s current sales, best customers, worst customers, and most profitable products and services.

Situation analysis takes into account the market environment and any foreseeable trends in the market such as size and potential for growth to which the company is positioning themselves. Budgets, strategies, objectives are all part of the evaluation process.

As much as information allows, evaluating the competition is also very important. Research how competitors brand themselves. What are their unique selling propositions? What marketing communication tools do your competitors use to generate leads and communicate with customers?  Finding out a competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and what their market shares and sales trends are will help you position your company more effectively, and  help solidify your company’s position in the market.

Situation analysis must include a marketing communication audit.  What marketing strategies and tactics do you currently use to generate sales leads, and communicate with customers? How are you measuring the results of those strategies and are they effective? What is the persona of your best customer and best prospect? Have you done an in-house workshop with your sales people to create and evaluate customer personas?

Once you have completed your situation analysis, and evaluated your company’s strengths and weaknesses, then you can begin to develop your integrated marketing communication plan.

Bob Grant

As a  b2b Boston brand and marketing agency we are often asked  to help companies to create a positioning statement. This positioning statement will help to define your company, your product, and your service to your target audience. A positioning statement, makes a clear declaration as to why you are different than your competitors.

A positioning statement has a very important job to do. It is to break through the clutter created by the unending and constant bombardment of messages penetrating our brain. More information has been produced in the last 30 years than the previous 5000. Yet our brains can’t cope with all of this information overload. It seeks simplicity and clarity. The goal of the positioning statement is to state simply and clearly why your product, your service, your company, is different and preferable from your competitor.

The first step in creating your positioning statement is to understand the buying preferences of your audience.  You are not competing for the minds and souls of everyone on the planet (unless you’re Apple or Google), but only the audience who may have an interest in your specific product or service. Once you understand the buyer’s preferences, you can help create a message that will engage that audience emotionally and strategically to create a purchase. The positioning statement will be straightforward with attainable goals while ensuring the company is able to make progress.  It will effectively set the product off from its competition by being inspirational and significant to the target audience to which it is meant to engage.