Search Marketing InsiderPay Per Click, Social Media and SEO Strategies – An Internet Marketing Institute Publication

In the world of SEM B2B lead generation, one word stands out above all others: communication.  While this might seem cliché, effective communication between lead qualification teams and the person (or persons) in charge of SEM is critical to driving sales.

Through CRM integration, click and call data can be leveraged as parts of a tight feedback loop – telling lead qualification what their leads care about and SEMs who to target.  This cannot happen if the two groups are not speaking to one another.

The first step in all of this is capturing pertinent information.  This can be done through a variety of ways – customized URL parameters or even direct integration into AdWords (eg: SFDC’s AdWords  App).  SEM’s can select pertinent campaign information and pass it to lead qualification as additional fields in a lead’s profile.  This valuable information can be captured passively (no additional forms) and reveal important information about the lead.

 This could include:

-          Keyword

-          Query

-          Campaign

-          Adgroup

-          Creative info (ID or theme)

Typically, these values are used by SEMs to measure performance and optimize bids but, when used by lead teams during the qualification process, they can reveal useful insights into users which can then be translated into actionable information. 

The use of a specific query can help measure a user’s sophistication and, most importantly, intent. (eg: “CRM best practice” vs. “CRM reviews”).    A good lead qualification rep can use this data to change the tone of the conversation and adjust their approach to the lead.  In addition, this can help a lead qualification rep pick out the best leads and get after them quickly.

 If lead qualification is not aware of this and not instructed to use this data, all leads will be treated the same and, in all likelihood, the program will fail.

Similarly, knowing what message drove the user is valuable to the lead qualification team’s follow-up process.  Ideally, the product you are trying to sell has many benefits.  Ad testing should revolve around the product’s different value propositions; specifically, how these values compare to your competitors.

As is always the case with SEM, your message will run alongside your competitors.  Strong, direct, competitive messaging can open doors for your lead qualification team. Sharing space with competitors that are both up and down market can be very challenging (especially for broader, head terms). 

If, for example, a cheap alternative pushes price as a differentiator (and you cannot compete), embrace their message and tell users there is more to this software than price.  Shutting out people looking for a low price alternative will save you on clicks and save your lead qualification team valuable time!

Messaging becomes increasingly important as leads turn into full-fledged opportunities.  Certain messages might have tremendous appeal at the lead level but yield no sales.  This may work for some companies willing to gamble; however, SEM is better suited to drive users that are already in the consideration phase.  User searches are loaded with intent and your campaigns should capitalize on this. 

The impact of a new ad message should be measured each step of the way.  Lead qualification teams should relay recurring themes of conversations and, feedback on your current positioning, along with emerging trends in the user base.  As users look for different things, your message should evolve to fill their needs.

Ultimately, communication breakdowns between sales and marketing are an old problem.  However, with more lead qualification teams falling under the umbrella of marketing, having conversations around lead quality and messaging should be standard to your lead generation program.  Reps should be shown how to interpret the keyword and creative info attached to a lead in the same way they review the content used to drive that lead. 

While the quality of the content offered (demo or whitepaper) can make or break your reps the first time they connect with a lead, ad messaging (the key concept of which should be expanded on your landing page) will dictate whether a user becomes a lead in the first place.  Closing the loop and using lead info to refine your message will lead to higher quality leads, better conversations and, undoubtedly, more sales.

Sean Marshall has over four years of online marketing experience – specializing in SEM since 2008. In this time, has worked with leading B2B and B2C clients to maximize ROI on their SEM campaigns (ExactTarget, Microsoft Store, Dickies, Mass Mutual and many more). Prior to working in SEM, Sean was a Program Manager at Tippit (now Focus.com), driving high quality leads for leading VoIP and IT security companies including Ironport, Nortel, and Avaya. Sean is a proud California Golden Bear (UC Berkeley) and avid sports fan.

How much time have you lost on prospects who never converted? How much of your traffic is a waste of bandwidth? Would you improve your conversion rates if you could?

You need to invest some time in creating a customer profile. These are so powerful, I use one every time I create a piece of content or work on my marketing strategy.  It determines how I sell my services and how I approach clients.  Otherwise, I find myself serving someone I don’t know, and this rarely works.

Here’s what you need to know:

The “Who”

Who should you work with? Not a general description like ‘small businesses’, but actual names. Make a list of companies or individuals you would call your ‘ideal clients’. Go through your client list and pull out your favorites. If you’re an ecommerce store, pull out a list of the most loyal and profitable customers, and don’t forget your analytics.

• How educated are they?
• How much of an income do they have to dedicate to the things you provide or could provide?
• What are their goals and how do they do business?
• When their clients, competitors, and complementary businesses/industries describe them, what kinds of words do they use?
• Who makes the buying decisions
• How many employees do they have?

• What they like to do, what they dream of, and what are their biggest fears?

By the time you’re done with the ‘who’ section, you should know them much like you do an old friend.

The “What”

Take time to discover what your target audience is looking for, what they need, and what they like and dislike. Here are some questions to ask:

• What kinds of worries, concerns, and problems do my ideal clients have?
• What do my ideal clients look for? *Hint* This likely won’t be a product or service, but rather a solution to a problem.
• What does my ideal client do well?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What do they get from my competitors?
• What issues do they have with my competitors? How could that product or service be improved?
• What does my ideal client need or have issues with that aren’t being met in a convenient, easy, and satisfying way?

The “Where”
This is where you look at your ideal client’s habits and methods. This tells you what strategies they use, defines their targets audience, reveals effective marketing. Again, this is going to take some research, but it’s worth it.

• Where do your ideal customers go?
• What sorts of events do ideal clients attend?
• Where do they market their products/services and what do they avoid?
• Where do conversations about your ideal client’s products or services happen?
• Where do these clients get information?
• Where do they meet other suppliers?

The “Why”

This can be the most difficult, but it can make a huge difference in the choices you make, what you offer, and how you offer it.

• Why do potential clients buy from your competitors?
• Why does your client buy the things you offer in the first place?
• What complaints do they have about your competitors?
• What sort of compliments have potential clients given your competitors?
• What features do they place emphasis one?
• Why do current services or products fail to meet their needs?

The “When”

This is something to keep in mind, rather than include in your research: Client profiles need to be constantly updated to reflect the growth of your company, new insights you’ve gained, and changes in technology and industry views. You might even take this one step further by creating a client profile on your competitors to gather some great ideas.

When should you make use of your client profile? Any time you create or do something for clients! This includes social media, keyword research, pricing, content, and choosing your marketing and networking opportunities.

If you provide services or products in a business-to-business situation, have clients do client profiles for you. You’ll find your offerings will greatly improve and so with the results you are able generate.

Angie Nikoleychuk is the Senior Copywriter, Strategist, and Consultant for Angie’s Copywriting Service. She’s passionate about SEO, marketing, and behaviour. She loves a good marketing mystery, a great cup of coffee, and is an avid Twitter user.

This article is about hitting the right balance in content marketing, between providing practical, objective information, and delivering a blatant sales pitch. Get the balance right and content will win customers; get it wrong and your content creation efforts won’t pay-off.

photo by Todd Anderson

 So who am I to dish out advice about content marketing? I didn’t invent content marketing, but I did engineer an early content marketing success. Back in 1999 my three partners and I sold our boutique information security consulting firm to a NASDAQ company for a premium price. We achieved that price because we had a premium client list (including AT&T, American Express, Edward Jones, and Sprint). 

How did we build that client list? We attracted a lot of our clients through website content, notably a library of “free information security articles” which was one of the first things I created when I set up the company website. These articles were originally written by myself and my partners for publication in magazines and that meant they were written to professional editorial standards, one of which is objectivity.

Objectivity means the articles did not talk about our company and the services we offered, they talked about specific problems and solutions. The result? Anyone reading those articles was likely to think the authors knew what they were talking about and were happy to share their knowledge. If you needed to deal with these specific problems and solutions it didn’t require a big red call to action button to realize “these guys would be a valuable resource.”

Skip forward a decade or so and we find content marketing applied to any type of “useful” information employed to advance the marketing effort without making overt product claims, such as “custom magazines, print or online newsletters, digital content, websites or microsites, white papers, webcasts/webinars, podcasts, video portals or series, in-person roadshows, roundtables, interactive online, email, and events.”

That list is from the ‘content marketing’ entry in Wikipedia, which goes on to state quite clearly, and in my opinion correctly, that the purpose of this information: “is not to spout the virtues of the marketer’s own products or services, but to inform target customers and prospects about key industry issues, sometimes involving the marketer’s products.”

Unfortunately, the resources available to Marketing are always limited. Whenever sales slow down it’s possible Sales will question the use of resources for content marketing. Depending on factors such as workflow and company dynamics, you might experience “spout-creep.” That’s when open declaration of product virtues creeps into content marketing pieces. Unfortunately, because none of the forms used for content marketing dictate function, it can be difficult prevent spout-creep. So what should you do? Here are some suggestions.

1. If Sales has a good case for more direct product marketing materials then oblige Sales and switch resources from your content marketing. Better to scale back content marketing than risk polluting it with blatant product pitches. If Sales needs competitor kill sheets, generate them, just don’t pass them off as content marketing.

2. Adjust your content marketing to the different levels of awareness people have of your product and the problem it solves. Develop different nurturing paths for different levels of awareness. For people just becoming aware of the problem, go lightly on product pitching (they will appreciate you educating them and at this point they’re not ready to buy from you or your competitors). However, there’s still value in content targeted to people familiar with the problem, your solution, and your competitors’ solutions. Good content, freely shared, will always win the day with some buyers.

3. Think twice before placing content behind a click-wall that requires the completion of a lengthy form. Sales might be screaming for leads but requiring loads of details may be a mistake unless you’re talking premium content without a hint of pitch. Content that educates at the early stages of a market may travel further, to greater effect, if accessible without providing extensive contact data.

4. Consider just email registration. Concerns about spam are declining and people are more willing to supply an email address than a few years ago. But don’t abuse their trust. If you plan to send them more content, make that clear.

5. Have faith in your content but track access. Google Analytics tracks page access, not file access. Make sure you have server logs handy to see how often files themselves are downloaded.

6. Set expectations honestly, otherwise content marketing can hurt your reputation. Today there’s little tolerance for product pitches misrepresented as pure content. Be honest up front and you will avoid “blowback” from people offended at being pitched when they were expecting to get educated.

A prolific blogger and content marketing pioneer, Stephen Cobb has helped a series of hi-tech startups to achieve successful outcomes by educating the market for their products. Currently Marketing Evangelist for Monetate, the Philadelphia-based marketing optimization company, Stephen resides in Upstate New York.