Q: What Blogs do you read?
A: We read quite a few blogs, and we’re always looking around for more. Some I’ll look at every day, others will be added to my bookmarks and looked at just once in a while.
You should makde a habit of finding interesting blogs related to your industry or business needs and staying up to date on them. It’s a great way to learn from your peers.
One of my favorites right now is: Forrester’s Marketing Blog
This blog is currently on my daily list, the blogs I look at every day. It only takes about a minute per blog. The Forrester Blog isn’t updated all that often so I only check it when there’s a new posting. The way I know when there’s a new posting is by using a feed aggregator, a program that let’s me download entries from my favorite blogs. Right now I’m experimenting with Google Reader. Here’s my experimental Shared Page.
I’ll add some more blogs to this post. What are some of the blogs you’re reading?
Here’s a quick intro to Google Reader
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5980861656829941065&hl=en]
We just got a great email: “Me happy boy 
”
We recently launched a new site and marketing program for one of our clients. We had a straightforward launch plan and made it all happen seamlessly. The result was that in less than a month and a half the client has received 27 inquiries from the new site. He wrote us to let us know the latest number (27 is our new favorite number) and we couldn’t be happier. Here’s the trick: create and execute a launch strategy.
A new site is news in and of itself. Create a plan for letting people know. Get out there on as many fronts as you can so that those consumers interested in your service or product will start seeing you everywhere. A site launch is your chance to burst onto the scene. Don’t waste it. Our rule of thumb: 3. When doing a launch make sure you do at least three things, each on a different level of marketing. For example: Email to get to your existing contact base; Search Advertising to get to the consumers in need of your services; News release to try to get the media involved. These three support each other. You meet someone or send an email, they do a Google search and there you are! And because of the news release you’ll end up on other websites. So it’s not just you talking about your own company.
You’ll notice there’s a new page up top there (You ask, we answer). It’s a page solely dedicated to soliciting your questions about BtoB and BtoC Internet Marketing. From websites to search engines, to email, to ads, to… well, you get the point. So go and ask us a question, which you can do by commenting on any of our posts or using that special page up there.
If you’re wondering what your BtoB peers are doing with their marketing dollars, here is a little insight.
In the Print area, according to American Business Media, total ad spend in 2005 was $9.19 billion and in 2006 it was $9.25 billion. This is a growth (barely) of +0.6%. Contrast that with BtoB online ad spending in 2006 of $1.95 billion which was a 27% increase over 2005. This may have been what prompted Tom Kemp of Veronis Suhler to say “The BtoB guys have been behind the curve on digital spending, but everyone realizes that their future success – and very survival – depends on adopting online marketing strategies”. What do you think?
This is something we deal with a lot: getting a design just right for both the client and the objective for the site. Well, we just wanted to take a moment and give you our design advice in a nutshell:
- Hire someone you trust, and trust them.
- It’s not the Mona Lisa so don’t stare at it (no one else will)
- Make sure it matches your other marketing and branding (and if it’s your first branding, then make sure the elements – color, theme, logo – translate well to print.)
- Make sure it’s all about visitors to your site and getting them to react the way you plan (contact you, join a newsletter, buy something)
- Keep it flexible so you can add content, sections, and change its message to match your marketing.
- Do a Marilyn Monroe: Ms. Monroe used to get dressed, put on her jewelry, and then take off the first thing that caught her eye in the mirror. Do this with your website. When the design is done, take away the flashiest design element. Then make sure the most prominent thing left is your call to action.
Websites are the core of today’s business strategy, and they should be looked at with an eye for business and marketing. You will get better results over a longer term.
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