The founder and president of Huff Industrial Marketing, Inc., Dianna Huff creates and implements thoughtful marketing strategies that help small, family-run industrial manufacturers grow and succeed. She's also the co-author, with Rachel Cunliffe of Cre8d Design, of 101 Ways to Market Your Website, a guide for small business owners, consultants, freelancers -- anyone with a website. You can follow Dianna on Twitter @diannahuff.
What if I told you that the lack of a seemingly insignificant content asset on your B2B vendor website will potentially cause 44% of your visitors to leave?
And, what if I told you that this same piece of content was deemed a “must have” or “very important” to 90% of buyers who need it to move forward with an inquiry, request for quote, or trial offer?Continue Reading
“My home page content isn’t above the fold,” said Sandi McCann, Founder and President of HomeCare of the Rockies.
Recently, Sandi, Rachel Cunliffe (President of Cre8d Design), and I were doing one last look-through of Sandi’s new website, when she said this.
“The pictures take up a lot of space,” said Sandi. “I want people to see my content. It has to be above the fold.”
As soon as Sandi said she wanted her content “above the fold,” my immediate response was, “Which fold?” Given that her website was designed to be responsive, where content appears depends on what device the reader is using. Continue Reading
When my colleagues, Derek Edmond and Casie Gillette at KoMarketing Associates, and I first viewed responses from our inaugural 2014 B2B Web Usability Report, we weren’t surprised by some of the results. For example, we already knew and were advocating to our respective clients that B2B buyers need marketing collateral in order to make purchase decisions. And, it wasn’t a shocker that buyers don’t like filling out forms that require them to hand over lots of information.
But some of the responses did surprise us — particularly that two types of website content — content that most of us don’t even think about — play a huge role in helping B2B buyers move forward with a vendor. In fact, the lack of this type of content can cause prospective buyers to leave a website annoyed and frustrated — and without making any moves to initiate contact with a vendor.
To which content am I referring? Contact information and “About” pages. Simple stuff that all businesses include on their websites, right? Well, not exactly.Continue Reading
Previous to owning an iPad, I would print out white papers and eBooks and read them when I wasn’t sitting at my computer. I have an entire drawer filled with these things — the pages covered in my handwriting with sticky notes earmarking important data.
That all changed when I purchased an iPad and found I could save reports and eBooks to iBooks. Suddenly, I was no longer viewing the content marketing design and format of these pieces from a print perspective — no, I was looking at things from the perspective of how readable the information was on my iPad screen. Continue Reading
Last year CMI blogger Jennifer Watson wrote a terrific article, The Audience Content Marketers Can’t Afford to Ignore – But Almost Always Do, that discusses how content marketers often forget our most important audience – sales people!
In her article, Jennifer cites data from the American Marketing Association that says sales people spend 30 hours a month creating their own sales materials and that 90% of marketing deliverables aren’t used by sales.
When I worked corporate in a previous lifetime before the Internet, I saw this first hand. Sales reps were forever creating their own marketing collateral even when it already existed. Talk about frustrating!
You can find dozens of really good applications, books, and blogs on how to simplify your work, become more productive, and manage your time. Much of this advice is good, but it doesn’t cover how to manage the deluge of “tasks” that come along with social media and creating content: e.g. responding to invite requests, direct messages, answering blog comments, publicizing content, reading blogs, following people, monitoring online reviews, etc.
If you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed – and many of the content marketers I talk to are (big time!) – the solution isn’t “manage your time better.” Instead, it’s about changing how you work in response to how your job has changed.Continue Reading
Over the years, I’ve had many B2B manufacturing clients want to include what I refer to as “so what?” information on their Websites, blog posts and press releases. This “so what?” information includes seemingly useless facts such as the square footage of the manufacturing plant or that the company has purchased new equipment.
When I get these types of requests, I’ve learned to ask, “Why is this important?” As a content creator, my job is to think like a reporter. The fact that a company spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase new equipment is important – my job is to find out why.Continue Reading
Editor’s note: We’ve updated our annual Manufacturing research study for 2023.
As the author of 2010 B2B Manufacturing / Processing Industry Report, I got an inside look into how manufacturers use content marketing. You can read the findings by downloading the report, but the one finding that struck me was this group’s top marketing goal: brand awareness.Continue Reading
In the early days of the Internet, web content was an afterthought. The main focus was the printed product brochure. Once the brochure was complete, it was then added to the website, usually in the same format in which it was printed.
Because of this history, some B2B companies still consider a website an “online brochure,” a misconception that causes a lot of trouble.Continue Reading
At a recent presentation I gave, a gentleman in the audience asked how he could develop content for his business website. A plumber by trade, he and his partner had already optimized and “tricked out” their site for Google Places.
I began rattling off ideas . . . but it wasn’t until a few days later that I realized that people don’t need help with understanding the type of content to create (e.g., guides, e-books, white papers, etc.). Instead, people need help with generating the ideas in the first place.Continue Reading
