B2B Monday Myth: Testimonials Are Passé
by MGB2B
The Myth: Testimonials Are the Old Way of Doing Things
The Truth: B2B Buyers Are Highly Influenced by What Their Peers Have to Say
There are many different types of content you can produce to attract new prospects to your brand, but one you won’t want to overlook is testimonials.
Testimonials have been around in many forms since the dawn of marketing. And the reason they’re not going anywhere anytime soon is that B2B buyers value them more than you might think. In fact, more than half of B2B buyers rely on customer testimonials or referrals to make purchase decisions.
The thing you have to remember about testimonials is that they need to be done properly.
Here Are 5 Tips for Creating Effective B2B Testimonials:
- Video Is the Way to Go. While having a quote or two on your website can’t hurt, video testimonials appeal to Gen X and Gen Y buyers who consume visual content more and more each day. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 62% of B2B marketers have found video to be effective.
- Keep It Authentic. It seems like I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t use actors. Ever. Your buyers want to see testimonials from real human beings who have used your products or services. BS detectors are in abundance in 2017.
- Make It Short and Sweet. Testimonials are very different from How-to videos or entertainment videos. If you go too far over the one-minute mark, you’re going to start losing people. So to be more effective, keep your video around 45-60 seconds, with your superstar clients and customers front and center.
- Host Your Videos Efficiently. Of course you want your testimonial videos to appear on your website. But make sure you host it on a video site like YouTube or Vimeo and embed the videos into your site. This will be less taxing on your server and make it easier to share on social media.
- Distribute Via the Right Channels. Speaking of social media, you’ll want to make sure you feature your videos on Facebook to get in front of your most engaged audience. Instagram is also a good place for testimonial videos. You can show a short clip and drive people to a link to the full video in your bio.
Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be on your way to creating successful testimonial videos. Need help getting started? Drop us a line.
Continue ReadingB2B Monday Myth: My Company Doesn’t Need Visual Content
by MGB2B
The Myth: My Company Doesn’t Need Visual Content
The Truth: B2B Brands Should Increase Emphasis on Visual Content Marketing
Now more than ever, our world is flooded with content. This leaves B2B brands struggling to have their voice heard in a crowded marketplace and stand out from competitors. Well maybe it’s time to focus less on being heard and more on being seen.
Simply put, visuals help us to remember things. According to HubSpot, when people hear or read information, they’re probably only going to remember 10 percent of that information three days later. But if a relevant image is presented with that same information, people retain 65 percent of the information after the same three days. This statistic has huge implications. Many people think visuals are only important for consumer brands — but these rules are universal. Visual content is just as important in targeting B2B brands as it is for a clothing or lifestyle brand.
HubSpot also indicated that only 50 percent of B2B markets are treating visual content as a priority. So how can you make your company stand on the right side of the divide? Worry not — there are some simple ways you can incorporate visual content into your plan that don’t require too much time, money or resources.
Here Are Four Tactics to Get You Started:
Infographics. If you’re looking to shift your focus to visual content but want to keep your marketing as informational as possible, the infographic is still one of the most effective visual content formats. Studies show that our eyes are drawn to information that encompasses visuals. In fact, infographics are “liked” and shared on social media three times more than other types of content.
Instagram. Many B2B brands have shied away from Instagram in the past. But it is gaining more popularity, and with good reason. Instagram allows you to take gritty fields like manufacturing and make them beautiful and interesting. And it’s an appealing platform for millennial buyers and decision makers with short attention spans (and anyone with little time to spare).
Tweets with Photos. Since users scroll through social media quickly and sometimes mindlessly, a tweet that only consists of text is not as likely to catch anyone’s eye. Tweeted images are shared and liked much more frequently than just text. It’s also important to remember that visual content is key to helping you define your brand’s look, feel, and overall personality.
Article Images. Many B2B companies produce blog or article content to share knowledge about their company or industry. The photos accompanying your content are just as important as what you write. Try putting an image at the beginning of every article. You might also want to include photos within the story to break things up and let the reader breathe. Use a variety of images — graphs and charts, stock photos, cartoons, memes, and screenshots.
Visual content marketing is here to stay. These are just a few of the easy ways to make your B2B content come alive visually while still keeping things informative and relevant.
Continue ReadingExecutive Branding for Manufacturers: Your Hidden Marketing Superhero
by Emily Swet
Manufacturing is a traditional industry. And traditionally, industry executives have stayed off the grid, focusing on marketing their products and brands. Companies were a brand unto their own, and there was formidable strength in remaining faceless. But trends are shifting. Today’s audience is increasingly accustomed to building relationships not only with brands, but the people behind them. Work this to your advantage, and unleash one of your best assets – executive branding for manufacturers.
What is Executive Branding?
Executive branding is when key players at a company build their profiles online for the benefit of the company. Their beliefs, opinions, and most importantly, their industry expertise are put front-and-center. For manufacturing brands, it’s a great opportunity to bring your brand to life and add a little personality. Especially if your key players are already blessed with great personalities to begin with.
Manufacturing marketers often struggle with how to present dry subjects in ways that make an impact. And they’re often marketing to other manufacturers or distributers instead of directly to a consumer. As one of Forbes’ top trends for B2B marketing in 2017, executive branding is an effective strategy to counter this. Breathe life into your campaign by putting your leaders at the forefront. By placing some marketing emphasis on your leaders, prospective buyers will have a human reference point in their decision-making process. Plus, they’ll know what the company culture is like and a little about what the brand is likely to stand for.
Same Techniques, Smaller Scale
Executive branding takes the same concepts you’d use to market your products or services, and applies it to your executive leaders. Build and market your individual leaders’ knowledge, authority, and humanity. Use your executive to answer they buyer’s “why” and build their trust. Seeing the company from the CEO’s point of view goes a long way – buyers want to know what they think, not the staff writer. And a strong executive brand can create a connection with your future buyers long before the first purchase.
Think of your CEO as a brand persona. Create an executive communication plan that addresses:
- The kind of content your thought leaders (or the marketers behind them) will create
- The kind of content they will comment on/interact with
- How they present their persona digitally, as well as in real life
And when it comes to content, focus on knowledge, expertise, and personality. But – and we cannot express the importance of this – omit the direct pitch. A well-branded executive can guide your buyer into your funnel without needing an obvious shove. From LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to a personal company blog, there are plenty of opportunities to promote your executives as thought leaders. Even the humble email newsletter has a powerful impact when it comes from your CEO.
If you’re not interested in promoting yourself, we get it. A seasoned marketing company is a good place to start, both for devising a strategy and executing content. And consider the consequences of not participating on social media. Executives can come off either not technologically advanced or worse, not transparent. At a time when social presence, public relations, relationship building, and marketing are intrinsically linked, executive branding shouldn’t be considered an add-on, but a necessity.
Continue Reading