A recently posted Oracle/AGT white paper claims that 29 percent—that’s every three in 10 U.S. consumers—made at least one purchase via mobile device.

While you’re thinking about that figure, add this surprising statistic to the mix: 43 percent of consumers aged 33-54 expressed interest in making a mobile purchase while physically present in a store. (The number climbs for the younger set to 56 percent (aged 18-34) and is even impressive among Americans aged 55 and up at 19 percent.)

That means they would rather bypass the salesperson on the floor and simply click to buy on their own. Still, according to the New York Times, only two percent of sales are made over mobile devices.

The numbers aren’t quite adding up and a big part of the reason is because many company websites are not mobile shopper-friendly.

So is your website mobile-ready? Consider Alibris, the book selling company. In the NYT article, Alibris held off on introducing a mobile site until late 2010, when mobile visits to its regular website were rising so much that it had no choice.  “When you transform a giant PC screen onto a little device, you have to decide what not to bring along,” said Jeanie Bunker, general manager of Alibris Retail. “So we basically stripped out all the things we thought were not relevant to the mobile user.”

Retooling your website or creating a specific one for the mobile crowd does not need to be a labor-intensive project.  But you should start discussions and planning now, so you don’t miss out on the billion dollar growing marketplace.

If you need help mobilizing your business site, check out www.siteminis.com. In full disclosure, we are proud to have Siteminis as an Arketi client!

Let me start by admitting that I am not one of those people who sit at my computer and search for funny videos on YouTube. Instead, I wait for others to send me “good” videos and then tell other people about them if I think they are worthwhile.

A few weeks ago, PR News Daily gave me one of those. In their daily email I came across an interesting title, “Adorable twin toddlers teach us communication skills.” Thinking about the eTrade commercials, how could I resist the urge to see what this article was all about?

Although it is a silly video, the publication wasn’t wrong – it can teach you something about communicating. How many meetings have you attended where people were talking but not listening? Or, as a business, how often do you talk to your clients rather than engage them?

Communicate, don’t just update

In today’s world, communication is changing. In some respects, we are getting closer by knowing what someone had for breakfast just by following their tweets. However, in other ways, we are becoming less personal more superficial.

To put it in terms of business, if you are surveying clients but only providing “pre-approved” responses in the form of drop-downs or radio buttons, are you really getting all their feedback? Or, if you are doing PR and trying to “win” points with a relevant reporter by retweeting all of their articles – are you getting any closer to building a relationship with them?

We must slow down and remember that personal relationships are the foundation to a successful business relationship. And personal relationships start with great communication. Let’s try picking up the phone and ask how business is going. Let’s try to schedule in-person briefings and lunches with reporters to find out how they write their articles and if they are working on any pieces you could help them with (or perhaps even offer up a colleague at a different company who could serve as a great source).

Networking, communication at its finest

As an aside, going back to the basics of communication is just as important for everyday networking. Arketi recently invited Atlanta legend, Ricky Steele, to stop by for an educational session on networking – and for me, the biggest takeaway was that networking is about creating real relationships with people. This involves having two-way dialogue and getting to know a person on a deeper level.

So let’s take a lesson from toddlers and strive to not just simply talk gibber gabber at one another, but actually engage others in two-way conversations.

In celebration of Earth Day and as a demonstration of Arketi’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainability, we’d like to share some of our efforts to go green.

Minimizing paper?

At our office, each Arketian has a blue recycling bin beside their trashcan so recycling paper is almost effortless. At our weekly Monday morning “traffic” meeting and on-site client meetings, we use the good ‘ole projector to ensure everyone has the same information without printing multiple copies of documents.

Paperless?

Individuals with mobile and handheld devices who opt NOT to print out email correspondences and websites can follow Mike’s example by reviewing these items, taking notes, and reference topics during meetings on his coveted iPad2. Let’s see how long he keeps this up.

The rest of us, on our bulkier, modem-sized Macs and PCs can choose to bookmark key websites, forward emails and use screen shots to share information.

It’s no secret that social media has emerged as an efficient outlet for businesses to relay messages to their desired audiences. As a result, most businesses have one, if not more, Twitter pages. It is one thing to have a Twitter page – it is another to know how to properly use it.

Take a quick search on Twitter, and you’re bound to find some notable companies whose Twitter pages are dormant. Maybe they simply have a Twitter page because everyone else does and are unsure of exactly what content to Tweet about. Businesses with inactive Twitter pages are missing out on easy-to-execute opportunities to promote their brand and reach out to vital audiences.

Today, more and more PR professionals are being asked to draft tweets for their businesses or clients. It can become a challenge to come up with new and interesting information that will capture the eyes of Twitter followers. So the next time you’re battling “Tweeters block”, consider these options to maintain a steady content flow.

What’s in Your News? Are you about to make a major announcement? Set to speak or attend a major conference? A primary reason businesses use Twitter is to promote important news. As you post releases to your websites, make sure you Tweet the news and link to the announcement. Some companies even use Twitter to tease upcoming announcements and appearances to generate some pre-event buzz. For instance, if followers read that a “major announcement is coming at noon tomorrow” or a VP is speaking at an upcoming industry event, they will be more likely to check back again for updated information. Make your followers take action to learn more.

What’s in Your Customers’ News? Twitter-savvy businesses should already be following the pages of their key customers. If a customer makes a big announcement or wins an award, you can tweet about the honor as well. Throwing congratulations to your customers not only boosts your content flow, but can score you some big points with those who fuel your business.

What’s Going on in Your Industry? Keep tabs on what’s being said by the top journalists, analysts and bloggers in your industry. If you find an interesting article with business news or tips relevant to your followers, tweet a link to the story and offer some background on why it’s interesting. Posting insightful industry articles can help your position as a thought leader.

What Can we Do to Gauge our Followers’ Interest? You’ve likely seen tweets that offer special promotions for followers who use a special code or visit a place at a certain time. Such interactive, tweets are an effective way (if used occasionally) to measure just how many people are actually reading your content and are willing to take action.

What Should we Not Tweet? While some companies are struggling for content, others are guilty of Tweeting too much and/or blurring the line between business and personal messaging.  A company Twitter page should be for business-related messaging and news only. Save the “What a Beautiful Day”, “My Lunch was Great” and “Great Episode of American Idol last night” Tweets for your personal page. With countless Twitter pages updated each day, you are competing for viewer eyes.

Every business is different and might have differing game plans for social media goals. However, creating smart, relevant Tweets from a variety of sources can help boost your visibility and foster cost-effective interaction with crucial followers.

Annette Davis, senior account executive at Arketi Group (http://www.arketi.com), a high-tech B2B PR and digital marketing firm, understands the importance of content and effective business writing.

Here are 3 tips to enhace your business writing skills:
1) Where is your writing roadmap?
2) Writing better does not mean writing more (use short precise sentences)
3) Avoid technical or business jargon

For more tips in business writing, visit: http://arketi.com/newsletter/newsletter0310.html.

While you’re here, leave us a line and share your favorite business writing tips!

As any good marketer knows, content is at the heart of every successful inbound marketing campaign. But it can’t just be any content – it has to be specialized to meet the needs of a specific audience. To prove the point that “content is king,” nine in 10 BtoB organizations are now marketing with content, and, believe it or not, more than a quarter of a BtoB organization’s marketing budget, on average, is spent on content marketing, according to a study from MarketingProfs and Junta42.

Thanks to marketers assuming the role of content creator and publisher, prospects now have access to a plethora of content on almost any topic – everything from articles and videos to photos, blogs, podcasts, and tweets. That’s the upside. The downside to this story is that now prospects are simply being inundated with information. This content overload means that, as a marketer, you are going to have work even harder to ensure your unique material is watched, read and heard by the prospects you want to reach.

Faced with what might be considered an insurmountable problem, should marketers abandon this role of content creator and publisher? We think not. In fact, we see this as an opportunity. In some of the news we’ve been reading recently, we’ve noticed a new term being bandied around the industry – that of content curator. Similar to how a museum curator is responsible for an institution’s collections, a content curator is one who identifies, organizes and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online.

As a marketer, your goal is to help advance your company’s voice, whether through content creation or content curation. By adding content curator to your job description, you will have the opportunity to help your audience understand a topic of importance to your industry, understand what it means to them and what are the best next steps.

If you are still questioning the importance of content curation, consider this: A recent report from Forrester Research named content curation as a top technology BtoB CMOs should investigate in order to engage their customers in 2011. In addition to content curation, Forrester also recommended CMOs explore listening platforms to gauge customer sentiment; brand advocate platforms for spurring word-of-mouth; and appointment scheduling applications to engage potential customers who are ready to buy.

When you get a chance, check out these technologies to see how they can improve the way you communicate with your customers and prospects.

With more than 640 million people on Facebook, 95 million tweets posted on Twitter each day and more than 24 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, social media has evolved in recent years to become an integral part of consumers’ lives. As a result, companies, such as Dell, Gatorade and Delta, have begun to invest in social media strategies in order to monitor, analyze and engage in conversations with their customers.

Given the growing influence of social media on consumer behavior, I was not surprised to hear that Salesforce, a purveyor of cloud-based solutions for customer relationship management (CRM), had acquired Radian6, a social media monitoring platform, for $326 million ($276 million in cash and $50 million in stock). With this acquisition, Salesforce now has the “social-media-analysis beginnings of what could become a marketing suite,” says InformationWeek’s Doug Henschen. Specifically, trained service and support professionals can now respond to public comment and questions directly—providing ‘‘real-time insights” within popular social networks.

Whether you support the acquisition or not, this deal demonstrates, the growing influence of social media. As expert blogger Brian Solis points out:

“The Salesforce acquisition of Radian6 demonstrate[s] the importance of social activity to create a new framework for a new generation of business. It’s more than technology, it’s not equally about philosophy and social science. With each day that passes, social media plays a greater role in the shaping of customer experiences throughout the entire lifecycle.”

Check out Doug Henschen’s article, “Salesforce.com Acquisition Points To Marketing Ambitions,” and Brian Solis’ post, “Salesforce Listens to Market Trend, Acquires Radian6 for $326 Million,” for yourself and see what you think of this acquisition and how it will impact the marketing community.

Whitney Boudreaux, account executive at Arketi Group (http://www.arketi.com), a high-tech B2B PR and digital marketing firm, discusses how BtoB tech companies can apply the principals of nurture marketing to recapture unfulfilled sales through strategic communications and continual outreach.

For more on lead nurturing and marketing automation visit: http://arketi.com/newsletter/newslett…