B2B Technology MarCom Blog

Social Media ROI: How 3 B2B Technology Companies are Achieving Revenue Results

2010-02-19T21:30:03Z

I attended a great Tech Breakfast Club event this morning near my home in Northern Virginia, in which three panelists from local B2B technology companies shared the ROI gained and lessons learned by using social media to engage prospects and customers online.

SafeNet (3^rd largest provider of information security solutions in the world)

ROI: $1 million in revenue last year directly from LinkedIn Information Security Community, with 4 members of SafeNet marketing team, systems engineering, product management each spending just a few hours a week interacting with and managing the community.

Holger Schulze (@HolgerSchulze), Director of Product Marketing and Marketing Operations, and founder of the InfoSec Community on LinkedIn, shared how he started the LinkedIn group on his own as an experiment, only to see it grow to 50,000+ members in just over 2 years.

The company carefully measures ROI by tracking the original sources of leads and sales conversion via:

Marketbright marketing automation software
Systems engineers and product managers reporting on which members they directly connect with SafeNet sales for follow up (upon member request)
Salesforce.com

An important note is that Holger also started a company LinkedIn group for SafeNet at the same time he started the InfoSec group, and the SafeNet group barely attracted any members so it was turned into an internal company group for employees. This is really valuable, as it confirms that people aren’t going to join a group to hear about your company, but will actively join groups that focus on specific topics that interest them.

(Stay tuned for a video interview with Holger coming in 2 weeks!)

Vocus (Public relations software provider)

ROI: $500K in revenue last year directly from social media

Frank Strong (@Frank_Strong, @Vocus), Director of Public Relations, shared how Vocus has shifted its focus and made its marketing and PR teams into a type of in-house publishing company in order to consistently produce content in a variety of formats that PR professionals find highly valuable and want more of.

Social media is used to support their strong content strategy by effectively distributing it to interested followers who then share it with others, but Vocus is very careful to share just as much content that wasn’t created by them as it does its own. They discovered through trial and error that focusing too much on their own content turned prospects and customers off and eventually found the right balance.

Vocus primarily uses Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn as those are the most popular social media venues used by their audiences. To measure ROI, the company uses its own products to track the original sources of leads, and Salesforce.com to track sales conversions.

CompTIA (Non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of information technology professionals and companies)

ROI: Significant increase in new memberships and renewals

Susan Cato (@susancato, @CompTIA), Senior Director of Marketing, Web and New Media, shared how over the past 2 years the organization has focused on a two-part social media strategy. First, like Vocus, the marketing team functions much like publishers, with an editorial calendar 6 month plan that provides the framework and details each team member needs to effectively and efficiently create content. This isn’t a rigid plan though, Susan noted that flexibility is key as you discover what types of content are successful (and not) and make appropriate changes. Also, inserting content on-the-fly to stay timely is important in order to stay on top of big industry news that impacts members.

The second part of the organization’s strategy has been to create and nurture several online communities, each with a very specific niche focus. Although it’s clear each community is a part of CompTIA, each is branded separately, has its own online presence, and is open to anyone, not just CompTIA members. For example, SoftwareCEO is one of their online communities specifically for software company entrepreneurs and executives. These communities have been very successful for attracting new members that they otherwise wouldn’t have, as well as retaining current members who have the opportunity to connect and interact with peers.

The organization created over 60 LinkedIn groups to support each of its online communities as well as for the organization itself. They also use Twitter and Facebook.

CompTIA uses website analytics software and marketing automation software to track the original sources of leads, and CRM software to track sales conversions.

Lessons Learned by 3 Panelists

Social media must be ingrained in a company’s culture, it’s not just a strategy
Social media won’t be effective without a very strong content strategy
Before venturing into social media:
1. Have a plan for how to deal with people making negative comments about you, company, or organization so everyone knows who will respond and what actions to take (and not take). Be ready, be quick to respond, and be genuine but recognize there will always be people that will never be happy no matter what you do. Deal with the “haters” respectfully but focus on those who are positive in order to establish and build a following.
2. Train employees taking part on behalf of company on how to use tools (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, etc.) and guidelines for type of content to share and how to interact with prospects, customers, partners, and others
When providing content to several different communities, offer exclusive access to some content to one community for a limited time, and exclusive access to other content to another community for a limited time, in order to achieve higher perceived value and keep people engaged long-term
“Happy accidents” are common when experimenting with social media, don’t be afraid to try and test new ideas

The Tech Breakfast Club are regional quarterly meeting of B2B high-tech public relations and marketing executives hosted by tech PR firm TechImage. If you’d like to attend a future event, connect with Mary Eggert.

How Registration Forms are Killing B2B Software Marketing

2010-01-13T06:02:28Z

I’ve been reminded once again of what a mistake it is for B2B software companies to force prospective customers to fill out a registration lead capture form in order to view their marketing content.

Over the past week I’ve been researching project management software solutions to better collaborate with clients on marketing and PR projects, and as I was perusing various vendor websites, again and again I was asked to submit my information and “pay” just to read case studies, white papers, watch videos or listen to podcasts so I can potentially buy their product.

Instead of generating leads, these registration forms turn away the very prospects that you need to educate and engage with. Like most busy professionals researching software, I want to have a very good sense that a solution will work for my specific needs before I want to risk being interrupted by phone calls, emails, and direct mailings from people I don’t care to hear from.

That means removing the barriers to your marketing content in order for prospects to learn more about your software and see you as a trustworthy source, which compels them to contact you and willingly engage with your company. This is far more likely to result in a sale than not generating leads at all, or generating low quality leads because they’re still in the research phase of the sales cycle and probably don’t want to talk with you yet.

Survey Says: 75% IT Pros Won’t Register for White Papers

In an interview on the Savvy B2B Marketing blog with Jay Hallberg, VP of Marketing of networking monitoring software provider Spiceworks, he discussed results of a survey of users of their IT white paper community. (And yes, I do find it ironic that they are making people register for survey results report) Update: Spiceworks is no longer requiring registration for this survey-see comment from Jay Hallberg below (thanks Jay!)

The survey found:

More than 75% of IT professionals DON'T sign up for white papers requiring registration
IT pros want to reach out to the vendor on their terms via their preferred channel, e.g. phone, email, or chat. Prospects don’t want the vendor to contact them. Period. If they want more information or to talk to a rep after they download a paper, they will contact that vendor.
Some IT vendors offer "free" white papers but require registration. If the vendor requires contact information, the white paper is far from free.
When vendors remove the registration wall, downloads go way up. One white paper that was offered without registration was downloaded 500 times in 3 days.

Lead Capture Forms Make Social Media Sharing Ineffective

One of the project management software vendors I checked out was recommended by someone on LinkedIn who provided a link to a white paper. Unfortunately, the link led to a registration form to download the white paper, which I didn’t do because I didn’t know enough about the vendor or solution yet. If the link had led directly to the white paper itself (or page from which I could download without ‘paying’) then I could quickly and easily have found out if I wanted to contact the vendor and engage with them. If I found the white paper helpful, I would have shared it with others via Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media venues as I know other marketing pros that need similar solutions.

By putting up barriers to your content, you’re missing out on effectively using social media to generate leads.

ReachForce Increases eBook Clickthroughs by 1600%

In a recent test by the marketing team of lead generation software provider ReachForce, they removed the registration form from an eBook they had created, and sent an email to a targeted list promoting the eBook, making sure to highlight that there was no registration required. Clickthroughs to the eBook increased by 1600%, and because ReachForce's sales team could track who was clicking through, they were still collecting highly valuable information about prospects.

Registration Has Its Time and Place

Lead capture forms are effective and needed for some aspects of marketing, such as requiring prospects to sign up to receive a newsletter or attend an event, as you need their email address to send the content or event information. It is a good idea to offer a ‘bonus’ content piece such as an article, case study, video, etc. that the subscriber receives immediately in order to boost subscription rates, so in this case a registration form is appropriate.

One way to effectively use registration forms is embedding them into your content or placing a lead capture form on the same web page as your content, so prospects can contact your company if they wish, but can still view and share your content without contacting you.

Increase Lead Generation by Creating Quality Content

If you’re continuously creating high-quality content that educates and engages (and entertains in appropriate cases) your prospective customers, instead of an uninvited pest, you’ll be seen as a welcome guest who they look forward to hearing from.

B2B Marketing Tip: Use RSS to Stay on Top of Blogs and News

2010-01-08T21:00:58Z

Use RSS and Google Reader to Quickly Peruse B2B Marketing BlogsThank goodness for my Google Reader, I don’t know how I’d keep up with all of the terrific B2B marketing resources being shared without it. I know many people subscribe to blogs via email, but I get so much in my inbox that even organizing it with folders and setting up rules for specific emails doesn’t help me quickly peruse what’s out there.

I subscribe to my favorite B2B marketing blogs and news sites via RSS through Google Reader and I can quickly and conveniently see what’s new and interesting to me so I can just read what I want and leave the rest for another time. For example, I was perusing blogs via my iPhone while getting my car washed the other day. During my lunch break (when I let myself have one) I’ll take a mental break from work but still be productive by scanning blogs and sharing great posts with others via Twitter and LinkedIn.

Twitter is also a good tool for keeping abreast of new information and resources, you can use the search function for this.

There are only so many hours in the day, make sure you use tools to help you make the most of them!

B2B Marketing Social Media and Content Development Editorial Calendar

2010-01-07T19:24:18Z

Free Template: Social Media and Content Development Editorial Calendar

Save hours of time by using my pre-made example social media and content editorial calendar – get it now.

Get Ready for Social Media and Content Marketing Growth in 2010
Participation by B2B software companies in both social media and content marketing has been predicted by many to grow significantly in 2010. In a recent BtoB Magazine interview with Mark Wilson, VP of Corporate Marketing at database technology company Sybase, he was asked what he expected some of the year’s top B2B marketing trends to be:

“…What we also see for 2010 is a more systematic approach to social media. Everyone has put their toes in the water, including us, with social media over the past two years. In 2010, people will be a lot smarter because they will know what works and what hasn't worked with social media.

Another area that will be a top trend is content marketing. Everyone will be smarter about the content they're putting out. They know that it's a lot more cost-effective to use social media and, as a result of a lot of new technologies, it is very efficient to create a message and get it out. The key will be making sure you have very high-quality content.”

After developing your overall social media and content marketing plans, one of the keys to creating very high quality content and social media interactions is having an organized tactical plan. This is particularly important in organizations with multiple team members involved in developing and publishing content and interacting with various social media venues. It makes it easier to assign social media and content development tasks to various colleagues and lets your colleagues know how much time to budget for their activities.

Get Organized, Stay Focused and Productive with an Editorial Calendar

A detailed social media and content editorial calendar is one of the best tools you can use to ensure consistent high quality content gets published on time and you continue to be a valuable asset to your social media communities.

A simple spreadsheet works well, or you can create a Google Calendar or other similar tool to create, share, and update the editorial calendar.

Social Media Calendar

A social media calendar lists the type and frequency of all your social media activity. It acts as a dashboard of your inbound and outbound communication and lists the number of interactions scheduled per month.

Aside from its use as a planning tool, your social media calendar can also be used with your social media monitoring program. Compare your activity on the calendar to the number of mentions received via social media venues to get an idea of the impact of your social media program. You may find that you need to adjust the frequency of activity or completely eliminate under-performing activity from your program.

Content Development Editorial Calendar

Your content development editorial calendar shows all of the content projects planned for a specific time period. You can organize it by week, month, fiscal quarter, or year, whatever fits your needs. Content includes all recurring projects, such as a monthly newsletter and blog posts, as well as one-time projects such as a specific customer case study or contributed article to a publication.

Do you have any tips on managing your company’s social media interactions and content publishing activities? Please post a comment with your insights.

B2B Marketing Books to Read Over the Holidays

2009-12-15T22:57:52Z

While I try my best to keep up with all of the great B2B marketing books that are continuously being published, I've found that the week between Christmas and New Years is a great time to catch up on any books I've missed and find new books I want to read. While I also use this week to catch up on work for my own business and get re-organized and rejuvinated for the next year, it's one of the few times I can devote to sitting down and reading for long periods of time. I also travel to visit family for the holidays and have two 8 hour car rides so much of that time I spend reading.

I've just received my copy of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale by Ardath Albee and I'm really looking forward to reading it while traveling this year.

If you're looking for terrific B2B marketing books, here are a few recommendations:

Cashing In With Content: How Innovative Marketers Use Digital Information to Turn Browsers into Buyers by David Meerman Scott

Get Content, Get Customers by Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett

Content Rich - Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web by Jon Wuebben

Writing White Papers by Michael Stelzner

The eBook Ebook: How to Turn Your Expertise into Magnetic Marketing Material by Jonathan Kranz

Stories That Sell by Casey Hibbard

Digital Video for Dummies by Keith Underdahl

B2B Marketing Weekly Blog Roundup - November 20

2009-11-21T01:43:56Z

After perusing 100+ blog RSS feeds in my Google Reader and scanning Google Alerts, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media venues, here are my picks for the best B2B marketing blog posts for this week:

Audit Your B2B Website for Engagement by @Ardath421
Ardath Albee explains how to evaluate the website you have now in order to create a renovation plan

6 B2B Content Marketing Lessons from Mashable - by @kbodnar32
Want to know what makes Mashable so successful? Kipp Bodnar breaks down some of the strategies Mashable uses and shows how they apply to B2B social media marketing

B2B Social Media Marketing: Branding or Lead Generation? by @JonMiller2
Social media can be many things: a place to network with friends, a way to follow market trends and monitor brand sentiment, a customer service tool for identifying unhappy customers. But is it a tool for demand generation? Jon Miller at Marketo begins to explore this with a short history of B2B marketing trends, including the evolution of social media.

Social media strategy for B2B: what's required and what's optional by @Ckochster
Chris Koch considers the necessity of those selling complex products and services to be engaged in social media. His take: listening is a must, but actively participating is still optional.

Did I miss a blog post you think should be included? Post a comment and let me know.

10 B2B Content Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

2009-11-20T05:31:25Z

Not sure what content marketing is? A quick definition:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action. (Source: Junta42)

Note the bold terms – relevant and valuable, clearly defined and understood target audience, profitable customer action.

These three areas are the most critical parts of content marketing, but are often not delved into deeply enough by BtoB marketing pros. During my initial discussions with clients about their content marketing strategy or a specific piece of content they want me to produce, most have a general idea of who they are marketing to, what is valuable, and what action they want the audience to take. But as we discuss these areas further and go into detail, many clients either can’t describe specifics or they make assumptions, both of which can lead to failure.

In order to succeed with content marketing, BtoB marketers should focus on those three key areas and avoid these 10 big mistakes:

Mistake #1: Not Developing Buyer Personas

Once you’ve determined the target audiences you want to influence, develop “buyer personas” for each target group. A buyer persona is a detailed profile of an example buyer that represents the real audience - their goals, concerns, preferences, and decision process that influence their choices. Developing buyer personas helps you understand exactly who you are marketing to, and therefore what content will be most valuable to them.

Mistake #2: Not Understanding the Needs of the Audience

If you want people to read your content it should be about them, not about you. If your content provides practical, helpful knowledge to the reader that they can use to solve a problem or make their lives better, they will continue to read it and recommend it to others.

However, if your content reads like an advertisement and lacks useful information they will leave and not come back. Rely on your buyer personas and free online ‘listening posts’ such as Google Alerts and Twitter to figure out what is (and is not) interesting and helpful.

Mistake #3: Failure to Plan
Plan out content in advance and you won’t have to rush to get content out. Set up an editorial calendar including topics, writing deadlines, publishing deadlines, promotion deadlines, who each piece of content is assigned to, and any other information that keeps the process organized and manageable.

Mistake #4: Lack of Focus on a Niche

With so much information freely available on the Internet, you need to stand out by focusing on a niche that interests your buyer personas. This enables you to demonstrate and share your unique knowledge and attract a dedicated audience.

Mistake #5: Not Keeping Content Fresh

Once or twice a year, do a “content audit” to determine what content is still relevant and up-to-date, and what videos, white papers, case studies, customer interviews, articles, and other information needs to be refreshed. You can also refine your content based on feedback from readers.

It’s also important to keep publishing new, original content on a regular basis in order to attract a dedicated audience.

Mistake #6: Not Asking for Help

Many companies rely solely on their internal marketing or PR staff to do everything involved with content marketing. But based on my own experience while managing marketing and PR for a multiple B2B software companies, these people have many other responsibilities that often push developing content strategies and creating the content itself to the back burner and it can take weeks or months to accomplish one newsletter, white paper, or article. Almost all businesses can afford to partner with an independent consultant or writer that has expertise in content that is important to their audiences.

Mistake #7: Giving Up on Content Marketing Too Soon

It takes time to build a real relationship with your audiences and develop a loyal following. Some companies start a blog, newsletter, or other tactic and expect to see fantastic results in three months. It doesn’t usually work that way. But stay with it, and your patience will be rewarded!

Mistake #8: Not Integrating Content Marketing with Overall Marketing

In some companies, a corporate newsletter, magazine, articles contributed to other publications, and similar content are done separately from other marketing initiatives like the company website, blog, and events. Integrating all of these initiatives so they support each other is extremely powerful.

Mistake #9: Forgetting Search Engine Optimization

Your content strategy really pays off when it appears in the first few pages of Google, Yahoo, and Bing search engine results. This will drive many more people to your content, at no additional cost. However, for this to happen you need to optimize your content and its landing pages so the search engines can find them and rank them. Receiving links from other websites and blogs to your content is also key to receiving high search engine rankings.

Mistake #10: Using Social Media as a Bullhorn Instead of a Two-Way Radio

Social media isn’t a medium for simply promoting your company and content, without interacting with others and sharing helpful information that you didn’t create but may help someone you’re connected to. If you use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media avenues simply to toot your own horn, you are missing an invaluable opportunity to get closer to your key audiences and begin to better understand their needs.

How to Convert B2B Software Free Trial Users into Paying Customers

2009-11-01T23:11:30Z

"We generate quite a few leads from the free trial of our software, but not enough leads convert into paying customers. What can we do?"

It's a question I've been asked by clients, seen on LinkedIn and other online forums, and a problem I had to help solve while working in the marketing/PR department of multiple software companies. Since free trial offers are a main source of lead generation for many B2B software companies, it's imperitive that these leads are converted if sales revenue goals are to be met.

Free Trials Alone Won't Sell Software

I believe the root of this problem comes from the mentality of many software marketers that once a prospective customer uses their software they'll love it, and once they love it they'll eagerly pay money to have it. The prospect will convert from lead (free trial user) to paying customer without much influence from marketing or sales because the software will basically sell itself.

Unfortunately this way of thinking doesn't take into account:

Prospects are probably not only using your free trial, they are also using other vendor's trials for comparison

Prospects are busy and may only spend a few minutes with your software then not use it again

Prospects may not understand how to use your software correctly and therefore not experience its full value

Most B2B software sales involve several people making the purchase decision, so unless all of them are using your free trial, you're not influencing everyone you need to in order to close the sale

Focus on Lead Nurturing

Having a lead nurturing program specifically for free trial users is the most effective method I've found for converting them into sales. It's important to note that free trial users are usually further along in the sales cycle than most leads, meaning they're usually past the 'information gathering' stage and into the 'evaluation' stage. Follow-up contact with free trial users needs to focus on providing information that makes it clear:

How your software is different from and better than competitors
How using your software is better than trying to solve their problem themselves

Lead Nurturing Tactics

There are many ways to nurture leads, but here are a few that I've found to be successful. If at all possible, invest in marketing automation software (such as Genoo) and a solid CRM system (like Salesforce.com) to ensure timely follow-up and the ability to track the success of your lead nurturing program and optimize it for even better results as time goes on.

When prospects submit their personal information to register for your free trial, offer a simple way to opt-in to receiving emails from your company. To encourage prospects to opt-in, offer a valuable 'how to' guide or other marketing asset that they immediately receive.

Send a confirmation email to all prospects thanking them for registering for the free trial, and include a link to brief instructional materials or FAQ document that they can download to ensure they use your software trial correctly. If you offer customer support to free trial users, make sure to explain how to get help. Ask the prospect if there are other people in their organization who are evaluating your software who would like to participate in the free trial, and provide an easy, fast way for them to send the trial info to colleagues. If possible, send the email from the salesperson that is assigned to the lead, and provide that salesperson's contact information.

If free trial users haven't converted into buyers by a certain time period (whatever is appropriate for your particular software) and have opted-in to receiving emails, send them a link to a document, video, podcast, or other marketing asset directly comparing your software to competitors. You might also send a link to a case study describing the success of a customer that is similar to the prospect. One client I worked with had great success with a case study we did on a customer that had switched to their software from a competitor.

If it's possible, send prospects a link to an ROI calculator or some method for prospects to calculate how much money or time they can expect to save or amount of revenue they can expect to generate, etc. by using your software.

Direct Mail

Use direct mail to send marketing materials discussed above to prospects who don't opt-in to emails. You can send the materials themselves, or send postcards with links to get the materials online.

Phone

The salesperson assigned to the lead should call the free trial user 2-3 days after they register, simply introducing themselves and inquiring as to the user's experience with the trial so far, if they have any questions, etc. Ask prospects what problem(s) they're having that drove them to evaluate your software, which is a good way to break the ice and engage the prospect in a conversation about their needs and how your software can help solve them.

What are your suggestions for converting free trial users into customers?

B2B Technology Marketer's Guide to Online White Paper Syndication

2009-09-30T16:09:55Z

Free download: Directory of IT White Paper Online Syndication Services

Click the link above to instantly receive a comprehensive list of all online sources for marketing information technology white papers. Conveniently organized into a spreadsheet that includes all details needed to evaluate each vendor, including cost.

White papers are proven lead generation and deal closing machines. Research by MarketingSherpa shows that 69% of prospects who find, download, and like your white paper will actively pass it along to their colleagues, and 36% of total downloads will be passed on to a supervisor. 57% of IT purchase decision makers said a white paper influenced at least one buying decision in the past 12 months.

But with thousands of business-to-business IT white papers being promoted online, how can you make yours stand out from the crowd and get your target audience to find it, read it, pass it along, and ultimately buy what you’re selling?

Use Syndication Services to Place Your White Paper on Targeted Websites

A popular form of white paper lead generation involves distributing your white paper through syndication services you pay to place your white paper across a network of vertically-oriented websites that are targeted based on your ideal lead.

When seeking a source for white paper syndication, be sure to examine:

Targeting ability

Seek a vendor that can target both your industry and your ideal reader. The vendor should delineate leads based on title or job function. For example, a senior accounting manager in the health services market or CIOs in corporations with over $5M in yearly revenues. Many vendors claim industry targeting but cannot refine leads to the job function level.

Breadth of properties

Look for a vendor that has partnerships with a wide range of content sites to increase the penetration of your white paper marketing efforts via multiple channels.

Lead support

Seek a solution that provides leads in a user-friendly format, such as a CSV file (to use with Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet program) or integrates with Customer Relationship Management services such as Salesforce.com.

Analysis

The ideal vendor should provide detailed reporting, including a comprehensive historical analysis that reveals how your white paper campaigns are performing currently and in comparison to past performance.

More syndication site tips:

Take advantage of pre-populated forms

One reason to use syndication sites is that they require prospects to register or become a member of the network. (You also can use cookies or website analytics software to track visitors if you’re hosting a paper on your own site.) When a prospect is a registered member, each time they download a white paper, the form is automatically pre-populated with their contact data. This speeds up the registration process and ensures that you get more accurate lead information.

However, if the form isn’t pre-populated, MarketingSherpa research indicates only 6%-11% of prospects will actually fill it out (or use a bogus name like Elmer Fudd).

Orchestrate your listing dates

For syndication sites with extensive networks, ask to be spotlighted on the most available sites. Orchestrate the dates when your paper will appear so you’re promoted on as many sites as possible at the same time, even if it means not being on all the exact sites you wanted. The more downloads you can get all at once, the greater the likelihood your title will make the top 50 list that week. Once you’re in the top 50, it snowballs – other partner sites notice you, making it easier to sustain your ranking.

Tips for Standing Out from the Crowd

Now that you’ve identified one or more syndication services you want to use or individual websites you want to post your paper to, it’s time to ensure your white paper grabs the attention of your target reader and convinces them to download it by standing out from the other papers available.

Write a Compelling Title

The title is the ad for the white paper. Think about reading a newspaper and how you scan headlines to find something of interest before reading the article. Keep the following in mind when developing your paper’s title:

Shorter is better

You have three seconds to capture someone’s attention so get it fast with a shorter title. For example, on IT Toolbox the most-viewed white paper on business process management is named “Understanding the Financial Impact of BPM” and the least popular paper is titled “The Evolution of Business Process Management - Remaining Competitive in an Integrated World.”

Promise a benefit in the title Samples from KnowledgeStorm’s database include “Measuring the Return on HR Technology”, “Ten Things You Need to Know About Compliance”, and “VoIP Basics for IT Technicians.”

Use numbers

A title such as “Five Questions to Ask When Choosing a Health Insurance Provider” conveys to your readers that your paper includes tangible, rapidly digestible information.

Use plain English

Don’t use pompous language like “Best Practices in Utilization of Value Proposition Hypotheses” or made-up terms like “Enterprise-Level Supply Formulation Analytics Solution.”

Titles should be descriptive, not clever

According to CNET Networks Business research, prospects won’t download white papers with titles that include a play on words or puns. One example for Business Activity Monitoring software: “All Aboard the BAMwagon.”

Write your title last

As a copywriter, I use working titles during the writing process. When the project is complete I’ll go back and work on a compelling title that matches the paper’s content.

Special Tip: To test the effectiveness of your title, try posting the white paper with one title then post it again with different title. Track results and you’ll soon see which gets the best response rate. Keep optimizing the title by deleting the poor-performing title, writing another title to test against the best-performing title and re-post the white paper.

The Summary/Abstract Needs to Tell Prospects What’s in it for Them

Whether you use a syndication site or your own landing webpage, you’ll need to develop a summary or abstract of your paper. If the white paper title is the ad, the summary/abstract is the closer. Be sure to give the reader a persuasive reason to read the paper by answering the reader’s most important question: “What’s in it for me?” Some further things to keep in mind:

● Keep technical jargon to a minimum

● Address who the reader is i.e., CFOs of large retail establishments

● Talk about key problems and/or pain points

● Eliminate all sales copy about the product or your company

● Say what the white paper will offer the reader, for example “This white paper will address the challenges of corporate accounting managers.”

Search Engine Optimize the Summary/Abstract with Powerful Specific Keywords

The abstract page is often indexed by search engines like Google, so you’ll want to optimize your abstract/summary with the right keywords. Use a keyword tool like Wordtracker to see which keywords are used in searches. Use two or three in your abstract to help with search engine optimization.

Format Your Paper for Online Scanning and Offline Reading

People scan white papers online to see if the content interests them. To make scanning easy, break long paragraphs into smaller chunks. Use subheads, bullets and diagrams to call attention to important information.

Yes, white papers get passed around via email, but many people print them out for reading on the plane, at home, flight layovers, etc. For offline reading, keep your left margins wider than normal – people like to make notes – and make sure the font is black and large enough to read (especially important if your audience is older.) Don’t let your designer talk you into light gray mousey type that’s virtually invisible when printed. Stick to standard 10-point Arial or 12-point Times New Roman for the copy.

Other Online White Paper Promotion Sources

E-newsletters of Industry Publications, Associations, Interest Groups

Popular e-newsletters are generally sold out up to a year in advance, so it pays to contract for media buys far in advance of when you actually have a paper to promote. Text newsletters let you develop a text ad that looks like editorial. HTML newsletters are good, too, but test ad types to see what pulls best.

Search Engine Pay Per Click

You can promote your white paper via search engine PPC ads. Again, do your keyword research and test copy to see which words get the best response.

Search Engine Optimized Press Release

Once your white paper is complete, send out a keyword-optimized press release announcing its availability and where prospects can find it. Remember, pompous, jargon-laded releases and white papers don’t impress journalists – who want a topic that sounds compelling, fun, and useful.

E-mail Reporters re: Your Paper

Send a personal text-only message with a link to the paper. Make sure the link is to a page that doesn’t require reporters to register for your white paper (they won’t). Unless you’ve checked with a reporter in the past, don’t include attachments. If the reporter does accept attachments, send a PDF not a Word doc as they are infamous for carrying viruses.

Media Exclusive

Offering an exclusive is a great way to get better coverage and to build a strong relationship with an influential journalist. They look good and feel good when they can proclaim a story as an "exclusive.” If it's really hot, bloggers and other reporters will pick it up and link back to the original story, so you'll get more coverage from the exclusive than you expected. Give the reporter a time limit on exclusivity – seven days to three months depending on their publishing calendar – so you have the option to take it elsewhere if the item doesn't get the attention you think it deserves.

Turn White Papers Into Podcasts and/or Online Videos

According to KnowledgeStorm research, 41% of survey respondents from their registered user base of business and technology professionals (3,900 respondents) have downloaded podcasts at least a few times. Of those who have downloaded podcasts, 65% indicated they have used them for business and personal reasons. A whopping 60% said white papers and analyst reports would be more interesting as podcasts.

Ask your syndication vendor if they can repurpose your white paper content into a podcast. Most vendors can also repurpose your content into webcasts (which you can then sponsor) or they can take an existing webcast and turn it into a white paper.

There is a wide array of online sites to distribute your podcast, iTunes being the most popular. Other good sources include PodcastAlley and Podcast.com.

According to Paul Burani, founder of digital marketing agency ClickSharp Marketing, TubeMogul is a great service that enables publishers large and small to automate the upload of video content to the Web's top video sharing sites and gain independent information about video performance on the Internet.

TubeMogul Distribution Network

Website Name

5min

AOL Video

Blip.tv

Break

Brightcove

Crackle

Daily Motion

Google Video

Graspr

Howcast

Imeem

Metacafe

Myspace

Revver

Sclipo

StupidVideos

Veoh

Viddler

Vimeo

Yahoo Video

YouTube

Monitor Results and Continuously Optimize Your Strategy

After implementing your white paper marketing strategy, make sure to monitor its success. Obviously the quantity and quality of leads generated is the overall indicator, but some sources may work better for your industry or target audience than others, and some white papers may appeal to some audiences while others don’t. Keep an eye on this, and modify your strategy accordingly.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with online IT white paper distribution, good or bad, and advice for high-tech companies looking into this option.

B2B Technology Marketing Study Reveals How IT Buyers Use Search Engines

2009-03-02T20:08:44Z

If you're a B2B technology marketer and you haven't yet read the recently published Google/TechTarget Research Project: How IT Pros Search Online During the Purchase Process, you definitely should. The joint study examines not only the search habits and online media consumption of more than 2,200 IT decision-makers worldwide, but more important, how that search activity compared to the actual purchase process within their respective companies.

Some key study findings:

97% of those surveyed use the Web to research business tech purchases, with search engines (65%) by far the most popular source of information. More surprising is that 72% reported using online video (YouTube, vendor sites, content sites) for the same research.

In the early stages of research, technology buyers tend to type in two or three keywords - no surprise to search pros. But later in the buying cycle, they will use brief four- or five-word phrases, very often using search terms like "compare" and "review" in an effort to distinguish between products and solutions. Specifically, they're looking for reviews and resources that compare technology solutions.

53% use search to discover vendor solutions they were not previously aware of, and 67% are willing to click on the link of an unfamiliar brand

What does this mean for IT marketers?

#1 - Any and all favorable comparisons of your solutions to your competitors should be on your web site in multiple formats if possible, such as dedicated web pages, downloadable PDFs, and online video.

For best SEO results, use variations of the terms "compare" and "review" in the title of your marketing materials, and also in the keywords used when posting materials online.

If these resources don't exist, you need to put a strategy in place to have reviews and comparisons created, preferably by reputable third parties like industry analyst firms, magazines, online editorial sources, etc.

You can also take the lead in generating a discussion around your technology and comparing it to your competitors, potentially through a social media program.

#2 - If you're not currently using online videos, seriously consider incorporating them into your marketing strategy. Remember to not only post the videos to your own website, but also distribute them through sources like YouTube.

#3 - Particularly for smaller technology companies without much ‘brand equity', search engines are great for leveling the playing field and competing against larger companies with established brands.

Not only does this research study provide some potentially invaluable guidelines for how to develop keyword lists, copy writing, offer strategy, and landing pages, but it also validates that search can be just as valuable to engage prospects early in the decision process as it can be a means of capturing their attention when they're ready to buy. It's also important to keep in mind that engaging with prospects earlier in the sales cycle could enable tech marketers to influence the purchase process in ways not possible when entering the process toward the end when buyers are putting together their ‘short list' of potential vendors.