Blog

I've heard several instances where someone will say they've gotten compliments on their website. I'm not surprised. After all when someone asks you "what do you think about my website?", it's rare the person will say, "actually, I think it sucks". What people are often making positive comments about are the aesthetics, the colors, the design - but seldom are they making a comment about how effective the website is at achieving the firm's objectives and/or online conversions. Websites are developed every day - some are great, some are pretty and others are awful. The most important question to ask about your website is, "how effective is it for the user?" That's where user testing comes in, and this post provides some guidance on making sure your website really works for you.

Does paid search, otherwise referred to as SEM (search engine marketing) and PPC (pay-per-click), work for businesses selling to other businesses (B2B)? Should a B2B company invest in PPC and if so, what are the critical elements for PPC to generate an acceptable ROI? This post provides some indisputable evidence that the answers to those questions are a resounding “YES”.

In the B2B selling world, the higher the price the longer the sales cycle. Higher priced solutions typically require more research and more people involved in the decision. Elite B2B salespeople are adept at nurturing leads through the long sales cycle. This article describes 3 ways to nurture a qualified lead from initial contact through closing the deal.

McKinsey Consulting conducted research into brand messaging for companies in the B2B space and the results were interesting. Upon analyzing the themes and topics on which a valid sample of Fortune 500 B2B companies communicated their brand messages, McKinsey identified 13 different themes – for example, low pricing, social responsibility, innovation, etc.

It has been about 10 years since our digital marketing agency got its start, and after building an extraordinary team of 12 people, we remain a virtual working environment; that is, all 12 continue to work from home. This post explains the 3 things important to make a virtual work environment really work.

This post is about how to behave differently when meeting prospects in a cold call situation vs. a warm lead. For the past nearly 9 years we've been fortunate that business has come to us. Recently, we made a decision about increasing our growth rate and that required some different methods to generating sales. We just could no longer rely on business coming to us - "warm leads" and instead had to begin prospecting..."cold calling", that is. This experience was both humbling and revealing, as it surfaced the importance of standing out from the competition.

When in a sales meeting with a good prospect, what can you say that convinces the buyer you are the one for the job? What statements can you make that build confidence in your buyer about you and/or that puts some doubt in your buyer’s mind about the competition? Having strong marketing statements ready to help “seal the deal” or to overcome an objection are critical to separating you from the competition and closing the sale.

A while back my team of some really awesome people got together to figure out what our "mission" in life was for our company. Sure, we're in the business of creating and developing successful online marketing plans for our clients but is that really the purpose of our business. So, I started to do some studying and research and came across my friend, Peter Drucker. Well, Peter and I don't have a personal relationship but I do respect him although he doesn't know me from Adam. Drucker states that the purpose of any business is to "create customers", and that struck a cord in me. After all, if a business doesn't have customers than it's not much of a business. And, if a business wants to grow and succeed, it needs to constantly "create new customers". All makes sense.

The internet is a fantastic medium for generating business, but many sales leads generated through online marketing are closed offline in a more traditional sales process, particularly for companies providing services. While ecommerce has continued to spread its wings, it only makes sense for some businesses to close sales completely online. So, this article is about how to respond to leads generated through online marketing so you set yourself up to turn them into closed business.

People don’t like to be sold – they do like to buy. Consequently, I never recommend selling something to someone who either doesn’t need it and/or won’t get value from it. One of my sales and marketing theories is this – someone sells something when the need intersects with awareness. That is, when the need develops and the prospect is aware that your product or service might satisfy that need, you have a chance to make a sale. Conversely, if there’s no legitimate need, there’s no sale; and if the prospect with the need is not aware of your product or service, you won’t make the sale.