Social business and an engaging social content strategy go hand in hand. The content you produce can incorporate a number of assets including checklists, images, videos, copy and social posts. Social media and the social content strategy approach have more in common with all other forms of content marketing than you might think. We know content marketing is on the rise for B2B businesses in 2013, but how is social media included in this number? As you develop your strategy, keep these three things in mind.

Talk Through Your Audience

It is easier to get your brand, content, and social posts in front of people who already connect with your business. What about the audience beyond your immediate fan base? B2B marketers, especially those on a budget, need to create ways to talk through their audience. The audience of your audience, and their audience, are potentially new customers for you. As you develop your social content strategy, consider the ways in which you can talk through your current audience to connect with new audiences.

• What do your customers want? Focus on the content that your customers want and what social networks are the best for sharing and promoting that type of content. For example, if you’re targeting IT professionals, LinkedIn may be a better place to start than Pinterest.
• What do they want to experience? Consider the type of experience someone will have when they encounter or share your content. The experience, whether it’s a phone conversation or the way in which they find information on your site, should be a consideration with everything you do.

For B2B buyers, their audience isn’t family and friends for the way it is for B2C buyers. A significant number of B2B buyers (38%) involve more team members in buying decisions, and around 30% do more detailed ROI/cost analyses of solutions than they did in the past (2012 Demand Gen Report B2B Buyer Survey). This means, B2B marketers need to find a way to reach  all the decision makers involved in the purchasing process.

Understand Content Strategies are Social by Nature

Business may be about the numbers, but marketing and sales are all about the chains and the paths customers take to reach the end of it. There are the sales and marketing funnel, buyer journey and more. “What the customer wants you to know” equals understanding what your audience and their audience want you and other vendors to know. The social B2B buyer and buyers in general are affected by the opinions of their peers. As mentioned, business buying is a group decision. While this conversation may be offline, it often begins or ends online.

• Reach out to leads who are in the research phase of the buying cycle with whitepapers, case studies and infographics that not only educate the buyer, build thought leadership but are also easily shared on social networks.
• If possible, share the demographics of who else is buying from your business. Your prospects may be interested in knowing who, in their area or industry, has found success with your products or services.

Nearly all B2B buyers (94%) view multiple pieces of content from the company they ultimately select (2012 Demand Gen Report B2B Buyer Survey). This is one indication that you need to be producing content that your audience will find relevant and useful in making a purchasing decision. The other key indicator in this passage that you should be focusing on is that of multiple pieces. For example, you can create calculators, webinars, case studies, eBooks and buyer guides. Each of these unique pieces of content helps elevate your business and brand.

Be Relevant to Address Needs

You may have been able to pick it up from the previous sections of this article or past blog posts, but the content your marketing and sales teams share needs to be relevant. What your customers and their audiences say should serve as inspiration for the content you create from a social perspective. Listening is the basis, while acting to drive action and sharing are the goals. Content is what brings these two together successfully.

• Start social listening, if you aren’t already, to discover the pain points of your audience and their audience. Then use content and social media to solve these problems. Note: add example of how they should do this.
• Segment, target, and personalize your content to be as relevant as possible. Social media is not for amplification, it’s for social conversations.

More than 37% of buyers say sellers fail to provide enough content tailored for their specific job roleor industry. Stand out from the crowd while nurturing a lead by providing relevant content that they’ll find valuable. Nearly 63% of the respondents said that case-study examples were at the top of their research content lists. Industry case studies that address the pain points are a sure way to encourage your content gets shared.

Social media networks are important platforms for every business. It provides you with the opportunity to connect on a more personal level with your audience. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by! Talk to and through your social audience by developing a content strategy that focuses on relevance and tailored content.

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Metrics matter. As marketers, there are multiple numbers and reports we need to validate our efforts.  After all, if a marketing team isn’t helping a business generate new customers and creating better relationships with current ones, they often won’t be considered as successful as they could be. A Hubspot cheat sheet shares the 6 of the most important marketing metrics. We’ve broken them down just for B2B marketers.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

The Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is a metric used to determine the total average cost you spend to acquire a new customer or lead. Businesses want a low average.

Why You Should Care: An increase in CAC means that you are spending comparatively more for each new customer or lead, which suggests there’s a problem with your sales or marketing efficiency that needs to be resolved.

Marketing Percent of Customer Acquisitions Cost

The Marketing Percent of Customer Acquisition Cost is the marketing portion of your total CAC, calculated as a percentage of the overall CAC.  This number can show you how the marketing teams performance and spending impact your overall Customer Acquisition cost.

Why You Should Care: An increase here can mean a number of things: Your sales team could have underperformed (and consequently received) lower commissions and/or bonuses, your marketing team is spending too much or has too much overhead or you are in an investment phase, spending more on marketing to provide more high quality leads and improve your sales productivity

Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to CAC (LTV:CAC)

The Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to CAC is a way for you to estimate the total value that your company derives from each customer compared with what you spend to acquire that lead or new customer. While reaching new customers is always important, so is total company growth.

Why You Should Care: The higher this number, the more ROI your sales and marketing team is delivering to your bottom line. A ratio that is too high could indicate you aren’t reaching enough new customers or connecting with enough leads. Spending more on acquiring new customers or leads to reach out to will reduce your LTV:CAC ratio, but can help speed up total growth.

Time to Payback CAC

The Time to Payback CAC shows you the number of months it takes for your company to earn back the CAC it spent acquiring new customers. In industries where your customers pay a monthly or annual fee, which many B2B businesses do, you normally want your Payback Time to be under 12 months.

Why You Should Care: The less time it takes to payback your CAC, the sooner you can start profiting from the new customers. Most businesses aim to make each new customer profitable in less than a year, though new customers in the B2B industry can take 12-24 months to make a purchase.

Marketing Originated Customer Percent

The Marketing Originated Customer Percent is a ratio that shows what new business is driven by marketing, by determining which portion of your total customer acquisitions directly originated from marketing efforts. It’s based on your sales and marketing relationship and structure, so your ideal ratio will vary depending on your business model.

Why You Should Care: The impact of your marketing team’s lead generation efforts have on acquiring new customers is reflected in this percentage. A company with an outside sales team and inside sales support may be looking at 20-40%. A company with an inside sales team and lead focused marketing team might be at 40-80%.

Marketing Influenced Customer Percent

The Marketing Influenced Customer Percent takes into account all of the new customers that marketing interacted with while they were leads, anytime during the sales process. This percent takes into account the impact marketing has on a lead during their entire buying lifecycle.

Why You Should Care: This metric will indicate how effective marketing is at generating new leads, nurturing existing ones, and helping sales close the deal. It gives your CEO or CFO a big-picture look into the overall impact that marketing has on the entire sales process.

To find out how to calculate these numbers, visit the HubSpot cheat sheet.

Which of these metrics matters the most to your business?

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According to DemandGen reports, the B2B buyer behavior has been changing dramatically over the last few years as buyers find new ways to gather information online and via social media. In fact, 90% of business buyers say when they’re ready to buy, they’ll find you. A 2013 lead generation survey from Holger Schulze asked B2B marketers questions about their budgets, challenges and how they measure success and campaign ROI. Here are 3 key trends to take away from this research.

Generate High-Quality Leads

The number one challenge for B2B marketers is generating high-quality leads. The most effective lead generation tactics used by marketers are their company website, email marketing and SEO. Getting leads isn’t always a challenge, but getting a qualified lead is. A lead generation company, such as Business.com, can help small or medium-sized businesses connect with decision makers who are actively looking to make a purchase. Immediate and consistent follow up with emails and phone calls is critical for achieving optimal close rates.  Making 6 calls leads to a 90% increase in sales, but 78% of leads are contacted only once. Not all leads are ready to make a purchase, but studies (including one from Gartner) have shown that most will purchase within the next 12 to 24 months making these leads potential customers you can’t ignore. Nurturing leads with effective follow-up is a key factor in attaining high-quality leads. B2B email and lead nurturing success come from providing compelling content for each stage in the buying process to move buyers from first tough to purchase.

Break Down Lead Generation Barriers

According to a study conducted by Schulze, the greatest barrier to lead generation success is lack of resources, including staff, budget and time. Breaking down these barriers means making the most of the leads and resources your business has. Autoresponse emails can save your team time right off the bat. While many indicated budget as a barrier in their lead generation success, the survey also found that lead generation budgets are going up for nearly 50% of B2B marketers. Budgets are staying the same for 44%  of respondents. Lead generation programs receive the second biggest marketing budget allocation, second behind conferences and tradeshows. In order to break down the barrier of a lack of resources, reevaluate your marketing processes and whether money is being spent in the right place.

Measure Marketing Efforts

Businesses are about the data, the numbers and the ROI. Marketing departments are no different. B2B marketers’ top metrics to measure marketing ROI are lead volume, cost per lead, revenue and cost-per-acquisition. Marketing automation software is one way B2B marketers measure their efforts. The survey found that most B2B marketers (43%) use marketing automation software for reporting, analytics, and dashboard capabilities, followed by campaign tracking (42%).

Look for a marketing software solution that integrates with your CRM and campaign tracking easily. More and more, marketers in all industries want to see whether their efforts are yielding a positive ROI and are worth the time and investment they are dedicating to different channels and strategies. Measuring marketing efforts is one 2013 trend that isn’t going anywhere but up.

Lead generation is an area that many B2B businesses are familiar with. Many are having the same struggles when it comes to quality, allocation of resources and measuring their efforts. However, the increase in dedicated lead generation budget for nearly half of B2B marketers also indicates that businesses are seeing success with their lead generation efforts. According to this study, three trends B2B marketers need to pay attention to are how they can generate high-quality leads, break down barriers that arise due to a lack of resources, and measure their marketing efforts more effectively.

How does your business measure its lead generation success?

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With the rise in technology and marketing automation implementation, the B2B industry is changing. ABM’s Annual Conference (April 28 – May 1) in Florida is themed “The Future of B-to-B Media: Cross-Platform Growth Strategies.” The conference will kick off with a roundtable called, “The B-to-B Company: A Fully Integrated Enterprise,” where Tony Uphoff, the newly named CEO of Business.com, will moderate the panel. This roundtable brings together industry leaders from media and information company operators and marketing experts to investors and bankers. They’ll discuss and debate the emerging role and value proposition of B2B media when it comes to connecting buyers and sellers.

In a recent interview, ABM asked Uphoff to offer a preview of the discussion, including how the rise of marketing automation will affect B2B media, whether the traditional model organized around an editorial enterprise is starting to change and how B2B leaders are addressing company culture.

The Shift in the Buyer-Seller Connection

The purchasing process for B2B buyers has changed. Traditional B2B media is no longer as effective. When ABM asked Uphoff about how the connection between buyers and sellers is changing, he noted that “Reach, Frequency and Awareness, are gone, replaced today by Engagement, Loyalty and Advocacy.” Buyers are able to discover and engage with information that is specific to their needs and “signal their intentions based on their digital body language — whether their intention is the acquisition of more knowledge, social engagement or the actual purchase of products and services.” However, buyers aren’t the only ones making a change. According to Uphoff, “Sellers have made a corresponding shift, from targeting based on demographics to targeting based on intention. Traditional media from B2B publishers that historically connected buyers and sellers has been surrounded by digital, social and community-based media of all sorts. We’re also seeing marketers focus on “direct to the customer” digital media initiatives via their own websites and content marketing initiatives.” Note – I believe ‘direct to the customer’ should be in apostrophes, not quotes because it’s within a quote

From Editorial Enterprises to Engaging Content Creators

We’ve all heard it, read it and seen it. We cover it regularly on this blog. Content marketing is a must. ABM touched on this in their interview with Tony Uphoff. ABM noted that traditionally B2B media companies have been organized as editorial enterprises, but that this is changing. Uphoff agrees, “The rise of content marketing and brands as publishers has changed B2B media forever.” In order for businesses to be relevant and engaging, they need to have content. Uphoff also believes “that in the performance marketing era, marketers simply aren’t willing to subsidize the cost of editorial operations with basic advertising anymore.” Content, according to Uphoff, is what helps a buyer go through the purchase process, including editorials and social research, peer input, advertising and marketing. B2B companies of the future will “learn how to present ‘content’ in all its forms, in a highly contextual way that engages their audiences as they go through their purchase processes.”

A Move towards Marketing Automation

More data and incoming information are causing a change in the marketing landscape. Call it marketing automation if you will, but Uphoff prefers the term performance marketing. He indicates that automation suggests a singular event. However, marketing is ongoing and technology now enables marketers the ability to adjust messaging and strategy on the fly based on performance. Uphoff believes, “We are seeing performance marketing and media converge. As this trend accelerates, we will see B2B media brands offering marketers a series of integrated and ongoing marketing services, ’Marketing as a Service‘ if you will, that range from display advertising, through to lead generation and content marketing.” He also predicts that marketers will begin to see more services that integrate with social media and mobile applications as well as content marketing.

As the buyer landscape and behaviors shift, sellers are acting accordingly. The buyer purchasing process is changing and sellers are taking the steps necessary to meet expectations. This includes content creation and marketing that are more informational and less advertorial. Because marketing is an ongoing and ever-changing area of a business, it’s becoming more crucial for businesses to make decisions based on data and performance. Technologies that supply this will become more important for successful B2B companies.

Find the full interview on abmassociation.com and stay tuned for a post following the conference.

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B2B marketers are always looking for an edge – something that will set their business and efforts apart from others. A new study from BtoB Online (with Eloqua) of 556 digitally active marketers found that modern marketers embrace technology, digital channels and dynamic content and have a commitment to sales enablement. When asked at what stage their companies are in improving go-to-marketing effectiveness, 68% said they are “strongly” or “fully” committed to improvement. In order to improve marketing effectiveness, spend some time considering whether or not your marketing team is changing with the times. Modern marketers need three things to be successful: digital aptitude, content knowledge, and sales enablement skills.

1. Digital Aptitude

The world of marketing is increasingly becoming more data driven. Marketers want to make sure that their time, money, and other resources are being directed to the right place. Successful modern marketers are making the most of data and digital solutions so no time or budget is wasted. At Business.com, virtually every marketing investment (of dollars and resources) is data-driven. While creating the infrastructure, processes and systems to support this requires an investment of time and money, it definitely pays off. When asked what has contributed the most to modern marketing, 60% responded that the ability to track marketing ROI with technology has contributed the most to modern marketing. “Big Data” is a concern for modern marketers as 35% said they are working to overcome poor infrastructures in the collection and analysis of data and 29% said they simply lack data to support their colleagues in sales. With the use of data and software solutions that are audience-oriented, modern marketers can reach target prospects more effectively.

2. Content Knowledge

An emphasis on content marketing has led to a shift in marketing as a whole. From where content is distributed to what type of content is produced, marketers must make sure they’re getting the right content to the right people. When asked what has contributed the most to modern marketing, many indicated the ability to track ROI as noted earlier. However, a large portion of those surveyed (42%) indicated that the shift in power from the brand to the customer is changing marketing. Another 58% of respondents cited the effective use of social media. This is huge because social media networks are a main content distribution channel for B2B marketers. Prospects want content and marketers know they need to provide it. Demand-generation and lead nurturing techniques are changing because of this. In fact, 42% respondents cited the maturation of demand generation and lead nurturing as a contribution to the change in modern marketing. You need to know the type of content that will most appeal to your audience as well as how to get it into the hands of those people in order to be effective. That’s where sales skills come in.

3. Sales Enablement Skills

Understanding the buyer journey, the key decision makers and influencers as well as their roles and responsibilities can help marketers more clearly define their profiling for greater success. Modern marketers need to build relationships with buyers just as sales representatives do. The rise in both content marketing and social provide the vehicle for creating and nurturing these relationships. When asked what factors are driving the needs of modern marketers, 60% of respondents identified the need to achieve fast and relevant touch points in the market, 35% identified increasing difficulties in conveying timely offers and messages to specific customers, and 12% indicated a general decline in the awareness of brands. Getting marketing and sales working together can make a huge difference in the efficiency and success of your business in connecting and closing with prospects.

Modern B2B marketers will make the most of the data and software solutions in front of them to yield the greatest ROI. Having a digital aptitude is necessary as the business world becomes more data driven and efficient with technology. Understanding the customer, the buying process and the decision makers can help marketers develop more targeted content that sells without directly selling. Content that converts is and must be a focus. Successful modern marketers are able align targeting with changing market and business needs.

What other qualities does a modern marketer need to possess?

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A new study from Optify looked at the websites of over 500 of the Inc 5000 fastest growing companies and found that only 37% are using autoresponders to follow up on leads. Our research has found that there is a direct correlation between follow-up timing and conversion rates. Because a sales rep is not always available to reach out immediately to a lead, auto response emails are a simple and effective way for your business to communicate with a new prospect. There are four elements to an auto responder: a form, a “thank you” page, an email and cadence. Your initial and follow-up emails need to be branded, relevant and timeless. Our testing has found that emails sent from a person within the company, as opposed to sending from a generic company name, drive a higher response. Auto response email campaigns are a great way to stay connected with prospects after they submit a form and here are three ways your business can make the most of them.

The Thank You Page

A clear call to action can direct your customer further down the conversion funnel. The thank you page is an opportunity to upsell, cross-sell or deepen engagement with links to your blog or social networks. Focus on delivering content on your thank you page that helps the reader make sense of everything they just read and how they can put it into action to improve their business. You can even offer additional downloads. Turn your thank you page into a resource page and a way your business can continue to build its brand.

• Optify found that 91% of the B2B companies analyzed displayed a “Thank You” page stating that the form was received
• Only 18% of those with thank you pages displayed a call-to-action upon form submission. Be sure your thank you page encourages leads to continue interacting with your business.

The First Follow-Up

A fast auto response email places your business in the eyes of a potential customer again, before they have a chance to forget about your business and the form they filled out. Include trackable links to content on your site or blog. Sales teams are often reaching out to leads via phone calls. Your team’s first follow-up shouldn’t be a call or an email. It needs to be both. Timing is everything and when responding to a completed form within 5 minutes versus 10 minutes leads to a 900% increase in contact rate, your business needs to be reaching out to touch base quickly and through multiple communication channels if needed.

• 70% of the companies that use autoresponders send the first email within 15 minutes of a form being submitted with the average response time for these companies being just over 3 minutes.
• Only 58% of the immediate (within 15 minutes of submission) auto response emails were personalized.
• Emails sent in between phone calls raise the chances of achieving contact by 16% (Leads360).

The Next Follow-Up

Play with timing until you find the best time to submit emails. One best practice your business can follow is the 3:7 schedule. While your first email is sent immediately, second and third emails can be sent 3 days after form submission and then again one week after submission. After the first email, your follow-up emails need to progress depending on where the person is in the purchasing funnel. Letting the user know what to expect provides an additional layer of transparency to your lead nurturing process.

• 6% of the initial auto response emails contained an indication of a future email (Optify).
• Most companies send more than one follow up email — the average number of follow up emails sent in the first week was 2.54 and the average interval between the first and second email was just over 30.5 hours.
• The data from Leads360 reveals that the optimal number of email messages to increase conversion during the first month of a prospect’s lifetime is 5.

Combining the findings for phone calls and emails, the most effective contact strategy involves 6 phone calls and 5 emails, interspersed over 22 days. Use auto responders to make this process more efficient. An effective auto responder campaign generates a response. Give the prospect another opportunity to request additional information and connect with your business. An auto response program collects additional information about each prospect that your company and sales reps can use to prioritize follow-up. You can use your auto response efforts to nurture leads and guide them through the conversion funnel for greater optimization and success.

Has your business seen success with the use of auto response emails? How so?

(Image: Optify)

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The second post in this two-article series is also written by Rich Mauser, Sr. Email Marketing Manager for Business.com. In part one, Rich shared his tips for more optimized email campaigns. Email marketing is great way for B2B businesses to generate leads, nurture leads and turn those with an interest into long-term and loyal customers.  In part two, he shares two more quick and easy email tips (plus two bonus tips!) to capture the attention of email readers, cultivate conversation and convert more email subscribers into customers.

3. Focus On Your Prospect, Not on Yourself

The biggest mistake most people make in their first email interaction with a prospect is that they try to sell too early. They invariably end up talking all about their company and their product and how great it is. Your initial email interactions should focus on your prospects, not on you, your company or your products. Ask about them and their needs. Take an interest in them and help them get what they want, rather than what you want. Think of it like you’re out in the dating scene. You don’t approach someone the first time you meet them, then tell them everything about yourself, how great you are, and all the things you’ve accomplished, and then ask them to go home with you, right? Right?? A great way to stay focused on you prospect is to offer them something of value, real value that is relevant to what THEY want. A free report, a guide to choosing ABC widgets, etc. Give them something that will help them get what they want.

4. Ask for a Reply

The great Dr. Robert Cialdini, in his book “Influence: The Psychology and Power of Persuasion” discovered some fundamental things about human behavior that have been helping marketers for many years. One of the behaviors he discovered was “commitment and consistency”. Dr.Cialdini concluded that people tend to behave consistently with choices they’ve already made, even very small choices. Therefore  if you can get your prospect to commit to some small action, then you will be much more likely to get them to commit to bigger actions in the future (e.g. giving you their time, or money). One of the smallest and easiest actions you can ask for is simply asking for an email reply. Ask for a reply back in your first email to a prospect, and I guarantee you’ll be able to get bigger and better engagement later. It could be as simple as ending your email with “Reply back to this email and let me know you received it, ok?”. Try it, and then comment below and let me know how it worked. By the way, if you haven’t yet read Dr. Cialdini’s book yet, put it at the top of your list – it will instantly improve your sales and marketing skills.

Bonus Tip #1: How to Quickly Build Rapport via Email

Once you get an email reply, matching your prospects language via email will help you gain rapport quickly, and give you a major advantage over your competition. Look carefully at how you prospect communicates in their emails. What kind of sensory language are they using? Auditory? Visual? Kinesthetic? When you identify whether your prospects are centered by sound, sight, or touch, match that language in your email replies and you’ll build quick rapport with your prospects. Here’s an example of auditory centered language (You can quickly identify kinesthetic and visually-centered language with works like “feel” “a good fit”, or “looks” and “see”):

Email:

I heard about one of your products from a friend of mine.  It really sounds like just what I need, and I’d like to hear more

Could you tell me a little bit more about it?

Your reply:

Thanks for your email. I’ve attached a few documents that will tell you all about it.

Reply back to this email and tell me what most rings true with you about our products. Sound good?

I’m looking forward to talking to you more about it.

Bonus Tip #2: The Amazing, Super-Simple Email That Revives Dead Leads

I learned this great lead reviving email strategy from one of my marketing mentors, the great Dean Jackson. Dean is a master at making the complex simple. He’s also one of the best marketers on the planet. The email was originally designed for real estate agents, but it is so simple it will work for nearly any industry. Take a look below:

Subj: Hi Rich

Rich, are you still interested in getting a new copier for your business?

Reply back to this email and let me know.

Thanks,

Your email signature.

That’s it. Really. As humans we tend to want to include more and over-complicate things. Resist the temptation to over complicate this email. And remember, all you’re looking for is a reply to your email. That’s it. Don’t oversell anything. You’re just trying to re-engage in a dialogue with your prospect. This email is super-simple, and that is why it works so well. It’s short. It’s personal. It expects a reply.

Try it right now. It only takes a minute or two. Then come back tomorrow, post a comment below and let us know how well it worked for you.

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We’re excited to introduce you to the new Business.com. Built on the foundation of a renowned brand – combined with the latest technology, development and design – Business.com is a new company today. We’ve assembled a world-class team of developers, digital marketing experts, designers and even a Ph.D. in Human Computer Interaction to identify the specific needs of active buyers and improve how they use the Internet to make purchasing decisions. Our revamped site design, logo and experience are the product of extensive research and testing and directly reflect our new vision of building experiences founded on how today’s buyers use information online to buy business products and services.

Buyers are looking to cut through the clutter of online search and sort through the overwhelming number of vendor web sites.  We’ve redesigned the entire site to enrich and simplify the process of buying products and services. From visually appealing infographic category overviews to downloadable checklists, and everything in between, our content is structured to mimic the optimal purchase experience and quickly funnel buyers from product discovery to product purchase. We’ve also integrated new advertising and lead generation programs into the natural steps buyers take online as they go through their purchase process.

Simply put, our mission is to help people grow their businesses. This is why over 20 million buyers from small-to-medium enterprises turn to Business.com every year to discover, compare, and purchase the products and services they need to run and grow their businesses. It’s also why over 10,000 advertising clients use Business.com to reach these valuable buyers, generating well over $1 billion in incremental annual revenues.

In addition to the data we collect every day from our buyers who use Business.com, we conduct over 5,000 phone interviews every month with buyers to better understand what products and services they are looking for and what related products and services they might be looking to purchase in the future. This engagement provides an unparalleled view into how buyers use the Internet today and allows us to better connect informed buyers with the right sellers. We will continue to use these real-time insights to provide the best experience for business product buyers and the advertisers who rely on Business.com.

We’re also growing as a company! We’re adding talented developers, sales executives, performance marketing specialists and others to our team at Business.com. If you’re interested, or know someone who is, please visit our career page as well as our about us page to learn more about opportunities at our company.

Our new design, content and advertising features are just the beginning. Stay tuned for more announcements as we continue to grow and expand the new Business.com. Your feedback is crucial so please let us know what you think of our new design and expanded features and what more you’d like to see from us here. You can follow us on Twitter @businessdotcom and also follow our marketing Twitter feed @B2BOnlineMktg. I also blog on media, marketing, technology and my favorite subject Business.com, so please feel free to follow me @tonyuphoff.

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This post is written by Rich Mauser, Sr. Email Marketing Manager for Business.com. In this two-part article series, Rich shares his tips for more optimized email campaigns. Email marketing is great way for businesses to generate leads, nurture leads and turn those with an interest into long-term and loyal customers.  In part one, he shares two quick and easy email tips to get your prospect’s attention, build rapport and convert more of your prospects to customers.

1. Get Your Prospect’s Attention with a Great Subject Line

There’s an old adage in email marketing that says you have 3 seconds to capture someone’s attention in your email. All it takes is 3 seconds (or less) for a prospect to decide if they’re going read your email, save it to read later, or delete it. So it’s absolutely crucial in your first email to a prospect that you get their attention quickly. And the best way to get their attention is through the subject line of your email. The subject line is the most important aspect of your email. It’s your headline. It’s the first thing your prospect will see when they receive your email, so spend some time thinking about  your subject line. We spend nearly twice as much time writing and testing subject lines for our emails than we do on the rest of the email. It’s that important. So what makes a great subject line? The best subject lines speak to the reader’s selfish benefit, so focus your subject lines on your prospects and how they will benefit. Do NOT make it about you. A quick way to improve a subject line is to look for the words “me”, we” or “I”. If any of those words appear in your subject line, it may be time to re-write.

• Quick Tip: put your prospect’s first name in the subject line and you’ll get a much higher percentage of them reading your email. If you’re using an automated email system, you should have the ability to merge the first name into the subject line automatically. If it doesn’t you may want to consider getting another one. I’ve been using this tip for years, and I’ve seen it boost response by as much as 75%.

Keep your subject lines short. Most subject lines get cut off in the email preview window, so any words after the first 30 characters aren’t likely to make an impact. And most likely will not get read by your prospect, so keep them short. President Obama’s 2012 fundraising campaign set a new benchmark for political fundraising via email. They tested hundreds of subject lines and the one that got the best open rate was “Hey.” That’s it. Three simple letters.  Here’s what Toby Fallsgraff, the campaign’s email director had to say about it in a Bloomberg Businessweek article:

“The subject lines that worked best were things you might see in your in-box from other people,” Fallsgraff says. “ ‘Hey’ was probably the best one we had over the duration.” Another blockbuster in June simply read, “I will be outspent.” According to testing data shared with Bloomberg Businessweek, that outperformed 17 other variants and raised more than $2.6 million.

The second subject line mentioned in the quote above, “I will be outspent” uses another concept I’ve seen work well in my own testing – using cryptic or vague subjects. This arouses the reader’s curiosity and keeps them moving forward from your subject line to the rest of your email, which is the sole responsibility of the subject line – get them to keep reading!

2. Keep It Conversational

Once you’ve got your reader’s attention with a short subject line that arouses curiosity, you want to keep their attention by making the “body” of your email short and personal. One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make in their emails is they write with a “business appropriate” tone. This typically comes off as stiff, uncomfortable and unreadable. Frankly, I don’t know anyone who enjoys reading dry business writing. Yaaawn.

• Quick Tip: If you’re having a hard time finding a casual voice for your emails, go to one of my favorite websites all time: Unsuck It. They’ve got a great tool that helps you turn dry, over-complicated and ambiguous phrasing into short, concise language that’s simple, direct and easy to understand.

When making your first contact with a prospect via email, act like you’re welcoming them into your home. What do you do first when you let someone into your home? Greet them, thank them, welcome them and ask if there’s anything they need? Maybe you offer them something to eat or drink? A seat?  That’s a pretty good formula for a first email contact: greet them, thank them, and ask if there’s anything they need. This will go a long way to building a relationship that will ultimately end in a sale. Be authentic. Use a casual, conversational tone. And remember, people buy from people, not from companies.

Stay tuned for Part 2 for more tips on how your business can use email to convert prospects into customers.

What type of success has your business seen with email marketing?

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For some time, the B2B marketing funnel has been a constant. Businesses have evolved, marketing platforms have too, but the funnel has remained. However, this is no longer the case. The buying cycle of business decision makers has changed. Now, your marketing funnel needs to do the same. When more than 90% of B2B buyers start their purchasing cycle by looking for solutions and suppliers online, you need to provide information about the solutions and how they are beneficial to your audience. You need to update your marketing funnel and here are the reasons why.

A New Research Process

There is a new research process in place that impacts your marketing funnel. Business buyers are increasingly conducting their own research before ever speaking with a sales rep. In fact, according to Forrester, two-thirds to 90% of the buying cycle is completed before a B2B buyer ever speaks with a sales rep. Instead of sending out impersonal or broad information via email, provide targeted, relevant content to your audience directly on your site and then share that information with targeted campaigns. Create awareness around the solutions your business provides and the problems you solve. You can do this through social media marketing, email campaigns and paid ads. Then, spend some time educating your site visitors and subscribers. Explain the impact and potential for prospects when they use your products. However, keep things conversational and educational. Not all content you offer needs to be a sales pitch.

A New Buying Conversation

Business buyers are no longer communicating with service or product providers right off the bat. According to IDG Connect, buyers spend just 21% of the buying cycle in conversations with salespeople, instead spending 23% of the time in conversations with peers and colleagues, and 56% of the buying cycle searching for and engaging with content. Those aren’t the only people contributing to purchase conversations as the number of people involved in a large technology purchase increased from 5 in 2010 to 7 in 2012 (International Data Corporation). The content you provide needs to appeal to the lead business buyer as well as others within their company. Consider what executives and managers will have an impact in the buying decision and provide content for each group. Business owners also want to know what businesses similar to theirs are buying, researching and investing in. When possible, share that information as well as industry trends.

A New Purchase Process

Businesses are conducting their own research, talking with colleagues and only reaching out to vendors when they are ready to receive proposals. According to UBM Techweb, 70% of business technology buyers are at the RFP stage by the time the vendor becomes aware of the opportunity. By the time a buyer reaches out to a business, they often have a deep understanding of their problem and have scoped out solutions. Now, those customers are requesting proposals from your business as to why they should work with you instead of another company. Many sales conversations are becoming fulfillment conversations. If you’ve provided great, relevant content and a lead is now reaching out to your business, focus on fulfilling their needs. There’s a good chance they’ve already eliminated some of your competitors and have put you in their final tier before the purchase.

Content marketing is one of the hottest marketing trends of 2013. The revolution taking place in the marketing funnel is a huge part of that. Your business needs to engage with customers by providing them content that establishes your brand as a thought leader. Through registrations, you can acquire names,  score them as identified sales leads and then filter them through your lead nurturing program until they are deemed “sales ready.” Take a survey of current clients and compare their buying cycle to the marketing funnel your team has in place. Any missed steps or content marketing opportunities can be updated and capitalized for greater success.

What are your biggest challenges in  refining your marketing funnel?

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