Eleven Rules for Better Email Engagement…

December 14, 2011Joanne CostinLeave a comment

B2B email boasts one of the highest returns on investment – $37.28 per dollar spent, according to the Direct Marketing Association. So how do you ensure your return on investment? Follow my common sense rules to engage B2B buyers with email marketing.

1) Tell me the payback.

Offer a special report for signing up. Let me know what you are going to send me and how often.

2) Tell me what’s it’s about in 35 characters or less.

Studies show short subject lines are more effective than long ones.

3) Tell me something new.

Keep content fresh. Offer new products, new ideas, new points of view. If I think I’ve seen it before, I won’t read it. Avoid email fatigue.

4) Tell me the best part of the story.

If I like it, I will read on. Don’t bury the best part in the third paragraph. I may never get there.

5) Tell me with pictures.

Images communicate faster than words. You only have a few seconds to convince a B2B buyer to read more.

6) Tell me with video.

Demonstrate your product if you can. But keep it short.

7) Tell me how to connect with you.

On Twitter, on Linked-In, on Facebook, and via email. Build relationships.

8) Tell me it’s OK to share your content.

Make it easy to share on Facebook, Linked-In and other social networks.

9) Tell me who you are.

Show your personality, your heart — even if you are a big company. I like to know who I am doing business with.

10) Tell me what I should do next.

Make it obvious. Request a quote, call for more info, or buy.

11) Tell me you know me.

Personalize my message and tailor it to my interests.

My rules are simple, but often broken. Align email marketing objectives with customer interests – it doesn’t work any other way.

B2B Content Doesn’t Have to Be About You

December 9, 2011Joanne CostinLeave a comment

I just finished writing an article on “How to Get More Bang out of Your Internet Marketing Bucks,” for Construction Equipment Distribution magazine. It was a fun article to write because it gave me an opportunity to connect with some of my favorite marketers. John Jantsch, best-selling author and marketer whose blog and book, Duct Tape Marketing, is a favorite among small business owners, was one of my top picks.

When I found out Jantsch marketed a contractor association earlier in his career, I was pleasantly surprised. He already had a very good sense of the construction industry.

What content would John Jantsch recommend to a construction equipment dealer?

So I asked him, ‘If you were a construction equipment distributor, what would you do for content? I really liked his response:

“I would recommend holding a roundtable of five or six big contractors in their industry,” said Jantsch. “The dealer could facilitate a discussion about industry trends, which would be recorded and put online.”

It reminded me that the best content doesn’t have to be about your products and services. It’s about providing the customer something of value.“There are different ways to view content,” said Jantsch. “A dealer can produce content that will be far more useful than the traditional specs on the loader bucket.”

One of the most successful advertising salespeople I know was famous for attaching a hand-written note to each issue of the publications that he mailed to advertisers and prospects every month. He would mention different articles in the issue, or maybe just their ad, that he thought they would be interested in. You would not believe how this small personal gesture resonated with clients. People would meet him at trade shows and they would say, “You’re the guy who sends me the notes!”

Sharing valuable content, whether we create it, or curate it, adds value to a relationship. Chances are you already share content. Can you leverage this same idea for your business–using social networks and a blog?

How a Blog Helped a Chicago Commercial Contractor Win New Business

December 2, 2011Joanne Costin5 Comments

If you are a contractor and have doubts about whether or not a blog would increase your online visibility; listen to Chuck Taylor. He is director of operations for Englewood Construction Inc., a commercial construction general contractor based in Lemont,Ill., a southwest suburb of Chicago. I met Chuck at the Construction Writers Association annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, where Englewood Construction received an award for the construction industry’s best blog.

Their commercial construction blog, Hard Hat Chat, has brought in new business and opportunities for Englewood Construction. “There has been a return on investment that we never anticipated,” said Taylor.

Before starting the commercial construction blog, the company’s visibility on search engines was low. But with updated, quality content that provides valuable information to their market, Englewood Construction’s online visibility has increased dramatically. According to Taylor, the blog has helped place the company on the short list with national retailers and hoteliers they were not previously pursuing. In fact, they recently won a job from a major insurance company who initially found them through the blog.

The Biggest Concern: Coming Up with Content

At the onset of the blog, Taylor was concerned about where the content for the blog would come from. He quickly found out that it wasn’t a problem at all. “We take for granted what we do on a daily basis,” said Taylor. “What our PR firm was able to do was ask us some engaging questions, such as ‘How did you overcome those challenges?” Posts are informative, keyword rich and optimized for local search.

Taylor and William Di Santo, president of Englewood Construction, share responsibility for the blog posts along with their PR fim. Chuck Taylor typically spends about four to six hours per month on a post. The company scaled back the frequency of blog posts during the market downturn, but expects that they will need to post more frequently in the near future, as more firms enter the construction blogging arena.

”Based on our activity we have more to talk about,” said Taylor. ” There are more opportunities coming in and it is not going to be long before the competitions catches on.”

Englewood Construction’s blogging efforts are focused on improving online visibility, rather than building a subscriber base or generating advertising revenue. “The end game is searchability,” said Taylor. “If you are not on the first page of the search results, you are not there.”

In fact, if you are a commercial contractor, Taylor would rather you wouldn’t read this.

Give us a call to discuss content for your commercial construction blog. And a special thanks to Englewood Construction for sharing their blogging experience with us.

Eight Easy Ways Contractors Can Optimize Content for Local Search

November 23, 2011Joanne CostinLeave a comment

To beat your competition in local search, contractors need to find ways to incorporate local content on their websites as well as on third party sites where their businesses are listed. This might sound more difficult than it really is. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Put your physical address and phone on every page of your website.

2)Add city, state or neighborhood data to all of your construction project photos.

3)Add city and state info to your customer testimonials.

4) Promote your involvement with local charities and business organizations online through press releases. Use location names in the headlines.

5) Create a page for each location of your business and be sure to include it on the site map you submit to search engines. Each page should feature unique images and information pertinent to the location. Maps and directions are useful geographic content.

6) Claim your business on search engine directories such as Google Places, Yahoo! , Bing and the Yellow Pages as well as B2B directories, if that is your target audience. Enhance your listings with photos, graphics and links to social media sites, where available. Be sure to include the cities and suburbs you will serve. A convenient way to find out if your business currently appears in these directories is to visit www.getlisted.org. It will give you a full report in just a few seconds and links directly to where you can update your information.

7)Blog posts are the perfect way to add geographic emphasis to headlines , so you can rank higher with search engines. Whenever you post a project photo or news item, don’t forget to mention the location. This ensures the local keywords show up in the <title> tag, where Google and other search engines pull content from.

8)Claim your listings on review sites such as Angie’s list, Yelp and Google Places. Encourage reviews by adding badges to your website and e-newsletter.

A Good Example of Local Search Optimization by a Contractor

If you want to see a good example of a contractor website that is optimized for local search visit Chicago Renovation Development. They came up No. 1 in my search for “Chicago remodeling contractor.”

Google Search for "Chicago Remodeling Contractor"

Chicago Renovation Comes Up No. 1 in My Search for "Chicago Remodeling Contractor

The home page includes location-based content focused on Chicago remodeling. In the footer of each page are three links to” leading Glencoe Remodeling Contractor,” “Highland Park Remodeling Contractor” and “Winnetka Remodeling Contractor.” Click on any of these and you will find a page of unique content, as well a complete listing of service areas. A badge for reviews is a highlight on the home page.

Type in a relevant local search term for your business and it is easy to see who is doing it well among your competition. With an estimated 20 percent of all searches (40 percent of local searches) made with local intent, you don’t want to miss this opportunity. Put these painless and highly cost-effective ways to improve your local search engine rankings on your to-do list today.

When it Comes to Home Page Design, Think Fast

November 17, 2011Joanne CostinLeave a comment

According to web usability expert Jakob Nielson, website visitors will typically spend less than 20 seconds reading a web page. A serious B2B buyer has no time to spend on irrelevant or difficult to navigate websites. Time is of the essence. As a B2B marketer, you need to make those seconds count. In 20 seconds or less you need to build trust with B2B buyers, communicate what your firm does, and explain how you are different or better than your competition. Here are four ways to make your home page communicate fast.

Use Visuals to Communicate Faster than Words

What markets are you focused on? Who recommends you? What do you want me to do next? These are all questions that potential customers want answered quickly. Visual images communicate the answers faster than words. What is your visual content strategy?Photos can show your involvement in specific industries. Recognizable logos from organizations such as the Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List or trade associations show visitors you are a reputable firm. Graphic buttons and design point the way to the next click.

Cut Your Copy: Concise Copy Performs Better

Who is your firm and what do you do? Leave generic taglines, industry jargon and a lengthy list of services in your briefcase. Be concise and specific about what you do, including the keywords you believe people are searching for. Cut out unnecessary “marketing speak” that isn’t fact-based. In usability studies conducted by Nielson, users found shorter versions of web pages–with 54% less text–more complete than longer versions.

Make it a Quick Read with Copy Users Can Scan

Studies show website visitors don’t read, they scan. To quickly communicate, focus on benefit-laden headlines and keep paragraphs short. Highlight keywords and other information in bold. Utilize bullets or numbered lists to make scanning website copy easier.

Avoid Information Overload

Resist the urge to add more content to an already crowded home page. Instead, reorganize content into easy-to-digest chunks. Keep the 20-second time frame in mind when deciding what should stay and what should go.

Remember less is often more in online communications.

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