The Grueling & Gratifying World of B2B Search Marketing

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©2014. Big Drum. All Rights Reserved.
The Grueling & Gratifying World
of B2B Search Marketing
Presented at SouthWiRED
October 6, 2014

Why should you listen to me?
Stacy Williams
>25 years’ experience in
marketing
>15 years’ experience in search
marketing
Founded Big Drum in 2001
Named “Search Engine Marketer
of the Year” by TAG in 2012
Founding member & past
President of SEMPO Atlanta
Business/Marketing &
Communications degrees from
UC Berkeley & U of Southern
California
Please tweet: @StacyWms
Big Drum
fka Prominent Placement, Inc.
(PPI)
Started as a search engine
marketing agency
Now the B2B conversion agency
Consistent award-winner
Services:
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 Paid Search (Pay-Per-Click/PPC)
 Conversion Rate Optimization
(CRO) / Usability (UX)
 Analytics (AX)
Please tweet: @BigDrumAgency
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So…what’s Grueling about
B2B Marketing & Sales?
• Long sales cycle
• Multiple decision-makers
• Often a limited universe of
prospects
• Difficult to track prospects
from top of funnel through
close
• Terminology changes
rapidly
• Can be considered
“boring”
• Complexity in general!
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But…what’s considered
Gratifying?
Whale photo
• Narrow, defined target
audience
• One sale can bring in a lot
of revenue
• Margins are higher
• Longer-term customer
relationships
• Complexity can be a fun
challenge
4

How do we use Search Engine Marketing to
alleviate the Grueling part of B2B marketing and
sales…so that we can enjoy the Gratifying part?
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Get them to the website (or landing page)
Encourage them to convert to a lead
Track results, analyze, test, tweak, repeat
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Get Them To The Website
(or Landing Page)

Get them to the website (or landing page)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Paid Search / Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
 Search Networks
 Google AdWords, Bing Ads (includes Yahoo)
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 Display Networks
 Google AdWords
– Remarketing (also Similar Audiences, Remarketing Lists for Search Ads)
– Many other targeting options
 Targeted Display Advertising
– Bizo, AdRoll, etc.
 Social Networks
 LinkedIn
 Facebook
 Twitter

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Content increasingly critical
 Fresh, unique, valuable, educational content
 Use to pique prospects’ interest, build credibility, capture leads
 Social shares & links to the content really help rankings
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Keywords are still important
 Less literal, more semantic
Ensure site is search engine-friendly from a technical standpoint
 Set up a Google Webmaster Tools account
 Implement Structured Data (more at schema.org)
Or catch Aaron’s
session at 3 pm today!

Keywords: editorial vs. commercial
Editorial
Editorial
Editorial
Editorial
Commercial
Editorial
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Editorial
Editorial
Commercial
Editorial
Commercial
Commercial
Commercial
Commercial
Editorial
Editorial

Keywords: stages of the buying cycle
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I have a problem
I’m researching
the solution
Who are the
companies I
should talk to?
Which company
should I choose?
Purchase
“how can I prevent having multiple
versions of a document across my team?”
“accessing documents on my phone”
“sharing documents securely”
“managing documents online”
“web-based content platform”
“managing records in the cloud”
“document management solutions”
“collaboration software providers”
“digital asset management companies”
brand keywords
reviews & ratings
Gartner, Forrester, analyst reports
TIP: Ensure your landing page
content ties in with the keyword
& stage of the buying cycle!

Keywords: stages of the buying cycle
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I have a problem
I’m researching
the solution
Who are the
companies I
should talk to?
Which company
should I choose?
Purchase
At this stage, the Executive Team
may search by brand keyword to
check out the company. Ensure
you “own” the first page of
results for your name and that
everything is positive,
professional and compelling

Keywords: evolving markets & niche categories
High Search Volume (but too broad)
document management
project collaboration
document sharing
record storage
Perfectly Descriptive (but low search volume)
open source digital asset
management
open source collaboration
software
open source enterprise content
management
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SOLUTIONS: Target “perfectly descriptive” so you can own them as you educate the
market and search volume grows. Typically, avoid “too broad.”
the middle.
related keywords with relevant content: “Why our X solution is better than traditional
Y solutions”.
audience.
Find what you can in
Think of pain/problem-related keywords (top of funnel).
Piggyback on
Use the Display network to generate awareness among your target
Use paid social advertising to target individuals, not keywords.

Keywords: avoid consumer clicks (paid search)
Use words in ads like “enterprise,” “wholesale,” “in bulk,” “business,”
“professional,” “commercial,” etc.
Include negative keywords like “free,” “discount,” “cheap,” etc.
Consider including pricing in ads
Test only running ads during business hours
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Using the Display Network at different stages
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I have a problem
I’m researching
the solution
Who are the
companies I
should talk to?
Which company
should I choose?
Purchase
Contextual Targeting
Placement Targeting
Interest Categories
Topic Targeting
Keyword Targeting
Demographic Targeting
Geo & Language Targeting
Similar Audiences
Remarketing/retargeting
RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads)

Emerging uses of the Display Network
Content Marketing
Display is the new content
marketing amplification &
distribution system
Drive visitors to your valuable
content; then retarget to them
later
Retargeting
Retargeting is the new lead
nurturing
Give away content & retarget to
those who consume it
Have salespeople direct prospects
to a specific page on the site
where they’re cookied for
retargeting
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Bizo has granular targeting – even specific companies!
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85% of US
business
population

LinkedIn Ads: Regular (remnant space!)
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©2014. Big Drum Agency. All Rights Reserved.

LinkedIn Ads: Premium
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InMail
Display/Spotlight Ads
Sponsored Updates

Social networks: LinkedIn Member Targeting
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Social networks: LinkedIn Group Targeting
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Social networks: Facebook
22

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Loads of conversion
type options!

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26

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>2% CTR
38% conversion rate
(provide email address)
Of that, 14% closing rate
(new customers)

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Know your audience
 Target properly
 Understand their
challenges
Offer something of
value – don’t sell
Landing page
Capture data &
nurture

Social networks: Twitter
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32

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Encourage Them To Convert

Increasing your conversion rate should be a priority
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B2B offers: align with the buying cycle
35 Source: Mac McIntosh, Acquire B2B, Integrated Marketing Summit 2014

Software (SaaS) Company Offers
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I have a problem
I’m researching
the solution
Who are the
companies I
should talk to?
Which company
should I choose?
Purchase
Demo
Free Trial
Our clients’ average
conversion rates YTD:
2.1%
1.2%

We love choice!
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Consider TWO thank you pages!
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Regular Thank You page with requested asset(s)
• Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn links for viral marketing
Role-based Landing Page (“pop under”)
• For additional conversions, self nurturing, sharing
Source: Michelle Killebrew, IBM, Integrated Marketing Summit 2014

To gate or not to gate…that is the question!
YES – Gate It! NO – Don’t Gate It!
Capture data on prospects that
you can then nurture
Best option if your goal is lead
generation (mid-funnel)
The amount of data you require should
be commensurate with the value your
content provides
It’s up to 50x more likely to be
downloaded if ungated (Source: The
Content Factor)
Can use retargeting to “nurture”
Best option if your goal is wide
distribution for brand awareness
and thought leadership (top of
funnel)
39
Search engines can index ungated
content, so that can create even wider
distribution

Short forms…better yet, progressive profiling
Source: Business 2 Community
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Source: Shannon Barnes, Kuno Creative blog
Prepopulate
forms when
you can!

10 Conversion Rate Optimization Tactics (& Tools!)
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1. Visitor Behavior Analysis
Identify top navigation paths and areas where visitors are exiting your site.
This will help guide and prioritize CRO efforts.
September 24, 2014
Tool: Google Analytics

2. Heatmap Analysis
Where are visitors paying
attention on your site and
what are they ignoring?
September 24, 2014
Tool: Inspectlet

3. Form Analytics
Rich details are available on conversion funnels in relation to form fields and much more.
Video replays of site interaction are also available.
September 24, 2014
Tools: Inspectlet, Formissimo

4. Usability Audits
A heuristic usability review should evaluate these key aspects of your site:
Design, Navigation, Persuasion and Conversion.
Award
Winning
Results
Tool:
a big brain
September 24, 2014

5. A/B Testing (Website and/or Landing Pages)
September 24, 2014
Tools: Unbounce, Optimizely, Google Content Experiments

6. User Testing
Present a test panel with an important task and see if they can
accomplish it. This will uncover obstacles that are being encountered
by your site visitors that may be suppressing conversions.
Watch and listen as your target
audience navigates through your site –
September 24, 2014
it’s all on video.
Tool: UserTesting.com

7. User Surveys - Nudge
Improving the conversion performance of your website starts with understanding
what your visitors want. User surveys help you understand the intent of their visit and
anything that may be preventing them from achieving their goals.
September 24, 2014
Tool: Qualaroo

8. User Surveys – Emotional Ratings
Want to know what your visitors feel when they are browsing your website?
Encourage them to share their feelings with emotional rating surveys.
September 24, 2014
Tool: Usabilla

9. User Surveys – Intercept (True Intent)
Intercept visitors and invite them
to participate in the survey. Visitors
are instructed to continue what
they came to do, then answer
questions, such as: Did you
accomplish your goal?
September 24, 2014
Tool: Loop11

10. Card Sort Study
Tool: Optimal Workshop
Get user input on your information
architecture (IA) via a card sorting
study. List all items in your current
menu and study participants simply
drag and drop to categorize.
September 24, 2014

Don’t forget about
phone calls!
Gather ALL the data you need
to calculate ROI & make
decisions.
Take credit for ALL the leads
you’re generating!
Vendors: Marchex, CallRail,
Mongoose, more
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Online
Conversions
29%
Phone
Conversions
71%

Track Results, Analyze, Tweak, Repeat
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Web analytics are awesome…but it’s hard to tie
visits to sales & revenue for lead generation sites
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What’s the value of a conversion?
% of conversions that close (become a sale/customer)
X
average lifetime value of a customer
55

But wouldn’t it be great to be able to know WHO’s converting?
And track true ROI back to its source?
56 Source: CRM Evangelist

Now we can.
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B2B sales cycles can be long…
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…so set Long Cookies in Google Analytics!
80% of prospects deemed “bad leads” by
sales teams go on to buy within 24 months.
SiriusDecisions

Track “assists” with Multi-Channel Funnels
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Google Analytics >
Conversions >
Multi-Channel Funnels >
Overview
Google Analytics >
Conversions >
Multi-Channel Funnels >
Top Conversion Paths

More Good Stuff!
• This presentation: slideshare.net/stacywms
• Structured data: bigdrum.io/structured-data-primer
• eBook “Sure they’re clicking. But are they converting? Four B2B digital
marketing conversion essentials”: bigdrum.io/cro-ebook
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The Grueling & Gratifying World of B2B Search Marketing

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