How to Select a B2B Marketing Agency

May 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

Criteria for Choosing a Full-Service Content Marketing Agency

That’s the name of an article that recently appeared at the Content Marketing Institute and it was written by a good friend and interviewee on Mad Marketing TV, Joe Pulizzi.

Joe’s brilliant, but I also think he missed a key point in agency selection: Their internal network of experts. It’s this network that’s the key differentiator for Find New Customers. No marketing agency today has a network like ours.

Here are the criteria they listed:

Industry Content Expertise
Do they understand you and your industry?
Strategic Planning
Can they handle the overall marketing strategy, as well as deliver on tactics?
Audience Development Expertise
Can they find and engage an audience for your content?
Project Management Expertise
The unsung hero of content marketing. Can they manage the project?
Design/User Experience
Can they handle the creative side/design too?
Tactical Expertise
They need more than just online expertise. They need online, print and in=-person, as well as mobile.
Technology Integration
Is the agency well versed in marketing automation technology, social media tools, etc.?
Measurement Expertise
You’ll need someone who can calculate the ROI of your marketing programs.
Cultural Fit
They need to understand your story and your customer’s stories, in order to craft your story-telling strategy.

The CMI recommends you rank each agency on each item, using a scale of 1 to 5. You can’t expert any one firm to excel in everything, but look for three 5′s at least.

Find New Customers is different from every marketing agency out there today. What makes us different is our world class network of specialists. Look at these desired skills and our good friends. When comparing Find New Customers, include our world class network. Here are three examples:

Measurement Expertise - Jim Lenskold of The Lenskold Group and Laura Patterson of VisionEdge Marketing
Mobile Marketing - Christina “CK” Kerley of C2Kb2b
Buyer Personas - Adele Revella of the Buyer Persona Institute

There are many more than that. When Jim Lenskold wanted to meet someone from Sirius Decisions, we connected him to the top two men there. When Watchitoo was looking to set up meetings in the UK, they turned to Find New Customers for advice.

How did we develop this world-class network? By hosting Mad Marketing TV and creating and hosting Marketing Made Simple TV.

To learn about Find New Customers, please visit How We Help. Or send an email to Jeff Ogden, President of Find New Customers at jeff.ogden at findnewcustomers.com.

What do you think? We love to read comments and appreciate those who share on social media.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: buyer personas, content marketing, Find New Customers, lead-nurturing, lead-scoring, Mad Marketing TV, management-best-practices, sales-challenges, social media

Starting From Scratch: 10 Steps To Launch A Content Marketing Strategy

April 27, 2012 Leave a Comment

At the recent Content2Convert Conference in NYC, Aldath Albee of Marketing Interactions presented a 10 step content marketing program. I wish to thank my good friend Arthur Germain of The Communication Strategy Group for taking copious notes.

This list of ten things is a quick guideline to a good content marketing program and I’m using to gain CEO support with a current client of Find New Customers - a software firm in Stamford, CT. It’s elegant in its simplicity. Thanks Ardath. I also added comments on each step from me, the President of Find New Customers.

Hope you find it helpful.

Gain C-level Buy-in
Getting support for this program is ongoing and important
Pick a Priority
Whom will we target? I recommend we start small and focus where we have the best chance of success.
Assess Your Database
Spend some time going over your database to ensure the information is correct. Marketing is about sending the right content to the right person at the right time. This depends on accurate data.
Build Buyer Insight (personas)
Interview customer to learn key insights. Use the 5 Rings of Insight at www.buyerpersona.com (I had the pleasure of interview Adele Revella of The Buyer Persona Institute for Mad Marketing TV.) Don’t assume you know what they think. (This is a common mistake - thinking you know what buyers actually think.)
Revisit Your Childhood (ask questions, wonder)
Keep it simple and ask lots of questions. What are their issues? What questions might they have? Kids ask lots of questions.
Design Your Content Flow
Look at the customer buying process and decide how your content should map to this.
Conduct a Content Flow Audit
Content needs to move buyers through a buying process. Lay out the process and find the gaps.
Assess Capabilities & Resources
The content audit reveals gaps. Some content is old and tired. Some is poorly designed. Some is missing. We need to re-purpose, reuse and create. What can be done in-house and what should be outsourced? (Check out the nice folks at Avitage.)
Create an Editorial Calendar
Publishing should be an ongoing function. Create a calendar to ensure we publish on regular basis.
Set Appropriate Expectations
Make sure you have enough time to deliver results. If the sales cycle is 9 months, don’t do a 3 month program. It takes time to get everything going. Make sure you set the right expectations.

Please note that our new marketing show, Marketing Made Simple TV, launches in a couple of weeks. In addition, we invite you to check out Find New Customers new SCORE Demand Generation program.

What do you think? We love to read comments and appreciate those who share on social media.

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: buyer personas, content marketing, Find New Customers, management-best-practices, Marketing Made Simple, sales-challenges, social media

Why Facebook’s New Timeline for Brands Should Be Embraced - Guest Post

April 11, 2012 Leave a Comment

Jeff Ogden, President of the lead generation company and global marketing firm, Find New Customers is pleased to present this guest post by Caeden MacGregor of SEO in Vancouver. Bio follows the post.

___

Agile business owners can make the recent changes work for them

Every few months, Facebook changes its layout to widespread, ineffectual protest from those who prefer the “old Facebook” (about which they were fuming a few months earlier). Facebook’s Timeline overhaul is a bit more daring than the usual minor facelift, but at least for business owners, it appears to be a step in the right direction. Here’s why:

Timeline gives your brand a sense of history

The new Timeline feature allows you to archive your company’s history (if it has one) in an attractive, interesting format. By adding past events, you can make your brand page content-rich from the start, and then allow users to track past events including openings and product launches as they occur. Rather than simple ad blurbs, Timeline allows you to tell your company’s story, which is demonstrably more effective in engaging users. Coca-Cola, for instance, has Timeline entries going back to 1898; and while your brand might not be able to boast that kind of history, you can use Timeline to establish an immediate, impressive presence on Facebook.

Conversation is more important than likes

The previous interface conditioned marketing professionals to chase ‘likes’ as evidence of their messaging success, but it was a rather lazy way to measure penetration, and not always an accurate indicator of user engagement with the product. The new Facebook layout invites conversation through news-feed marketing, rather than inviting a superficial ‘thumbs-up’ to your brand, which means very little to you or the user. According to TechCrunch, only 10% of total page app traffic was driven by landing pages, while the other 90% came from published links and ads; so the new layout forces marketers to do what’s effective rather than what’s easy.

The visual layout of your page is more versatile and attractive

The introduction of the cover photo allows more customization of your page’s look (while maintaining enough uniformity to prevent the kind of visual cancer that afflicts Myspace pages). Pages were previously dominated by Facebook’s default format, making it difficult to catch the user’s eye and differentiate your brand’s page from the ocean of groups and celebrity pages. Big images inserted into your business’s feed, no matter how professional, tended to look like tacky banner ads. Now, Target and Victoria’s Secret and Best Buy have pages that look like the Target and Victoria’s Secret and Best Buy websites as much as they look like Facebook; and that’s great news if you have (or want to establish) a distinctive look for your brand.

Pinning posts to the top of your News Feed gives you more control over your message

People don’t have much patience with a pitch, especially online, so it’s hard to overestimate the impact of a first impression when a user comes to your page. By pinning a post to the top of your Feed for a specified time period, you’re able to control exactly what visitors see first. These pinned posts will likely take on the role previously filled by landing pages by directing visitors to like your page, without turning off visitors who choose not to click.

New Admin Panel allows you to better track how your brand is doing on Facebook

Your page’s new Admin Panel lets you track how many visitors are viewing, liking, and sharing your Facebook content, as correlated with individual posts—allowing you to see how your brand is doing in general terms, but also identifying which posts are making an impression on users and creating conversation about your brand. If you have experience with SEO, this will look pretty familiar. It also presents a to-do list for creating greater engagement with your users, which can be a big help to beginners.

About The Author

Caeden M MacGregor is a staff writer for SEO in Vancouver who specializes in blogging on viral marketing, social media, and internet marketing tips and techniques. Caeden has written for numerous blogs in a variety of fields ranging from software to fitness, and from gourmet food to travel.

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: marketing-campaigns, sales-challenges, social media

B2B Company in Northern New Jersey? Learn to Drive Results with Social Media tomorrow!

April 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

BMA-NJ’s B2B Social Media Symposium (SMS)

Learn how to leverage the key social media strategies and platforms for a truly integrated business-to-business marketing campaign.

The Keynote presentation at lunch will be delivered by Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers, a social media expert, b2b marketing guru and professional writer, speaker and TV host.

You have a Facebook page. You have a LinkedIn account. You even have a Twitter account. And they’re all focused on your company or business.

You’ve spent time building your key social media platforms for your company. But now what? How do you effectively use them for truly integrated marketing with your offline and other online campaigns?

BMA-NJ’s B2B Social Media Symposium isn’t your typical “how to do” social media session. At BMA-NJ’s half-day symposium – with two sessions and a lunch keynote – you’ll see real-life case studies on how companies have successfully integrated social media into their marketing programs.

You’ll learn how socially engaged businesses achieve competitive advantage through social media tools. And you’ll come away with actionable ideas to solve your own marketing problems.

B2B SMS Agenda:

9:00 am to 9:30 am
Registration, Networking and Breakfast

Opening Remarks and Program Introductions

Steve Cummins
Director of Marketing
Panasonic Electric Works Corp. of America

Steve is a B2B marketing executive with more than 20 years experience in Industrial and High-tech industries. His global business experience includes many years of working with Asian and European customers and suppliers, and promoting emerging technologies through multiple sales channels.

Steve is an enthusiastic early adopter of new marketing platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, and has successfully implemented Digital B2B Marketing programs with Panasonic.

He regularly discusses current digital marketing issues on his personal blog.

9:45 am to 10:45 am – LinkedIn for B2B

Carrie Craig
Senior Account Executive
LinkedIn

With more than 150 million members, LinkedIn is one of the most used resources for professional and personal networking. With new features, using LinkedIn for B2B marketing is offering new ways for business marketers to prospect for leads.

Carrie brings 10+ years of experience implementing digital and integrated programs across various verticals, including technology, financial services, consumer packaged goods, and pharmaceuticals.

11:00 am to 12:00 pm – Google+ for Businesses

Judith David
Social Specialist
Google

With the release of Google+, B2B marketers have another new tool for social media success. During this session, Judith will explain the evolution of Google+, best practices for businesses looking to leverage Google+, and how to get started.

As Google’s social specialist for the B2B vertical market and the voice of the @GoogleB2BTeam Twitter feed, Judith monitors the social strategies for leading B2B brands and develops custom marketing solutions across Google platforms. After 8 years of working in brand management, Judith joined Google in 2010 and has worked with brands in the Global Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics and Consulting Industries.

12:00 pm to 1:00 pm – Keynote and Lunch

Jeff Ogden
B2B Demand Generation Expert
Writer/Speaker/TV Host

We’re delighted that Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor and President of Find New Customers is delivering our keynote address.

Jeff has built a highly successful marketing consulting business via publishing remarkable content on his blog, social media and other sites. His blog is in broad syndication and he also hosts a popular marketing show called Mad Marketing TV, which publishes on YouTube. He’s also a professional writer and speaker, having penned four white papers and he is a national speaker for the Business Marketing Association.

He was also a guest on Hubspot TV and also on Intrepid Radio. He’s a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and he lives on Long Island with his wife and three boys.

When: April 10, 2012 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Where: Sheraton Lincoln Harbor, 500 Harbor Blvd., Weehawken, NJ

Cost:

Early Bird Registration (with payment in full received before 3/21):
$119 members
$169 nonmembers

Regular Registration (from 3/22 to 4/6):
$139 members
$189 nonmembers

Late Registration (after 4/6 or at the door):
$149 members
$199 nonmembers

Filed Under: Self Education Tagged With: Find New Customers, management-best-practices, social media

Learn to Grow Your Business with Social Media at tomorrow’s BMA-NJ Social Media Symposium

April 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

BMA-NJ’s B2B Social Media Symposium (SMS)

Learn how to leverage the key social media strategies and platforms for a truly integrated business-to-business marketing campaign.

The Keynote presentation at lunch will be delivered by Jeff Ogden of Find New Customers, a social media expert, b2b marketing guru and professional writer, speaker and TV host.

You have a Facebook page. You have a LinkedIn account. You even have a Twitter account. And they’re all focused on your company or business.

You’ll learn how socially engaged businesses achieve competitive advantage through social media tools. And you’ll come away with actionable ideas to solve your own marketing problems.

B2B SMS Agenda:

9:00 am to 9:30 am
Registration, Networking and Breakfast

Opening Remarks and Program Introductions

Steve Cummins
Director of Marketing
Panasonic Electric Works Corp. of America

Steve is an enthusiastic early adopter of new marketing platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, and has successfully implemented Digital B2B Marketing programs with Panasonic.

He regularly discusses current digital marketing issues on his personal blog.

9:45 am to 10:45 am – LinkedIn for B2B

Carrie Craig
Senior Account Executive
LinkedIn

Carrie brings 10+ years of experience implementing digital and integrated programs across various verticals, including technology, financial services, consumer packaged goods, and pharmaceuticals.

11:00 am to 12:00 pm – Google+ for Businesses

Judith David
Social Specialist
Google

12:00 pm to 1:00 pm – Keynote and Lunch

Jeff Ogden
B2B Demand Generation Expert
Writer/Speaker/TV Host

We’re delighted that Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor and President of Find New Customers is delivering our keynote address.

Jeff has built a highly successful marketing consulting business via publishing remarkable content on his blog, social media and other sites. His blog is in broad syndication and he also hosts a popular marketing show called Mad Marketing TV, which publishes on YouTube twice a week. He’s also a professional writer and speaker, having penned four white papers and he is a national speaker for the Business Marketing Association.

He was also a guest on Hubspot TV and also on Intrepid Radio. He’s a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and he lives on Long Island with his wife and three boys.

When: April 10, 2012 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Where: Sheraton Lincoln Harbor, 500 Harbor Blvd., Weehawken, NJ

Cost:

Early Bird Registration (with payment in full received before 3/21):
$119 members
$169 nonmembers

Regular Registration (from 3/22 to 4/6):
$139 members
$189 nonmembers

Late Registration (after 4/6 or at the door):
$149 members
$199 nonmembers

Filed Under: Interviews & Guest Appearances Tagged With: Find New Customers, management-best-practices, marketing budgets, marketing-campaigns, social media

Harness the power of Newsjacking to Grow Your Business

April 6, 2012 2 Comments

Use the News to Capture Free Publicity for your Company

David Meerman Scott (@dmscott), who was interviewed by Jeff Ogden, President of the lead generation company Find New Customers via Skype at Social Media Camp NYC, has a new book, Newsjacking. I just purchased it on my iPad and read it. Why don’t you do that too?

(I intend to discuss this idea in my keynote presentation at the BMA-NJ Social Media Symposium next Tuesday. We’re also using this in our new client engagement.)

But the idea is simple, and David explains it well in this post.

Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage

The idea is for companies to take breaking news and use it using blogs, social media, press releases and speaking opportunities to get on top of a story and engage. In fact, I was attending a Marketing Hybrid meeting in NYC, talking to a CMO of a large insurance firm. He asked “What is truly new and interesting in marketing?” to his associate. She shrugged her shoulders. I told him about Newsjacking. He said “Wow! That’s awesome.”

David’s graphic below explains it well.

But the most important factor is how quickly you react to the news. As this graphic shows, the life of a news story is brief.

As David explains in the book, you have an opportunity to capture the second paragraph of news stories. The first paragraph lists the key facts of the story, but the second paragraph explains why it happened and what the impact is. It is that second paragraph where Newsjacking can insert your expertise.

Buy the book Newsjacking, read it and use the ideas in your business too.

We also invite you to visit our incredibly simple home page at Find New Customers and check out our new SCORE demand generation program too.

What do you think of the Newsjacking idea? We love to read comments and appreciate those who share on social media.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Find New Customers, management-best-practices, social media

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