As a recent study from MarketingSherpa discovered, B2B marketers reported generating leads and converting prospects as the most vital marketing goals.

According to the 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report:

• 60 percent of B2B businesses named lead generation as their top goal moving forward;
• 48 percent of B2B businesses report lead generation as their greatest challenge ahead of them;
• 57 percent of B2B companies claim prospect conversion is a targeted goal, with greater than half naming conversion a challenge;
• Lack of time and resources were the most mentioned challenges facing B2B companies.

As many B2B companies have discovered, strategic content marketing strategies can assist in terms of sucessful lead generation with pay-per-download and co-registration campaigns.

The Key is in the Wording

By developing informative, keyword-rich content, businesses can attain better SERP standing, along with bettering their reputation as a thought leader in their respective niche. Among the ways to provide for better conversion are including links to landing pages and calls to action for prospects.

One key factor to always remind yourself is that your keyword strategy must never become static, meaning your campaigns need to keep evolving and progressing, not regressing.

When it comes to your PPC campaigns, it is important to steer clear of having just one broad term, instead selecting much targeted phrases of a pair or more words to obtain searches for providers in your niche.

It is also a good idea to consider keywords that have the possibility of increasing your reach to both the horizontal and vertical portions of your niche.

Is The Window of Time Closing?

As the MarketingSherpa study points out, B2B marketers are displaying much greater levels of maturity when it comes to lead generation and qualification than overall funnel optimization. There is also a short window of time for marketers to take advantage of this trend, in essence, moving ahead of the curve.

With a short window of time, where are B2B marketers directing their efforts?

Survey numbers indicate that marketers are throwing their weight and finances behind tried-and-true efforts like trade shows, Web site marketing and email.

According to the survey, email marketing and paid search (pay-per-click) consistently ranking in the top three as far as effectiveness for marketers.

Marketing Challenges Abound

The survey reports that while external forces are in the mix, internal issues also serve as an obstacle. Among the most notable issues are:

• 62 percent reported a lack of resources in staffing, budgeting or time;
• 39 percent noted lack of ability to cease executing and think strategically;

Lastly, for many B2B marketers, relaying data to senior executives is not always a done deal.

According to research from Lenskold and the Pedowitz Group, only approximately one in three B2B marketers worldwide provide financial contribution metrics to senior executives.

This is despite the fact that a third of B2B marketers follow revenue metrics tied to marketing-generated possibilities, finished deals and percent of total sales.

What are your top marketing goals? Share the challenges you face as a B2B marketer.

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As any marketer can tell you, a positive return on investment (ROI) is crucial.

While getting and maintaining a positive ROI sounds like a simple task, not all online marketers are adept at going about it the right way, both when planning their business and once they’re fully involved in it.

For some online marketers, they make the process much more difficult than it should be, leaving those they work with and under on edge as to whether or not the company can keep pace at its current growth rate or will require cuts.

Leading the Way to Success

As an online marketer, the bottom line is to be heard by both current and potential customers in order to increase your company’s ROI.

There are several ways to do this, among which are five you can count on one hand:

• Article marketing – With this approach, you author relatively short, informative articles tied to your industry for distribution and publication.  These articles will enhance the chances of garnering new clients, along with pinpointing you as an expert in your respective field. The articles should include linking words that will also direct search engines to your site and line of work. It is also important when submitting an article to request a profile page and at minimum one link to your site. Finally, share the article across various social media channels to your network of business contacts;
• SEO - Search Engine Optimization can benefit your business by helping you construct terminology where you have a high Google ranking. In turn, individuals will see that you’re viewed as very credible in this industry by being ranked ahead of so many others. With online forums and articles, along with different content marketing initiatives, there are major SEO benefits to attain;
• Blogging – When used correctly, this is a great road to travel down. A company blog is your opportunity to speak in first-person terms; talking directly to those clients you are attempting to get to buy your products and/or services. The main challenge here is keeping the blog continuously updated. If you have a blog that receives minimal attention on your end, you’re likely to have readers who become disinterested and go elsewhere for their information. The chances of losing sales by doing so greatly increase. An updated blog is also important in terms of search engines. From an online marketing stand point, be sure  to link to a submitted article from your blog, allowing you to tie everything together. Lastly, be sure to utilize sites like Facebook and Twitter to share and tweet your posts;
• Online forums – By utilizing these sites, your company can be seen as a professional in your respective industry, along with being one that is engaged. You will want to use a signature box that will direct a link to your homepage. By doing so, you increase the odds of traffic, leading to more potential customers;
• Social media – Last but not least, where does your company stand on social media? Utilizing sites like Twitter and Facebook just to name two, SM is a great venue to spread the word about your company’s offerings. Much like the above-mentioned blogging, the key here is staying engaged. If your small business employs a Facebook fan page for instance, it needs to be updated regularly. Other than time and effort, SM is essentially free and offers real-time conversations that current and potential customers will hopefully find productive. While you may not be up to speed on share buttons and hash tags, they can be two of your company’s best friends over time.

The bottom line is that when you tie all these items together, your expectations and chances for reaching the optimal ROI increase dramatically.

One way to potentially bring it all together is reviewing what Business.com has to offer. Pay-per-click advertising, pay-per-lead advertising, sponsorship advertising, pay-per download and directory advertising are very viable options for your company to enhance its chances of a successful ROI.

Photo credit: marketinghackz.com

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