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Author: John Bracamontes

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B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, B2B Marketing Automation

Do you know your target customer?  I mean REALLY KNOW who that customer is?

It’s very likely that you actually do, but the issue with ROI for most businesses when running ad campaigns online is that they don’t know how to target those customers online.

85% of B2B Marketers say they know their target buyer, but only 60% are confident in knowing what or how to get in front of them online.

 

Here we’re going to talk about the specifics of how to ensure your B2B Ad Campaigns are successful and a big part of that is your targeting.

 

Let’s explore how to effectively target these customers and how to identify what content to create and use when running these ad campaigns.

 

B2B Ad Campaign Targeting

Ensuring you are getting in front of the right people.

You’ll see higher ROI, eliminate wasted ad spend and have something that actually works!

 

Listed below is our recommended approach for a B2B ads targeting model.

 

LinkedIn

  • Defined Demographics (geo, age, sex, job title, etc.)
  • List(s)
    • Customer Email List
    • Leads Email LIst
  • Retargeted Website Visitors

 

Facebook

  • Defined Demographics (geo, age, sex, job title, etc.)
  • List(s)
    • Customer Email List
    • Leads Email LIst
  • Retargeted Website Visitors
  • 1% Lookalike Audience(s) *after you’ve found a message / offering that works

 

Google Ads

  • List(s)
    • Customer Email List
    • Leads List
  • Retargeted Website Visitors
  • Retargeted Website Visitors
  • Similar Audience(s) *after you’ve found a message / offering that works

 

It’s important to note that using audience expansion targeting is not recommended until you’ve found a message and offering that works.  This will ensure you don’t waste ad spend as you grow outside of the most accurate targeting options.

 

How to Identify What Content to Create for B2B Buyers

This is extremely critical to the success of your campaigns.

In most cases B2B companies know what their customers need and are looking for.

And again most of the time you can just create that content. (you need part X and we have part X, let’s work together)

 

But you can only say that so many times before people start ignoring it.

 

Do this to find new content that will get your customers thinking about you and buying from you more often.

  • Do Keyword research using Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush or the MOZ keyword tool
  • Use that keyword research to look at publications, Quora,Social Media and Reddit to find the questions and answers being asked and given in the marketplace
  • Write posts, articles, white papers or make videos on those keywords, questions and answers

 

Doing these two things will give you exactly what you need to get more traffic, phone calls, leads and more sales!

 

Learn more B2B Content Marketing Strategies & Tactics here: https://acumenstudio.com/b2b-content-marketing-agency/

 

Call Us at 314-736-4434

Or Submit your information below

 

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    B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, Print Industry Marketing

    Have you heard this from a potential print buyer at any point in your career… “I’m getting a few quotes before I make my final decision.”?  Of course you have.

    And it makes sense for a buyer to want to get quotes if price is a concern, which it always is at some level.  But the question is how many quotes do they typically get? And is there a way to convince them to just use you?

    The numbers are in and the short answer is 3 quotes, and Yes you can get them to work with you most of the time.

     

    There are a number of reasons why 3 quotes is standard which we’ll discuss here and how you can get them to go with you more often.

     

    Why Do Print Buyers Get 3 Quotes?

    The reason most people get three quotes is due to our psychology.  It’s natural to go with 3 because 1 is a mandate (your being forced to go with it), 2 is an ultimatum (and to a lesser degree feels forced), but 3 gives the decision maker control.  With three options a buyers feels they are making an informed decision based on their own due diligence which they can justify.

     

    There are a number of other factors that bleed into this decision such as…

    • Consumer agencies telling you to have 3 options
    • Leadership requesting 3 options
    • And the scientific method step of experimentation uses at least 3 tests for each variant

     

    But consumer agencies and leadership are influenced by the same things, psychology and science.

    It makes sense to mix in a little of the science thinking on this because if your primary focus is on price then the 3 quotes can be equated to 3 tests of price and the quote with the lowest is the potential winner, same with other variables such as timing / deadlines, finishing or binding capabilities, etc.

     

    These customers are testing the marketplace!

     

    In addition to the three quotes there are typically three types of print buyers getting quotes.

    Below are the paths they take when getting their quotes.

    *We are excluding loyal customers who go nowhere else but you

    1.  The Newbie
    • Search online
    • Search online again
    • Search online a final time

     

    1.  The Less Informed
    • Quote from a company they know / work with
    • Search online
    • Search online again

     

    1.  The Well Informed
    • Quote from a company they know / work with
    • Quote from a company they’ve heard of or gotten a referral to
    • Search online

     

    How to Win the Quote Every Time.

    AKA How can I close more deals / new customers / print projects

    Here’s the really good stuff.

    Now that you know the psychology of the buyer wanting to weigh their options it’s easy to use that in conversation.

    But there are a few factors you need to deal with as you go in to close every lead that comes your way.

     

    1. Recency (or time to contact)
    2. Knowing what they want
    3. Having the knowledge to educate

     

    Recency

    Timing is everything.

    If a lead comes through your website every minute you don’t contact that potential customer the less likely they are to become your customer.  This is true across all quoted businesses. It’s a Fact!

    Same holds true for the phone.  Don’t let a message get taken if you can avoid it.

    Pick up the phone by the 3rd ring

     

    The sooner you get to them the better.

    By doing this you’ll have the chance to close them before anyone else does and you can beat the 3 quote rule.

     

    Know What They Want

    This is obvious but easier said than done prior to contact.

    There is a fine line between how much you ask for on a web form to not scare them off and then how much you ask for on the phone to get an accurate quote.

    You don’t want to push too hard in getting information because it will feel like a burden to your prospective customer, but on the other side you don’t want too little so you don’t frustrate them.

     

    So how do you do that?

    On your quote forms ask for the type of piece they wanted printed and the quantity.

    This will give you the perfect starting point and internally you should be able to have a go to range of costs that can be shared with them, but once you connect to get more detail now you can ask the few more questions you need to give them a fairly accurate quote.  Things like paper, finish, binding, etc.

    And at this stage you can let them talk, because most customers will talk long enough to get the details you need.

     

    Being Able to Educate The Print Customer

    Now if you’re new to the industry this will be tougher and require studying on your part to become very knowledgeable, but you have to do it.

    For the majority of us who’ve done this for awhile we have the go to knowledge to wing it and give them the answers they need for the most part.

    But it’s a fact that you MUST be ready to answer every question the customer has in order to gain their confidence, trust and business.

     

    This is where you can close the deal every time!

    At this point you are able to tell them how you differentiate, what they’ll experience when getting other quotes in your market, the price differentials they will come across, etc.  Giving them all of this up front allows them to not have to go through the work of getting more quotes. You’re arming them with all they need to know.

     

    Having PDF’s or videos explaining process, pricing and production are also HUGE helpers for you in this phase of the closing the deal.

     

    The more you have and the more you know will dictate how much more you will close.

    This too is a FACT!

     

    Now that you know what the print buyer is thinking, how they intend to quote their project and what you’ll need to be their print partner every time it’s time to get back to selling! Go get it and make it happen.

     

    If you want to read even more about marketing and sales for the print industry visit this page, it has a ton of other resources you can read, watch and download:

    https://acumenstudio.com/print-industry-digital-marketing/

     

    Contact us using the info below if you’re interested in hearing more about how we help companies in the Print Industry generate more traffic, more leads and more sales.

     

    Call Us at 314-736-4434

    Or Submit your information below

     

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      B2B Content Marketing

      Last year we decided that we needed to find an organization that was making a Huge Difference in people’s lives that we could give back to by donating our money and our time.

      We often get caught up in what we are doing… Increasing Visibility for businesses, Generating Leads, Getting them More Sales… but the fact is that we know the value of what we do at Acumen is really creating opportunities for people to live and enjoy their lives.

      In 2018 we partnered with Good Meets World to find a that organization which matched our values and was changing lives.

      After identifying a few non-profits that we believed met that criteria we held a vote at our office to choose who we would support for years to come.

      The vote was in and our choice was clear… Friends of Kids With Cancer.

      This organization makes it possible for families who have children with cancer to keep hope alive and make their time during the most trialing period of their lives a little easier & more enjoyable.  “Helping Kids with Cancer, Be Kids!”

      We are honored to Give Back and excited to share with you in hopes of inspiring you to give as well.

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      Print Company Marketing, Print Industry Marketing

      Are you running a consistent content marketing effort online?
      Most companies in the Print Industry answer No.
      That’s a good thing!
      We’ve talked with Hundreds of companies in the industry and found that literally less than 10% of them are running ANY consistent marketing online.
      Why is that a Good Thing?
      If you are marketing online then you’re already winning.
      If you ARE NOT then it means if you Start Now then you’ll be able to Dominate your competition, gain visibility, new leads and more sales.

      Why don’t more companies in the print industry do much marketing online?

      There are several main reasons.
      1. They feel they are betraying print in some way (Which is so not true, and I’ll explain why)
      2. They think it doesn’t generate leads & sales (I’ll explain how if done right it brings High ROI)
      3. It’s a change to the way things have been done (Everyone’s biggest fear!)

      Feeling Like Your Betraying Print By Pushing Digital?

      You’re Not!
      Here’s the biggest reason why.
      If you consistently do High ROI content marketing activities then you’ll get in front of more businesses and people wanting print projects done, or if you’re a provider to the print industry then it’s more paper sales, ink sales, service calls, etc. which means you’ll sell more print, products and services.  Online marketing = more print production, more industry sales and more services provided.
      It’s the Truth!
      There are also many other good reasons such as the integration of print and digital, automation, etc.

      Do You Think Digital Won’t Return a Profit for You?

      It Will!
      In nearly every case we find that companies have internal resources managing their social media who are simply posting to the accounts and are typically rarely blogging.
      Most haven’t or aren’t doing any SEO and email is nearly non-existent.
      This combination of, to be honest, a lack of strategic effort, will surely generate no return.
      But imagine for a second you have someone working with you to make sure your website shows up for every search that your customers are searching online, your social content is speaking to the value you deliver and keeping you in front of highly targeted customers, and emails are going out to leads that continue to come in each month which is clearly showing Sales Increase each month year over year.
      That’s what happens when you use your assets online positioned for sales.
      Unfortunately most marketers don’t know how to sell.
      As proven by so many companies having a Marketing Department and a Sales Department.
      You Have to Do Both Online!
      *If you need this done we know someone who is really good at doing this for companies in the print industry (hint, hint, wink, wink)

      Is Marketing Online a Change to the Way Things Have Been Done?

      Yes it is.
      But just like the print industry has changed, so has marketing and channels for selling.
      Yes the old way still works.
      And digital marketing done well is still rooted in the fundamentals of marketing and sales.
      AND you still need those 1 to 1 conversations to close new business.
      So it’s really not that much of a change.
      It’s more like, Up Your Online Content Marketing Game and you’ll Up Your Sales Opportunities.
      Meaning you get to do more of what you’ll been doing.
      You’re just sneaking in a new tool to get more business in the door.
      High ROI Content Marketing for the Print Industry is a Simple Solution to Increase Your Sales.
      You can learn more about doing this here: https://acumenstudio.com/print-industry-digital-marketing/

      If You Want to Speak With Someone About Generating More Visibility, Leads and Sales for Your Company

      Call Us at 314-736-4434

      Or Submit your information below

       

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        B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy

        Are you struggling to understand how B2B Social Media and B2C Social Media are Different?

        Some marketers believes that there is no difference, but if you’re in the the B2B space then you know that is completely wrong.

        But what is it about B2B Social that is so different from B2C?

         

        John Bracamontes of Acumen Studio breaks down the strategic & tactical differences between the two in this video.

         

        How is B2B Social Media Different From B2C Social Media?

        In general it’s about providing different types of information.

        But more importantly it’s about understanding your business goal and what you want Social Media Marketing to do for you.

        For most Mid-Size B2B Companies the goal for Digital ( and  B2B Social Media ) is to generate leads.

        This is where most B2C marketers fail because they don’t think like lead generators and sales closers!

         

        Watch the Full Video to learn Exactly How they are different and HOW YOU can do this well for your company.

         

         

        If You Want to Speak With Someone About Generating More Visibility, Leads and Sales for Your Company

        Call Us at 314-736-4434

        Or Submit your information below

         

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          B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, B2B Marketing Automation, Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy

          At it’s core Remarketing is the ability to show ads to individuals who engaged with one of your digital properties.

          How most people are familiar with Remarketing is with B2C ecommerce. The perfect example is when someone looks at a product on Amazon.com and then sees the ad on other websites they visit (the ad follows them around).

          The premise is that those who visited and didn’t purchase will see again what they were looking at and will choose at that moment to complete their purchase by clicking on the ad and finishing the checkout process.

           

          But How Do You Use Remarketing for B2B Businesses?

          In theory the idea is the same where you targeted those who previously engaged with you to turn them into customers or get them to buy more from you.

          Listed here are the ways you can retarget individuals:

          • Tagging & Tracking Visitors from Your Website
          • Uploading an email list of leads or customers
          • Uploading a physical mailing list of leads or customers

           

          When using the Tagging & Tracking method you are using a pixel or cookie (code the browser uses to track the visitor) that will allow you to show ads to those same visitors across the internet.

          Uploading email lists and/or physical mailing lists let the platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google) run a matching algorithm to find those users in their target pool to show those contacts on your list, your ads.

          This is one of the easiest ways to get in front of leads and existing customers at the lowest cost.

          And this targeting method is highly effective as the leads & customers already have some affinity for your company.

           

          How Else Do B2B Companies Use Remarketing?

          One of the most compelling ways we use remarketing for B2B is to use the targeting capabilities of one platform to extend that criteria across onto other platforms.

          Not all ad platforms have the same targeting criteria available to choose from, so we will use the targeting criteria of one platform to drive in visitors and them remarket to those same visitors on other platforms that don’t have the targeting criteria we need.  This way we know the audience being targeted on the 2nd platform is specific to our campaign needs.

           

          For Example:

          LinkedIn will allow us to target a job title within a specific industry at companies with a specific number of employees.

          Facebook does not give you this capability.

          So we will target on LinkedIn, Retarget those same visitors on Facebook where you cannot target the industries and size of the company accurately.

           

          Do this to increase your lead gen and revenue generation results when building our our B2B Content Marketing Strategy.

           

          For More Information Call Us at 314-736-4434

          Or Submit your information below

           

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            B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Strategy

            Steps on How to Research Blog Topics

            Did you know that nearly ALL CEO’s, Executives and Marketers answered YES when asked if they could come up with good blog topics.  But when they were immediately asked to give one good topic only 2 out 10 were able to give any topic at all!!!

             

            Then when asked if they could prove if that was a good topic, 0% could prove it or even tell how they would prove the validity of the topic.

             

            That is BAD NEWS for these companies.

             

            What this typically leads to is inaction, meaning Nothing gets published.

            We believe that something is better than nothing.

            But having the knowledge to research and create Good High Converting Blog Topics is best.

            Doing this research is easier than you think and will deliver 10X or more on your current content efforts.

             

            The three important steps we’ll cover are…

            • Keyword Research
            • Social Media for Validation
            • Back to the Search Engines for Final Refinement

             

            Start with Your Topic & Validate with Keyword Research

            The easiest advice we give to everyone on blog topic research is to start with what YOU Think is a good topic. Typically you’ll come up with a decent topic that can be refined through the steps we’ll share with you here.

            But if you are truly stumped to come up with even 1 blog topic idea then keyword research will also be your guide to choose a good one.

            • Come up with a blog topic of your own (example: Top 3 Print Finishes for 2018)
              • If you can’t come up with a topic list the product or service you want to sell more
            • Enter as many variants of the topic, product or service you can think of into the Google Keyword Planner (https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner)
              • Examples: 2018 print finishes, print finishes 2018, top print finishes, print finishing options, finishes for print
            • Look for keyword results with volume and modify your blog topic to include a higher volume variant
              • Example: We were shown “Printing Finishing Options” as the only keyword with volume.  In the related keywords section it shared with us that “Print Finishing” had a higher volume but that is more broad and included in your topic anyway.

            Using this blog topic research model we would go with this topic: “Top 3 Printing Finishing Options for 2018”

            You can see how we modified our original topic to include what / how customers are searching for this product / service.

             

            Use Social Media to Refine and Validate Your Topic

            Social Media is the greatest place to find real conversations for the topic you will be writing on.

            These conversations will help you form supporting statements, rebuttals to arguments, and new questions or needs you hadn’t even thought of.

            • Use google to search for your topic on Quora.com
              • Use the site: command in Google to find conversations specific to your topic on Quora.com by including your highest volume blog topic variants ( example: site:quora.com + printing finishing options)
            • Read through the Quora.com results from your search and note good questions and answers from across the top 10 results for potential use as Q&A or examples in your blog topic.
            • Use BuzzSumo to find current relevant articles from across the web that may be trending to generate even more ideas to create greater value in your blog.
              • Example: Search “Printing Finishing Options” in BuzzSumo

            • Read through the BuzzSumo results from your search and note good questions and answers from across the top 10 results for potential use as Q&A or examples in your blog topic.

             

            Go Back to the Search Engines to Refine & Finalize

            Now that you have refined your blog topic through this comprehensive research and identified inclusions for the body of the blog post itself, it’s time to go back to the search engine to refine even more if necessary by manually looking at the search results to ensure you will show up, beat the competition and provide Massive Value to potential customers.

             

            For example: Search in Google the term Printing Finishing Options

            You need to identify if this search is bringing up relevant results to make sure that the search engines believe that the search term should result in pages that are listing options (or answers) to the term itself.  If you see results that don’t make sense to you then it may be that the term is not the best to be using as a blog topic and you should start over. Google for example uses behavior to rank results and if more people want to see results of a certain type that is what the search engine will show.

             

            The other things to look for are..

            • Does the search engine show Maps Listing Results
            • Does the search engine show Image Results
            • Does the search engine show Knowledgegraph elements on the right side of the page

            All of these things can affect if this is a good topic.

             

            Each of the above listed elements can all be optimized for but for now just know that if the results are relevant then you have a good topic and your research will set you up for success.

             

            Will This Really Help?

            Yes!!!

            Having done this research will give you the opportunity to be found first in the search engines, will get more potential customers clicking through from social media & email and will provide Huge Value to the people you want to do business with.

             

            For More Information Call Us at 314-736-4434

            Or Submit your information below

             

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              B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy, Social Media Marketing

              90% of marketers say that Segmenting Your B2B Content Marketing is important.

              BUT only 45% of marketers are actually doing this!

              We’re not surprised by this because we know it’s not that easy.

              The thing is that by doing this level of market segmentation will provide BIG Results.

              It’s not our opinion, This is a Fact!

               

              Here is a real example of how we’ve seen this work (and it’s really simple)

              An Engineering company had a service that was specific to servicing public parks.

              They wanted to get their offering in front of the decision makers who could hire them to do this work.

              They wanted to run ads in specific cities to promote their service.

              But that was it, run ads targeting all people in those cities.

               

              BAD IDEA!

               

              While targeting specific cities is a level of segmentation, it’s not even close to good enough.

              They would have wasted a ton of money.

              So we investigated with them further and found that the people they really needed to get in front of were Parks and Recreation Directors, City Managers and Mayors.

              And guess what? We can target those people!

              We put a campaign in place targeting All Three of those job titles on LinkedIn and Facebook. Created ads that messaged directly to them and led them to a landing page that again spoke directly to them.

              City + Job Title = Winning Combination

               

              “To be honest we went even deeper with them but we’ll keep it simple for our example.”

               

              This is a perfect example of how this works.  Especially when this campaign was generating 5 – 15 leads per day for months!

              Takeaways are to Know Your Audience / Customer / Buyer / Investor demographics, traits and characteristics so they can be targeted and Know their Pain Points, Questions and Philosophies so you can message them correctly.

               

              Know Your Audience for Segmentation

              This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of all because it will maximize your effort.  It’s getting in front of the right people.

              • Geography (country, state, city)
              • Industry
              • Company(ies)
              • Job Title(s)
              • Age Range
              • Sex
              • Etc.

              These elements allow you to target very specifically, not waste ad spend and generate way more leads than you ever have in the past.

               

              Messaging for Segmentation

              Saying what they want to hear and need to hear.

              For us message segmentation is more about solving a problem and speaking very clearly about how that is done.  We don’t fluff it up with ambiguous words that will leave people confused as to what you actually do.

              • What are current industry wide problems
              • What are trends your prospects are talking about
              • What problems do you solve that these prospects are facing most often
              • What does your prospect care about
              • What is your prospects asking most often?

              Answering these questions leads to clear and compelling messaging for your campaign and content strategy.

               

              If you have been struggling to create a content marketing strategy that actually delivers results, leads, customers and revenue then follow the steps we outline in this post or call us with questions if you need help.

               

              Call Us at 314-736-4434

              Or Submit your information below

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                B2B Content Marketing, B2B Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Audit, Digital Strategy

                Do you know what channels produce the leads you get?

                Do you know if Social Media is even helping your company grow?

                Do you know if your Ad Spend is being Wasted?

                Of course you don’t.

                 

                Not to be mean, but 53% of CEO’s and Marketing Leaders claim they don’t actually know how their marketing efforts are performing across all channels and when we surveyed these same people it was 87% who didn’t actually know how their efforts were truly performing.

                 

                Simply Knowing what efforts are delivering you performance leads to a 35% boost in results!

                This is due to better decision making guided by these results and findings.

                It is important to establish integrated tracking across all of your efforts and ensure that everything you do is attributable so it can be accounted for.

                 

                Audit Your Tracking

                This is simple. If you aren’t tracking it then it doesn’t exist.

                What we are saying is that YOU MUST track everything.

                • Simplify Tracking by using tag managment
                • Use pixels & tags available from each platform you are on
                • Ensure all traffic sources, pixels and tags are firing and tracking correctly
                • Establish tracked conversions and events (form submissions, click to call numbers, etc.)

                 

                Audit Your Conversions & Attribution

                Knowing what parts of your efforts led to traffic, leads, customers and revenue is critical to making sound marketing and sales decisions.  And it mitigates wasted ad spend.

                • Define KPI’s that will guide your decision making
                • Create reports to easily view performance

                The thing to remember is that all digital marketing is trackable and attributable so if you want to understand how your marketing is performing allowing for better decisions, better results and spend more efficiently then audit your digital marketing with a focus on tracking and attribution then set it up!

                 

                Call Us at 314-736-4434

                Or Submit your information below

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