Internet Marketing: CRM, Marketing Tactics and IT Alignment

Internet marketing and sales strategyInternet marketing continues to evolve, becoming both more viable and more complex. Customer relationship management software (CRM) has become a must due to the complexity. It plays an important role at all stages of the sales funnel. With a solid CRM system in place, your Internet sales and marketing teams can more effectively manage contacts whether they’re in the engage, convert, or nurture stage. Where the sales funnel was once the realm of the sales and marketing team, today’s Internet marketing strategies require a robust CRM solution – and IT involvement.

To add to the complexity of CRM and the Internet sales funnel in general, social media has emerged as a major channel for customer service, tech support, sales, and marketing alike. Integrating social media into your Internet marketing CRM program allows everyone to see the larger picture. For example, is a contact complaining about your service? Is she raving about your products? Has a contact expressed a need that your company can fill? By tapping into these channels, your sales, marketing, customer service, and tech support teams can respond appropriately.

Opinions vary on the best approach to CRM with some Internet marketing experts favoring a single, shared database for both marketing and sales and others preferring separate databases to ensure that leads are managed properly according to where they are in the Internet sales funnel. Other experts advocate using marketing automation software to first clean up the sales funnel data before importing it into CRM software.

Can a single CRM solution handle everything your Internet sales and marketing teams need? The answer varies from company to company. In most cases, sales and marketing need to work with the same data and contacts; however, they tend to interact with that data differently.

Integrated CRM solutions that include marketing automation and email marketing software may be the optimal choice by allowing sales and marketing to access shared data without duplication or conflicts. For example, with an integrated Internet marketing CRM platform, when an email subscriber unsubscribes from an email marketing campaign the contact will be removed from the mailing list and relevant information appended to the contact’s record.

No matter which option makes the most sense for your Internet marketing strategy, one thing is clear: you need IT support. With multiple databases, automation software, and lead sources (such as cold calling, opt-in lists, special events, and social media channels), managing the sales funnel requires software and systems that perform to their fullest potential.

While many Internet marketing platforms are offered as “software as a service” and imply that minimal IT intervention will be required, aligning marketing with IT is essential. While installation, updates, and support tasks may be minimal with cloud-based Internet sales solutions, IT should be involved in selecting the solution to make sure it is compatible with existing systems along with the company’s security and privacy policies. If your CRM solution includes social media information from contacts based in European Union countries, stricter privacy regulations may apply.

By including IT in the Internet sales and CRM conversation, you’ll benefit from a broader perspective that extends beyond the sales funnel and better aligns with the organization’s objectives. In addition, IT professionals tend to have more experience in purchasing software. Thus, they may be better equipped to evaluate the terms and conditions and negotiate the contract.

No matter which CRM solution you use to nurture prospects through the sales funnel, stronger Internet sales require alignment between your Internet marketing, sales, and IT teams.

Website Optimization’s Effect on Offline Marketing Strategies

Website optimization or SEO drives slae sleads to your WebsiteThe importance of website optimization can’t be stressed enough. After all, the website is the heart of eCommerce and it’s where online conversion takes place. In recent years, website optimization has become more sophisticated. Not only is website optimization important online, it can extend offline as well.

According to Marketing Sherpa’s 2012 Website Optimization Benchmark Report, the most important website optimization goals include the following:

  • To increase overall conversion (83%)
  • To learn about consumer behaviors and motivations (64%)
  • To discover the most important wordings and phrases (62%)
  • To determine the most effective page elements (62%)
  • To find leaks in the sales funnel (58%)
  • To build brand awareness (53%)

Over 80 percent of the survey’s respondents agreed that increasing overall conversion was “very important” while 64 percent felt the same about learning about consumer behaviors and motivations. A good website optimization campaign can drive traffic, improve conversions, and provide you with detailed insights about your customers and their behaviors.

All of this learning from website optimization is largely being shared. The report revealed that 70 percent of the surveyed marketers use the lessons they’ve learned from their website optimization efforts to adjust their offline marketing campaigns and other forms of messaging.

With website optimization, marketers have a unique platform that they can use to test messages and responses. As marketers learn more about what works and what doesn’t work through the optimization process, they have the opportunity to use that knowledge in offline marketing.

Based on the Marketing Sherpa’s report, the majority of marketers do so. But what about the other 30 percent? What’s holding them back? It turns out that where a marketer is in the optimization process has an influence on whether or not those online findings will be extended to the offline world. The report revealed that those in the more advanced stages are 57 percent more likely to do so.

No matter where you are in the website optimization process, you may be able to apply what you’ve learned to other areas. For example, if you’ve split tested a landing page and found that your target audience responded favorably to a specific call to action, wouldn’t it make sense to use a similar approach in a print newsletter or some other offline campaign?

Likewise, your analytical tools may reveal interesting trends and insights into your audience. In fact, you may come to learn that your products and services appeal to a completely different demographic than you initially envisioned. What will you do with that information? While tweaking your website and online marketing campaigns to leverage those findings is the obvious choice, have you considered how you might use this information offline?

What if the team that handles inbound marketing isn’t involved in offline marketing? This could be a mistake. This doesn’t mean having your Web marketing team take over offline marketing, but it does suggest that sharing information could be beneficial to your broader marketing strategy.

Website optimization is a complex, constantly evolving process. As you fine-tune your website, test pages, analyze results, and learn more about how your customers and prospects interact with it, it’s smart to get the most mileage out of your efforts as possible. The next time you learn something new about your customers through the website optimization process, consider walking across the hall and sharing your insights with your offline colleagues.

B2B Video Marketing on the iPad

iPad video

Whether you’re considering managing your B2B video marketing campaigns on your iPad or catering to an audience that watches B2B marketing videos on one, you’ll need a solid plan and a few good apps. With its awesome display and extreme portability, the iPad makes managing and viewing any corporate video a real pleasure.

Apps for Managing Business Video

As a B2B video marketer, you’ll appreciate having your videos within easy reach. Not only that, the new iPad features a much better camera than earlier versions making it possible to shoot impromptu videos in HD. What’s more, with a video editing app, you can even edit your videos. Here’s a look at the best apps for managing your B2B marketing and business video efforts:

  • iMovie – This app is available for about $5 from iTunes and allows you to edit soundtracks, add titles and graphics, and more.
  • Avid Studio – If you’ve been involved in corporate video for any length of time, you’ve likely heard of Avid video editing software. The Avid Studio, again about $5, scales down Avid for the tablet, giving you quick and easy access to professional transitions, effects, and more.
  • Vimeo App – Vimeo is a popular video sharing site. Whether you want to upload a recently edited (on your iPad, of course) corporate video to Vimeo or quickly launch one of your B2B marketing videos in order to quickly show a prospect your business video, having an app with easy access to your video sharing account makes doing so a matter of just a few taps.
  • Constant Contact App – If you use Constant Contact to manage your email-based B2B marketing campaigns, you’ll want to download the Constant Contact app. This little app allows you to manage contacts and lists, view reports, post links to Facebook and Twitter, and write, edit and send email campaigns. If you use a different email B2B marketing service provider, check to see if that provider has a similar app.

Using the iPad for B2B Video Marketing

In addition to apps, the iPad makes it easy to share your corporate video with prospects. Imagine stopping by a prospect’s office and having everything you need at your fingertips. The days of dragging along laptop, DVD, video projector, and a screen are long gone. When the conversation lends itself to sharing your business video, simply whip out your iPad, tap on the video, and hand it over for your prospect’s viewing pleasure.

If you plan on using the iPad to shoot your B2B video marketing footage, keep in mind that while it is capable of recording high definition video, it’s not the best choice for professional business videos. Use the iPad to capture those moments and places that happen on the fly but understand its limitations.

How Users May View your B2B Marketing Videos

Business users use their iPads to watch videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and individual websites. Some may access your video after clicking a link in one of your B2B marketing emails while others may watch it directly on your website. The new iPad continues Apple’s tradition of not supporting Flash, making it smart to present your videos in formats the iPad can handle.

With the iPad’s impressive new “retina” display, you’ll want to make sure that each corporate video you produce is shot and packaged in full HD. Take advantage of the iPad’s visual capabilities by using professional-grade video and lighting equipment. As with online B2B video marketing, your videos should be edited down so that they quickly get to the point and have relatively short run times.

B2B video marketing continues to evolve, especially with so many business users embracing the iPad. While most of your B2B marketing strategies will remain the same, it’s smart to consider how you can manage and share your corporate video marketing on the iPad and how your prospects may be using their iPads to view a business video.

How have you used your iPad for B2B video marketing? Share your thoughts in the comments section below:

Website Video Production – 5 Mistakes to Avoid

goofy man holding movie clipboard

Small handheld video cameras and online video-sharing websites have led many businesses to believe that website video production is a simple process involving point, shoot, and upload. While that process is fine for personal videos, serious Web video production for business marketing purposes is a different matter. Complexities throughout the process make the entire video production vulnerable to mistakes. Some mistakes, such as failing to choose a reliable video production company, can be disastrous. Below are five common website video production mistakes you’ll want to avoid:

Website Video Production Mistake #1: Choosing the Wrong Video Production Company
Choosing a video production company to produce your Web video production is one of the most important decisions you will make. However, did you choose the right video production company for your project? Like many professional service providers, video production companies specialize in different fields such as consumer video (weddings, parties, and events), legal video (depositions, “day in the life” videos, etc.), and commercial / business website video production. Select a company that specializes in Web video production and you’ll be more likely to have a technical crew skilled in video production, online video formats, search engine optimization, video sharing, and online video marketing concepts.

Website Video Production Mistake #2: Not Using a Video Production Company
Think you can handle Web video production in house? While inexpensive HD video cameras and low-cost editing software have their appeal, putting website video production in the hands of the untrained could be a costly mistake. Not only is your Web video production more likely to look as if an amateur produced it, the time your employees spend scripting, producing, and editing the video could be better spent working in their areas of expertise.

Website Video Production Mistake #3: Failing to Script the Video Production
A high quality Web video production generally begins with a well-written script. The script serves as the roadmap for the entire production. If you fail to script your video, it will show in the final product. For example, speakers may ramble on without ever reaching their points or the editing may be excessively choppy as you attempt to piece various shots together so that they make sense. Avoid these problems altogether by scripting your Web video production. Depending on your preferences, you can write your own rough draft or ask your video production company to develop the script for you.

Website Video Production Mistake #4: Failing to Engage Your Audience
Even with the most qualified video production company working on your behalf, if you fail to engage your audience, the website video production will be a failure. Never lose sight of your audience, what problems it has, and how your products and services can solve those problems. Your video production company can keep the pace of the Web video production moving, but only you can truly keep your audience engaged by communicating the benefits of your offer.

Website Video Production Mistake #5: Allowing the Video to be too Long
Early in the planning process, schedule time with your video production company to discuss the appropriate video length. Depending on the nature of the Web video production and its intended audience, your video may be as short as 30 seconds or up to 10 minutes long. In general, opt for a short website video production, especially if your audience is primarily composed of prospects. A short Web video production can deliver the information you want to communicate and show prospects that you respect their time. As you build credibility and trust with your audience, you may later have the opportunity to present a longer website video production.

From hiring the wrong video production company or doing it on your own to failing to script the Web video production, failing to engage your audience, and allowing the video to run too long for your audience’s limited attention span, these five mistakes could doom your website video production.

Did we miss any deadly website video production mistakes? Which mistakes have you made? Share your experiences in the comments section below:

B2B Video Marketing: The Power of Content Marketing

b2b video marketing

When you think of B2B video marketing, do you think of it as its own marketing channel or as part of a larger content marketing strategy? Whether you think of your business video efforts separately or as part of a larger B2B marketing plan, B2B video marketing is a powerful option for businesses that want to get seen, get heard, and get results.

What is Content Marketing?

In order to best understand content and B2B marketing, let’s look at what “content” is. Content is a broad term used to describe the material that fills a website, blog, or other informational repository. For example, this blog post is “content.” A corporate video posted on a website’s About Us page is “content.” Photos, case studies, white papers, advertising, polls, games, user reviews, mobile apps, and forums, are all “content.” Generally speaking, branded media that you create and distribute, whether it’s an article, business video, or Facebook status update, is a form of content marketing.

In fact, according to study published by King Fish Media, Junta42, and HubSpot in June 2010, the most widely used form of content marketing for social media campaigns involves branded content that you create (73 percent). Expert videos were next (72 percent) followed by videos (51 percent), case studies (45 percent), and user content/reviews (41 percent).

With these figures in mind, think about how B2B video marketing fits in. First, you might create and distribute a corporate video as part of a B2B marketing campaign. This branded content that you create can also be shared by others if you provide an easy way to share or embed it.

As the figures above illustrate, 51 percent of social media content involves sharing videos. When this happens, not only have you done your part to get your branded B2B video marketing content seen by others, others have willingly shared your corporate video through their own social media channels. That’s the power of content marketing!

Planning B2B Video Marketing Content

No matter where you publish your business video, and no matter how easy you make sharing it, no one will embed your corporate video if it’s not engaging, entertaining, or informative in some way. Similarly, if the business video is excessively long or of poor quality, it’s not likely to “go viral.” Use a professional video production company to ensure the quality of your business video.

As you plan your B2B video marketing campaign, keep the above points in mind. In addition, take a “magnetic” approach. For example, with content marketing, your business video needs to pull business customers in – not push them away. You also want to entice customers to perform a specific action such as visit your website, watch additional videos, sign up for a newsletter, or call your office for a quote. To be most effective, your message B2B marketing message should focus on the benefits to your business customers; it should show that you understand their problems and have the best solution. And then it should prompt them to take a specific action.

Before you produce your business video, think about where your B2B marketing customers will view it. While you may initially post the corporate video on your website, someone else may embed a link to it into a social media platform such as Facebook. Because it’s likely that some viewers will watch your business video somewhere other than your original website, make sure that you include an overlay with your website address directing viewers back to your website.

Encouraging Others to Share Your Business Video

Once you’ve produced and posted your business video, make sure that it’s easy to share. Most website video players and plugins offer some sort of sharing or embed feature that you can turn on. However, this isn’t always enough. Ask your visitors to share it and you may be surprised at their generosity in sharing it. In addition, take advantage of your existing social media networks by posting links to the business video and asking others to share or retweet it.

What do you think about B2B video marketing and content marketing? Share your thoughts in the comments below:

B2B Video Marketing: What Do Your Business Customers Need To Know

woman thinking

As you brainstorm ideas for your next B2B video marketing message, it’s easy to take the wrong perspective. You may want to focus your corporate video on how wonderful your people are or showcase the bells and whistles of your products. While this is understandable, your business video and its B2B marketing message may fail to resonate with your business customers. To avoid this, you need to adopt the customer’s perspective. What do your customers care about? What do they need to know? How will your product or service benefit them?

B2B Marketing Brainstorming Prompt: What Do Your Customers Care About?

During your B2B video marketing brainstorming session, ask yourself what your business customers care about. When you understand this and address it in your corporate video, you’ll be more likely to develop a connection with your customers. Your business video can communicate that you understand the problems faced by your customers and share their concerns.

One of the best ways to find out what’s important to your customers is to ask. B2B marketing is an ongoing process requiring a dialog between you and your business customers. Take your B2B marketing customers out to lunch, read the same trade journals they read, and ask probing questions at every opportunity. You could even watch their own corporate video productions to gain a better understanding of their concerns. Before producing a single business video, make sure to incorporate questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and surveys as part of your B2B video marketing strategy.

B2B Video Marketing Brainstorming Prompt: What Do Your Customers Need to Know? Corporate video is an excellent platform for communicating new information. In fact, your business video should be both engaging and informative because your business customers have little time to spare. In addition, you may only have 60 to 90 seconds for your entire business video, so you don’t have time to spare either.

As part of your B2B video marketing brainstorming session, consider what your business customers already know and what they need to know. For example, if your B2B marketing customers are well aware of a new regulation and its affect on their industry, your corporate video on that topic needs to quickly move beyond what they already know and position your solution as the best one. What do they need to know about your solution that makes it better or different than other solutions. What don’t they know about your solution that they should know? Answer these B2B video marketing questions and incorporate your answers into your corporate video.

B2B Video Marketing Brainstorming Prompt: How Will Your Solution Benefit Your B2B Marketing Customers?

Finally, your business video brainstorming session should focus on how your solution benefits your B2B marketing customers. Rather than focusing your business video on bells and whistles, focus it on benefits. Your corporate video viewers may be momentarily impressed by your product’s features, but the benefits are what will win them over. For example, a car that gets 30 miles per gallon has an impressive feature (good gas mileage) but its benefits (save money, reduce carbon footprint, and fewer trips to the gas station) are what resonate with customers. Similarly, if your B2B video marketing involves a business video touting accounting software with online reports, the online reports are a feature whereas the benefit might be anytime, anywhere access to real-time financial data. Focus your corporate video on the benefits and your B2B marketing campaign is sure to be successful.

Brainstorming ideas for your corporate video involves getting into the heads of your B2B video marketing customers. What do they care about? What do they need to know? What benefits will they realize by choosing the solution your business video proposes? Answer these three B2B marketing questions and write your corporate video script around your answers. In short, your B2B video marketing campaign answers the question on your B2B marketing customers’ minds: What’s in it for me?

What do you think? Are there any other questions a corporate video should answer? Share your B2B video marketing ideas in the comments section below.

B2B Video Marketing: Using Video to Reach Other Businesses

With decision makers relying on the Internet and social media as top information sources, B2B marketing online is bringing new opportunities. From articles and press releases to online B2B video marketing, the Internet delivers multiple ways to reach business customers. Thanks to improvements in online video technology, it’s no longer necessary to send a customer a corporate video on DVD in the mail. Instead, post your videos online and extend your reach.

B2B Video Marketing vs. Consumer Video Marketing

Just as B2B marketing is different than consumer marketing, B2B video marketing has its differences, and similarities, from consumer-oriented videos. For example, your corporate video for a B2B marketing campaign will be geared toward business customers rather than consumers. However, no matter who your business video is targeting, it is targeting a real person. In the case of a B2B marketing video, that person is likely a decision maker.

When planning your corporate video, try to visualize your target audience. Ask yourself: What’s important to the decision maker? What does that person need in order to make a decision? How does your product or service make that person’s job easier? How does it solve problems? By understanding your business customers’ needs and problems, you can produce an effective business video to match.

Leveraging Business Video Channels

Video sharing sites like YouTube provide businesses with a platform for B2B video marketing. In fact, you can create an entire “channel” focused on your company, products, and brand. Once your channel is established, consider embedding your videos into other B2B marketing materials such as email campaigns, press releases, and articles.

Using corporate video in your email campaigns adds another dimension to your B2B marketing efforts and can build trust and credibility. Depending on your email campaign management software, support for B2B video marketing may or may not be available. However, there’s a way around this: Insert an image of your corporate video and hyperlink it to your business video hosted elsewhere.

Many press release distribution sites support B2B video marketing, making it easy to include corporate video in the body of your press release. If you’re using a press release site that does not support video, providing a link to your business video where appropriate can yield results.

If your B2B marketing plan includes distributing articles, consider adding complementary video segments to your article. From useful tips to testimonial videos, short video clips can enhance your articles and influence decision makers.

In addition to using video sharing sites and incorporating business video clips into other B2B marketing channels, it’s not a bad idea to create a corporate video channel on your website. Depending on your goals, you could embed your existing YouTube videos on your site or host each business video on your own servers. If you’re attempting a viral B2B video marketing campaign, it’s smart to choose an embeddable video format so that users can easily share your business video.

B2B Video Marketing as a Search Engine Strategy

Not only can your business video be shared using YouTube, email campaigns, press releases, and articles, corporate video can also play an important role in terms of driving search engine traffic to your site. Many decision makers use search engines specifically to find business video clips. If you do not have a B2B video marketing presence, you won’t be found by this segment of searchers! In addition, a keyword-optimized corporate video clip could show up significantly higher in the search engine results than a standard article or webpage optimized for the same phrase due to a lighter focus on B2B video marketing.

These are but a few highlights of B2B video marketing. How are you using business video in your B2B marketing efforts? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.