User behavior reveals what has happened to marketing

If you thought the marketing puzzle was trickier today, you were right.

Almost four out of five people online do research on products.

Adolescents (12-17) cut their email use during the past year by almost two-thirds and opted for the social net, texting and instant messaging.  This begs the question–will they eschew email as they grow older?

Four out of five business people check email via mobile devices and almost half of smartphone owners use them to compare prices while in stores.  Yet another reason to optimize your content for the mobile user.

Two out of three Americans have put themselves on the FTC’s “do not call” list.

Nine out of ten email users have unsubscribed from company emails to which they previously opted-in.

More than four out of five (84%) people age 25-34 bolted last year from a favorite website because they got tired of intrusive ads.

More than half of businesses credit their blog for acquiring customers. Two out of three B2B companies and two out of five B2C brands got customers last year via Facebook.  I would have thought those results would be vice-versa.

Marketers who claim Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has nearly doubled since 2009.

Companies with blogs on their sites on average draw 55% more traffic.  More content = more pages for Google to index.

Leads from blogs and website content average $143 each, compared to $373 per lead via traditional “outbound” marketing.

(Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/11414/12-Mind-Blowing-Statistics-Every-Marketer-Should-Know.aspx#ixzz1IIFFgTjP)

Why and how social marketing is different

If you want to be liked, be likeable.

It’s topic that’s been beaten to pulp, but it merits examination nonetheless.  How so many PR people still don’t get it.  Ditto for marketing types, salespeople, engineers, bean-counters and even veteran business owners.

The “it” here is social marketing.  AKA, social media, socmedia, real-time marketing, and various other handles used to describe how products and services make themselves known and, presumably, more prominent today.  I concur.  Web 2.0, the power train of the social net, has sharpened the dual-edge sword of real-time, customer-empowering commerce.  Or e-commerce.

I see the misunderstandings and misguided tactics boiling down to this: too many marketers insist on implementing the fine-point tools of social marketing much like the door-bashing, battering rams you see DEA agents using on reality TV when they’re busting some hapless miscreant.  OK, an overstatement perhaps.  But you get the point.

Social marketing is a game played by different rules than the ones that prevailed in the misty, pre-Internet marketing and advertising landscape.  Those of a certain age, however, will recall “relationship marketing” at the dawn of the era.  Remember? Social marketing (SM) is nothing more or less that the concept of relationship marketing (RM) in Internet time.

The big difference: today’s buyer now has it all over the seller.  Once you get your mind wrapped around this, your marching orders as a marketer today become clear.

First, establish yourself as a trusted source rather than a sales agent.  You slowly build a bond between yourself and the other person as a human being, not a “target”.  One at a time.  Same way you do in your offline social life.

Show candor, respect, humor, restraint, humility and humanity.  Strive to establish a relationship that delivers mutual value by focusing exclusively on the value that you purport to deliver. Once this becomes recognized by the other party, the relationship can get underway.

Word of caution: there are no shortcuts, workarounds, or express lanes to your destination.  It’s a time-and-labor-intensive process, but copping to this is the first step in getting there.  All the next ones have to  do with being liked.

So it’s no different than your offline social life.  And putting it into practice makes all the difference.

What gripes CIOs the most about tech vendors

A survey we co-conducted earlier this year with CIO Executive Council and  CIO Magazine revealed that I.T. executives have had it with the lack preparation by unsolicited vendors who, in tough times, have become more aggressive than ever.  In fact, it was the number one gripe of the CIOs we surveyed. Unwanted inquiries and spam are inundating the data center today. Sixty percent of the nearly 300 CIOs who responded to the survey, representing the likes of DuPont, MetLife and Bank of America, say that cold calls are the most annoying thing they experience with vendors. Seventy percent complain that the calls, and the email spam, are becoming much more prevalent.   CIO.com showcased the research findings in a webinar last February.  It was hailed by buyers and vendors alike for its candor and practical tips.  Put simply, vendors can do themselves a big favor by finding out the most pressing issues and needs of the prospect.  (Isn’t this what the Internet is for?)  CIOs can use permission-based filters to ensure that legitimate inquiries get through.  Seems that some I.T. buyers have mixed feelings about these issues.  They need to stay current on vendors, deals and offers but hesitate to take that phone call.  So how about a subscription Web page where a vendor can state their case and engage, Facebook-like, with a prospect more conveniently (read: less intrusively)?  What do you think?

How to build trust in your brand (or your technology, your product, or yourself).

The announcement today of Facebook Questions inspires an inevitable observation.  If building trust is the name of the game, then there is something very fundamental, primal and simple to remember here.  But like all things simple, some reminding now and again never hurts.  It is this: If you want people to trust you, go out and build a kick-ass product that gets people talking. This goes for B2B, too.  When you do, you’ve gone a long way towards achieving the holy grail of marketing: Word of Mouth (WOM).   Selling great products.  The kind that people like to talk about and recommend. From companies they trust.  Simple.

Using social media to sell technology B2B

Give them news they can use.

It’s not only for Coca Cola, Apple and Toyota.  Facebook groups, Twitter communities and all the other social media present viable channels by which to tell your story and build your brand.  Facebook lets you connect with and educate your target market in a way that your website and blog can’t match. The trick is to come up with content that people will want to share. But make no mistake: clumsy moves here will get you frog-marched out of the building faster than you can type your password.  The key is to impart news that your market can use. If you want customers to think of you as an authority and not just another product-hawking vendor, you have to behave accordingly.  The good news is that you can do it.

This Mashable post details tips for B2B marketing on Facebook specifically.  Here’s a digest:

1. Become a resource and a thought-leader. You already keep up with industry news and write about it on your blog. You do webinars, speak at conferences, engage with customers and produce case studies. So, push this into Facebook and make your page an industry destination. Example: post a weekly summary of  important industry news, and provide readers with commentary that puts it into context. Position yourself as an expert and become a valuable Facebook resource for your target audience.

2. Engage your community. Ask customers to share their successes on your wall and get feedback on new product features. Encourage them to recognize great service people and reward them for their input with a discount or other promotion. Solicit customer references for case studies and media opportunities and find out who’s doing something innovative with your product.

3. Think outside your wall(s). If you sell online, set up a shopping tab on your page to drive traffic to your e-commerce site and encourage viral sharing of your products. Get Satisfaction (), a popular social CRM and customer support platform, has an application that lets your customers can ask questions and get support right on your Facebook Page. Set up a promotions tab using Fan Appz to offer special deals to your fans. and even use these deals to support lead generation programs.  If you sell software licenses, you could offer discounts for people who enter the promotion code at an upcoming webinar or bring the coupon to your booth at a conference.

4.  When on Facebook, do as the users do. Most people by far use Facebook as an escape, to have fun, to socialize.  In business, think of it as beer on Friday afternoon.  You’re still at the office, but you’re engaging and transacting in a more relaxed atmosphere. So no matter how serious your product is, inject some humor and levity into your page. Give your company and product a face and personality.  Do an “employee of the month” feature on the page where you profile someone. Include photos or short video.  Same for the team that’s working on the new product release.