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January 2009, Issue 59 |
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BtoB E-mail Marketing Online Marketing Summit Preview: A Q&A A Q&A with Aaron Kahlow, Director, Online Marketing Summit
Q: Quick...the three hottest topics at OMS this year are going to be...?
A: Well, of course, online marketing in all domains will finally get the rightful attention it deserves as a low-cost, high-impact medium. Search engine optimization is the one of lowest cost, highest yield efforts...period. Results can affect sales ROI for years beyond the initial effort. Marketers must get comfortable in this capital expenditure. Layering user-generated content like reviews, ratings and comments on Web sites is another. This is not to be confused with the very tough and costly efforts of building a forum, social network, or a true blog. Lastly, e-mail will be key. E-mail in the sense of getting good at it. Segmentation, trigger events and of course, integrating it into all market efforts—as opposed to our outmoded e-newsletters and blasts. Q: Social media was an extremely hot topic last year. What's the climate this year in terms of interest in social media? A: In a nutshell: The end of its creation and a transition to a climate of participation. I think after two years of social media buzz and hype, 2009 will be the year of reality for this new space. Empty forums, blogs with the most recent post from 2007 and social networks—like those all over Ning—will be an admitted mistake for many. The climate will be one of participation. Participate in those that do work and have the model and critical mass to be worth one's time, and stop trying to "create" something most marketers have really no basis to do. Q: Can BtoB marketers learn from BtoC marketers, and vice versa? A: As a former board member for the Business Marketing Association International, I looked at the reality of this question all the time. And the answer is, unequivocally, Yes. As most marketers have heard, human behavior principals do not change from one medium to another. What changes is how they manifest. So, if a person prefers to research buying shoes online, that same person will also prefer to research buying the next accountant for their business online as well. BtoC paves the way with costly mistakes from which BtoB marketers can learn. Flash-dominated Web sites and improperly used video are good examples of this. Also, BtoC does a lot more research on user behavior, so BtoB can benefit from reading those reports and applying that research to its own model. Q: What are the top online tactics for 2009? A: 1. Get your house in order! Meaning, get your Web site and ecosystem of landing pages and microsites to follow the minimum standards and best practices of Web site usability. Stop trying to guess, over-design, or rely on your creative agency and/or the HIPO (highest paid opinion) in the room to make the call on the most critical asset you have in marketing. 2. Really measure them, not it. It's time to really walk the walk. Get your analytics aligned with your marketing and business goals and measure. Segment. Segment. Segment. You can't just generalize your traffic patterns (like, say, click streams/paths). If you have a returning customer looking for contact info and a prospect looking to buy, and you lump all of that into one analysis and make business decisions from that, you are in big trouble. 3. Say something worthwhile or don't say anything at all. The law of diminishing returns seems to have been one that most marketers did not understand in business school. Every e-mail you send out causes the effectiveness and importance of the next to be reduced. Yet we still send these e-newsletters every first Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m.—as if our customers are sitting on the edge of their seats to hear the new (or not so new) way you are going to pitch them this month. If you don't have anything interesting, helpful or worthwhile to say to your audience (meaning, something other than your marketing and sales goals), just don't send that e-mail. Send it when you mean it and impact will be much greater. 4. Socialize for business. Using LinkedIn and Facebook to break the "arm's length" barrier we all have with many of our business cohorts is a great way to connect on a personal level and really drive that elusive one-to-one connection. Chat with someone using those vehicles and get an informal dialogue going on a non-business subject, and watch how your connection deepens. Return to MWJ Home About the Authors Aaron Kahlow is the director of the Online Marketing Summit. The Online Marketing Summit is the most comprehensive educational forum for marketers to learn best practices in all online marketing disciplines. The summit's sole objective is to educate marketers on how to execute the best known practices in online marketing. The 2009 summit will take place February 4-7 in San Diego. www.onlinemarketingsummit.com Marketing Watchdog Journal is a monthly newsletter from Bulldog Solutions, a lead optimization and lead management company dedicated to helping our clients generate more, better leads and turn them into revenue. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter's content and design, and encourage you to share your ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future issues. Please send your comments or questions about Bulldog Solutions to Amy Bills, Director of Field Marketing. |
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