I recently attended TAG Marketing’s March event on The Heart of the Matter: How Content Drives Your Mobile, SEO, and Lead Gen Strategy. Panelists from Google, Forrester, Prominent Placement and SunTrust delivered insights into the challenges and opportunities marketers today face. A few observations that resonated with me were:

• Marketers today are battling indifference. Give your audience a reason to care about what you’re doing. Content should be:

a) entertaining,
b) informative or
c) provide utility.

• How can marketers enrich the lives of their audience and make them better?
• It’s not about you, the marketer, or your product. It’s about your audience and their circumstances. Determine where your buyers are in the cycle and direct specific content aimed at that level of the buy cycle.
• Marketers need to understand their audience and what motivates them. Leading with that level of insight yields greater results.
• Review Google Analytics to determine which keywords are driving the most conversions. Knowledge is power!
• Don’t insult your audience by not thinking mobile first. If your website is not optimized for mobile viewing, you are very likely annoying your audience.
• Think like a consumer. Keep your outreach short and simple, clean and informative – think of how you would like to receive information.
• In today’s mobile environment, consumers are always addressable, wherever they are. Determine peak information consumption times for your audience and time your outreach accordingly.

Leveraging these insights, marketers are better positioned to maximize audience interactions and cultivate long lasting relationships. With growing competition for your audience’s attention, what strategies are you using to remain relevant?

In our previous post, we shared three learnings from our recent wins at the 2012 PRSA|GA Phoenix Awards Ceremony. The following are the final four findings that may be of interest to BtoB marketers:

Blogs for Arketi’s work with Intradiem to create, launch and maintain the Productivity Plus blog, located at blog.intradiem.com.

What we learned: Blog about it and they will come. Blog posts get read more than most static content pages, since regular posting keeps the content timely and relevant. By blogging, organizations can demonstrate their expertise and establish thought leadership.

Webcasts for Arketi’s work with Intradiem to develop and execute the Productivity Plus webinar series to identify Intradiem as a thought leader in agent productivity solutions and to generate leads. Intradiem received nearly 2,500 registrations for six webinars, which uncovered 64 opportunities.

What we learned: Webinars are the way to go. If webinars are not part of your BtoB marketing mix, they should be. More than half of BtoB journalists find company-sponsored webinars helpful, according to the Arketi Web Watch Media Survey.

Writing – Trade/Business News Release for Arketi’s news release for The Network, a leading provider of integrated governance, risk and compliance products and services to nearly half the Fortune 500. Arketi’s release on The Network’s Quarterly Corporate Fraud Index garnered 1,030,966 media impressions, delivering a cost-per-contact of $.002.

What we learned: The news release isn’t dead. Regularly distributing releases is a great way to gain coverage in key media outlets and keep top-of-mind awareness.

Marketing Business to Business Professional Services for Arketi’s marketing campaign with an intelligent collaboration document solution provider serving the mortgage industry. Arketi’s campaign positioned the client as an unparalleled leader in connecting the most industry participants through flexible technology and a trusted brand.

What we learned: Don’t forget the bigger picture. It’s one thing to develop a strong overall theme and execute a variety of tactics that resonate with the target audience. A truly successful campaign goes one step further and ensures that all initiatives tie back to the bigger business objective – revenue growth.

The public relations industry endured quite a bit of scrutiny in 2012. According to a recent PR News poll of senior PR executives, The Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood controversy was the most notable communications crisis of 2012, but they were not alone. Other offenders include, but are not limited to American Apparel, who used Hurricane Sandy as an opportunity to boost sales, Chick-fil-A’s CEO Dan Cathy declaring his aversion to marriage equality and Walmart, who covered up a bribery case to grow its business in Mexico.

With the New Year comes an opportunity for PR to improve its reputation. That involves each PR professional working to achieve and maintain a positive brand perception, for their organizations and for clients. PR Newswire recently asked its followers to define modern PR. Here is what they found: http://blog.prnewswire.com/2012/11/13/what-is-public-relations-infographic/.  The results confirm constant motion and digital, strategic storytelling to select audiences. No one said it would be easy!

As PR professionals, it is our responsibility to consider every scenario possible and work closely with clients to mitigate situations like the aforementioned. We can begin this process by ensuring public relations activities are aligned with business objectives. It takes time to become a trusted advisor, and here we are at the start of a new year. What better time than now to resolve to earn the respect our industry deserves?

While social media has monopolized the public relations limelight lately, traditional PR activities remain integral to building trust, increasing brand awareness and generating sales leads.

This issue of Arketi Insights provides a refresher course on media relations, news writing and trade show outreach – three public relations “basics.” Leveraging these channels effectively positions the PR team for long-term success.

Key takeaways include:

• pitching relevant stories and following up with care
• crafting powerful quotes for news releases
• engaging target audiences at trade shows

To read more about taking your BtoB public relations to the next level, download Arketi Insights: Best Practices in BtoB PR.

Arketi Insights is a regular component of the agency’s ongoing Stop Selling. Start Listening. movement designed to help re-introduce BtoB marketers to a way of thinking that places buyers and their needs at the center of marketing priorities. The campaign also includes webinars and the sixth annual Technology CMO Roundtable held earlier this year.

Before I purchased my home, I lived in an apartment. Nearly every weekend, the apartment would have someone standing out front advertising the available units, great rates, amenities, etc. You’ve seen these people: the ones at my old apartment would be outfitted in recognizable garb, from the Statue of Liberty to Abe Lincoln (with stilts!).

This is not a job for the uncoordinated. These folks aren’t simply made to wear these outfits and hold the signs–they also are tasked with dancing while flipping the sign about in the air.

Flipping Out

While these herculean feats of agility are entertaining, I question the success of this marketing effort. But it must be working right? Businesses, from restaurants to tax preparation services, continue to invest in a feet on the street approach. Factoring in the design and production of the sign, costume or uniform cost and actual compensation, you have to wonder how many businesses see a return on their investment from sign flipping.

 You may remember the scarecrow on the street, but did his presence spur you to do business with UPS that you otherwise would not have? Some cities have passed legislation banning sign flipping on public streets, citing safety concerns for driver and the spinners. Does this word of mouth advertising truly deliver results or is an ineffective gimmick?

None of the businesses I frequent employ sign flippers. Instead, they have built such an incredible reputation—either by exceptional service, price or quality, that patrons come to them.

Have you ever been drawn in by this type of marketing?

The recent Independence Day holiday gave me the opportunity to spend some time with my family and look back at our ancestors’ legacies.  What I found were awe-inspiring tales of hard working, determined individuals who endured many hardships, prevailing in the face of challenging circumstances. It got me thinking about brand reputation and what impression we, as PR and marketing professionals, are leaving behind.

With the growing influence of social media channels (Facebook has 901 million users and Twitter has 140 million users), there are more opportunities to reach influencers with our brand than ever. With that visibility also comes more possibilities for blunders.  According to the Temkin Group, 57 percent of consumers share their bad customer service experiences via email, phone or in person, as compared with 49 percent who share positive experiences.

Word of mouth is undoubtedly a powerful brand communication mechanism. It’s also a double-edged sword.  Savvy brands have plans in place to ensure internal and external communications remain positive and have corrective plans for when issues arise.  Client engagement is a goal for most brands today operating on social media, and much can be learned about your brand perception from social monitoring tools. If influencers are critical of your brand, that is an opportunity to respond and reset perceptions. Listening and responding in real-time to discussions about your brand will help shape the conversation going forward.

What lasting impression will your brand have?

Georgia’s technology sector is hotter than the weather, and the turnout at last night’s TechCrunch Mini Meetup is solid proof of that. More than 1,000 guests attended the event at Sweetwater Brewery, including myself and Mary Rose. The event was a great way to connect with the movers and shakers in Atlanta’s tech community in an informal networking environment.

I recently attended a Technology of Georgia (TAG) association meeting on alternative payments. The discussion centered around evolving consumer payment behavior and the proliferation of interactive technologies, among other things. Several familiar names kept popping up—Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Paypal. Javelin Strategy refers to these organizations as the Gang of Four (and possibly five). I have used four of the five to make payments, and I’m not alone.

The million dollar question is how consumers perceive trust, innovation and privacy in relation to these brands versus their primary financial institution. In the past year, consumers have shifted away from large financial institutions to smaller community institutions, signaling a sea change. But will 2012 be the year mobile payments truly take hold?

According to Yankee Group, more than 2 billion new users have adopted mobile technology in the past five years. Additionally, the firm projects U.S. tablet sales to total nearly 25 million in 2012 alone. Predictably, flip phones are going the way of the buffalo and smart phone purchases are increasing. I purchased a tablet in the last five years and I’ve been a smartphone user even longer than that. Though I have purchased items with my phone in the past, I’m not entirely ready to ditch my wallet yet in favor of mobile.

A surprising trend among smartphone purchases is the growth in the prepaid market. According to The Stevenson Company’s latest TraQline Wireless report, smartphones are gaining share at a rapid rate in both prepaid and postpaid, and now represent more than 50 percent of all phone purchases.  As a percentage of total cell phone purchases, prepaid purchases have increased 370 basis points from 2009-2011, and now represent 17 percent of total cell phone purchases. The top five prepaid smart phone retailers gained share year over year.

So what does this year hold for mobile commerce? Only time will tell. How you are using your mobile phone today is likely to evolve with the options available. As more retailers make paying by phone an option, it will be interesting to watch consumer adoption rates of this technology.

As another year draws to a close, many of us are looking back at the past 12 months with an eye toward 2012. In the spirit of continual improvement, this is also the time when we begin setting New Year’s Resolutions. As we all know, most of these well-meaning resolutions typically fall by the wayside mid-February. Setting aside the personal, what are your professional resolutions for 2012? I have proposed a few below which we could all benefit from:

1.  Leveraging social media
You recognize the importance of social media and may even have a LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter account. But are you actively mining your social media channels for opportunities and leads? According to a recent study by Pardot Marketing Automation, 52.5 percent of marketers are spending 10 percent of their marketing budgets on social media activities, with nearly as many stating that 10 percent of their leads come from social media channels. Connecting and engaging in the conversation is key in truly maximizing this channel.

2.  Doing the little things

Want to set yourself apart from your peers and impress others? It really is the little things that make a difference here. Do more than is expected of you internally and externally to set a great example. Show up to your meetings on time or even a few minutes early. Send your business partners an email after hours to let them know you are always thinking about their business. Practice the art of listening, both online and offline and practice repeating what you heard.

3.  Employ the KISS method
In an era of information deluge, it is increasingly difficult to follow the maxim, Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS). Do not call meetings unless you have defined an express purpose and outcome. Following the KISS method means streamlining your interactions and ultimately, giving yourself time to focus.

Developing brand awareness within the defined target media is a given for savvy organizations today. But what about applying that same effort within the analyst community? This oft-overlooked segment of influencers could hold the power to make or break your next deal.  According to the Knowledge Capital Group, cultivating analyst relationships provides the following three primary benefits:

1.       Influencing Sales

While an analyst firm is not likely to recommend or advocate for a particular technology solution, they may include your organization on a short list of companies or give an honest, informed assessment of your offering to interested prospects.

2.       Providing Validation and Advice

Analysts are paid to deliver expert advice—it is, after all, their raison d’etre. However, scheduling a briefing tends to generate discussion, which translates to free advice. From offering advice on presentation structure and content to thoughts on positioning and messaging, analysts can lend validation to your organization’s vision and strategy.

3.       Providing Intelligence
Want to know what your competition is working on? Analysts are one of the great, untapped resources of competitive intelligence because they are also talking with your competition. Of course, this is a catch 22. The same information you share can also be shared with your competition–so be cautious not to share your secret sauce.

Maximize the Interaction

When you’ve successfully secured a briefing with an influential industry analyst firm, the next step is ensuring your spokespeople are prepared to make the best use of everyone’s time. Typically, analysts will request a slide deck 48 hours in advance of the briefing that clearly defines your organization’s value proposition. Most briefings will be 30 minutes to one hour in length, and proper preparation will result in a lively discussion.

With this timeframe in mind, it is crucial to use restraint when developing your presentation—both in the number of slides and the number of words on each slide.  Whenever possible, go with graphics versus text. You want the analysts focused on what you are saying, rather than reading your presentation.

Be Prepared for the Pitch
While an analyst briefing provides an opportunity for an organization to pitch their services, it also is expected that the analyst firm will do the same. Budget five minutes in the discussion for their salesperson to explain their offerings. There is no expectation that an organization briefing with an analyst will engage in a paid relationship, but it is polite to hear them out.

Once the relationship has been established, it is beneficial to keep the analysts informed of any relevant company or service updates. Because analysts lack the equivalent of an editorial calendar, it is helpful to find out what their research agenda looks like going forward—and if your organization may fit into any of the upcoming research topics.