The OMS 2010 23-City Tour stopped in Atlanta last week at the beautiful Hotel Palomar. The tour had already visited cities across the U.S. and Canada, and includes 400 expert speakers, exclusive OMI training workshops and countless peer networking opportunities.
Billy Mitchell, Glenn Taylor, Dave Morris and I thought we’d share our 40 takeaways for B2B marketing from the day. Here's a random collection of our notes, tweets and observations:
- The single answer to problems around the world, in your company and with your marketing efforts is EDUCATION. -Aaron Kahlow of Online Marketing Connection
- Write guest posts to build links. Submit ideas to other blogs within your industry. Begin by following and commenting.
- The center of customer engagement is now online.
- Behavior can be changed, just like habits.
- Calls-to-action should be specific, measurable and achievable, with measured goals.
- States of change model starts with "A-ha!" moment, then preparation, then trial and moving to a new habit (maintenance).
- Health model starts with education, adds motivations offset by barriers, which moves to the recommended action.
- Volitional control - have to demonstrate you can make things easier by using your product or service.
- Out of market > learner > shoppers > buyers > current customers. All of these groups are reached through marketing efforts.
- Marcom systems need to have patience. Most all contacts are learners. They need engagement, nurturing.
- It's a buying cycle, not a sales cycle.
- Apple.com - example of container-only site.
- Right-hand side items are not seen very often, lower conversion.
- Search box for sites over 25 pages is critical.
- Blogs are expected to have right-handed navigation, etc.
- Touchscreen usage is different based on context, need and control differences.
- Scoreboard footers work very well. Dell is an example.
- Top of page is scanned 17 times more than lower items
- Trend is to use home page as brand engagement and not as much for SEO.
- Use natural language instead of industry jargon - better for user and SEO.
- Task-based architecture. Example: Rail Europe - I have a ticket, I don't have a ticket.
- Engage customers with conversation, build communities, listen and respond.
- Audience-based navigation is good if you know your customer mix well.
- Images trump text for attention. Size is king. Think newspaper layout.
- Use controls on rotating graphic fields to allow user to go back and forth, etc.
- Give clear clues to next steps and call-to-action.
- Long info forms kill interaction rates - just get the basics.
- Denote clicked and non-clicked items.
- Divide info into five to nine meaningful chunks. The brain works this way. Example: phone numbers are not ten numbers, but groups of three to four digits.
- Create a mobile version of website. Big opportunities here and in the future.
- Free your content, long content is going away, shorter/versatile is better.
- Integrate to innovative online and offline.
- Be mobile, be everywhere, be relevant.
- Tear down the silos, all messaging must be consistent across barriers.
- Automate the science of marketing. Be maniacal, prove ROI.
- The accessibility of your website, including the download speed, is increasingly impacting Google rankings.
- User actions – specifically, your click-through rate from Google results pages – can affect your organic rankings.
- Google’s recent “Mayday” algorithm update mostly affected “long tail” (multiple word) searches. Previously, a poor-quality web page could rank high for a long tail keyword fairly easily, simply by working that keyword into its content. Now, the entire site must be of good quality in order for that page to rank high.
- Google’s new left sidebar, which allows searchers to choose from social results, images, shopping sites, etc., reinforces the notion that you really need to have all your digital assets optimized for a wide variety of types of searches.
- Social media has surpassed corporate websites as places people go for information about a company, so you must ensure that your social media content ranks high as well as your website!
As you can see, the Online Marketing Summit presented a balanced and focused online educational experience. Highly recommended.
/mh
Martine Hunter is the creative director of inbound marketing with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. She holds the Inbound Marketing professional certification and serves the Atlanta chapter of the Business Marketing Association as a member of the board of directors.
Register for our Webinar - LinkedIn: Basic Best Practices for B2B Marketers. Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
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On a recent Delta flight to St. Louis, I couldn’t help but notice John Slattery and Christina Hendricks staring at me. OK, so maybe it was from the cover of a magazine, but either way I was hooked. The “Mad Men” duo was featured on the cover of this month’s Delta SKY Magazine for a story entitled “The Mad, Mad World of Advertising.” I held in my hands 19 pages of pure advertising genius. Obviously, the entire thing was a very creative and well-thought out spread, but it was a small article that ran on the bottom of five pages that caught my eye. This article, “Advertising Goes Ambient,” showcases some of the more creative marketing outlets that are just being tapped into. It's been said that the average human has an attention span of 15 seconds, and with all the distractions saturating our day, marketers have to work harder than ever to catch (and keep) our attention. Kudos to the following savvy marketers who are proving to be as creative as ever.
Gas Station TV
So you’re pumping gas, which means your car and radio are off. If you don’t have enough phone apps to get you through those 3 excruciating minutes, just look up! According to the article, Gas Station TV reaches more than 20 million viewers a month.
LED Boats
We already see advertisements on just about everything that moves: cars, trucks, airplanes, etc. It was only natural that these efforts would eventually move to the water. In Shanghai, boats are becoming the new billboards. Check them out the next time you hop over the Pacific.
Methacrylate Box
Now THIS is cool. To promote new Vodafone products and services, Waskman inserted themselves into the ad by temporarily moving their offices to a cozy methacrylate box, 33 feet above the ground in Bilbao and Madrid.
Segway Ads
This marketing effort kills two birds with one stone. Not only does the Segway give you decent real estate for an ad, you also have a live human who’s ready to interact with customers. KFC used this tactic to promote its Chicken & Biscuit Bowl and to pass out coupons.
Golf Hole Ads
This new marketing outlet will have you sprinting for the beverage cart. Heineken recently bought ad space inside golf holes. GENIUS.
Interactive Ads
In busy areas like malls and airports, ads line every inch of wall space, so what will make people pay attention to yours? If you can’t answer that question, you have bigger problems. But for the time being, invest in interactive advertising. These ads invite passers-by to physically participate in entertainment and games.
For more on how the world of advertising is changing (and how it’s not), check out the July 2010 issue of Delta SKY magazine. And don’t forget to check out the “Mad Men” season premiere this Sunday, July 25, at 10PM ET on AMC.
Elizabeth Reaves is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
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GUEST POST by Viveka von Rosen, LinkedIn Expert
By now you might have heard that to get found on LinkedIn, you have to have a well optimized Personal Profile, which will, of course, also get you found on Google. But what about your company
? Many business owners don’t even have a Company Profile on LinkedIn. And even if they do, their Company is not being found by their B2B clients. Why? For the simple reason that their company is not correctly named, nor is the description content optimized properly.
In many cases, an employee unwittingly sets up the Company profile. The Company’s Executives might not even know their Company’s profile has been created. For additional info on this topic, see my blog post Is Your Company Properly Represented on LinkedIn?
The first thing you should do is check to see if LinkedIn does in fact have a profile for your Company.
Once you have access and can edit your Company Profile, if needed, rename the Company name to what it should be. (In case there are spelling errors or other naming issues – Inc. instead of Corp., etc.) You will have to ask LinkedIn to do this for you by writing Customer_Service@LinkedIn.com. You will have to prove you have permission to do so by having an email address for your company and your position at that company listed in your personal profile.
Immediately, you will want to expand your Company’s description. You have 2,000 characters to describe your Company’s products or services, the benefits to your clients, some features you offer. Make sure you use all the keywords potential and existing clients would be typing into the search box to find you:
- Your Company Name (Acronym if used)
- Products
- Services
- Your Industry
- Clients industry
- Benefits
- Features
And finally, make sure you have your keywords in the “specialties” section: Verb, noun, acronym, Up to 500 Characters.
Of course, you will want to make sure that all the other information fields are filled out, including your webaite and blog link. By doing this alone, you should get in to the top 1% of optimized Company profiles on LinkedIn!
(As a cautionary tale - If someone claims to be an employee of your company, and they are not - you can report them at: abuse@LinkedIn.com)
We often forget about Company Profiles on LinkedIn. But they can be a powerful channel for B2B inbound marketing and client engagement. So make sure your company is correctly titled, optimized, and reflective of your B2B brand!
Viveka von Rosen, the founder of Linked Into Business, is a successful entrepreneur, nationally renowned IA Certified LinkedIn trainer and expert, and a respected social media speaker.
Viveka will be the featured speaker on MLT Creative's B2B marketing webinar, LinkedIn: Basic Best Practices for B2B Marketers on July 28, 2010.
Register to hear more insights on how LinkedIn can support your B2B marketer efforts.
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On a recent trip to London, one of many tourist stops was the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, in Notting Hill. As soon as I walked in, I immediately noticed shelves and shelves of products, posters, ads and videos, all shouting out the various brand names that have been developed over the years. It is an amazing assortment of stuff at first glance, and it became even more impressive upon further inspection. 
The wealth of product containers, signs and products that museum owner Robert Opie had the foresight to save (and preserve in mint condition) for this museum is truly remarkable. If you’ve clicked around our B2B agency's website, or visited our creative campus, you are well aware that Opie and MLT Creative may be kindred spirits.
We began our tour by traveling through a “time tunnel” of vintage advertising, beginning with products from the Victorian times, and ending with brands that are still around today. Sprinkled in with the product displays were facts about advertising and merchandising over the years, many of which spoke to the importance of trademarking and the prevalence of imitators. At one point there were boxes of dry mustard from various companies that had all been made an identical shade of yellow to mimic the packaging of then-market leader Coleman’s.
Seeing these displays reminded me of how far we’ve come as marketers, and how far we’ll need to go to truly differentiate our brands. In the past, building your brand was as simple as creating a logo or a tagline and placing a few display ads. Today, there are so many ways to market your brand – from SEO to social media participation, to advertising, to customer service, to service after the sale.
In the B2B marketing world of today, we’re seeing that it’s less about the official corporate messaging and more about relaying the honesty and humanity of our companies, as well as listening, engaging, sharing and connecting with customers. Less “push,” more “pull.”
Contemporary B2B marketers know that we need to have a brand people can relate to. We have to let customers make their own decisions about our brands, knowing that we’ll have to accept whatever conclusions they make. This is a tough pill to swallow for those schooled in traditional marketing, and those who are accustomed to having supposed “control” over a brand message. Instead of controlling the message we project, savvy marketers now focus on controlling the official corporate response to their brand, whether the customer feedback is positive or negative. Besides, it’s always better to know than to not know.
And, if I can give a little shout-out to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising: I loved the tour, and you guys are doing a great job of mixing nostalgia with modernity on your Facebook page!
Kelly Pires is B2B marketer and an account executive at MLT Creative, an Atlanta-based B2B advertising agency.
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How to Bridge the Distance Between Brand Strategy and Design
Expanded Edition
A Whiteboard Overview by Marty Neumeier
The Brand Gap is a good read and an excellent reference guide for all things “branding.” The style of the book is based on a presentation, using illustrations and diagrams to help you recognize the five disciplines of branding and learn to apply them to various situations.
It starts 
with defining what a brand is, and what it isn’t. I really enjoyed how the author kept the descriptions and explanations as simple and focused as possible to illustrate his points. “Brand” has become a huge buzzword in the last few years, so it’s helpful to make sure you have a full understanding of what it is, and how to then evaluate your brand – now and in the future. This book gives you a great system for doing just that.
This new, revised edition includes a handy “Brand Glossary” that clears up all the jargon surrounding this topic. There’s also a reading list with recommendations for other books that dive deeper into the many topics Neumeier touches on. Both of these tools make the book a must-read and a continued resource for any marketer’s library.
If you develop and consult on b2b branding like I do, or just want to see how your brand stacks up, I recommend this guide as an excellent starting point. I guarantee you’ll learn some things you didn’t know, and clear up some misconceptions along the way.
Glenn Taylor is a partner and senior creative director of Atlanta-based B2B marketing firm MLT Creative. Located on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, Taylor co-founded MLT Creative in 1984 along with partners Billy Mitchell and Craig Lindberg.
Known as the Idea Launch PadTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.
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07/15/2010, Thursday
@ Maggiano’s Buckhead
9:15 – 11:00AM
Join Jennifer Babbit Bodner, senior vice president in Edelman's Consumer Marketing practice, as she shares insights into the award-winning PR campaign that supported the Starbucks VIA Ready Brew launch.
07/15/2010, Thursday
@ Maggiano’s Buckhead
11:15AM – 1:00PM
Learn how your organization can leverage other brands to reach new audiences through partnership development - and how it can be done without a single dollar changing hands.
07/15/2010, Thursday
@ Maggiano’s Perimeter
11:30AM – 1:30PM
Twitter is so 2009, learn about lifestreaming, visual search, social games and more!
07/22/2010, Thursday
@ Park Tavern
7:00 – 11:00PM
A night of networking and fun with all profits going towards AiMA’s scholarship fund. Each attendee will receive two drink tickets plus $1,000 in “AiMA Bucks” to spend on games.
Sarah E. Young is an account executive with the Atlanta advertising agency MLT Creative which specializes in business-to-business marketing.
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This member of MLT Creative's collection of vintage ad mascots is the seafaring spokesman for Cracker Jack, a classic caramel confection with a rich (and crunchy, and sticky) American history that dates back to 1893, at the first World's Fair in Chicago.
Cracker Jack's inherent portability made it a perfect stadium snack, and soon it became synonymous with a certain national pastime - especially during the seventh-inning stretch.
Jack himself wasn't introduced until 1918, but with his distinctive nautical duds, friendly salute and, uh, wide stance, he quickly became the brand's most recognizable emblem - along with his canine companion, Bingo.
Now owned by Frito Lay, Cracker Jack has changed with the times, adding new flavors, like Butter Toffee, and even a website. But Jack and Bingo are still emblazoned on every box and, as a testament to the characters' enduring popularity, the traditional sailor's uniform of the U.S. Navy is now colloquially referred to as "the Cracker Jack."
Character Study is an ongoing series featuring background trivia on the classic advertising characters from the private collection of MLT Creative.
Chase Mitchell is a copywriter at MLT Creative, an Atlanta-based advertising agency specializing in business-to-business marketing.
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A couple of months ago, I was interrupted at work by a phone call from Ryan Gamble, co-president of the Seattle-based
Storyville Coffee Company; he may not have known it at the time, but he had no more than 60 seconds to keep my attention before I would politely - but hurriedly - hang-up.
He didn't have me at hello, but when he said that he'd just been to the MLT Creative website, he at least bought himself another few seconds.
At his second mention of Storyville, I went online to check out its website as we spoke. While Gamble told me how cool ou
r company seemed to be, I was getting the same impression of his.
Now, I have a thing for coffee and, thanks in part to having recently seen an episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" that explored various types of beans and the best ways to brew them, I was intrigued by the passion Storyville seemed to have for their craft.
But that's not what the call was about. The call was business-to-business and, since B2B marketing is what we do at MLT Creative, I'm always willing to discuss a mutually beneficial business deal.
But that's not what the call was about, either. Not really. The call was about Storyville Live, a coffee-and-concert series for a good cause, and because Gamble had done some homework on us, he came to me prepared with an idea he thought I'd be interested in. And he was right.
You see, there's more to Storyville Coffee than selling magic beans, just as there's more to MLT Creative than B2B marketing. Like us, Storyville is a cool company that believes in doing well by doing good. While MLT has long supported nonprofits such as Genesis Shelter, Storyville has taken up a global cause about which they're just as passionate - fighting modern-day slavery and human trafficking. Proceeds from Storyville Live concerts go to the International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that seeks justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. By hosting this event with Storyville, we're doing our part to help them solve a global problem.
But, before I tell you a little about Storyville Live, what have we learned so far about B2B marketing and person-to-person communications?
- Do your homework first
- Make your call personal and relevant
- Get your story straight and get to the point
- And yes, Always Be Closing
So where do you come into this Storyville story of mine?
Well, if you're reading this blog, it might be because you're in B2B marketing yourself, and maybe the tips I mentioned will be of some help. But I'd like to invite you to a Storyville Live event, so that you can help us help change the world with one simple formula:
Music + Coffee = Freedom
MLT Creative is hosting a Storyville Live Concert on June 29th, and you're invited. If you happen to enjoy great live music, the company of other cool people and the taste of gourmet coffee and desserts, then this is an event you don't want to miss. And if you oppose modern-day slavery and human trafficking around the world, then you have even more reason to join us.
If you'd like to support the cause but can't make it out in person, please help us spread the word and sell out our little shindig by sharing this story via any of the social media links shown above.
Thanks, and I hope to see you here!
Billy Mitchell is the president and senior creative director of Atlanta-based B2B marketing firm MLT Creative. Located on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, Mitchell co-founded MLT Creative in 1984 along with partners Craig Lindberg and Glenn Taylor.
Known as the Idea Launch PadTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.
Download our B2B Blogging Webinar and complementary eBooks:
See All Our Blog Posts
Think Outside the Inbox is a great reference for all things marketing automation, a subject about which there is so much information floating around right now that it tends to be overwhelming. Thankfully, Adam Blitzer and David Cummings were able to take some of the most useful information (specifically regarding B2B) and round it up into one handy guide.
By covering the high points right away, the authors have made sure that every bit of this 155-page handbook is relevant to B2B marketers. The guide provides a lot of useful information, but not to the point of overload or redundancy. And unlike many other resources out there on the subject, this book explains how to apply marketing automation to every step of your online processes. From customer relationship management to bid management software, the authors cover them all.
Examples of current marketing automation efforts can become repetitive, but Think Outside the Box includes engaging examples that make you even more willing to read on. In Chapter 1, the authors introduce you to the FBM (Fuller Brush Man) and his old-school American approach to sales; and in Chapter 4, Blitzer and Cummings draw you in by relating lead generation to the ways people go about finding love in all the wrong (and right) places, from dive bars to Match.com. I'm also a huge fan of Ardath Albee and her approach to marketing automation, so I was thrilled to see her mentioned various times throughout the guide.
Think Outside the Inbox is a must-have for any B2B marketer's library. The industry is constantly shifting, and without a basic knowledge of marketing automation under your belt, you will quickly be left in the dust. Way to go, David Cummings and Adam Blitzer, on creating a great tool for B2B marketers!
Elizabeth Reaves is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
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A current campaign I’m involved with got me thinking about my roots in consumer direct marketing. Whenever we launch a campaign that relies heavily on direct, I’m reminded that the rules in business-to-business direct marketing are really the same as they are in the consumer space. Granted, the overarching differences between the two disciplines are still present and should be considered (e.g. committee buying/decision-making in b2b vs. a solo decision in b2c), but when you strip it down, the similarities are crystal clear.
- State Your Objective: Generally, one objective per mailing is best and should be the very first thing you do. Are you trying to generate leads, nurture leads, cross-sell to existing customers or otherwise retain them? Establishing a clear objective at the onset will lead you down the path of a sound campaign.
- Know Your Audience: Aligned with your objective, knowing your audience is crucial for any direct campaign. Figuratively, you’ll want to know what types of people make up your target list, and communicate accordingly. Are you targeting in-house prospects, or a rented list? Current or inactive customers? Senior VPs or CEOs? Teenagers or housewives? In the literal sense, you’ll want to make sure your mailers are addressed properly, and include as much personalization as possible.
- Create Compelling Copy & Offers: Why should I buy your product, let alone respond? Aside from any level of personalization, which can only increase response, compelling copy begins with developing a unique selling proposition (USP) that speaks to your target audience. A successful USP is one that promises to solve a problem and makes life better, easier or otherwise addresses the “What’s in it for me?” question from your target audience. For most products and services, a compelling USP will only generate so much response, so identify any number of offers that can be tied into your campaign. Your offers should be relevant and continually tested. If your budget will not allow for big-ticket items, free trials or even introductory discounts, think about free information or content you can offer (this is especially effective in B-to-B).
- Make it Easy to Respond: Following a clearly stated call-to-action that specifies how you would like your target to respond, give them as many options for responding as appropriate – toll-free number, postage-paid envelope, URL, etc. Not too long ago, offering multiple response options would have been frowned upon because the age-old rule was that more choices equates to a lower response. Times have changed; people expect a choice, and not having a preferred response channel could decrease response. Now, is there anything else you can do to make it easy for your prospect/customer to respond? OK, do it.
- Maintain Continuity: Regardless of your business or cause, you must extend a consistent brand identity (messaging, logo, design, etc.) across all channels, and direct is no exception. Chances are your direct efforts will overlap another campaign channel. Each of these impressions to your brand has a cumulative effect that, over time, can lead to increased recognition and recall that can make a positive impact on your response. You’ll only see these benefits if you’re consistent with how you present your brand identity.
- Test, Test, Test: If you can think of a variable, it may be worth testing. A/B split and 2x2 testing are common tests for direct mail, and include examining things such as the creative, the copy, the offer, the list, etc. However, before you begin, make sure you know how much of a response you’ll need from your test to break even, and make sure the sample size of your test group will be large enough to yield results that are statistically significant. This is what you’re supposed to do. With B2B direct, the reality is that you’re often dealing with a universe under 10,000, so “statistically significant” isn’t achievable, and therefore can’t be guaranteed to perform the same if rolled out. In cases like these, you have to be that much more selective about what to test, and you’ll probably also want to be more frugal with your split if you have a dominant control piece.
In true direct form, you could analyze and segment each of these steps to create an even longer list, and while every effort was made to consolidate for easier consumption, I would like to hear your thoughts or experiences.
Leave a comment below for your chance to win a FREE reply from me (not the most compelling offer, I know).
Patrick Maness is Director of Marketing Strategy with B-to-B marketing agency MLT Creative and heads their Rhode Island office.
Known as the Idea Launch PadTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, direct marketing, advertising and sales promotions for business-to-business clients.
Download our B2B Blogging Webinar and complementary eBooks:
See All Our Blog Posts