Justin.King November 16th, 2008

Does anyone else struggle with navigation on the internet?  Honestly, I get lost…     A LOT.  Should I be admitting that?  I think it’s a lot more common then it’s admitted.  A few of my problems are:

• Where am I going?  Sometimes I get off track from what I started looking for.  There is just so much information – I start looking for one thing and I see something interesting and end up 30 minutes later trying to remember what I originally started looking for.
• Where am I at?  Within a web site or down a track of information, I have no idea where I am at.  I mean most of the time I can tell what site I am, and even a breadcrumb to tell me where I am at in the site.  However, I never know where I am at in the context of my search and the path that I used to get there?  Most of the time I find information through a track of information.  I start with a search on one group of terms, and as I learn more I am able to refine my terms including seclusions to help me find the true information I am looking for.   But the information I am looking for is normally not a single page or a single concept – it is the actual track that I used to get there.
• What have I found?  When I actually find information that is useful, what do I do with it?  Rarely is it one page – most of the time it is a group of related concepts on one page or a group of pages that I would like to use later, but I have no good way of storing these concepts as a whole.  Bookmarks do okay for storing information on a single page, but nothing stores the whole tree or whole navigation path.
• Information and people – it’s hard to separate information and people and I don’t think you should.  With blogs and twitter, information is tied to thought leadership which is normally lead by individuals.  However, bookmarking tools typically don’t relate information to people or vice versa.
• Bad representation of information and hyperlink – the beauty of the hyperlink is that information was no longer hierarchical – no longer top to bottom, left to right.  The problem along with getting lost is that my brain works a little more visual then the internet is.  Text doesn’t really work for my brain – I like pictures and visualizations.

I have been thinking and postulating about these problems a lot lately.  In my own fight to stay relevant, I know that people need to be able to use the information I am publishing in some relevant way.  I don’t mean just here on this blog, I mean whether in presentations, conversations, webinars, whatever relationship we might have and all of the related content out there that helps frame a position or complete the research that is being done online.

I need a GPS to be able to navigate my way through the internet – a way to know where I am going and where I came from, and most importantly when I am off track how to get back on track.

Tags: personal brain, web site navigation

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Justin.King November 15th, 2008

Very appropriate post today from Marketo.  In addition to the below great points, I would add that we need to make sure we are addressing the real needs of our customers, and find ways to engage with our customers in a relevant dialogue.   This last week has been a week of conversations around “How do we engage with our customers in a meaningful and relevant way”.  These are good first steps and I love that my customers are starting to think that way – here are some other strategies as well.  I realized this week, that it is important to have a level setting conversation a couple of times a year with our customers.  This conversation should be looking at the original objectives, measuring how we are doing, and brainstorming about new ideas.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks, as many are contemplating survival techniques.  We have seen marketing budgets shrink considerably, but luckily businesses continue to move into interactive marketing so our plans remain steady.

Here are a couple great tips from that Marketo post.

What does all this mean? It means that now, more than ever, marketers need to:

• Maximize conversion of their advertising dollars into prospects by optimizing their landing pages.
• Stop wasting leads that aren’t yet sales ready and start using lead nurturing to build relationships so that when they are ready to buy, you’ll be positioned to win. In a recession, new prospects are less likely to be looking to purchase right away — which means they are less likely to want to talk to a sales rep. Lead nurturing is even more critical in a recession to ensure you convert the precious dollars you spend acquiring prospects into revenue.
• Use lead scoring to identify the best leads and help the sales team prioritize where they spend their time
• Prove the impact their marketing activities have on revenue and pipeline

What kind of conversations are you having?

Tags: b2b marketing, recession

• Attract , Closing the loop , conversion , relevant content
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Justin.King November 15th, 2008

We (Rosetta) just launched Aucuvue’s viral marketing campaign through Facebook.  For those of us with a stigmatism, these contacts (you can get a free pair) are amazing.  Check out the campaign and let me know what you think.  Click here to go to the Facebook application page and become a fan.

Tags: acuvue, facebook, Social Media

• Attract , Social Media
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Justin.King November 11th, 2008

When looking at B2B commerce, there are a numbers of objective & metrics that B2B organizations are looking for.  I just created this chart to show the Business Challenges and associated Best Practices.

Tags: b2b best practices, b2b business challenges, b2b commerce, b2b marketing

• b2b commerce
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Justin.King November 11th, 2008

I work a lot in developing strategies for b2b e-commerce. Not sure I adapted this from, but here are a few challenges marketers and IT face.

• Multiple Branded Sites
• Internationalization
• Website Maintenance: Cost and Efficiency
• High Cost of Customer Service
• Integration with ERP

Tags: b2b e-commerce, business-to-business, e-commerce, microsites

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Justin.King November 7th, 2008

I recently have been sitting through a number of meetings where we have been developing positioning statements for new products or services. I know it’s kind of old school, but it has helped us keep a target and objective in mind as we develop the rest of the pitch.

{ I started thinking though that I need to develop
my own personal positioning statement }

For those of you that don’t know what a positioning statement is, here is a quick walk through.

Positioning template
For (target audience), (product, company name) is the (frame of reference) that (benefit / point of difference).

It’s easy – all you do is fill in the brackets. Yeah, right – do this with a committee of 10, and you will be there for hours.

• Target Audience: The attitudinal and demographic/firmographic description of the core prospect to whom the new product or service is intended to appeal
• Frame of Reference: The category in which the product or service will compete
• Benefit/Point of Difference: The most compelling and motivating benefit that the new product  or service can own in the hearts and minds of the customers relative to the competition

It did take me quite a while to come up with my personal brand positioning statement – even though it was just me.  i had to fight to keep it authentic!!

{ For b2b organizations, Justin King is the web strategist that can help you
create, manage and grow relationships with your customer base
using the online channel }

Do you have a positioning statement?  Share it if you don’t mind…

Tags: b2b marketing, mission statement, positioning statement

• authenticity , b2b philosophy / model
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Justin.King November 7th, 2008

After reading an article by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II, I am adding the word Authentic to my b2b vocabulary.  How true does this ring?

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet holds a message for the marketing world: To thine own self be true. With authenticity appealing more and more to customer sensibilities, those words could not be more important. Organizations today should be true to their own selves, while also being who they say they are to others, according to the authors of this article. Yet the customer experience of actual offerings often fails to live up to what marketers said about them. Now is the time to stop saying what your offerings are through advertising, and create places where people can experience those offers as they actually are.

Creating a relevant dialogue and content is more than just perceived relevance, it has to be authentic as well.  Here are a few ways to stay authentic and relevant in your content online.

• More thought leadership, less marketing – focus on finding individuals in the organization that are closest to the customer, that understand the actual problems your customers is facing and know ways to solve it.
• It’s okay if your content is raw – I know you want your content to be marketing driven and developed with the right “messaging”.  I understand – so do I.  But, if the content is raw and unfiltered, it shows authenticity.
• “it is what I say it is” – be honest with yourself and your customers about what you can and can’t do.  Stop with the B.S. and focus on your strengths.  Your customers will appreciate you for it.

I love the word authenticity, and it is actually convicting to think about.  Building my own personal brand, I need to remember “it is what I say it is” – I am going to strive to be true to myself.  Not a bad goal.

Tags: authenticity, relevant content, relevant dialogue, shakespeare

• authenticity , relevant content
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Justin.King November 7th, 2008

I have been working with a major brand that sells specialty tools to contractors (plumbers, electricians, etc.).  They are planning on launch on a new product, and my agency Rosetta is putting together the product launch plan and digital marketing approach.

Partnering
We are working with the companies traditional agency of record, as they have no true interactive marketing capabilities.  This has been an excellent process, of which I would like to dedicate another post to.

Research
Together with the traditional agency, we did quite a bit of customer research, talking to prospective customers, conducting online surveys, and talking to editors of trade magazines.  Through the research we found that the customers of this new product had some significant challenges in front of them.

• the economy is affecting their business tremendously especially with the slow down of new residential and renovations
• green and energy efficient is on everyone’s minds, but most don’t know how to take advantage of it
• because of the economy, contractors are trying to find new ways to sustain their businesses

What we found
In our quest to be relevant, we also faced challenges.  What was easy to do for the client was to create a microsite with the typical features | benefits | case studies information.  As I probed deeper and deeper, we kept asking the question what does your customer care about.  The answer was simple – the customer wants to be able to make more money in this down economy.  They are not sophisticated enough to determine ROI – they just care about the R (Revenue).  Therefore our content that we provided needed to be focused around solving this core problem of making more money for the contractor.

Lead generation
The goal for the product launch was to create a lead engine that could attract prospective buyers and in the end create sales-ready leads that were ready to be engaged by a salesman who could close the deal.  To get those leads, we knew we had to give the contractor something of value so that we had the right to ask for a name and email address (simple forms for landing page optimization).  Going back to our research, we decided to create white papers and eBooks around “How to make more money in a down economy”.  We are now going to tailor those to each primary segment and personality profile that we have identified.  So we will have “4 ways for HVAC contractors to heat up your business in a down economy” and elements like that.  The information is simple, not product focused and has a lot of value – no marketing propaganda.

What’s next?  We are now working on the nurturing approach to turn them from leads to sales-ready prospects.

Creating a relevant dialogue is critical.  Here are a few practical strategies to keep your content relevant.

Tags: b2b marketing, customer research, digital marketing, driving traffic, green, relevant content, relevant dialogue

• Attract , Segmentation , conversion , relevant content
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Justin.King November 7th, 2008

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.“  Wayne Gretzky

I have been using this phrase a lot with clients lately (as a result of a colleague using it in a pitch).  With the economy in turmoil, it is important to look into the future and figure out where you need to skate to get to the puck.

Referencing my simple B2B philosophy, point number two is “Meet your customers wherever they are at”.  I should probably add to that and say “Wherever they are going to be”.  Once you understand your customers, how they buy, why they buy, what their perceived needs are, and who is meeting those needs, you can then start asking where are my customers at?  Once you know where your customers are at and where they are going, you can put a plan in place to go out and meet them.  Meeting them is action and requires you and your organization to mobilize and invite them into a relevant dialogue with your organization.

In my own conversations lately, I keep asking the question of where are your customers and where are they going?  It’s a basic question, but the answers are critical to determining what we are actually going to do online.

Tags: b2b marketing, relevant dialogue, wayne gretzky principle

• Segmentation , relevant content
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Justin.King November 6th, 2008

Getting a lot of questions from clients, friends, and yes even colleagues about Twitter.  One of the purposes of this blog is to show these new platforms on the “internets” through the filter of B2B.  The first step is to understand what Twitter is and is not.  No better way to understand then from Jeremiah Owyang here.  Enjoy.  Here’s the getting started list from that post.

“1: Understand Twitter. There’s plenty of educational material, consider watching video interview of co-founder with Jennifer Jones, Rafe Needleman’s (CNET) Newbie Guide to Twitter, Twitter Getting Started. Agence France-Presse, a global news agency: “Online tweets tell you what everyone is up to” (I was a contributor to this article)

2: Evaluate if right for your audience: use the anecdotal demographic information I provided above, or use the search tool for notable individuals within your community and marketplace.

3: Explore the tool: The best way to learn? Experiment, try creating a persona account before deploying a brand account.

4: Publish: Well, what are you waiting for? Try some tweets!

5: Integrate: Use in conjunction with other tools, providing an ‘integrated mesh’ of cross linking. Use to post announcements, changes.

6: Advanced: Communicate back to others. This is not just a broadcast tool, it’s also a conversation tool, reply back to followers using the “@” symbol, and engage in dialogue.

7: Advanced: Mashups. There are many uses (known and yet to be discovered) of the tool, as third party developers are creating mashups for Twitter. Build your own, or examine others to get creative.

8: Measure: From the start, consider measuring the impacts of this tool, from amount of followers, amount of replies, incoming links, look for referrer logs to your website from Twitter, and use search tools to gain intelligence. Read Social Media Measurement strategy for more information.

Tags: Social Media, twitter

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