A quick entry for you to ponder as you sip your morning coffee or map out your day.

Whenever you are asked to get involved in a project, pay close attention to the potential return on time invested (ROTI) because that’s your most precious resource … time.

Be Honest

As business owners, we need to be honest with our clients and ourselves when it comes to project selection and how we allot our time.  Too often we allow ourselves to get distracted or swayed by our:

• Empathy for the person requesting our help/participation
• Over eagerness to make a difference
• Ego telling us that nobody can do the job better

Who Else Can Do a Similar Job for Less?

If something will take you 40 hours that would take someone else 60 hours yet the quality of work wouldn’t suffer greatly and deadlines get met, it’s worth it to outsource that work even if it cuts into your profits somewhat. Obviously, you don’t want to go upside down but taking on projects that may become massive “time sucks” prevent you from doing your best work for those willing to pay you what you’re worth that also allow for a high ROTI.

It’s much better for all involved for you to work 30 hours on a $3,000 project than to spend 100 hours on it especially when the results and outcomes are the same. You’re going to be fresher, more enthusiastic about the work, and your production will be far greater.  The client will be more appreciative of the work, and you’ll have enough in the tank to climb the next mountain.

The reason for mentioning this is because recently a project was completed where the results were excellent and expectations exceeded yet I was WAY upside down in terms of ROTI which likely cost me some new business in the process because the time and energy just wasn’t there. The project should have taken about 1/3 the time it did, but minutiae and intricate details bogged things down.

While always grateful for business and the confidence demonstrated that accompanies it, it would have been better to outsource/delegate the initial part of that project to get a greater ROTI while opening the door to accept additional business.

It Ain’t All ‘Bout Money

Finally … just because someone is willing to pay you good money doesn’t mean they’re a qualified or a high quality client. There’s far more that goes into win/win outcomes than just money.

Live & learn, right?

Have Something to Contribute?

Do you have a similar story to share? Go ahead and let ‘er rip in the comments below.

If you’ve browsed around this site, you realize SEO Services are offered.  Every so often, somebody will call or email requesting a proposal then throw in the zinger of “keep in mind that we have to keep our costs down.”

That’s akin to saying “hey, we really need your help but we don’t really value your services unless they’re almost free.”

Well Mr. or Ms. Poor Pitiful Business Owner, is your stuff free? I didn’t think so.

Understand this: investing in SEO Services isn’t like going to Macy’s and buying a shirt off the rack. There’s a lot that goes into SEO based on several key factors.

7 SEO Questions You Need to Answer

Don’t ask an SEO firm to shoot you back a flat ballpark price without supplying:

• What are the primary keyword phrases you wish to rank well for?
• Have you attempted to implement SEO before? If so, what were the results? Why are you no longer utilizing the firm you used before, or why are you no longer doing SEO in-house?
• Which locales/markets are you targeting? Do you have physical offices in the cities or towns you’re trying to rank well?
• How much competition is there? In other words, how many competing pages are there for each target keyword?
• What is the competition doing from an SEO perspective? In other words, how many pages and links do they have indexed? Does it look like they’ve been doing SEO for awhile or are they just starting?
• What is an acceptable time-frame to get onto the front page via Google Places and/or organic search? Generally speaking, a reputable SEO firm practicing white hat SEO will take anywhere from 3-6 months to get you onto page one depending on the competition.  If you don’t have that kind of time, SEO may not be right for you today. Consider PPC to attract more traffic if your needs are immediate.
• What would equivalent PPC traffic be worth? Simply stated: how much would you have to pay for each click for the traffic you’ll likely get from organic front page exposure? This is ultimately the savings your SEO firm is providing you every single month by getting on Google’s front page.

A legitimate SEO firm can determine all of these things for you, but you should understand that type of research and analysis is going to be factored into the services or you’re going to have to pay for them upfront. It’s reasonable to pay around $200 for such an analysis because it takes considerable time and the analyses provided can be quite thorough and insightful.

But What if I Find the Same Services for Less Later?

You probably already know this, but the price you pay on anything is the same everywhere … there’s always a risk of discovering it later for what appears to be less.

Let’s say you want a book just released … you can buy and read it today to benefit from the gained knowledge immediately or wait until it goes on sale one year later.

That same book may cost 50-75% less next year, but the benefits of reading it would be delayed for a full year, too. Which would be more valuable … saving money while letting others get further ahead of you or getting and applying the knowledge right away?

Since it’s “just information,” you may be one of those unreasonable types that believes it ought to be free anyway so paying for expertise may be foreign to you. If so, what about the time investment to create and assemble the information to present it you in an easily consumable fashion? Better yet, how much time would it take YOU to assemble the information and condense it into something legible and understandable? How much is an hour of your time worth?

Don’t Penalize Your New Provider for Others’ Missteps

Look, everybody has been burned at some point in business. It happens to all of us, but the scars shouldn’t carry over from provider to provider.

It’s a lot like dating … just because it didn’t work out with someone with brown hair before doesn’t mean all people with brown hair are bad matches for you.

That said, why should I bear the brunt of some other marketing provider’s missteps? I may have some empathy that you wasted your money elsewhere but not enough to compromise my pricing because someone else didn’t do a good job. Do you discount your prices every time somebody hits you with a pitiful sob story … where’s the logic in that?

Remember: you’re seeking a result that has value to you so don’t shortchange yourself by looking for the cheapest provider.

Why SEO Pricing is Misleading

SEO pricing is VERY misleading because someone may get you front page rankings in three months whereas someone else may charge you 1/2 the “price” yet take one year to deliver front page exposure.

Now, would you personally be upset if you paid $5,000 today to get front page exposure within 3 months then found, what appeared to be, similar services for $2,500 six months later? If your business benefited from the front page exposure with the $5,000 service within 3 months, which would depend on how good the website was at converting visitors, you shouldn’t be.

Conversely, if you paid $2,500 today and it took one year to get results, you’d have significant buyer’s remorse, right?

Pricing is directly proportional to what matters today not what the price may be six months from now … worrying what something may cost down the road creates paralysis by analysis. Don’t waste your time engaging in a scarcity mentality.

Pardon the Pricing Soapbox

Sorry for getting onto the soap box, but price is such an insignificant factor when placed into proper perspective. There’s simply more to evaluate because paying $5,000 for something that could generate an extra $500,000 in business isn’t exactly fair to the service provider you beat down on price.

To make matters worse, a business owner wouldn’t be overly willing to send a fat bonus check after the fact to the provider for helping to bring in that $500,000, would he? He wouldn’t want to divulge that it even happened so that’s the rub.

It’s About Value, Stupid!

When you invest in or implement SEO Services, evaluate the proposal based on the potential impact of front page exposure on your business and your life.

For instance:

• How well is your website converting visitors into leads or sales today? If it’s poor at converting visitors today, tossing more traffic at it isn’t going to do a lot of good. You need to get your website “house” in order before doing SEO.
• What is an average transaction worth to your business?If you sell $1 trinkets on your site, it’s not going to make a lot of sense to pay an SEO firm $1,500/month or more to get onto Google’s front page because the return just isn’t going to be there. I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every business owner that peddles cheap crap that proclaims “if you could just get a ton of traffic to my site, we’ll both be rich.” Please move along to the next slap because I’m not interested in trinket commissions.On the other hand, if you sell real estate and the average sale is $220,000, spending $1,500/month makes a lot of sense. Doesn’t it?
• What time-frame are you hoping to land on Google’s front page? If it’s tomorrow, that’s not fair because it’s extremely unrealistic. If it’s anything less than 3 months, it’s likely unrealistic if you’re looking for a “white hat” firm. If you’re all right with someone cutting corners and going over the line to get you front page rankings faster, understand it’s going to cost more and the risk is very high, too.

The bottom line is quality and speedy service will cost more than somebody who is willing to toss out a low price just to appease your suggestion to “keep the costs down.” That suggestion is ALWAYS implied because nobody goes to a provider and says “hey, charge me double because I like looking stupid to others.”

The question you need to ask yourself is what’s most important today: quality, speed, or price? You can’t have all three in equal proportion because the world doesn’t work that way. You may think you’re getting all three in equal portions, but one of those three elements is going to be compromised along the way.

A quick rant today to share with you that serves a valuable lesson.

I just got an email from a pretty big company that offered access to a white paper that piqued an interest.  I clicked on the link to access it and had to jump through a bunch of unnecessary hoops to get to it so I created a podcast to summarize what all happened and the takeaways from it.

Enjoy!

What did you learn from that quick rant?

We’re Guilty, Too!

Internally, it’s forcing me to revisit several campaigns to map them out more strategically.

For instance, if you happen to click on one of the top feature links on this website’s home page to register for a report, white paper, or mini-email series, that should be enough to get access to other stuff.  Agreed?  So you probably don’t want to have to register again and again to get access to other stuff even though you may have an interest in it today.

Today, our campaigns don’t even do a poor job of “cross pollinating” so that’s going to get fixed.

Secondly, it would be helpful to us (and you, too), in our ongoing marketing efforts, to gather additional information to determine readiness and willingness to make a buying decision on marketing services yet we ask for very little progressive information as someone progresses through a campaign today.

Bottom Line

When you offer lead magnets, capture the data you need today to effectively follow up right now not one year down the road or two years from now.

Next, once you have someone’s contact information, offer additional lead magnets to help you determine readiness to buy and further segment your list.  Use trackable links to do this versus asking people to fill out the same basic information over and over again.  If you have a strategic piece of information you can gather to help determine readiness, capture it ONLY via another web form on your site.  Link the web form on your site to the contact record so that it updates the proper person.

If you don’t know how to do any of this, your web programmer or your auto-responder service should so ask them how to make your campaigns and web forms more dynamic.

Anyway, I hope this helps you with your ongoing marketing campaigns and you learned something valuable during your visit today.

Improve your B2B marketing techniques

People are finally beginning to sit up and notice the business-to-business (B2B) marketing movement. More companies are turning to specialist B2B agencies for strategic advice, marketing ideas and creative services to reach and woo C-suite clients.

In Asia, the distinction between consumer marketing and B2B marketing is less clear. Many marketing directors and corporate communications managers are still outsourcing various marketing support projects on a piecemeal basis to advertising, event or public relations agencies for example, instead of seeking the services of dedicated full-service B2B agencies.

Is it surprising then that these companies feel their marketing needs are not optimally met?

Many traditional agencies have their roots in consumer marketing and do not have the experience needed to develop comprehensive B2B marketing programmes.

A few important characteristics distinguish B2B marketing from mass marketing, and can make all the difference to any B2B marketing effort.

1. The power of many

In consumer marketing, your target is an individual.

In B2B marketing, you could be targeting any number of people along the decision-making chain, some of whom may not even be located in the same country as you!

It is always useful to find out who is the ‘real’ decision maker. Is the purchasing or sourcing manager as important as the business-planning manager or the chief financial officer? In some companies, the human resources manager commissions services that have traditionally been the mandate of the office manager and vice versa.

Many B2B marketing professionals simply target the ‘C-suite’ but fail to realise that sometimes, it’s the CEO’s secretary who makes the ultimate decision on whether or not they should order products or services from your company. Either that, or he/she could be the ‘gatekeeper’ who foils any number of your marketing and sales attempts.

When the buying decision affects several departments such as IT, operations and finance for example, you should be looking at different ways to present your company’s credentials to a group of people, each with different concerns and expectations!

Being able to identify different groups and their interests, and combining them with tailored communications and a powerful database system, can result in a much higher rate of return.

2. The power of one

Every one of your employees that comes in contact with your customer is your “brand”, whether you are selling multi-million dollar commercial warehouses or consultancy services.

So it is crucial that your walking-talking brand ambassadors believe in your corporate values and what you are selling.  Get your agency to give them customer-centric brand messages and sales tools to use, and ensure they are trained to make each customer feel as if they are the most important customer ever.

On the flip side, B2B companies must ensure that their corporate brands are strong enough that their customers don’t leave when their brand ambassadors do.

3. Target the head, not the heart

Validating and even quantifying one’s value proposition is crucial for any B2B company. Unlike B2C marketing, it is always about appealing to the head, and not to the heart (or eyes or ears, for that matter).

Your B2B marketing agency should help you answer tough customer questions such as, “Tell me why I should choose your company over your competitor? What value can you add to my bottom line or business plans? How much do you understand about my company’s needs? How will your products or services help our company get ahead?”

In mature B2B sectors, where the offering from company to company is almost homogeneous or ‘commoditised’, the value proposition is less about the core product or service and more about the ‘value-add’ or enhancements. The challenges are different, because the central question is often, “Can you do this at a better price than your competitor?”

4. Corporate brand, product brand or CEO brand

I often advise against building personality brands in any company, unless it is the founder. It is important not to let personal egos get in the way of building corporate persona, which will certainly outlive the former.

I also advise that B2B companies focus on building and protecting their corporate brands versus their product brands. Vista can fail for instance, but Microsoft should not.

Corporate brand building certainly comes in handy when closing new business deals for B2B companies – people are more comfortable recommending a new supplier, vendor or consultant that their bosses have heard about, versus one that is relatively unknown.

That is not to say that the lesser known brands will lose out on all opportunities, as long as they can prove that they can deliver. They are less likely to be considered however, if the risk of failure is too high i.e. when the products and services affect the company’s viability (productivity, legal standing, reputation etc.), if the value of the contract is very large, or if the ultimate decision maker is a good friend of your competitor (it does happen!) for instance.

5. Make me look good in front of my boss

This may seem like an odd suggestion but I sometimes ask clients how they can make their target customers look good in front of their bosses.

For example;

a. Can you package your products or services in a way that helps your contact’s business and shows him or her to be making a positive contribution to their employers? The closer you do this to the bonus period or your contract renewal time, the better.

b. Do you need to provide tools that help your contact/s present the validations for their recommended vendor ie. your company?

c. Should you prepare documents that demonstrate the value that your company can bring to other departments at your contact’s organisation?

d. Should you offer to help integrate your products or services into your customer’s organisation?

e. Are your ‘green credentials’ in line with your customer’s business sustainability efforts as a B2B vendor?

6. It’s not showing on TV

B2B customers don’t automatically turn on the television when they want to find a supplier. Often, one of the first sources of information they turn to is a search engine. Increasingly, B2B marketing is very much about Internet marketing and helping to raise a company’s profile and search engine rankings. The Internet instantly makes your competitive pool global. A company in India could offer business secretarial services that are almost identical to yours, only cheaper.

It is critical to constantly think of new ways of creating credible customer-driven content, online distribution channels, search terms, Internet links etc. in B2B marketing.

Traditional mass media has little or no relevance. That is why the B2B channel mix will look very different and may comprise:

* Search engines

* Niche websites such as LinkedIn

* Industry related online marketing

* Industry listings or online forums

* Accreditation with respected organisations

* Industry endorsements

* Case studies

* Client referrals and testimonials

* Thought leadership articles

* Awards

* Certifications

* Media relations and press mentions

* White papers and research studies

* Customised demonstrations

* Low-risk pilot tests

* Trade shows

* Trade directories

* Industry spokesmen

* Industry rankings and awards

* Industry publications

* Customer events

* Corporate videos and podcasts

* Executive bios etc.

Often, B2B communications output is best tailored to each target customer. Make sure your agency can also create great PowerPoint decks inhouse, so you can customise them for your corporate presentations.

7. There is a season for everything

Always gear your B2B marketing towards your customers’ planning cycles.

There are different financial year-ends in different countries, and it is important to make your business pitch at least three to four months before your customer’s year-end, to ensure your company has a chance of making the vendor shortlist for next year!

8. The grey line

Unlike consumer marketing, where you can offer seasonal sales and gifts in exchange for certain purchases, such tactics are not always viewed as ‘ethical’ in B2B marketing.

A token of customer appreciation worth 200 US dollars to someone who just signed a multi-million dollar contract may seem trivial in comparison, but it may be hastily returned if the customer’s corporate policy limits ‘lavish’ gifts beyond say, 100 US dollars. Don’t risk embarrassing your customers by forgetting to do a bit of discreet checking first.

What I have listed are just some important aspects of B2B marketing. Ultimately, it really helps to work with a B2B marketing agency that understands your B2B decision makers, decision influences, business needs, stakeholders, sources of information and available channels, and that is also able to add a good dose of creative thinking!

4 Great B2B Internet Marketing Strategies

If you operate in a business-to-business environment, you can still apply what are traditionally considered consumer-oriented internet marketing strategies to reach your targeted market. However, you will need to customize each strategy in order to maximize its effectiveness with your particular customer base.

Here are 4 Great B2B Internet Marketing Strategies to Get Your Started

1. Education. The first B2B internet marketing strategy is to educate your prospects. When new visitors arrive to your web site, they are most likely looking for valuable, informative content that answers theirs questions and alleviates concerns. By providing your prospects with the tools they need to make an educated and informed decision, you are paving the way to a potentially rewarding long-term relationship. At this point, your goal should be to help your prospects make their own decisions, without beating them over the head with a blatant sales pitch.

2. Establish Communication. Another important B2B internet marketing strategy is to open the door to two-way communication with your audience. The goal at this stage is to educate and/or entertain your customers, while inviting them to participate in a dialogue with you by providing opportunities to make contact, leave comments or otherwise contribute to your web site community.

However, you will also want to make sure that you don’t go overboard with this. Too frequent or forced communication is a bad thing. So, when you do communicate, carefully evaluate the frequency and duration of each contact. Remember, a little bit of a good thing can go a long way!

Besides, you can always use follow-up methods like eNewsletters and personal e-mails to keep things moving forward once communication has been established. This, in turn, leads to the next B2B Internet Marketing strategy:

3. Stay in Touch. Once you’ve connected with audience, you won’t want to leave them hanging. Regular eNewsletters and/or e-mail training series (eCourses) are great ways to provide value and stay in front of potential customers. Again, you don’t want to bombard your potential customers. Instead, you will want to reach her at regular and pre-defined intervals. Further, each e-mail should include a short description of the topic and a case study or scenario that brings it to life. Providing a brief assessment or conclusion at the end of correspondence is also helpful.

4. Collect Feedback. In order to measure the overall success of your internet marketing strategies, you will need to collect feedback from your visitors. This feedback is invaluable in terms of helping you improve on your product or service. Surveys and questionnaires are great ways to collect this type of information. To improve participation, you may want to offer some form of incentive such as a free report or other valuable giveaway in exchange for their time and opinions.

This last B2B Internet Marketing strategy is very important because not only will it illustrate opportunities for improvement – it will also highlight what you are already doing right!