Here are the top 10 business-to-business PR and marketing articles from this week. Enjoy!

3 Social Media Tools That Improve the Sales Cycle
from Social Media Examiner
Do you want more leads from your social efforts? Did you know there are great social media tools that make the sales process easier? In this article, I’ll review 3 tools to help you get the information you need to generate revenue from your social media activity.

Study Shows Producing Enough Content is Marketers Biggest Challenge
from Business 2 Community
According to a new CMI research report, the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends, the biggest challenge for marketers this year has been producing enough content, with 64 percent overall listing that as a challenge, and 29 percent saying it’s their biggest challenge of all.

Mobile, tablets drive U.S. paid search spending
from BtoB Magazine
Total paid search advertising spending across Google and Yahoo-Bing increased 21.6% in the first quarter compared with the year-earlier period, according to a report from search marketing agency the Search Agency.

How social media managers should react when tragedy strikes
from Ragan.com
Social media was and is, at its core, a vehicle for human connection. That’s exactly what social media managers need to remember when dealing with horrible tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombings. We often talk about having a communications plan in place for a crisis, and although that’s always important, the most important thing to remember is to act like a human being.

7 tips for email marketing to mobile audiences
from PR Daily
While the format of email hasn’t changed much since it was introduced, how we’re consuming such content has—people check their emails on their computers and mobile devices. With that in mind, it’s important to adapt your content so that it’s accessible to both audiences.

How to Boost Engagement on Your LinkedIn Company Page
from Social Media Examiner
Are you leveraging your LinkedIn Company Page as best you can? In a recent LinkedIn study, 50% of current company followers stated they are more likely to purchase products and services from a business they engage with on LinkedIn.

Marketing Transformation: 3 Leadership Skills You Need To Succeed
from B2B Marketing Insider
As organizations seek to differentiate themselves, Marketing has taken on a more prominent role in many organizations. Simple advertising campaigns and tactical approaches to gain new customers are no longer enough. CMOs see the need to define the vision and path to real marketing transformation.

Value Proposition: 3 techniques for standing out in a highly competitive market
from Marketingsherpa Blog
Marketing in highly competitive environments can be difficult as pressure mounts to stand out amongst fierce competitors in a constantly shrinking market space. Read further for three ways you can use value propositions to differentiate your marketing in a crowded marketplace.

Is Google+ the place to be?
from BtoB Magazine
The traditional criticism of Google+ since its founding two years ago has been that few people use it. According to this narrative, the main reason to join Google+ is not so much for social marketing but to enhance a company’s organic search results, courtesy of its integration with the Google search engine.

Email Marketing: Segmentation, integration, automation and personal interaction
from Marketingsherpa Blog
In this MarketingSherpa blog post, we heard feedback from one of the previous Chart of the Week discussions on LinkedIn. Read on to hear from four of your peers on the subject of email marketing.

With more than 50 marketing and PR executives, the sixth annual Technology CMO Roundtable revealed best practices, learnings, questions and – most importantly – actionable insights. Attendees completed a survey about their marketing plans for 2013, and were asked, “How would you describe the process your organization uses to plan, execute and measure marketing and/or PR activities?”

The results were nearly split – 48 percent had a formal planning process in place while 45 percent follow an informal planning process. See the infographic below for more, and for all the results, download your free copy of The Outlook for Business-to-Business Technology in 2013.

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?

Here are the top 10 business-to-business PR and marketing articles from this week. Enjoy!

Building a Successful B2B Speakers Bureau
from B2Community
Ever wanted to see the words “Industry Expert” in front of your name? In the quest for thought leadership, the speaker circuit can, if executed strategically, drive both brand awareness and lead generation.

Rules of SEO Content Engagement
from CommPRO.biz
Create engaging content, and the users and search engines will come. Sounds simple, right? Well, it actually might be. If you can develop a piece of content that your audience finds useful enough to want to share with friends and colleagues, then you are on the right path.

Branding is key in filling the sales pipeline
from BtoB Magazine
Companies are increasingly tying marketing activities to leads and revenue. But marketers feel frustrated with their ability to drive enough leads to meet the demands of sales departments, according to a new study by BtoB.

How to Use Twitter for Business and Marketing
from Social Media Examiner by Charlene Kingston
Is Twitter a part of your social media marketing? Or have you let your Twitter marketing drop off lately? In any case, with the latest Twitter updates, trends in multi-screen usage and real-time marketing, you’ll likely want to take a fresh look at what Twitter has to offer.

Digital Is Changing Marketing And Changing Business
from B2B Marketing Insider by Michael Brenner
It’s clear that digital is changing marketing, but we also see that digital is changing business.  That’s a big opportunity for marketers who get this right.

Why Your Keyword Strategy Is Incomplete Without User Intent
from HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
‘User intent’ is a concept that’s known to most SEO professionals, but unfortunately, used by too few. I say unfortunately, because it’s the key to improving the very foundation of SEO campaigns, while driving content strategies that yield better conversion rates, clicks, leads, and sales.

Online Marketing: 4 sources of customer insight on your website
from Marketingsherpa Blog
In this MarketingSherpa blog post, hear from Taylor Kennedy, Senior Research Manager, MECLABS, on how to gain customer insights using 4 sources on your website.

Tech marketers expect to increase budgets 3.7% this year
from BtoB Magazine
Technology companies expect to increase their marketing budgets 3.7% this year over last, according to IDC’s “2013 Tech Marketing Barometer.”

4 tips for building reporter relationships on Twitter
from PR Daily
For me, this joyful moment happens when three elements come together in unison: a great pitch, a solid relationship with a reporter, and the right timing. There are, in my opinion, four major ways PR professionals should be taking advantage of Twitter to help create media coverage opportunities:

12 great benefits of video marketing
from Ragan.com
If you’re having trouble convincing your marketing team, business partners, clients, boss or even yourself that online video marketing is worthwhile, then read on.

How do you make your webinars stand out when everyone is doing them? If this question leaves you scratching your head, then you’re not alone.

Many B2B marketers are struggling to reach optimal webinar registration numbers. With some best practices from BtoB’s “Annual Webinar Benchmarks Report,” you can make your webinar a must attend.

1. Use the right tools

According to the report, the four most effective tools (in order) for driving registration are informational emails, website promotion, emails from sales and third-party endorsement. Together, these four tools contribute to about 80 percent of leads.

Interestingly, the report found that social media was not as effective in driving registration. This is not to suggest that you should ignore social media when promoting your webinar, but if you have limited time or resources to invest, you shouldn’t focus all of your effort on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

2. Choose the right timing

You want to start your webinar promotion more than one week in advance, but anything outside of two weeks is too far out. The report found that 36 percent register one week before the webinar and 64 percent register the week of the webinar – 21 percent of which register the day of.

If you start you webinar promotion 10 days in advance, you can hit your email list three times without overwhelming the inboxes of your clients and prospects. Which brings us to the third benchmark…

3. Send the right emails

The report found that some days are better for sending emails than others, with the optimal days for promotional emails being Tuesday and Wednesday. When sending multiple promotional emails for the same webinar, it is a recommended best practice to vary the content and try promoting from different angles.

For example, send one design email from the company with an overview of the webinar; one personalized, text-only email from the presenter; and one final reminder email the day of the webinar with only the need-to-know information. We’ve tried a similar approach at Arketi and have seen great results!

While nothing can save a webinar with poor content, these benchmarks and best practices for driving registration will get people signing up. Then all you have to do is keep them there with an engaging, informative presentation.

With spring here, it’s time to think about spring cleaning. I’m not talking about organizing your closet or tackling that growing mess in the garage. I’m talking about giving your pitches a complete makeover from boring, predictable and plain to eye-catching, unexpected and actionable winners.

While the basics of media pitching remain true—researching the publication and reporter, customizing your pitch, and pitching the reporter through the channel he/she prefers best— it’s easy to develop a writing pattern that becomes a bit stale. From a recent PRSA webinar on how to “Transform Your Pitch from Snooze to News,” our team picked up a few tips to revamp our media pitches.

“While the basics of media pitching remain true, it’s easy to develop a writing pattern that becomes a bit stale.”

Here are four story enhancers to transform your pitches from zero to hero:

1. Focus on the process – For routine releases i.e. new products, routine events, etc., look beyond the results as the news piece (unless it’s breaking news or one of a kind) and focus on the process, measurements and obstacles that were overcome to achieve results. Similar to the typical underdog story, sometimes it’s not really about who wins or loses, but the steps or transformational process it took to get there.
2. Frame the pitch around people – Often, we are instinctively drawn to focus on the product or service of our pitch in an effort to get media coverage around a “thing.” As with many feature stories, focus on the people your organization may touch, affect, or even the people behind the scenes. In addition, while your executives may be the official spokespeople of the business, do not neglect the end users, third-party sources and brand advocates. They can often be your biggest assets.
3. Tie to a trend – Identify a growing or current trend and, when applicable, offer your organization/solution/service as a source. For growing trends, try to offer other examples as well. Because the nature of a trend requires timeliness, the earlier the better. No one strives for second place. Similarly, reporters do not want to be second in getting a trend story out, so be sure to stay ahead of or on top of the trend, and don’t be a laggard.
4. Exploit pop culture – Similar to “tying to a trend,” leverage the popularity of a reality TV show, movie or celebrity. While the benefit to you may be coverage, you could also help the reporter by making his/her job a bit easier by offering a source or examples for popular topics the publication may already plan on covering.

When was the last time you took a step back, put on your reporter hat, and examined your pitches? If your pitches aren’t newsworthy and enticing enough for you, don’t be surprised if a reporter feels the same way. So before you send out your next pitch, check to see if it needs a little makeover.

Here are the top 10 business-to-business PR and marketing articles from this week. Enjoy!

8 irresistible Twitter headlines
from PR Daily
Good headlines are the lifeblood of success on Twitter. Studies have shown you can increase your conversion rate on a link by 73 percent if you use a compelling headline. Here’s how to create headlines that will captivate readers:

Are Social Employees The Future of Marketing?
from B2B Marketing Insider by Michael Brenner
The biggest challenge many marketers face today is how to engage and empower their employees to ignite their brands and drive brand value. Today’s businesses need to understand that social technologies aren’t barriers to productivity, but portals to connectivity.

4 Ways to Maximize the Social Media Presence at Your Next Event
from Social Media Examiner by Rachel Sprung
Does your business run events, conferences or similar meetings? The ability for attendees to interact through social channels is a huge part of successful events. Here are 4 ways to maximize the social media presence of your next event.

How Much Does Marketing Automation Cost?
from Marketo Best Practices Blog
When building a business case for marketing automation, in addition to estimating the revenue growth and cost saving benefits, you’ll also need to understand the investment required to develop the other side of the business case. Guaranteed your stakeholders will want a complete cost analysis.

CMO Council finds challenges to CMO-CIO alignment
from BtoB Magazine
Eighty-five percent of CMOs and 85% of CIOs agree that their relationship is critical to the execution of customer-centric programs, but they are still challenged with alignment, according to new report from the Chief Marketing Officer Council and SAS Institute.

One year later, Google’s Penguin update is helping public relations
from PR Daily
As Google continues penalizing websites that use manipulative tactics to artificially boost their search rankings, PR pros should be jumping for joy. After all, the whole point of the year-old Penguin algorithm update is to reward websites that are producing valuable content on a regular basis by making them easier to find.

Use Video Marketing for Sales and ROI Boost
from Social Media Today
Videos have the ability to connect with prospects in a way you can’t through text, e-mail, or even a phone call. This is especially significant because in sales, you’re selling yourself: the product comes after you’ve established a connection. Here’s a look at some different types of video marketing.

Email Marketing: 77% of marketers use website registration pages to build email lists
from Marketingsherpa Blog
In the MarketingSherpa 2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, 77% of marketers surveyed indicated they use website registration pages to build email lists. Read on to hear your peers’ reactions to this data, and some insights into email list building.

Everything Marketers Should Know About Secondary CTAs
from HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
While there are quite a few ways in which you can offer variety in your marketing, today we’re going to zone in on one in particular: secondary calls-to-action (CTAs). So let’s discuss exactly what secondary CTAs are, and why you should be using them in your various marketing initiatives.

Increasingly tech-driven PR still needs a human touch
from PRWeek US
Despite many advances in public relations technology in recent years, the use of technology in PR is nothing new.

The following post is from our good friend and Technology Tweet Tournament competitor Ricky Steele.

A number of people have asked me why I would spend so much time trying to win a competition that awards no prize. My reason is simple, I am not trying to win for a prize or win for my ego although some might question that last part. My reason for participating is to share all the great things happening in the technology community in the only state I have ever lived, Georgia.

The URL: http://ow.ly/iWMlC is for the 2013 State of the Technology Industry Report created by the Technology Association of Georgia.  A lot of time, energy, and funding was involved in creating this report and it should be read by everyone interested in the Georgia Technology community. VC Funding, M&A Activity, Trends, New Company relocation and so much other important information can all be found in this report.

In a 140 character Twitter message you just can’t share the whole story. I hope in our excitement and hype to receive your Re-Tweets, you did not miss the focus for the tournament.

I am confident that a high percentage of you Re-Tweeted my post for no other reason than our friendship. For that I am grateful and very thankful. Heck, I am blessed!

I don’t know how many folks read the report or even knew there was a report: http://ow.ly/iWMlC. I created this blog post to put the focus on the report. Get excited about Georgia technology and discover #WhereGALeads.

I want to thank Tino Mantello at TAG and my friends at Arketi, especially Mike Neumeier and Ashley Biondich for including me in the competition.

To read Ricky’s full post as shared on his blog, click here. To view the online interactive bracket for the Technology Tweet Tournament, visit http://techtweettournament.com/.

I watch it every morning while I get ready for work, and have now for nearly 20 years. But recently, Kelly (my wife) and I have noticed the amount of actual news on the show takes up about 10-12 minutes. So if you sleep in past 7:15 you just miss it. All you get is, well, mostly reality trash TV that Jerry Springer might not even air. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but some mornings it seems like it. Oh, and don’t even get me started on their “panel of TODAY’s Professionals” – it’s a joke.

Now, some data sent out by Harvard Business Review show that Kelly and I are not crazy! Quoting a recent study by Pew Research Center, 31 percent of adults in the U.S. say “they’ve stopped using at least one news outlet because it no longer provides enough information.” The majority of us, 61 percent, feel that news stories are less complete now than in the past.

“According to a recent study, 61 percent of U.S. adults feel that news stories are less complete now than in the past.”

I don’t buy this “news organizations have cut staffs and reduced coverage as a way to save money” line. While it’s true they have cut costs and people, the cost of producing news has drastically decreased and access to information is endless. In addition, if the network news executives really feel we need FOUR hours of the Today Show, don’t you think they could give us at least 30 minutes of real, insightful news? Lauer and crew used to do this…I just think they would remember how, insist on tackling real news and not assume it’s best to just dumb things down and talk about Lindsay Lohan (you knew that was coming).

Having said this, I feel better. But still unfulfilled, apparently like most Americans.

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), the leading industry association dedicated to educating, promoting, influencing and uniting the technology industry in Georgia, teamed with Arketi to launch an innovative app-like website to showcase the findings of its annual State of the Industry Report. The video below, created by Arketi, showcases the functionality of the website we built for the report. Stepping way beyond its paper-based and web-based predecessors, the 2013 State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report has been met with rave reviews and is being pointed to as an innovative use of the MODX Revolution content management platform.

The report contains information on the current state of Georgia’s technology industry as well as results from the TAG Technology Decision-Makers Survey primary research study. In addition, TAG’s “Where Georgia Leads” maps are presented, providing an interactive view of the state’s foremost technology fields and the companies moving these industries.

KUDOS to Arketi’s design and development team for a KILLER site and video that easily communicates the “cool factor” of the new site.