For B2B integrated marcom professionals, infographics can represent an opportunity to convey product benefits in an engaging and easy-to-read way, particularly when integrated within a content marketing plan or campaign. A key benefit of infographics is their viral nature, which can be a huge benefit to B2B high tech and industrial marketers often tasked with distilling complex information in an easy-to-interpret format. Infographics are ideal. Learn more…

Do B2B industrial companies really need social media? For many industrial companies, social media will be unavoidable. But given the resource-constrained B2B industrial marketing department, often consisting of a lone marcom professional who’s doing it all, integrating social media into the B2B marcom mix can be done more easily than you think.
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For many B2B industrial marketers having a website is “good enough” when it comes to their web presence. However, without applying online marketing techniques, your company could be invisible on the internet. This article helps B2B industrial marcom managers increase their company’s visibility on the internet with a good three-step foundation.
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As a B2B copywriter, one of the biggest challenges of writing web content is writing effective engaging content while optimizing it for search. For me, it’s easier to write the content with the reader in mind first, and then optimize the content for search engines. I use the following B2B copywriter’s seven-step checklist and tweak the content until it’s optimized for the reader and for search engines.
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According to an eMarketer study–courtesy of David Dean’s post on MarcomProfessional–B2B marketers are laggards when it comes to social media. The study indicated that half of B2B marketers surveyed are not even using content marketing tools such as blogging. Social media is not optional for B2B marketers. It represents a fundamental shift in the way your prospects and clients communicate and interact on the internet. Learn more…

The folks at B2B Voices hosted a group of marketing and communications professionals to discusss the topic, “Social Media and ROI: Dare We Talk About It.” One of the most important outcomes of the meeting was the fact that metrics used to determine ROI should be money-focused such as increased sales, lower cost per acquisition, etc. However, what often are reported as ROI metrics–number of followers, likes, subscribers, etc.–don’t really cut it when talking to marketing execs… especially when it comes to asking for more money for your social media program. Learn more…

Whether you’re a B2B marcom manager who’s taking on social media as a grass roots effort (you and one or two colleagues) or you’ve enlisted a team, content creation can be daunting, even meeting the bare minimum frequency. Like many B2B marcom managers who are beginning a social media program, you and your already burdened staff are responsible for creating most of the content in addition to your day jobs. Before you read any further, make sure you have a content marketing plan and a conversation calendar in place. Then get ready to develop your B2B social media workflow.
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The B2B integrated marcom manager’s role is expanding thanks to social media optimization (SMO). Marcom managers must connect the social media objects that their companies produce. Social objects are content introduced online such as blog posts and comments, Twitter tweets, videos, etc. that can become catalysts for conversation. These objects are all dangling out there in cyberspace. Individually they lack impact, but collectively, they are more impactful to marketing efforts. By developing content optimization guidelines, B2B integrated marcom managers are enabling social objects to connect, which will drive search results and business results.

In the past, B2B integrated marketing communications was about control—ensuring that the B2B marcom mix had consistent brand messages, tone and approach. Social media is about letting go of control but offering a framework. Learn how B2B social media has impacted B2B marcom managers.More…

Are B2B Are B2B companies really connecting or are we using bullhorn disguised as social media? I’m bringing this up because I’m as guilty as some B2B marcom folks who put out good, relevant content on the various social media outlets, but fail to make a real connection with real people. Continue Reading