Tim Ash presented the keynote on Day 3. The agenda was “ To understand, why it is important to build trust online to get improved conversions and how to do it successfully.” (more…)
Last week, I discussed how all content can be online content. No matter what kind of correspondence or connection you make with a client or a prospect in the offline world, there is now potential for that to become an online piece of content whether you want it to or not.
Lately, when we talk to prospective B2B clients, I see increasingly divergent views on B2B blogging. On the one hand, there are those who lust after success stories involving other social media (e.g., Twitter) used to drive high amounts of immediate, short-term traffic to a business blog. Many times, these people are so eager to jump into the promise and immediacy of Twitter, LinkedIn groups, and Facebook to drive traffic to a blog, that they give little consideration to developing the meaningful, valuable content required to attract interest in the first place.
On the other hand, there are those that tend to lump B2B blogging in with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, social-bookmarking sites, and the like. Many of these people are in niche B2B industries where the pace of adoption of social media vehicles is slow and the potential “crowd” is thin. When they consider blogging as a part of their marketing strategy, they see little promise. Sure, they say, maybe we’ll get 20 subscribers to our blog, but what good is that? We’re not going to get large amounts of followers on Twitter. We’re not going to get large amounts of subscribers to our blog. Social media just isn’t a good fit, whatever form it comes in.
Today the buzzwords in the social media space are community. Everyone is interested in creating community and for good reason. Community is at the heart of human social interaction whether it is online or in the place you live. People do not thrive alone in most cases. There is a need to be connected to someone or something that is more basic than most of us ever admit. It’s an emotional thing which also makes it an elusive thing.
eMarketer is one of the most cited resources for internet marketing trends, so when I received some tasty predictions for 2010, I thought they were too useful to keep to myself. These insights include future monetization models, the effect of transparency on advertising, social and search, mobile, social commerce, public relations, social advertising, Twitter, video and mom/pop internet usage. Enjoy!
Hybrid Plans that Combine Subscription Fees with Advertising
More marketers will increasingly embrace online video advertising, supported by the twin boom of video streams and video ad networks.
Data is great if you’re a marketer. More data is better. That is until you’re drowning in it. Are you drowning yet? A lot of us are. According to Andreas Weigend, the former chief scientist of Amazon.com, “In 2009, more data will be generated by individuals than in the entire history of mankind through 2008.”
This is another subject I have been meaning to discuss that I haven’t seen debated a huge amount openly even though everyone in the industry is aware of it.
Simply checking the UK agencies ranking for ‘SEO’ (as an example) it’s very easy to spot that some of them are using their own clients as a link network to rank for that very term. I am not going to call anyone out or make examples of anyone, they know who they are.
Presumably by doing it they think its fine, so perhaps I can give examples.
If you rely on local customers to come to your store or service facility, then it is most important that these customers can find you on Google.
If they do their checking before they leave home using their desktop PC, then they may well use Google Local Search. It may be a problem for you to rank well in such a search as a recent Cre8asite Forums discussion points out. As the topic author pointed out, there are Completely And Utterly Farcical Google Local Verification Procedures. The problem is that Google does not support this local search facility with a customer service function. They rely on computer algorithms to identify the location of particular businesses. If that algorithm handles your website incorrectly, then it may be very difficult for you to get that corrected.
For several years now, I have been talking to anyone and everyone about how the Internet is the great equalizer for small and medium businesses. It can help the little guy play with the big boys. It can help create a David vs. Goliath scenario where the SMB can take the industry giant out with skill and precision. There are so many things that any SMB can do with regard to the Internet that it is mind boggling.
Stacy Karacostas here from http://www.success-stream.com with another quick audio marketing tip. In case you don’t like listening to audio, below are the transcripts for today’s podcast, “An Easy Way to Make Your Small Business Marketing Materials Way More Effective… And Make Sure They Get Read!”
I’ve often noticed that when I talk to my clients about their products or services, they say the most amazing, engaging and interesting things. But when I read their marketing materials it usually sounds more like the teacher from the old Charlie Brown cartoons “wha wha, waa waa, waa whaaaa”.
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