Blog

7 Content Creation Ideas for B2B Companies

March 22, 2017 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Gating content – it’s a pivotal strategy for transforming interested prospects into warm leads. “Gated content” is simply content that is only accessible after a person enters their contact information into a form. Supplied information could range from a simple email address to several additional components.

At this stage, someone has definitely crossed over into the Consideration or Decision phases of The Buyer’s Journey. This means they’re aware they have a problem, or need, and are actively looking for solutions.

While there aren’t many ways to gate content – various forms of landing pages and popovers are the main options – there are TONS of ways to format your content behind the gate! In this article, we’ll discuss 7 ways to produce content for generating customers in your B2B marketing strategy.

Keep in mind, regardless of format, your gated content should be:

Rich, high-quality content that provides real information.
A clearly communicated point of view on relevant issues.
Statistically sound data and well-researched findings.

White Papers

White papers are medium to longform articles written around a specific topic your prospects want to learn more about, as related to their potential buying decision. White papers have been around a LONG time and for good reason – they work.

One of the easiest ways to write your first white paper is to engage your sales force to determine the most common questions, objections and/or concerns they are hearing from prospects. Select one and really dig deep to provide a comprehensive answer.

Structure your white paper with a compelling introduction, organized header sections and a clear call to action. Also remember, much of online marketing is about presentation. Design an attractive cover for your white paper that makes prospects realize the information contained within it will be more valuable than “just another blog post.”

eBooks

Another tried-and-true way to format content for generating customers in your B2B is eBooks. Similar to white papers, eBooks focus on providing in-depth information on a particular subject of interest. While the typical white paper will be anywhere from 2-4 page in length, eBooks typically cover 20+ pages.

The primary benefit to producing an eBook would be the enhanced opportunities for including visual elements like photographs, infographics and special typographic designs. All be powerful mechanisms for enhancing the overall perceived value of your message.

Infographics

Can an infographic stand alone as a piece of gated content? Possibly; if it’s special enough. While we wouldn’t recommend most infographics be gated, if you created something extremely useful AND aesthetically pleasing, it would work. For example, a beautifully designed poster – with useful reference information – that could be printed out on high-quality paper and hung in the office.

As the sheer volume of content on the Internet has expanded over the past decade, more and more companies are turning to infographics. The medium has seen a jump from 51 to 62 percent as a valid content marketing tactic. from And there’s good reason for this: Science tells us pairing information with images makes us more likely to remember them.

According to one learning study, users retained only 10 to 20 percent of written or spoken information, but almost 65 percent of visual information.
If you’re looking for help creating your first infographic, consider resources like Visual.ly, Canva and Pictochart.

Slide Presentations
While slide presentations used to be limited to snooze-inducing Powerpoints, the format is now seeing a resurgence with Slideshare – an online tool for creating and promoting attractive marketing presentations.

One of the advantages to Slideshare is that there’s still time to be considered an “early adopter.” Few marketers consistently upload content to the platform, making it less competition-heavy than other social channels.

Further, the software easily integrates with LinkedIn, making it a targeted choice when promoting content for generating customers in your B2B. An easy way to begin creating your first slide presentation would be to look to repurpose a previously given speech or presentation.

Webinars

Depending on your particular product or service, webinars can be a great way to introduce prospects to the benefits they can gain from working with you. If you’re company sells something straightforward, like metal lids to glass bottle manufacturers, webinars won’t be your best content format for generating customers.

However, if you provide a product or service with many moving parts, strongly consider webinars. No other content formats on our list include the ability to instantly engage with prospects in real time. The ability to instantly engage and the immediacy of feedback make webinars a prime option for experienced sales speakers.

One company who skillfully uses webinars as a form of gated content is BuzzSumo. The company provides a social media monitoring subscription service that contains a lot of valuable features for marketers. Since their software has many interesting capabilities, BuzzSumo hosts regular webinars to take interested marketers through the process of “what they can do” and “how they can benefit” with their program.

Videos

By 2017 an estimated 72 percent of all Internet traffic will be dedicated to video, according to Invodo. The medium is the fastest growing form of content online, and is repeatedly shown to be the most successful type of media for B2Bs in various studies.

Videos work great for showcasing product demos, customer stories, conference presentations and high-quality storytelling. As the Internet is flooded with interesting written content, the amount of high-quality engaging videos available is actually quite small. Translation: A great opportunity for standing out among B2B competitors in your industry.

Educational Learning Programs
This one you don’t see as often, especially in the B2B segment. The reason being? They take substantial time to produce. But when executed correctly, e-learning programs can be highly effective forms of gated content.

In this instance, your e-learning program for generating customers in your B2B, would be a self-paced course that would teach prospects valuable skills and information as related to your paid offerings. Obviously, an educational model will work better for some businesses than others. It works particularly well with software-related industries, but you’re really only limited by your creativity.

For example, say you sell corporate office furniture and design services. You could create a mini e-learning program that walks prospects through the steps of planning their move or redesign. To be effective, the lessons would need to a). Have an audio or visual component and b). Be SUPER bite-sized and actionable (ie. don’t make them do a TON of work that your company could actually do for them).

As you can see, there are many options when it comes to creating gated content for generating leads in your B2B. Ultimately, the format you choose should depend on how your target audience wants to consume content.

Remember, though research should always be conducted, a certain amount of trial and error is to be expected. An effective content marketing strategy is something that is consistently fine-tuned over time.

5 Ways to Convert B2B Leads Into Customers with Email Marketing

February 2, 2017 by Andrew Leave a Comment

It seems like everyone these days has an email marketing list, and for good reason. According to an ExactTarget study, 77 percent of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications through email. And if that’s not enough to convince you to include some form of email marketing in your business just take a look at these stats:

44 percent of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email.

72 percent of B2B buyers are most likely to share useful content via email.

40 percent of B2B marketers rated the leads generated by email marketing as high quality.

While any email marketing is better than none at all, there are many things you can do to make sure you are achieving the highest conversion rate possible from those prospects who have opted-in:

Include a Catchy Subject Line

According to a recent study, 33 percent of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone. While there are many different techniques to try, the best subject lines usually: Invoke curiosity, speak to a specific benefit or touch upon a question your prospects are actively looking to have answered. Depending on your email marketing service provider, you may also have the option of including your prospect’s name in the subject line.

According to Adestra’s July 2012 Report, emails with this type of personalization have reportedly proven 22 percent more likely to be opened. Even U.S. President Barack Obama uses the strategy in his email marketing campaigns! Further, it’s also a good idea to keep em’ snappy. Subject lines fewer than 10 characters long reportedly had an open rate of 58 percent (which is very good). It’s also worth noting, subject lines which contained the words money, revenue and profit reportedly performed best for B2B companies specifically

Offer Insider Promotions

As often quoted by industry experts, 44 percent of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email. The fact is, your prospects are signing up for your list because they want to hear from you! They have in essence pre-approved themselves and are “raising their hands” to be presented with offers. Does that mean every email blast should be a sales pitch? Absolutely not.

While your primary focus should be sharing informative, interesting and educational content, you may also want to create “insider offers” like special promotions, early exposure to new products and announcements of any exciting industry changes you think they’d want to know about. A good rule of thumb –– aim for 80 percent informative content and 20 percent promotional related content. A caveat: This may or may not be appropriate for your specific B2B. But almost every business can create a feeling of exclusivity with a little creativity.

Send a Welcome Note

Have you ever subscribed to someone’s email newsletter and then completely forgotten about it? Only to receive a random email from said newsletter months later, that you cavalierly sort into your SPAM folder?

It’s easy to forget that while your B2B is at the forefront of your mind, it’s not likely something your prospects are thinking about. At all –– even those who were interested enough to provide you with their email addresses in the first place.

One way to circumvent this is to immediately send your subscribers a welcome email after they opt-in.

According to chiefmarketer.com, prospects who receive welcome notes show 33 percent more long-term brand engagement than those who don’t. Your email should remind subscribers of the benefits to being on the list, tell them how often they can expect to hear from you and ideally include some sort of free give-away (ie. an informative whitepaper, a free consultation etc)

Include Social Share Buttons

This one may or may not be relevant, depending on your unique strategy or industry. However, one of our favorite social media platforms for generating B2B leads is LinkedIn. We’ve seen tremendous results with lead generating campaigns for clients across the board with it. One of the best ways to maximize results like these is to link your email newsletter with your social platforms. Encourage subscribers to share your content with their colleagues, peers and decision-makers by including social share buttons in every email.

Emails that include social share buttons have a 158 percent higher click-through rate, according to email marketing provider GetResponse. You can provide an even clearer “call to action” by directly asking your customer to click the button to share.

Keep It Brief

Considering how busy most of us are these days, this one isn’t all that shocking –– 80 percent of people are only scanning your emails. That means you need to be concise, clear and intriguing. If you are linking to an article published on your blog, do it early on. If you are wanting your prospects to take advantage of a special promotion, don’t bury it. Also, consider using a large, easy-to-read font; formatting with short paragraphs (for easy scanning); and strategically using bold/italic markers to emphasize more important phrases.

As you can see, there are many ways to take your email marketing campaign from good to great. At Creatunity, we specialize in helping B2B clients develop comprehensive inbound marketing strategies that generate more high-quality leads, more sales and more revenue.

4 Pillars to Generate More B2B Sales Leads

February 2, 2017 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Build it and they will come.

We’ve all heard this, and those of us who have been in business for any length of time know it simply isn’t true. Especially, if you don’t have a storefront and are selling a more specialized product or service.

But that doesn’t mean generating leads for your B2B needs to be especially hard or time consuming. Not if you take the time upfront to develop a solid, scalable lead generating system that will work for you on your behalf.

In the past, that may have meant attending networking events, sending out direct mail flyers, cold calling and spending large sums on advertising campaigns (often, with little promise of a return) until you eventually “tipped the scales” and began generating referrals by word of mouth. Business would be good – for a while; until you inevitably hit a dry spell and began the process all over again. The good news?

There is another way. Thanks to the proliferation of modern technology, and a few simple, inbound marketing tools, you can now create cohesive online systems for gathering leads from your company Website 24/7. This strategy has three primary components:

Creating educational content that takes prospective buyers through a complete sale cycle on your behalf.

Drawing traffic to your site to interact with your content.

Implementing a system for capturing the contact information of prospective buyers who are interacting with your content.

While there are many individual tasks associated with executing each of the above – that are beyond the scope of this article – there are 4 critical steps to getting started:

Commit to Long Term Game

Though generating leads via online marketing isn’t any more time consuming than traditional methods (it’s actually faster in some cases), it does require a long-term commitment.

Unlike a radio or television ad that can be created and “thrown out there” within a week, generating quality content for the Web takes time. Because you’re not just creating one piece of content, and you’re not overtly trying to convince prospects to do business with you, you’re becoming a helpful and trusted advisor.

Instead of screaming “Buy now!” you’re calmly saying “Here are all the answers to the questions you’ve been asking yourself.” It’s a different strategy and thus, requires a different mindset. The good news is once you’ve accumulated a large amount of blog articles, whitepapers, videos or whatever other type of content you’ve incorporated into your overall strategy, it’s there forever. Meaning, you’re never starting over from scratch, as in the traditional marketing example above, AND the results of your efforts will only compound over time.

Conduct a Visibility Audit

You can have “the best” content on the Web, but that doesn’t matter if no one can find you to read it. In the online world, visibility is created slowly and strategically over time. Google “pay-per-click” ads, social media ads and partnerships with more established industry players are just some of the ways this can be done. But, before getting started, it’s important to assess where you are. That way you can really celebrate your gains and see how far you’ve come in the future.

Begin by entering the ten most common phrases you think potential customers would search for – as related to your offering – in a search engine. If your Website isn’t appearing on the first page for any of your terms, you’ve got some work to do. Also, take a look at any social media accounts you have and notice the number of followers. While this isn’t a complete audit, this will provide a starting point to work with.

Conduct a Content Audit

An often overlooked part of online lead generation is maintaining your content over time. Periodically review the information on your site to make sure it is recent, relevant and technically correct. Depending on your industry, exciting, new developments may occur regularly. What you don’t want is to have a customer pouring over outdated articles that are no longer indicative of current “best practices” or solutions.

Remember your goal is to become a trusted partner in your customers’ research process. In addition to updating old content, you should be regularly publishing new stuff. Above all, make sure all content is serving your target audience in an engaging and relevant way, while still remaining true to your brand message.

Provide Multiple Points For Engagement

The majority of your prospects won’t be ready to do business the first time they arrive at your site, and that’s OK (especially, if you sell something with a high price tag). As in “the offline world,” different people will naturally be in different stages of the sales process when they first interact with you.

Thus, it’s extremely important to offer a variety of content options for prospective buyers in their respective stages: Easy to digest blog articles, videos and audio files for those early in the process; more comprehensive white papers for those further along; and clearly visible contact options for those ready to buy. That way, no matter where someone is in their information gathering process, you can offer something of value.

Finally, until you have obtained someone’s contact information, they don’t exist as a lead! If you only provide direct methods of contact via phone and email, you’re missing out on developing relationships with those prospects who are still early in the information gathering process. You can fix this by offering a piece of high-quality content in exchange for the prospect’s contact information. Such a system can be set-up quickly and easily on any Website with a simple plugin.

Implement these four steps and you will be well on your way to creating a dependable system that directs traffic to your company Website and generates leads on your behalf. Got questions

Creatunity is here for you. We develop comprehensive inbound marketing strategies for enterprise level B2B clients. Our goal is to help you determine what makes you unique, translate that into an online marketing strategy and increase your revenue – substantially.

Are You Still Using Traditional B2B Lead Generation Strategies?

February 1, 2017 by Andrew Leave a Comment

It’s not that they don’t work anymore – because they most definitely do.

Cold calling, traditional advertising and in-person networking are all effective lead generation strategies that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. But what if I told you that by limiting yourself to such methods you could literally be leaving thousands of dollars on the table?

The fact is the world is changing. But that’s nothing new, right? Isn’t it always? What is new is that we are living in an unprecedented time of technological advancement that was barely conceivable to our forbearers. This kind of thing gets talked about all the time, but rarely do we stop and think about its implications. And yes, that includes the way we generate leads, sales and revenue for B2Bs.

The bottom line: Consumers no longer want to be sold to (if they ever did); they want to learn. And they are becoming increasingly adept at finding their own solutions. As reported by the Harvard Business Review, a Corporate Executive Board study of more than 1,400 B2B customers found those customers completed nearly 60 percent of their purchasing decisions before ever having a conversation with a supplier.

This sentiment was further echoed by researchers Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson in their book “The Challenger Sale.” Through their research, the authors determined prospects are usually 55 to 75 percent of the way through the decision-making process before ever reaching out to a specific company. How are they doing it?

By searching online, of course. If you’re used to walking your prospects through a long sales cycle – because your industry requires it or because your offerings come at a sizeable price-point – this can be discouraging. After all, you want to be there as early in the education process as possible so that you’re the one they turn to when they’re ready to buy.

The good news? You can still do exactly that, just in a different way.

Information and Education Is The New Way

By translating all of the advice, tidbits and information you would normally extend through a series of sales conversations to online marketing platforms, you can now leverage your efforts to generate more leads than you ever could have using traditional methods alone.

The key is to create a comprehensive inbound marketing plan focused on sharing useful content with your prospects. Useful content can be anything that educates, informs or entertains as related to your services. By pro-actively answering the questions your prospects are answering you will flip the typical sales process and instead have people contacting YOU.

Just imagine knowing a potential client has already gone through 75 percent of the sales process on their own before ever contacting you: They’ve read your white papers, they understand the solution you provide and they’re ready to do business. Meaning, you hardly have to “sell” them at all. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

At Creatunity we develop comprehensive inbound marketing strategies for enterprise level B2B clients. Our goal is to help you determine what makes you unique, translate that into an online strategy and increase your revenue – substantially.

10 Tips for Generating More Leads with Your B2B Website

January 31, 2017 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Websites – every business has one.

Chances are securing a site was one of the first things you did when setting up shop. E-commerce business or not, you might as well not even exist in today’s tech-savvy marketplace without one. But designing an attractive site is only half of the equation.

The other half is asking yourself what you want your Website to do for you, and implementing the appropriate systems for getting results. If you’re a B2B, we’ll assume you want your Website to increase your incoming qualified leads, as a minimum. Here are 10 simple ways you can do exactly that (without making any major changes to your existing site):

Hold a Conversion Audit

Motion graphics. Slick sliders. Beautiful colors – all of these can make an attractive site, but what many designers fail to realize is how little they matter. While aesthetics ARE important, they should never be the no. 1 priority for a business site.

If your primary goal is to capture leads, your primary goal should be optimization. And, oddly enough, what looks good doesn’t always convert. Hire an expert to perform a conversion audit. This person will be able to identify hindrances to conversions, point out missed opportunities and suggest small tweaks proven to capture interest. Take the time to conduct a proper audit and you’ll have a strong foundation to build a smart advertising campaign from. Translation: This can save you big bucks.

Track Interaction Patterns

Using special software, you can determine how prospects are interacting with your site and for how long. For example, the heat map tool CrazyEgg can show where site visitors are clicking, in what order and where they are coming from. CrazyEgg will also show how far down visitors are scrolling. With this data, you can test various “call to action” locations to determine which ones yield the best results This is one of those small tweaks that can surprisingly translate into substantially higher lead and sales numbers.

Use Exit Pop-Up Offers

It’s understandable – people want to review their options before making sizeable purchases. Why not get them off the fence by creating a pop-offer they can’t refuse?

Of course, not everyone will sign-up, but the ones who were this close to submitting their info before will. Whether you are running a pay-per-click campaign or sourcing content as part of an overall inbound strategy, you’re spending a lot of time and money to get that traffic. Since exit pop-ups are proven to generate results, why not get the most out of that money spent by maximizing your chances of conversion? And despite, common misconceptions, today’s pop-ups are designed to be sleek, stylish and inviting.

Get to Know Google Analytics

Want to avoid losing money on marketing strategies that don’t work? It’s time to make Google Analytics your new best friend. By installing a simple code provided by Google, you can easily track who is visiting your site, where they are coming from and how long they stay (among other things).

Say you notice much of your traffic is coming from LinkedIn, but hardly any is coming from Facebook. Armed with such data, you can divert more of your marketing budget to LinkedIn and maximize what’s already working. You may even decide to drop Facebook all together. What if you’re not getting much traffic in general? It’s never too late to implement a smart inbound and pay-per-click strategy. You can then get ahead of the game by tracking efforts from the beginning.

Get Live Chat Support

Live chat support is a fairly new way to interact with prospective and existing customers alike. Contrary to popular conception, there are actually real people behind those chat boxes! How it works is simple: You pay a support agency to “man” your site and answer common questions.

Entry point pricing starts at just $5 a month, although an increasing number of providers are actually offering free plans with reduced functionality. Once you’ve signed up, installation involves simply copying and pasting a few lines of given code onto your site. We recommend placing the button on the bottom-right corner, as this seems to be the place most users intuitively expect to find them. Again, just another small tweak that can be the difference between a prospective client gained or lost.

Include Social Proof

Social proof is any testimonial or endorsement that gives people peace of mind about working with you. It could be a written statement of praise from a previous client, the logo of a well-known news outlet you’ve been featured in or the emblem of an award you’ve received. Tastefully including such markers on your Website will definitely make others feel more comfortable reaching out. Case in point, more than 70 percent of Americans say they look at product reviews before making a purchase.

Great places to integrate proof on your site include the sidebar, footer and your About Page.

Split Test Your Landing Pages

This is one that surprises me every time – how a seemingly infinitesimal tweak can lead to huge conversion gains. I’m talking about something as small as changing the color of a button. While many layout practices are “tried and true,” there are certain elements that will always be unique to what you do. By using a tool such as Unbounce, you can create multiple landing pages with tiny differences to determine which design and content options convert better. It may not be rocket science, but the effects can be profound.

Simplify Your Fonts + Design

Your Website should first and foremost be reader friendly. And that means choosing fonts that are pleasing to look at and easy to read. As maintaining engaging content becomes further paramount to attracting customers online, today’s Web designs continue to become more content-based. The best sites and landing pages use plain, flat design and fonts. That means sans-serif typefaces with uniform strokes and designs. Think clean lines, bright colors and letting the typography “do the talking.” Here is an example of a site that does a great job of utilizing flat design. A final benefit: Simple fonts display better on tablets, mobile and variable sized devices.

Create a Welcome Video

As recently reported by The Guardian, video will soon account for 69 percent of all consumer Internet traffic. Depending on the nature of your business, a prominently placed video may be a great way to increase conversions on your site. Videos should be professionally produced and kept to around 2 minutes in length. The average attention span will not focus for longer than this.

As with all online content, you want to captivate, entertain and educate. Highlight a few key talking points that include your brand’s core message, what you do and the type of client/customer you are best equipped to serve.

Offer a Freemium

Consider producing a high-value piece of content that can only be accessed in exchange for a prospect’s contact information. That could be their email address, phone number or anything else that might be of value depending on your industry.

The key is to offer something genuinely useful to your prospects. For example, if you’re an interior design consultancy, you could offer a free whitepaper discussing the 7 most important things your prospect must take into consideration before hiring a designer. Or you might offer a 5-point checklist for creating a look that compliments their brand. Whatever you do, don’t guess – do as much research as you can to determine exactly what your potential clients want to know more about.

Sample Custom Campaign Title