Multichannel Marketing for B2B Marketers

Want to lose money on the Internet?

There are many ways to go about it. You can use the wrong email marketing lists or the wrong ecommerce platform. Or, you can make fundamental marketing errors. Here are five surefire revenue killers, as described by Janet Attard:

1. Your ads and your website don’t use the same terms customers do. Want to build traffic and get noticed by the search engines? Speak your customer’s language. Know the keywords that bring people to your site, determine the terms they use, and incorporate them into title tags and text, Attard advises. That’s especially important if you offer content.

2. Your online ads send customers to your homepage, not to specific product pages. That’s a surefire way to drive people away. Create dedicated landing pages or micro sites, and make sure your brand stands out on each one. And do the same for newsletter stories and other features that bring people to your site. As Attard writes, “The web visitor who found the page to order fluffy slippers may never see your home page.” Offer content and related products. And include links to other parts of your site. continue reading…

Want to reach the real decision makers on inhouse IT teams? Do what IBM has done: Go after the Millennials.

People in this group are young and lack buying authority. But they are tech-savvy and exert a huge influence on what gets bought, said Pamela Evans, senior marketing manager, Web marketing, Worldwide Software group for IBM. What’s more, these members of Generation Y are rapidly moving into leadership positions. Ignore them at your peril. continue reading…

B2C companies aren’t alone in suffering payment fraud. It also happens in B2B sector.

And the vehicle is often the firm’s own corporate card, according to a survey by the Association for Financial Professionals.

A full 42% of the B2B firms with corporate/commercial cards have had those cards misused. That percentage rises to 48% for companies with sales of $1 billion or more.

In 73% of the cases, the theft was committed by an external party. That includes a small percentage of vendors or business partners. continue reading…

Better act now if you plan to increase your online marketing budget. You’re soon going to have company.

A recent report from AMR International predicts that B2B spending will grow by a compound annual rate of 14% by 2012. Growth is forecast at 8% for this year.

To put this in context, online is now getting 7% of the B2B marketing dollar, but that will rise to 12% by 2013, the report says. continue reading…

Quadrant Healthcom, Inc., a medical communications company, has placed its subscriber postal and email mailing lists on the market for the first time through Edith Roman Associates-ePostDirect.

Also available for the first time is the Quadrant HeathCom Masterfile, a multichannel file that is perfect for firms that offer medical equipment, publications, seminars, healthcare products and office supplies. It lists physicians, clinicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. continue reading…