Three Marketing "Must Dos" for 2014

If you do nothing else this year to boost sales and generate leads, do the following three things:

1.    Implement Search Engine Optimization so prospects will find you.
2.    Revise your website copy for keywords and phrases so your web copy is relevant to your prospect’s information needs.
3.    Implement a monthly email program to create Top of Mind Awareness for your company.

If you need help with any of these, NM Marketing Communications (NMMC), LLC can help. We are a leading business-to-business marketing firm serving clients nationally and internationally from our headquarters in suburban Chicago. We are an ideal choice to be your marketing firm because:

•    Google currently rates us No. 1 for B2B marketing planning and auditing services.
•    We are experienced in industrial and event marketing.
•    We know how to get results for our clients

But it isn’t enough to take your marketing to next level if you don’t take your business up a notch. As you move forward into 2014, consider how you will make your company more attractive to prospects.
1.    What three things will you do to improve quality?
2.    What three things will you do to improve service?
3.    What three things will you do to justify a price increase?

May I suggest that you throw these challenges at your management team for discussion… more importantly… for action.

For more ideas on how to build your business in 2014, call or email NMMC at 847.657.6011 or info@nmmarketingbiz.com

Turning to Technology for Marketing Success

United Stationers, a major distributor of paper and traditional office supplies, has been placing a heavy emphasis on online marketing for the past several years. This may seem like an odd way for a company specializing in paper to go to market, but an article we developed for the company’s bimonthly publication, OfficeLine, explains why.

“The Technology Imperative," shows how effectively using technology and online marketing benefits both United Stationers and its vast network of independent office supply dealers. Technology now enables the buy/sell exchange to happen in real time. Procurement professionals are driven to purchase faster, easier and smarter – all the while pushing suppliers to keep pace.

Dealers can reduce order processing staffs, says, Jim Dodson, president, Save It Now, Indianapolis, IN. “In our case, orders come into our system and are automatically submitted to our supplier, United Stationers. This is all done electronically without having to repeat the process,” he says.

Another dealer, Steve Unruh, president, Bertelson Office Supply, Minneapolis, MN, notes, “In addition, eCommerce lets us track where customers are going on our website, where they are landing and how long they are staying there – or the stickiness factor. This is a powerful tool.”

If you’d like help harnessing the power of the eCommerce and online marketing, give me a call. NM Marketing Communications is offering a FREE web analysis and evaluation.

Our free online analysis includes:

Paid Campaigns -- Provide you with an independent evaluation of your ThomasNet, GlobalSpec, and other marketing programs.

Keyword/SEO Ranking Report -- Determine how well your company website ranks on major search engines and provide you with a search engine optimization (SEO) report.

Overall Web Traffic/Conversion Analysis -- We can determine who your biggest sources for leads are and how much it's costing you per lead/acquisition. We can even set up and install Google Analytics.

To learn more, call me at 847.657.6011 or email: info@nmmarketingbiz.com

The Search for Results

Marketers are always searching for results. And in today’s Internet dominated environment, that search is both literal and figurative as search engine tactics play an increasingly important role in marketing plans.

This was driven home as I recently read a report from The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). The group’s sixth annual State of Search Engine Marketing Report estimates that the North American search engine marketing industry will grow 14% from $14.6 billion in 2009 to $16.6 billion by the end of 2010.

Yet despite the increase in spending, the 1,500 client-side marketers and agency respondents noted that measuring the return on investment (ROI) from search engine marketing is still their biggest challenge. Of the three key search tactics covered in the survey - search engine optimization (SEO), paid search and social media marketing – social media is clearly the toughest to measure. Measuring the impact of social media was identified by 63% of the respondents as their toughest task.

So what does all of this mean for marketers? Like most other marketing issues, you need to establish your business objectives for search engine marketing and allocate resources according to your priorities. For instance, SEO is becoming more refined and the right tweaks to your website can produce big results. We recently enhanced the content for one of our client’s sites and it shot up near the top of the search engine rankings in its category.

If you’re conducting a paid search program using Google AdWords or similar tactics, take a careful look at the cost of keywords. The survey indicated that Google keywords have become more expensive over the last year, while fewer respondents noted an increase in Yahoo and Bing keyword costs.

Finally, don’t jump into social media just because everybody else is doing it. B2B applications for social media are increasing, as I noted in a previous blog, but you need to define your objectives and expectations before you start.

SEMPO’s State of Search Engine Marketing Report 2010 can be purchased at http://econsultancy.com/reports/state-of-search. However, if you’d like a free initial consultation on how NM Marketing Communications can help you improve your search engine marketing, give me a call at 847.657.6011.