AN EXPERIENCED WEB MARKETING FIRM

1. Use lead management to maximize the value of each lead. When prospects are fearful, Miller says, “you need lead scoring to identify which leads are highly engaged, and lead nurturing to develop relationships.”

2. Focus on your house list. Spend more time marketing to (and building relationships with) the people you already know.

3. Build and optimize landing pages. Jon Miller wisely informs us that “a dedicated landing page is the single most effective way to turn a click into a prospect.”

4. Develop content for later in the buying cycle. Stick to the surer thing: “focus your offers on content that will appeal to someone who’s actually looking for a solution.”

5. Appeal to the nervous buyer. Says Miller: “[Include] customer references, reviews, expert opinions, awards, and other validation as part of your marketing.”

6. Align sales and marketing. Both teams should work together to create a single revenue pipeline.

7. Don’t be a cost center. “[M]arketing investments must be justified with a rigorous business case and should be amortized over the entire ‘useful life’ of the investment,” says Miller.

The Po!nt: Tough times can be toughed out. Tips like these can help ensure you stay on top during a downturn. source : J Miller.

1. B2B companies don’t need large budgets to make an impact online — Because the Internet has leveled the playing field, companies don’t need boatloads of money to reach customers. Companies can disseminate white papers, free reports, Webinars, e-books, articles and all sorts of other information and tools — efficiently and cost-effectively via the Internet.

2. B2B companies now have real data they can use — In the old days, companies relied on business reply cards (BRCs) and other hazy data to determine response rates for things like direct mail and print ads. And, because direct mail campaigns were often small (as compared to B2C campaigns), A/B split tests or running new letters against controls were rarely used.

Now companies can use Web analytics to determine campaign response rates. Howard gives the example of GoDaddy and its Super Bowl ads.

According to Howard, the company received tons of searches after its provocative ad ran, “but every year after that, the frequency of the search term ‘Godaddy.com’ declined. [This] provides valuable insight into whether buying a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl is useful anymore.” (Amen.) ( J Howard, Google )

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Research shows that search engine users prefer organic left side links to the 3 line sponsored AD’s links in the search engine results pages

• comScore and others have reported that 70 to 80 percent of users click organic rather than sponsored listings.
• Earlier this year, Jupiter research found that six out of seven sales resulting from search engines originated in the organic search listings.

Based on the clickability of organic listings, it’s safe to assume that well-optimized websites will achieve their business goals. Industry research has documented this in both case studies and research studies.

• Research: Industry research has shown benefits for both corporate and retail sites with organic search engine optimization (SEO). Two separate studies revealed enormous gains in conversions and unique visitors for well-optimized sites. In one instance, a 142 percent increase in conversion rates was reported the first month the sites appeared on page one in Google. The second month, conversion rates went to 194 percent over the prior month. Unique visitors went sky-high, with a 337 percent increase the first month and 627 percent increase the second month.
• Case Study: A SEMPO case study reported dramatic results with SEO for a connector manufacturer. Starting with a baseline of 15 top-30 rankings, it went up to 79 in six months, then 102 in four more months. The site is in the top nine on Google for specific phrases and increased highly targeted visitors three fold over baseline in one year.