How to Move the Needle and Get More Leads
As 2018 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on which marketing strategies and tactics have been most effective this year. We not only provide marketing services for B2B companies, but we also do our own B2B marketing, so we’re always aware of what works to get more leads.
Here are our top 7 most effective B2B lead generation that have been moving the needle in 2018:
1. Create quality content more frequently
Content marketing is not going away. If you aren’t already on board, it’s time to start creating quality content. And if you are already sharing content online, keep it up, and do it more often. We know as well as anyone how hard it can be to make time to create unique, interesting content that will draw in your target audience! But it’s important to prioritize this. Whether you’re writing a blog, creating e-books, hosting webinars or sharing other helpful tools, keep brainstorming and creating. Create content that speaks to the leads you want.
2. Look alive on social media
Many B2B clients think social media isn’t important for them. However, you need to at the very least “look alive” with your social networking. For B2B companies, LinkedIn is probably the best place to focus efforts. But you should also consider sharing on Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram, especially for recruiting purposes. Potential employees like getting a sense of a company through social media. Spend your time wisely, but don’t write these platforms off entirely. Some of your leads may vet companies across their online presence before deciding who to reach out to, so don’t be absent.
3. Optimize your website for mobile
More and more online visitors are checking your company’s site out from their mobile phone or tablet rather than a computer. Put yourself in their shoes: how does your site look and perform on mobile? Can you find what you’re looking for, and does it look nice? One way to immediately turn away prospective leads is by having an unattractive, non-functional website. Avoid this by optimizing your site for mobile.
4. Try video marketing
Video is also a growing marketing tactic that appeals to a variety of personas you want to reach. Think about the type of people you want to contact you – in what situations would video help you get your message across to them? Try creating educational or informational videos about your products or services, or use video to tell your company’s story. There are so many ways to draw in new leads through video.
5. Don’t stop email marketing
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to get new leads. Don’t give up on it if it hasn’t been working for you! Just rethink what you’ve been doing. Are you saying the right thing to the people on your lists? Should you tailor your messages more? Do you need to create a compelling new offer? One of the great things about email marketing is that it can hit a potential lead at just the right time – you may have already sent them 10 emails that they didn’t engage with, but if you say the right thing at a time when they need your business, that contact can convert to real lead!
6. Take advantage of intent signals
When you know what visitors are doing on your site, you can take advantage of that information to get more leads. With tools like Google Analytics or others that provide data on what visitors are doing on your site, you can learn where you’re engaging people and where you’re losing them. You can even find out what specific leads are up to, then tailor your follow-up messaging with that knowledge. Data is power, so take advantage of all the tools out there that provide you with this valuable information
7. Track interactions at all stages of the funnel
When someone engages with you at any stage of your sales funnel, take note. Monitor traffic to your site and to specific content. Track comments and likes on social media, pay attention to who’s reading your emails and follow up with anyone who provides contact information at any stage. When following up, use the information you’ve gathered at other stages to create responses that speak specifically to that lead, helping move them further down the funnel.
Regardless of which B2B lead generation tactics you choose to employ, make sure you’re constantly fine-tuning them. This is not a set it and forget it job. Lead generation is complicated, ongoing and constantly changing.
If you want a marketing partner who can help you handle lead generation and ensure that you’re doing the best you can to get the best leads for your business, reach out to Pomerantz Marketing. We know what it takes to get the B2B leads you want. PUT POM ON IT >
Before and After: Inside Look at a Leading AEC Company’s Website Revamp
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyA Website Refresh Designed to Fuel Business Growth
This is why we start the new website process by working to understand our clients’ business objectives. Do they want more leads, or are they just looking to better show what they do? Do they want to speak to specific vertical markets, or are they more interested in telling their brand story? Is improving their recruiting efforts critical to their website? Understanding our clients’ real-world business objectives drives our entire web strategy.
When The LiRo Group, one of the top Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) companies in the U.S., turned to us to upgrade and modernize their website, they wanted to make sure their new website showcased all of the great work they do. They also wanted to clearly communicate their offerings, particularly those of a new technology division. While their old website had some of this information, the design was outdated and difficult to navigate, so it wasn’t doing their work and capabilities justice.
Pomerantz performed an extensive audit of LiRo’s top competitors to understand their market positioning. Then, we came up with a big message to differentiate LiRo from its competition, rewrote their web copy, redesigned the entire look and user experience, and added new pages that would help with some of their other business goals (more to come on that in future blog posts!).
Here’s a before shot of LiRo’s homepage:
And here’s what it looks now:
You can visit the live site at liro.com to get the fully upgraded experience.
To see more on LiRo’s before and after, check out the full case study. And check back here on the blog as we share more about how we addressed some of LiRo’s specific goals, with more before and after shots!
If your company’s website isn’t doing what it needs to do for your business, Pomerantz Marketing can help. Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can take your web presence to the next level. REACH OUT NOW >
Make Recruitment Marketing a Key Part of Your Company’s Online Presence
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Recruitment, Web StrategyIf recruiting is important to your business, your website should reflect this— and not just with a single page of content!
Today’s potential recruits expect to see a modern website that paints a clear picture of your company’s culture and benefits. It should be easy for them to see why they would want to work for you. Uninteresting boilerplate content with bulleted lists of benefits isn’t going to capture their attention.
You need to bring your company to life online. A robust Careers page or microsite is a great first step. (What’s a microsite? It’s exactly what it sounds like – a smaller site within a site.) By creating a Careers microsite, you’re showing recruits how important hiring the right people is to your company. Putting effort into content that shows what makes your company special from a recruiting standpoint pays off.
From videos of company events and behind the scenes to full benefits explanations that really show off what you offer to candid employee photos, there are a number of creative ways to convey your culture through your website. If your company uses a third party system for applications and resumes, you can still link to that site, and even add some of your branding to it. But a Careers page shouldn’t just be a list of open positions – it can, and should, be so much more.
And it shouldn’t stop there! Your company should harness the power of social media for recruiting – many people start researching a company on social media before they even hit your website. Make sure you’re sharing photos, stories, events and more that can help convey what life is like at your company.
If you’re ready to take your recruiting marketing from non-existent to game-changing, reach out to Pomerantz now. We love helping companies bring their culture to life online, from Careers microsites to recruitment campaigns to social media. For over 20 years, we’ve served as the outsourced marketing engine for companies that embrace marketing but don’t want to staff up. We have a proven track record of helping to grow businesses from start-up to $100 million+ in revenue.
If want to take your recruiting marketing to the next level, schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Pomerantz. REACH OUT NOW>
How to Start Marketing Your B2B Company to the Private Sector
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced MarketingHave no clue what you’re doing when it comes to your B2B company’s marketing?
Many B2B companies have traditionally relied on getting business via RFPs or based on their reputation in the public sector. However, many of those same B2B companies eventually realize that there is also opportunity to be found in the private sector. Their offerings also have commercial and even specific vertical market appeal, and by ignoring that, they’re leaving money on the table.
To go after private sector work, you need to look and sound like a private sector, commercial company. Unfortunately, chances are that no one in-house knows how to accomplish that.
This is what Pomerantz does. We are B2B marketing experts who have helped a multitude of companies successfully cross the chasm from public to private sector by modernizing their brand, web and marketing presences. We define and implement strategic marketing programs aligned with our clients’ business objectives, including achieving online visibility for their offerings in the geographies they are looking to target.
Want a little head start doing this on your own? We’ve got a number of blog posts that help you get started on your own. And our free e-book, How to Make Your B2B Marketing Not Suck, is a comprehensive tool that walks you through Pomerantz’s proven, step-by-step marketing planning process. Here’s an overview of that process:
For tools and tips to follow through on those steps, download the e-book now.
If you’d rather jump straight to getting to work, schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Pomerantz now. For over 20 years, we’ve served as the outsourced marketing engine for companies that embrace marketing but don’t want to staff up. We have a proven track record of helping to grow businesses from start-up to $100 million+ in revenue.
Schedule your consultation now to get Pomerantz Marketing’s expertise on your side, and learn how we can help you market to the private sector with the best of them. LEARN MORE NOW>
Telling Your Company’s Story Clearly is Key to Successful Marketing
/in Branding, Featured, Marketing, Outsourced MarketingIs your company terrible at telling its own story?
Why is that? Often, the people inside a company are just too close to it. It’s easy to get bogged down by industry lingo and acronyms, making it difficult for your target audiences to really get what you do.
If prospects don’t immediately understand what your company has to offer, they’re quickly going to bounce. Think about it – will you spend time digging through a website or collateral to see if a business can do or provide what you’re looking for, or will you just look for another option that says clearly that it does?
The best way to avoid this problem is to bring in an outsider who will look at your business and come up with a new way to tell your story. Get a fresh perspective from someone who isn’t caught up in the day-to-day of your business! The resulting message should be clear, concise and compelling. It should make it easy to understand your strengths, offerings and capabilities at first glance. You want to instill confidence in prospects that not only do you offer what they need, but you do it better than the competition.
Then this messaging should be used everywhere you’re talking about your company – on your website, social media, collateral, advertising, etc. So once your message is clear, it needs to be consistent across all channels.
This is what Pomerantz does. We excel at helping companies define their brand positioning, explaining what makes them different and better than their competition. Then we bring it all to life online and in their marketing materials. We’ll do the legwork to understand your company’s competitive environment, offerings, customers and unique differentiators to tell your story in a way that makes your business shine.
From creative, memorable campaigns that build brand awareness and generate leads to case studies that bring your successes to life, Pomerantz will roll up our sleeves, dig in and make the marketing magic happen.
If you think your company could use a little of this marketing magic, schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Pomerantz now.
Schedule your consultation now to find out how Pomerantz Marketing can tell your story clearly. LEARN MORE NOW>
Social Media & Recruiting: Why Your Company Needs to Look Awake Online
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Social MediaHow Outsourcing Your Company’s Social Media Content Can Help You Recruit New Talent
The truth is, more and more potential employees are scouting out companies via social media to get a feel for company culture. It’s a good way to gauge the personality of a company, so if your company is sharing boring posts (or not posting at all), you may not be putting your best foot forward. If your company looks asleep online, it can be a red flag to potential recruits.
We understand that social media can seem simple but is in fact one of the marketing tasks that companies hate the most. It can be a huge pain to come up with engaging posts over and over again, rather than just reposting or recycling content. Gathering photos, interesting stories, fun tidbits and more can become a serious chore. But it’s important to do it, since those types of posts say a lot about your company culture.
The better your posts, the more engagement you get, and the more appealing your company begins to look to outsiders (and that doesn’t just go for potential employees but even prospective customers!).
At Pomerantz Marketing, we get to know your company so that we can help you shine online. We’ll work with you and your team to break down your post planning into a simple system to help you get the most payoff with minimal input on your part. We can manage your social media presence to give you back the time you need to focus on your business.
If your company is ready to look awake online and bring in that top talent, it’s time to wake up your social media.
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with Pomerantz to learn how we can take your social media from boring to engaging. LEARN MORE NOW>
How Outsourcing Your Marketing Can Lead to Sustained, Profitable Growth
/in Featured, Marketing, Outsourced MarketingYour Marketing Department of One Ain’t Cutting It
If you’ve been wondering why your marketing isn’t achieving results, here’s a clue: it’s underpowered.
Plus, you need someone hyper organized to coordinate all of the activities. No way, no how can one person do all of this effectively on their own or by working with a bunch of random contractors.
A Bain & Co. study of 2,000 companies over 10 years found that only one in 10 companies achieved sustained, profitable growth. What did the winners have in common? More effective capability sourcing. 85% of the winning companies used capability sourcing more broadly and innovatively than their competitors.
By doing this, they gained capabilities they didn’t have in-house, or they strengthened existing capabilities.
If you are a marketing department of a few, reaching out to an agency to outsource some aspects of your marketing can lead to exponential growth. And if you’re handling your company’s marketing on your own, not only will you see growth, but you’ll have so much more time on your hands to run your business. Here’s some more information about outsourced marketing.
For over 20 years, Pomerantz has served as the outsourced marketing engine for companies that embrace marketing but don’t want to staff up. We have a proven track record of growing companies from start up to $100+ million in revenue. Our seasoned team of B2B marketing professionals brings to the table all of the talent needed to market effectively in today’s world. We can work hand-in-hand with your marketing manager or quarterback your company’s entire marketing program.
If your company is serious about achieving sustained, profitable growth, it’s time to get serious about your marketing.
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with a Pomerantz growth coach: SIGN UP NOW >
2018 Round Up: Top 7 Most Effective B2B Lead Generation Strategies
/in Digital Marketing, Featured, Marketing, Social Media, Strategic Marketing, Web StrategyHow to Move the Needle and Get More Leads
As 2018 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on which marketing strategies and tactics have been most effective this year. We not only provide marketing services for B2B companies, but we also do our own B2B marketing, so we’re always aware of what works to get more leads.
Here are our top 7 most effective B2B lead generation that have been moving the needle in 2018:
Content marketing is not going away. If you aren’t already on board, it’s time to start creating quality content. And if you are already sharing content online, keep it up, and do it more often. We know as well as anyone how hard it can be to make time to create unique, interesting content that will draw in your target audience! But it’s important to prioritize this. Whether you’re writing a blog, creating e-books, hosting webinars or sharing other helpful tools, keep brainstorming and creating. Create content that speaks to the leads you want.
Many B2B clients think social media isn’t important for them. However, you need to at the very least “look alive” with your social networking. For B2B companies, LinkedIn is probably the best place to focus efforts. But you should also consider sharing on Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram, especially for recruiting purposes. Potential employees like getting a sense of a company through social media. Spend your time wisely, but don’t write these platforms off entirely. Some of your leads may vet companies across their online presence before deciding who to reach out to, so don’t be absent.
More and more online visitors are checking your company’s site out from their mobile phone or tablet rather than a computer. Put yourself in their shoes: how does your site look and perform on mobile? Can you find what you’re looking for, and does it look nice? One way to immediately turn away prospective leads is by having an unattractive, non-functional website. Avoid this by optimizing your site for mobile.
Video is also a growing marketing tactic that appeals to a variety of personas you want to reach. Think about the type of people you want to contact you – in what situations would video help you get your message across to them? Try creating educational or informational videos about your products or services, or use video to tell your company’s story. There are so many ways to draw in new leads through video.
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to get new leads. Don’t give up on it if it hasn’t been working for you! Just rethink what you’ve been doing. Are you saying the right thing to the people on your lists? Should you tailor your messages more? Do you need to create a compelling new offer? One of the great things about email marketing is that it can hit a potential lead at just the right time – you may have already sent them 10 emails that they didn’t engage with, but if you say the right thing at a time when they need your business, that contact can convert to real lead!
When you know what visitors are doing on your site, you can take advantage of that information to get more leads. With tools like Google Analytics or others that provide data on what visitors are doing on your site, you can learn where you’re engaging people and where you’re losing them. You can even find out what specific leads are up to, then tailor your follow-up messaging with that knowledge. Data is power, so take advantage of all the tools out there that provide you with this valuable information
When someone engages with you at any stage of your sales funnel, take note. Monitor traffic to your site and to specific content. Track comments and likes on social media, pay attention to who’s reading your emails and follow up with anyone who provides contact information at any stage. When following up, use the information you’ve gathered at other stages to create responses that speak specifically to that lead, helping move them further down the funnel.
Regardless of which B2B lead generation tactics you choose to employ, make sure you’re constantly fine-tuning them. This is not a set it and forget it job. Lead generation is complicated, ongoing and constantly changing.
If you want a marketing partner who can help you handle lead generation and ensure that you’re doing the best you can to get the best leads for your business, reach out to Pomerantz Marketing. We know what it takes to get the B2B leads you want. PUT POM ON IT >
What Is Small Business Coaching?
/in Featured, Marketing, Small Business CoachingThink of it as equal parts strategic and emotional support for small business owners.
If you’re a small business owner, you may be wondering what is small business coaching and how could it potentially benefit you and your business.
First and foremost, being a small business owner is lonely and isolating, especially without having someone you can talk to who can truly grasp the challenges that you face everyday. Sure, you can talk to your partner/spouse, family and friends, but unless they are small business owners, chances are, they won’t be able to provide you with the insight and support you need to keep going. With this said, I’m married to another small business owner, and the last thing we want to talk about at the end of the day is our work! If there is a burning crisis, sure, we will be there to support one another, but in terms of the day in and day out grind of running a small business, we’d rather relax and enjoy life together than problem solve the work-related issue du jour.
Finding a small business coach who fits the bill can be easier said than done. There are consultants out there that want you to pay them thousands of dollars per month to tell you how to run your business. Several years ago, I hired such a person. He worked for a big company then went off on his own and consulted small business owners. A fellow small business owner who turned out not to be remotely business savvy referred him to me. My business was growing, and I thought I needed guidance. I’ll spare you all of the gory details, but take my word for it when I say that it was a costly mistake. My instincts as a small business owner in the trenches were far more sound than the expensive, unproductive things I embarked on during a year-plus of working with him. It took me a couple of years to unravel some of the things he got me into. So buyer beware when it comes to a business coach/consultant of this nature. It’s not to say that there aren’t consultants out there that can get hands-on with your business and be effective, but this is not a business coach and should not be considered as such. It’s important to know the difference.
A small business coach is kind of like a business-savvy therapist. They know the ins and outs of running a business, and they also know the emotional rollercoaster that small business owners experience. They can help you figure stuff out, deal with stress and enjoy your life. Look for a small business coach who is available to you on an hourly basis or has a discounted package of hours that you can purchase. Plan on working with them bi-weekly initially to get them dialed into your world and vision and then every three to four weeks thereafter. You also want someone who is available to you via email or phone in a pinch. Last but not least, when you find the right small business coach, don’t think of them as a short-term fix. Think of them as a long-term strategic partner and ally. Chances are, you will need their support time and time again.
Interested in seeing if Kathy Floam-Greenspan might be the right small business coach for you? Schedule a complimentary intro call >
How to Know It’s Time to Redesign Your Website
/in Digital Marketing, Featured, Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyHow Often Should You Redesign Your Website?
Here’s a question we hear a lot: “When should we redo our company’s website?” In fact, we heard it just last week on a call with a new client. It’s a good question and not always an easy one to answer. We thought about how we make recommendations to clients on this topic and decided to share those thoughts here. So, how often should you redesign your website?
If you answer NO to any of the following questions, you’ve probably got a website that isn’t performing as it should, meaning it’s time to seriously budget for a new website:
1. Does our website accurately reflect our business?
If you haven’t been making updates to the content of your site as your business has changed, then chances are, your site doesn’t even really say what it needs to say. Have you added new products or services? Gotten rid of others? Has your leadership team changed? Added new locations? All of this should be reflected on your site. If it isn’t, it’s time for a website refresh.
2. Does our website portray our brand well?
When you look at your site, does it give off the image you’ve curated for your brand? Design is an important part of this (the right colors, fonts, imagery, etc.), but copy is, too. Do the words you use align with the tone of voice you’ve established for your business?
3. Does our website answer the questions our prospects are asking?
When you talk to potential new customers, you likely hear some of the same questions over and over. The answers to those questions should be easily found on your site. If you have to hunt around for that information, it’s time to make some changes.
4. Does our website differentiate our business?
You want your company to stand out from the competition, and your website should be a key tool to do so. Many prospects will vet your company online first, and your site should help you jump to the top of the list. This can be accomplished through great design and great messaging – so if you’re lacking in either, you’ll want to fix that.
5. Does our website show up in searches?
Think of how you’d want to find your business in a Google search. Perhaps it’s through your industry and location or other more specific keywords. You definitely need to show up when your business name is searched. What about for key offerings in the geographical areas you serve? Is that happening? SEO is complicated, but it’s really important. Your site should be optimized and built to be keyword and Google-friendly.
6. Is Google happy with our site?
If your site is slow due to non-optimized images, links are broken, throwing errors with Google, it’s hard to find information or it isn’t responsive, you likely need some major updates on both the front and back end of the site. This item especially can mean you need a full site redesign from top to bottom.
So how many “no”s did you get? One or two, and you may be able to fix your issues with some minor web work. More than that, and it’s probably time to consider bringing someone in to help with a full website redesign, so you can turn that lazy, couch potato of a website into the hard-working tool it can be.
Need help with your site now or aren’t sure how to tackle it? Contact Pomerantz now for a complimentary web assessment. PUT POM ON IT>
A Smart Search Engine Optimization Strategy Can Help Economy-Proof Your Business
/in Digital Marketing, Featured, Marketing, Outsourced Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Web StrategyDon’t Put All Your Keywords Into One Basket
Last week, we met with one of our construction clients, and the CEO of the business was in the meeting. While online marketing is not his thing, he honed in on something that really stood out in my mind. In a nutshell, he said that their business, like most, fluctuates based on the economy, so he wants to make sure that they are visible for the complete range of their offerings in all of the geographies that they serve. He doesn’t want to put all of their eggs in one basket. Just like it’s good to diversify your financial investments, the same is true with your search engine optimization strategy. Smart search engine optimization (SEO) allows your business to be visible for everything you offer, everywhere you offer it.
Even in today’s Google-driven world, there are companies, and not just small ones, that haven’t scratched the surface of online marketing. While they dream of the idea of being found online and not having to hunt business down so aggressively, figuring out how to actually do this is put on the back burner year after year. The truth is that effective SEO is a lot of work. You need someone who knows what they are doing. And, you’re never done with it. To reap the benefits of being found online for what you do, where you do it, requires a big picture strategy, a monthly plan and weekly efforts. That’s the hard reality. But the upside is that if you get this machine in place, it can be one of the best ways to economy-proof your business and keep opportunities coming in from all different angles.
Where do we start with a search engine optimization strategy? First, we focus on understanding a client’s services and offerings. Then, we gain insight into the vertical markets that they target. Next, we define the geographic areas that they want to be visible in. Finally, we research their top competitors.
We then take this information and run it through various software tools that we use for keyword research to hone in on the keywords and terms that present good opportunities for achieving visibility. There is an art and a science to this effort. Using the findings from our research, we start by identifying a primary list of keywords to architect their website around and then develop content aligned with these keywords. This is the heart of the search engine optimization strategy.
Once a site is optimized, we use other keywords from our research efforts to begin spinning a web online. This is done by creating additional pages within the site as well as blog posts. We use monitoring and analytics tools to keep an eye on the performance of these keywords and continuously create new pages of keyword-focused content aligned with the client’s business and visibility goals. The spinning of the web never ends, but it works. Within months of getting this effort rolling, opportunities start coming in more regularly due to increased visibility online.
Your company’s website is your most powerful marketing tool. Invest in it with a smart search engine optimization strategy, and you’ll keep business flowing during the inevitable ups and downs in the economy.
If the thought of figuring this stuff out makes your head spin, you need help. Put Pom On It >