7 Things it Took Me Over a Decade (or so) to Learn about B-to-B Marketing Communications

It’s funny how the same truths reveal themselves over and over again.  Before this wisdom escapes me, noted here for posterity are seven things it has taken over a decade to learn about business-to-business marketing communications. You likely know about them already.  I'm a slow learner.... 

1) Hit the books   Heading into a website relaunch or redesign?  Encourage everybody on the team to read Steven Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think” (first edition written in 2000; most recent from 2006).  At the very minimum, by reading this seminal book, the team gains an introduction to usability basics like considering the main purpose of the site (lead generation?  information sharing?); types of visitors that will use the site (target audience); and what those visitors hope to accomplish when they visit the website (product orientation? downloading resources? setting up a product trial?).

  

2) There’s Power in PR.    Remember that PR doesn’t stand for Press Release.  Team with a reputable, results-oriented Public Relations agency to get the most benefit out of a PR program, like expanded awareness and engagement with key publics.  Or, do some reading about PR and take the time to be strategic in a public relations effort.

3) Go Outside the Organization. Redoing a website, a brochure, or direct mail template design?  Organizing an event? Take the time to run the concept by 3 to 5 relevant folks outside the organization.   As Krug says in the book mentioned in point 1 “testing always works, and even the worst test with the wrong user will show you important things you can do to improve your site." (or event, or newsletter, or brochure, etc .)

As an example, tap into free tools like http://fivesecondtest.com/  to help optimize things like landing pages. This tool, and many others out there, help fine tune landing pages and calls to action.

4) There’s Wonder in Wordpress. Setting up a blogging program or a new website? Take the time to familiarize yourself with Word Press and basic WordPress plug ins for SEO.  The platform is much more than a Content Management Systems.  Nobody expects you to be an expert developer, but know your way around this powerful and industry-leading web tool.

5) Set Meaningful Measurements. As possible, make marketing programs about metrics and results.  Meaningful metrics put the focus on business outcomes and help drive improvements.  All communications should be measured by their effectiveness in meeting business goals. For instance, track the success of a Social Media program with metrics like increased inbound web traffic or increased “mentions” of the company.  More about metrics here.

6)  Nail Down SEO Basics  Online marketing is all about being discovered by likely prospects and target audiences.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical.  Team with a reputable SEO expert because this stuff is both an art and a science.  SEO experts like those smarty pants at WebSavvyMarketing will steer you right. 

There’s value in self-education. As an example, here’s a simple SEO tip:  look at your competitors and see how keywords are used in their online content in the following areas – this is powerful stuff people!

•                Page title

•                URL architecture

•                Title

•                H1 tags

•                Copy's keyword density

•                Image alt text

•                Use of internal linking

7) Have fun  Seek out positive (fun) work experiences.  As somebody once said: fun at work enables one to bring skills, grace, & enthusiasm to opportunity.

If you aren’t having fun, or you want more fun out of your work life, see what you can do to arrange conditions so you are!  

Getting to ROI on Your Next Web Redesign Project

A marketing colleague and I recently had an interesting dialogue.  How can we calculate a Return on Investment (ROI) of a business-to-business website redesign project?

The Key to ROI

A clear ROI involves setting the goals of the website redesign project well before the redesign takes place.  ROI involves setting and calculating key web performance measurements, usually reported from Google Analytics.

Many Factors

Note that many elements factor into web redesign ROI.  


Search Engine Optimization (making it easier for prospects to find you); an intuitive user experience (making it easier for prospects to navigate your site); improved content (making your site ”sticky” so that people will want to return or value your thought leadership); and “call to action” on the site (making it easier for prospects to download a form or fill out a form) all work to generate performance improvements. 

Critical Measurements

Each web performance measurement must support the overall objective of the redesign project. A typical business sets a goal of an increase in website lead generation performance.

• Number of non-paid web visitors (those visitors not driven by pay-per-click (PPC) programs such as Google adwords or MSN)
• Conversion rates for lead generation of non-PPC visitors filling out “contact us” or forms for papers, offers.
• User performance such as number of inbound sales-related phone calls.
• Average page views per visitor.
• Bounce Rate or percentage of initial visitors who "bounce" away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the b-to-b site.
• Time on site
• Overall sales growth including increased revenues and business expansion.

Sample Success Story

Here’s an example of a web redesign success story, coordinated with my colleagues at Markit Strategies and PR a few years back.

·     Conversions: Since launching a b-to-b client’s new web design and content, conversions in a typical 60 day period (the amount of non-PPC visitors who visit the website and take an action like filling out a form to obtain a white paper or contact us) increased by 33%

·     That means the amount of leads generated by the website increased due to the ease of downloading a paper, or requesting the company contacts them.   Optimized contact form and landing pages played a role in this increase in conversions.

·     Inbound Calls: The percentage of site visitors who contact via the 1-800 phone dedicated to sales doubled since the redesigned site launch

·      Average Page Views:  In a 60 day period, the Non-PPC Average Page Views per Visitor grew by 41% since redesign, which is a good indicator of the value of the content. 

·      Visitor Bounce Rate: The rate of visitors who land on the site and immediately leave, dropped by 50%.

·     Average time on site: In the same 60 day period, average time on site rose by 45%.  This means the site is easier for users find info pertinent to their own industry.

Not There Yet….

The metrics above are not the complete story when it comes to ROI.  It's important to track the following pre- and post-website design benchmarks.

Pre-Redesign metrics

•                Average monthly visits

•                Average conversion rate (leads)

•                Close rate (leads to sales)

•                Average order price

Post-Redesign metrics

•                Average monthly visits

•                Average conversion rate (leads)

•                Total cost of web redesign project

Finally!

Assuming ongoing maintenance and marketing costs of the new website don’t change, and assuming close rate and average order price remain the same, the Return on Investment of the redesign is found as follows:

Step 1:  Calculate the improved Sales Revenue as a result of Improved Conversions, using the percentage of conversions of new monthly visits multiplied by the average order price of closed sales.

Step 2: Subtract the result of Step 1 (Improved Sales Revenue as a result of Improved Conversions) from the fixed cost of redesign in dollars.

Step 3: Divide the result from step 2 by the fixed cost of the redesign in dollars.

Step 4: Multiply the result of step 3 by 100%.

There you have it – a percentage ROI of your web redesign project!  

Reckoning with Last Year's Resolutions

Last year at about this time, a BtoB Blog post outlined five resolutions as a way to give focus to marketing program efforts. 

The list set priorities against the never-ending to-do list of marketing campaigns, eNewsletters, PR programs and other daily tasks.

So how did it turn out?  

Let's look back to the 5 resolutions set for 2011, with an assessment of efforts.

1) Test your marketing programs, when you can.  2011 efforts were solid but we can do better!  One 2011 client project did use a CRM solution to split direct email marketing messages into A/B groups to test email subject lines. However, our team resolves to continue to test one element at a time.  This year, we intend to test the audiences by being more strategic in segmentation; test the “call to action” or offers to see which gets the best result; test design elements like photos; test headlines and subheads in the copy.  I did not have a chance to use Google Optimizer tools to A/B test two pages of a website. Great idea to pursue in 2012.

2) Ask somebody else outside of the organization to review your content.  Again, 2011 efforts were good but there’s room for improvement here.  For several Rogier Communications projects, a person outside the client organization, who was in the same general industry, read marketing content (website, an article and press releases) and provided valuable feedback. Other client work did not take time to seek an outside perspective. Here again, need to do more of this in 2012!

3) Make campaigns as relevant and timely as possible.  Teaming with Markit Strategies, our efforts definitely hit the mark.  Our team quickly sent out over a dozen direct marketing messages through the year, emphasizing timely regulations, articles and news in the industry press relevant on behalf of our main Markit Strategies client. These messages result in high conversions responding to the offer.  The timely nature of the message is a big part of the success.  Let’s keep it up in 2012!

4) Make measurements meaningful.  A recent post stressed the value of measuring marketing program outcomes, not outputs. 2011 efforts moved in this direction, but there is room for improvement.  Several 2011 Rogier Communications programs did focus on outcomes in terms of measuring social media engagement, open rates of messages, web traffic and other key metrics.  We can do better about being consistent in measurement, reporting, and monitoring trends.

5) Keep learning! Try something new!  This one hit the mark in 2011. There was tremendous value from attending the MarketingSherpa BtoB Summit in Boston, summarized in blog post recap part I and Summit recap part II.    The one-on-one content strategy and direct marketing coaching provided by MecLabs was especially useful. Other 2011 training included attending several  MarketingProf webinars related to using LinkedIn business-to-business marketing, eBook marketing, content strategy, and direct mail messaging.  I taught myself the basics of salesforce.com for a professional services client, and successfully navigated the world of social media marketing.  It’s critical to keep skills fresh. A learning mind is everything. This approach will continue in 2012.

So instead of laying out another set of resolutions, let’s keep these five and shoulder on!  Happy New Year, all! 

In Work & In Life: Fail Faster, Succeed Sooner

“”

In order to succeed, you must fail, so you know what not to do the next time.

That’s a powerful and fitting quote that came to mind after reading a recent Wired article entitled “Why Do Some People Learn Faster?”

The Wired article makes the case that "education isn’t magic. Education is wisdom wrung from failure."

The key in my mind, though, is taking the action to “wring” a lesson from failure.

Faster, Sooner

It isn’t enough to “Fail Faster” as many pundits suggest.  The difference is to be mindful of the lesson the mistake (or “Fail”) teaches us.

Certainly David Kelley's "Fail Faster, Succeed Sooner" is a useful axiom, popular with engineers, industrial designers, creative folks and others.  


For me, the concept of "failing faster" impacts everything from my work life as a marketing consultant (Which marketing programs work? Which programs don’t? Email subject line resulted in poor open rates? Try something new next time.), to dog training techniques (Puppy is still pulling at the leash, time to try a halty), to the weight loss journey I am on (Still “failing” with mindless snacking during those challenging hours between 4PM – 7PM), to dealing with teen-aged sons.  (Well, I don't want to make this blog post too long so won't attempt any illustrative examples.)

A Way That Works

Failure is inevitable. The faster we move and learn through failure, the faster we find a way that works.

This is a powerful idea: doing things wrong is a prerequisite to doing things right. Move through the failure quickly, learn the most you can, and move on.

I Must Have Been Mistaken

At the end of the day, it would be a mistake to try to avoid all mistakes.

But it’s a mistake not to pay attention to the lesson the mistake offers.

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” ~Japanese Proverb

Reminder: Discover, Don’t Dictate

A tip of the B-to-B Blog hat to the folks at www.marketingexperiments.com.

Those wise folks recently published a blog post which reminded marketers to “Discover, Don’t Dictate” and it struck a chord.

The post is entitled "Customer Value: 4 Tips for Crafting Segmented Value Propositions". In a nutshell, the author reminds the b-to-b marketer to take the time to research and examine what exactly are the top appeals (or value propositions) each market segment has for a product or service. This discovery process helps fuel all marketing messaging.

What Motivates the Prospect?

It’s critical when developing marketing communications, or any business-to-business communications, to take a market-centric approach to what’s relevant, appealing to each prospect segment, and finding their pain-points.  

Before a website is written, before a direct email is created, before a product brochure is printed, it is critical to take the time to discover and truly ascertain what a product or service truly means to prospects.

All About You - or All About Your Customer?

Instead of stressing all about the product, via all that “we we” text, as described in a previous B-to-B Blog post, the focus should instead be on the tried and true “What’s in it for me” approach to marketing content. 

Those key messages, value propositions, will then have a better chance of motivating the prospect.

The “Discover, Don’t Dictate” blog post makes some great points:

•    Multiple groups/audience segments care about different aspects of a product or service – does the marketing message take this into account?
• It is of tremendous value to be consistent in conducting detective work to uncover what aspects are truly relevant and appealing.  Don’t just conduct a market research project once, then make the assumption the findings stay the same over the years.
• One of the most powerful way to discover the market perception is to survey current customers.  It’s powerful stuff to figure out what features/benefits resonate with current customers, what makes them convinced to stay with you, sign up with you, buy from you, etc.
• Another high-impact way to “discover” the market need is to survey non-customers.  Go to relevant trade shows, networking events and other appropriate gatherings to conduct an informal survey.  Have attendees heard of your product or service? How do they react to your offerings and general industry offerings?

A Powerful Reminder

As mentioned above, this topic has been covered in this blog and other places, but these reminders are always quite helpful.  

It is easy to dictate what we as marketers might assume/think motivates a prospect.  It is more compelling and effective to discover that information directly from prospects, and use that knowledge to create high-impact marketing communications.  

Four Key Metrics of Web Redesign Success

Over a year ago I had a chance to participate in an extremely complicated web redesign for a large business-to-business client, but for a variety of reasons didn’t pursue the project.

Now the redesigned web site is finally live.  

During discussions with the potential client and partners, the idea of measuring how users behave on the website was not a priority. 

This viewpoint concerns me, because when it comes to an integrated and strategic marketing communications program, the point of a b-to-b website is to figure out what the site’s goal is (increased conversions? More qualified leads for the sales pipeline? Increased time on site?  Increased contact us forms?) and build the site to support the overall goal.

One can only know if the web project is successful, or achieves a positive ROI, if the goals are clearly established at the outset. 

First Ask Why

Anybody who has worked with me in past 5 years has heard me say the following rant a zillion times:

When it comes time to redesigning a B-to-B website, take time to ask why. The most important first step is to establish the overall goal of the site (lead gen? awareness building? encouraging user participation in a forum? encouraging downloading collateral?). Then, make these tasks extremely fast and obvious to do. Less common actions should certainly not be any more complicated than necessary, but priority should be given to the key user goals.

Home Page as a Political Football
Now that the site is launched, it is clear that the home page became a political football inside the organization.  I counted at least 13 “calls to action” on the home page.  Download this. Click here. Read this. Buy that. View this. Watch that. Visit here. See this.... oy vay!!  It is hard to determine the "key user goals" on the home page. 

Resource Intensive
Complex web redesign projects are significant undertakings, and represent a tremendous amount of effort. 

After a relaunch, it's important to focus on the following key metrics, which are available via Google Analytics.  

After about 3 to 6 months from the launch, the web team should share the following data: 

• bounce rate (the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page), which should go DOWN after a relaunch
• time on site - which should go UP after a relaunch
• page views - which should RISE after a relaunch
• conversion rate (which should go UP, measuring percentage of visitors who fill out a form; take an action like signing up for newsletter, etc)

While certainly not the full picture, these four metrics provide a good "snapshot" to indicate how the site has optimized user behavior.  


Next Step: ROI 
In fact, these four key metrics help calculate overall ROI, a topic addressed here.  


When calculated along with cost of the website; the percentage increase of visitors to the site; number of closed sales to leads; and average revenue of a closed sale, one can then determine the Return on Investment of the site redesign.

Buzzwords and the Bull***t Generator

The buzzwords are getting to me.  Previous B-to-B Blog posts have addressed this same topic, but lately I’ve got buzzword fatigue.

In meetings, I’m hearing phrases like: “Dial it back”, “Let's get on the same page”,  “Let’s table this”, “Circle back”, “leverage”, “disconnect”, “synergize”. Are these words supposed to streamline communication and boost work camaraderie?

They seem to be having the absolute opposite affect.

Much of marketing-speak is the same way. Why make it difficult for prospects?  Why put a high falutin name to a product to make it so much more complicated then it is, which only serves to confuse?

Example:  why call something a “manual scribing implement” when it is simply just a “pen”? 

Please Hold the Fluff

A fast look at high-tech marketing materials reveal a plethora of meaningless marketing words including:

• Leverage
• Empower
• Best-of-breed
• Functionalities
• Integration
• Mindshare
• Synergistic (ergh!)

The Bullshit Generator

Today’s exercise of wading through volumes of buzzword-laden documents reminded me of a funny website I recently stumbled upon called “The Bullshit Generator”

The online calculator randomly generates phrases like:

• streamline innovative methodologies
• enable dynamic communities
• reintermediate user-centric networks

Just hit “enter” and you’ll get gems like: “Seize mission-critical convergence” Wow!  What fun!

Less is More

Corpspeak, buzzwords, lingo and marketing-speak can drive me crazy.  It drives readers crazy, too.  Fluff adds no value.

And I’m guilty of generating these terms myself.

The trick is to make copy concise, clear, and actionable.

Keyword: Usability

I’ve been lucky enough to participate in several “Writing for the Web” workshops as part of Nielsen Norman Group Usability Week Conferences.  

When writing for the web, or in any marketing communications,  experts  remind us: that “people read very little on Web pages. They tell us “marketing communications folks not to waste word count on generic, feel-good material. It's not going to make prospects feel good anyway. They care only about getting their problems solved as quickly as possible so they can leave your site.”

Amen to that!

Enough Said

I just visited the Bullshit Generator again and it randomly spewed this phrase: deliver cross-media schemas.  There are a few clients I know who would love that phrase, but what the heck does it mean?

Please, hold the fluff!  

The Upside to Group Juggling

It's a fast pace in the typical business-to-business marketing department.

New projects and fresh ideas for innovative programs can often fall between the cracks especially when the team is going a million miles a minute juggling regular, monthly marketing programs.

A complicating factor is when the team is large (8 plus people), with some team members working remotely or part time.

A recent HBR blog post entitled “The Secret to Ensuring Follow Through” offers a helpful look at how to help ensure follow-through in this kind of setting.

When a marketing team is juggling a million ideas, as noted in the post, “there is a higher risk of someone, somewhere, dropping a ball."

The post goes onto say:

“… there's another, more positive, side to group juggling: the more people juggling, the more likely someone, somewhere will be able to catch a ball that an otherwise busy, overwhelmed individual would have dropped.”

A New Mindset

The HBR blog author proposes a new tool and "culture" to help a big marketing team manage tasks -- nothing overly formal, but a new mindset and vocabulary as a style of communicating.   

The tool is essentially a list of 7 questions to work through as new projects are delegated.  It stems from a work known as “The Checklist Manifesto” by Dr. Atoll Gawande.

This approach is incredibly valuable for the projects so many of us in marketing manage as a team – keeping websites updated; special event management; direct marketing campaigns; online advertising; sales support; etc.

Here’s the list from HBR, modified here for a business-to-business marketing team.

The (Marketing) Handoff Checklist

1. What do you understand the overall marketing goals of this project to be? (Lead generation?  Generating attendance at a sales event?  Gathering a certain number of attendees at an online webinar?)
2. Do you have any issues or concerns with this idea that have not already been mentioned?
3. What are the key next steps – creative, content development, project management, etc. -  and by when do you plan to accomplish them?
4. What do you need from the team in order to be successful?
5. Are there any key contingencies we should plan for now?
6. When will we next check-in on progress/issues?
7. Who else in the organization (Creative Team, Sales, HR, Admin?) needs to know our plans, and how will we communicate them?

Coordination Wanted

There is definitely an upside to group juggling. 

Indeed there’s a better chance of success when the team can work together to catch the ball that an overwhelmed individual might drop – but that effort takes coordination.  

Next time your marketing team juggles a new program or project, give the Handoff Checklist a try and let us know how it went.

5 Lessons Learned from Blogging

The more I read about social media marketing from those many pundits out there, the more I see the following types of content:

• blog posts that cover blogging
• tweets that talk about using twitter
• blog posts that share tips for using twitter
• tweets with pointers about blogging

Goodness knows this B-to-B blog you are reading right now takes this well-worn approach with several recent posts about managing Twitter for business-to-business marketing.   It’s clear to see that Twitter has captured my attention over the last year, in fact I’ve several more Twitter related posts in the hopper.

And in much the same spirit, let’s turn our attention to blogging.

Yes it’s a blog post that covers blogging!

Through work with my own blog, and client work for other corporate blogs, presented here are….

 5 Lessons Learned from Blogging

Lesson 1: It Pays to Be Consistent

The beast needs to be fed.  That means starting a blog is the easy part, keeping current by creating updated posts is much more difficult.  Case in point:  this blog has the goal of 4 new posts per month.  Take a look on the left side index and you’ll see I’m averaging less than 4 posts per month.  It’s effective to “post when you have something to say” so be sure that the main thrust, focus of the blog sufficiently engages and inspires you to “keep on talking” and posting.

Stuck for ideas?  Those smarty pants at Hubspot give some great pointers on keeping business-related content fresh and “feeding the beast”. (warning, lots of food analogies so best to read on a full stomach)

Lesson 2: Take Time to Engage

No matter what the blog post topic, asking pointed questions, soliciting feedback and engaging readers is powerful.  A recent client project involved inserting an online survey into a blog post, which was an effective way to turn a passive reader into a participator.   There are many great tools out there but Zoomerang is an especially easy and powerful one.

Lesson 3: Consider SEO

Folks write about this topic in much more detail so it’s worth a look at their insight.  For our purposes, be sure to make yourself familiar with SEO best practices like using keywords.  Within a post, be sure to embed links to your website, other blog posts, or other key websites. In the world of b-to-b marketing, a blog is a powerful way to improve search results. Post titles and content should contain the keywords that your customers and prospects search. For instance, this is a blog about marketing, business-to-business marketing communications, and marketing strategy.  Those are words that should be tagged and used as much as possible.  It is worth it to take the time to know which keywords are more relevant to you or your clients.

 SearchEngineLand.com is the premiere source to check for other tips.

 Lesson 4: Remember Nobody Reads

Web users are overloaded with content – and social media posts are getting shorter and shorter.  The Twitter 140 character limit has trained web users to scan, and take short “information snacks” instead of digesting lengthy, complex content.

Keep this in mind when creating blog content.  Chunk out information in easily digestible segments.   Develop information-carrying subheads.   Break out titles into lists, top lessons learned, etc. to make it easy for your blog readers to digest your information.

Lesson 5:  Share  and Share Alike

Blogging is a powerful way to elevate you or your client’s brand, showcase industry leadership, and raise overall visibility of products and services.  Don’t just post, though.  Share!  

Use Twitter to link back to the post.  Showcase the blog post content on the home page of your website.  LinkedIn offers several ways to share links to blog posts by topic, either on your profile or within LinkedIn groups. Add your blog post to directories like technorati for maximum exposure.

What are the lessons you've learned from blogging?

Twitter as a Brand Expression: 5 Tips for Effective Branding Using Twitter

This is a topic I’ve been mulling over for some time, but how to begin? 

The most useful place to start is to talk about the term “brand” so let’s begin with that.

What is a brand? 

A generally accepted definition of the term “brand” is “the emotional relationship a product, company, organization or even person has with their customers, audiences, consumers, community.” 

This is a definition modified from several sources including Marketingspot.

B-to-B Branding

In terms of business-to-business marketing, a brand elicits thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and responses from business customers. 

Responses are based on many key elements such as the product/service itself, the company reputation, the company history, the logo, the website, product packaging, the company employees, news articles, etc. 

(Quick side note – remember that logos are not the same as brands.  In fact they are design representations of a brand.  In a way, they serve as a brand “symbol” when they are created effectively.)

Twitter as a Branding Tool

So how can business-to-business marketers use Twitter as a branding tool?

A previous blog post about the basics of Twitter etiquette made the case that “a brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of your prospect. A Tweet stream contributes to that perception.  It’s wise to operate within the constructs of common courtesy to lock in positive branding. Your Tweets are a reflection of your brand!

5 Tips for Effective Branding

To explore this concept more thoroughly, here are 5 Tips for Effective Branding via Twitter.

1)    Do the hard work first.  A Twitter or social media program can only reinforce your brand if you’ve taken the time to develop one in the first place.  Is your organization striving for a “thought leadership” brand?  If that makes sense for you, then Tweets can reflect cutting edge information, leading industry trends, and other materials supporting that brand image.  But you can’t be effective until you have a sense of the brand.   Are you hoping to brand the company as a leading edge innovator?  Then Tweets should reinforce that brand image by directing followers to innovation success stories, accolades and awards for innovation, breaking news of other innovators in the marketplace, etc. Again, this only makes sense if that branding work was done beforehand.

2)    Be Consistent.  Branding must be consistent across all media and programs.  As an example, a financial consultant might use print and online ads and its website to portray a conservative and trustworthy brand. Thus it wouldn’t make sense for the financial advisor to Tweet goofy jokes or off color comments, personal observations about the weather, Charlie Sheen or unrelated topics.  Be human, yes, but don’t go off-brand. The advisor’s tweet stream should reinforce a consistent brand image that relates to other programs.

3)    Use common sense. Courtesy goes a long way.  This was covered in another post, but it is worth repeating.  Mind your manners!   Don’t be reckless, use profanity, or insult.  That makes a terrible brand impression! Don’t Tweet or post when angry. Refrain from being intoxicated when Tweeting, as many organizations have learned.

4)     Be timely.  This is a pet peeve. What does it say about a business consultant’s “brand” when the Twitter feed hasn’t been updated in over 12 months?  It doesn’t say anything good that is for sure.   If you start a social media marketing program, by all means maintain it in a timely fashion.  It is a detriment to the brand if a blog, Twitter account, or Facebook goes through a ‘set it and forget it” process, and the last post was over a year ago.

5)    Be thoughtful.  It is a mystery to me why so many business to business companies don’t take time to draft an effective Twitter biography profile.  Many also neglect to include their website’s URL. Other relevant followers search Twitter bios using keywords when looking for folks to follow.  If a corporate trainer, for instance, leaves the bio blank, or doesn’t use keywords in the bio like “training’ “corporate training” “learning workshops”, they are missing out on a great branding opportunity.

 Parting Thoughts

A brand is the foundation of all marketing activities. 

It takes thought and effort, but social media marketing can effectively reinforce your brand, and deliver a favorable perception in the mind of your prospect.