Top Ten B2B Website Tips
by Lee on Jul.14, 2010, under Marketing & Advertising, News & Views, SEO, Website Design
From my experience, many of our larger B2B customers view their site as a customer portal for relevant data and are not overly concerned with anything beyond that functionality. During this past recession, our company has shifted a lot of our resources to web development and understanding how to make it an effective marketing tool for our customers. Without getting too technical, my top 10 suggestions for a more marketing orientated B2B website are as follows:
- Give your web some personality.
Many companies put website development in the hands of their IT department. Although they certainly play a big role, there should be a second set of eyes directing your look and message to the marketplace. - Take a message first approach.
Don’t keep what you do best a secret. Make sure your value proposition is front and center. Narrow your focus and increase overall results by speaking specifically to your 80% strength and customer target. - Use an effective combination of Flash and HTML text in your web layout. Too much of one or the other can leave the viewer either frustrated with download time or bored from lack of effective design and text heavy layouts. A “picture is worth a thousand words” applies to websites too.
- Optimize your site.
Having a site without SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is like having a hot dog without the bun. Proper SEO can dramatically change your presence on the web through increased rankings. - Keep your news or blog category current.
Having original news and/or blog content will increase rankings and customer interest, while copying others verbatim and having out of date entries can work against you. The more you update your site, the more reasons search engines such as Google will have a reason to visit. - Attention to detail is important.
Use quality photos and well written and proofed text. Make sure your logo and tagline are reproduced consistently and correctly throughout your site and please avoid extended “under construction” postings. - Make your site customer centric.
Make it easy to navigate. Tell your message quickly and concisely. Have applicable customer log-in portals front and center. For new visitors, the majority are looking for contact info so make it easy to find. - Benchmark your activity before and after.
Use Google Analytics to better understand traffic demographics. Review regularly and make changes to your site based on the data received. Set targets to better capture your viewers’ attention and increase frequency and lengths of visits in the future. - Use a combination of push and pull strategies to increase your web presence.
Don’t wait for business to land in your lap. Push out your information. Promote your website to customers and prospects. - Use one capable marketing provider. Your results will be more cohesive, cost effective and less demanding on your time. Taking a “too many cooks” approach (within your company and by using multiple vendors) could result in poor overall delivery and lack of consistency with your branding efforts.
Lee’s quote for the day,
“To catch the big fish, your marketing needs to have the right hook, line and thinkers.” 
Eight Lessons Big Business Can Learn From Small Business
by Lee on Jul.09, 2010, under News & Views
When talking to a large carrier earlier this week, we shared our thoughts on having to cut back staff, work harder and do more with less. Our experiences were surprisingly similar though he had thousands of employees and I had just shy of a dozen. Today’s management is extremely hands on and the people that make up our trimmed down teams are communicating better and operating at higher efficiency levels. At some point, things could start falling through the cracks, but right now most companies, big and small are getting the job done right with fewer hands.
I think it’s great that big business can find their inner small enterprise…even if it took a recession to do it. Wouldn’t it be super if corporations could emulate these small business attributes as they add numbers to their ranks, in a recovering economy:
- Keep politics and gossip out of the workplace
- For the most part, have the left hand know what the right hand is doing
- Don’t spend your day putting out fires by having the right people on board who can prevent them
- Know people by name and encourage a team atmosphere
- Don’t waste time pointing fingers or placing blame
- Initiate change swiftly and avoid a structure crippled by red tape and process
- Spend less time “covering your ass” so you can “whoop-ass” instead
- See lemons turn to lemonade daily… and at the end of each day stand proud (pun intended)
Lee’s quote for the day:
“The main reason I started my own business was at the time, I just didn’t know any better”
9 Post Recession Tips for Marketing a Diversified Transportation Mix
by Lee on Jul.05, 2010, under Marketing & Advertising, News & Views
I’ve called on hundreds of companies over my 22 year marketing career and have discussed strategic concerns with just about every size, mode and geographic focus possible within transportation. Many companies say they do a dozen things well and really do 1 or 2. Others have an extremely diversified menu but customers are unaware of the breadth of service provided. Both are immediate marketing concerns.
#1. You typically have to win customers over one service at a time. Even though an integrated approach is the end goal for the diversified model, if you don’t establish the necessary rapport and trust first… the big sell is a hard sell.
# 2. By casting too wide a net with your marketing you run the risk of not catching anyone’s interest. If you can’t back up a statement with tangible evidence of expertise, your entire message can get grouped together as being unbelievable.
# 3. You don’t want customers confused about what your service offerings are and you also don’t want to hear the words “I didn’t know you did that” by failing to create the awareness of your full service offering. If you can, lead with your best service first and remember “It’s the steady rain that soaks.”
# 4. As a general rule, we find transportation providers have a core strength(s), a secondary focus and what we would typically call a value added or convenience sell. It’s important to weight these accordingly in your marketing so customers understand fully who you are as a company.
# 5. Most successful diversification is through a dedicated model, something that has been developed for a single customer with very specific needs. It won’t typically role out to your general customer demographic…so don’t market it that way.
# 6. Decide who you are. Are you better suited as a handyman that does a host of things pretty well? Or is what you do a craft, with a more select target that’s tough for others to duplicate. Both have value. You need to make sure there is alignment between your skill set and your targeted market.
# 7. Markets change. Regardless of your business model, if what used to be the volume of your activity is shrinking, maybe it’s time to bring one of those secondary services front and center. As an example, what represents 50% of our market strength today (websites and branding) was only 5-10 % of our mix 4 years ago.
# 8. From listening to recent shipper panels, they want stability, service commitments, information exchange and relationships. It won’t be just about price going forward… they know the landscape is changing and that shrinking capacity is on the horizon.
# 9. Reset your thinking soon, as no one can beat you down any further on price. The value, innovation and focus you have going forward will dramatically shape your road to recovery…proceed with caution, and confidence!
Lee’s quote for the day:
“Truckers are like elephants. They work hard and have long memories. The shippers who forced their hand too heavily during the recession may soon be viewed like a male porn star after a very cold shower…small, unimpressive and no longer carrying a big stick!”
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Welcome to the Palmer Marketing Blog!
Welcome to our blog, a place where we write about advertising and marketing industry trends, ideas, tips, and our thoughts for improving your marketing communications. Palmer Marketing delivers creative solutions that contribute to our clients' success. Located in Mississauga (Toronto), Ontario, we create everything from complete advertising campaigns to promotional items, web sites and intranets.
