5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis

There has been no greater disruption to business in the modern era than the COVID-19 pandemic. For many, it seems as though the world has stopped turning. For marketers, it seems as though now is the worst time to try to promote anything. But as our CEO, Lee Odden, said, “While there will be a period of adjustment, these changes do not mean the work stops. It doesn’t mean companies don’t need information, solutions, support, products and services.” And he couldn’t be more right. Your audience may even have a greater need now for your solutions or expertise. They’re trying to navigate through this uncertain time, too. And they’re looking for help now more than ever before. To help you answer those calls for help and know what types of content are successful in times of crisis, I’ve gathered five examples of effective B2B content marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

#1 - HealthcareSource

Healthcare workers have always been essential. And with a pandemic afoot, they’ve become the most essential. As a result, hospitals and healthcare providers need to ensure they’re fully staffed, but that’s easier said than done. Declining revenues have led to job cuts. Doctors catching the virus has led to job growth. Hiring for healthcare is undergoing constant fluctuations. As a proven talent management software for healthcare providers, HealthcareSource saw that they were in a unique position to help. Through a long, thoughtful blog post, loaded with examples from healthcare systems around the world, HealthcareSource created a great resource to help healthcare organizations manage their hiring, onboarding, and talent acquisition strategies. They also created an on-demand webinar with in-depth tactics on how to manage these constant fluctuations in job demand and supply.

#2 - Zoom

Zoom, a favorite video conferencing tool for any organization, has seen their number of daily active users jump from only 10 million to over 200 million in just three months. They’ve grown from hosting business meetings to hosting virtual classes, happy hours among friends, family game nights, and more for hundreds of millions of people. COVID-19 and social distancing have invariably helped grow their user base. However, that comes with its own set of challenges. They now have to train hundreds of millions of people on how to use Zoom, how to adjust their mic settings, how to ensure their Zoom is secure and private. They’re users needed support, fast. So they created an in-depth COVID-19 resource with every relevant training users could need. But what makes this resource even more helpful is that they segmented it based on use-cases. Need help while working remotely? You have your own section. Need help teaching your class? You have your own section, too. It’s a great example of how tailoring content for each audience segment creates a better experience; help is easier to find and the experience feels more personalized.   [bctt tweet="“Tailoring content for each audience segment creates a better experience.” — Anne Leuman @annieleuman" username="toprank"]

#3 - monday.com*

Lockdown. Quarantine. Social distancing. Between those three mandates, it’s clear to see why the number of people working remotely is reaching unprecedented heights. For monday.com, a work operating system provider, this presented an interesting opportunity. They saw that teams needed help transitioning to a remote work environment with the least amount of friction. They needed help ensuring they had the right technology, process, and structures to make remote work successful. They needed help knowing how to best use monday.com remotely instead of in a physical office. To ease the remote work transition, monday.com created a new page on their website educating others on how to use their software for remote work. This new page helps existing clients and potential prospects on how monday.com can help ease the challenges of working remotely. They also made the smart decision of adding this page to their main site navigation, making it extremely easy for visitors to access. In addition to this new product page, the team at monday.com also created a custom video and content hub to ensure their users can get answers to all of their questions. *monday.com is a TopRank Marketing client.

#4 - Slack

Slack was already a popular piece of software for any business, helping streamline team communications and collaboration. With more workers at home, I’m sure businesses — including our own — have become even more reliant on Slack to carry the burden of all text communication between teams. And while they could have taken a page from Zoom or monday.com and created dedicated resources to help train new users or customers who may be relying on Slack a bit more during this time, they didn’t. They saw a different opportunity to help their audience. During a crisis, the value of information skyrockets. Business leaders want to know; what’s happening to the economy? Will their market be impacted? How is this affecting their workforce? Slack created a report to help answer those questions, especially as it relates to remote workers and the challenges they face. They recognized that key decision makers in their target audience desired more information to help them solve top challenges like transitioning to remote work, improving their employee experience, and more. With this report, they were able to provide those insights, helping their audience optimize how they work together during a pandemic.

#5 - Dropbox

Do you know what distributed work is? I didn’t know what it was, either. And this is where Dropbox’s latest content marketing really shines. Dropbox saw that while most of the world was focusing on transitioning to remote work, they really needed to focus on distributed work. Organizations sorely needed to be educated on the difference between the two and how they require different strategies. As Dropbox points out, “remote work is a discipline for the individual worker, but distributed work is a discipline for the entire organization.” That’s a very important distinction to make as organizations attempt to navigate social distancing and still get the work done. Their thought leadership content around distributed work is truly eye-opening. Positioned high up on their blog and given its own content hub, their distributed work content is a must-read for any organization operating remotely during this time. And it all happened because they recognized a key, relevant term that not many were focusing on.

Be Helpful. Be Successful.

The true key to success in B2B content marketing is to always come from a place of empathy. The more you’re able to understand and empathize with your target audience, the more likely you are to surface content opportunities that help them overcome their pain points and challenges. And helping them = success. That doesn’t change even in times of crisis. In fact, it becomes all the more important. Use the B2B content marketing examples above as a guide when creating your own content and remember to be empathetic to their needs. If you want to help your audience during this time, learn how to build trust with your audience through authentic content.

The post 5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/5-examples-of-effective-b2b-content.html

Why B2B Marketers Should Give a DAM: Top Tips on Digital Asset Management

Why should B2B marketers give a DAM? When that DAM is digital asset management, you’re looking at a system that will improve all forms of online marketing, whether it's B2B influencers, social, search, content, video or always-on marketing. It's also one of the top investments an organization can make for successfully leveraging a digital environment that will only expand with more data in the coming years. It’s no wonder the global DAM market was valued at $3.4 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach $8.5 billion by 2025, according to report data from IMARC.

Just What Are Digital Assets?

As we explored in our introduction to DAM technology, “Why Digital Asset Management Matters in B2B Marketing,” digital assets are simply any computer files, stored anywhere — whether on your phone, tablet, desktop, network, or in the cloud. DAM software runs either on a local computer network or in the cloud, and is built to pull in and make it easy to organize an unlimited number of files — all those digital assets that organizations create and use daily. The more complex your marketing strategies and organization are, the greater the benefits of DAM will be, especially when accumulated over time. The pandemic has also brought to light weaknesses for some organizations, as remote workers place additional strains on systems not necessarily designed for unified online access to digital asset libraries. Let’s look at how adding a DAM system to your mix can help improve six major forms of digital marketing. [bctt tweet="“The more complex your marketing strategies and organization are, the greater the benefits of digital asset management (DAM) will be, especially over time.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

1 — Use DAM to Augment Your Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing campaigns, especially in the B2B realm, can involve many people and projects, often with a variety of images, document files, videos, and other digital assets. Tracking multiple versions of files — with varieties specifically created for each social media platform involved in a campaign — can get complicated, and many firms either use a cobbled together make-shift approach that may be known only to one or a few people in the organization, or end up bouncing around from one software solution to another. A good DAM database, however, can be used company-wide and is expandable enough to accommodate any change in file types, for as long as the DAM is supported by its developers. The best DAM solutions also offer transparent and robust import and especially export routines, so that organizations aren’t locked-in to one DAM environment with their digital assets held hostage, unable to easily migrate to other solutions if needed. Influencer marketing benefits from DAM through increased efficiency and time savings, which ultimately make influencers happy and better able to share co-created content.

2 — Expand Your Content Marketing With DAM

The type of savvy content management offered by DAM systems could save marketing teams 13 days annually per staff member, according to report data from Canto. The same research found that 41 percent of marketers said that digital filing inefficiencies had caused delayed project releases, and 54 percent noted that they experienced frustration with inefficient filing systems. By its very nature content marketing involves vast quantities of content in all its various digital forms, and a powerful DAM system enhances content marketing by making it easy to find all the digital assets a business has ever created, both for current campaigns and when gathering past performance and return on investment (ROI) data. Brands such as Under Armour use DAM systems to manage over 12 terabytes of content including more than half a millions digital assets for some 7,000 products that change seasonally, a task that while possible without using a DAM, really shows off the benefits of a solid organizational and archival solution.

3 — Make a Move to DAM to Improve Your Video Marketing

As with static digital assets, a good DAM system easily ingests and organizes video content, putting it at the fingertips of each person in an organization who needs it, from video editor to social media manager to corporate executives. Digital video has remained a leading performer for marketers, with 92 percent saying it's an important part of their marketing strategy (HubSpot), and with the arrival of the global health crisis initial reports have shown that more video than ever is being viewed, including 5.5 percent higher video view rates on Twitter. One of the many benefits a top-notch DAM solution offers is the ability to find otherwise hidden static content in your organization's archives that can work well in creating video marketing, oftentimes also avoiding time-consuming efforts to re-do work that has already been completed but can't easily be found.

4 — DAM Shines in Always-On Marketing Environments

Always-on marketing replaces on-again off-again campaigns with a fluid ongoing effort, continually cultivating and carefully building efforts that allow businesses to seamlessly adapt their marketing efforts, rather than playing catch-up, stopping a campaign, and waiting to build a new one. For B2B marketers, the shift to always-on is swiftly advancing, and in always-on marketing DAM shines brightly, as it removes many of the bottlenecks slowing down traditional marketing by offering easy and swift access to a firm’s digital asset archive. We recently launched a new ongoing series for B2B brands looking to explore the many benefits of always-on influence, as our CEO Lee Odden took a close at in "Always On Influence: Definition and Why B2B Brands Need it to Succeed." Marketing technology also thrives when DAM is involved, and MarTech Advisor recently took a look at 10 of the major players in the DAM market. [bctt tweet="“Always On Influencer Marketing is a strategic approach to creating communities of trusted experts that is relationship and content focused.” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

5 — Search Marketers Find Success with DAM

Search marketers also benefit from a powerful DAM system, being able to systematically find search campaign assets, analytics data contained in spreadsheets or other formats, in ways that help make more data-informed search marketing efforts a snap. In a way the so-called findability of search marketing goes hand-in-hand with a smart DAM solution, as both are centered around finding things — whether in the form of search engine query answers or finding a file you know you have but haven't been able to successfully locate until the arrival of a DAM system.

6 — B2B Marketers Get Social with DAM

Social media marketers too can gain advantages by using a DAM workflow, easily accessing digital assets destined for a variety of social platforms, whether they involve static or video content, advertising copy in text documents, or social analytics data in any number of file formats. Social media marketing is also enhanced by DAM through time savings, but also by the extra insight it can bring helping to open up an organization's digital asset library. Re-purposing content on social platforms can take on an entirely new and all-encompassing level when every digital asset can easily come in to play and be combined in relevant new ways, thanks to a powerful DAM system.

Invest in Your Firm’s Long-Term Success Using DAM

Whether you specialize in B2B influencer marketing, social, search, content, video or always-on efforts — or a combination of these primary digital marketing practices — finding and implementing the right digital asset management system is an investment in the long-term success of your organization. Finally, to help you learn more about DAM solutions for marketers, including a list of many of the top providers, have a look at our article exploring the subject.

The post Why B2B Marketers Should Give a DAM: Top Tips on Digital Asset Management appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/why-b2b-marketers-should-give-dam-top.html

Break Free B2B Series: Kelvin Gee on Winning with Enterprise ABM

Everyone in B2B is talking about account-based marketing. And almost everyone is practicing it in some form — around 93% of organizations, according to SiriusDecisions. “Not many are killing it though,” says Kelvin Gee. “That's the problem. They start pilots ... then they re-launch and learn from the mistakes. That's just a natural maturation.” This is a fundamental process in digital marketing, of course: test, assess, optimize. But in the Break Free B2B series, our goal is to help you fast-forward it by learning from the mistakes, successes, and revelations of your innovating peers in the field. And as the Senior Director of Modern Marketing Business Transformation at Oracle*, Kelvin draws from a deep well of experience at one of the powerhouse brands in enterprise technology. Walking the walk is different from talking to talk, but it’s easy to see why companies across the spectrum are seeking to do both. “Companies do need to be more customer-centric, deliver a better customer experience, personalize the content, align with sales, and measure themselves differently,” he observes. “I call account-based a strategic glue that pulls all that stuff together.” In his conversation with TopRank Marketing’s Josh Nite, filmed in Arizona during B2B Marketing Exchange in February, Kelvin shares his perspectives on what it takes to actually make ABM work, and how Oracle empowers its people to thrive within this framework. It comes down to a fairly simple and repeatable model: standardize, evangelize, train, enable. [bctt tweet="“Standardize, Evangelize, Train, Enable,” @kgee’s model for implementing #ABM at scale in large organizations like @oracle. #BreakFreeB2B. — Kelvin Gee" username="toprank"] During an expansive 25-minute interview, Kelvin unpacks the inner workings of enterprise ABM, from getting buy-in to rethinking attribution to developing meaningful metrics and beyond.

Break Free B2B Interview with Kelvin Gee

If you’re interested in checking out a particular portion of the discussion, you can find a quick general outline below, as well as a few excerpts that stood out to us.

• 1:00 - Kelvin's definition of modern marketing
• 1:45 - Scaling account-based marketing
• 2:15 - Strategic adaptations in the evolution of ABM
• 3:30 - How does an organization adopt a new marketing philosophy?
• 5:00 - Who should lead the charge for transformation?
• 7:15 - Metrics Oracle looks at to measure ABM success
• 8:45 - Overcoming traditional friction between sales and marketing
• 10:30 - Is there a need to redefine success and "credit" in order to achieve alignment?
• 12:15 - Operational structure: should sales and marketing converge?
• 13:30 - Challenges and opportunities in the industry
• 15:45 - Oracle's tech stack
• 17:45 - How to filter out data that matters and makes a difference
• 18:45 - What will marketing look like in five years?
• 21:15 - Humans versus robots, and their roles in marketing going forward
• 23:00 - What can marketers do to break free?

Josh: What kind of metrics does Oracle look at when measuring ABM? Kelvin: We actually look at account engagement as an early indicator on whether your program is performing or not, because if you're not seeing an increase in engagement from a snapshot that you might have taken before the campaign started, that probably means it's not working. Either the personalization isn't there, the tactics aren't working, you're not at the right watering holes, or the orchestration might not be right. [bctt tweet="“If you're not seeing an increase in engagement from a snapshot of before the campaign started, that probably means it's not working.” — @kgee of @oracle on measuring #ABM success. #BreakFreeB2B" username="toprank"] So that's the early indicator whether it's working or not. Once you're past engagement, what truly matters to sales, of course, is conversations. They want conversations with these target accounts, so that's what we really looked at and that's really measured by a target account pipeline, or "TAP," as we call it. But when you look at growth in that pipeline, regardless of crediting who sources that pipeline, whether it's marketing or sales, we don't care because it's a team sport. And you can see that growth. Again, you compare this with a snapshot you've taken of those target accounts before the campaign begins, you will see success, and that's how you measure some of those programs. Josh: I know that Oracle is a data corporation, and you live and die by data. Can you give me a little peek into what your tech stack looks like? Kelvin: Yeah, I'll give you some broad strokes but obviously we drink our own champagne, right? So Eloqua is our marketing automation platform and our analytics engine is all on Oracle analytics, but the important thing to understand is: We believe that data is the future of B2B marketing. Because we're not gonna have less data, we'll probably have more data in the future, so if you believe that and you also believe that most organizations — especially enterprise organizations — have data silos, and if the goal is to deliver a better customer experience, you’ve got to break down those data silos. [bctt tweet="“We believe that data is the future of B2B marketing. If the goal is to deliver a better customer experience, you’ve got to break down those data silos.” — @kgee of @oracle on #BreakFreeB2B" username="toprank"] So I always used the Marie Kondo analogy, right? Where she goes into your house and then she tells you to, you know, pile all your clothes from all your different closets onto your bed. And she tells you that for a reason, because only when you see all the piles of clothes on your bed does the light bulb go off and you say, "Oh my God I’ve got a lot of clothes." It's the same thing with your data. Once you consolidate all your data silos onto one bed, so to speak, in this case a customer intelligence platform or customer data platform or whatever you want to use, once you combine all that data, that's when you start to see all the insights of your customers. And for us, we think the future of B2B resides in a data lake of some sort. And that data lake is your single source of truth and when an account surges or rises, it'll rise simultaneously in your marketing automation platform and/or your CRM, and so that's really the important construct that we think is going to be more representative of a better customer experience in the future. Josh: What can marketers do to break free? Kelvin: I’ve always believed that all marketers should have empathy. I think empathy is a super important value that we all need to possess, because we all talk about customer-centricity, how we need to be more customer-centric blah, blah, blah. But what drives customer-centricity is empathy so, I always try to train all of my marketers, especially the young ones who are just coming out of college and learning that they have to develop the empathy muscle. And actually, I do this little "E" test in my workshops, and that is, I ask them to draw a capital-E on their forehead and then I watch them, and they struggle for a few seconds, because they realize there are two ways to control that "E" — they could draw it where it's facing the right way for them, but backward to the person facing them, or it's the other way, where it's backward for them but rightward-facing for the partner. And I asked how many people in the room draw one way or the other and it's usually a 50/50 mix, sometimes I'm surprised by 80/20 drawing it the right way, the right way being that it's rightward-facing for your partner. So I call this "E" test for a reason, because the E stands for 'empathy' because you've taken the time to think about the other person and make sure they see it the right way. So that's just a quick little parlor trick to show the importance of empathy in the world of marketing. Stay tuned to the TopRank Marketing Blog and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Break Free B2B interviews. Here are a few interviews to whet your appetite:

• Break Free B2B Marketing: Gary Gerber on Scaling ABM without Losing Focus
• Break Free B2B Series: Jon Miller on How ABM Can Help Marketers Keep Their ‘Ship’ Together
• Break Free B2B Series: Adi Bachar-Reske on Taking the Lead in the Evolution of B2B Content Marketing

* Disclosure: Oracle is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post Break Free B2B Series: Kelvin Gee on Winning with Enterprise ABM appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/break-free-b2b-series-kelvin-gee-on.html

Featured Snippets for Ecommerce Stores: How to Capture Them

You have an eCommerce store, but no one is finding it.

What’s the problem?

Is it that people aren’t searching for the product or service that you offer?

Probably not.

You likely have an issue with Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO.

SEO is a series of content tweaks and link building that takes place both on and off your site. Through eCommerce SEO, you can raise your eCommerce store from relative obscurity into an internet hotbed of activity.

The SEO score of your site determines where you rank on Google. That coveted number one spot is the goal for every SEO marketer.

But what if I were to tell you that there’s a slot ahead of the number one result? What if you could have your site appear before any organic search result?

It’s possible, but it will take some work. You’ll need to show in the “featured snippet” for your desired search term.

Featured snippets are bits of content that answer a search query. They appear before even the number one ranked site for a specific topic.

But ranking for a featured snippet is not easy.

In this article, we will talk about what a featured snippet is, and touch on how you can incorporate featured snippets into your SEO strategy. After that, we will give you all of the wheres, the whats, and the hows of featured snippet marketing.

What is a Featured Snippet?

Featured snippets can be a gold mine for marketers. It’s a block of text that appears at the very top of specific search results, usually answering a question posed by the searcher.

What makes a featured snippet so valuable to your eCommerce store?

Featured snippets appear first in Google, before even the number one result.

That’s why featured snippets are known in the SEO world as “Position Zero.”

Here’s an example:

If your information is useful, a searcher will not have to scroll beyond your snippet to get the answer to their question.

This not only puts you at the very front of the line, but it often makes the line behind you irrelevant.

Featured snippets, due to their prominent positioning and informative layout, capture the attention of searching users in a way that an organic link and even a paid ad can’t do.

Unfortunately, featured snippets are challenging to rank for. Much like the majority of SEO, Google has a formula in place that allows it to choose the best and most relevant content to show in the featured snippet..

Typically, there are no guarantees associated with featured snippets, but when you can get one, your click-through rate will skyrocket.

To put this in perspective, think of the number of sites that pop up for any search. There are typically thousands of them. The first page holds the top 10 results. That’s coveted in and of itself.

But only one site out of all these thousands will be chosen for a featured snippet.

When Google puts you on the first page, it’s telling the user that you are an authority on this subject. When it lists you for a featured snippet, it is showing the user that you are the authority on this subject.

Consider Snippets when Creating Content

Featured snippets don’t happen by accident. You have to seek them out, and you should start that process early on when you’re developing your content strategy.

When you’re writing out your product pages, it’s helpful to include content that works with featured snippets.

Featured snippets are often the answer to a question posed by a searcher. Figure out what your audience is searching for, and you’ll understand how best to design your content around featured snippets.

Not every search query has a featured snippet, so you’ll have to choose carefully.

(Image Source)

Once you have the question, make sure to ask that question verbatim somewhere in your on-page content. Then, you have to give a great answer to it on the same page.

Structuring Your Answer for Featured Snippets

Featured snippets need to have complete answers presented in one of three ways:

1. Using a table
2. Making a list – When doing this, make sure to use bullet points to illustrate your answer. It’s easy to read, and it’s popular with Google
3. Writing in a paragraph

It’s up to you to determine which format you should use when answering your chosen questions.

If your question features multiple steps, consider making a numbered list. That’s always the best way to illustrate a process. If it’s an informational question asking for a definition, answer it in paragraph format.

Do Your Research

SEO is all about research. Before you type out the first word of content or seek out your first backlink, you need to create a detailed plan of attack.

SEO research has a lot to do with your audience. You have to understand who they are. Once you know that, you have to understand their pain points. Then, once you have a strong sense of those pain points, you have to figure out not only what they are searching for but how they are searching for it.

That’s vital when you’re trying to score a featured snippet. You have to know not only what keywords are relevant to your audience, but you also have to figure out what questions they’re asking using those keywords.

Use Google’s Keyword Planner

One of the best ways to do this is to use Google’s Keyword Planner tool. This is a free service from Google which shows you the search volume for your chosen questions.

It also works for generic keyword targeting:

By doing this, you can determine which questions your audience is asking and which you should be targeting with search optimization on your ecommerce website, blog, and product pages.

Competitive Analysis

After you’ve determined what significant questions your audience is asking, it’s time for a little competitor analysis.

Type your target questions into Google and see what pops up.

Take a long hard look at the results on the first page. Then, look into the current featured snippet on that page (if there are any).

There are two questions you’ll need to ask yourself immediately.

1. What are they doing right?
2. How can you do better?

Do a deep dive into the ranking website. If they’re ranking in the featured snippet, then their SEO game is on point. Figure out what keywords they’re going for and try to model your content toward those terms. You need to beat them at their own game.

Also, take careful note of how they’re answering the question. Are they using a paragraph format where a table or list might serve better? Are they leaving out any vital information? Are they including information that you weren’t planning on tossing in there?

Once you know the competition, your goal has to be answering the question in a better and more complete way in order to overtake them and claim the featured snippet spot.

It’s not going to happen overnight, but with the right amount of research, determination, and patience, it is possible.

The Where, What, and How of Featured Snippets for Online Stores

When trying to rank for a featured snippet, there are some criteria you’re going to have to meet. If you have any hope of achieving featured snippet supremacy, you have to create a checklist and make sure you’ve got everything in order and ready to roll out.

Page One

The first major factor in featured snippet selection is that the site in question needs to be on page one of Google for this topic.

You don’t have to be the number one selection, but you do have to already rank on the first page to be considered.

(Image Source)

This first item is a steep uphill battle. Page one penetration for SEO is something that takes a long time to achieve. You’ll have to be diligent about including high value and relevant keywords on your pages.

On top of that, you’ll have to ensure that you have a wealth of backlinks coming from respected sites that are relevant to your industry. Backlinks are the heart and soul of SEO, and also one of the most challenging aspects of the process.

When a site that Google already respects links to you, they’re telling Google that you’re trustworthy, and worth sending searchers to. This acknowledgment of authority goes a long way toward pushing you up the search engine ladder, which in turn goes a long way toward earning a featured snippet.

Specifics

You can’t mince words when it comes to trying to rank for a featured snippet. The content that you include has to be specific to the question being asked and concise in nature.

Remember, featured snippets are not very long, so you have to make sure that you get to the point and stay on the point.

Everything has to be relevant to the question that is being asked by the user. The key is to stay on topic while also including the various keywords that are associated with the matter. Any deviation or tangents are going to disqualify you in favor of a site that had a more informative and concise answer to the question.

Formatting Your Question

When it comes time to answer the question, there is a certain format that you should follow. Remember we’re going for the answers to a question, so ask that question in your site.

If you’re marketing an eCommerce company that sells lawn care products, consider these questions:

• Who should you talk to about lawn care?
• Where should I go to get the best weed killer?
• Why should I worry about crabgrass?
• Should I hire a landscaper?
• Does hiring a landscaper lead to a healthier lawn?

You’ll also want to make the question a header on your page. In the case of a product page, it could be something at the end of the description, so long as the question is related to the product and its uses.

Include Extras

There are a number of extras that you can include on your eCommerce pages to increase your chances at netting a featured snippet.

For starters, you can create a Question and Answer section of your site, where you can answer a wealth of questions on subjects that have to do with your industry. Just make sure that they are questions people are searching for.

There are also specific phrases or terms that you can use, which will let the Google search bots know what you’re trying to do.

Some of these include:

 

• “In the table below…”
• “This list…”

By including these specific terms, you’re telling Google’s crawler what to expect on your page. You’re showing them that you’re answering a specific question, and your quest for a particular featured snippet becomes more likely to be recognized.

There are also a number of terms which are known to trigger featured snippets. Check them out in the image below.

(Image Source)

In Conclusion

A featured snippet could be the deciding factor that puts your online store over the top and drives an influx of new customers.

But getting a featured snippet is much easier said than done. It takes a lot of planning and SEO expertise to be able to spin your content in a way that adheres to Google’s featured snippet formula.

By understanding what a featured snippet is, factoring them into your website copywriting, performing dutiful research, and including extras, you could stand to claim “Position Zero” on a search engine results page in your industry.

The post Featured Snippets for Ecommerce Stores: How to Capture Them appeared first on HigherVisibility.

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Always On Influence: Definition and Why B2B Brands Need it to Succeed

The post Always On Influence: Definition and Why B2B Brands Need it to Succeed appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/always-on-influence-definition-and-why.html

Cannabis Marketing in 2020 [Proven Tactics to Sell More]

A cultural paradigm shift and legislative upheaval has led to an overhaul on the narratives around cannabis consumption.

Once an illicit market, legalization has led to an influx of marijuana products flooding the market — changing perspectives on recreational and medical marijuana use.

To reflect this leap, your cannabis business’ marketing and branding need to mirror the cannabis sector’s shift from ‘stoner culture’ to medicinal uses and harmless recreation.

Unfortunately, conventional social networks and search engines place stringent restrictions on cannabis advertising — which means relying on organic reach to access your target markets.

In this article, we’ll share proven, targeted marketing solutions that will enable you to affordably and successfully reach your niche audience and drive conversions.

Cannabis Marketing Strategy #1: Raise the Bar on Your Branding and Language

Your marijuana company’s brand and language define the target market you’ll be able to access.

Traditional cannabis rhetoric has focused on the ‘stoner culture’.

To combat this, your branding efforts should concentrate on shifting that narrative to current-day thinking about cannabis use.

Defining your marijuana company as a smart, professional entity demonstrates that you adhere to all legalities and adds credibility that showcases your entity as an authority on this paradigm shift.

Your branding and language should move away from the tie-dye, Bob Marley, five-point leaf look.

Instead, consider a more health-driven, natural-looking finish:

• Craft a slicker, executive feel by harnessing sleek lines and minimalist, clean, medicinal branding.
• To enhance legitimacy, team this with official certifications and labeling.

These elements heighten integrity and diminish outdated concerns about ‘drug culture.’

Consider companies like SEVEN POINT (below), who piggyback on fashion branding.

By using simple sans serif fonts and high-quality, Instagram-worthy images, the brand conveys a high-class brand persona that steers clear of the conventional ‘drop-out’ buyer concept:

(Image Source)

Alternatively, take inspiration from companies like Level Blends.

Through medicinal-looking packaging, the company plays upon consumer trust of pharmaceutical products:

(Image Source)

Not only should your visual branding reflect the current climate of cannabis consumption, your wording and tone should also express this positive transformation.

Cannabis marketing should always utilize medical terminology. This swings audience perspectives from marijuana as an illicit substance to a viable medicine.

Consider the following changes to your brand’s language:

• “Bud” becomes “flower”
• “Hit” becomes “dose”
• “Munchies” becomes “Increased appetite”
• “Baked” becomes “Reduced anxiety”

Direct your tone toward the relevant target audience for your particular company’s products.

Recreational marijuana branding is different from medicinal branding.

While medical marijuana marketing highlights the clinical effects and health benefits of cannabis, recreational cannabis firms should emphasize the mood-based effects.

Custom branded products and merchandise, such as t-shirts and tote bags, serve as public affirmations of your brand. A strong logo and slogan, such as Goodship’s blimp emblem and ‘Higher Education’ motto, act as customer endorsement when worn in public.

(Image Source)

Equally, sending branded merchandise to social media influencers is a particularly effective marketing strategy.

Grow Your Cannabis Business

Contact HigherVisibility today to see how we could propel your online presence with a solid Cannabis or CBD focused marketing plan.

Schedule a Consultation

Cannabis Marketing Strategy #2: Inject Education into Cannabis Content Marketing

While the legal status and scientific understanding of cannabis may have altered, the general public still needs better education on its positive effects.

And that’s especially true if you’re looking to break into a new market. Though the medicinal benefits may be clear to current users, education is vital to push curious non-users into trying cannabis.

The Principle of Authority dictates that consumers place trust in experts. Through the concerted use of education, your company can serve as the expert authority needed to persuade customers to reconsider their outdated views on cannabis.

Stack your content marketing strategy with educational content that engages the audience while heightening your brand’s image as an authority. By educating users, you can shift the curious target sector from ‘acceptors’ to users.

Common misconceptions combined with society’s disparagement of drug use mean that cannabis use is generally shunned by the general public, despite legalization.

In this respect, providing reputable education can increase social acceptance. As Danny Keith, founder of Cannabis Club TV, notes “Without education of product, customers are ignorant and the lack of education is a white-hot space.”

Marketing tactics that support an educational format will increase your company’s credibility. Strategies include:

• Guest posts and interviews with compelling industry authorities
• Statistics and studies to legitimize claims
• Discussions on benefits
• Posts that dispel myths
• Expert testimonials

Packing educational content with relevant keywords will help your message reach your target audience. Try using our Bulk Keyword Generator tool to ensure your educational content ranks highly in search engines.

Cannabis Marketing Tactic #3: Target the Canna-Curious

While targeting cannabis users may seem like the logical first step, a national survey of 10,000 respondents found that 66% of marijuana users buy the same brand every time.

On the one hand, this means that you lock in new users for life. On the other hand, it means that there is little chance of encouraging an existing user to switch from their current brand to your cannabis products.

However, the same study showed that 43% of non-users are curious about trying cannabis products (in this case CBD products). In this vein, targeting the canna-curious serves as a prosperous route to locking in life-long customers.

In line with the advice above, approachable marijuana marketing and sales techniques that foster an educative approach are far more effective at enticing in inquisitive non-users.

This means steering the cannabis purchasing experience away from the idea of sordid back-alley ‘deals’. Instead, instill a smooth customer journey that emphasizes legitimacy and mirrors the familiar setting of regular retail shopping.

Todd Dodd, the CEO of Sweet Flower explains:

“The customer journey at Sweet Flower begins with the assumption that our customers shop more at retail stores than cannabis stores. Our retail stores are bright, well-lit, smell good, don’t have guards at the door, and have versatile color schemes that don’t overwhelm the products, so we follow that retail model — open, bright, airy, and melt the security and compliance functions into the background as much as possible, only to the extent required by laws, rules, and regulations.”

Here’s a snapshot of Sweet Flower’s store:

(Image Source)

The canna-curious target audience responds more positively toward experience-based messaging rather than images of ‘getting high’.

In this respect, emphasizing legalization and safety through ‘tried-and-testing’ labeling and educational materials cultivates a reassuring environment.

In the words of Jamie Warm, the CEO of Henry’s Original…

“Canna-curious consumers want to know they are purchasing safe, high-quality, and legally compliant products from a tried-and-tested brand. On every Henry’s Original package, you’ll see a Clean Green–certified sticker. The certification verifies sustainable, natural, and organic cultivation practices; pre approved plants, soil, and nutrients; full legal compliance; and crop inspection.”

Cannabis Marketing Tactic #4: Focus on Customers’ Experiences

Social media can be a minefield when it comes to marijuana marketing.

The prohibition of smoking and cannabis-related imagery makes social media marketing and advertising difficult.

To combat this, angle pay per click advertising toward customer experiences:

• Ensure that PPC campaigns and social media imagery reflect the feelings that customers get from your products
• Try to incorporate primary perspectives from real-world customers
• Have recreational users describe how your products improved their mood
• Ask medicinal users to describe the health improvements

Not only will this increase your credibility, but first-hand customer experiences also boost trustworthiness in the consumer space. Try inserting user-generated content, reviews, and ratings, testimonials, and feelings-based graphics into your content strategy.

Cannabis Marketing Tactic #5: Leverage Influencer Marketing

One of the top ways to incorporate user-generated content into your cannabis marketing strategy is to leverage influencer marketers. As social media influencers aren’t technically advertising channels, they bypass the restrictions on PPC advertising.

Since social advertising is a strict no-no, this limits Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest (etc) marketing campaigns.

As a result, harnessing influencers on each of these social media platforms becomes the number one route to reaching audiences across these social networks.

Luckily, consumer behavior today relies heavily on the recommendation market. And this is especially true in the cannabis industry, where word-of-mouth and social media serve as the top marketing methods.

In fact, 68% of 18-34-year-old social media users are likely to purchase a product after seeing a friend’s post.

Instagram account, @womenofweeduk, is a great example of this. Promoting women-led marijuana business, @womenofweeduk acts as a promoter to connect customers to brands that serve their needs.

It is important to adhere to certain behaviors to prevent your influencer posts from being flagged or taken down:

• Don’t advertise prices or discounts
• Don’t advertise where products can be purchased
• Make sure nothing targets children
• Put a disclaimer on all posts

To widen your reach on social media, encourage your influencers to add relevant hashtags. These hashtags should be coherent with your entire marketing strategy. Using a keyword tool to find hashtags that relate to your other content marketing strategies.

Grow Your Cannabis Business

Contact HigherVisibility today to see how we could propel your online presence with a solid Cannabis or CBD focused marketing plan.

Schedule a Consultation

Cannabis Marketing Tactic #6: Connect with Niche Audiences via Cannabis Podcasts

Podcasts allow you to connect with the niche target audience already on the cannabis bandwagon.

This content format is less restrictive on promotion and advertising than conventional social media. What’s more, podcasts encourage long-form educational conversations surrounding cannabis use.

Where social media posts are constantly competing with each other for screen time, a listener tunes into a podcast to specifically engage in the content being shared.

Podcast listeners are likely to be more attuned to the message you are attempting to convey.

This means podcast listeners are better poised to buy into the concept behind your cannabis business. As a result, podcasts are a far more cost-effective strategy for cannabis marketing.

Your business cuts straight to the relevant audience on platforms with which they are already engaging.

There are various methods for tapping the podcast market:

1. Sponsorship:

You can sponsor an existing podcast, giving yourself space to advertise on the platform — usually before the podcast starts or in an interval in the middle.

Advertising can be a quick route to selling to your relevant audience, especially with the promise of a discount code.

2. Guest speaking:

Alternatively, marketing your company as a guest speaker on a podcast gives you a good chunk of time to speak passionately about the ethos and values behind your brand, as well as educating the audience.

This route enables you to solidify your cannabis company as an authority in the industry.

(Image Source)

Try diversifying your reach.

Don’t just stick to cannabis podcasts. Why not take the stage on shows that discuss health and wellness, entrepreneurialism, society and culture, spirituality, science, agriculture, and so on?

Depending on the product you sell, your reach is limited only by how creatively you feel you resonate with a topic’s audience.

Alternatively, you could always create your own podcast. Harness the different facets of your business’ benefits and invite experts to support these positive attributes.

Cannabis Marketing Tactic #7: Showcase Your Brand at Cannabis Events

The boom of the cannabis industry has led to a rise in expos, events, conferences, and festivals worldwide.

These events serve as excellent networking platforms to connect with potential customers, B2B suppliers, and industry contacts.

Each event serves up a different target audience. Where Switzerland’s Cannatech event is likely to provide technology-focused customers, California’s Cannagrow Expo is geared toward growers and agriculture-driven individuals.

(Image Source)

These events also offer a physical location for you to sell merchandise to widen your scope.

With more people sporting your logo and branding, you can broaden your geographical reach as they indirectly market within their own communities.

Cannabis Marketing Tactic #8: Access Your Audience on Cannabis Social Networks

Where conventional social media platforms limit the content of your PPC campaigns, cannabis-oriented social networks have sprung up to fill this gap.

Providing platforms for users and businesses to offer cannabis-based support and advice, cannabis social networks are alive with thriving communities of potential customers.

Each cannabis social network targets a different aspect of the industry. This offers the chance to use various angles to approach future markets.

For example, Grasscity Forums provides an open discussion platform for people to ask about cannabis-based solutions and share education. For medicinal cannabis companies, this provides an ideal opportunity to proffer products that help deal with problems that members are discussing.

Weedable is another social network that doubles up as a marketplace for cannabis products. Here, companies can build a business profile and open another channel to sales to a direct target market:

Dispensaries, both online and bricks-and-mortar, can benefit from Bud Hubz. Here, customers identify and rate dispensaries. If you are a cannabis dispensary, this network is the ideal place to build a solid reputation within the cannabis community.

Grow Your Cannabis Business

Contact HigherVisibility today to see how we could propel your online presence with a solid Cannabis or CBD focused marketing plan.

Schedule a Consultation

Final Thoughts

Restrictions on conventional social media channels make cannabis digital marketing more difficult than other industries. Due to the sensitive nature of cannabis and society’s previous poor perception, the cannabis industry needs to work harder to shift perspectives on cannabis.

For cannabis companies, this means more conscientious branding that reflects health-conscious values and professionalism to foster assurances around safety and legitimacy.

In terms of digital marketing, this means finding creative ways to bypass limiting social media advertising rules.

While it may seem simple on paper, the huge surge in the cannabis industry makes it difficult to pinpoint respectable channels for digital marketing.

• Which podcasts are most valued?
• Which social media influencers have the best reputation?
• Which cannabis events are cost-effective?

But with strategic thinking and planning focused on organic traffic, SEO will reign supreme for cannabis businesses. There are lots of opportunities to succeed and the businesses that start now will have a tremendous head start when rules become more lax.

The post Cannabis Marketing in 2020 [Proven Tactics to Sell More] appeared first on HigherVisibility.

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B2B Marketing News: The B2B Categories Rising During Crisis, New Search Traffic Data, B2B Marketplaces See Growth, & Google’s New Ad Features

10 B2B Tech Categories Gaining Interest Because of COVID-19 Telemedicine, electronic signature, online conferencing, and mobile app development were the most swiftly-rising B2B technology software categories, according to recently-released report data, showing rises of as much as 613 percent since the global health crisis began. MarketingProfs Magnifying the Massive Growth of B2B Marketplaces 87 percent of B2B buyers and 97 percent of millennial B2B buyers purchase through online marketplaces, according to recently-released report data, also showing that millennials have preferred review websites and web search as top pre-purchase research resources. G2 Exclusive: Mary Meeker's coronavirus trends report Mary Meeker, publisher of the Internet trends report since 1995, recently released a special coronavirus trends update, which found that on-demand platforms and online marketplaces have been seeing big numbers and high growth, among other items of interest to B2B marketers. Axios LinkedIn Is Working on Polls and a New Hashtag 'Presentation Mode Microsoft-owned LinkedIn (client) has been testing poll and hashtag presentation mode features, items that could eventually become part of the professional social network for its 675+ million members. Social Media Today Marketing Benchmarks and Trends Overview: The Surprising Impact of COVID-19 on Organic Search Traffic Some 63 percent of marketers said that they are increasing their focus on SEO due to the ongoing global health crisis, while organic search traffic for overall B2B industries grew by 11 percent during the first quarter of 2020, according to new survey data of interest to digital marketers. Skyword How Different Generations of Consumers Use Social Media [Infographic] Gen Z is most likely to use Instagram to follow brands, while millennials and Gen X prefer Facebook, according to recently-released business and consumer survey data, which also showed that when it came to making purchasing decisions, YouTube was the leading social media platform for members of all three demographics. Social Media Today Millennials, Gen Z Want Distraction—and Action—From Brands During Crisis During the pandemic, baby boomers say that they want brands to support their employees and donate to the needy, while younger generations say they are paying more attention to how brands are advertising, according to recently-released survey data. Adweek Facebook Is Testing Longer-Lasting Stories, With an Option to Keep Stories Active for 3 Days Facebook has been testing an option that allows ephemeral stories to extend their traditional publishing lifespan from 24-hour to three days, a feature that could eventually attract more brands to Facebook Stories. Social Media Today Google Ads Data Hub testing audience lists for display campaigns, adding new features Google has begun testing an array of new features within its Google Ads Data Hub — changes that could bring marketers the ability to work with same-day impression data, new sand-boxing options, and more, the search giant recently announced. Marketing Land Strength in Customer Journey Mapping A Distinguishing Factor for B2B CX Leaders Mapping out customer journeys to learn key touch-points is the primary characteristic of B2B marketing customer experience (CX) leaders, according to newly-released survey data, followed by collecting and acting on Net Promoter Scores. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at urgency without clarity on digital transformation by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Facebook Employee Wastes Whole Day on Facebook Again — The Hard Times TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — Why Personal Branding Is More Important Than Ever For The C-Suite — Forbes
• Lee Odden — 28 Social Media Experts to Learn From (Listed by Platform and Skill) — Social Agency Scout
• Joshua Nite — 10 Tips for Changing Business Strategies During Times of Crisis — Small Business Trends
• Lee Odden — Up next on Live with Search Engine Land: Content marketing during COVID-19 — Search Engine Land

Do you have your own top B2B content marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week? Please let us know in the comments below. Thank you for taking the time to join us, and we hope you'll return next Friday for more of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don't miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

The post B2B Marketing News: The B2B Categories Rising During Crisis, New Search Traffic Data, B2B Marketplaces See Growth, & Google’s New Ad Features appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/b2b-marketing-news-b2b-categories.html

Should B2B Marketers Embrace Ephemeral Content?

One great thing about being a young Gen X’er: There was no social media during my junior high and high school years.  Young millennials weren’t so lucky. They chronicled their adolescence in excruciating detail on Myspace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, every half-formed thought and laundry-detergent-eating stunt preserved forever. So it’s no surprise that the youngest social media users leapt on Snapchat when it launched. Snapchat Stories provided the feeling of togetherness that social media’s good at, without the potential to embarrass your future self. Other platforms were quick to buy into the idea of ephemeral content — content that expires and is deleted after a set period of time, usually 24 hours. Instagram’s creatively-named offering, Instagram Stories, boasts 500 million daily users. That’s more daily users for a single feature on Instagram than there are for the entirety of Twitter.  But don’t count Twitter out just yet — they’re testing their own ephemeral content, called, unfortunately, “Fleets.” Even the level-headed folks at LinkedIn* are testing LinkedIn Stories with a handful of users. For B2B content marketers, ephemeral content seems like the opposite of everything we try to do. DISPOSABLE content? No SEO value, no repurposing potential… what’s the point? Should B2B marketers go ephemeral? It depends. Here’s what you need to know.

Ephemeral Content for B2B Marketers

Before we get into specifics, you should first consider ephemeral content the same way you would any content. I’d recommend asking the following four questions.

Four Questions B2B Marketers Should Ask about Ephemeral Content

These questions aren’t unique to ephemeral content, of course. They’re questions worth asking for any new marketing channel or tactic. They are:

• Is my audience on this channel?
• Is my audience consuming content on this channel?
• Can we produce high-quality content for this channel?
• Does this channel offer a logical next step for our audience?

For most B2b marketers, the answers to all these questions is “yes.” If your audience includes millennials or young Gen Xers, they’re likely on Instagram Stories at least. They’re used to the format and will likely be open to ephemeral content on LinkedIn and Twitter as it rolls out. Can your brand produce high-quality ephemeral content? That’s one of the chief selling points of Stories — they’re easy and cheap to produce. There are robust tools for creating them built into the platforms that host them. And audiences expect a more informal, less-produced content experience. As far as next steps go, Instagram Stories are actually more marketer-friendly than Instagram posts. Users can swipe up in a story to go directly to another piece of content, a lead gen form, or any other hyperlink. There’s no “Please visit the link in our bio” for Stories — it’s an immediate pass-through. Now, if your offering skews more to the Boomer demographic, or you’re courting people too hip — or technology-averse — to be on social media, you might hold off. But it’s safe to say the majority of B2B marketers can get some juice out of ephemeral content.

How to Make the Most of Ephemeral Content for B2B

You don’t get the opportunity to build a content library with ephemeral content. By its nature, it should serve a different purpose than blog posts or eBooks. Think about building an audience and engaging them on a regular basis, rather than creating a library people wander in and out of.

Focus on Your People, Not Your Product

There are plenty of outlets for you to serve up product information and sales brochures. Ephemeral content is better suited for highlighting the people who work for your company. Focus on what makes them unique, what makes them relatable, and what makes them excellent at serving your customers.  Mailchimp is great at this type of story. Their “Day in the Life” series highlights and celebrates individual employees. [bctt tweet="“Ephemeral content is better suited for highlighting the people who work for your company. Focus on what makes them unique, what makes them relatable, and what makes them excellent at serving your customers.” @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

Be Passionate about Purpose

For a growing majority of consumers, what a brand sells is less important than what the brand stands for. We’re looking to buy from businesses that share our values, and B2B buyers are no exception. Ephemeral content is a good way to get the message out about your brand’s larger purpose in the world, to highlight your vision for the future and your progress towards those goals.  Lush is great at blending their purpose with their more product-centered ephemeral content. It only takes a few Instagram Stories to see exactly where they stand and what they value. 

Show Your Personality

If your organization is still looking for permission to loosen up a little, ephemeral content is your permission slip. It’s a format with lower audience expectations, one that’s focused on short-form, entertaining content, and one that won’t linger to haunt you until the end of time.  So it’s well worth experimenting with your brand’s voice and personality. You may find that B2B buyers are just as starved for entertainment as the rest of us. Cisco is absolutely killing it with their Stories right now. The playful, energetic tone isn’t what you would expect from a staid titan of industry, but it’s delightful to watch. [bctt tweet="“If your organization is still looking for permission to loosen up a little, ephemeral content is your permission slip.” @NiteWrites" username="toprank"]

Serialize Your Content

Ephemeral content is all about building an audience that will make your feed appointment viewing. Serialized content can help establish that habit. There are a few easy ways to serialize:

• Establish regular features, like Mantra Monday, Thoughtful Thursday, or Whiskey Wednesday (okay, maybe not the last one)
• Chop up a long-form video into segments and air them sequentially
• Focus on a different department every week to explore your organization

For longer-form serialized content, it’s worth creating an IGTV Series. Series come with tools to help you create and promote new episodes to bring in subscribers. Check out General Electric’s Taking the World to Work series for inspiration.

Let’s Get Ephemeral!

Ephemeral content is one of the primary ways people are using social media — which means it’s relevant for any B2B business with an audience on social platforms. Adding ephemeral content to your content marketing strategy will exercise a different set of muscles than your regular content creation, but it’s a form that rewards continued experimentation. Need help with ephemeral or evergreen content? Our content marketing team is ready. * Note: LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post Should B2B Marketers Embrace Ephemeral Content? appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/should-b2b-marketers-embrace-ephemeral.html

13 Ways B2B Influencer Marketing Offers Brands an Ideal Alternative to the Benefits of Physical Events

B2B influencer marketing is an ideal way for brands to drive digital conversations during the global health crisis, and we have 13 ways influencers can virtually deliver many of the benefits that have been lost due to postponed or cancelled real-world events. With 45 percent of consumers spending more time on social media and 95 percent spending more time on in-home media consumption according to a recent GlobalWebIndex survey, now is an ideal time for brands to drive digital conversations using influencer marketing. Another recent survey found that 92 percent of marketers believe putting on successful virtual events will be important or critical in the coming months. Some brands have already chosen to postpone or cancel their events all the way through the middle of 2021, including major players Facebook and Microsoft. Physical events typically offer a well-rounded array of benefits to everyone involved, from the organizers to attendees, exhibitors, partners, sponsors, speakers, and more. Some of the traditional benefits of real-world events include:

• Boosting Brand Awareness
• Gaining New Audiences & Clients
• Forging New Business Relationships
• Building Highly Targeted Leads
• Researching Competitors
• Education
• Creating Lasting Impressions
• Networking
• Advertising & Sponsorship Opportunities
• Providing Giveaway & Contest Opportunities
• Saving Time with All-In-One Conference Experiences
• Accessing Key People
• Testing New Products & Services
• Connecting with Attendees

As brands look to utilize virtual events it can be daunting to find relevant substitutes for all of these benefits that real-world events provide, and many have been asking themselves “How can I replace these key real-world event benefits?” Luckily, B2B influencers can readily provide strong alternative benefits that don’t require physical events, and we’ll look at what they can offer for each of the traditional event advantages.

How B2B Influencers Bring Back the Benefits of Physical Events

How can influencer marketing help B2B brands create new virtual versions of the kinds of experiences that they've typically gained from traditional real-world events that are now cancelled or postponed? “By collaborating with influencers on educational, entertaining and interactive online content, B2B brands can satisfy the hunger buyers have for credible content experiences that engage and inspire,” Lee Odden, chief executive and co-founder of TopRank Marketing noted. B2B influencers helping co-create and promote these types of engaging content experiences can be particularly powerful now, as consumers are forced to seek out inspiration in a virtual world to replace what they typically gain through attending real-world events. In substituting virtual for real-world, our client Adobe’s annual Summit conference chose to explore a “choose your own adventure”-style virtual session selection experience — a type of content especially promotable using influencers. “We decided the best way to do the storytelling was to allow a lot of user choice and not keep them captive,” Alex Amado, vice president of experience marketing at Adobe*, recently told Adweek. “We felt ‘choose your own adventure’ was the best way for the audience to get more value out of it. When you’re online there are distractions, so we had to play to the situation as best we could,” Alex added. Uniting influencers with customers and media should now be a key marketing focus for brands, according to public relations and marketing consultancy Edelman. “Digital marketing provides unique opportunities for cross-promotion in partnership with customers, vertical media and influencers,” Edelman’s Joe Kingsbury and Ben Laws recently noted in “Beyond Conferences: How B2B Marketers Should Approach a Covid-19 World.” [bctt tweet="“By collaborating with influencers on educational, entertaining and interactive online content, B2B brands can satisfy the hunger buyers have for credible content experiences that engage and inspire.” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]

B2B Influencers Help Gain New Audiences & Clients

86 percent of marketers in charge of ad spend allocation said that they either might or definitely would use social media influencer marketing during the health crisis, topping a list of marketing strategies in a recent IZEA survey. Tom Treanor, global head of marketing at our client Arm Treasure Data, sees strong opportunities for influencers as brands look to replace the benefits of real-world events. "With in-person events on hold indefinitely, marketers have lost one major channel,” Tom noted. “Events are a place to connect face-to-face with potential buyers, to share thought leadership and to gain visibility in their target markets. With that channel gone for now, it's an important time to look at other available — and often under-utilized — channels, including influencer marketing," Tom added. "Working with influencers is a potentially valuable channel for many companies. Why? Because influencers are tapped into the current mood and interests of their audience. Their insights can help you craft your messaging to better resonate with your customers. More importantly, influencers are able to provide your company with additional reach into the influencers audiences,” Tom said. “Lastly, influencers are able to work with your company to co-create content or to develop content on behalf of your brand. So, consider how you work with influencers in areas such as podcasts, webinars, live-streams, eBooks, blogs and social content. Are there ways that your marketing can be improved with the help of well-connected industry influencers?" Tom concluded. Tom was one of our “50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers, Experts and Speakers,” and was featured in our Break Free B2B  video interview series, exploring B2B marketing personalization. Among the top ways companies will need to pivot in order to embrace B2B marketing in a post-real-world event environment is influencer marketing, according to author and technology advisor Bernard Marr. “Digital is likely to be the clear winner here, and companies — including ones that may not so much as had a Facebook page before – will need to move into social marketing, content marketing, SEO and influencer-led campaigns,” Bernard wrote recent in the Forbes piece “Why Companies Turn To Digital Marketing To Survive COVID-19.” [bctt tweet="“Consider how you work with influencers in areas such as podcasts, webinars, live-streams, ebooks, blogs and social content. Are there ways that your marketing can be improved with the help of industry influencers?” @RtMixMktg" username="toprank"]

B2B Influencers Help Promote New Products & Services

With the real-world events B2B brands normally attend cancelled or postponed, what roles can influencer marketing play in providing virtual alternatives to physical exhibition booths and traditional in-person product demonstrations? “Influencer marketing’s importance went up when in-person events were canceled,” Debbie Friez, influencer marketing strategist at TopRank Marketing, said. “Brands are fighting for attendee’s attention and time, and finding influencers are there to help to spread the news on their personal platforms about the virtual events," Debbie explained. "Plus, brands still need independent thought leaders for keynotes, moderators and panelists for their virtual events. We are finding influencers have been using virtual media for years, and can easily adapt to the changing landscape with both ideas and the know-how to use alternative presentation channels,” Debbie added. During this global shift to a digital-first customer experience, marketers who incorporate empathy into their efforts are especially well-poised to deliver successful virtual experiences. “Data-driven empathy is essential for personalization across customer and employee journeys,” Brian Solis, global innovation evangelist at Salesforce recently noted. “There's no going back to the world we once knew, the only way to get to the next normal is by plowing straight through disruption,” Solis added. [bctt tweet="“Influencer marketing’s importance went up when in-person events were canceled.” @dfriez" username="toprank"]

B2B Influencers Bridge the Media Coverage Gap

What roles can influencer marketing play in providing virtual alternatives to the media coverage and product announcements typically gained from traditional physical events? “B2B brands continue to impress me with how agile they’ve been with their marketing in the swiftly changing landscape,” Elizabeth Williams, TopRank Marketing account manager shared. “Marketers are being ultra-cognizant of their messaging, publishing cadences, and ensuring their POVs and messaging on COVID-19 — or lack thereof — are aligned with their brand values. Influencer marketing is a fantastic way to bridge the gap between what once was our 2020 marketing plan and what we now need to achieve,” Elizabeth said. “We can show our audiences we are tuned into their world by creating virtual experiences that inspire. And, what better way to do that than featuring credible industry experts and thought leader influencers?” Elizabeth added. “Influencer-driven content can lead the conversation through live panels, webinars, podcasts and larger virtual events. Or, influencers can add a refreshing seasoning of the latest insights or advice on the changing marketplace. Think blogs, LinkedIn* articles, interactive assets, videos and social content,” Elizabeth suggested. “Regardless of what tactics suit your business needs and objectives, I’d encourage every B2B marketer to step back and reflect on whether influencer marketing is a fit to take their content to the next level in today’s extra noisy virtual world,” Elizabeth concluded. [bctt tweet="Influencer marketing is a fantastic way to bridge the gap between what once was our 2020 marketing plan and what we now need to achieve.” @ElizabethW1057" username="toprank"]

Boosting Brand Awareness With B2B Influencers

What additional roles can influencer marketing play in driving virtual brand conversations and boosting brand awareness? Now is a great time for B2B brands to utilize relevant industry influencers who can successfully drive virtual conversations that expand brand exposure and help with lead generation, as our president and co-founder Susan Misukanis explained. “Partnering with influencers is more important now than it ever has been. Targeting the right influencer communities can be the best way to expand virtual event attendance and reach into a broader audience — who may not have planned to travel to your live event or conference,” Susan noted. “If marketers focus on bringing true subject matter expertise to their audience — especially in partnership with influencers — I predict that virtual events will actually grow to be even better than live events for reaching and building positive awareness with an audience,” Susan added. Industry writer Katie Sehl recently suggested in a HootSuite article about the rise of virtual events that influencers take advantage of the social stories format, including hosting influencer takeovers — another way that influencers can drive brand conversations. “Speakers often double as influencers — so provide them with the details they need to become event ambassadors,” Katie noted, highlighting the strength of influencers when it comes to digitally replacing some of the key benefits of real-world events. HubSpot’s Caroline Forsey encouraged organizations adjusting to virtual events to implement “breakout sessions led by influencers and experts,” another way influencers can help brands replace some of their former real-world event momentum with online efforts. [bctt tweet="Partnering with influencers is more important now than it ever has been. Targeting the right influencer communities can be the best way to expand virtual event attendance and reach into a broader audience.” @smisukanis" username="toprank"]

Begin Or Expand Your B2B Influencer Marketing Program

As we’ve seen, successful B2B influencer marketing has much to offer for brands seeking to replace the benefits of real-world events while they’re on hiatus due to the global health crisis. Implementing a successful program takes time, effort, and dedicated strategy, which leads many brands to use a top B2B influencer marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing, which was the only B2B marketing agency offering influencer marketing as a top capability in Forrester’s “B2B Marketing Agencies, North America” report. [bctt tweet="Successful B2B influencer relationships take time to build and require time to maintain.” @LeeOdden" username="toprank"] Whether you work with a top B2B influencer marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing or utilize your own team, now is an ideal time to reach B2B influencers and work together to drive digital brand conversations. Finally, as we all navigate the uncharted marketing waters of the global health crisis, here are several additional resources to help keep your B2B influencer marketing efforts safely afloat:

• B2C vs. B2B Influencer Marketing – What’s the Difference?, by Lee Odden
• Using Influencers to Pivot your Marketing & Comms Strategy, by Onalytica
• Jumpstarting a Pilot B2B Influencer Marketing Program in 5 Steps, by Nick Nelson
• How to Host a Successful Virtual Event: Tips and Best Practices, by HootSuite
• What Is B2B Influencer Marketing in 2020? Change Is Coming, by Anne Leuman
• How to Run a Successful Virtual Event [+ Examples], by HubSpot
• 5 Key Traits of the Best B2B Influencers, by Lee Odden
• COVID-19 Impact: B2B Events [Video], by eMarketer

* Note: Adobe and LinkedIn are TopRank Marketing clients.

The post 13 Ways B2B Influencer Marketing Offers Brands an Ideal Alternative to the Benefits of Physical Events appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Article Source: http://bathseoexpert.blogspot.com/2020/04/13-ways-b2b-influencer-marketing-offers.html