Bristol digital marketing consultancy Modern Media, launched recently to help technology companies create effective campaigns, has secured high-growth funding.

The award from EU-funded Solutions for Business has enabled Modern Media to take on a coach to enable it to grow quickly.

The firm is targeting the large number of technology companies clustered along the M4 corridor between Swindon and Bristol – recognised as the world’s second-largest area for silicon design.

Director Nicola Ray said: “Also based in this area, known as Silicon Gorge, are the Bristol & Bath Science Park and Science City Bristol. “When you add in the fact that both the University of the West of England and Bristol University have business support units, which help nurture a large number of companies – many of them technology-based businesses – we feel we are perfectly placed to support this growing sector.”

Gaining the award from Solutions for Business, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, was a key part of Modern Media’s strategy for quick growth. Businesses are given the award if they can demonstrate they are capable of achieving turnover of at least £500,000 within three years. Modern Media also plans to move into new offices by the end of the year.

The award consists of a minimum of 12 hours of coaching and coach Kim Jones has already helped the business with its strategic development and positioning. “Our key strength is demand generation,” added Nicola. “We get to really know a business and who its target market is. Then we develop a campaign which will drive quality traffic to the company’s website, leading to a high sales conversion rate.”

Marketing automation is one of the buzz words so frequently used by B2B marketers. Not surprising when it can be reduce time and cost, nudge leads gently along the sales funnel and increase the number of conversions. I personally relish the chance to get sophisticated and smart with marketing automation and the software tools out there allow just that, without the heavy investment you traditionally had to put into new systems, creative and processes.

Earlier this week, I attended a demo and best practice session by Marketo. They’re the fastest growing company in this sector and there’s no surprise why. I was absolutely blown away by the functionality of their CRM and marketing automation system.

I use several tools for monitoring and tracking our marketing efforts. From Google Analytics for website traffic through to various social and search results aggregators. It’s tedious, arduous and sometimes soul destroying trying to determine what worked best and how it delivered an ROI.

What I want is a tool that can deliver all my campaigns from organic search through to sales conversions – a place where I track and measure everything in one go, get ROI metrics linked to Salesforce and one user interface that’s seamless, intuitive and easy to use. That’s just what I discovered with Marketo. (May I say, they’re not paying me to write this, I’m simply impressed).

The power behind Marketo is truly awesome. Every single individual that comes to your website is tracked as a lead whether you know them or not. The time spent on your website, the pages they visited and the links they clicked are all monitored alongside other behavioural factors. At the point where they give you their data, usually through a download form or live chat, the database is enriched with their details and previous behaviour linked to the IP address given. What were once anonymous leads can now be marketed to in a variety of different ways depending on their behaviour and their propensity to buy.

When the lead has been sufficiently nurtured through a series of well planned and automatically designed, coded, tracked and despatched emails that deliver relevant messaging and valuable content, they drop into sales’ lap. Sales are presented with all the click behaviour, emails sent and their lead score, ready to pick up on a conversation about what the lead has engaged with. The conversation probably goes something like this:

Sales: Oh, I see you downloaded our white paper on nano-chip technology. That’s interesting. What did you think?

Lead: It was fascinating, it addressed all my concerns over some of the major issues with “sniffing” technologies. Your products are quite cutting edge…

Sales: That’s interesting. Our most appropriate product for compound analysis is the RKK133. Are you aware of this product? (Knowing very well that the lead is interested as he’s just spent 11 minutes on the page looking at the spec).

Sales also knows that the lead has downloaded two other white papers on “sniffer technology” and entered the site through a search on “chemical sniffer nanotechnology”. The sales guy knows exactly where the lead is in his evaluation of the product and can pull on this information to create real and valuable conversations with the lead. Oh and did I tell you the information is presented to sales in a clear and simple way, so it’s easily understood, fits on one small pop-up on the screen and the core details are pulled out clearly?

It also gives valuable insight into the return on investment from each and every marketing campaign, tying revenue to everything from Twitter to direct mail. The Salesforce integration is seamless ensuring that opportunities are followed up and closed faster than ever before. The reporting functionality is vast, but importantly, it can generate combined sales and marketing reports that your board of directors or investors will value.

So what’s this got to do with you? Well, if you’ve got a product to sell, whether its microchips or a SaaS subscription model, this kind of automation is ideal for you. You don’t need beautifully crafted emails and you don’t have to call up hundreds of cold leads. You simply make more of those who have expressed interested in your products and service, including those people that were once anonymous, and work them down your sales funnel fluidly. It’s a completely awesome, end-to-end marketing solution for lead management.

If you want to talk about marketing automation and how it can drive your technology business forward, then get in touch.

For years, buying technology has been the remit of the CIO or IT Director, depending on the size of the organisation. They had the power to determine the IT infrastructure, hardware, software and any technology devices. They had control over budgets and of suppliers. These days, things are very different.

Who makes the decisions

IT decisions are influenced by, and even made by, those outside the IT department. The way that technology permeates our very lives means that most of the organisation has an opinion on which technology is used and how it is used. The end user has an opinion and they’re very vocal about it.

With the cost of technology decreasing and being more accessible, department managers are also able sneak under the radar of the IT department to purchase IT. With low subscription costs, it’s easy to simply expense it without the IT department even knowing. For example, an HR manager could easily outsource payroll to the cloud or the sales director could sign up to a CRM tool such as Salesforce.com.

Furthermore, as Generation Y, a generation that has grown up with technology all around them, enters the workplace, they simply won’t stand for slow, cumbersome IT systems and technology.

Then there’s those around the CIO that have influence too. Gone are the days where there is simply a huge budget set aside for IT infrastructure. CFOs, COO and even CEOs are keen to slash costs in the current economic client and with the potential costs savings offered up by the cloud, there is likely to be significant pressure from above for change.

The challenges for marketing

So what does this mean for you? Well a few years ago, finding your buyer was easy. You simply bought an email/DM data list and hit them with some smart comms that resonated with the type of person you identified in your data request. Today, things are different. Your market is more diversified with those that influence and those that hold the purse strings.

Above all, know who your core target market is. Then, be smart with your creative. Each audience will require a different message that resonates on an emotional and rational level with them. What appeals to Gen Y will be completely different to those at the top. It makes our job more challenging and a hell of a lot more interesting.

As specialists in technology marketing, we get the chance to talk to many technology businesses about their marketing strategies and what types of marketing they have explored – or even discounted.

There are common issues which arise again and again in our discussions, issues which have either deterred an SME from exploring marketing options or, having delved into marketing, led to disappointing results.

So here we’d like to explore those common issues and examine why they need not be a stumbling block when it comes to instigating a successful online marketing campaign.

Plan? What plan?

Many technology SMEs have either no business plan or no marketing plan. Without an overall strategy any approach to marketing is likely to be scatter-gun and unmeasured, making the results impossible to evaluate.

Business strategist Keniche Ohnae summed it up perfectly when he said: “What business strategy is all about, what distinguishes it from all other kinds of business planning, is, in a word, competitive advantage. Without competitors there would be no need for strategy, for the sole purpose of strategic planning is to enable the company to gain, as effectively as possible, a sustainable edge over its competitors.”

Marketing doesn’t work!

We promise you it does, but it has to be part of a sustained campaign. A one-off leaflet or email isn’t going to bring in a flurry of new customers – many technology SMEs try this and are disappointed in the results.

Any marketing activity has to be well thought through and tied into the wider business objectives. KPIs need to be set to ensure the effectiveness of any campaign can be measured, and they need to be realistic.

Finally, any campaign has to be accurately targeted at the right audience. An advert for retirement planning is likely to fall on deaf ears if placed in a magazine or on a website for 20-year-olds! Likewise, your technology marketing needs to be in front of the right people at the right time.

Where do I find more ‘good’ leads?

Many business realise they need more clients like their best 20 percent but don’t know where to find them.

To do so, businesses need to look at your data. Work out who your best clients are and what media they consume. Having a better understanding of your customers and who you’re targeting will ensure more effective campaigns and improved results.

We don’t have the money

Budgets need to be taken into consideration, but please don’t assume all marketing is expensive, as there are plenty of low-cost tools which can still produce an effective campaign; the clever use of social media – Twitter, LinkedIn et al – is a prime example. Absolutely free, they just cost you your time.

However, it’s preferable to think not in terms of budgets but in terms of the value to be gained from marketing – what will the return on my investment (ROI) be if I spend £X? If you think in terms of ROI, then investing in an effective marketing strategy may not seem so daunting.

Setting sights too high

Unrealistic targets can only lead to disappointment. Determining a useful set of KPIs is just as important as coming up with a creative campaign. If the KPIs aren’t right from the outset, then the campaign is doomed to failure.

Lack of marketing experience

This is inclined to lead businesses to adopt a scattergun approach – a quick burst here, an email there. Here’s where a professional can really help, by drawing up a structured campaign, to suit your budget, which will meet a realistic and achievable set of KPIs.

Most technology companies have a simple brochure-style website, which – as the name suggests – has the function of showcasing products or services. These sites carry some details – perhaps ‘about us’, ‘what we do’ and, of course, ‘contact details’ – but aren’t there to simply to make sales. Their purpose is more to provide another platform on which to engage with customers and find potential leads.

But simple though they are, brochure-style websites still need to function effectively if they are to be found by potential customers.

So as with any website, the question of SEO needs to be addressed. How well does the site rank? Are the pages optimised?

There may be few words on the site, but these need to be chosen carefully to ensure they include the keywords and phrases for which customers are searching.

Brochure-style websites must be easy to use. Can your customers readily find the information they are looking for? How well organised is your site structure? Is the navigation clear? Is the information on the page presented in a way that is easy to understand? Cluttered, difficult to navigate sites are one reason why your visitors may leave to go to your competitors.

Imagery is important in brochure-style websites and visuals must accurately represent your brand, products or services. If the colours or visuals are too strong, they may distract your visitors from the important information you want to convey. A good balance is needed.

Analyse how your website is performing – because perform it must. Websites are an investment and if they don’t bring in leads and business they aren’t functioning effectively. Is your website generating leads? If so, are the leads of sufficient number and quality? There are steps you can take to generate more leads. For example, you could offer a free download (such as a magazine or ebook), but be sure to make this offer targeted at your core audience to ensure you capture their data.

By analysing your website statistics you can get an accurate picture of how your website is performing: where traffic comes from, where it drops off, which keywords/phrases are being searched for.

Google Analytics provides a wealth of information, so if you want to understand how your website is performing and make it work better, then that’s a great place to start. Alternatively, if you’d like to talk to us about making a brochure-style website perform better, get in touch.

We often hear that the ‘customer is always right’ and that the ‘customer is king’, but do we actually live by that rule? Surely we naturally favour those customers that are more valuable, that we like more, that are easier to deal with or that we have a great relationship with? Isn’t it just human nature?

Well, actually, when it comes to customer retention, not all customers are equal, so the natural behaviour we take when we favour one group over the next makes perfect sense, particularly when marketing budgets and time are not on our side and we need to focus our efforts. So how can you determine whether you should focus on a particular customer group or not?

Start with your data

As a business, whether you’re an e-tailer or business-to-business service provider, you have a wealth of information about your customers. You know how much they spend and how often; these two simple measures can be used to create a simple segmentation of your customer base so you can attribute ‘value’ or ‘potential’ to the groups you create.

A simple, yet effective way to do this is by creating a quadrant whereby you can determine the value of a customer. The chart below clearly shows how you might do this:

When determining which customers fit into which quadrant, it’s important to consider their potential value as well. For example, what’s the likelihood that they’ll grow into being considered ‘valuable’? Depending on the type of business you have and the number of customers you’re looking at, this will result in a criteria being set and only you know what’s right for your business.

Profiling your customers

After giving your customers some thought and determining which quadrant they fit into, you need to think about what you want to do with them.

At this point, think about your business objectives and what you want to achieve, for example, it might be you need increased volume of sales, increased overall revenue or a deeper relationship with customers working towards advocacy. Whichever it is, you’ll need to set up an action plan of how you’re going to achieve your objective and move that customer from one quadrant to the next.

Focusing your efforts

It makes sense to focus your efforts on the most valuable customers as these will deliver a higher return on investment. It’s important to think about how much budget you’re willing to set aside to ensure the maximum gain from those customers and of course, what you’re going to do. What you offer those high value customers will depend on your type of business, but anything from a simple ‘VIP’ discount to an exclusive event will help forge a stronger relationship and maximise your return. (See my article on ‘Customer Retention: Make Your Clients Love You‘)

Nurturing the little guy

Don’t forget about those customers in the lower quadrants either. After all, these guys have purchased from you and are your customers; therefore there is value in them. You’ve already done the hard work in getting the sale, so it’s still worthwhile to market to them to leverage the relationship and the value they can offer. Consider creating a plan of action that ‘nurtures’ them into the other quadrants, making them more valuable customers and taking them on a journey to being advocates of your brand, service or product.

By focusing your marketing efforts, you can ensure a better return on your investment. If you need help deciding how to segment your customers or how to increase their value, then why not get in touch?

Effective business to business online marketing uses the same approaches as business to customer marketing. While the platforms may be the same, the target audience and how they will behave is vastly different. Therefore, in order for a B2B online campaign to be effective, you need to take this into consideration. Understanding the way a business customer purchases goods and services can help you to tailor your marketing and see better results.

Understanding the B2B customer

There are a number of key areas where a B2B customer behaves differently to a B2C consumer. For example:

• The process of making a sale to a B2B customer is far more involved than that to a B2C customer. When people make personal purchases, they look for value. They also look for benefits, and are far more likely to make an impulse or emotional purchase.

• B2B customers look for value also, but the kind of value they appreciate is different. Rather than good value for money, they seek out good value for their business. At the end of the day they have to make a profit just like you do, and the products they purchase need to support this. While a B2C customer will buy something simply because they will like and enjoy it, the B2B customer needs to see how it will function and improve their business.

• Businesses know the value of loyalty. Relationship building is integral to B2B marketing. A business will remain loyal to a business for years, even decades, if the right relationship is built. If a business knows that you deliver a good product and strong customer service, they will keep returning to you, even if it means paying a higher price.

• A purchasing decision in a business is often made by more than one person. Many campaigns are based on a much longer turnaround than B2C marketing for this reason. Changing a supplier or buying a new product can take a lot longer.

How to target your marketing to the B2B customer

The first step to building a business to business online marketing campaign is to understand how your target audience uses the web. Consider where they find their information, what services they use, which blogs they subscribe to and which news sites, industry forums and hubs they frequent.

Once you have determined this, you can start to formulate what media you intend to target. From there you need to carefully define your messaging to appeal to your audience and the media they are consuming at that point in time.

Building relationships over time

Relationships are of the utmost importance when it comes to business to business online marketing. You can use online methods or eCRM to reach your customers and build strong bonds with them, create advocacy and ensure they come back to you again and again. Email newsletters and social media are great ways of doing this.

Social media is one of the strongest tools at your disposal. It’s a good way to keep your clients up to date with product news and any special offers. It’s also an open forum for customers to pay you compliments and provide referrals. But, careful use is important. Constantly bombarding your clients with self-promotion will do you more harm than good, so remember not to overdo it. Social media is a two way street, it’s also useful to provide something to your customers in return for being your online fan such as price promotions, industry reports or free offers that are only available for customers involved in that channel.

Perhaps the most important aspect of business to business online marketing is the ability to constantly track your performance. With online marketing, the results are in realtime allowing you to instantly measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, review them, improve and build a better return on your investment.

Direct digital marketing is about getting a desired response from your customers. While traditional direct marketing isn’t really suited to the internet, applying its principles can still be effective online. Here’s an outline of how the principles of direct marketing are being used in the digital space.

Test and learn

Some of the foundations of traditional direct marketing work well online. For instance, the test and learn principle. If you’re not sure what kind of marketing message, price offer or creative route is best for your business, a limited trial of different messages or designs may be the best way to determine how to get the most bang for your buck.

Measurable, real time results

One of the advantages of digital direct marketing is that you can measure the results in real time. You don’t have to wait months to see profit reviews or market research results. You can simply log on to the internet anytime to see what’s working. This means you can perfect your marketing approaches in weeks instead of months. Automated results mean it’s much easier to see how things are going, and potentially manage your budget, depending on the type of campaign you run.

Cost analysis and cost control

With direct marketing there is always deep results analysis that looks at cost per acquisition and cost per response or click. By analysis at this level, you can use the most cost effective forms of communication, even if they’re not necessarily the cheapest initially.

It’s also really easy to control the cost of your campaign. Pay-Per-Click advertising programmes such as Google Adwords allow you to easily determine how much you are willing to spend to get an individual to response. You can also put a monthly, or even daily, cap on your spend.

Starting a strong direct digital marketing campaign

So, if you think that direct digital marketing might work for you, what’s the next step? Well, it’s all about getting the click. While traditional advertising mediums allow for space, time, graphics, or even videos, all of these things are at a premium on the internet. Online you have limited time and space, and little opportunity for graphics or sound.

You need really strong, effective, and most importantly short copy to get the click. It only takes a few words to get the attention of your customer, but they need to be the right few words. Long copy doesn’t tend to work online, there’s just too much there to distract, plus it can be quite difficult to read from the screen.

The call to action is always going to be important. Whether it’s a purchase, a phone call, or just an email address you’re after, you need to keep your focus and channel your audience into your most desired response.

In longer advertorials, you should always have a call to action above the fold, or at the top of the page, and again at the end of the copy. Never make it difficult for your customer to complete the desired response.

If your desired action involves keeping your customer on your website, you should give them a reason to stay. Interactivity is a good way to do this, many big brands use interactive or expandable banners, video or even games, to stand out and entice a response.

Direct digital marketing, like with many forms of advertising can give you a very good ROI, but only with a well thought out strategy, careful implementation and considered evaluation. Putting in the groundwork to create a well executed campaign can make all the different to getting that click.

We all know it’s easier and more cost effective to keep a customer than to find a new one, yet when it comes to customer retention, we’re often too busy running the business to build that relationship. Yet, it’s easy to do, after all, the customer, or client, that has already bought from you is prequalified, likes you and should be easy to win over when it comes to the next sale. More importantly, if you can get them to love you and what you do or offer, they can help you grow your business, for little cost.

Big brands such as Nike, Apple, Waitrose or Boden spend a lot of time and money on their existing customers. Whether it’s ensuring the customer experience and interactions with the brand are exactly as they should be to encouraging existing customers to come back, engage and purchase again. It’s a continuous cycle where the brands are encouraging their customers to get involved and become more entwined with their values, ethos and what they stand for. When the customer reaches a certain point, measured in a number of ways, they become an “advocate” and will happily promote the brand over and above the competitors.

Creating client advocacy is the key to successful customer retention. Now, it’s not the only element of customer retention, but it does go a long way to ensuring that your customers will keep coming back and refer you to others. So how do you build advocacy?

Deliver what you say you will

Customer satisfaction has a central role in building advocacy and that simply comes down to delivering what you say you will. Overpromising, sloppy delivery, poor quality products, poor pricing decisions or lack of attention to detail will leave your customers with a bad taste in the mouth and customers like to complain more than they like to recommend (we all like a sob story). Therefore, if you say you’re going to do something or promise something as part of your brand, then you have to deliver on it.

Keep front of mind

Once your customer has bought from you, don’t just disappear from their awareness – keep on their radar. Whether you choose to use email, a mailing or social media, it’s important to inform your customers what you’re up to, your successes and your developments so you keep ‘front of mind’ with them. A little reminder every now and then that you still exist and that you’d love to see them will certainly get them thinking about you and will do no harm.

Make them feel special

Everyone likes to be loved, including you. So make your customers feel loved too. Say ‘thanks’ for their custom and appreciate their time (and cash). Simple things and small gestures go an awful long way and don’t cost that much. Here are some examples that you could easily use to make your customers feel special (remember, they must fit with your brand and your offering):
- Handwritten notes (perfect for small e-tailers)
- Special gift to say ‘thank you’
- Discount code to say ‘thanks’
- An exclusive event, especially for customers
- Birthday card
- Anniversary card to commemorate the relationship
- Ask for their ‘valued’ opinion (and don’t forget to tell them when you implement their feedback)

Engage with them

These days there are more and more opportunities to engage and interact direct with brands, mainly thanks to social media. Whether they’re leaving comments on your blog, you’re tweeting with them on Twitter or keeping them up to date via Facebook, it’s important to engage with them on their terms and in a space that they’re comfortable with.

Social media is a perfect tool for those who want to develop a one-to-one relationship with their customers. Cement this relationship and some of those customers will become your ambassadors recommending you and building your brand. Ignore them and they’ll quickly lose interest. With social media, you have to engage or you lose your opportunity.

The beauty of creating advocates is that they will become your brand ambassadors and they’ll refer you. Whether you’re a small brand, high street shop or business to business service provider, you can easily put in place a programme to build advocacy. Nothing is stronger than word of mouth, especially from a customer that loves you, and best of all it’s free.

When it comes to business copywriting, many companies complete all of their writing in house. However, the problem with this is although many companies have good writers in their rank, often the tone just isn’t quite right. The worst part about this problem is that many companies don’t realise that they’re missing out on a good opportunity to really engage with their customers.

The right copy can help build your brand and increase your sales. It can change the way your company is perceived: you might use it to look professional, creative, or as good value. Many businesses think about their copy in a functional way. Instead of writing about what a product can do for a customer, they spend their time describing their product or services. This is one of the biggest mistakes that a business can make when it comes to their copywriting.

Good copy is engaging copy. It provides information, but is also interesting to read. The best copy has a customer actively seeing themselves using, and benefitting from, your product. It takes them from the step that involves thinking about your product to giving you money for it.

Your copy doesn’t have to be long. In fact, sometimes just a sentence or two can do it. Sometimes you only need a few words. The important things is to choose the right words. So how do you know what is right for your business? Here’s how to get your business copywriting right:

1. Represent your brand

Sometimes the best thing to do when looking at your business copywriting is to go back to the drawing board. The tone of your copy should represent your brand and your values. It should be welcoming to customers and be easy and enjoyable to read.

For instance:

‘The team behind Flower Cosmetics is young and enthusiastic, and all have a great deal of experience and product knowledge.’

Sure, there’s nothing really wrong with that piece of writing. But compare it to:

‘Here are Flower Cosmetics, we’re a young and enthusiastic team. We know how to bring you the products you love, because we love them and use them ourselves.’

The second statement is much more engaging. It is also casual and sounds youthful, which is well suited to the demographics of a cosmetic company.

2. Get Customer Focused

The next step is to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Get on your own website or read your own promotional literature and pretend you were shopping yourself. What things would you be looking for? What would you want to know?

Another good idea is to review your competitors’ websites and customer communications. What things are they doing right or wrong that you can learn from?

3. Incorporate core customer benefits

A good way to progress is to come up with some key words that represent your values and how they relate to your target audience. These are the kind of words that you want to ensure your copy conveys.

When writing your copy, try and relate things to your customers’ experiences with you.

For instance, rather that writing:
‘Acme delivery delivers fast and on time’

a simple change to:

‘Acme delivers to you on schedule, every time’

makes the statement more customer focused. Your customer can then begin to think about themselves using your product, rather than just taking in general information. The first statement is simple a fact about your business. The second is an example of how the customer can interact with and experience your business.

Giving some time to set the tone of your business copywriting can really help you with your online marketing. It’s certainly worth the effort. Of course, if you’re not sure, you can always call in the experts.