According to a common, antiquated social standard, I am teetering on the slippery gray slope of being (gasp!) middle aged. As a semi-former pro libertine and hipster, I’m certainly not the kind of person who should be considering my yonder years with much regard.
The term “middle-aged” is perhaps only annoying to those like me, who find it thrust upon them. I awoke yesterday, six years old, memorizing the exact stream of obscenities unleashed 
by my father when he realized I had swum 400 feet from the shore to the sand bar off Pensacola Beach, Fla. Today, I am uttering the same string of swears upon realizing that, yes, I am getting long in the tooth.
Okay, I admit it: I am a graying, well-worn designer and advertiser, perhaps only now borrowing time ‘til the inevitable days I trade Banana Republic and Vans chic for the easy comfort of Sansabelt jumpsuits and Rockport loafers. (Truth be told, I already own three Sansabelt jumpsuits I wear to amuse myself and embarrass my wife, but by no means do I wear them un-ironically. I’m not ready to walk that dark path. I’m too young!)
I believe every day after birth you are middle-aged, because each day of life is a gift that can be taken away abruptly. I am inclined to believe that viewing 40 in the sights at close range makes me grossly fortunate to have had so many days, years and decades to enjoy my life
Two years ago, I had my first child—Soren, a sweet, curious boy with a beautiful spirit. The very first time in my life I felt “old” was holding him in my arms when he was born. I swooned with joy, yet felt immediate thoughts of envy that he would soon be amazed by new things and have years of play and trial and error that would build him into whatever he would become as an adult.
Last month on vacation with my wife’s family in Cape Cod, my father-in-law and I had a remarkable conversation about getting older. We shared common stories of the desire for longevity for one’s child, spouse and oneself. He is a retired psychologist and psych professor, so I find the conversations with him not just familial camaraderie, but therapy by proxy. He told me of a cycling race in which he rode the previous year, the STP—a 200-mile, 2-day race from Portland to Seattle—and how it changed his feelings about aging and invigorated his already established love of an active life. He wrote a humorous blog about it.
Something sparked in me at that moment. I realized I, too, wanted to not just do this, but to adopt it from here on out as my own brand of what being middle-aged means. I will be a cyclist and father, with only a touch of libertine to keep life interesting. I love cycling. Something I realized several years ago is that my body really likes cycling. I love conquering hills, speeding down the declines and sprinting on flats and rollers. Years before I tried my best to make myself like running, but it never stuck.
Back in Atlanta, I decided that I would also begin training for the STP the following year. I would begin riding in earnest my sole bike, a mountain bike, with a goal to earn the right to buy a road bike in Spring 2011 if I stuck with my developing regimen. I’d never before used a “carrot on a stick” motivation to work toward better health, but this offered the perfect opportunity to do just that. Conquer and savor a major life accomplishment and get a sweet new bike! For me, that is a major incentive to train every day.
I’ve been in routines before and know that pain, aches and strains are a part of getting started, but I pedal forward every day regardless. I am writing this chronicle of my experience throughout the year to record my development. I have dropped fifteen pounds since early July 2010, and have begun to enter local century rides in preparation for next year’s big event. MLT Creative is on the Stone Mountain bike path, and I feel fortunate to be so well-situated to work toward my goal throughout the year.
Sean Borja is an art director with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. He is a lifelong veteran of advertising and marketing campaigns, having fought in the trenches with major corporate and agency teams for nearly 20 years.
Your website is the hub of your B2B marketing efforts, so it’s critical that it be found on search engines. As a marketer, increasing your website’s search engine rankings should be a focused, ongoing endeavor. One of the simplest, yet most important steps to improve your B2B website’s search engine rankings is to optimize the page title.
It’s in the Little Blue Bar
The page title is the phrase that shows in the blue bar at the top of your browser when the web page loads. People rarely read page 
titles because their eyes are drawn to the actual page, but search engines use them to determine which keywords each page should rank for.
SERP’s Up
The page title is also the bold text that shows up on a search engine results page 
(SERP) when you rank in a search engine. If the page title is not well-written, visitors may not be as enticed to click through to your site. So your time and efforts toward ranking well won't generate much traffic.
Power Tips for Page Titles
When writing page titles, consider that the page title should:
- Accurately reflect the content of the page.
- Be unique for each page on your site, not duplicated.
- Use weighted targeted keywords. Keep in mind that the earlier words in the page title are given more weight than the later words.
- Separate keyword phrases with the vertical pipe character ( | ) or hyphen ( - ).
- Be brief. Search engines gauge the importance of a given keyword in the page title depending on the total number of words in the title. If a page title has 10 keywords, each word is about half as effective as if the title only had five keywords. So eliminate unessential words, e.g., “and,” “with,” “or,” etc.
- Limit length to about four keywords. 70 characters is the maximum length that will be shown in SERPs.
- Be written for click-through appeal for the aware human visitor who actually reads page titles.
Because you almost always rank for your company name, you may choose to leave it out of the page title, especially on interior pages. If you have the space, though, it doesn't hurt to add it.
Start with your homepage, then work through the most trafficked interior pages. For most businesses, optimizing the interior pages can yield significant traffic increases with just a few optimization efforts.
Need help optimizing your B2B marketing website? MLT Creative can give you a lift. Click here
/mh
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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.
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OK, so we all know by this point that we should be using Facebook in B2B marketing. Everyone has been writing on it and everyone has a reason why—but what can scient
ific research tell us about utilizing this dissemination channel? With this week’s blog, I’d like to add to the existing conversation by showing how social and behavioral science can further validate using Facebook in B2B marketing.
Our Past: People used to get their information from one source—television. And initially, that source didn’t offer many options; it was just ABC, CBS and NBC. However, as television grew and became commonplace, these three networks began to compete with other stations, many of which were specialized in order to cater to a certain niche or audience (e.g. MTV or Food Network). As more channels became available, social and behavioral scientists began researching this phenomenon in order to examine how it was affecting users. What they discovered was the concept of polarization. Basically, with the media’s sources becoming more fragmented, people were polarizing around whatever channels they found most useful. And today, that media source appears to be Facebook.
Our Present: There are more than 500 million active users on Facebook, and they share more than 300 billion pieces of content each month. People are spending more than 700 billion minutes per month on the site, which has become so popular that more than 30 percent are accessing it through their mobile devices. More importantly, the average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. That means these users could easily be connected to your competitor, and not you.
As B2B marketers, we know we must be where our target audience is in order to stay top-of-mind. And as the statistics above show, the chances are extremely high that your target audience is on Facebook. Even further, with the average user being connected to 80 community groups or pages, the chances are also high that they may already be connected to your competitor.
We simply cannot afford to neglect this very important channel. Though we cannot be everywhere, scientific research has shown that people aren't everywhere anyway; they polarize around certain media sources that fulfill their needs. And currently, Facebook is fulfilling that need. So develop a Facebook page and engage with it often; offer up useful information to your target audience as well, to be sure that they stay connected to you. Again, in the end, you want to be where your target audience is—and today, your target audience is on Facebook.
Vann Morris is the Director of Buying Behavior Studies with the Atlanta B2B advertising agency, MLT Creative. She is a Social and Behavioral Scientist who is currently working on her PhD in Communications, and uses her strong theoretical background in order to show how scientific theory should be used to develop strategy and effective B2B marketing campaigns.
“What's up, Blog?”
"Not much. How’re you doing?"
"All right." Pause. "So what's new?"
"Nothing. You?"
"Same."
Is this how you greet your blog?
So you haven’t written a blog post in a few days, weeks or, maybe, months. Unfortunately, this happens, even to the most prolific business bloggers. Blogging is hard work. You must consistently create relevant compelling content. But, you get a little get busy, then even busier with other marketing tasks. Your priorities shift to other B2B work. Sometimes, you have few or no interesting new ideas. Perhaps Twitter’s dominating your social web activities (140 characters is a lot easier than writing a 400-word blog post, right?). Maybe you think an intern or junior associate should do the social media stuff; you’re busy with more important marketing projects. You’re not sure if B2B blogging really works anyway. Meanwhile, your blog sits idle.
Studies confirm that B2B blogs with optimized content are effective at attracting prospects to corporate websites. And more than 90% of B2B buyers begin their research for purchasing decisions online.
If your blog is quiet, your site’s visitors click on the blog button hoping to get a glimpse of your company’s thought-leading perspective—only to see a dusty post about the launch of a “new” product dated six months ago. This potential customer could perceive your abandoned blog as an indicator of how you conduct day-to-day transactions. Not a good way to do business online.
Here are seven ways to get you and your blog engaged again:
Refresh old blog posts: If they are still relevant, update old blogs with a new image, a different headline, edited body copy or a new call-to-action. You may have a broader audience and many new readers now, so it’s quite appropriate to repost an oldie, but goodie. Use undated, evergreen topics.
Prepare an editorial calendar: Pick five to seven general topics in your area of expertise with which you know you can generate good, customer-focused content. Create relevant themes or columns that you can repeat regularly. Brainstorm several headlines for each month. Post them on a calendar and share with your writing team. Click here for brainstorming methods...
Shorter is better than none: Don’t worry about writing a 500-word essay for every blog post. Consider a concise list of links, five or six ideas/trends/observations, or a short comment on another blog or article. Maybe plan a related series of short posts. Small snippets of content can still keep your community engaged.
Build up your resources: Enlist other colleagues in the other areas of the company to support blog writing tasks. Share your editorial calendar. Check with your colleagues who may have a penchant for writing but it may not be a primary job task. You may uncover hidden talent.
Add keywords that are driving traffic: Take a look at your analytics. Edit older posts by adding important keywords or phrases that have been driving traffic to your website.
Got news? Turn a press release into a blog article.
Enlist a guest blogger or ghost writer: You may have friends in your industry who would gladly contribute a blog for free, so why not give them a call? Take a look at our ebook for guest blogging ideas. You may also consider hiring a ghost writer to develop a post. Hey, it’s better than having an inactive blog with stale content. You may have to use additional funds, but it’s worth it to maintain your site’s reputation.
So if you and your B2B blog are estranged, shake hands and get reacquainted. Keep your blog site relevant and fresh to engage with your community and help generate visits and prospects.
Have any other suggestions for reviving an idle blog? Send a comment along, I’ll blog about it later when I run out of ideas for this blog.
/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.
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Last week, I spoke about the importance of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) in B2B Marketing. Since people often make decisions based upon both personal and social attitudes, we will be most effective at encouraging a prospect to adopt our desired buying behavior if we can appeal to both. To do this, we simply must talk to people in the industry, and with this week's blog I’d like to expand on that idea by talking about what methodology we can utilize once we have these people on the phone (or ideally, in a face-to-face).
Sense-making. The communication approach known as sense-making is a methodology that has many theoretic assumptions, but the main idea as it relates to B2B marketing is simple: In order to develop successful messaging targeted toward a prospect, a campaign must focus on how that prospect makes sense of his/her world. As strategic partners, we cannot trust what our clients say about their customers—we must talk to them personally. As an example, when we were developing a campaign recently for an in-flight phone system, we called aviation managers and employed the Sense-making approach to see how they made sense of their world (and how our product fit into that world).
Here’s how it works. To effectively utilize sense-making, you cannot let “nouns” guide the conversation; you need to think in terms of “verbs.” Your conversation must be dialogic and dynamic. Going in with a set of questions is fine as a guide, but it should not be an end-all. If the prospect goes down another trail, let him/her. Follow, and ask questions along the way. Remember that the whole idea is to figure out how they make sense of their world; we do not want to assume we know, because we don’t.
Now what? Think about what you learned, and incorporate it into your messaging to motivate the prospect’s buying behavior. So for us, after speaking to aviation managers and understanding how they made sense of our product, we discovered that the top-selling proposition was price. We thus developed the tagline “Say hello to Forté, and goodbye to the high costs of in-flight phones.” And guess what? It worked. For the 12-month period after the campaign launch, Forté sales were running at 116% of their projected goal.
Always remember that we are not just marketers—we are strategic partners. We must know about our client’s industry in order to develop effective strategy, and we also must know that we can never stop. So though Sense-making is important for a campaign, it is also just as important to continue using it throughout the year. Give someone a call out of the blue and just ask about the industry, and then sit back and listen to what s/he has to say. Who knows—you may even find out about a need they have that your client can fulfill so that, the next time you call, it may be related to a whole new campaign.
Vann Morris is the Director of Buying Behavior Studies with the Atlanta B2B advertising agency, MLT Creative. She is a Social and Behavioral Scientist who is currently working on her PhD in Communications, and uses her strong theoretical background in order to show how scientific theory should be used to develop strategy and effective B2B marketing campaigns.
As both a B2B Marketer and Behavioral Scientist, I am constantly examining individuals’ buying behavior in order to determine what motivates them to make purchasing decisions. And as I was browsing the library of successful marketing case studies on MarketingProfs.com today, of course the following title caught my eye (though for a very different reason!): SEO and Sex: A Recipe for Success. A case study about a dentist who wanted to stand out among the competition, it told of how Dr. Helaine Smith broke through the clutter with a combination of inbound marketing and finding her niche; other than just a successful case study, I noted it was also a great example of why incorporating theory into strategy is a necessary endeavor. 
Though the case study was directly related to B2C, there were some definite nuggets that could be carried over to the B2B industry. As a B2B inbound marketer in Atlanta, I understand the importance of developing important content, distributing it through multiple channels, and always remembering to include keywords throughout; however, this case study had an interesting addition in that it reminded me of the importance of “finding your carrot”. In order to break through the clutter we must find something that will make us not only stand out – but also draw people in. For Dr. Smith, this carrot was sex.
As the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) posits, people often make decisions based upon their own attitudes as well as the social attitudes related to that behavior. So in order to encourage a prospect to adopt our desired buying behavior, we will be more effective if we appeal to not only their personal attitudes, but also the social attitudes related to the product/service we are promoting. And that’s exactly what Dr. Smith did – she appealed to the personal attitudes of the individual, but also appealed to the social relationship she found between oral hygiene and sexual relationships. (After all, we all know we should go to the dentist to prevent cavities, but we also know that our society values a nice smile and often finds great smiles sexy; so in going to the dentist this social attitude may be motivating me just as strongly as my own personal attitude.)
So in applying this theory to B2B Marketing, remember that as we promote ourselves and our clients, we must take into account not only the personas of the prospects themselves, but also the social norms that may be influencing their buying behavior. How do we do this? Well, the first way is through constant dialogue with the client; find out as much as you can about their industry, their customers, etc. Unfortunately, this may often be the hardest part, as I know clients are often busy, but dialogue is a necessary component of any campaign so this is a battle that simply must be fought. Second, pick up a phone and find out what other people in the industry think – your client is a great resource, but not the only one (and sometimes might not even be the best). Third, read trade magazines. In doing these things, you’re finding out what’s big with individuals in the industry, as well as what social issues might be of importance.
Finally, don’t quit. Sure the information you find may be useful to a particular product/service campaign, but don’t lose those relationships. Call again a few months later and see what is new in the industry, and always keep reading the trade pubs. And in the end, remember what TRA has taught us: the key to your prospect’s buying behavior may be a combination of both social beliefs + personal beliefs – so whenever possible, pinpoint both and include them in your outreach.
Vann Morris is the Director of Buying Behavior Studies with the Atlanta B2B advertising agency, MLT Creative. She is a Social and Behavioral Scientist who is currently working on her PhD in Communications, and uses her strong theoretical background in order to show how scientific theory should be used to develop strategy and effective B2B marketing campaigns.
This Week's B2B Word on the Street is: CREATIVE
The first time a person is called "creative" usually happens early in life, and it's sometimes used as an explanation for the child being a bit "different." "Coloring outside the lines" and "marching to the beat of a different drum" are not actions attributed to conformists.
And while the most creative people I know are definitely not followers, they're not always totally original, either. Creative and original would seem to be synonymous, but it also takes a lot of creativity to apply an established idea or concept in a brand new way.
Creative people are, first and foremost, very observant. They also question almost everything out of a natural and endless curiosity.
Some creative types work best alone, but in advertising and marketing, most creatives thrive on collaboration. We work in a time-sensitive, strategy-driven process that doesn't often allow for a total reinvention of the wheel on every assignment. And professionals can't wait for angelic muses, freeze in front of a blank canvas or suffer from writer's block. Open-minded collaboration with optimistic energy and a clear understanding of the challenge/opportunity at hand is like high-octane fuel for us. But the SECRET WEAPON of a good creative team is their shared bank of a lifetime of careful observations of pop culture, history, human habits and humor, as well as a healthy amount of both respect and knowledge of what other great creatives have achieved in the past, and what their contemporaries are creating now. This often results in what are not just original ideas, but reshaped and improved ideas applied in a totally new way.
Ideas already exist all around us, so we don't always have to make more. Sometimes the biggest challenge to bringing a great idea to life is all the other ideas stealing its oxygen. Clients who have built companies successful enough to hire agencies obviously have ideas that are already working for them. Listening and asking good questions of clients and their customers often reveal untapped ideas that, viewed with a fresh perspective and professional polish, can be the start something big.
At our B2B marketing firm, MLT Creative, the motto is "We make ideas work." Sure, we love seeing a completely original idea of ours drive a campaign to success, but we also know we don't have a monopoly on eureka moments. One of our best capabilities is recognizing good ideas when we see or hear them, and few ad agencies know how to creatively shape, improve and implement them as well as we do. We don't make all the ideas, but we sure help make them work.
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.
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Probably one of the more violent characters we’ve covered here, this Hawaiian Punch mascot has been pulling his cruel switcheroo on unsuspecting victims ever since his creation by cartoonist Joe Malerba in 1962.
The scenario usually goes something like this:
Punchy: “How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?”
Innocent Thirsty Guy: “Sure!”
Punchy: *DEVASTATING UPPERCUT FOR NO REASON*
Innocent Thirsty Guy: *Needs medical attention and will never trust strangers again*
But despite being kind of a jerk, not to mention having questionable taste in headwear (unless those are… antlers?), Punchy quickly became an iconic '60s and '70s ad character, helping a drink that was originally conceived as an ice cream topping (it’s true!) grow into a classic kid-friendly beverage brand with 14 fruity flavors and counting.
And while Punchy’s not above throwing a stray right cross at an undeserving face now and then, these days he’s a kinder, gentler soul who’s more or less retired his pugilistic ways. He still hasn’t given up on that hat, though.
Here's one of the classic spots:
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.
In B2B marketing, creating a buyer persona is key to understanding your audience. Really using that persona can help your B2B company realize its full potential and speak to the needs and goals of your prospects. Going beyond general demographics to fully identify with the persona as an individual will allow you to personalize your message, focus on a niche and match goals.
Consider age, title, publications read, key concerns, degree of influence, web habits, association memberships, salary, etc. Personalize your personas by giving them names and a quote each one might say. You might even give them each a face using headshots from stock photography.
In action, you could be working on a high-level presentation that your CEO or sales director might deliver to top-tier prospects to close a deal.
As an example, consider Morton, the Motel Owner persona, created specifically to personify the B2B commercial building materials target market segment. In brainstorming sessions, his name should pop up often.
"Does this matter to Mort?"
"I think too much technical detail will bore Mort."
"Mort cares about the comfort of his guests, so let's highlight the product's thermal performance properties."
"A key pain point for Mort is addressing the concerns of his investors. Let's make him look good by focusing on ROI."
"Mort would respond to that because he's concerned about saving on utilities."
Bringing up a fictitious character might seem a little silly as first, but it can quickly evolve into a serious effort to actualize the persona and develop a message targeted specifically toward it. Concentrating on Morton (or your B2B marketing persona) and what he might do can help produce communications that truly address the needs of the prospect.
/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.
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The changing nature of our industry propels us to stay on top of the latest trends. Meeting and learning from other professionals helps us do our jobs better. Here's what's on tap for marketing industry events for August.
08/12/2010, Thursday
PRSA│GA: Atlanta TV News Unplugged
@ Maggiano’s Buckhead
9:15 – 11:00AM
Join a panel discussion with assignment editors/managers from ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC Atlanta affiliates.
08/12/2010, Thursday
PRSA│GA: Media Relations in an Online World
@ Maggiano’s Buckhead
11:30AM – 1:00PM
Good old-fashioned media relations remains a fundamental part of most every PR practitioner’s job.
08/19/2010, Thursday
AMA Atlanta: 9th Annual Wine Tasting Event
@ The Vinings Gallery
6:00 – 8:00PM
Taste wine. Appreciate art. Build new contacts.
08/25/2010, Wednesday
PRSA│GA: Lights, Camera… (and especially) Action!
@ The Art Institute of Atlanta, Dunwoody Campus
11:30AM – 1:15PM
Upgrade your communication plan with video.
08/25/2010, Wednesday
AiMA: Online Retail Marketing
@ Georgia Tech Global Learning Center
6:30 – 9:00PM
A great e-commerce experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have.
08/26/2010, Thursday
AMA Atlanta: AJC Digital Marketing Education Series
@ Cox Enterprises
8:30AM – 12:00PM
Research and analytics in the digital realm.
08/26/2010, Thursday
DMA Atlanta: August 2010 Luncheon
@ Maggiano’s Perimeter
11:30AM – 1:30PM
Ted’s Montana Grill’s digital targeted messaging delivers ROI & customer loyalty.