SEO as a branding tool? Sure for B2B

B2B/Industrial marketing via Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a slightly different game than for others. Adding branding to the overall value of SEO makes it all the more important for us. Most would say that SEO isn't a branding tool, however that depends on the situation. An article published by Webposition called Search Engine Marketing and Branding 101 tells it this way:

Imagine you're researching a category you know nothing about - whose leading companies aren't "household names" (as is often the case in the BtoB marketplace). Suppose you perform a search on "conveyor belts" and the website that shows up at the top of the search results is "International Conveyor Belt Corp." Would you assume that this firm is the leader in its industry? Most people unfamiliar with the category would - and the company would have accomplished exactly what it set out to do in establishing themselves at the leading brand in their online marketplace where the target audience may be unaware of who the category leaders are - either online and offline.

Of course a high ranking doesn't add to branding unless the rest of their experience with the brand, which at this point is limited to the website, is also positive and demonstrates leadership.

I'm all fired up to check on my rankings and site stats now (using the tools listed on the right of this webpage, of course).

Making the most of print advertising

I'm just starting an ad program for a new product. I think we've got the headline and concept pretty well set, but as I've said over the years, the secret to the success is in the details. My challenge, like any new product, is to get sales leads, and quickly.

So it was great to find this timely article from Mac McIntosh called Sixteen proven techniques for generating more high-quality sales leads with print advertising (found via Photonics Spectra's Marketing Newsletter). Some take-aways:

• Be specific about the application the product is for
• Testimonials are king
• Talk first-person using 'you' and 'your'
• Create benefit-oriented offers, which goes with...
• Offer a reward to those who inquire right away
• Show a picture of what they will receive

I've been pondering the 'reward' idea before I saw this article, but I've been stumped on executing it. As Seth Godin would say, this requires 'difficult work'.

Marketing Nitwit: John Kerry

I try to stay on-topic with this blog. And politics isn't something I discuss with much of anyone, as I am mostly ambivalent. But I need to pick on John Kerry. Bush can sound arrogant, but Kerry sounded like he was circling another planet yesterday in an interview on NPR.

An interview is supposed to be a conversation. The interviewee needs to sound like he is being thoughtful. The message should fit the audience. The questions should get answered, not diverted. Specifics should given. John did none of these things and instead talked like he was giving a stump-speech. He got his message out, but what message was he really sending?

It completely ruined any interest I had in him. If he can't listen to Bob Siegel, or realize that he isn't being heard by millions who would never go hear him in person, how can I trust him as a leader?

Is the lesson clear enough, marketers? You need to match your message for the situation and the audience. Copy from your print catalog isn't going to work on your website. The words your advertisement says are not the ones your salesperson should say. And most importantly: most decisions are not driven by logic.

WOCAS made Amazon great

I'm going back into CRM mode. Our project launch looks like its finally going to happen! So my radar is up to find messages that will resonate with our implementation team, who will need to be my first converts to customer-centric thinking.

Here is a simple but power concept I found in my inbox this morning from crmguru.com. An article called Harness "What Our Customers Are Saying", written by a former Amazon customer support leader, Bill Price.

Whenever I start a new project, I want to get as close to the customer as possible, trying to discover "what our customers are saying" (WOCAS). Even though our clients can share reams of data on customer contacts, usually via hundreds of reason or contact codes, most of that data is worthless because agents often pick the first-listed code or contacts are multi-issue.

He goes on to share how by sitting in with support people, he was able to see things from the customer's view, and then get things done to improve their business. He also encouraged regular WOCAS reports from the support department.

For me, I hope that stories like this can help remind my team that what we are doing is ultimately for the customers and how we implement CRM needs to focus on their expectations.

The power of the web--"We need your help"

I love to use Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasonings to cook with. One of the great things about the web is how easy it has made it for me to keep stocked up on such a specialty product. Like Chef Paul's personal style, the site somehow makes me feel connected to the business.

So this morning I get an email from his website entitled "We need your help". Thinking its a customer survey or opportunity to spead the word about his products, I open the email. Its actually a missing person appeal!

The email states that James Cockman is a personal friend of Chef Paul's and was apparently abducted 9/14/04 when trying to complete the sale of a Suburban in Greenville, SC. The email honestly states its purpose is to get enough publicity that the case can reach national news, insofar as listing phone and email contacts at major news outlets.

An interesting and bold use of a marketing voice/tool, huh? For whom would you do this? Do you have enough of a relationship with your customers to do so?

My readers respond

Sorry to the lack of posts, but we've been busy with a sales meeting at work. You know, expensive dinners and nice golf courses.

Meanwhile I've collected a bunch of comments on my post about the new ThomasNet.com site. Take a look to see what others have to say. I'll be back blogging full speed next week.

Undone by Firefox

I like Firefox, a lot. It's a subtle, but noticable change from IE6. I've very rarely had any problems with websites, or so I thought.

I found a problem with my OWN website. Which makes me think that this same problem would occur on a lot of other HTML sites.

I have a guestbook form to collect leads. The form calls an ASP script in a separate file to send an email to our sales@ account. When I tested the form this morning (for other reasons), I never got the email. After trying a few times, I switched to IE and the form worked.

Now I'm in the process of trying to find a solution. But this is a simple sendmail script, probably used over and over on the web. I can think of one site I tried registering for that the same thing happened. Perhaps I need to switch to a cgi-bin method.

I like open source, but...

Not sure how I came across it, but I found out that an open source CRM program has been recently introduced, called SugarCRM. A quick look at the SourceForge website tells me it runs on mySQL/PHP backend. Cool!

So I start checking out their demo, which has all the basics there. The only thing obviously missing (and it is important to me) is a product database for proposal generation. Maybe I can get it to talk to QuoteWerks. Hmmm.

Then I start digging a little farther and find out that the software is open-source code, but not necessarily a free ride. It is actually a product of a start-up company who looks to make money on it as "commercial open source", which seems like an oxymoron:

"There will be a production support contract, a yearly per-user subscription to product updates, patches, technical support, training, and documentation." (Line56.com: SugarCRM Comes Out of Stealth Mode at line56.com)

Their website isn't that specific, but it is honest: "Download it, install it, run it for free or upgrade to a commercial license ? your choice... We only want to be paid once we have proven we have generated value for your company, not one minute sooner."

Would you use SugarCRM? Should I? At least its got to be a better deal than Saleforce.com!