SEO Strategy: Brand or Product Focus?

Pictured: Search Engine Spider
(artist's rendering)

I recently had a client call me, panicked, because his company website wasn't showing up when he Googled the company's name. See, they've recently changed their company name, and while their site will show up naturally over time thanks to their clever little spiders, his question got me thinking.

Let's leave the technical end of SEO behind for a minute and focus on the philosophy. The key to SEO, like so many other marketing initiatives, is strategy. And the first step in that process is to take a look at critical keywords and determine your SEO goals. To do this, you need to start thinking like your customers.

Beware: SEO requires a good deal of initial thought and planning. If you're thinking about how to enhance your search engine strategy, my first question to you would be this: What should the SEO process for your website focus on: your brand, or your product category? Most companies rightly focus on a product category, because most companies aren’t Kleenex (gesundheit!). Internet searchers don’t know and aren’t familiar with your brand, and therefore will not be searching for your brand.

I can tell you right now that we typically do NOT recommend optimizing sites for a brand-focused term like your company or product name. There are several reasons for this:

• If someone knows the name of your company, it’s likely because he/she has one of your business cards, brochures, or catalogs. The business card, brochure, or catalog will already have the your website URL printed on it. Most computer users, when they know the URL of a website, simply type that into their browser address bars rather than going through the extra step of searching for it in the Google search bar. These people are familiar with the company and already know how to find your website. 
• You should be more concerned about people who want your particular product but have no idea what your company name is. Most of the time, your company or brand name is not going to be synonymous with your product (again, think Kleenex or Band-Aid), so people won't be searching Google for it. 
• Most of your potential customers will be searching for products, like "handheld power tools," or "spherical roller bearings." THESE are the terms you should optimize for, so that you can be sure your website shows up on search results pages for the terms people use most to find your products. 

So, before you embark upon an SEO program, lock yourself in a dark room with plenty of soft pillows and try to make a mind-meld with your customers. Once you have a good idea of the words, terms (and spelling of those terms), and phrases your customers use to find your products, you can begin to optimize your website.

Confused about where to begin? No problem. Contact Ashby Dillon for customized help and a crash course in Search Engine Policy 101.

Bridging the Lead Generation Gap Between Marketing And Sales: 8 Questions to Ask

So I was watching the highlights from the Republican presidential debates on the news this morning, and honestly--I've never seen more eye-rolling and self-righteous sputtering within a group of people. I mean, I HAVE, but they wore cowboy hats, sequins (sequined cowboy hats=YES), lived at Southfork and wondered who shot J.R.

It did get me to thinking though...why all the bickering when the goal is the same? With apologies to Hamlet, THIS is the question for marketers and salespeople. Marketers and salespeople have the same goals: identify new customers, connect with them, sell to them, and retain them. So why all the conflict between the marketing department and the sales department?

I work for a marketing agency, and though we don't offer sales consulting services, I find that marketing strategies developed with input from the sales team are more comprehensive and ultimately successful. But it's often surprising to me how little communication there is between the marketing and sales departments, even at very large companies. Marketing teams complain that salespeople don't follow up on leads or communicate the correct message to customers. Sales teams complain they don't get the right leads or compelling materials from the marketing department.

Cooperation between marketing and sales is absolutely critical when it comes to lead generation. If you're a marketing pro with a disconnect between the sales and marketing departments, here are some questions you should ask before embarking upon a lead generation program:

1. How do customers buy your products? What are the crucial decision points along the way to a purchase? Knowing where a customer is in the buying funnel and identifying those decision points helps marketing create compelling messages and present them at just the right time to move them to the next step in the process.
2. Is product positioning and market messaging aligned with the customer purchase process? 
3. What constitutes a "lead?" How does your organization define the difference between a marketing lead and a sales lead?
4. At what point does marketing turn over leads to sales? Is marketing providing the salesperson with the background information he/she needs to address the lead?
5. What is the process for handling and following through with leads?
6. Does that process need to be fine-tuned?
7. How are results and sales calculated and tracked back to the lead generating mechanism? Is this information provided to the marketing department?
8. Does sales provide marketing with feedback about the quality of the leads they receive?

Marketing departments are being held accountable for the quantity and the quality of the leads that they generate for sales. But their ability to generate those leads is directly related to the customer insight and feedback that only sales can provide. Again, the goals for the two departments are shared, so asking these questions, clearly defining the lead handling process and keeping lines of communication open will get you more results (and less eye-rolling).   

Top 4 Strategies for Lead Generation Success

Top 4 Strategies for Lead Generation Success

Are you actively building a lead generation funnel...or getting swept away by a funnel cloud of inaction?

For a long time, manufacturers relied primarily on expensive listings in industrial directories like ThomasNet or Global Spec to provide the lion’s share of their sales leads. Lately, we can’t help noticing that many of our clients are grumbling about diminishing returns.

Now don’t get me wrong. Industrial directories are useful, chiefly because they provide more focused B2B demographics and searchers who are typically further along in the buying funnel than your average Googler. But thanks to Google, industrial directories are no longer the most common resource for engineers, purchasing agents, and other industrial buyers looking for suppliers.

Tell me if any of these situations sound familiar:

• You’re placing online ads, but you’re not getting clicks.
• You ARE getting clicks, but not leads (or conversions).
• You’re getting leads, but not the right kind of leads.

If so, you’re not alone. Getting people to share their contact information is harder and harder these days, and if you’re relying SOLELY on industrial directories to provide those leads, your CRM system may get a little dusty.

So what’s an industrial, B2B marketer to do? Well, you could start with the top 4 strategies for lead generation success:

#1: Be useful!

This is head-smackingly simple, but sometimes we’re so busy selling that we forget our prospects NEED something from us. Focus on how you can solve problems for them, answer questions, and provide new and interesting facts and information that they truly value. Conversations about solutions lead to conversations about products.

#2: Give them something free.

I’m not talking about product discounts or promotions. I’m talking about free analysis, articles, case studies, white papers, videos, webinars, and application guides. Get comfortable giving away content, because compelling content is what brings leads to you.

#3: Target your content.

Don’t make the mistake of targeting the same content to all your audiences. Your efforts will yield more results if you segment your audience and direct specific content to each.

#4: Track results.

Testing, measuring and adjusting should be an ongoing process. Your data can help you develop insights into how to market more effectively. Dig into your site analytics, click/conversion, and CRM data to find out how users behave, track which marketing messages generate the most leads, increase your share of customer, and determine which marketing activities best help you reach your goals.

ashbydillon can help you get a comprehensive lead generation program off the ground, or combine creativity with analytics to take yours to the next level.

Eight is ENOUGH! Using Analytics to Steer Marketing Decisions

Eight is ENOUGH!
Using Analytics to Steer Marketing Decisions

Studies show it takes an average of 8 contacts to move a prospect to a sale. Wait…eight??!?

Yep. Feeling a little behind the proverbial eight ball? Well, if you think you’ll need to work eight days a week to get this kind of frequency…think again. Technology is a marketer’s best friend. It can help you engage your prospects and interact with them in new ways. It can also help you increase the frequency of your message and do a better job of targeting the right message to the right prospect—a process called audience segmentation.

Let’s make this promise to one another, and write it Bart Simpson-style on every chalkboard in Miss Krabappel’s classroom:

If you’ve got the basic tools, you don’t have to guess what will work. You can use cold, hard numbers to:

• Test and craft better marketing messages
• Target the right audience with the right message
• Understand response metrics and translate that into a more effective marketing strategy
• Track effectiveness of your marketing initiatives
• Warm up your leads
• Prompt an immediate action or response
• Build customer loyalty

   

Your basic tools should include (but are not limited to):

• Website analytics
• CRM system
• ashbydillon Marketing

OK, I admit, that was shameless. But you need to be actively mining your website analytics and CRM for data to help you make better, more effective marketing decisions…and that’s what we help clients do at ashbydillon every day.