Archive for the ‘Lead Generation’ Category

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Mar 15, 2013

10 Great Tips for Writing Effective Case Studies

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Business, Inbound Marcom, Lead Generation

Customer case studies are an excellent promotional tool. Offering up customer recommendation has real editorial power and can help establish a real sense of credibility in the minds of potential customers. But what is the best way to describe those all-important tangible benefits and returns on investment?

Firstly a powerful headline and persuasive opening paragraph, most case studies can be written to fit a kind of formula. For example, describe the customer; the existing problem; your company’s proposal; the selection criteria; the challenges overcome; the implementation; the result and benefits achieved; and feedback from the customer.

Avoid jargon and sales patter at all costs. Phrases like ‘global leader’, ‘market authority’ and ‘best-in-class’ are an instant turn-off for editors and readers alike.

Other important factors to consider are the appropriate inclusion of a few short cross-headings, and article length. Too short and the case study will likely lack the detail that makes it intriguing; too long and it will simply inspire the editor to take out a pair of scissors. Finally and in many cases the hardest part always seek approval from the customer and third party. But you would do that anyway wouldn’t you?

For the remaining tips on effective case study writing, download our Top 10 tips for case study writing.





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Mar 6, 2013

Everything you need to know about successful lead generation

Author: lewistonkinson | Filed under: Lead Generation

Anyone who has worked in a sales function, runs or manages a business knows that successful lead generation is one of the primary factors behind ongoing success. Sometimes leads come easily, either through recommendation, a directory listing or purely by chance. However, for the most part, modern businesses need to get smart with the ways and means of drumming up new lines of enquiry, nurturing those leads and turning them into sales.

Years ago in the days of Bingo card responses it seemed easy to get leads – although there was certainly an element of never mind the quality, feel the width! Not that they were necessarily followed up! (If there was a pound for every time I heard “We must do something with this pile of magazine bingo leads!”…)

Today, however, while page advertising is excellent for branding and awareness it is no longer top of the list when it comes to generating enquiries. Online ads and pay-per-click can do a great job – as can press releases and articles – but the importance of online activities such as blogging, search engine optimisation and social media in providing highly effective, measurable, methods of reaching out to customers in an engineering environment cannot be ignored.

The secret of success is to generate content and share it, use call to action buttons on your emails and websites, and create a sales funnel that will allow you to develop and turn your hard won leads into business.

Our ebook “Everything You Need to Know About Successful Lead Generation” was created using the results of a survey of over 4,000 companies that generated almost 10 million leads in 2012. In it we examine this data and apply the results to marketing for engineers, demonstrating how you can significantly increase your sales.





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Jan 28, 2013

Choosing the Right Keywords for SEO and Pay Per Click

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Lead Generation, PPC, SEO

Every business wants to attract more web traffic, but it should not be all about increasing the number of visitors your website receives. It may seem counter intuitive but you need to be just as concerned with the type and quality of visitors you attract as this is more significant when it comes to converting these visitors into customers.

Targeting broad, general keywords for a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign can often result in a lot of wasted time and money as this type of keyword can attract lots of irrelevant visitors. For example, at Pinnacle, we once had a client who said they wanted to be ranked for the keyword ‘Windows’. We had to explain to them that this might attract a whole host of unwanted visitors who might be more interested in UPVC and hardwood than embedding Windows in to an electronic device!

So for PPC campaigns you need focused  search terms and sometimes negative keywords.

Not only that, but from an SEO point of view this type of generic keyword is usually incredibly competitive and is much more difficult to rank for.

This is why a thorough process of keyword analysis is essential before you begin any search engine marketing campaign and it is also why it so important to understand the value of long tail keywords. A long tail keyword is generally a combination of three or more words that make up a search phrase. Whilst they tend to attract smaller volumes of traffic than more generic keywords, they are usually less competitive and they often produce better results due to their more specific nature.

Inspired by our ‘Windows’ client, this video takes a light-hearted look at why choosing the right keywords is so important.

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Jan 7, 2013

Penguin 2.0. Everything is Changing Again – Or is it?

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Lead Generation, SEO

Matt Cutts has said that Penguin 2.0 will be “jarring and jolting!” (some commentators say it has already been implemented and that nothing actually happened). And that, of course, is on top of the 17 Panda content updates and Penguin 1.0, as we should now call it.

In addition there was the exact match URL update, which makes urls less important for SEO (although a good URL still has the advantage of being very easy to remember), as well as around 500  other changes to the algorithm in 2012!

The fact is that Google is constantly ‘perfecting’ its algorithm to deliver the best results for ‘people’ – but the thing to remember is that whatever it does two things will never change:

  • Long tail keywords
    • Although broad keywords might get you traffic, achieving and maintaining good rankings can be hard work. Longer tail keywords are generally easier to rank for and you are far more likely to get sales from them. Not only that, almost every analysis shows that most sales come from less than 5% of your keywords. So pick industry-relevant keywords and get to work!
  • Great content
    • The amazing thing is that none of our clients have really been hit by all these updates. Why is that? It’s actually quite simple! The reason Google is making all these changes is so that a person reading the website sees more relevant results. So if the content you produce is deeply technical, well written and of value then not only do your customers and prospects love it so does Google! Hence, as a group of engineers producing quality content for clients all these Google changes have done is to boost ranking results! One client saw a 40% increase in daily traffic (over 4,000 extra visitors a day) – and all for targeted, relevant keywords!

So will the changes continue? Yes. Should you be worried that your web traffic might suddenly drop off a ranking cliff? Well not if are producing great, sharable technical content. And if you’re are not doing that, employ someone to do it for you!

To find out more about how Google has changed download our whitepaper.


Don’t think you need SEO? then read the whitepaper Why Does My Business Need SEO?





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Dec 18, 2012

5 Giveaways That Will Grow Your Email List

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Business, Lead Generation

One of the best ways to capture new subscribers to your email newsletter and consequently new leads is to give something away for free. Everybody loves a freebie, and so long as you make it relevant and of value to your market, people will be much more obliging in giving you their email address in exchange.

The giveaway that you offer doesn’t have to be expensive either. Here are 5 giveaway ideas to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter:

eBooks. Probably one of the most popular online giveaways, an eBook is essentially a downloadable PDF which can be a white paper or a short report concerning key issues in your industry.

How to Guides. A simple, easy to follow tutorial that guides someone through a relevant process or even a checklist that helps to inform a decision is the kind of bite-sized content that many people find really useful.

Video or Audio. Record an interview with a well-known authority in your industry or one of your own members of staff and then make it available to anyone who signs up to your mailing list. You could even provide a written transcript of the interview too.

Smartphone Apps. Creating a simple smartphone app can be relatively inexpensive. Build one that your market would find useful and encourage sign ups in exchange for a free download. Not only will this help grow your list it will also keep your business front of mind for your customers by putting your brand on their smartphones.

Presentation Slides. If you have recently given a presentation at a trade show or other event, don’t let the slides go to waste. Turn your Powerpoint into downloadable content so those people who couldn’t attend can still benefit from your presentation.

Did we miss any other giveaways that can be used to grow your email list? Post your ideas in the comments box below.

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Dec 10, 2012

PPC pt 3: Getting the most from your e commerce site

Author: admin | Filed under: Lead Generation, Renewable Energy, SEO, Technical Magazines

In the third part of his article on PPC , Ian Jarrett, Account Director at Pinnacle looks at setting up an e commerce site

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Have a relevant page within your e commerce site

This is probably the best area to drop them to if you want customers to self-serve and delivers the best ROI on a campaign.

For example customers may search for D type connectors, and your advert is displayed.  You then take the searcher to the relevant section in your e commerce site. From there they see what they need and buy (live search needs instant information.

The other option here is to consider bidding on part numbers.  This works very well for distributors who have competitors that have the same franchises.  You want to ensure that you get the enquiry and the order so this should be considered.  Look for parts that you know sell very well or have the potential to and have high margins. Then bid for them. When clicked drop them into the e commerce page for that part number.

If it has to be the company site make it a relevant area:

This is self-explanatory but we do too often see PPC clicks going to an irrelevant home page.  Jump the visitor into the right section, or put landing pages within your site. Just with a few simple tweaks to your CMS you can create strong call to actions on the pages.

Conclusion:

Ultimately with PPC you will need to change a certain amount of the culture within your business to ensure that it’s fully embedded within your sales teams. However with focus and drive you will see how PPC can deliver awesome ROI for what in reality is a small advertising investment.

 

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Oct 29, 2012

How to get the most value from your industry exhibitions – Pt 3

Author: admin | Filed under: Business, Events, Exhibitions, Inbound Marcom, Lead Generation, SEO, Technical PR

In the final part of this blog, Marcel Kay, talks about the benefit of blogging and why you may need more than just print advertising to drive traffic onto your stand at the exhibitions your company attends.

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Facebook these days is becoming more of a business tool. Especially as LinkedIn (the de facto digital business networking platform) has just removed it’s automatic links to Twitter and replaced them with links to Facebook.  Facebook’s daily user count is now equivalent to the total number of people using the Internet eight years ago.  So, if your business doesn’t have a Facebook page then it’s missing digital networking opportunities with your customers.   Remember to engage with Facebook users in a more social fashion though. It won’t take the sort of writing you’d include in your annual report or even in your press releases. On the page should go your pictures and videos from the Trade Shows you’ve attended this year. Why not use that iPhone or iPad to shoot footage while at Electronica this year? There is no need for high-end video production with most social media channels.

If you are going to properly use Facebook and YouTube then make sure you email links to prospective and current clients and also embed the video on your website or blog and try and set up backlinks from other commentators and blogs out there that cover the industry and your competitors. This way it will get found by Google and by including the show name and great keywords in the video title you’ll also get anyone searching for the trade exhibition to find your company as well at the same time. The search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings on Google for your company will also improve this way.

At Pinnacle Marketing, we are content creation specialists for the technical industries like engineering and electronics. So, we blog about everything. You need to find out who are your industry wide bloggers or if there aren’t any then consider starting one. Improved Google website SEO rankings are no longer just about embedded keyword tagging on your website but more about the useful information the website provides the Internet community via keywords from your blog. If there’s no blog linked to your website then you’re not likely to be creating regular and useful content, so Google ranks you lower than a company that does blog. Over half of all websites are created with blogging software nowadays.  Blogs are easier to set and are really low cost.  The company’s blog can be the base site for all promotional activity at your exhibitions this year.

Just a few years back, trade magazine adverts were the main method for any company in a B2B industry to reach its audience at a trade exhibition. That was until inbound digital marketing became much more effective. The negative side of this was the magazines that lost advertising revenue also then reduced the number of journalists that they employed.  However trade blogs are shooting up an enormous rate and their low cost means bloggers are taking the place of trade magazine writers in some industries with the difference being that blogging doesn’t need to be independent views, it can also be the views of your company.  To find out whom your industry bloggers really are have a look at http://www.google.com/blogsearch.

By following a few of our tips, you’ll have a much better chance of securing media coverage for your exhibitions and maximising the ROI from the cost of your company attending and designing your stand. Media coverage, whether in print or online, will not just drive potential purchasing decisions for your products or service, but also raise your company’s profile, build brand recognition and credibility and promote you on a wider international scale than perhaps you have ever done previously. If your news does get published online, then you’ll also be improving your SEO efforts in the process.

If you want to find out more please contact me on marcel@pinnaclemarcom.com and I’ll tell you more about how we ‘mess with the normal’ when it comes to new digital B2B techniques for PR and Marketing.

 

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Oct 24, 2012

How to get the most value from your industry exhibitions – Pt 2

Author: admin | Filed under: Business, Events, Exhibitions, Inbound Marcom, Lead Generation, SEO, Social Media, Technical PR

In the second part of this blog, Marcel Kay explains how Twitter is no longer the sole domain of Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton and why your company may want to use it at this year’s Electronica.

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You will probably want to send a press release to publicise your involvement at an exhibition and will send it by email to the media, but there are other ways now of reaching them as well. However, if you do email then get the subject line right and make the title catchy. If it sounds irrelevant or uninspiring then who’s going to open it, despite your legal and compliance teams having spent a week approving it?

 

We’ll always email the press release to the media, but how do you get the press release picked up by the media otherwise? Well the answer these days is more often Twitter. Set up a Twitter account for your company then follow the media that are relevant to your industry. They’ll more than likely follow you. You then post a Tweet on the news in your press release and a link to the press release in full that you’ve posted on your website. Media will pick it up and write about it.

If you have product photos then make them at least 360dpi resolution and offer a link to a website such as Flickr and allow the media to download them from this. If it’s a company video or product video then Pinnacle’s advice is to place it on YouTube or Vimeo with a link from the press release. Don’t make them downloadable only by password. The media won’t have the time or energy to access information that’s hard to get.

Before you send out the press release, or if you don’t have any breaking news this year, then why not Tweet some reasons to visit your trade stand?  As Twitter is largely seen as a plaything of the footballer and X-Factor set it is often overlooked.  But with nearly 500 million accounts and around 5% of the world reading Tweets, even if they don’t Tweet themselves, then it is no to be taken lightly. In terms of content, just use the information you’re including in your direct mail campaigns to prospective customers, using on the phone or in the product brochure. Are there certain employees on the stand this year, will there be a product demo, a giveaway or competition, is your company holding a drinks reception? A few messages a week for the month or two leading up to the show will build presence above and beyond what you spend on display stands and plasma screens.

At Pinnacle, we also pre-schedule Tweets. There’s no way you need to be logging in all day Tweeting, so just use Hootsuite.com or Tweetdeck.com to allow you to pre-schedule your tweets so you can send them anywhere in the world and in any time zone you choose.  Each trade exhibition will have a Hashtag (#) e.g.  #electronica or #electronics.  The hash symbol “#” turns that word into a hyperlink that allows Twitter users to view any recent messages with that same hashtag.  So having the hashtags for your exhibition in your Tweets you’ll be seen by even more potential attendees.  Also, why not have a look at www.tweet-show.com. This allows you to be at an exhibition and display on your plasma screen any # words that are trending about your company or the exhibition itself in real time while you are on the booth.

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Oct 22, 2012

How to get the most value from your industry exhibitions – Pt 1

Author: lewistonkinson | Filed under: Exhibitions, Inbound Marcom, Lead Generation, SEO, technical blogs, Technical Magazines, Technical PR

In the first part of this blog, Marcel Kay, Pinnacle Marketing’s latest recruit who has worked in PR and Marketing both in-house and agency side, looks at how to combine traditional outbound marketing at exhibitions with some inbound digital techniques to increase the level of business enquiries and maximise your ROI.

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Amazon’s new TV advertising campaign boasts that ‘Connecting your mouse to your front door was our moon landing…. What once seemed wildly impractical is now completely normal. And normal just begs to be messed with…’

So, how does your company mix its traditional marketing with some radical approaches to mess with the normal? How do you get the traditional trade show or exhibition that your company does every year to combine with your social media campaign and get footfall, not simply on your trade stand this year, but to your website, blog, LinkedIn or Facebook page and then to your CRM system for follow up by the sales team?  With this year’s Electronica approaching fast just how do you get yourself noticed and make sure the media pick up on your innovations ahead of anyone else out there?

Representing clients at Electronica this year, Pinnacle Marketing believe it’s all about relationships. For us, the weeks up to a major trade show are spent calling trade magazines, blog sites, onlines and business publications and getting to know the journalists and editors. We find out what they are looking to write about this year, what inside information they have on the industry and where they’ll be spending their time while at the trade show.  Often they’ll have preview features specifically on the trade show and your company needs to be in there. Similarly, the exhibition organisers themselves often publish a trade exhibition magazine that goes out a month or so before as a preview and will also produce a ‘show daily’ magazine. Make sure as a paying exhibitor you’re in these. From establishing relationships with the media you’ll have a much better chance of getting them to write about your company or its products and services in the places that matter.

Everyone thinks Public Relations is all about press releases, but how many people can really write a good one and consider its real purpose and how to get it out digitally. A press release is all about breaking news. It’s not about version 2.3.4.2.1 of the product that you first rolled out six months ago. Tell them what’s different about the product and why it will change lives or the industry you are in. Get it out no more than 24 hours before the first day of the exhibition, and remember to include your essential keywords.  Get it to the media that will be at the exhibition and give them a reason to come and speak to you… and have a spokesperson ready at the exhibition to talk to them when they do come on your stand. Use free or low cost digital distribution channels like http://www.pressreleasepoint.com or http://www.24-7pressrelease.com to get it to news sites. You don’t always need to spend a lot for newswire distribution. Backlinks from high traffic authority news sites will increase your performance in the search engines for your chosen keywords. News sites tend to rank quite well for their press releases, so with effective SEO, you could well achieve numerous first page rankings in search engines like Google even if only for a short period while the exhibition is on. The news sites also run RSS feeds, which add even more exposure for your press release.

 

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Aug 30, 2012

When is the Best Time to Tweet?

Author: mattclarke | Filed under: Lead Generation, Social Media

Tweeting is one of the best ways to share content online and drive traffic to your website or blog. But when is the best time to post your tweet and attract the most click-throughs and user engagement?

A recent study has been carried out by Bitly (the URL shortener service that condenses all those web addresses to fit into our 140 character tweets) to find out when tweets and Facebook updates are generally the most effective. According to Bitly’s data, the best times to tweet for click-throughs are early afternoon, Monday to Thursday; whereas Facebook content posted on a Wednesday around 3pm tends to generate the highest click-through rates.

The results have been used by design agency, Raka Creative to put together the below infographic as a guideline for how we can get the most out of our content by timing our tweets and Facebook updates.

when-to-tweet

Do you notice a difference in click-throughs when posting updates at different times? Post your comments below.

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