Popular Articles on Business 2 Community |
- Do You Know the Difference Between Organic SEO and Local SEO?
- 9 Customer Experience Statistics to Refocus Your Team
- 12 SEO Experts Weigh In on SEO 2014 Predictions
- 14 Reasons for Marketers to Be Excited About 2014 (Part 1)
- Writing A Killer Blog Post That Wins You Customers
- 5 Resolutions Your Employees Wish You’d Make this Year!
- What Percentage of Revenue Should B2B Companies Spend on Marketing and Sales?
| Do You Know the Difference Between Organic SEO and Local SEO? Posted: 06 Jan 2014 03:01 AM PST
|
| 9 Customer Experience Statistics to Refocus Your Team Posted: 05 Jan 2014 07:42 PM PST Customer-facing professionals need to know not only the scope of the challenges they face but also the results that stem from their actions. Statistics centered around the customer experience can help bridge the gap between performance and results.
These facts can help you recharge and refocus your teams and can motivate them to provide the best possible service to your customers. Customer Loyalty
Your customers' definition of a "poor customer experience" can range from simple things like not being acknowledged to challenging scenarios like delivering an expensive and time-sensitive product to the wrong address. Once a customer switches to a competitor, you won't have the chance to make it right, and you risk losing their business for life.
Imagine the amount of money your company will save — and make — simply by keeping the customers you already have. Higher profits create a healthier business; for frontline employees, this can lead to better pay, more functional teams, less turnover, and bigger budgets for providing even more great customer service.
Sales is sexy. The quest to land a new customer, the feeling of success that comes from welcoming that new customer into your organization's experience. However, the statistic above should serve as a reminder that service is even sexier, and that existing customers are like gold in your pockets. Customer EffortThe concept of customer effort focuses on a few key drivers of customer disloyalty, many of which center around the work a customer must put forth in order to do business with you. The more efforts your customers invest to resolve an issue, the less likely they are to remain loyal to your business. When researchers at the Corporate Executive Board studied 97,000 customers who had recent service interactions over the web and phone, they discovered the impact that customer effort has on loyalty. They also discovered the prevalence of customer effort:
Source: The Effortless Experience, Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick DeLisi. Advanced review copy. Page 29. Customer effort is an important and new idea in the customer experience space. The above statistics provide a stark look at how much effort customers perceive and how important it is to focus on reducing effort. For more on this topic, check out our interview with Matt Dixon, coauthor of The Effortless Experience, here and here. Social Customer Service
Whatever the reason, the people who engage with your organization over social media are invested in your brand. Companies often get lost in the "handling issues" side of social customer service and forget to focus on the brand evangelists and positive interactions. I've been outspoken that not every company needs to invest in social media for customer service; however, if your company's customers are on social, you need a plan to manage your social channels so that you can respond promptly, engage in positive interactions with customers, and build relationships online that will carry over into your physical location.
Many organizations feel that they do not have time for social media; however, how much time does a phone call from a customer take — one who went to social media and was unable to be satisfied. Sure, many issues are too complicated to be solved on social but being present there gives you ability to start the issue resolution process and to be engaged with the customer. If your organization is large enough, consider how many calls resulted from a failed first attempt on social media. Could you scale some of the phone time to manage your social media presence? As noted in the section above, the more effort customers have to make, the more disloyal they will be.
The reality is, if you have a company Facebook page, your fans and your customers are going to ask you questions, questions about service received, products purchased, and issues they are having. Notice the trend in the statistic above and make sure your are looking to the future of your social presence. As social media becomes a more common form of customer-company communication, you will need to pay as much attention to Facebook and your other channels as you do your voicemail box. We hope these customer experience statistics will help you provide your teams a little bit of the why behind the need for great customer service and help you refocus and renergize them to provide that next level of service. |
| 12 SEO Experts Weigh In on SEO 2014 Predictions Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:30 PM PST SEO is a particularly dynamic field, and those of us working in these trenches like to share our thoughts about this ever-changing environment. I've taken the opportunity to interview a dozen well-regarded experts in the industry, and ask the two biggest SEO questions on marketers' minds for 2014. Their answers may help you prepare and ramp up for the coming year. We're interested in what you think, so please add your own predictions to the comments at the end of this piece.
Our experts, in alphabetical order:
2014 will be the year of the Google "Tiger" update – a new algorithm update that Google will claim impacts 5% of sites and is designed to improve overall search quality. Shortly after Tiger comes out, 0.0001% of webmasters worldwide will scream bloody murder, and at least three case studies will come out claiming Tiger actually affected 47% of the web. Within a week or two, the "How to recover from Tiger" articles will have been written, in which authors just recommend things that the rest of us already know have been best practices recommendations for several years anyhow. Within 90 days of those articles coming out, an industry tool provider will come out with an "Eye of the Tiger" t-shirt, depicting Rocky Balboa all bloodied and mangled, standing victorious over a dead tiger named Google. More seriously though…. My SEO priorities never change. Well, they haven't in a long time. I live in a world consisting of best practices that have, oddly, always been best practices for SEO. Go figure. _____________________________________________________________________
I think the big changes that are coming to the SEO industry are already starting. With the advent of 100% (not provided) from Google, SEOs are moving away from optimizing pages for queries and toward creating content for audiences, built on topics. I think we'll see a renewed focus on building topical authority in 2014. We'll also see search engines' positions on semantic markup continue to evolve, both with new formats being supported and new measures being taken to keep semantic markup from being abused. My SEO priorities are changing to become more about good old-fashioned technical SEO in 2014 – but that's due in large part to our having a really great content marketing team, with whom I'm working to create a stellar content creation and promotion schedule in 2014. Having that team in place to help us promote our content allows me to focus more on making the vehicle for that content (i.e. our website) as fast, crawlable, shareable, and error-free as possible. _____________________________________________________________________
My #1 prediction: AuthorRank will start to heavily influence rankings in Google, as Google starts to be able to map a significant percentage of documents on the web to a known author. Google+ authorship will help Google to recognize both the credibility of authors, but also be able to "grade" a website based on who the authors are who contribute to that site. AuthorRank will behave much like PageRank, but it will be tougher for spammers to manipulate. SEO priorities:
_____________________________________________________________________
I predict that 2014 is going to put a big emphasis on reviews. We saw Google introduce Shared Endorsements this year (where advertisers can put a little 67 character snippet under an ad on a SERP), but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. Google might consider putting reviews of people in your Google+ circles right there on the SERP or having a small button where you can click to see reviews from people you know. They might even try to make it easier for people to leave reviews by prompting you to leave a review after you make a purchase (some companies do this already, but I'm wondering if in the future this will be more common if Google takes control). I'm not saying I necessarily agree that this is a good idea, and I certainly am not sure what Google has up its sleeves for next year, but the idea of reviews becoming more common and important makes sense to me. From an SEO content writer standpoint, I think my strategy is going to need to be all about semantic search and SEO. We saw Google come out with the Hummingbird update this year, which revamped the algorithm to improve upon conversational type queries, etc., so I think Google is taking note of the fact that things need to be operated in a way that thinks like a searcher – and searches don't think in keywords. Semantic search is a huge part of this. Instead of optimizing my content for one or two keywords, I'm going to need to think outside of the box and really start to think about what other ways (aside from keywords) users might search for the topic of my piece. After all, I want my article on as many SERPs as possible, and Google is making that more and more possible as they continue to evolve. _____________________________________________________________________
SEO is going see several major shifts in 2014. To me the biggest change will be that the real impact of Hummingbird will be felt. This will be multidimensional, and you will see some of what this will entail here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJZIg3WlL74 (short video extracted from a live interview I did with Danny Sullivan). Here is a summary: 1. Much more capability to detect and act on bad link patterns. 2. Social media (in particular G+) will begin to impact NON-personalized search. 3. AuthorRank will become real. 4. And yes, more natural language capabilities will come along for the ride too! In addition to all this, if that wasn't enough, we will see shifts in mobile implementation. While many businesses do have mobile presences, the reality is that far more have not invested in this enough. That will change and Google may begin to make some real ranking adjustments for organizations that do not have a mobile presence. So how to change with all of this? I see SEO having a very strong technical component for dealing with things like mobile, schema, authorship, crawlability, etc. This will continue to be important, simply because the search engines need help from the webmaster. But, for the link-building side, this will increasingly get viewed as modern age digital PR. Adept SEO firms will start to behave a lot like PR firms, BUT they will leverage the latest digital media opportunities to get their clients a major advantage. This is, of course, content marketing. This is going to become a bigger and bigger area of focus and a great opportunity for SEO companies that used to do "link building." _____________________________________________________________________
Sophisticated Link Analysis Earlier this year, Matt Cutts said Google was in the early stages of developing a "completely different system that does more sophisticated link analysis." Apparently, this new system would do more to deny value to link spammers, and Cutts alluded that this new system will be empowered by additional data they've been able to collect (undoubtedly from all the link lists we've been adding through the disavow links tool). If this new system works and is rolled out successfully in 2014, it will be the most impactful move I believe for Google in 2014. The reason is, there are many quality sites still affected by unintentional bad link-building of the past and even malicious negative SEO campaigns (frankly, it's silly negative SEO even works at all). If sophisticated link analysis works well, we can expect better search results for users and webmasters that are working hard to earn natural links and aggressively prune skeletons/bad links still lingering in the closet. Better Webmaster Tools Communication Link Accountability The focus in 2013 was to look exclusively at potentially "bad" links when working with a site affected negatively by Penguin. However, in 2014 the new priority is to document and thoroughly account for ALL links, including the "healthy" ones, when submitting a reconsideration request to Google. This may be considered overkill by some, but if you've been through a site penalty, you'll understand the sense of frustration that occurs after if you've taken countless hours to remove, disavow, and submit a reconsideration only to have your request denied. We should all adopt a "no-stone-left-unturned" approach in the new year and communicate a clear story to the Google Search Quality team (even though this communication may be unreciprocated). Non-SEO Focus Picture this page title displaying in search results for the keyword term 'Winter Boots': "Ultra Soft Winter Boots You'll Love to Wear this Season – Store.com." This is far better than this: "Winter Boots, Soft Boots, Warm Boots, Comfortable Boots – Store.com." Don't you agree? _____________________________________________________________________ With the number of changes that happened in 2013, I'm almost scared to guess! I definitely think Google will continue to penalize link networks they come across and I'm all for that! I also I think both Google and Bing are going to keep making it easier for us to give them information about ourselves and our websites. This past year there was a big push for setting up authorship, adding Schema markup, and creating/linking Google+ profiles. We also saw Bing start connecting social networks to WMT profiles. While it's not a huge change, it does present an opportunity for SEOs to get sites tagged and give the search engines the information they want. As of right now our priorities aren't changing too much. One thing we really focused on at the beginning of 2013 was shifting from shorter, keyword-focused content to more in-depth content, highly targeted to the client's audience and buying cycle. It certainly requires more time and knowledge, but it's much more valuable to our clients. We also started working to get Schema implemented on client sites. That will definitely continue. _____________________________________________________________________
I predict a much needed increase in client/provider transparency, more mindful collaboration between SEO/PPC/Social/Content teams, and a higher demand for technical, code-savvy marketers. Understanding site analytics and being able to mine data will be more important than ever, too!
_____________________________________________________________________
I think 2014 may be the year that Google tries to sort of "regulate" our industry under their widening "trusted" umbrella. We've already seen Google Trusted Photographers and Google Trusted Stores, and I believe it's only a matter of time before there are Trusted SEO Service providers too. I think Google will continue to take more away from "normal" non-trusted people as they have with [Not Provided], but I think they may offer some of that data back to "trusted providers" in the future. I expect to be forced to prioritize backlink cleanup even more than we already do now. I'll also continue to prioritize relationships for content strategies with industry experts, because that's where I believe SEO is headed. Just like having trusted authors as contributors will continue to be more and more important. That was sort of my prediction last year, http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/seo/buying-links-in-2013/ and the trend is growing. _____________________________________________________________________
I predict that SEO companies will be sending more link removal requests than link requests in 2014. Companies that sell bulk / low quality link building packages (think the 1,000 directory submissions for $100) will steadily lose business and will need to reshape their offerings or close their doors. As a freelance writer, my priority is to try to educate as many small businesses as possible about why they need to focus on quality over quantity in their online marketing strategy, especially with regards to content production, link building, and social media engagement. If they wouldn't want their customers or CEO to see it, it shouldn't be done. _____________________________________________________________________
Industry Changes I think marketers will go back to content spinning… just kidding! We're already starting to see author rank become important, and I think it will become even more important this year. I also think we will start to see more businesses adopt schema markup and I would hope that the search engines will award these businesses, as long as their legit, with more visibility. Google will continue to roll out updates to the Penguin algo, and I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to refine Hummingbird as well. There are still a lot of guest posting services and networks out there that produce generic content and place them on high authority domains full of posts just for link building purposes. I think many of these will go down in 2014 as Penguin is refined further. Not SEO Related: I think we will see more companies embrace email to nurture leads and remarket to their current clients and customers. A lot of businesses are turned off by email because they believe it's a "spam tactic," but they will soon come around and learn that it can be a powerful tool to build relationships and dramatically grow their revenue. How Are We Changing Our SEO efforts going into 2014 are twofold: First, ensuring that site optimizations are as tight as possible. When I mean site optimizations, I mean everything… including site speed, content hierarchy, ensuring crawlability, standard page optimizations, etc. Our clients' sites have to be squeaky clean out of the gate. Second, building content assets that are actually valuable to our clients' target audiences, along with amplifying each piece with paid ads. These usually come in the form of Facebook Sponsored Posts, Sponsored Tweets, LinkedIn Sponsored Updates, +Post Ads, Reddit Ads, StumbleUpon Paid Discovery, Retargeting via Google's Display Network, and Outbrain promotion. We've found that with less than $100 per post, you collect a good number of organic social signals and links. It's not even worth the time or energy to manually build links anymore. I'm not saying we don't manually build links, because some industries are just tough, but paid organic is the future! _____________________________________________________________________
Change always seems to take longer then we expect. A great example is personalization of search results. It took about 5-7 years for it to make a big impact, and it still hasn't reached its true potential. I expect 2014 will feature many discussions we've already had, particularly on mobile search and video. I also expect SEOs to put a spotlight on the ever-shrinking organic placements in search results. Frankly, I'm surprised the search community isn't complaining more about Google's shift towards 100% ads above the fold (something they punish other websites for). Despite the seemingly massive changes to algorithms each year, my SEO focus doesn't change much. Much of what worked the past five, ten, even fifteen years still works today. The one thing I'm starting to notice is that the value of my non-traditional SEO skills are becoming just as important as the technical SEO skills. In particular, my video, community, usability, and attention-getting skills are becoming an increasingly important part of my holistic SEO services. _____________________________________________________________________ Thank you to all our experts who weighed in! A variety of changes are in store for 2014 – will you be ready? Share in the comments below your 2014 SEO plans, predictions, and priorities! |
| 14 Reasons for Marketers to Be Excited About 2014 (Part 1) Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST
So instead, we're going to focus on what we're excited for in the near future of marketing. Personally, I'm excited about a lot of things, like that people are realizing that just hopping on the social media and content marketing bandwagons won't bring success. I think this year we'll see a lot of companies abandon the "throw it and hope it sticks" approach in favor of a thought-out and well-planned strategy. To get really revved up for 2014, I asked other marketers what they were excited about. The response was overwhelming! I'm glad to see so many of us approaching the year with a positive outlook and wanted to share some of their insights. Below are the thoughts of seven marketers, and we'll be writing another post including more next week!
What are you most excited about at your job this year? Comment below or tweet it to @eZangaInc for a change to be included in our next post! |
| Writing A Killer Blog Post That Wins You Customers Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST You've all seen it done. Sometimes you catch the notification of a new blog post in your Facebook feed or Twitter stream, and you just have to check it out. It's magnetic. There's something that draws you to it, and then as you read through, you realize that the author hit a home run. Maybe it causes you to subscribe. Maybe you comment. Maybe you even buy. Well…it's not a secret. It's something that anybody can do. Writing the kind of blog post that wins you customers requires paying attention to a few key components, and speaking to your audience in a way that is sure to resonate. Idea Generation I've had a lot of people tell me they get caught up in idea generation. If you know your industry well, there's almost alway something that you can write about. There's ideas in all of the conversations you and your sales staff have with customers. There's ideas in all of the industry books, blogs and websites that you've been reading. You can use mind mapping to develop ideas that have to do with a certain issue or subject matter. You can read a book about headlines. They'll give you creative ideas for posts in ways you've never thought about. The methods for finding great blog ideas are endless. Headline Writing You only get a fraction of a second to grab someone's attention, and convince them that what you have to say is worth reading. The first thing people are going to see is your headline. The first thing they'll want to know is how what's in it for them. Make sure that you can convey that quickly through a strong headline. Give people what they want to know. Make a promise in detail. They don't just want to know how to do something, they want to know how to do it well. Your headline needs to sell your idea. Examples: How To Lose Weight Quickly Without Giving Up The Foods You Love How To Check More Off Your To-Do List In Less Time 9 Quick Easy Tips For Buying The Best Pool 11 Ways To Save Money On Your Winter Utility Bills These headlines all give the readers distinct ideas of how they'll benefit by reading your blog post. For more great ideas on how to write a headline that sells, I have two extremely solid book recommendations. Jon Morrow's Headline Hacks (available for free at HeadlineHacks.com) and David Garfinkel's Headlines That Make You Rich available on Amazon. Not only will they help you write better headlines. They'll help you resonate with your audience on a deeper level. Remember, it's about grabbing their attention as quickly as possible. While it may seem easy to take a shortcut on the shortest part of your post, remember that it's a large part of building your audience. Treat it accordingly. Deliver On Your Promise I just told you how important it is to make a promise, and to give readers an idea of how they'll benefit from your post. You can guess what's next. It's time to deliver. Make sure that you hit all the points that they'll be wondering about. It's time to wow them with information, in an entertaining manner. A lot of beginning bloggers want to know how long their posts are supposed to be. The answer depends greatly on your subject. Some blog posts are perfectly serviceable at a short length of between 200 and 400 words. Others need to be in the 1,500 to 2,000 range. If the subject matter is treated right, the length won't matter. I used to ask my editors the same question on story length when I worked in journalism. The answer I got back from one editor frustrated me, but I clearly see his point. "Long enough to tell the story," he'd say. It seems vague, but it's not. His point is to make sure that you give readers all of the relevant information that they'll be looking for within the story. The same is true in a blog post. Make sure that your point is well-explained. If it's a list, make sure that the bullet points you're using are relevant and bolster your argument. Your post should have a strong beginning, middle and end with smooth transitions. Some bloggers are stronger at only one aspect. Think about it this way. If an airline pilot told you he only specialized in take-offs, you wouldn't get on the plane. You need to a successful "flight" and you need to bring your readers in safely. It's the best way to get them to comment, share or even buy. Tell A Good Story Sit down and really think about who your ideal audience is. Are you writing to industry colleagues? Are you writing to potential customers? Who is your audience? Get as specific as possible as you think about who really reads your blog. Once you've got that figured out, it's time to tell them a good story. Stories amplify the human experience. They make us feel emotion. The better you are at telling them, the better off you'll be. So think about the stories relating to your business that will resonate with your readers. Do you have someone who's overcome their problem using your service or product? Tell us about it. But make sure you treat your customer as the hero in the story. They overcame their problem. Your business was simply in the right place at the right time. Tell your readers how you got started in your industry. Give them something that they'll be able to emotionally identify with. It can help you in the long run. Include Personal Anecdotes Your readers are looking to do business with someone they know, and can identify with. The more personal information that you offer up in your posts, the better opportunity that you offer them to connect. For instance, frequent readers of my blog know that I'm an avid Cubs and Bears fan, as well as a new dad, and obsessed with music. I've had perspective clients who want to talk about Bears football before we get down to business. The bottom line is that it helps strengthen relationships. Here's a word of caution. As you drop these anecdotes, make sure that you stay on point with your blog post. Remember, it doesn't take much to get your readers to close out the tab. Don't drone on about your personal life, with no immediate tie back. Instead, offer tidbits into the type of person you are. If you're obsessed with music, let us know. If you're an avid runner, let us know. Sports fan? TV nut? You guessed it. Let us know. Bonus points if you can tie your interest back to the point you're trying to make in your industry. When people get a strong sense of individuality from your writing, they'll better be able to identify with you, and they'll like you more. A Call To Action Before you sit down to write the post, consider the type of reaction that you're looking for. Don't assume that your readers will know what you want them to do, however. If it's comments you're asking for, ask questions at the end of your post, invite your readers to comment. If it's social shares you want, write the type of content that resonates with people. If it's sales, convince people how what you sell really can fix their problems and make their lives easier. Remember that your blog isn't the place to advertise or be overly promotional, however. If you want a strong response to your writing, make your call to action strong. Spelling and Grammar Count I can't write about a successful blog post without including this. Not every reader is a grammar nazi, but they do have a sense for proper spelling and grammar. A poorly written post undermines your point, and your expertise. If your readers are busy questioning your use of "there/their/they're," they are probably also wondering how much you may really know about your business. Don't give them that opportunity. Promotion The days of simply producing quality content winning you visibility online are over. If you want to be seen, you'll need to promote your blog everywhere you go. Your in-person networking peers should be familiar with your blog. Your social media friends and followers should also be familiar. Make sure you're giving people links as you write the type of posts you want them to read, but don't stop there. Those same social media platforms also have groups, chats and communities — many that are probably related to your industry. Make sure that you are contributing to the industry conversations taking place elsewhere. Your newsletter, email signature, ebooks, flyers and other marketing materials are also great way to promote your blog. Remember, it's entertainment and information that your readers are after. Your blog is the perfect vehicle for that. By keeping it informative instead of full of hard sells, you can draw people in. Conclusion Here's one marketing truth. Blogging as a way to market your business and expand your bottom line isn't going away. It's as important to your business as your bookkeeping. If it falls outside of your skill set, it's important to hire a marketing writer. Think about the successful posts you've written in the past. You know the ones, where your traffic has spiked, they've been shared, or you've gotten a few sales. What worked for you? Feel free to share in the comment section below. |
| 5 Resolutions Your Employees Wish You’d Make this Year! Posted: 04 Jan 2014 03:30 PM PST
Employees want their managers/team leaders to:
360 Feedback can be a powerful instrument to help ensure your management development is heading in the right direction. But in the absence of specific feedback metrics, addressing these 5 needs should help put you on the path to better management effectiveness this year. |
| What Percentage of Revenue Should B2B Companies Spend on Marketing and Sales? Posted: 04 Jan 2014 02:10 PM PST
These two companies are IBM and Microsoft. First of all, nobody has ever accused either of these two companies of having the best technology, and yet both of them have survived through many recessions, to become two of the most successful companies in history. They both had technology that was good enough. They both had, and still have, products and services that meet the needs of their current customers and marketplace. Their technology works well enough to meet those needs. And yet ironically, both have been sued by the US government for predatory and monopolistic business practices. And when Steve Jobs was alive, Apple also fit into this category. And to this day, they still do, but a few people are predicting Apple's downfall now too. We'll have to see. It's interesting to note that all of these companies are technology companies, where there has been exponential growth and decline in many other technology companies. It should also be noted that IBM has gained much of its revenue from services over the past 10 to 15 years. But a lot of that service revenue is helping their clients use technology better. So, what do these three companies spend on marketing and sales? It was difficult to find what Apple spends on marketing and sales, because all of their internal salaries are put into the same bucket in the financial reporting. However, IBM and Microsoft split their marketing and sales expenses into one expense item. Both of these companies spend between 21% and 23% of revenue every year on marketing and sales. Paradoxically, they each spend only about 15% of revenue on Research and Development. This means they spend 50% more of revenue on marketing and sales then they do on R&D. Apple spends about 30% of revenue on marketing, sales and administration expenses, but also about 15% on R&D. Does your company spend in that ratio on marketing and sales? So why would three of the most successful technology companies in history spend 50% more on marketing and sales than on R&D. Because they know that you really don't have to have the best technology to succeed, you MUST, however, have the best marketing. Steve Jobs was one of the greatest marketers that ever lived. When I joined IBM Canada in the mid 70's, they put me, and several hundred other new recruits, through a nine month training program, with about 25 people in each class. They trained us in three basic categories. And by far, the most time was spent on marketing and sales. How best to sell their products and services, with all kinds of role plays for selling to clients. Now selling and marketing were quite different back then, but I want you to understand my point. IBM knew that the best way to grow their business was to produce the best marketers and sales people any company could have. And IBM made sure you were, or you didn't last with the company. IBM doesn't train like that any more. I assume because of costs. And I haven't found any technology companies that train their sales people and marketers at all any more, and haven't for about the last thirty years. And yet, when technology people hire sales and marketers, they expect these people to be fully trained. What a paradox. So, what does your company spend on marketing and sales? You need to be the best marketer in your marketplace to succeed in today's Internet world. You need to spend at least 15% of your revenues on marketing and sales, and preferably over 20% of revenues to really grow. If you do not spend at least 15% of revenues on sales, and more on marketing, then your company will have a very difficult time not just growing, but even surviving. |
“78% of small businesses believe new customers find them through search engines.” -
The 9 statistics below are categorized into three important customer experience areas: customer loyalty, customer effort, and social customer service.
Alan Bleiweiss (
Ruth Burr is the inbound marketing lead at 
Michael Cottam (
Amanda DiSilvestro is an online content editor and writer at 
Eric Enge of 
Art Enke is the Director of SEO at 
Casie Gillette is the Director of Online Marketing at 
Kyle Golembiewski As an Online Marketing Specialist at Phoenix-based marketing agency 
Scott Hendison is the CEO of 
Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, blogger, and ghostwriter, with years of industry experience in SEO. You've probably read her articles on KISSmetrics, Social Media Examiner, Search Engine Journal, or her own blog, 
Greg Shuey is the co-founder of 
Dustin Woodward is a long-time web professional with experience in on and offline marketing, including SEO, social media, and video marketing; he's also an official judge for the Webby Awards. With his SEO agency, 
It's important to start anything new with optimism, right? The new year should be no exception. There's a lot to make the marketing glass look half empty, encrypted keywords and algorithm updates, to name a few. But focusing on the negative is never the way to go.
When running Marathons, the best runners learn to set their desired finish time and monitor their progress with milestone markers. In fact, Nike and the like have watches and monitoring technologies to help facilitate this. For years, we have engaged clients in developing high-performance management cultures. Part of the process is our unique 360 management feedback, which allows us to see a snapshot of a particular point in the development process. As Peter Drucker once said, “Effective leaders deal with the world as it is, and not as they would like it to be.” When we look at the multitude of 360 data we've seen over the years, employee feedback most commonly centers around the five following issues for desired change.
This is a great question, and one that many B2B companies struggle with. Let's look at the B2B marketing budgets of two of the most successful B2B companies in the past 40+ years.| You are subscribed to email updates from Popular Articles | Business 2 Community To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
