123 eGuides

1 Minute Advice: White Papers Still Highly Valued in B2B Marketing

For a long time, B2B marketers have relied on white papers to disseminate substantive information. They'll be happy to know that, despite the growth of social media and other online sources, white papers are still highly valued.

A B2B content marketing survey report issued by Eccolo Media asked key technology buyers (senior executives and engineers) what kind of content they rely on the most. Respondents reported they read the same number of emails as white papers, but they said that white papers were significantly more influential in making a purchase decision (33 percent for white papers vs. 15 percent for emails). In fact, white papers were second only to product brochures and data sheets in terms of their purchase influence. Case studies/success studies were a close third.

The survey also revealed a point of caution for B2B marketers: It found that most buyers consume only 2 to 5 forms of content prior to making a buying decision. Eccolo Media concluded that "The more content we produce, the more likely it is to fail. Marketers have been good at producing large volumes of content, but not quality content and not the right types of content."

Read more about the survey here.

And consider ordering a copy of B2B Marketing 123. This eGuide presents a 3 step approach for marketing to businesses that is grounded in timeless principles but recognizes and takes advantage of the brand new marketing world we live in. Purchase B2B Marketing 123 today for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store or in any eBook format, including PDF, at Smashwords.com. This title is also be available wherever eBooks are sold. 

1 Minute Advice: The Acceptance and Growth of Global Online Shopping

Shopping in a retail store is far from dead -- but what used to be a simple visit has become more complex. Nowadays, the proliferation of smartphones and tablets has created a real blurring between traditional retail and online shopping. Consumers commonly check prices of items on their smartphones while in a retail store.

An additional interesting phenomenon exists as well: Global online shopping. According to research firm Nielsen who conducted the Nielsen Global Connected Commerce Survey across 26 countries, "Shoppers are increasingly looking outside their country’s borders, as more than half of online respondents in the study who made an online purchase in the past six months say they bought from an overseas retailer (57%). ...Roughly two-thirds of respondents in the Western European countries in the survey say they purchased from an overseas retailer, including 79% in Italy—the highest percentage in the online study—and 73% in Germany."

The United States lags behind most other countries in the world in global shopping, however: Only 29 percent of U.S. respondents said they purchased from a non-U.S. online retailer in the past six months. Still, Nielsen sees growth in global online shopping on the horizon. Patrick Dodd, president, Nielsen global retailer vertical, said, “Choice is greatly enhanced by cross-border e-commerce. In many developing markets, the growing middle class is trading up and demanding greater assortment than found at their domestic retailer. For example, these consumers are looking overseas to purchase authentic foreign brands, often at lower prices than they can find in their home country. Meanwhile, developed-market consumers gain access to a range of goods directly from foreign companies at often significant discounts to what they would pay domestically.”

Read more from the survey report here.

1 Minute Advice: SMS as a Marketing Medium

Are you communicating with customers via text messages, or SMS (Short Message Service)? Maybe you should be. According to information from Silverpop, an IBM company, SMS enjoys open rates of more than 90 percent and engagement rates are up to eight times higher than email. Incredibly, 6 billion text messages are sent each day in the United States.

Silverpop suggests several strategies to improve marketing use of SMS, including keeping messages really short and to the point, encouraging recipients to select which channels they want for which kinds of communications, and using customers' "cross-channel behaviors" to segment and target individuals.

Silverpop offers more details in a free tip sheet, "7 Tips for Incorporating SMS Into Your Marketing Efforts." You can request it from Silverpop here.

1 Minute Advice: New Research on the B2B Buyer's Journey

Much has been shared about the ever-changing way in which B2B marketers need to reach and engage prospective buyers. Marketing to the B2B buyer is more complex than ever, and the former strategy of cultivating prospects in a relatively linear strategy has largely been replaced by a somewhat circular "journey."

LinkedIn, the leading social network for business and professional use, conducted research on the B2B buyer's journey and shares some insights in a new report. The research indicates that, more than anything else, prospective buyers want a company to provide "authentic and helpful knowledge" in a variety of ways. According to LinkedIn, "On one hand, they need basic product information and demos to understand the product, but they also require thought leadership and other helpful content to help buyers determine where the industry is headed. The implication for marketers is that they must have their message present throughout the full funnel, from awareness and thought leadership content in the upper funnel to data sheets and demos in the lower funnel."

Another key insight: Companies must penetrate an entire organization, not just the key decision maker. LinkedIn says "We found that from 3.1 to 4.6 additional departments – such as information technology or finance or human resources – influenced the buying decision, depending on the industry. This finding shows that the B2B buying process is a team game, and your brand must be familiar to the entire team, which suggests that branding and awareness advertising is essential for getting your sales team in the door."

Read more and request the full report here.

And consider ordering a copy of B2B Marketing 123. This eGuide presents a 3 step approach for marketing to businesses that is grounded in timeless principles but recognizes and takes advantage of the brand new marketing world we live in. Purchase B2B Marketing 123 today for just $2.99 at the Amazon Kindle store or in any eBook format, including PDF, at Smashwords.com. This title is also be available wherever eBooks are sold. 

1 Minute Advice: How Soon Will Your Customers Be Wearing Technology?

The "Internet of Things" will continue to be a major buzz word as we move through this year -- and "wearable devices" connected to the Internet seem to be at the leading edge of that phenomenon. So just how big will wearables be?

According to research firm eMarketer, which recently completed its first wearables forecast, the next several years will continue to see double-digit growth in the number of Americans using wearable devices: "In 2015, 39.5 million US adults 18 and over will use wearables, including smartwatches and fitness trackers. That's a jump of 57.7% over 2014. While penetration among US adults is just 16.0% this year, eMarketer expects that to double by 2018, to 81.7 million users."

Currently, fitness and health applications are driving the use of wearables, but the introduction of smartwatches should be responsible for expanding wearables into broader usage categories. Still, it will take some time for wearables to turn into a significant market. "Even with solid growth rates, many consumers do not always see a clear or big enough value to motivate them to buy a wearable device,"  reports eMarketer. "Shoppers are also price-sensitive. Because of these challenges, market penetration still remains low and will not grow as quickly as other device categories like the smartphone or tablet when they first launched. And with just 16% of Americans currently using a wearable device, advertisers have yet to fully embrace the new technology."