Author Susan Cain contends in her recent New York Times opinion piece, “The Rise of the New Groupthink,” that can be the way to go even as today’s culture overlooks “the quiet part of the creative process.” According to Cain, the New Groupthink – continually collaborating in teams to think, learn, work and socialize without time to be alone – is transforming business, education, religious institutions and other areas to the detriment of creativity and innovation.

I’m a newbie at Canyon Communications but have more than 20 years’ experience in PR and journalism.

Even in my short time, I’m already impressed by the work environment that my fellow Canyonites have created here. It’s an ideal mix of having the room to work autonomously and develop top-flight B2B marketing communications resources coupled with the ability to have fun, exchange ideas and collaborate effectively within a team environment.

What that means for our clients is that they’re receiving the best of both worlds: talented individuals thinking and working on their own piece of the puzzle and then putting their collective expertise and creativity together to devise marcom solutions that deliver results.

Interestingly, Cain claims that brainstorming sessions are one of the worst possible ways to stimulate creativity. What’s your experience?

Derek informed me of an article he recently published on how manufacturers can use social media to win business. He found in Forrester’s report that only 30 percent of global manufacturers planned to increase social media spending in 2012. What about local manufacturers? He believes that small to

mid-sized manufacturers have the most benefit in building social media outlets compared to global manufacturers. Why? Read his article as he outlines tools to help small and mid-sized manufacturers generate brand awareness, engage/share information and gain more business:

• Think strategically when developing a social media plan
• Use Facebook and Twitter to brand your company and build an audience
• Promote your brand with YouTube or a blog (i.e. share a factory tour or customer testimonial)
  • Love this idea!!
• Expand your network to target sales prospects via LinkedIn

In response to my last post on the debate if social media works in B2B, I think this article proves that social media can be successful in B2B if you use the right tools in front of the right audience.

Big thanks to Derek for reading the Canyon B2B fishbowl and pointing out a helpful resource to our readers!

Performing an annual review of your SEO strategy is essential to the performance of your website(s), and there is no time like the New Year to do so. Inevitably through the course of the year, you’ve added to your site, little by little. This is a good thing, because it obviously means you were adding new content to take advantage of new and potential SEO opportunities. But as new trends and opportunities emerge, you may find adding content a little at a time may leave your site and overall strategy looking a bit pieced together.

Image credit of SEObook.com

While additions are great, every now and again we need to evaluate and assess whether everything is working together to enhance the original goal and focus. In the SEO game it’s easy to be focused on the overall metrics, but it is equally as important to take a look back to clean up things that may have slipped past us. Things such as over- or under-usage of target keywords, proper linking, etc., can use a quality assurance check now and then as more and more content goes up on your site.

Think of it like decorating a room. Maybe you wanted to have a contemporary Southwestern-themed room in your home. You paint, add furniture and the basic artwork that sets the tone you want. Then your family gets you Southwestern décor for Christmas and your birthday, or the Southwestern section at the Black Friday sale was too good to pass up.

Next thing you know, your room is filled with, albeit cute and attractive, an array of Southwestern décor. What you now have are several items that may all fit the genre, but do they not alter the original image you set out to create? Does that bright-colored poncho your sister-in-law bought you really fit the theme without stretching it?

By revisiting your site (or your room) and evaluating its performance and attributes against the focus and message you wish to present, you create the opportunity to pursue the best changes and strategy into the coming year.

So with this New Year, make it a point not only to evaluate your website’s performance, but also make sure you’re doing your best to meet and exceed your SEO goals.

Clearly, SMS text messaging can be an annoyance to me, but it got me thinking about what experts are saying about SMS marketing and if it provides value in B2B.

Best Text Marketing, a site that provides reviews and ratings of SMS marketing services, outlined the benefits of SMS marketing in an article this past year. These benefits include:

• Cost control
  You can control the cost through your choice of plan, whether it is domestic/international, the number of texts per month you require and the service features.

• Control message arrival
  SMS text messages are nearly instantaneous to transmit, and the character limit means they will open more quickly. You can send a message at the exact time you see fit for your marketing campaign.

• Freedom to do it yourself or hire an expert
  You have the choice to set up the marketing campaign that is appropriate for your target audience.

• Target your audience more effectively
  Use an opt-in marketing method so you’re targeting only those people who are interested in your product or service. Use short codes so you can segment your audience and send to customers who you know are interested in your product or service.
  

I agree that SMS marketing can be effective in the B2C space as long as the right customers are opting in to receive information about the company’s products or services. For me, I need to make sure that I have a high interest in the company’s product or service before I opt in to receive text messages.

So how does SMS marketing provide value in the B2B platform? I found a great article that outlines specific uses for text messaging to                                                                                B2B customers:

• Share information
  Provide customers with industry-specific news updates, white papers, etc.

• Product updates
  Make decision makers the first to hear about product launches, updates, etc.

• Trade shows
  Keep customers informed of your trade show appearances—notify them of booth changes, contests and promotional items

• Appointments
  Send appointment reminders to prospects that include parking info, directions and other details via text

• Customer service
  Set up an automated system where customers can receive order status

• Polls and surveys
  Give customers the option to provide their opinion about you

• Promote your other offerings
  SMS can be a great way to promote a new tool or resource

• Emergency notifications
  Inform your customers of a serious problem with a product

I think these uses for text messaging to B2B customers are all  great ways to find a qualified lead. Do you agree or disagree?

You can see this is not a typical blog post intended to educate you on ways to grow your client base or build brand loyalty. This one is aimed at your heart and personal wellness.

As I said, the New Year can get busy quickly – rushing to secure new business to meet this year’s budget, getting the kids back into the swing of school and homework, doing the taxes. Add this to our usual list of responsibilities, and the struggle to take

care of ourselves seems overwhelming. Finding time to take care of ourselves – go to the gym, prepare a healthy meal, read a book with your child, make an appointment with the doctor or even get a full night of sleep – seems impossible. The key word here is “seems”.

The Dalai Lama summed it up when asked what surprised him most about humanity. “Man,” he said. “Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. Then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die and then dies having never really lived.”

As you are rushing through new assignments at work or helping the kids with their latest “independent study” project and you find your stress level rising, ask yourself this question:  Am I living my life backwards?

If your answer is “yes,” then perhaps it’s time to make yourself a higher priority. Remember that without good physical and mental health as a base, the rest of your life suffers. If you really want to live, create some balance and schedule your “me” time as carefully as you’ve been scheduling your client meetings. If you’re worried about the impact on your work, don’t. For in the end, your effectiveness and productivity will rise along with your mood and energy.

Wishing you good health and happiness in the coming year!

That advice was embedded in my head by my parents ever since the day I turned 16. Thirteen years later I have yet to miss an oil change on any of the cars I’ve owned, and honestly, I have to say that my parents were right.  All of my cars have needed minimal maintenance and remained in tip-top condition for years at a time.

Cars and Marketing engines alike need regular maintenance

I believe that clients also need “oil changes” to their marketing approach every once in a while.  Too many times marketers, myself included, can become overly comfortable with how we’ve been marketing for our clients. Sometimes, it seems easier to slightly tweak pieces that showed positive results in the past than to develop new tactics.

Truth is, the environment, people’s behaviors, and much more change every year, sometimes every month. If you’re basically using the same marketing tactics year after year, you can’t always count on the same results that you received from those initial attempts.

If you’re struggling with ideas of how to freshen up your marketing, check out this blog: “Five Simple Ways to Refresh Your Marketing.” It’s short and sweet, and it will get your brainstorming wheels a-turning! Or if you’re looking to rejuvenate a specific campaign, check out this article.

Really, there’s no excuse. Having limited time doesn’t cut it. Focus on what’s best for your client and keep their marketing engine fresh and in top-notch condition.

Well, it’s that time of year again.  The decorations are out, cards are cluttering mailboxes, festive cheer is in abundance, shopping malls are packed to max, people are driving crazier than ever…yep, tis the holiday season!

During the final few months of the year, peoples’ lifestyles seem to change drastically with everyone focusing on the upcoming holiday festivities. I think that most B2C marketers would agree that the holidays are a prime time to market to consumers seeing as how consumer spending increases so drastically in December. But what about for B2B customers?

Actually, there are many reasons why the holidays are the perfect time to market to B2B customers as well:

-          End of the year is a perfect opportunity to help B2B customers meet their Q4 and end-of-year business goals.

-          December usually sees the number of business trips and meetings decline, so B2B customers may be more receptive to receiving ads.

-          There may be some budget left over that B2B customers are looking to spend.

-          The B2B sales lead generation cycle can be long, so businesses won’t want to start the new year poorly. As noted in the article, “Christmas ideal time for B2B marketing, expert claims,” most sales (16 percent) come three months after the original lead generation and businesses that don’t market around the holidays may find that sales conversions don’t happen until well into the new year.

Image courtesy of Indiandiary.wordpress.com

So what types of marketing communications should you focus on in December? That’s simple; emails, emails, emails! According a study conducted in the month of November by Experian CheetahMail, a provider of integrated email, social, mobile and display marketing, emails significantly outperform other types of offers or campaigns during the holiday season.

Having said that, it is important to note that email volume increases significantly during the holiday season, making it more challenging to break through your targets’ inboxes.  In fact, according to the article, “Email Marketing Companies: Should B2B Marketers Celebrate Christmas?” by David Sims, there was a 20 percent increase in email volume last year and this year is showing additional incremental change in volume as well. This makes it even more challenging for B2B marketers to get through to their end users who are already seeing an influx of extra messages.

So how do you break through the proverbial holiday clutter and mass of Black Friday and Cyber Monday blasts? Be creative! Try sending emails later in the day so they are not deleted with the others, or perhaps changing the distribution schedule and frequency of your email marketing. As always, the goal is to get your customers to opt into your program.  This not only engages your customers, but also gives them the option to customize the emails they receive from you, especially during the holiday season.

Are you engaging in email marketing this holiday season? Do you find December a good time to market to your customers? What is your favorite holiday tune?

The GIE+EXPO gave us the perfect opportunity to get in front of one of the audiences of the site – lawn care professionals – and create a buzz. Isn’t that what tradeshows are about?

Even though we tried to make a splash with our booth (green shoes, green iPads, green graphics, green green candy, carpet, etc.), we did have a goal for the show — to capture new users for the site and create a good first impression.

This rings true to all B2B marketers. There were two big things I learned from this show that I wanted to delve deeper into:

Engage at the booth and your brand image will gain.
Differentiation. We all struggle with it, but at a tradeshow, it’s crucial that you stand out even more. You don’t have to do this with just your booth activities, graphics or displays (although it helps); you can differentiate by taking your brand to the next level by engaging in conversation and personalization.

Regardless of the market you’re in, companies attending tradeshows are looking for information, and they want it from someone friendly and informative. Perfect opportunity! At the GetGreenTurf.com booth, I made it a point to give my spiel but also ask questions to engage my audience.

I wanted to hear more about them and their challenges. I turned it around on them in hopes of tying in our product to their needs.  I tried with all my little heart to make a good impression and make their experience at our booth well worth the visit. Your brand will shine even brighter if you’ve taken on the task of extending the company image personally.

Take your leads seriously and you’ll earn back what you spent.
When I think about all the planning and money that goes into a tradeshow booth, I get a little light-headed. B2B marketers more than ever need to start thinking about how they’re going recover those costs and more. Consider lead retrieval technology, website enrollment or paper forms to get their contact info down.

The majority of the time, more will disclose their information if they have a chance at winning something. You can capture some great lead data but how you flip those is what counts. Even more, you need to nourish those leads immediately, no later than the week right after the tradeshow.

Our team was quick to get an email follow up to the attendees of the show that stopped by our booth and we thanked them for stopping by, and empowered them with CTAs to take the next step for information.

Capturing, nuturing and converting those leads into customers will ultimately drive the sales that will recover your costs, which is the obvious point here.  The ROI game is possible if your marketing and sales teams work together to engage, follow up and deliver.

Tradeshows are only as successful as you make them. Set yourself up for greatness by having the right people in the booth to extend your brand image and the right lead gen strategy.

Consider calling a Canyonite to help you with your next tradeshow and we’ll help you build a pre- and post-show strategy.

As a B2B marketing communications agency, Canyon is  constantly challenged to communicate complex products and services to our clients’ targets, so sometimes it’s important to quickly convey data and information visually.

Now more than ever, this is accomplished by developing infographics. It’s an easy way to present complex information or a process quickly and clearly. There are blogs dedicated to cool infographics and good infographics and Fast Company even has an infographic of the day.

The cool thing is they can even be interactive.

As we’re continually inundated with millions of communications, we need to find a way to make things easy to understand and for our audiences to comprehend. Next time you’re adding a sweet Gantt chart to that PowerPoint, think…is there a better way to help visualize and communicate this info?

Have you had success with an infographic? What’s your favorite infographic?

Every year, stores around the nation brace themselves for Black Friday as bargain shoppers camp out to get the greatest discount. One could say that Black Friday is the bargain consumer’s paradise and it has turned into the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in the U.S. Not only has Black Friday store spending become the holiday norm, but online spending as well. This year, Black Friday saw $52 billion in store sales and $816 million in online sales.

This year’s outrageous holiday shopping activity got me thinking about ways B2B can take advantage of Black Friday strategies offline and online. Is there any way we can do something like this in the B2B space?

I found a great article that outlines how the end-of-year consumer supply and demand benefits retailers around the holiday season and how B2B companies could potentially match the same supply and demand.

Consumers have continued to cut back on money, leaving them with more money to spend at the end of the year, creating strong profits for many companies, and in return, giving these companies more money to spend. So, what is the supply in B2B? This article outlines what B2B companies can do to match the demand and the ability to spend:

• Make it easy for companies to spend with a range of prices to meet their budgets
• Address the need to invest, i.e. Communicate that the product or service will bring opportunity to grow and advance the business
• Know your customer’s budgetary cycle
• Understand customer needs and wants; prepare way in advance for the holiday season

Do you think it’s possible to promote B2B business sales on Black Friday? Why or why not?

Whoever is reading my post, I hope you have wonderful holiday and a happy new year!